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The FBI Has a Trojan To Watch You
G_of_the_J writes "A man who had cut 18 cables affecting Verizon and Comcast was blackmailing them. He had demanded bank accounts be set up and information be provided on web sites that he specified. Although he used anonymous access to get to the web sites, the FBI had planted a trojan which was downloaded to his computer. The trojan then sent his IP address and other information to the FBI."
Is this Magic Lantern, or something new?
Crap. Too bad that website was the top rank on a google search for comcast verizon cut cable blackmail.
I suppose posting anonymously won't help now.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Computer_and_Internet_Protocol_Address_Verifier
as I wrote in my journal.
The "long arm" of the FBI ? How long ?
Can I put a spell on those who can't spell?
Your wheels are loose and they're losing their grip, good you're there.
... if he was stupid enough to visit the "private" website they created for him with such a lax security setup that his computer willingly installed the FBI's trojan.
I want peace on earth and goodwill toward man.
We are the United States Government! We don't do that sort of thing.
There is one important aspect missing from the summary. The FBI got a warrant first. It's not an extension of illegal wiretapping.
He can spoof ips yet he can't install software to detect unwanted outbound traffic?
Idiot.
All he had to do was be more careful, and possibly boot from CD.
I don't know... Seems to me like another reason not to cut 18 cables and not know how to hide your identity.
According to the complaint filed against Kelly, he believed that "companies like Comcast and Verizon were indirectly responsible for his unemployment and dire financial situation because they worked with companies that favored foreign engineers over their counterparts and because they had indirectly stolen his intellectual property."
As part of his sentence in late 2005, Kelly was also ordered to enter a mental health program.
No parole? He might be a silly muppet, possibly crazy, but treatment sounds more reasonable than prison. Or am i just a European speaking to an American ; ).
"Kill 'em all and let Root sort 'em out"
About the party responsible for infiltrating government and military computers.
In case you've been living in Richard B. Cheney's spider-hole, this F.B.I. system is called Ghostnet.
Yours Seditiously,
Kilgore Trout
Ya its called windows XP
*unless you tried to blackmail someone over the internet and they call in the FBI, who then - with the authority of a warrant - use a Trojan to find out where you are. Seriously, how stupid is this guy?
... reason to not use Microsoft products.
What makes you think they don't have a variant for Linux? User stupidity (i.e: bad/no security) isn't unique to Windows. Off the top of my head, if they are relying on the web as an infection vector combined with user stupidity, why not write it into a Firefox extension?
Yeah, it wouldn't get your typical /. geek, but most criminals aren't known for their foresight or intelligence. "Oh, the private website with the bank account information needs me to install this software! Ok, what could possibly go wrong?"
I want peace on earth and goodwill toward man.
We are the United States Government! We don't do that sort of thing.
"This website requires additional ActiveX components to be installed."
Hmm...
*click*
...
Oops.
I am the lawn!
First read Slashdot and understand all the technical details needed to hide your identity. Then go ahead cut the cable and demand ransom.
sed -e 's/Chuck Norris/Rajnikant/g' joke > fact
If this guy had had half a brain, he would have wiped the computer's hard drive clean by overwriting it with zeroes, and then done everything by using a Linux distribution on a bootable CD that could run entirely in RAM. Instead, he ran Windows and got nailed by a Trojan. Somewhere in the afterlife, J. Edgar Hoover is laughing his panty-clad ass off.
I write sci-fi for metalheads
Always use noscript when doing nefarious shit....
Yeah. The FBI may have had a warrant to do this, but it's hard to believe they didn't already have the trojan ready to go.
TFA says the FBI had a warrant. When that is the case, I *want* them to be able to own a suspect's machine.
[Sir Garlon] is the marvellest knight that is now living, for he destroyeth many good knights, for he goeth invisible.
Doesn't seem like it was too complex. Sounds like they simply used some sort of drive-by download to install it on his system, and the program simply phoned home with the infected computer's IP address, MAC address, and a few other identifying pieces of info.
Hopefully the FBI will provide him with a different kind of Trojan after he winds up in jail sharing a cell with "Bubba".
No, for the same reason you do not have a right to keep and bear nuclear devices or chemical and/or biological weapons.
There is no "-1 offended" or "-1 you don't agree with me" mod options for a reason.
Dude was a bad guy. FBI's job is to catch bad guys. FBI uses technology to catch bad guy. I'm not feeling the outrage here...
In a related story, local law enforcement shot a criminal who tried to hold up a 7-11 when he resisted arrest and brandished a knife. Reports say police used their "gun" technology to do this.
Point being, we know the FBI has the tech to do this stuff. It's only really a rights issue when they use it against non-criminals, or suspected criminals.
So we can assume that the right to keep and bear arms can include the use of trojans for personal reasons. Perhaps the Fed would like to tax and license the use of trojans. Only after an approved trojan safety course has been passed, of course. Other permits would be required to use a trojan outside of ones home and some public venues could ban the use of trojans in their facilities.
Requiring a permit to use trojans outside of the home wouldn't seem consistent with the Democrats position on sex education ;)
I want peace on earth and goodwill toward man.
We are the United States Government! We don't do that sort of thing.
What incredible insight.
Greta: He knocked over another ATM. This time at knife point. He needs your legal advice.
Fletcher: [picking up phone and shouting] Stop breaking the law, asshole!
Whale
Sure they did. If all it had to do was phone home with some standard info, then they could use the same software any time they needed to. All they'd need to do is insert it into the Web site they wanted him to download it from.
If you get a call from someone who refuses to identify themselves asking you if you'd be willing to edit a couple hidden configuration files and restart your system, then you have the Linux version.
Bear arms are fine if the bear in question is still attached to them, and in a fit state to fight and clued in enough to the cause to fight FOR you. If not, then the right to bear arms is pointless, you may as well have the right to shit on the moon.
Something is seriously wrong when you have to explicitly state, "The FBI did not commit any crimes in this story." When I read the summary, I felt that the warrant was implied, but with everything that has happened, I also feel that you are completely justified to think that that info was missing.
Someone once said "I never meta dupe I didn't like."
That someone was not me.
Knowledge is how to play a game, intelligence is how to win, wisdom is knowing what game to play.
I think it's an interesting story, but sure ... if a warrant was obtained first, the FBI actually did this the RIGHT way, and that makes me happy.
That's how law enforcement is supposed to work. Sometimes it seems like we completely forget that, these days, with all the stories of "the law" just doing whatever they please, secretly.
Actually, the FBI can't tell the difference between a criminal and a suspected criminal. In the U.S., it takes a jury (or a guilty plea) to do that.
I think your point though is that it's not a violation of someone's rights if the FBI has reasonable evidence *before* they install the Trojan, and it appears they did in this case (because they had a warrant).
[Sir Garlon] is the marvellest knight that is now living, for he destroyeth many good knights, for he goeth invisible.
Nice ideas. Here is all I had: Demand that the info be in ASCII text, and download it with wget.
You ever watch Cops?
These guys are not the most intelligent fish in the sea
"What makes you think they don't have a variant for Linux? User stupidity (i.e: bad/no security) isn't unique to Windows."
This is an excellent statement. Stupidity knows no bounds. Its also dangerous to assume that the FBI doesn't know what it is doing. When I worked in law enforcement, the FBI computer crimes agents I knew were well versed in operating systems other than Windows. The two I worked with most often had a solid knowledge of Linux and Cisco IOS.
"About the party responsible for infiltrating government and military computers. In case you've been living in Richard B. Cheney's spider-hole, this F.B.I. system is called Ghostnet"
I guess the FBI will have to start investigating itself then :)
Or am i just a European speaking to an American ; ).
No, just an asshole acting smugly superior.
That's MY IP address too! Is the FBI hacking my computer as well?
Remember kids, only criminals use proxies. And only criminals use "an alternate operating system, with a black screen and white characters".
I want to delete my account but Slashdot doesn't allow it.
or they are too clever to be recognised as such
And BTW anybody surprised? Bundestrojaner of Germany, maybe there is some cooperation?
They could do it without a trojan, if they had the right signing key. I forget which worm it was, but a few years back there was a major vulnerability that Microsoft patched, which triggered the automatic reboot. The issue was the patch went ahead and updated the machine even if you had the system set to "download, but notify" rather than automagically patch. Similar deal here where an update did something it should not have.
Were I the FBI, I'd make Microsoft 'digitally sign' such a beasty, and then send it via an unannounced update.
Always helps to have stupid criminals, however.
+++ UGUCAUCGUAUUUCU
No jail time... we're not all that different.
From TFA:
Later that year, Kelly pleaded guilty to extortion, was sentenced to five years probation and ordered to pay Verizon $378,000 for the damage he did.
In the USA, you only go to jail for drugs :)
W..w..W - Willy Waterloo washes Warren Wiggins who is washing Waldo Woo.
You have any right you can successfully defend - all else is delusion.
I would assume he was found not guilty due to mental defect. If not I would be very afraid as his sentence reaks of the thought police. Sadly there is instances now of people's sentences being sent to "fix" their way of thinking.
Just goes to show that you shouldn't try your hand at being a career criminal, armed with nothing more than a MSP credential.
davecb5620@gmail.com
This case resulted in a sentence of 5-years probation, restitution, and mental health counseling.
An article displaying competence of the authorities. Good for them.
You are absolutely correct! After all, didn't arresting him violate his human rights?
I don't know... Seems to me like another reason not to cut 18 cables and not know how to hide your identity.
should've known how to 'cut' modern browsers out of his master plan. ...Lynx
Being an asshole and being correct are not mutually exclusive.
theyve been secretly evesdropping on me through satellites that communicate with a receiver in my fillings since 1996....and theyre also using fluoridated water to ensure i comply with the patriot act.
Good people go to bed earlier.
In America, the force exploits the Trojans. Um, any ideas about Soviet Russia?
and it has to make deedle deedle deedle noises. While launching a Matrix screensaver.
Although I did see a '24' episode where the computer whiz had nothing up on his desktop other than about two dozen xterm windows. Someone did their homework.
Give a man a fish and you have fed him for today. Teach a man to fish, and he'll say "WHERE'S MY FISH, YOU IDIOT?"
This is a technology site. In case you haven't noticed, technology used by law enforcement (and the military) is of interest to a lot of the readers here. If this were a gun site, then stories about the use of a new kind of gun in the apprehension of a criminal would be similarly relevant.
I am TheRaven on Soylent News
Yeah, it's sad that law enforcement actually doing their job the RIGHT way is news.
Slow down, cowboy! It has been 4 hours since you last posted. You must wait another few hours.
Careful now. Starting to sound like an anarchist.
here are some facts...
1 - criminals are typically dumb as hell.
2 - smart criminals are still dumb.
3 - it is incredibly RARE to have a very smart criminal, when you find one and they do a lot of criminal acts and get away with it, they get cocky and then become a dumb criminal. Example? Kevin Mitnick. he got cocky, then did some really REALLY dumb things to get caught.
Real professional computer criminals DO exist. and you will never hear about them because they dont get caught. Computer Crime forensics pros are not as good as they all want you to think they are, they may be WIZZES at computers but they are not Wizzes at encryption, obfuscation and stenography, let alone secret squirrel stuff. It is really easy for a 13 year old punk to get and use the same technology that the biggest nations are using for their spies. If a kid is talented enough and has enough self control he can easily elude the entire FBI and NSA together online. it's not technically or technologically hard, it's simply being able to NEVER EVER get sloppy. because the second you get sloppy, you're nailed. The longer you go the harder it is not to get sloppy or accidentally give them a pattern. to the FBI, it's a matter of time... you will screw up, they will get you.
Do not look at laser with remaining good eye.
Being an asshole and being correct are not mutually exclusive.
If that's the case, then you are absolutely correct.
Federal Bureau of Investigation actually conducts investigation using technology appropriate to the crime. News at 11!
Seriously, is anyone actually surprised that the FBI would actually adapt to the 21st century and develop new means of gathering evidence? A circa 1960's bug under the desk isn't going to be very useful when all you hear is typing. Provided the bureau used this lawfully (with a warrant, etc), this is not really news...
I don't like sigs... I don't use it...
I wonder if they have multiple types of Trojans that could affect any type of OS. For example Max OSX, the government could get some code from Apple and infect you in a certain way, you wont even know. Overall its stupid for someone to use the OS they run everyday for "hacking"...
Is it just me, or does it seem rather contrived that the FBI would (successfully) use a trojan to catch a criminal who is at least someone technically proficient ? Presumably the con would be surfing through a proxy at the very least, and is probably not the kind of user who runs unsolicited downloads from public web sites.
Call me crazy, but I'd say this smells like a piece of theatre. Now I'm not saying the FBI hired the con, but sometimes I wonder... In an increasingly complex tech world, maybe they feel the need to put on a show, to make people believe the FBI still has things under control.
-Billco, Fnarg.com
The article indicates that warrants were requested and issued each time they used this. It would be rather useless for the trojan to inject other malware onto a system that the FBI was likely to seize said equipment shortly after the trojan was planted.
This doesn't concern me in the slightest as long as they continue to follow the law and request a warrant to plant this trojan. If your a law abiding citizen, then you should never show up on their radar and I see this as no different than a blackmail case where they bugged someone's phone with a warrant or put them under 24/7 observation. I would imagine they injected the trojan via the web site that the guy demanded Verizon set up for him via some known (or unknown) exploit.
The two known instances of the FBI using this were both done via warrant (this one in 2005 and the latest in 2007).
That's not to say they don't use this elsewhere, but any person on the internet should consider their activities traceable no matter what hoops they go through. Especially when the telecoms willingly rolled over when requested by the government and most folks get their internet access via said telcoms.
I have mixed feelings about Comodo:
.dll is getting linked for anything it doesn't know. It's miles ahead of Zonealarm, and it's free.
http://personalfirewall.comodo.com/
On one hand, in Proactive security mode, it will tell you anytime a process it doesn't know does anything. Accessess a registry key, tries to open a socket, tries to piggyback outbound placing a HTTP connection via the IE object, what
On the other hand, if CIPAV has an exception deep in the executable, then it's pointless.
I wish Comodo was distributed open source and you could compile it yourself using Visual Studio.
I am not a bad guy but its interesting to think about other ways to get the info from Verizon.
I recall some old movies where a message was planed in the classified section of a newspaper. It would be pretty hard for the FBI to trace that.
If you want to do the same thing online, tell the blackmailee to post some info in the corner of their very busy homepage.
Why not setup that offshore bank account yourself, tell the backmailee the account number and have them deposit the money.
Warning... Tinfoil hat alert...
The front page of Slashdot was an interesting read for me today... We see here the top story is about "Magic Lantern," and just two stories down one about the potential of "Adobe Flash TV's." Coincidence? :-O
Maybe, and I'm speculating, there is a dual meaning to Adobe's "Flash" product?
The news about this seems to indicate that it the exploit works with any OS. So, the mechanism of infection must be must be common...
Flash is closed-source and almost ubiquitous -- it runs on Linux, Mac, BSD and Windows. It also has a track record of being vulnerable, but... it's also owned by a US company... What if the US government were to offer a contract to Adobe -- or, perhaps (post 911) an offer that they couldn't refuse?
The Constitution asserts a man's right to bear arms, and... arm bears, and all points in between. Who ever heard of a gun... or a bear causing problems? --Alex Shrub
You may have trojans. You must not use them against others.
Pretty much like firearms, I'd say?
We used to have a Bill of Rights. Now, with the rights gone, all we have left is the bill.
He had an ad on his website that blared "Congratulations! You have been selected to win a free Apple IPod!"...he couldn't resist clicking it.
Is all of Europe striving to be as bad as the French?
I fart in your general direction!
Your mother was a hamster, and your father smelt of elderberries!
Now go away, or I shall taunt you a second time!
"City hall" in German is "Rathaus" Kinda explains a few things......
Actually, the FBI can't tell the difference between a criminal and a suspected criminal. In the U.S., it takes a jury (or a guilty plea) to do that.
I was watching some show that had a car chase filmed from a helicopter. Guy had a semi and was wreaking havoc, driving through roadblocks, ramming police cars, going so far as to use his truck to push other cars out of the way when he hit some stopped traffic on the freeway. Finally he's off the road, surrounded by police cars, gets out of his truck, starts fighting, the police eventually get him into the back of a cruiser, the whole thing has been filmed, and the reporter comes on the mic and says "the police are now taking the SUSPECT into custody"... it always floors me when I see something like this and hear the word "suspect." I know, I know: legal terminology, due process, reporter CYAing so he doesn't get sued for slander or libel (I always forget--whichever one doesn't need to be printed) but still, it just makes me laugh out loud every time.
Dear Slashdot: next time you want to mess with the site, add a rich-text editor for comments.
Is it just me, or does it seem rather contrived that the FBI would (successfully) use a trojan to catch a criminal who is at least someone technically proficient ?
Technically proficient? The guy was an engineer, granted. But one laid off and (supposedly) replaced with foreign labor. So perhaps he wasn't the brightest bulb in the marquee after all, trying to pull a stunt like this.
Have gnu, will travel.
Fine, then play the Intelligence game and feed them disinformation.
Set your user agent to IE while running Linux, and disable JavaScript/Java and any other extensions so they think you're running one OS, and have no way of pulling info to request more information.
For extra points run on a VM that you can strip down to the bare essentials, configure once, and then wipe after each "communication".
If the only ports its allowed to get to is the anonymizer's website/port, and its feeding wrong information about what it is, and not letting anything run, then its about as secure as you can make it ... and still let it connect to the internet.
This space for rent. All reasonable inquiries will be entertained at proprietors discretion.
No, but in Los Angeles, the Trojans exploit YOU!
#1 There was a warrant for the wiretapping.
#2 The guy really did something wrong and against the law.
#3 He was stupid enough to click on whatever installed the trojan.
#4 He was stupid enough to cut Internet cables and demand blackmail and ransom from the ISPS.
We'll just call it an Own Goal for this guy whomever he is.
As long as the majority of the population who don't do these things aren't domestically spied on, it should be alright.
If the FBI wants to see what my Traveller RPG group is doing, we could use another Game Master and a few more players as our Game Master is working a job that requires him to travel and cannot GM any more and a few players had quit. No need to plant a trojan on our computers and read our email.
Remember, Slashdot does not have a -1 disagree moderation, and no, troll, flamebait, and overrated are not substitutes.
No, for the same reason you do not have a right to keep and bear nuclear devices or chemical and/or biological weapons.
But I do have a right to those things. I simply choose to reserve that right in order to gain the benefits of living in an industrialized nation with a very high standard of living who will, for a small annual tax, defend me from others who own those same items. That, and the fact that I couldn't hope to afford, or to effectively deploy any of those items making them useless to me.
On a serious note, we call fallacious statements such as yours red herring arguments. The chances of an individual ever owning a nuke are so small as to be nearly zero. This makes your use of it in your particular argument a red herring. On the other hand, if you would have said that I don't have a right to own a machine gun, then you would have made an incorrect, but otherwise logically valid statement. I know dozens of people who own machine guns. It used to be more common than it is now, but it's gotten very expensive since the late '80s.
IMHO, I think it's a matter of "cultural image" that attracts this kind of remarks.
It's not that we Europeans truly think to be superior vis-a-vis any other 'group' of the rest of the world, it's more that the USA projects an image off "Our way or the high-way" that makes non-American people ... errr... a bit more susceptible to outing criticism towards them.
From my personal experience with Americans I'd generalize and say that ... aka, the world ends at the border (country or county, you decide) ... (but so are the Dutch, and the German, and the English ... and from what I've heard the Russians... (*)) ... hmm, I'll stop here since I'll probably will overload the ./ system with foe-marks already =)
* They have a very limited world-view
* They are not used to thinking for themselves and will do literally everything according to the book; very contradictory for the country that prides itself for all of it's liberties.
* They are loud
* They have this 'inbred' superiority feeling over them and they can't withhold from showing it. I remember a story on Dutch Television where a Dutch politician was visiting Florida during the 2000 elections as some kind of 'witness' and one of the officials sneered at him "You better watch carefully sonny, we'll show you how a proper election is done in a truly democratic country". Well, we all know how that ended.
* They have a hard time admitting failure...
* They are completely unable to recognize sarcasm, utterly completely unable. Makes for awkward situations.
* They have a terribly sounding accent, really, who came up with that nasal sound ?!?
* They have the weirdest standards on what can be done and what can't be. They'll consider a movie full of gore, blood and violence 'acceptable', yet when a blurred piece of skin comes in the picture they cry outrage !
* Creationism
*
That said, every single American I know personally and have talked/worked/played with over the past 15 years I'll describe as a friendly and caring person and an honour to be friends with. (**)
I also would like to point out that the above is a gigantic generalization (but based on facts and experiences !) and that for most of the above I probably can find plenty of locals here that fit the bill too, albeit it's going to be hard to find one that fits all.
(*: disclaimer : I'm neither of those... clearly =)
(**: ok, there was this one guy that I'd gladly put against the wall at times, but in all honesty he had a double nationality (Greek + USA) and I think neither the Greeks nor the Americans wanted him back =)
If there is one thing to be learned on slashdot, it has to be sarcasm.
If ever we needed a '-1 non sequitur' mod, it's now.
I award you zero points, AMGHMOYS.
Confucius say, "Find worm in apple - bad. Find half a worm - worse."
At least someone recognized humor in the parent.
Some democrat w/ mod points didn't.
Your response leads me to wonder what position democrats use for sex education and whether or not it conflicts with their gun or birth control issues. Perhaps G. Gordon Liddy could be pulled from retirement to insert his trojan once again in the name of penetrating the Democratic party. Liddy was an FBI man.
I also question that the name Obama doesn't have an apostrophe. Picture a green derby atop his head and you can see he's as irish as the Lucky Charms guy. It takes the bad edge off his image as someone who could approve the use of software munitions against the citizenry or hire RIAA lawyers to justice dept. posts. He also surely has a plan to keep his stimulating package from indebting our future generations to servitude to China. O'bama surely has a pot of gold at the end of his rainbow coalition to pay for his Leprechaun hijinx.
*Repent!Quit Your Job!Slack Off!The World Ends Tomorrow and You May Die!
I beg to differ. As I see it, a bear with arms is essentially an armed bear and armed bears are potentially dangerous. By granting the right to bear arms to American public, the US Constitution limits bears' access to bear arms (limited supply) so that they wouldn't become armed bears and endanger the said American public. Or at least that's how they explained the function of US Constitution's Second Amendment to us here in Yurop.
Ezekiel 23:20
"Hey, can you borrow me some money."
Sure thing boss, I'll see the loan shark tomorrow.
If you get a call asking you if you'd be willing to [...] restart your system, then you have the Linux version.
Restart your system? And ruin my uptime? OOooooh I wish I would get a call like that. I would lecture said person ad nauseam about the foolishness of rebooting, when you can just restart the service in question, whether he was a M$ lackey, how he could explain the reboot to his senior sysadmin, et cetera. Without so much as a breath, I'd then continue and venture into the GNU/Linux question, how great Samba is, Sony's questionable activities, the intricacies of the CC attribute-blah-blah license et cetera et cetera.
Oh BOY, please SOMEONE CALL ME and tell me to REBOOT my SYSTEM!
8 of 13 people found this answer helpful. Did you?
A simple drive to the local starbucks with a spoofed mac address would have solved that problem.
---- Booth was a patriot ----
If you get a call from someone who refuses to identify themselves asking you if you'd be willing to edit a couple hidden configuration files and restart your system, but screams "RTFA" when you ask how to locate those files, then you have the Slashdot version.
Fixed that for you.
Fixed that for you.
Don't you wish your girlfriend was a geek like me?
(wired) "In several of the cases outlined, the FBI hosted the CIPAV on a website, and tricked the target into clicking on a link." "The CIPAV will be deployed via a Uniform Resource Locator (URL) address posted to the subject's private chat room on MySpace.com.""
You have to wonder though, in such use this trojan must end up on the PCs of people who are not Suspects, and the data is handed back to the FBI.
Any one really think they do not have a Linux version? It's harder, but not impossible, and certainly desirable.
After logging in slashdot still does not take you back to the page you were on. It's been that way for 20 years.
Yeah, it wouldn't get your typical /. geek, but most criminals aren't known for their foresight or intelligence. "Oh, the private website with the bank account information needs me to install this software! Ok, what could possibly go wrong?"
Correction: Most criminals that are known, aren't known for their foresight or intelligence.
Parole and probation are two entirely different things.
Parole is deferred sentence from prison.
Probation is issued after you have spent some time in prison.
Actually, it's the other way around.
...because the second you get sloppy, you're nailed.
But I thought terrorists only had get it right once and it was the FBI that has to be right 100% of the time.
So what you are saying is that it's the FBI who only has get it right once, and the terrorists who have to be right 100% of the time?
Where's Donald Rumsfeld when you need him?
Authority questions you. Return the favor.
"Steal" nothing. Most employment contracts involve signing over the rights to intellectual property created on the company time to your employer. This makes sense: the company has to cover its ass if it's going to make these bits of IP into sellable products. It wouldn't do if they start producing a widget using an employee's invention, only to have that employee leave the company, and promptly try to charge the company loads of money for it when this former employee created the technology using the company's resources.
In Soviet Russia, YOU watch KGB trojans .
There, fixed it for you
In this case, the FBI did catch a "bad guy". They needed a warrant to do it, however, because without it they set a legal precedent that they can install a trojan on anyone's machine.
Ten, yes 10! That's how many scripts computerworld tried to run just to read a cheesy article. Screw them.
I have on my Net enabled suitcase...
How much is your data worth? Back it up now.
Not that I know how this happens, but the IP address could be x-reffed w/ the offenders time online. That get's x-reffed w/ video surveilance and you got your guy.
How much is your data worth? Back it up now.
With speeding for the last 8 years. I have to say, while some parts are a lot easier (spot checks become instinctual, if it's not one of you, it's one of them, etc..)
There are other parts that get very difficult. Recently traffic enforcement officers have cars w/ cloaked light bars, and stock paint jobs. They can now use li / radar /laser while moving. I still refuse to get a detector as I feel it makes you sloppy, complacent.
I recently got caught cause I was on my cell phone (luckily I got out of the ticket), not paying attention, and that's why I am all for the ban.
How much is your data worth? Back it up now.
How can they be sure they hackt he right guy?
More importantly...how do they make sure they DON'T hack the WRONG guy?
Why do I suddenly feel a "Save BooBoo & Yogi" campaign coming on? How can a an unarmed bear get picinic baskets?
Um... seriously? If they know the specific customer they wouldn't need to install the trojan.
It's not disclosed how the "trojan" is loaded onto the perpetrator's system, however getting that system to request and execute your code cuts through what is potentially a very hairy situation: who knows how many layers of abstraction the perp is using to hide from traces.
It's only news on Slashdot and that speaks more to slashdot paranoia rather than police corruption. Cue someone calling me naive.
Well - only if one is foolish enough to surf the web and check email and do your other daily computer chores, while being logged in as root/administrator to your computer ...
rootkits, malware, trojan, etc. still require root/administrator rights to install themselves.
http://kareldjag.over-blog.com/article-1232530.html
http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/bb456992(loband).aspx
http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc700846(loband).aspx
The above is old school on Unix (and applies to any OS) - only login as root/administrator if you need to do system maintenance.
For everything else use a Least Privilege User Account.
And - first install and run software in an isolated virtual machine with InstallWatch running and see what is being installed/executed. If the installer/software is doing anything suspicious, simply do not install it on your real machine. As simple as that ...
The term rootkit or root kit originally referred to a maliciously modified set of administrative tools for a Unix-like operating system that surreptitiously granted root access. If an intruder could replace the standard administrative tools on a system with a rootkit, ...
corroboration?
``Tension, apprehension & dissension have begun!'' - Duffy Wyg&, in Alfred Bester's _The Demolished Man_
The chances of an individual ever owning a nuke are so small as to be nearly zero.
Quite frankly, I doubt it's really hard for one of those russian fat cats to get their hands on a couple to use as decoration in the back yard.
People replying to my sig annoy me. That's why I change it all the time.
You've got the order backwards; the way the FBI is handling computer crimes these days, they don't turn agents into hackers, its the other way around. I'm dead serious. Of the two agents I worked with the most, one was specifically an IT guy whose work history included being a corporate sysadmin. They have far more up to date knowledge than you might expect, and an excellent network of civilian consultants for the things that they do need help with.
No, I have it right. I've been through the system a few times, I should know. Go get yourself a few felonies and come back.
Still waiting on Serviscope_minor to wake up to fucking reality and realize that Jessica Price isn't going to fuck him.
I don't know how the above was posted as anonymous coward. I'm not even drunk! In any case, the post was from me, for the record.
Guns don't kill people; Physics kills people! - John Lithgow as Dick Solomon on Third Rock From The Sun