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DVD Porn Viruses Ravage US Soldiers' Computers
stevegee58 writes "Tom Ricks' Inbox in the Sunday Washington Post reported that bootleg DVDs purchased in Iraqi markets ('souks') are frequently infected with viruses. Iraqi soldiers were affected as well; electronic interaction between Iraqi and US soldiers frequently resulted in a corresponding exchange of viruses from these infected DVDs."
Gets a whole new meaning now.
Buffalo buffalo Buffalo buffalo buffalo buffalo Buffalo buffalo!
Are these the old Sony disks they're talking about?
Is crushing a suspect's child's testicles illegal?
John Yoo: "No, [if] the President thinks he needs to do that."
From personal experience, believe me, Iraqi porn isn't worth it.
We need to send them virus free porn. Gentlemen time to dump your hard drives to DVD.
The shift key: the condom of the Windows world.
Hardware: Don't allow DVD drives.
Software 1: Ummm, Anti-virus software? Hello?
Software 2: Run a VM when accessing DVDs.
Best: Run a Linux distro.
Ok, I'm sure that these aren't necessarily the best solutions (except the last one) but it's something.
The simple truth is that interstellar distances will not fit into the human imagination
- Douglas Adams
"Iraqi soldiers are affected as well."
Wow, a porn virus that can make the jump from DVD to human?
I want to delete my account but Slashdot doesn't allow it.
When I was in Thailand in 1974, htere were only three places to get cassettes: The Base Exchange (other brances called it the Post Exchange), there there were practically no tapes I wanted to hear, but there were blanks; a government-provided tape center with a library of high quality reel to reels with a good selection that you could copy to cassette; or the local market, where you could get poor-quality copies of damned ner anything.
Tha bad part about the bootlegs from town was the fact that they were analog - the quality left much to be desired. Some had skips that came from the LPs they were recorded from.
The good part about the bootlegs from town was the fact that they were analog - you weren't going to infect your cassette player with XCP or some other virus.
-mcgrew
mcgrew's razor: Never attribute to stupidity that which can be explained by greedy self-interest
Because as we all know Internet is for porn.
Your child support payments support your kids (assuming they don't live with you), and your taxes support the troops (assuming they don't live with you).
I support the troops. I'm getting a troop support rebate check this month, too!
-mcgrew
mcgrew's razor: Never attribute to stupidity that which can be explained by greedy self-interest
This must have been what they had in mind when the movie studios insisted on strict region coding on DVD's, they had our best interest in mind all along.
This sounds like a fairly big national security issue to me...
Now, I do realize that these computers operate on separate networks, but traveling disks that are frequently infected presents an issue. Or, put another way, a tempting target for foreign intelligence.
And before you jump to the 'impossible' conclusion, consider this: What are those Iraqi officers trading with our soldiers by thumb drive? Is it ALL unsec material? NONE of it is of ANY operational importance? Really? Really, really?
That strains disbelief...
And consider this: If the portable drives were intentionally infected by a custom virus designed by, oh say, a super power, would the sec networks have a chance to detect it?
My network would not. I'm certain of that. And I'm also fairly certain that I have far less BillyWare than they do in their deployment.
I was stationed in Kuwait in '06-07. We were warned about buying DVDs in Iraq (I would cross the border a couple of times a month) because of viruses. The one specific story i was told was the compromised PCs became part of a botnet which attacked various Israeli internet sites and Playboy.com. I dont know why the skinnies had a mad-on for Hef, i guess they just hate our freedom ;).
..and you won't get infected. This has been a health and safety message from your friendly neighborhood anarchist.
Once more unto the breach, dear friends, once more, Or close the wall up with our American dead!
Windows likes to automatically execute programs on media you insert... Never heard of autorun?
Yes, it's a ridiculously insecure idea, most people wouldn't even have considered the possibility of automatically executing programs on inserted media, but microsoft did for some reason.
http://spamdecoy.net - free throwaway anonymous email - avoid spam!
Queue the camel jokes in 3...2...1..
'The tyrant will always find pretext for his tyranny.' - Aesop's Fables
I have spent a good deal of time at these markets, and I can testify that I saw no porn. Ever. I never saw porn, alcohol, or drugs at these markets. Maybe these porn DVDs were passed around sub rosa or something.
:)
Here is what you CAN find in the markets (even on base): Fake cigarettes, fake cigars, fake Rolexes, fake Nikes, fake anything. Imitation Apple products- headphones, iPod cases, even fake iPods. No fake zunes, though...
In an area about the size of a high school gymnasium, about 80% of the space was filled with bootleg DVDs and software. I don't mean bootleg like the MPAA wants you think bootleg; I mean actual printed DVDs out of japan or taiwan. Some were really crappy theater-cams but many were very good copies of promos and the like. I watch 300, letters from Iwo Jima, Black Snake Moan, and many others before or very shortly after theater release. It was awesome
I also got all ten (at the time) seasons of south park on 4 DVDs for $25. Sweet.
So, here we have this article that, while it may be true, seems to completely miss the point. It's like saying that, "Magazines such as hustler are causing massive deforestation and are filling our landfills." It is just trying to sensationalize the situation. Which is weird, since there are so many other, BIGGER things out there to write about. Try this, RIAA: The base media server, loaded with ~180 GB of music, is free to anyone who wants to download from it. You can get 180 GB hdds at the BX. Oh and there is the movie server, loaded with hundreds of titles. All free for the taking. And this author chose to write about porn? Whatever. Iraq is the wild, wild middle east. Everything goes.
-b
No offense, but I've stopped responding to AC's.
"You don't win a war by jacking off for your country. You win a war by making the other bastard jack off for ~his~ country!"
Rich And Stupid is not so bad as Working For Rich And Stupid.
I thought supporting piracy was supporting terrorism, so if U.S. troops are buying pirate dvd's (in Iraq of all places) doen't that mean U.S. troops are supporting terrorism??
The weekend has landed. All that exists now is clubs, drugs, pubs and parties. I've got 48 hours off from the world, man
>I support the troops. I'm getting a troop support rebate check this month, too!
I support the troops sooooo much that i don't qualify for a troop support rebate check
Having been to Iraq before, I can say with 100% certainty that porn is supposed to be off limits to soldiers. That being the case, where are they purchasing these DVDs from? Are they stopping convoys to buy them from Iraqi markets, or are they seriously not watching what the Iraqis are selling on U.S. bases anymore?
Thank you for your service. The trolls here don't seem to understand that they probably wouldn't have the freedom to post offensive jokes were it not for you and your ilk.
I'd also add that the average literacy rate in the armed forces is higher than the national average.
It isn't an executable...just a bunch of vob files really isn't it? How does one get a virus by playing a simple DVD?
How did Sony's music CDs infect people's computers with the infamous rootkit?
Just because .vob files are not executable themselves, it doesn't mean that you can't include an autorun.inf that will wreak havoc on your Windows install.
Ignore this signature. By order.
One word ... autorun.
I have quite a few friends deployed. What you speak of does not happen. The military networks are locked down and virus-checked, etc.
The problem is the soldiers have their personal laptops on unsecured wireless networks they pay for from local providers so they can do what they *WANT* to do, which is surf porn, play MMORPGS (WoW is hugely popular) and other games that allow them to interact with "normal" people from back home. As is usually the case, the pure security concept pushes people to their own solutions which creates huge security issues. You're talking about brave, courageous, amazingly talented strong young men and women who are amazingly stupid about technology. They use Windows because everyone uses it and the guy down the way can help them load their Iraqi porn.
The only way to address this is to accept their habits (porn, games) and address it in a secure way.
In this Army/Navy/AF/etc, that ain't gonna happen.
Let's just say that I may be employed at (but not by) a US Government organization but I use my personal Mac and a personal wireless solution where neither the Mac nor the wireless ever touches their network, just so that I can do simple stuff like research current technology. Happens that some of this research tends to be on sites they consider "gaming" or "non business related" so they filter it. GFY, censors.
What is this world coming to when even 7-digiters are able to mod?!
So the R&D chief goes on a rant (to me, in private): "We've tried sending PCs into deployment, and they come back filthy with 'family videos' and viruses. We try sealing up and enclosing the USB/FW ports and DVD slots, and they come back pried open. No computers."
Customer (to me, during requirements review): "The soldiers get issued WinXP notebooks anyhow. Utilize them."
So I was handed the task of managing the resolution to this showdown. My first thought was, "Porn is not my problem." Second thought, "Hell, give them some clean porn ferchrissakes." Third thought, "oh crap -- we can't certify our product if it is a) in the decision making loop for a certain class of UAV, and b) can run any old crapware, including family videos."
So it's not just a porn problem, but a problem with the inadequacy of the Windows OS itself. I know that this is potential flamebait moderation material, but it's a major thorn in our side: it's not a realtime OS, and even the embedded version of XP isn' real time. And it's susceptibility to viruses and hackers really makes it unsuitable for much more than family photos, letters to Jane, and facebook.
Solution: Give them what they want, on their dime, while spending R&D money to prototype what they need. (Sorry - can't describe it.) Then when the inadequacies become painfully apparent, offer them the alternative, ready for development testing.
I can see the fnords!
If you want to meet a person who abhors war, talk to a soldier. If you want to judge someone for wanting to "kill people after the Cold War finished" I suggest you look at the people who decide when and where to send the military. I'll give you a hint, they don't wear uniforms.
That is so naive, on so many fronts.
The people who want war are those who profit from it, either directly in dollars, or indirectly from the political power that comes from agitation of the dumb voting public, or more simply, from leading the war machine. And yes, many of those people wore uniforms at one time, or have deep and long-standing links with the military so that they might as well be wearing uniforms.
What you say does have some truth when taken literally, but you can't shrug off the responsibility for your government's warmongering that easily. Soldiers are the facilitators of the problem, and unless your upper ranks perform a direct veto on government excesses, then you cannot avoid the taint that comes from your actions. The excesses would not happen if you did not perform them.
It's so easy to pass the buck, but that doesn't make it right. Nor is it correct to pass the buck, because much of the push for military action comes from the military leaders, always happy to support action that will inflate their budgets and raise their profile.
While your grunts-eye view isn't a lie, it's highly myopic, and very very naive.
I have been playing these DVDs in my laptop since I got here with no problems. I have not heard of anyone getting a virus from the DVDs here. I have bought a couple crappy cam movies but most are really very good quality and have caused no prblems. TFA also talked about sharing flash drives with IA soldiers. I would guess that is where the problem lies. I would also be very cautious with the wireless internet that is for sale by the locals, it is not very secure. There have been some minor problems there. BTW here is Northern Iraq.
Just because your run Linux doesn't give you the right to make fun of others.
May contain traces of nut.
Made from the freshest electrons.
I have mod points, but I'm not touching this thread with a ten foot pole. :/
I'm in between insightful sigs right now...
Sorry, you are wrong. Re-read the Bible and spend time thinking about it.
There are guns designed to punch paper. There are guns designed for hunting - killing animals.
And then you get into the Christian policeman thing. Is it immoral for a Christian to be a policeman? Should he kill to stop a murder? Yes - It would be immoral for him NOT to.
A soldier is much like a policeman. His purpose is to fight to end a war. (Not all soldiers fight with weapons - some are medics, etc. But all fight to bring an end to the war.)
BTW, many people's confusion about Christian theology on this point comes from a poor translation of the 10 commandments. It's NOT, "Thou shalt not kill." It IS, "Thou Shalt Not Murder." (If you disagree, read ahead in the book - commands expressing society's duties to execute muderers.)
A lost cause, I suppose, but it seems to me that the root cause of this is a series of insanely bad decisions made by the industry as a whole and by Microsoft in particular, in blurring the line between data and programs in viewable media.
.jpg or a DVD as passively viewed content.
There is no good reason why an email program should willy-nilly try to execute any attachment it sees, and no good reason why a computer should execute stuff on a DVD.
99.99% of the time, the end-user thinks of a
An unholy alliance between technical sweetness (oooh, generality), possibilities for commercial exploitation (this DVD could display ads with a "buy" button on them), and DRM, has created a terrible situation.
The mischief comes in when there are so many parties that have an interest in creating media that are not what they appear to be to the end-user.
When the end-user thinks he's just watching something, the system should enforce the will of the user... not the will of the media provider. If the media does what the vendor wants and not what the user wants, that's a bad capability in itself--but it also is a gaping whole for malware which can subvert that capability to purposes neither user nor vendor want.
"How to Do Nothing," kids activities, back in print!
There may well be other factors needed to cause war. But soldiers are a pre-requisite. "Soldiers will be 'created' if none exist..." Ignoring the movies, how? Conscription? Unwilling conscripts make lousy soldiers, which is why it's so out of favour with most "advanced" militaries these days. Anyway, there does seem to be a ready supply of volunteer "professional soldiers" willing to fight these wars, despite what the OP said.
No, no, you got the joke all wrong! You used an article where you should have used a possessive pronoun.
I have mod points, but I'm not touching this thread with my ten foot pole.
Check out my sci-fi/humor trilogy at PatriotsBooks.
We could have known that porn would be a key weapon in cyber warfare ;)
Privacy is terrorism.
Since I earned all my income fighting in Iraq last year, my tax free income doesn't qualify me for a surplus check. Good enough to lay my life down for the country, but not good enough for a surplus check apparently.
No, no, you got the joke all wrong! You used an article where you should have used a possessive pronoun.
I have mod points, but I'm not touching this thread with my ten foot pole.
I wouldn't touch it with yours, either.
Ignore this signature. By order.
Folks,
It appears clear to me what we must do. I believe it would be difficult to find a group of people with a larger aggregate porn collection, or larger distributed array of DVD burners, than we who read slashdot. So let's get busy archiving our porn onto DVDs and send them such a vast quantity of smut, no poor GI will have to resort to the virus-infected local stuff over there.
Remember, you don't necessarily need to be an American partiot, you just need to be kinda pervy.
I prefer rogues to imbeciles because they sometimes take a rest.
I'm a network/client admin in Afghanistan. Personally, I turn off autoplay (gpedit.msc) on all government and personal machines connecting to our network here. It's pretty easy and saves a lot of headaches. People pass around infected thumb drives so much here, containing it was a problem until we did this.
I also wish Norton knew how to get rid of malware that sets up a service in Windows. Every time a computer gets infected with one of those, I have to manually remove it.