Where this was said
The 6-Word Clue: FAST16's Cryptic NSA Listing
At 5:32 · chapter starts 5:20
The fragment that launched Jags's investigation wasn't even a piece of code — it was just six words from a leaked NSA malware identification list. The tool was designed to help NSA operators in the field determine whether other hackers were already present on a target system. Every other entry had a standard warning: 'known malware, pull back.' Every entry, that is, except one. FAST16's entry simply read, in all caps: 'FAST16, nothing to see here, carry on.' [1] — Juan Andrés Guerrero Saade "Out of an entire leaked NSA malware list, one entry stood completely apart: 'FAST16, nothing to see here, carry on' — in all caps, with no …" 03:35 No warning, no instruction — just a dismissal. For a budding cyber paleontologist, this was pure catnip. Jags rummaged through public malware archives until he located the actual FAST16 code, and began the slow, painstaking work of reconstructing its skeleton. But even after assembling the full structure, its secret mission eluded him — leading to months of what he calls 'cracked-out nights' and residence in 'the Valley of Despair.'
After months of fruitless nights failing to decode FAST16, Jags made a decision most researchers wouldn't: he tattooed 'FAST16, nothing to see here, carry on' on his arm — a permanent reminder of the unsolved mystery he refused to abandon.
The only clue Jags had to FAST16's existence was a single cryptic 6-word line in a leaked NSA malware list: 'FAST16, nothing to see here, carry on.'
