On Thursday , the Shadow Brokers dumped Attack.Databreach them online after an attempt to sell these and other supposedly Windows and Unix hacking tools for bitcoin . The Shadow Brokers made news back in August when they dumped Attack.Databreach hacking tools for routers and firewall products that they claimed came from the Equation Group , a top cyberespionage team that some suspect works for the NSA . Those tools contained several previously unknown and valuable exploits , lending credibility to the hacking group 's claims , according to security researchers . The Shadow Brokers ' latest dump Attack.Databreach includes 61 files , many of which have never been seen by security firms before , said Jake Williams , founder of Rendition InfoSec , a security provider . He ’ s been examining the tools , and said it ’ ll take time to verify their capabilities . His initial view is that they ’ re designed for detection evasion . For instance , one of the tools is built to edit Windows event logs . Potentially , a hacker could use the tool to selectively delete notifications and alerts in the event logs , preventing the victim from realizing they ’ ve been breached , he said . “ If you simply remove a record or two , then even an organization that is following the best security practices , presumably , wouldn ’ t notice the change , ” he said . On Thursday , the Shadow Brokers said they released the Windows hacking tools for free because a Kaspersky Lab ’ s antivirus product could already flag them as harmful . The clandestine group previously tried to auction off a whole set of hacking tools for 1 million bitcoins or what was at the time US $ 584 million . But after several months , that auction only managed to generate 10 bitcoins . “ Despite theories , it always being about bitcoins for TheShadowBrokers , ” the group said in broken English in their supposed final message . However , Williams believes the Shadow Brokers are likely spies working for the Russian government . This latest dump was a message to the U.S , he said . In recent weeks , U.S. intelligence agencies have been claiming the Kremlin tried to influence the U.S. election . Based on those findings , President Barack Obama has already ordered sanctions against Russia and vowed covert action . “ If they are Russian , this is a shot across the bow , ” Williams said . It ’ s unclear how the Shadow Brokers managed to steal Attack.Databreach the hacking tools . The group has said their arsenal of supposed Linux and Windows-based hacking tools is still up for sale at 10,000 bitcoins . On Thursday , Microsoft said it 's investigating this latest batch of hacking tools that have been released