Slashdot Mirror
FBI Remotely Installs Spyware to Trace Bomb Threat
cnet-declan writes "There have been rumors for years about the FBI remotely installing spyware via e-mail or by exploiting an operating system vulnerability from afar — and now there's confirmation. Last month, the FBI obtained a federal court order to remotely install spyware called CIPAV (Computer and Internet Protocol Address Verifier) to find out who was behind a MySpace account linked to bomb threats sent to a high school near Olympia, Wash. News.com has posted a PDF of the FBI affidavit, which makes for interesting reading, and a summary of the CIPAV results that the FBI submitted to a magistrate judge. It seems as though CIPAV was installed via e-mail, as an article back in 2004 hinted was the case. In addition to reporting the computer's IP address, MAC address, and registry information, it also gave the FBI updates on which IP addresses the user(s) visited. But how did the FBI get the spyware activated and past anti-virus defenses? Two obvious ways are for the Feds to find and exploit their own operating system backdoors, or to compromise security vendors..."
You might not be sitting here right now and your neighborhood might have more of a crater shape. Think about that the next time you boot up Windows.
Moral of the story: if you want privacy, don't make bomb threats.
I'd be rather upset, if an American government agency were unable to find a way to find a (legal) way to penetrate an American-made operating system with or without cooperation of American computer-security firms to investigate bombs threats against an American school...
Yes, privacy is very important — unless you are dead, that is...
To protect a few hundreds of innocents from McCarthy-like harassment, America shackled its intelligence services in the past, which appears to have contributed substantially to the deaths of several thousands (and billions of dollars worth of destruction) in 2001 alone.
The pendulum is now swinging into the other direction and already there are dimwits, who break Godwin's Law and still get moderated to heavens by fellow dimwits... Something tells me, I will not be :-)
In Soviet Washington the swamp drains you.