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Most Consumers Support Government Cyber-Spying

Posted by samzenpus on from the touch-of-espionage-with-every-install dept.

scurtis writes "Nearly two thirds of computer users globally believe that it is acceptable for their country to spy on other nations by hacking or installing malware, according to Sophos's mid-year 2010 Security Threat Report. And 23 percent claimed to support this action even during peacetime. Perhaps more surprisingly, 32 percent of respondents said that countries should also be allowed to plant malware and hack into private foreign companies in order to spy for economic advantage."

6 of 247 comments (clear)

  1. Let the cyberwarfare begin. by elucido · · Score: 3, Interesting

    “It’s kind of curious, because these are the people that have got no time for hackers and the bad guys at all, but seem to think it’s all right for countries to do this,” said Cluley. “I think they need to remember that, one day, it might be a country attacking your company’s network, and trying to infiltrate it, and how are you going to feel about it then?”

    Hire people like us thats what you do. Information security professionals know how to deal with malware attacks, just as nationalist cyber armies know how to attack and infiltrate. This creates jobs for both sides so it's not really a bad thing for most of us on Slashdot. Also how long did we really think we could go around being ignorant of security procedures and leaving networks open to infiltration? It's time that corporations spend the money necessary to defend from infiltration and it's time that the government create their elite army of hackers that they keep hyping up and talking about.

    Let the cyberwarfare begin.

  2. Consumers or Citizens? by RocketRabbit · · Score: 5, Interesting

    I like how we are merely consumers and no longer Citizens now.

    Fuckers.

  3. I love these types of polls and articles by adosch · · Score: 5, Interesting

    The mocked up stats ITFA almost seem pretty skewed. I love how the central polling audience are called 'computer users', then went on to ask them their opinions VERY in-depth topic that only someone who loathes in technology for pleasure, employment or both would understand (e.g. DDoS). Since my wife is a 'computer user', I'll make sure to ask her what a her stance on using DDoS attacks against foreign banking institutions and after being drawn in by her blank stare, have her call me a 'nerd' after the fact. Whole article sounds superficial to me.

    1. Re:I love these types of polls and articles by cosm · · Score: 2, Interesting

      Honestly, I agree call bullshit on this one as well. Do a random sampling of 10 people. Ask this "Do you fell alright knowing the government is listening to your phone conversations and has the ability to tap all of your wire-traffic, unwarranted?" I imagine you will get resounding NOs. Then ask 10 other people "Would you sacrifice some digital privacy in light of the terrorist threats after 9-11?" The results will be much different I assume. Now I did not read the full article (or any of it, who has time?), but the former is the fancy rhetoric that gets draconian bills like the Patriot act passed. Its amazing how much people will sign away when it is dressed up in legalese.

      To be frank, this fucking garbage is FUD spewing in order to make your average red-blooded obedient worker feel less, well, 'agitated' at the thought of the creeping privacy revocations, in-my-mother-fucking-opinion. Who knows. Perhaps the corporate spynet is reading this right now and I am getting put on a watch list as we speak.

      Who am I kidding. Hollywood embellishes what these folks actually can do with technology (with many gaffs along the way). I bet the SSN database is maintained in a damp cubicle by a rank cigarette smoke covered ex-betty boom tapping away on Lotus 1-2-3.

      And to play devils advocate, if these statistics are actually legitimate, it confirms one of two things (or both); Americans are fucking morons, or the standard cliche regarding statistics.

      --
      'We are trying to prove ourselves wrong as quickly as possible, because only in that way can we find progress.' RPF
  4. Re:Nearly two thirds... by Jeff+DeMaagd · · Score: 3, Interesting

    I guess MMA is Mixed Martial Arts, I've never heard of that term or acronym before.

    Humans have been into aggression for since before the dawn of the earliest civilizations, do you really think it's going to go away any time soon? Maybe you need to brush up on your history a little bit, "civilized" societies can and do go from their pinnacle to their worst in short time spans, shockingly short if there is a lot of pent-up tension. In some ways, I think it might be argued that civilized societies pretend they are free of humanity's worst aspects, when it's just denial or turning a blind eye.

  5. Re:Government exists for warfare. by euyis · · Score: 4, Interesting

    I often get reply and explanation from US sysadmins when I complain while I get typical bot-net or hijacked machines port-scanning traffic, rarely do I get replies from China. Is it because China sysadmins are all hackers or because their organization is less professional and that are just less competent and get overflodded with complain reports ?

    Just wondering... ;-)

    They don't read English and/or have difficulties writing a reply in English, and everything you can expect to get from a machine translator would be gibberish. Even if you write the letter in completely correct Chinese they still won't care, unless you are his superior and he must obey your commands - this is the typical attitude among many Chinese sysadmins.