In the end, Scott argues that these three years of code modifications and well mannered emails have been probably not spent sabotaging a number of software program tasks, however somewhat build up a historical past of credibility in preparation for the sabotage of XZ Utils particularly—and doubtlessly different tasks sooner or later. “He simply by no means bought to that step as a result of we bought fortunate and located his stuff,” says Scott. “In order that’s burned now, and he’s gonna have to return to sq. one.”
Technical Ticks and Time Zones
Regardless of Jia Tan’s persona as a single particular person, their yearslong preparation is a trademark of a well-organized state-sponsored hacker group, argues Raiu, the previous Kaspersky lead researcher. So too are the technical hallmarks of the XZ Utils malicious code that Jia Tan added. Raiu notes that, at a look, the code actually appears to be like like a compression device. “It’s written in a really subversive method,” he says. It’s additionally a “passive” backdoor, Raiu says, so it wouldn’t attain out to a command-and-control server which may assist determine the backdoor’s operator. As a substitute, it waits for the operator to hook up with the goal machine through SSH and authenticate with a non-public key—one generated with a very robust cryptographic perform referred to as ED448.
The backdoor’s cautious design may very well be the work of US hackers, Raiu notes, however he means that’s unlikely, because the US wouldn’t usually sabotage open supply tasks—and if it did, the Nationwide Safety Company would most likely use a quantum-resistant cryptographic perform, which ED448 just isn’t. That leaves non-US teams with a historical past of provide chain assaults, Raiu suggests, like China’s APT41, North Korea’s Lazarus Group, and Russia’s APT29.
At a look, Jia Tan actually appears to be like East Asian—or is supposed to. The time zone of Jia Tan’s commits are UTC+8: That’s China’s time zone, and solely an hour off from North Korea’s. Nonetheless, an evaluation by two researchers, Rhea Karty and Simon Henniger, means that Jia Tan might have merely modified the time zone of their laptop to UTC+8 earlier than each commit. In actual fact, a number of commits have been made with a pc set to an Japanese European time zone as an alternative, maybe when Jia Tan forgot to make the change.
“One other indication that they don’t seem to be from China is the truth that they labored on notable Chinese language holidays,” say Karty and Henniger, college students at Dartmouth Faculty and the Technical College of Munich, respectively. Boehs, the developer, provides that a lot of the work begins at 9 am and ends at 5 pm for Japanese European time zones. “The time vary of commits suggests this was not some undertaking that they did outdoors of labor,” Boehs says.
All of these clues lead again to Russia, and particularly Russia’s APT29 hacking group, argues Dave Aitel, a former NSA hacker and founding father of the cybersecurity agency Immunity. Aitel factors out that APT29—broadly believed to work for Russia’s overseas intelligence company, referred to as the SVR—has a popularity for technical care of a form that few different hacker teams present. APT29 additionally carried out the Photo voltaic Winds compromise, maybe essentially the most deftly coordinated and efficient software program provide chain assault in historical past. That operation matches the type of the XZ Utils backdoor excess of the cruder provide chain assaults of APT41 or Lazarus, by comparability.
“It may very effectively be another person,” says Aitel. “However I imply, in the event you’re searching for essentially the most refined provide chain assaults on the planet, that’s going to be our expensive mates on the SVR.”
Safety researchers agree, not less than, that it’s unlikely that Jia Tan is an actual individual, and even one individual working alone. As a substitute, it appears clear that the persona was the web embodiment of a brand new tactic from a brand new, well-organized group—a tactic that almost labored. Which means we should always count on to see Jia Tan return by different names: seemingly well mannered and enthusiastic contributors to open supply tasks, hiding a authorities’s secret intentions of their code commits.
