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Shaming Russia Into Action On Cyber Crime
krebsatwpost writes "The Washington Post ran a piece earlier this week that confronts the myth that cyber criminal gangs in Russia and Eastern Europe avoid attacking their own, pointing to numerous examples of late that counter this common misconception. The story draws on data from Team Cyrmu about distributed denial-of-service attacks (DDoS) that target Russian and E. European organizations, intel from McAfee about Russian banks and federal agencies that appear to be under control over cyber gangs there, and tens of gigabytes of data stolen via keyloggers that disproportionately impact Russian systems, including that of a top Gazprom official. The piece begins: 'If you ask security experts why more cyber criminals aren't brought to justice, the answer you will probably hear is that US authorities simply aren't getting the cooperation they need from law enforcement officials in Russia and other Eastern European nations, where some of the world's most active cyber criminal gangs are thought to operate with impunity. But I wonder whether authorities in those countries would be any more willing to pursue cyber crooks in their own countries if they were forced to confront just how deeply those groups have penetrated key government and private computer networks in those regions?'"
If the problem is government by criminals -- if the authorities are to blame -- then get rid of the authorities. Open source it.
...investigations are not pursued as long as the check clears. Welcome to the U.S.A. in the 1920s & 1930s, Russia.
The tagline is inverted.
In Soviet Russia, cybercrime shames YOU!
There are a few problems that really will go away if you ignore them. This doesn't sound like one of those.
It is a miracle that curiosity survives formal education. - Einstein
I really hate to say this. Because I'm a big hater of big government, I support Freenet 0.5, anonymity and privacy.
But things are a little TOO free in Belarus and some of the other Ex-soviet states when it comes to Child Pornography; when you have plain old unsecured websites with for-pay preteen sex shows that have been operating for years without problems, something is WRONG.
Why, yes, I AM a Pagan Libertarian.
" But I wonder whether authorities in those countries would be any more willing to pursue cyber crooks in their own countries if they
were forced to confront just how deeply those groups have penetrated key government and private computer networks in those regions?'""
In the eyes of the Russia gov they are just learning? Russia was invaded and messed with so many times, why not bone up on the 'internet'?
One day Russia will need the skills the brave apartment dwelling computer experts have learned and shared.
To traverse computer systems worldwide, to enter your power companies Microsoft based "supercomputers" and turn them off in really smart ways.
A point of delivery for your city?
Change the temperature of gas-encased power lines, killing the hardware?
All from a lap-top and modem in a Moscow apartment shared by 2 families and 2 large dogs.
As for the malware that earns valuable hard currency.
The porn rings open up potential blackmail options to the FSB.
Its win win win for Russia. Just dont mess with FSB, or people under the protection of the FSB.
Domestic spying is now "Benign Information Gathering"
Seriously. If they won't deal with the cyber crime and if the majority of cyber crime originates there, give the Russian government a deadline to get their asses in gear or they will be blocked. Getting this done on the backbone might be problematic, but not impossible.
I've already blocked all of Russia and China from accessing my servers because of too many problems from those countries.
-- Will program for bandwidth
But I wonder whether authorities in those countries would be any more willing to pursue cyber crooks in their own countries if they were forced to confront just how deeply those groups have penetrated key government and private computer networks in those regions?'"
This assumes that "government" and "criminals" in Russia isn't the same thing. Which hasn't been true for, oh, ever since Yeltsin first came to power (and actually even a bit before then).
Who's to say those keyloggers aren't there with tacit acceptance and even encouragement of the guys higher up, as a useful surveillance tool that doesn't need any laws or warrants, and for which the government can only deny any responsibility?
But I wonder whether authorities in those countries would be any more willing to pursue cyber crooks in their own countries if they were forced to confront just how deeply those groups have penetrated key government and private computer networks in those regions?
I don't come to Slashdot for these kind of thought-provoking rhetorical questions about ethical and legal gray areas! Just tell me who the goodies and the baddies are! Go USA hacker-hunters, wooo!
Not supporting our President isn't racism, it's TREASON. People like you should be shot.
US Authorities should be looking into their own backyard before they look into Russia.
Casinomeister shows an email sent from (Warren Jolly) apparently operating an online casino *** within the USA *** , taking illegal online bets from Americans. Also, the report goes on suggest that the 2 partners, Lou Fabiano (Florida) and Warren Jolly (California), were banking in the USA via Washington Mutual (now Chase Bank) and even LISTS ACCOUNT NUMBERS. It is suggested as well that the payment processing took place via US companies as well.
The Association of Casinos, Players and Webmasters (APCW) ran several VIDEOS in January exposing these two individuals via their paper trail and their activities.
At first it was denied, then it was actually boasted by the two co-conspirators, clearly believing that they can act without impunity.
That needs to be looked into by the authorities. Otherwise, everyone will start an online casino within the USA.
When I used to live in Russia, there was this incredibly gifted computer hacker who lived in the flat above me. He used to charge my mother and I about half a day's pay just to come back into the flat at night, because he was able to cyber-electronically control the entries to the building.
We would sit at work all day, not worried about the industrial chemicals we were breathing so much as this new, digital threat that went beyond our powers of imagination. Though we were strong physically, and even had local mafia connections of our own, this man with the thick eyeglasses, tight jeans, and a sort of mangy, even putrid smell about him, held our lives for ransom with nothing but a few keystrokes and some Zholz Cola.
Sorry, just kidding...I never lived in Russia. But the whole idea of this article seems a bit funny to me.
Hah, I like how you have a faint glimpse of history but lack the intelligence to really grasp the magnitude of it.
Control is an illusion, order our comforting lie. From chaos, through chaos, into chaos we fly
USA still the World's leading producer of spam, why do the USA government do so little about it. Are they being paid off or is there a more sinister motive for their compliance with the criminals ?
...lack the intelligence to really grasp....
A man's reach must exceed his grasp...so they say...for something or the other to wish for.
FreeBSD bounties
Cut Russia and China off the internet for a week and see what it does.
Fight hunger. Filet a politician and send him to a 3rd world country of your choice.
So what is installed from these CDs is anybody's guess. No need even to infect, a hidden program may come right from an installation CD. The groups that crack Windows sometimes even write their own copyright notice on CDs.
The disk with an authentic Windows is possible to buy only in large cities. Very few shops sell authentic Windows DVD, as they seem to be too expensive for majority of users. I could find out and buy there only a "gray" OEM Windows Vista Russian version for an equivalent of several hundred USD.
No need to say that these Windows installations do not update via Windows update. WTO makes Russian government to fight cracked software. So sometimes militiamen come to the places, where cracked software is sold and break DVDs and CDs. Then these markets just move into more obscure places.
So what have we got? Millions and millions of PCs, which run OS that cannot be patched or updated. So, guess what, these millions PCs neither patched, not updated.
Whose fault is this? When I try to use an alternative OS, like Linux, a lot of scanners, USB devices, video-cards, etc. just do not work, as drivers either non-existent or bad, made by rear-engineering. Because the hardware vendors provide drivers only for 1 and only OS.
Now we blame Russia for DDoS attacks. But what Russian government can do? Can it lower the price on the monopoly OS? Can it write drivers for peripheral devices so that people move away from the mono-OS culture?
It is easy to blame people in Eastern Europe for being of criminal persuasion, but for an average PC user in that parts there is absolutely no choice. Even if someone wants to buy the legal OS or software there are no shops which sell such, but the cracked soft is sold on every corner. Why is it so easy to crack by the way, if there is strong encryption around?
So someone imposed the worldwide OS monopoly of easily cracked software via convoluted drivers policies. The cracked versions of this software are easily infected as they do not update. Hundreds of millions of PCs run this s*** and the blame is on the Russian government and "bad" people of the East, of course.
Under George Bush: Dissent is the highest form of patriotism
Under Barak Obama: Dissent is the highest form or racism
I was originally going to observe that I couldn't see how you could possibly "shame" Russia into doing anything. But that observation holds for all governments. The concept of the title just won't work. Government cannot be shamed.
What I mean is that this problem is of a commercial origin, non political. In the past even cracked versions of Windows could be updated via Windows update, but now there is the authenticity check. And if the OS is not authentic - highway.
Windows was made on purpose to be easily crackable and was updated in those years to make it spread around the world. Now they stopped updating the cracked OS installations, in hope that people like me, who need a PC for work, will search and buy the authentic Windows DVD. Bu it left a huge immense base of un-patched PCs.
This is the real origin of this problem.
> Sorry, just kidding...I never lived in Russia. But the whole idea of this article seems a bit funny to me.
But you're an Eskimo, right? Can't you see Russia from up there?
>>A CD with a cracked Windows, PhotoShop, AutoCad, etc. costs about USD 3 ...
You *paid* for a cracked Windows??? ;-)
In Soviet Russia
Team Cymru.. are they Welsh super heroes? (of which, quite frankly, there aren't enough)
The computers, which run these non-updateable non-patchable cracked OSs, can be used by about any criminal group or any intelligence service, who manage to install an exe with a spy software. What is not that difficult snce there are vulnerabilities, which are, well, not patched. I think the PCs in the FSU is the "playground" for many international criminal groups and intelligence services.
It is sort of a half-official free version of an OS, when one wants to move to the "full" paid version, which is updated and secure, one buys the official DVD.
The problem is that there are hundreds of millions of PCs with theses cracked OSs, which practically destroy the Internet with DDoS, trojans, spam, etc. But is it not a good thing for a company which is being damaged by the Internet development, which rely on the Desktop?
Team Cymru
Fixed that for you.
Whose fault is this? When I try to use an alternative OS, like Linux, a lot of scanners, USB devices, video-cards, etc. just do not work, as drivers either non-existent or bad, made by rear-engineering. Because the hardware vendors provide drivers only for 1 and only OS.
Now we blame Russia for DDoS attacks. But what Russian government can do? Can it lower the price on the monopoly OS? Can it write drivers for peripheral devices so that people move away from the mono-OS culture?
If the government were actually interested in fixing this situation they could:
1) Create their own linux distro and mandate that the government use it. They have already said they want to do this and it was previously discussed on Slashdot.
2) Pass a law that says no new computer can be sold without a legitimate operating system on it (It doesn't matter if it's Windows, Russian Linux, OSX. It just must be a legal copy). More importantly, enforce the law. This should at least get most or all new computers pre-installed with the Russian OS just to comply with the law.
3) Refuse to let hardware vendors sell a product in Russia if it doesn't work out of the box or have a verified driver for Russian Linux on the installation CD. Linux generally has better hardware support than Windows these days so, this really isn't too onerous of a requirement on hardware vendors.
I'm probably over simplifying but, normal people don't care about their operating system. They want a button to click that connects to the magical "linksys" wifi network, an icon that says Internet under it and an icon that says Office under it. If you give them those three things, there is little chance they will notice the difference and probably less chance that will care enough to "fix" it with a Windows install. Though, they may start to get a little suspicious when they don't have to re-install every 3 months because, "it's going slow".
You do realize that the missile defense system is a joke, right? Particularly if you actually expect it to be able to stop a Russian nuclear attack. Agreeing not to deploy an expensive and useless system to prevent another country from actually getting nuclear weapons is a great idea. We save money, give up nothing of consequence, and maybe prevent Iran from acquiring nukes.
$_ = "wftedskaebjgdpjgidbsmnjgcdwatb"; tr/a-z/oh, turtleneck Phrase Jar!/; print
Just love how everyone keeps trying to push this on Russia and Eastern Europe when its also in our own backyard.
Even with the new laws and broadening of powers there really hasn't been much stop the same sort activities in North America either.
Some Russian hackers will not be touched as long as they are bringing foreign money home to Russia.
Phone sales used to work like that in Florida. Crooked companies called all over America from Florida bases. It was a huge industry employing tens of thousands in the Miami, Ft. Lauderdale area. As long as cash was being brought into Florida law enforcement wouldn't touch these criminals. These companies had an absolute rule about never selling anything within the state of Florida so that only money from people in other states was stolen.
In some smaller towns the old fashioned method was applied. The cops were simply paid not to bother phone sales companies.
This is the first time I hear about this myth. Traditional ethnic organized crime: cosa nostra, vory v zakone, etc. targets mostly people of their own ethnicity. Why would cyber criminals be different unless they have some idealistic agenda? From my experience w/ criminals is that it is the most non-ideological group of people.
I do not believe in karma. "Funny"=-6. Do good and forbid evil. Yours, Oft-Offtopic Flamebaiting Troll.
Firstly as far as I know Microsoft does issue security patches even for cracked versions of Windows. Also most Eastern Europe countries have forced the laws about selling cracked versions of software quite strongly. The last time I remember seeing someone sell cracked software was more than 5 years ago. AFAIK Eastern Europe just downloads like the rest of countries do. Secondly, while it is true that the attacks were performed by individuals, the media in the supposed attacking country did encourage the attacks and it is hardly suprising to find who controls the media there. Thirdly at least in first attacks only the connection with other countries collapsed due to internet backbone being overflooded with packets from outside, not in the intranet. Most computers in Eastern European countries are not significantly less secure than in any other country - I am yet to see a metric about it though. Which doesn't that mean most are in good shape :)
It's not that hard to fool Genuine Windows validation and keep Windows patched (on XP, at least - all that required is patched version of LegitCheckControl.dll which is easy to find). My guess is that most of these pirated XP disks already have validation cracked and latest service packs installed.
The problem is inherent to Windows itself - legit or not, cracked ot original, some day your Windows PC is going to be 0wn3d.
true. I bought Visual Studio in St-Petersburg smth like 3 years ago - I phoned dozen of places, and people just laughed at me or offered to order it from Moscow, to be delivered in weeks. Then finaly, I managed to find a company which said they had just one boxed copy to sell - and they were located in obscure and relatively remote place.
And this is the second largest city in Russia. People can't understand why one would spend 800 dollars on something which is available for 3 dollars round the corner.
I don't know anything about your background or travels, but I find the picture that you paint of russia contrasts strongly with that of what I've seen.
Bear in mind that Moscow has been the world's most expensive city to live in for multiple consecutive years now [ 1 2 ]
What you seem to be regurgitating in your post is rhetoric, which you've taken it upon yourself to extrapolate wildly.
There are multiple vectors for disassembling your post, but the most obvious ones are:
The last check of google reports over 194,000 hits for WGA cracks [3].
I'd love to see the data behind your bold claim, in which you plead ignorance, but continue to fabricate 'statistics'.
On a closing note, I'm amazed noone else has yet flamed you for posting:
Maybe you should do some research in general, and pay a visit to distrowatch...
Come on - all you basement dwellers, all you linux lovers, all you American Idol worshippers, Your Country Needs You to close that gap.
The US is in depth, the last thing it needs right now is to upset China who it owns money too, or Russia that could easily start up another arms race.
The US already has more then enough foreign wars to deal with as it is, it does NOT need cold war 2.0
MMO Quests are like orgasms:
You may solo them, I prefer them in a group.
I'm running cracked XP*, and i'm getting updates without any problems. I didn't change or crack anything, i simpy downloaded the first XP torrent from mininova with highest seed count.
* my MB died and windows failed activation, support staff telling me that new motherboard == new computer and that i need buy new license, so i said fuck them
Most of these PCs are not updated due to the relatively recent Windows authenticity check. The most widespread browser is still IE6(!) in the RuNet.
Anybody, anybody, can install and run bots on these PCs. I do not exclude that these cyber attacks are carried out from Russian IPs by people who want to make bad image of this country. I saw PCs with several bots, viruses and trojans "happily" coexisting.
It is easy to say that Russian government is responsible, but the real picture is much more messy.
It'd be unfair to say that our (Russian) government ignores that problem. But little can it do to stop a major and profitable business of software/video/etc piracy and cyber crime with its numerous, but underpaid and corrupted police forces.
Corruption breeds inaction. Much like cancer, you have to remove ALL of it, or it's a pointless move with the same end result.
No need to say that these Windows installations do not update via Windows update.
Automatic updates works on these machines, just not through the website.
From Wikipedia, Bulletproof hosting (sometimes known as 'bulk-friendly' hosting) is a service provided by domain hosts which allows their customer considerable leniency in the kinds of material they may upload. This leniency has been taken advantage of by spammers and providers of online gambling or pornography.[1]
Many service providers have Terms of Service that do not allow certain materials to be uploaded, or the service to be used in a particular way, and may suspend a hosting account, after a few complaints, to minimize the risk of their IP subnet being blocked by anti-spam filters using Internet Protocol (IP) based filtering. Additionally, some service providers may have ethical concerns that underpin their service terms and conditions.
Generally, a bulletproof host allows a content provider to bypass the laws regulating Internet content and service in its country of operation as many of these 'bulletproof hosts' are based 'overseas' (relative to the geographical location of the content provider).
Many if not most 'bulletproof hosts' are in South America, China, other parts of Asia, and Russia/Russia's surrounding countries, but this is not always the case.
I work for the Department of Redundancy Department.
US authorities simply aren't getting the cooperation they need
"US authorities" are not authority and suck.
Did "US authorities" ever wonder what the rest of the world needs?
Unless you feel like living in the Untied Snakes of Aremica
mark
A lot of computers in Russia run cracked version of Windows. I do not know the exact figure, but I would think 99%.
I will grant that it is high, but probably not that high. I admit that I do not follow the software piracy numbers on a regular basis but I seem to remember that even china was only 97% or so. Yes, two (2) percentage points is a minor quible, but you know how we here on Slashdot are about minor technical points and hair splitting.
A CD with a cracked Windows, PhotoShop, AutoCad, etc. costs about USD 3.- at a street market. The same is for other countries of the FSU.
I can certainly believe that this is true, especially for individual private buyers. These people have almost nothing to lose if they do get caught and much to gain from an self-funded $3 education in computers and software. However, as a software developer I would prefer that they use free software products, such as linux, rather than pirating Windows. As much as Microsoft is burned in efigy here every day on Slashdot, Windows does belong to them and they are within their rights to sell it or give it away as they chose and that choice is theirs NOT ours until the money changes hands and the first sale doctrine takes effect.
Whose fault is this? When I try to use an alternative OS, like Linux, a lot of scanners, USB devices, video-cards, etc. just do not work, as drivers either non-existent or bad, made by rear-engineering. Because the hardware vendors provide drivers only for 1 and only OS.
Perhaps you should try a different distribution. I have not had any problems with hardware on Ubuntu, but I have had problems with both Windows XP and Vista. That might have been a valid gripe with Linux 10 years ago, but the problems have been largely resolved, at least for consumer hardware (if you want drivers for unique or custom hardware then complain to your hardware vendor, but don't blame Linux).
Hundreds of millions of PCs run this s*** and the blame is on the Russian government and "bad" people of the East, of course.
That is true, but the Russian government is not exactly without blame in this instance. The issues of cybercrime, software piracy, and financial crime seem to be fairly LOW priorities for the current Russian government. This gives the impression in the west that at best the Russian government cannot be bothered to lift a pinky finger over the problem OR at worst that Russian politicians are dealt a cut of the profits from these ill gotten gains (not the miniscule street vendor sales, but rather the results of all those keyloggers and other malicious programs infiltrating Russian networks and running scams targetting people abroad) in exchange for looking the other way.
The real solutions to Cyber Crime is to use a computer that don't get infected by malware.
davecb5620@gmail.com
Well, there's a joke in Russia that Moscow and the rest of Russia are separate states: "Are you from Moscow or from Russia?"
That's actually pretty close to truth. There is a LOT of unpatched pirated Windows installations in Russia (not 99%, but pretty close) and DVDs with pirated software are common.
'There also is evidence that cyber crooks have deeply compromised some key Russian and Eastern European government agencies and corporations, as well as top officials at those entities'
The only evidence for such a statement is a map of alleged traffic coming from compromised machines. As to how they got compromised is anyone's guess. Under such logic, the management at Heartland Payment Systems ("HPY) must have also colluded when their credit card payment processing system was compromised for months without anyone noticing. The only other solution being that the underlying cyber-security-system wasn't up to the job.
davecb5620@gmail.com
We must not allow a cybercrime gap, bring back the cold war is what I say ..
General "Buck" Turgidson: Mr. President, we must not allow a mineshaft gap!
davecb5620@gmail.com
First, in Russia, just like in any other country, all new computers from large vendors and all notebooks come with preinstalled Windows. Russian version of Windows, licensed and all...
Next, I manage several servers and see a lot of spam, coming from owned PCs. There are quite a few that are located in Russia. The biggest share of obvious bots comes from the Southern America. But US and Europe have a share of this too.
This article is nothing but anti-Russian FUD. Like Russian government could handle the situation but it doesn't... The thing is - at this level they simply couldn't. Cops who work in "computer crime" departments are simply incompetent, there are quite a few of them and those departments have a very small budget, so the "department" of the whole administrative region is just 1 officer + 1 PC, that's all. There are problems with "real" crime - you know, when people get killed. There is a corruption. 37.000 dead in car accidents every year, 35.000 dead from counterfeit vodka every year... Do you think Russian government should concentrate all efforts on "cybercrime" in order to please other countries? Russian government concentrates on fighting those crimes that disturbs their citizens the most - and they are not that effective even at that. So how could you expect them to act effectively on something that simply doesn't bother common folks?
Well, there's a joke in Russia that Moscow and the rest of Russia are separate states: "Are you from Moscow or from Russia?"
Some of us in the United States feel that way about Washington, D.C. The people who run the country aren't really in touch with the rest of it.
The higher the technology, the sharper that two-edged sword.
I wonder - why Americans always blame other countries in their problems? They install Windows everywhere, including military systems, and then blame somebody else infecting these virus incubators? Wake up, people, develop a brain or something, that's about time..
Americans flooded this planet with Windows. Any other OS was literally smashed by M$ using all means possible. Linux and OSX are last men standing, and these OSes are much less vulnerable. Why Windows is so easy target? Because it was designed by idiots and for idiots.
A popular excuse of pirated software.. Ha, ha, ha! Windows is a honey pot for any DDOS, trojan or virus attack - due to sick design. But this was not enough, wasn't it? Just follow the M$ patch installation, and in one case of three your lovely Windows system would be broken or even dead. That works especially well on large networks..
Anyway, blaming other countries in your own problems is stupid.
Actually the Czech and Polish missile defense was pointing at Russia. Further Europeans don't like it if you make side deals with willing European states.
And Russia is going for Linux as its National Operating System, right?
1) Create their own linux distro and mandate that the government use it. They have already said they want to do this and it was previously discussed on Slashdot.
2) Pass a law that says no new computer can be sold without a legitimate operating system on it (It doesn't matter if it's Windows, Russian Linux, OSX. It just must be a legal copy). More importantly, enforce the law. This should at least get most or all new computers pre-installed with the Russian OS just to comply with the law.
3) Refuse to let hardware vendors sell a product in Russia if it doesn't work out of the box or have a verified driver for Russian Linux on the installation CD. Linux generally has better hardware support than Windows these days so, this really isn't too onerous of a requirement on hardware vendors.
Isn't the whole point here, though, that the government in Russia is basically ineffectual and doesn't seem capable of policing its citizens? If there were onerous restrictions on buying new computers, people would just get those on the black market too.
MediaWiki developer, Total War Center sysadmin
To anyone familiar with Russian methods, the solution is obvious — capture the criminals and put them into special prison, from where they'll have to work for the State in order to be "awarded" something like a pack of cigarettes, or a can of condensed milk.
They've done worse before — forcing completely innocent people to work on things like fighter planes and nuclear weapons on threat of immediate execution or slow wasting away at a labor camp, so why not do this to people actually deserving punishment?
The stupid US may be ordering its hackers to stay away from computers, but Russia would not do such a thing...
In Soviet Washington the swamp drains you.
Why and how can a judge just believe such thing, maybe they think because their salaries are 400k, computers must cost 50k to replace each.
Then again, the military suppliers/corps over charge 10 fold for everything.
If a 3rd world country imprisons a journalist seeking the truth and exposing the govt for 30 years, its 'ruthless dictators, evil despot govt' But its ok for UK/USA to do it, hypocritins, all, and I mean all of the govt and 20 levels of govt workers are all corrupt and milking the system.
Lets hope the next hacker IS from Russia, and exposes all of the nasa/usaf secrets.
All corrupt regimes fall apart eventually.
Liberty freedom are no1, not dicks in suits.
The russians may still get in, but if you force them all via one single/small entry router/vpn/proxy, just like 300, they can all be killed on mass inside the valley.
Unless you claim russians have access to 300,000 hijacked zombie PCs in USA to use as mount points of attack.
Even if you usa a satelite phone inside usa by a russia agent/friend to reroute the SSH connection via local ISPs, its still a detectable point by the NSA.
Liberty freedom are no1, not dicks in suits.
It wouldnt be hard for the NSA to get intel to implement a cpu based backdoor. Something that doesnt even require cpu ISA to be executed, but a series of coded calculations maybe, like specific crcs in tcp, could trigger some specific windows/unix backdoor to be made open/executed from the CPU. Not hard to add 20-50kb of code inside a rom inside the cpu with no one knowing at all.
Hell, even including an 2meg netbsd iso inside the cpu is possible. See that giant blob called 8meg cache, maybe 10% of it is really rom but looks identical in a die photo. Its the ultimate unremovable backdoor. Would make sense now why apple uses intel as the would be privy to the details.
I mean if I ran the NSA, i would have required intel to do this post 2001. Im sure $2-10b from the tax payers can be hidden and secretly used for large intel orders/subsidies.
Liberty freedom are no1, not dicks in suits.
As for cybercrime and software piracy being low priorities on Russias government (or that of the other E.Europe countries for that matter) does it really surprise anybody? Indeed those are minor things compared to unemployment and poverty in my book so at least this is not something to blame to those governments.
:wq!
In order to be effectively managed, Russia should be split into smaller independent states of the same language and culture which would later re-unite (something like US model). ...it effectively means bringing Russia into a civil war and "wild west" way of life for some moment.
My fellow countrymen! I would rather choose Putin to rule another 12 years than let your bloody dream come true.
nekulturny
"A CD with a cracked Windows, PhotoShop, AutoCad, etc. costs about USD 3."
now that's some serious compression
Bear in mind that Moscow has been the world's most expensive city to live in for multiple consecutive years now
Ah yes, Moscow, the only place in Russia... do you realize that less than 7% of the population of the Russian Federation lives in Moscow?
And, frankly, if you think the majority of cheap mass-produced computer accessories work in Linux, you are deluding yourself. Sure, maybe if you buy the fancy big name brand ones, they've got okay drivers, but the rest? No way! Of course, the windows drivers are pretty terrible, but at least they work...