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Computer Security Lacking at Homeland Security
peter303 writes "The New York Times (reg. required) reports that computer backup procedures are woefully inadequate at 19 centers of the Department of Homeland Security. Should this agency strive to be good example for the rest of the country and protect against extreme hackers? " From the article: "Adequate backups were lacking for networks that screen airline passengers, that inspect goods moving across borders and that communicate with department employees and outside officials.
Those same agencies, the auditors found, have in most cases failed to prepare sufficiently written disaster recovery plans that would guide operations if a main office or computer system was knocked out."
Oh what a delicious irony. Insecurity and the Dept of Security.
The days of the digital watch are numbered.
no shit sherlock
somehow surprising to people?
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There's no place like localhost
It is wrong that they don't have backups. However a lot of this data is stuff that I want to be on a server that crashes hard, without backups. Preferably in such a way that even disaster recovery places can't get the data back.
If they can trace down who's hacking them, they deserve a stiff jail time. Any one who attempts to hack homeland security computers knows that they're going to get serious jail time. Basically the only people who want to hack homeland security computers would be terrorists.
God spoke to me.
Don't take this as flamebait but I have the feeling that nobody's really trying hard enough to protect us. We stand an hour longer in the security line just so that people can bring explosives through in their shoes? Now they make us take our shoes off. What if someone brings explosives through in their pants?
Same here...they pretend to try to catch terorists when in reality the next power failiure could knock the whole list out.
~Ilyanep
To get message, take amount of carrier pigeons at each stage mod 2. Then decode binary.
remind me of 1940's Germany ?
It's easy to pick holes in the lack of backup of a system, but it's pointless when the system has no utility to begin with.
Something is lacking at Homeland Security???
Say it ain't so!
When are people in Washington going to wake up? It's probably going to take a Pearl Harbor style disaster for them to do something...
--
make install -not war
DHS has computer problems, sure, but the agency as a whole is a misguided waste of resources. It's probably better that it's computer systems don't work, otherwise they'd figure out a way to stop Ted Kennedy from driving or using an elevator in addition to not flying.
It's the Department of Homeland Security, not the Department of Computer Security. What do you expect?
"I'm sorry, Sir, you can't board. Our screening system is down."
"I've got a ticket. I've shown you my papers. You (and every RFID hacker within 50 feet of my entire path through this airport) have scrutinized my RFID passport. I've given my decilitre of blood for biometric screening. The plane is about to close door and push off. I'm returning home after 18 months dodging RPGs and Kalashnikov fire in Bagdhad, and I'm still in uniform. And you're telling me I can't board because you can't be sure I'm actually not bin Laden in extremely clever disguise?"
"No, Sir, I'm telling you that you can't board. Our screening system is down."
"This is unacceptable. Who is your supervisor?"
"That is classified. Please wait here. [whispers into radio: "Got another Gitmo client for ya."]
Welcome to the Panopticon. Used to be a prison, now it's your home.
This is very interesting news after Bush just got done saying how great the new patriot act is. It looks to me that our own security got lost while we were busy questioning the integrity of others. Between the roving wire-taps and the judge-less warrants, I think I deserve to know that the people taking away my information can keep it safe from others who would want to take it away.
Keep the faith, share the code
I'm assuming that there will be a lot of people who won't realize you're kidding.
Ben Hocking
Need a professional organizer?
I'm sure most of them would have been lost in transit via USPS by now.
Since when does failing to back up your hard drive make your system easier to hack into? If you're talking about them having poor data integrity that's one thing, but this doesn't seem to point to poor computer security.
Wake up - the future is arriving faster than you think.
Is anyone seriously surpised about this? I mean this department was cobbled together soooooo quickly its a wonder they can even function. I mean look at all the other departments of gov out their that have a barely functioning website. I don't know about you, but I have always found the most annoying websites to be government sites.
Madre de Dios! Es El Pollo Diablo! -- Captain Blondebeard
WTF are "Extreme hackers"?
People who crack Windows boxen while bungee jumping? Releasing IIS worms from a wi-fi enabled handheld in a canoe half-way down some whitewater rapids?
Or, y'know, just yet another pathetic attempt to make something fundamentally known and understood sound suddenly somehow exciting and dangerous?
Oh, and for reference? The "Extreme Hacker" your link's about was a 37 year-old script kiddie who Haxx0red Us government machines direct from his own home connection.
You couldn't get stupider (and less '1ee7) if you tried...
Everything in moderation, including moderation itself
Come on.
Is anyone really surprised that the Bush administration has done nothing significant right in the War on Terror?
The agencies still can't communicate, they're security holes in themselves, our resources are diverted to a fanatical war in Iraq that has nothing to do with terror in America, and we find that the greatest threat to the safety of Americans today is the lies the President told or ordered to be told in order to get 1500 kids killed in a place he admits we had no pressing reason to attack.
This isn't a troll. It's a list of the facts. Anyone disagreeing can disagree, but will be fighting the truth. Consider that before posting political dogma.
what a huge surprise that an enormous government agency would be totally unprepared to deal with many of the contigencies it was created to handle. No government agency will ever be as secure or prepared as it should be. Have you seen these morons holding up walls at the airport? I don't see them doing anything but standing there. They've got 47 employees per machine, but only 3 of them actually doing anything. The beauty of bureacracy is that 33 people can do what it would take one private sector employee to do.
forty-two
"Should this agency strive to be good example for the rest of the country and protect against extreme hackers?"
No. It's not their job. If the institution has to exist, it should outsource the IT stuff.
When they founded the US government, they weren't trying to make a good example about computer security. They were trying to protect human rights. Let's stick to that. Everything else should be up to free enterprise.
are the http://www.whitehouse.org/">felons-in-command.
More http://www.cursor.org/">dirt on the felons-in-command.
Put that in your bong and inhale.
Thanks for nothing.
Patriotically as always,
Kilgore Trout, CEO
As a rather well-known cyber-security consultant (you'd know my $450/hr name, I guarantee it) at Foundstone, I can tell you what the problem is - the lack of a comprehensive, rehearsed disaster recovery plan. It really isn't that hard, to implement it correctly, I always recommend this (clients are always amazed by its brilliance and simplicity) - every night, copy all of your company's critical data to a CD, and have EACH EMPLOYEE TAKE HOME A COPY.
Bam - that pops, it sizzles, as we say in the consulting biz. Simple yet EXTREMELY effective.
Now, if you want anymore advice, its gonna cost ya - ($450/hr)
Ideally they would be able to do a trade with those shifty HUD bastards whereby they trade funding for storage of embarrising documents;-)
If brevity is the soul of wit, then how does one explain Twitter?
This reminds me of a story. I once worked for a company that specialized in tape backup software, name withheld. (I worked on Long Island then, not the on the plains of CHEYENNE, so don't try to guess the name of the company.) A few months after I stopped working there, I received a phone call from my ex-manager that went something like this:
Mgr: So how's it going? Blah blah blah...
Me: It's fine. Blah blah blah...
Mgr: So..um..did you ever "borrow" a copy of the source code to the Disaster Recovery solution that you single-handedly wrote? You know, for "posterity" reasons?
Me: Of course I didn't. That wouldn't be ethical for sure and probably would be illegal. Why do you ask?
Mgr: Well, it seems that the hard drive that your machine used crashed and we don't have a backup.
Yep. That's because no one is looking at the systems and processes with the intent of actually improving them.
Instead, we have knee-jerk reactions from people who do NOT understand security who attempt to compensate for previous attacks with new rules/regs.
And the "pretend" is the problem. That's exactly what they're doing. And they're hoping that the public will accept that as them actually doing something about the problem.
It's all about the public perception of the issue.
The same as it is in all aspects of politics.
As long as there isn't a power outage, they're doing a "good" job, as far as the public is concerned.
If there is a power outage, then it comes down to whom they can blame.
It's a lot easier and far more cost effective for the politicians to be re-active rather than pro-active.
Which is why security is NOT something that ANYONE should allow a politician to be involved in.
From the summary (no, I'm not going to RTFA when the subject and summary are so far out of whack):
Adequate backups were lacking for networks that ... in most cases failed to prepare sufficiently written disaster recovery plans that would ..."
So, if I have valid backups of all the patient data here, I guess those HIPAA security requirements are met, eh? Or do I have to have valid backups and a DR plan to achieve 'computer security' nirvana?
Now, if the issue were that their backup tapes were going offsite, unsecured and unencrypted, then the subject might make sense. But, this is silliness. Almost as silly as the DHS itself (hint: The Department of Homeland Security isn't supposed to keep the people safe from terrorists, it's supposed to keep the government safe...think about that one), but...whatever. (sigh)
the U/L doesn't work... phooey T-T
while you are at it why don't you provide us with some usable SSN too? You know I don't wanna be registered ;)
Here, you can use mine. I figure since social security will be gone soon it doesn't matter if anyone/everyone has my number anymore...Anyways, enjoy!
078-05-1120
I'll turn into a supernova and burn up everything. Well I'll turn into a black little hole and you'll turn into string.
Governments are hopeless at dealing with security. They are slow, lack innovative thinking and care more for their own careers than for their constituents. What matters most is whether or not you can protect yourself, your assets and your family when (if) the time comes. Then you can rid your mind of all the political and media led one-upmanship that comes along with security and the war on terrorism and get more important things done in life.
1. The entire DHS electronic infrastructure buildout was outsourced to a private defense contractor at a fixed budget cost. Pretty clearly, when money runs out, compromises need to be made. Obviously, backups were one of those compromises. I can also guarantee you that you don't have top industry minds in the SOC at DHS, and this organization is going to need serious help over the next few years to remediate all the things that they're breaking "out of the gate." 2. The title "the world's best hacker" could only be made up by someone as lame as the British media. I'm sure that ass clown was way to busy writing exploits to ever post meaningful or useful information to anywhere frequented by actual, knowledgable network security people. In short, what i'm saying is that he's a script kiddie who can code shell. /rant
-- http://www.criticalassets.com
Don't worry about it. As soon as any data appears on a DHS computer, someone will hack into it and copy the data to an offsite location...
The NSA: The only part of the US government that actually listens.
that is all :)
DoD and DoHS have many unsecured wireless hotspots where it was discovered that there are people who use to break in their networks and pirate internet usage...
These guys really need to start getting their acts together >.
An interesting link.
I haven't got mod points for years, maybe because i like to ridicule those silly yanks. But assuming the parent is a USian, this one shows some severe signs of intelligence. No if the rest of them...
This space is intentionally staring blankly at you
And this is the reason why I won't ever fly commercial again. Everything I've ever hated about flying has only gotten worse since That Day.
It must be Windows. It needs half a gig of RAM and a hardware-accelerated graphics card just to run Solitaire.
hey buddy I think you got the wrong forum. Here people look for nerds not faggets.
After 9/11, yes. Or did that NOT change everything as the president keeps reminding us?
"The War in Iraq has a LOT to do with terrorism."
It had very little to do with it, and was far down the list of hot spots that needed attention. For one thing, they might have finished the job in Afghanistan, instead of allowing most of the country to fall back under the control of war lords and Taliban.
"Saddam and his Baath party provided sanctuary, training camps and funding for Al-Queda. To deny that is to deny FACTS, hard evidence and the statements of terrorists themselves."
He funded Palestinian terrorist activities, but had no connect to al Qaeda, except perhaps as a friend of a friend of a friend sort of thing. Bin Laden considered Saddam an enemy, after all.
"He would have provided WMDs when he got his programs back together when the UN got tired to looking and went back home."
The UN showed no inclination to go home, but was chased out of the country before they could get the job done by Bush in his rush to war. Think of all the American lives who could have been saved if Bush had just allowed the inspections to find out what we now all know: No WMDs.
Consider this flamebait if you wish, but that is how i see events from an european perspective.
Since 9/11, the goverment of USA has been granted extra money, extra legal rights, extra measures and lives to defend against the 'terrorist threat'. I find it extremely ironic, let me tell you why.
First, what did the government do in the last years to improve security? A lot of in-depth reports and analysis say that the results can be barely registered as an improvement, meanwhile being a major annoyance to the ordinary person. The terrorist threat will not be stopped by technology. Humans drive technological advancement and can defeat technology just the same way (if you consider humans to be an advanced piece of engineering, it can be seen clearly). The only way is to convince people, so basically through political and demographical measures, in which areas the USA managed to alienate a sizable chunk of the world after 9/11.
So what do you managed to do in 4 years? The threat level increased in your country by your own actions, working technological measures could have been taken to decrease that risk, but instead the government ended up scaring people to give them more rights and tools. My post is not only related to this particular article, since i try to paint the bigger picture. Placing this particular article in the context of the proposed extension of the Patriot act, the increase in government buerocracy, the laws which you cannot know about but are subject to, the discrimination of muslim people (at customs, and generally in the us administration), the questionable state of DMCA and associated measures, etc. indicates that people need to question the government's actions. To sum it up what i find extremely ironic is that the government promised security and an indefinite fight against a concept (terrorism) and in the process you ended up with less security and less rights.
It takes a man to suffer ignorance and smile
Be yourself no matter what they say
A standard example of the 3 biggest lies in the world.
3. I promise not to come in your mouth
2. The check is in the mail
1. We're from the Government & we're here to help you
Time flies like an arrow, fruit flies like a banana.
. . . or some punk hijacked the password!
Backups are part of an overall security strategy, comprising, to use a well-worn phrase, confidentiality, integrity and availability. In a broad sense, you can apply this to DHS' "mission" (such as it is) as well. And yes, a DR plan, especially for an organization which is supposedly so "critical" to the nation's safety, is part of the whole shebang.
What's this have to do with HIPAA?
Cole's Law: Thinly sliced cabbage
Disaster Recovery and Backups are parts of an overall security plan, but are not the only parts.
*rant mode: enable*
The above scenario really pisses me off, and it is a scenario that I see has a real probability of happening, all the more so because of the moronic alarmist intimidating position that the powers that be have taken about this whole national security thing. (Something similar, though not necessarily technology related happened during the "war" in Afghanistan when a wounded army Lt. was told he could not bring the wire clippers, that he could use to cut the wire holding his wounded jaw shut in case he started to choke, on the plane).
As a reservist, the scenario gets me going even more because I could see it happening to a fellow reservist. Not only do you have a brave young man or woman who has, regardless of whether you think it right or wrong, been dodging bullets and rockets in humvee's with barely improvised armour, but who has also made the sacrifice as a reservist, by being away from their family and their chosen life in the line of duty. To me, if one of my shipmates who'd been on a year's deployment over there had this happen to them, it would be the ultimate smack in the face. "Thanks for serving, here's what we think of you!"
I think by and large that most people, regardless of how they feel about the greater agenda, wouldn't hesitate to give a helping hand to that single instance of a citizen soldier. Except, of couse, for those big wigs who make policy, and to whom every man woman and child is guilty until proven innocent in the name of "homeland security".
*rant mode: disable*
Dear,
The Social Security Administration is reviewing our records and it appears you information for SS# 078-05-1120 is out of date.
Please reply to update with your correct date of birth and home address.
Sinceerly
Social Secureity Dept.
Beauty is in the eye of the beerholder.
I'd say the DHS has much bigger problems on their hands.
They only have to post his information on their servers and the hackers will stay away.
"The likes of Facebook and WhatsApp are free to those whose privacy is of zero value."
Bug Me Not, for all your registration bypassing needs.
" What do backups have to do with security? (Score:3, Insightful) by MythoBeast (54294) on Thursday June 09, @12:28PM (#12770125) (http://www.mythologicalbeast.org/ | Last Journal: Monday September 08, @02:27PM) Since when does failing to back up your hard drive make your system easier to hack into? If you're talking about them having poor data integrity that's one thing, but this doesn't seem to point to poor computer security."
/. is full of enough computer literate people to know that. Please explain to me how not making a backup makes one more suspectible to a hack. Okay, so if you did get hacked, you risk losing everything when you don't have a backup. But if you store that backup on another network drive you are MORE susceptible because you have more data spread out and available to hack.
No kidding. Backups in one hand, security in the other. I'm sure
Sounds like an excuse to bring up other arguments, which it seems most on here have chosen to do.
"As a rather well-known cyber-security consultant (you'd know my $450/hr name, I guarantee it) at Foundstone, I can tell you what the problem is - the lack of a comprehensive, rehearsed disaster recovery plan. It really isn't that hard, to implement it correctly, I always recommend this (clients are always amazed by its brilliance and simplicity) - every night, copy all of your company's critical data to a CD, and have EACH EMPLOYEE TAKE HOME A COPY."
You've got to be kidding. This wouldn't even work for a business. So you are going to give EVERY employee access to everything in the business, trade secrets and all? And how are you going to ensure that the disc doesn't leave the employees possesion, and that old discs get destoryed? Plus, even the relatively small business that I work for has 20gig or more of things that should be backed up. How are you going to send that home? DVDs? Or an external backup drive for each employee?
And the key point that everyone seems to be missing is that the point of all this extra spending is to make Americans, on average, FEEL safer. Doesn't really have to be safer. It's all part of the media/government spin on the truth. The war has a lot to do with terrorism because without terrorism there wouldn't be a lot of support for what the gov wants to get done. It's all politics. Look, if 9/11 never happened, do you think anybody would really support the actions we are taking across seas? It was a perfect time for the gov to expand their control and finish the job on Iraq. Whether the gov did this "primetime for action" tactic on purpose or they truthfully believed in what they were reporting to the public is up for debate. I'm dissapointed and scared to see so many of my fellow citizens willfully give up many rights for "safety" from perceived threats. Reminds me of the mob and extortion money: "We'll provide you safety for this price".
Without politics, there would be a lot less crime. Why, you ask? Because there are a lot of measures that could be taken to drastically reduce crime that are poltically-incorrect or unpopular. Same goes for economic policy. There are times when a temporary tax hike would benefit the country immensely, yet no politician would want to back that platform.
It will be interesting to see what happens in the next few years. A lot of universities have adopted programs for computer security due to the increase in demand for KNOWLEDGABLE staff. Seems to me a lot of these guys were raised on networking and know little about security and forensics, at least compared to what they would be expected to know.
Accountability starts at the top. If DHS is as critical as they pretend it is, then someone needs to pay for this bonehead ploy.
Someone in authority needs a little jail time to put them in the right frame of reference. And just for kicks, tell the other inmates that the crime was molesting children.
Just remember that nothing gets done well outside the private sector. Nothing.
Funny, I delete all of my backups before I make them. I figure if it's important, I will just rewrite it.
Choose Genlink
They are angry at the hacker who "deleted" data. If they had no backups, they are sure worried
I think this is my favorite part. SOP is to appoint a panel and narrowly define their charge. Extra points if the committee doesn't have subpoena power.
After a year or so, the panel finds that no single person is to blame, and that the "culture" needs to change. They write a report. Maybe people read it. The report goes on a shelf. Nobody loses their job. Eventually, things will hit the fan again and a new panel can be appointed. Witness the Challenger and Columbia reports.
The 9/11 panel is one of the few to have any kind of follow through, and they are doing on their own.
Someday a Slashdot ID of 177180 will mean something.
Security? The same argument may be applied to politicians running the economy and creating legislation and regulations, too.
Perhaps we ought to look into education so our peasants aren't so damn gullible to the wiles of politicians.
"Provided by the management for your protection."
I have always wondered why it was not called the deptartment of offence.
The days of the digital watch are numbered.
I think these government goon squads need an outside audit from someone in private industry. That would straighten their shit out.
We play the game with the bravery of being out of range
They are more worried about data security then they are worried about securing the borders. Funny, I can just imagine the scenario played out in a congressional hearing AFTER a NBC weapon (Nuke/Bio/Chem not that other WMD, know as the NBC network) goes off in a major population sector.
Congressional Stooge1: According to this report, you, Mr. DHS IT Guy failed to do your job. Sensitive data was lost or destroyed, data that when analyzed could have saved the lives of millions of people.
Ofcourse that is what they would say, they would wring their hands and not blame the real culprit (lack of PROPERLY ANALYZED intel and porous borders). No no, dont blame the real culprit, dont take responsibility whatever you do!
Whatever you do, pander to the illegal immigrants. Pander to the special interest groups, Pander to the muslims that want us dead... sell our souls and country to the corporations that exploit us and mortgage our lives for pennies.
Dont say "dont blame me, I voted for the other guy". In the end you are still part of the problem, because instead of America boycotting our own elections (or overthrowing the government ;) until we have real choice. You know, not just coke or pepsi but a real third, fourth or even fifth choice. We should follow the founding fathers wisdom and end party politics that ruin our country. Dem or Rep, no matter who wins we all get screwed... including those in other countries.
Funny how foreigners hate our foreign policy, while anyone who lives in the USA thinks our domestic policy is in shambles, in one way or another we think it could be better.
We need a real libertarian candidate next election, President L. Neil Smith just rolls of the tongue...
"It's too bad she won't live, but then again who does?" - Gaff
"Government reported incompetent at everything, including invading other nations."
Film at 11.
Richard Steven Hack - This sig is TOO GODDAMN SHORT TO DO ANYTHING USEFUL WITH! MORONS!
Having not RTFA and "security" aside, the lack of backups seems to be quite common in the government facilities I've worked in. Developers bandstand about regular backups, disaster recover plans, and offsite backup storage, and nothing is done. And when the servers do fail and the backup tapes "seem to have not worked", the US gov has got to be the only major institution where the admin don't get fired. Just more of the same.
Those same agencies, the auditors found, have in most cases failed to prepare sufficiently written disaster recovery plans that would guide operations if a main office or computer system was knocked out.
Hint hint....
don't do it, it's a trap!
Security is all of our concern, individually. It is not a job for government. The Private Sector seems able to rise to most occasions and when it comes to security, I leave mine in the capable hands of Col. Colt If he is unavailabale I have been known at times to employ the services of a a Mr Ruger. The firm of Smith and Wesson have also shown promise in this field.
- Minutus cantorum, minutus balorum, minutus carborata descendum pantorum.
I'm not talking about special treatment nor do I think hassling members of the military is necessary. I suppose it comes down to the fact that I don't think anybody should be treated like that.
Agreed. What I should have said is "Members of the military should be exactly as likely to be hassled exactly as much as any other poor schmuck." I don't think that the tyrant-in-a-teapot sort of behavior of many members of the TSA is making anyone safer, and I don't approve of it at all. I just think that if it's going to happen, it would be most safe and most fair to have it dished out uniformly.
If the military trusts these documents enough for their own security purposes, then airport security should, too.
There, I'm not sure I agree. That's expecting a lot of knowledge (training) from the airline security folks. Some of that knowledge is probably the sort of thing that someone like you has absorbed by immersion in military culture, so to you it seems like simple, obvious, common-sense stuff. It wouldn't be to outsiders like the TSA inspectors, though. Something like this could actually make new problems for members of the military, given the TSA's record so far.
And no matter how you slice it, accepting a different (military) form of documentation from one class of passengers (military) is a form of "special treatment". Not in the sense of privileged treatment, but in the sense of a special case. Special cases tend to be where mistakes happen, whether one is writing computer code, or, I'd guess, securing an airport. I think that special cases should be avoided in principle if possible.
So they don't have a written disaster recovery plan -- how terrible. I'm a DBA, and I have six or seven disaster recovery plans, all neatly typed, with lots of polysyllabic verbiage, designed to impress auditors. They have official stamps and signatures of various company officials, and are kept in various safes etc. Unfortunately, the short version all this wated paper and time is "If the server crashes, we'll restore it from backup. If local backups are not available, we'll use off-site backups."
So, having jumped through hoops, and burned a considerable number of company hours complying with ever-dumber requirements, can anybody tell me how this would actually help me recover from a real disaster? It's freaking common sense.
So, while they may not be setting a good example for us corporate drones, I have a hard time seeing this as a SECURITY FAILURE!. Get a grip -- their Sysops and DBA's probably have a clue about data recovery even without an official plan.
Some people still don't get the fact that "Homeland Security" is a political creature that is supposed to make people feel better because they "think" the government is doing something to "prevent" terrorism, when in fact their rights are being violated while they are looking the other way...
When did a law EVER stop a crime? Criminals BY DEFINTION don't give a damn about the law.
How does searching your checked luggage prevent an aircraft from being high-jacked? How many terrorists have access to the cargo bay to get their weapon out of their checked luggage mid flight?
And how does taking people's civil liberties away prevent acts of terror? Sure, you can arrest a lot of people. Almost everyone has SOMETHING to hide - cheating, in one way or another, is human nature. The more you look, the more you will find. And when we are all tarred with the same brush and calling each other terrorists and ciminals, what then?
Don't tell me that all this craziness has prevented other buildings from being knocked down even if the politicians would have you think this is the case. The criminal, unfortunately, always has the first move. And people are surprised when they can't even protect their computers...
Seven puppies were harmed during the making of this post.
I have rarely seen a post that I wanted to mod insightful more than yours. I am without mod points today though so I will repeat your words.
Perhaps we ought to look into education so our peasants aren't so damn gullible to the wiles of politicians.
strike
"Someone needs to talk to the tree of liberty about its ghoulish drinking problem." by ohnocitizen
It should be obvious that this would happen.
Rather than taking the necessary steps to prevent most malicious hacking, just blame it on the hackers; say that there's 'no way' to secure against them.
Of course, there's really no guaranteed way to defend yourself against the truly superb hackers; but if you don't take the time to properly secure yourself, you get loonies in your box.
Show this to your friends and family that don't know what a real hacker is