A 19-year-old hacker used VPNs, tunneling tools, and rotated IPs across 3 countries. The FBI still caught him. Here's the Windows feature that made it possible and why it should concern everyone.
Peter Stokes, an alleged member of Scattered Spider (the group behind $100M+ in ransomware extortion), was arrested at Helsinki Airport this April. Court documents revealed a key piece of evidence: Microsoft's GDID.
What is a GDID?
GDID = Global Device Identifier. It's a unique code baked into every Windows installation. Microsoft uses it for telemetry, crash reports, feature usage, and license verification (it's why swapping your CPU can break your Windows activation).
What Microsoft gave the FBI:
→ Web activity with timestamps
→ Gaming history
→ IP addresses used over time
→ Tool usage (including Ngrok, a tunneling app)
→ Azure account activity
All tied to one persistent device fingerprint. Even though the VPN masked his IP, it didn't affect the GDID.
How they connected the dots:
Every time Stokes logged in to Snapchat, Apple, or Facebook from a new IP address, the GDID was there too. Investigators matched timestamps across platforms and countries: Tallinn, New York, Thailand, Germany. Different IPs. Same machine. Same person.
Microsoft had already identified him in October 2024 and filed a criminal referral. He was still 17. So they waited till He turned 18. Then they moved.
Yes, Stokes is accused of serious crimes. But the GDID data exists on every Windows machine, including yours. The infrastructure that handed his entire digital life to the FBI is the same infrastructure running on your laptop right now.
The unanswered questions:
- There's no public policy on when Microsoft shares GDID data
- No known opt-out mechanism
- No transparency report specifically covering GDID disclosures
- What other criminal referrals has Microsoft quietly filed?
🇯🇵 Shocking Muslim behavior in Japan, according to Asahi News, during the Otsuchi floods.
About 20 Indonesian Muslims evacuated to a gymnasium shelter and began complaining they couldn't eat the bentos because of pork and alcohol. The aid workers then removed pork sausages from their meals however the Muslims continued to complain as the pork had touched the food.
Furthermore, Women avoided shared baths (modesty rules) and cleaned themselves at a small sink instead, splashing water everyone on the floor causing people to slip.
Absolutely outrageous behavior during a national emergency.
https://t.co/NonA6JLyZU
@EBitcoinx@Michaeach3 yes they are burning japanese shrine
not starving them instead raping underage woman
yes they attacking kid and murdering them
yes they occupied hokkaido
Let’s be honest about what’s happening here - the entire British state is stacked against young white straight British men - all this protected characteristic bullshit. I am so sick of it.
Restore Britain will rip it out. That I promise you.
Burn the Equality Act. We will treat all equally. A black man will have no built-in advantages over a white man. That will end.
We will restore fairness.
The Equality Act is the most poisonous legislation and I will take immense joy in grounding it into dust.
Policing.
We have just published a 140 page policy document with fairness at the heart of it.
The DEI cancer will be surgically removed from the police force. If malign individuals continue to promote this political ideology, they will be sacked - even prosecuted where necessary.
Restore Britain is not just shouting into the sky about it - we have outlined exactly how we will fix it. In excruciating detail, step by step.
We are seeking the power to carpet-bomb DEI out of existence.
Because there is nothing wrong with being white. There is nothing wrong with being male. There is nothing wrong with being straight.
So when we see police officers treat young white men with an entirely different level of force and aggression compared to black men, I can say with absolute confidence that a Restore Britain Government will end that. Immediately.
I detest it all so very much.
DEI is a racist infestation that must be removed.
I hope you consider giving us the power to do exactly that.
The far-radical wanker left loves this kind of “culture” being flooded into the West!
The far-radical left wankers claim to support women, yet they allow barbaric practices to thrive because of their dumb ideological standpoints.
It’s the suicidal empathy on wanking steroids.