It’s looking increasingly likely that computer hackers have in fact successfully attacked what had been the pinnacle of cybersecurity—the U.S. National Security Agency (NSA). Reports have emerged of claims by a hacking group called the Shadow Brokers that it had breached the network of, and accessed critical digital content from, computers used by an organization named the Equation Group. This attracted more than the usual amount of attention because the Equation Group is widely believed to be a spying element of the NSA.

It is possible, perhaps even likely, that Shadow Brokers is a group of hackers linked to the Russian government.

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