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FBI Agent Talks Crime, Macs
hype7 writes "There's an article at SecurityFocus describing a visit an FBI agent to Washington University. His visit was ostensibly about computer security and the general public's complete lack of any idea on computer security whatsoever: 'I have spent a considerable amount in the computer underground and have seen many ways in which clever individuals trick unsuspecting users. I don't think most people have a clue just how bad things are.' His talk ranged from some of the pranks he's seen played on unsuspecting users, to Eastern European extortion of big banks." WeakGeek added, "FBI security guys are using Macs because, 'those machines can do just about anything: run software for Mac, Unix, or Windows, using either a GUI or the command line. And they're secure out of the box.' Another good quote: 'If you're a bad guy and you want to frustrate law enforcement, use a Mac.'"
That said, this is an interesting article even if it does read like it's from the FBI PR department. Interesting to see the bit about them having trouble working with Macs for forensic data recovery.
There was Cowboy Neal at the wheel of a bus to never-ever land.
'those machines can do just about anything: run software for Mac, Unix, or Windows, using either a GUI or the command line. And they're secure out of the box.'
They're only secure because, with such a minimal share, nobody cares about breaking into one. Apple have had several fixes just in the last few months fixing remote root access vulnerabilities. They're just as insecure as any other OS out there.
There's just not enough of them to care about.
"If you're a bad guy and you want to frustrate law enforcement, use a Mac.'"
Br> What an advertising campaign that would be eh?
Um, don't you have a Windows security patch to go download?
Um, no. Don't run much windows. Run OSS.
Yeah, the brainwashing of the consumer. A la Microsoft, a la Apple. A la insinuate yourself into educational institutions and catch 'em while they're young. A way of doing software/hardware/computing in exact opposition to something like, say, the Debian manifesto. Come on, you know, it's been talked about before, the consumer comes last. What do you think Steve Jobs is capable of doing if it means more market share? If it means taking a share out of Microsoft's music downloads market. Taking a share out of the Unix market? The Linux market. He saw the BSD stuff there for the taking, with no obligation to give back. He took.
Move on, theres nothing to see here.
... like some would say about various versions of linux ... its simply because not enough people use it to be a suitable target. Not enough bang for the buck.
This is nothing but a Mac advertising campaign.
Use Macs and be an uber cool undetectable underground hacker!
If Macs can't be hacked
Move on, go back and hide in the obscurity of your poor choice in operating systems.
George Bush + Linux = "I will not let information get in the way of the fight against Windows"
"If you are are a faggot and want to impress other faggots, use a Macintosh."
How about those with skill. They use Linux.
Macs are for Narcs and Grandmas.
Faggots.
That should be:
If you're a stuipd bad guy and you want to frustrate law enforcement, use a Mac
Mac OS X is for guys with goatees who wear turtle necks, have horn rimmed glasses, and greasy looking hair that they spent an hour primping to make it look like they just woke up. They're the assholes who order venti non-fat caramel machiados with steamed skim soy milk and take it in the ass. Admit it you little faggot.
SAME THING!! Its a CRIME to call a mac a computer!!! X86 for ever!!!!!!!
:0 + ---- + "\ = STONED
note:
I dont want X86 For ever... just not PPC or anything else branded apple unless its an Ipod, Which I also hate.....just not that much...
I truely hope they do move to a diffent type of processor...just wont happen with these X86 and then some extra crap intel chips... (i.e. SSE MMX SSE2 ect.)
BTW: normaly I would make sense but im hella stoned and this is as good as it gets
ME | PIPE | Lighter
SOLITSOV
Show me a reason why OS X should have ldd when the superior otool exists. C'mon! To make you feel more comfortable? To make you feel more loved?
Dude, if you're a developer doing cross platform development, then turn around and complain how annoyed you were at not finding ldd, discontinue cross-platform development. If you can't even be bothered to check the unix rosetta stone for something that simple, then you're not the kind of battle-hardened, talented person that is required to do real cross-platform development.
Cross-platform development requires *standards* to work, not the balls of any particular developer. I could give a damn about how cool a coder you are... if what you write isn't compliant with the rest of the stuff that's out there, then it might as well not have been written at all.
--- Journals are boring; Go to my web page instead
This also means that they all must be gay!
Odd...see, I can run my software updates from the command line too in Linux, bu then, by default it can also check automagically for me every week. Of course, I can change that setting any way I want to.
And I can do all sorts of things, make it update every time I log in, every day, every hour, every 20 minutes. I can even set it to never update unless I explicitly tell it too! All with my GPL OS.
Oh, and one thing, I can look through the updates it sends down the tube and pick and choose which parts of the OS I want updated and which I don't feel should be updated...every little part if I want. Or I could just say update everything and I don't want to worry about it. Amazing.
"Music is everybody's possession. It's only publishers who think that people own it." - John Lennon.
Leave it to Slashdot to show blatent bias and complete disregard for fact.
But I guess thats why I work in computer security, and you guys are Slashdot reading hobbyists. So, carry on with your illusion of security. One day, probably soon, it will bite you in the ass.
Manipulate the moderator system! Mod someone as "overrated" today.