NSA Servers Got Hacked and its Assets Surface in The Black Market

Reuters reported that a hacker group called "Shadow Brokers" will auction in the black market cutting edge surveillance technology stolen from the servers of the U.S. National Security Agency (NSA).

Bypass Firewalls

To invite prospective buyers, the hackers distributed online for free sample of the stolen surveillance technology  which they boast could bypass the firewall software of Cisco Systems Inc, Juniper Networks Inc and Fortinet Inc -three firms known for their cyber security software.

The Equation Group

The Shadow Brokers announced in Tumblr that the surveillance technology they are auctioning contains sophisticated cyber weapons created by "The Equation Group," - a team of hackers rumored to be working for the NSA to counter cyber terrorism launched against the United States.

Reuters reported that the Shadow Brokers offer a more superior weapon than "Stuxnet," which is a malicious computer worm which the United States and Israel may have used to take down the nuclear program of Iran.

Cyber security Experts

Reuters reported that some cyber security experts downloaded samples of the surveillance tools and found that they included software that have already been dealt with and defended by existing firewall software.

Reuters quotes Cyber Security Researcher Claudio Guarnieri  who said  "The data the Shadow brokers released so far appears to be relatively old; some of the programs have already been known for years, and are unlikely to cause any significant operational damage."

Matt Suiche, founder of UAE-based security startup Comae Technologies told Reuters that the illicit technology are genuine tools and could potentially be used for malicious purposes