Hi, Nicky-

Hope all is well. I've continued to look through the 70,000 e-mails stolen from HBGary over the past few months and have managed to assemble some clues as to the nature of a program called Romas/COIN, soon to be replaced by another designated as Odyssey. I'd be interested in hearing your thoughts on what you make of it. Here's the announcement I made in The Guardian last week: http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/cifamerica/2011/jun/22/hacking-anonymous. And here's the report itself. http://wiki.echelon2.org/wiki/Romas/COIN All of the e-mails upon I draw are in the public domain.

On Thu, Apr 28, 2011 at 5:03 PM, Nicky Hager <nicky@paradise.net.nz> wrote:

Hi there,

No particular knowledge on this, but happy to help you in any ways I can,

Nicky

On 27/04/2011, at 12:39 PM, Barrett Brown wrote:

Howdy, Nicky-

I'm working with a few journalists and a small group of Anons on this: http://www.itpro.co.uk/633049/brit-firm-implicated-in-mubarak-snooping Hoping to spark increased coverage and examination.

Gamma International has been discovered to have offered surveillance and IT intrusion software to Mubarak's regime, and as such we've been compiling info on the firm and its connections. Our interest is due to our work in trying to counter this sort of thing in North Africa and elsewhere; likewise, we consider state/corporate efforts of this sort to fall under Metal Gear methodology as we define it, and these kinds of companies tend to have ties to relevant activities as well (HBGary offered software similar to this and also bid on the USAF contract for persona management, so I see Gamma as well worth looking into). Let me know if you happen to learn of anything regarding this firm or if you have any particular insight into this niche industry. 

Also, related: here's an infosec forum in which a Pakistani intel fellow seems to be asking about the software in question. A Bloomberg reporter shows up towards the end and asks for interviews. I spoke to the fellow today, Elgin; he never managed to get in touch with any of them but I briefed him on Metal Gear and turns out he'd already been looking into Booz Allen's role.

http://www.itpro.co.uk/633049/brit-firm-implicated-in-mubarak-snooping

On Wed, Apr 20, 2011 at 10:59 AM, Barrett Brown <barriticus@gmail.com> wrote:

I understand. I actually agree that the source may very well be just speculating, but we have confirmed the person's position at a certain agency, which is why I found it interesting. In general, the assessment is in accordance with what I would personally expect from the joint command in terms of what they'd be likely to pursue. I do have a hard time believing that anything so advanced as automated personas of that level have been developed, but nonetheless we could probably expect that to the extent that such things are possible, joint command would be the ones to possess them and the technology would be unknown to the public and even the majority of those involved in AI, natural language, etc. At any rate, I'm spending my time compiling info for the wiki so that those looking into this can do so with a comprehensive and factual foundation.

On Wed, Apr 20, 2011 at 1:23 AM, Nicky Hager <nicky@paradise.net.nz> wrote:

Hi Barrett,

No need to say sorry about the delay. It sounds like you are doing good work.

I am sure that a system like Echelon is updated periodically and, since it would get bigger and clunkier, there might be revolutionary changes at much longer intervals. But on that reply you got, I might not understand where things are moving and it might be true. But my reaction is that it is garbled and not likely to be a genuine inside source (ditto someone who says a USAF contract was intended to be found). It might be true (there is always so much we don't know) but it doesn't sound right to me. I doubt he/she is a reliable and/or well informed source.

Nicky

On 20/04/2011, at 7:39 AM, Barrett Brown wrote:

Hi, Nicky-

Barrett Brown here, the Anonymous fellow. Sorry for the delay in getting back to you; I have had to finish some large projects and made a trip to NYC for a speaking engagement and some other things.

I may have mentioned to you that I have a couple of informants on the Metal Gear situation. One, from among the countries that jointly oversee Echelon, attended a small briefing to the effect that Echelon would be either replaced or updated in June. I asked another informant at an agency in another country - one who had previously maintained that the USAF contract was intended to be found and that these software components were intended for users above the level of CENTCOM - about that allegation. This was the reply I just received:

I do, although I have not officially heard about the June
timeframe. Do not think of Einstein, Metal Gear, Echelon, or
Carnivore as separate programs. Combine the capabilities of all,
and you have something as close to AI as we can possibly get at the
moment that can automatically target someone based on pre-
determined criteria, interact with them as if having real
conversations, and automatically update the persona to keep track
of the content, context, and order of events using the capabilities
of all of those programs. It also automatically builds a dossier of
the target and updates it to indicate relationships, sways in
opinion, and other important details. Even the shrewdest character
would have no idea that they were talking to an automated persona
because the depth of conversation is so realistic. SIGINT, OSINT,
and certain aspects of MASINT are being rolled into one on this
one. The system can also learn the online mannerisms and speech of
a real person and mimic that person, allowing him/her to have an
online presence without ever again taking an active part in the
online conversation.

Can you let me know what you make of this, based on your understanding of what's already known about signals intelligence of this sort? Does it sound accurate?

At any rate, another round of articles will soon be appearing in the U.S. press, including Forbes, on Operation Metal Gear; hopefully these will spark additional media investigations into the companies and states involved.

Also, we have just gotten around to creating a wiki with which to compile all of our info in a usable manner; I've just begun filling it out but will continue to do so over the next week, at which point it will actually begin to be useful.

Let me know your thoughts if you get a moment, please.

On Tue, Apr 5, 2011 at 2:50 PM, Nicky Hager <nicky@paradise.net.nz> wrote:

Hi,

Thanks. That sounds good. I was just checking because there wasn't much to bite on it that other stuff.

Good luck with you organising,

Nicky

On 6/04/2011, at 5:55 AM, Barrett Brown wrote:

Hi, Nicky-

I'm hoping to prepare a better summary for you and the others soon, but had to come to New York on Sunday for a press conference and rally we're holding at the steps of city hall on Thursday as well as some meetings we'll be having throughout the week pursuant to a sort of coalition I'm trying to build in preparation for a wider investigation into Metal Gear. Speaking of which, Professor Jonathan Farley, who's worked with my organization Project PM as well as Anonymous, will be arriving tomorrow night, and I just briefed him over the phone on the generals; he's considered one of the best in the world and will presumably be able to assist with whatever research we find ourselves doing that would benefit from mathematical analysis. So, hopefully I'll have time to prepare a better summary as we need one anyway, but I probably won't have time to do it right until after the 8th. In the meantime, you might read this piece by Ian Cobain, who worked off our early research and with whom we've since been in contact: http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2011/mar/17/us-spy-operation-social-networks. Let me know if you have any other questions in the meantime.

On Mon, Apr 4, 2011 at 11:05 PM, Nicky Hager <nicky@paradise.net.nz> wrote:

Hi Barrett,

Good talking to you the other day.

I just had a quick look around the Public Pad references you sent me. You said you'd write to me explaining what you're up to and what you want to find out. Is that still coming, or did you mean for me just to look at those references? If the latter, I'll have a more careful study.

Nicky

--
Regards,

Barrett Brown
512-560-2302

--
Regards,

Barrett Brown
512-560-2302

--
Regards,

Barrett Brown
512-560-2302

--
Regards,

Barrett Brown
512-560-2302

--
Regards,

Barrett Brown
512-560-2302