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Russian Spy Ring Needed Some Serious IT Help

Posted by samzenpus on from the close-your-spy-network dept.

coondoggie writes "The Russian ring charged this week with spying on the United States faced some of the common security problems that plague many companies — misconfigured wireless networks, users writing passwords on slips of paper, and laptop help desk issues that take months to resolve."

6 of 191 comments (clear)

  1. Writing passwords isn't necessarily bad by dhavleak · · Score: 3, Insightful
    http://www.schneier.com/blog/archives/2005/06/write_down_your.html
    http://news.cnet.com/Microsoft-security-guru-Jot-down-your-passwords/2100-7355_3-5716590.html

    Of course, the rules are a bit different when you're a spy :)

  2. Passwords by birukun · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Nothing wrong with writing down your long complex passwords..... UNLESS YOU LEAVE IT LAYING AROUND

    The complaint read like a spy novel.... A ready-made Bourne script!

    --
    Self Defense - A Human Right www.a-human-right.com
    1. Re:Passwords by timeOday · · Score: 4, Insightful
      They left it lying around... their home. The reason it was compromised was because (apparently) the FBI had a warrant to go in their home, meaning they were already under suspicion because of something else they had done.

      Here is my point: if you do something that causes the FBI to monitor your every move and scour your home for clues for over 10 years, it is going to be very hard to keep many secrets, regardless of how you configure your WiFi or whether you try to memorize random 27 character passwords.

  3. Re:I find this entire story to be a load of shit by Pharmboy · · Score: 3, Insightful

    But what if it is true? Likely, it is, actually. Every country spies on other countries. I don't really see the US getting completely bent out of shape over it, it was a 10 year investigation. What was more important was tracking them and finding out who in the US was helping them. But spies come and go, but spying is a constant.

    --
    Tequila: It's not just for breakfast anymore!
  4. they're not spies, they're defectors by circletimessquare · · Score: 4, Insightful

    they put on the bare minimum effort to convince the kgb they're still on the team (so they don't get any polonium in their tea)

    then they dig up their free bags of money in sullivan county, and get on with their average suburban wannabe lives. when the kgb calls, they find a paranoid schizophrenic's blog and rivet their kgb bosses with useless tales of intrigue from the wild west. this spy ring is a joke

    if you want to talk about modern life destroying cherished traditions, add this to your list: comfortable suburban living killed james bond

    --
    intellectual property law is philosophically incoherent. it is your moral duty to ignore it or sabotage it
  5. Re:Thats the least of their problems. by mortonda · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Use a memorable quote, a poem a song lyric, whatever phrase you can remember easily. Use the first letter or two from each word, swapping case and substituting punctuation marks/numbers as needed. Finally, a use for 1337-5p34k!

    Example -
    Whose woods these are I think I know.
    His house is in the village though;

    Becomes - wh wo ar th i th i kn ki ho i i th vi th

    ...and this is why I don't like this technique - you didn't even get it right in your example!

    wh wo th ar i th i kn hi ho i i th vi th