Slashdot Mirror
Iranians, Russians, and Chinese Hackers Are After You, Says Lawmaker
Velcroman1 writes "The House Intelligence Committee is warning that 'time is running out' before the next major cyberattack: The Russians, Iranians, Chinese, and others are likely already on your computer. 'You have criminal organizations trying to get into your personal computer and steal your personal stuff. And by the way, the Chinese are probably on your computer, the Russians are probably on your personal computer, the Iranians are already there,' House Intelligence Committee chairman Mike Rogers (R.-MI) said. 'They're trying to steal things that they think are valuable or use your computer to help them steal from someone else,' he said. 'That's a real problem.'"
I'm wearing my trusty tin-foil hat!
There is no -1 Disagree mod. Slashdot.org/faq defines mod options. USE IT.
just to make sure they aren't and for your own protection.....
Except for the iranian part.
"They're already ON your computer."
"The Red Menace is already AMONG us."
The desire to motivate people to take something seriously is admirable, the problem is that this kind of fear-mongering that will allow people to legally mandate restricted boot features and other lock-ins in the name of "security from the Red Menace."
Given that NK's best attempt at hacking Unix systems requires that you already gave root access keys to a Windows system, I can't say I'm that worried. There are lots of eyes on the keys with which my RedHat distros are signed, especially since they were social-engineered once. When [$bogeyman] can compromise those, I'll worry.
I have a couple computers that I never connect to the internet. Besides hackers and viruses, you also have to worry about corporations penetrating your computer to gather information for sales and marketing profiles.
mfwright@batnet.com
The linked article says it all. Nothing but more fearmongering from Fox News, and promotion of CISPA. Someone needs to have their editor's permissions revoked. oh wait....
One is for non-critical communications. Other is offline permanently.
Amazing. A lawmaker from Michigan learned to read a newspaper headline.
Oh, wait, that's a lawmaker from Michigan. He's just spouting what the lobbyists from Symantec and McAfee are whispering in his year. False alarm.
"Think about how stupid the average person is. Now, realise that half of them are dumber than that." - George Carlin
is a real problem.
The real problem is normal users that do not really know what is happening on their computers and really do not care.
It always brings me back to images of windows users with 20 different toolbars loaded in to IE.
I'm betting his comments will be followed in the coming days by a new piece of legislation authorizing any and all branches of the U.S. government to conduct 'security audits' of your computers and other devices. For your protection, of course.
targeting Iran.
Lame attempt at distraction there uncle Sam!
I do have a sweet pr0n collection. I'm sure lots of hackers would love it too.
You have criminal organizations trying to get into your personal computer and steal your personal stuff.
You mean like the RIAA/MPAA and the Federal government?
The last thing I am going to do is believe one of our lawmakers that skirt their own responsibilities, and spread the propaganda of the NWO.
Effective immediately: government mandated state controlled anti-virus. Fuck off lawmakers, my PC is clean I don't need your help.
Welcome to TEN YEARS AGO!
What's wrong, Republican Rogers? Has the physical terrorism boogeyman waned to so little that you must now bring out a new candidate?
Was able to get a month's worth of FUD out of the way with that single quote.
MouseClass extends ScrollClass, which extends TabClass, which extends SidebarClass, which extends PowerClass, w
banging his wardrum. this is the same asshole who thought iraq was trying to kill us all. how'd that turn out for ya mike? http://www.nbcnews.com/id/17707705/39591107
Good people go to bed earlier.
How much of the crap we put up with would go away if ISPs instituted egress filtering?
Oh, that's not a panacea; it's not going to cure all the interweb's problems overnight, but it would sure as hell eliminate a lot of the low-level crap that goes on.
(grumble grumble grumble)
Yeah, Mr "House Intelligence Committee chairman Mike Rogers (R.-MI)", where's the technical data supporting the claim that they are already there?
Consider: Microsoft is the majority operating system in the US, they want more H1B visas i.e. more foreigners programming for them meaning what? Less security than there is now? More malware/virus entry points & exploits? & where is all the security that Bill Gates tried to pound into them back in the 90's? I mean, do they even consider security an issue? Oh, yeah, right, they have a "Patch Tuesday" to fix all the holes.
So how upset should I get about all these individuals & businesses that end up with hundreds of viruses (virii?) & malwares on their computers, when no technical information is available to support "lessons learned". Or is it *all* FUD? Is it all click-trolling?
Oh 1999, how I miss you. Back then I was working at the local CompUSA and had a lady come in looking for security software:
her: "I have a hacker in my computer"
me: "Oh, you mean a virus?"
her: "No, it's my neighbor. He's gotten in there and I need a program to get him out"
me: (head explode)
I do wish I had recorded the entire conversation, but I couldn't convince her that if the her modem wasn't connected to the internet, nobody could do anything with her computer from the outside. She'd gone as far as turning off and unplugging the computer. He was coming through the power lines, through the TV, he was already *in there* hacking away even with the power turned off... I eventually gave up and sent her off with some firewall software. These are the kinds of people we need to get some rational thought into, Gods help us.
+1 Disagree
As a USian, I'm more concerned about US corporations and US government agencies being after me, they are the ones that can do and are most likely to do me some harm. And, I'm not even concerned enough about them to wear a tinfoil hat.
They think we won't notice the elephant (and the donkey) in the room.
I use a Mac so there's no way Iranian viruses would work on it.
"The Russians, Iranians, Chinese, and others". So what your really saying is that the whole world has access to all our personal information and we should be afriad, very afraid. This guy should be careful or he might be look at like Ted Stevens was after the series of tubes comment.
or to put it another way:
The Russians and the Chinese have been at it for decades. Also, they couldn't care less about the computers used by the general public; they're after military nets, defense contractors, and other high tech companies. As for the Iranians, I dunno. Its not as if the U.S. broke into their facilities and wreaked havoc..
But he's right, in a sense much broader than he intended. Distributed attacks rely on compromised personal computers, and many of those attacks originate from China and Russia. Between that and the way they can fill up a SQL log with repeated break-in attempts, I've found that my life is much easier if I just block most IPs based out of those two countries. You may lose one or two customers, but the enhancement to security and performance is worth it a thousand fold.
How did they get through the tubes?
Unplug that sucker and throw it out the windows, now! Oh wait, it's a Linux box lol.
For the record, MyWebSearch and Yontoo and Freeze and Babylon are after "you" too and since "you" are an idiot, "you" probably have them on your computer as well. They could have added that to the message too.
Microsoft, Facebook, Google, RIAA/MPAA, FBI, CIA, NSA, US Government (in case there are other shadow entities).
Far more to fear from THEM then foreign hackers.... cc fraud and id theft are issues but impact fewer people than the criminal organizations* listed above.
*No they are not strictly speaking criminal but the definitely commit criminal acts and they all have/can have a far more detrimental impact on the average US computer user than the groups in the article. Never mind those computer users who are NOT US citizens...
It could be worse. What if they started flying remote controlled drones around the world killing people with impunity?
It is by the juice of the coffee bean that thoughts acquire speed, the teeth acquire stains. The stains become a warning
"the Chinese are probably on your computer, the Russians are probably on your personal computer, the Iranians are already there"
That's a relief. I was worried it might be the Americans...
From TFA in April 2013
From a June 1998 prepared statement by former Senator Fred Thompson, then chairman of Governmental Affairs Committee, given during the 1998 Congressional Hearings on Intelligence and Security
Well, as far as the ME goes, two down, one to go.
captcha:avenge
Oh, PLEASE save us Government! You do so well understanding personal-level technology with your warrantless searching and tracking of so many things. I want nobody but you to have backdoor access!
Won't somebody THINK of the Children???
My case is worse - the FSF have software on my computer. The horror of it all.
Mielipiteet omiani - Opinions personal, facts suspect.
If your computer is infected by malware, a virus, or even an evil hacker; You are responsible for your portion of the damage done. Therefore it would be in your best interest to make sure your computer is secured. It might even make sense to shut off your high speed pr0n connection when you are not actively downloading images from goatse. No need for big brother oversight...
Robots are everywhere and they eat old peoples medicine for fuel. You need to feel safe, and that's harder and harder to do these days because robots could strike at any time. And when they grab you with those claws you can't break free. Because they're are made of metal, and robots are strong.
http://www.digyourowngrave.com/saturday-night-live-old-glory-robot-insurance/
How soon was that after "Ghost in the Machine" came out?
is very knowledgeable about hacking. they should fly the Jolly Roger over their HQ
Microsoft offers the Malicious Software Removal Tool (IA32 version) , (AMD64 version) which they update monthly. It's not perfect, but it's worth running on Windows machines.
If Congress wants to apply pressure to somebody, it might be worthwhile to investigate how well that's working, and what it's missing.
Trying to be the Joseph McCarthy of the 21st century.
In order for there to be a next major cyberattack, there must have been a last major cyberattack. When was that?
Seriously, what constitutes a "cyberattack"? Does it have to be nation-state sponsored, or does a lone script kiddie count? What is the threshold to make it "major"? Does it have to kill more people than 9/11, or is installing an unwanted browser toolbar enough?
Depending on what your definitions are, a "major cyberattack" might be unlikely to ever happen, or it could be happening *right now*! :-)
[Sir Garlon] is the marvellest knight that is now living, for he destroyeth many good knights, for he goeth invisible.
... is to require businesses to do a better job of distinguishing between mere identity, and actual authenticated authorization. For example, your SSN is just some numbers that can refer to you. Having an SSN is absolutely not authorization. If someone uses you SSN and a business chooses to charge your or open accounts to allow such charges, then they have failed to obtain authorization. In such a case, it should be required by new sensible law that if you state for the record that you did not authorize the transactions or whatever, then that business may not take any action whatsoever unless and until they can prove that you actually did authorize it. The "not take any action" means they cannot collect on debts, cannot place debts with a debt collector, cannot put it on your credit report (must take it off if already did). It has to be like it never happened.
The big problem with ID theft is that these businesses are not checking authorization. They need to start checking authorization or simply eat the loss.
now we need to go OSS in diesel cars
The NSA was there first.
What was wrong with the headline: "Iranian, Russian ,and Chinese Hackers Are After You, Says Lawmaker"?
If they don't email me a phone number attached as a word document, then they're more welcome than the usual idiots I have to see on my computer.
1999 - 1967 = 32 years
Schizophrenia. I've met a woman who thought the same things. She was actually Schizophrenic. It's a terrible disease. She also thought her neighbours were breaking into her home and planting bugs, etc.
Just more xenophobic alarmism. I'm surprised they didn't mention Israel's spying on the US, since crazy xenophobes also tend to be antisemitic too.
I thought that good salesmanship was to sell that lady the most comprehensive product you can without balking at the price.
The logic is the store gets paid and the lady gets peace of mind.
Sounds shitty right? Thus I won't be doing retail sales ever again.
Amazing. A lawmaker learned to read a newspaper headline. Oh, wait, that's a lawmaker. He's just spouting what the lobbyists from Symantec and McAfee are whispering in his year. False alarm.
FTFA
The beginning of justifications to monitor all communications and online activities of all Americans at all times.
It's For Your Safety, Loyal Citizen. After all: if you have nothing to hide...
..EA, Blizzard, Microsoft, and by extension the US government plus probably some agencies from allied states as well. Who's doing anything about that?
A very close friend of mine's sister suffers from that. Came on in her mid to late 20s, she threw away her entire life as she spiraled down the path of insanity. It really is heartbreaking to watch
So rise up, all ye lost ones, as one, we'll claw the clouds.
"Waiter, there a fusion center in my soup!"
Did you order the Spicy Dumpling Borscht with Arde?
You have the right to remain sentient. If you give up the right to remain sentient, you will be elected to public office
It is shitty, and I never was a very good salesman.
Glad I'm out of that business as well.
+1 Disagree
... are definitely in my computer. I am using Avast! Anti-Virus software.
Just as long as they aren't constantly reading and writing to my SSD drives... If I catch them doing that I will be pissed....
1999 called
Did you warn them about 9/11?
ha! That's nothing. I use to work for Geek Squad and had a guy come in stating that he was being hacked and spied on by the government. He was an old Vietnam war vet and was freakin' out. He kept saying that they know so much about him and that he doesn't understand how they could find out all that info. Turns out google analytics was tracking his website visits and was displaying ads that were relevant to him. He thought that someone was somehow telling him something through these ads....I guess someone was tracking him all along...Corporate Big Brother.
You spammed this crap by the 100's in March 2013 http://slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=3581857&cid=43276741 last month all over slashdot in nearly every article, but you forgot to submit that one as anonymous coward like you did all the others and you slipped, posting it as your registered username here instead by mistake on your part (trolling scumbag that undeniably have shown us all that you are). You got played: You played yourself, moron.
Starting around ten years ago, we stopped using SSNs for such purposes here in Norway. Not in small part because a certain phone operator leaked a few hundred thousand of them through a poorly-written webpage.
for i in `facebook friends "=bday" 2>/dev/null | cut -d " " -f 3-`; do facebook wallpost $i "Happy birthday!"; done
1999 - 1967 = 32 years
Unless the AC was referring to the album by The Police, which was released in 1981.
Indeed those countries are probably on my computer. Obviously the Americans are not on my computer. They do not have to be. They are on my providers provider computers. they are on my routers along the way. They are reading my mail. They analyze my postings. They look at my profile.
They are not targeting my computer or even my money. They who I am. I think I would settle for a few Russians, Chinese or Iranians. They just want my money. They do not want my ID (as in ID and Ego).
No, I am not paranoia. Paranoia is when you think you are being followed. I _KNOW_ that I am being followed.
Don't fight for your country, if your country does not fight for you.
Only Losedows systems get broken into. Why not pass a legislation making Losedows illegal? It's not like it's going to be any more unconstitutional then CISPA is already...
"Nationalism is an infantile sickness. It is the measles of the human race." -Albert Einstein
1999 called
Did you warn them about 9/11?
NO! If you alter the past in that way, we could all poof out of existence.
Hell, I'm using this... I'm printing this story out and laminating it. If I'm lucky I'll be able to buy a print copy that has this.
<< fast forward to where the US is a fully fascist state, maybe 2015 or so >>
FBI/other fascist type: Zeroply, explain the 8TB of encrypted data on your home computer?
Me: To prevent people hacking in and getting my data.
FBI: The only reason you would need a 4096 bit RSA key, and AES/Twofish/Serpent cascade is to hide things from the government.
Me: It's to keep the Chinese and Russians out, they just got into my computer two years ago.
FBI: Lol wut?
Me: (whips out article) Here's the official press release from Congress. I'm not changing jack shit until I get an OK from my elected representative.
Ta-da!!!
Support microSD: in a post 9/11 world, it is unwise to carry your data on media that you cannot comfortably swallow.
They that can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety, deserve neither liberty nor safety. ~ Benjamin Franklin
"Nationalism is an infantile sickness. It is the measles of the human race." -Albert Einstein
1999 called
Did you warn them about 9/11?
ObXKCD: http://xkcd.com/875
General Relativity: Space-time tells matter where to go; Matter tells space-time what shape to be.
All need be said: Narus (Boeing subsidiary) and its customer for its DPI/deep packet inspection tech: China, Iran, Syria, Tunisia, Egyup....
And never forget the Trovicor Monitoring Center.......(Fear the State)
Don't we all?
Oh, it's still happening. I was just told today that an iPad that couldn't connect to a WAP, that uses cablemodem must have also broken the phone line (not over cable, separate phone company). Was totally convinced. Nevermind we got a hellacious ice storm last night, with power lines down all over... nah.. that couldn't be it!
{} ------ When I think of a good sig, I'll put it here
I'd be an ignorant, prejudiced fool.
i often wonder how many people have, and frequently use, a google email account. i think any user of that service has more to worry about than the russia, or china or iran. google probably could tell you more about my family than i could.
"Don't we all?"
^Trufax
Just look at what political campaigns and cleaning product ads try and sell you etc etc
It's mid-April and this politician in the federal government is trying to explain how it's the evil Russians, Chinese and Iranians that are trying to steal from us?
Is it possible that some exploit had itself burrowed into her system so that whenever she turned it back on, she could see evidence it was working again? Keep in mind that the uninitiated don't have the vocabulary to express what's actually happening (boot scripts, hacked MBRs, etc). I can see how a non-techie could make those kinds of silly assumptions ("my laptop stays 'alive' so why can't my desktop?").
I swear to God...I swear to God! That is NOT how you treat your human!
So...the neighbour changed her background image to scare her?
Occam's Razor.
Whispering in his ear? Please, that's so 19th Century. In the modern world, lobbyists have wireless access directly to their Congresscritters' brains via the Capitol Area Network. (Amount of bandwidth available to individual lobbyists is directly proportional to size and legality of past, present and future bribes.)
"It's just us Chinese hackers wanting to inspect your--"
"No."
You've hit the nail on the head. If a credit company's security is so lax that anyone who knows my SSN can claim to be me, then the bloody credit company should be penalized for having awful security measures. I wish I had modpoints to give you.
"Connect it to the internet and someone's going to own it!" --Dual Core
Here be signatures
Dude, iPads are known to cause ice storms.
sheesh, some people don't know nothin'.
+1 Disagree
Oh, get over you bruised lady parts, both of you.
As professionals, probably working in the U.S., you certainly do far worse to people in your professional life, and in your private life, simply by existing, than the atrocities you allude to in the retail business.
You two belong to the plague of locusts that is America. The least you can do is own it.
Except for the iranian part.
When Muzzies are concerned its a relief when they only want to hack your computer. More often they want to murder unbelievers
When Muzzies are concerned its a relief when they only want to hack your computer. More often they want to murder anyone who doesn't believe in their god.
FTFY
"That's right...I said it."
Please be aware that "tin" and "aluminum" are two completely different elements, with completely disparate mind-ray blocking capabilities.
1999 called
Did you talk to your grandpa?
Realistically, I'm more worried about my own government getting into my data than I am about the Chinese or Iranians trying to bother understanding what's in my email.
ya and like hollywood or the us military and fbi, cia , mi6 or is it mi7 aren't after everyone else.
There's so many of us
There's so many of us
There's so many [x2]
There's so many of us
There's so many of us
There's so many
Let's have a war
So you can go and die!
Let's have a war!
We could all use the money!
Let's have a war!
We need the space!
Let's have a war!
Clean out this place!
It already started in the city!
Suburbia will be just as easy!
[Chorus]
Let's have a war!
Jack up the Dow Jones!
Let's have a war!
It can start in New Jersey!
Let's have a war!
Blame it on the middle-class!
Let's have a war!
We're like rats in a cage!
It already started in the city!
Suburbia will be just as easy!
[Chorus]
Let's have a war!
Sell the rights to the networks!
Let's have a war!
Let our wallets get fat like last time!
Let's have a war!
Give guns to the queers!
Let's have a war!
The enemy's within!
It already started in the city!
Suburbia will be just as easy!
She'd gone as far as turning off and unplugging the computer. He was coming through the power lines, through the TV, he was already *in there* hacking away even with the power turned off... I eventually gave up and sent her off with some firewall software. These are the kinds of people we need to get some rational thought into, Gods help us.
You do realize she was schizophrenic, don't you? Classic paranoia going on there.
The shepherds did so well protecting the flock that the sheep no longer believed that wolves existed.
Not nearly as shitty as working in tech support but being reqired to upsell to people who's service wasn't working correctly.
It just proves as to how bad our national security is today! Shame on you FBI and CIA. America needs a better secure network or twice as much as the so called 64 bit encrypted network! Try over a million times by now secured network America!
"Others"? You mean that 13-year-old kid in his parent's basement in Tennessee?
Is that what it means when I hear a lobbyist say he's gotta go to the CAN?
I'm more concerned about our government... spying on our e-mails, personal life and other things as citizens we do. Just look how the IRS can do what they want with our e-mails. Anyway, this news is great for big government - more hirees to protect us from the far off boogiemen.
No that would be a biological function, you can tell when they get their network marching orders when their eyes glaze over, flash blue for just a second and they suddenly have to leave to do something urgent.
That's right... all that Apple coolness can change the weather. In fact that's why they do the split tier release thing so as not to release all that coolness at once and precipitate a possible weather disaster. Before he died, Steve Jobs was working on a way to harness Apple Coolness to fight global warming, but he never got to finish.
No I ordered the Crab and Lobster Bisque with an extra helping of high energy neutrons!
He tried but he couldn't be heard over the people yelling and singing the Pince Song... I think they were partying!
Three comments, three kinds of fusion...
If we could of worked the car in there it would have been a home run.
Oh, I know!
Persons commenting on this thread can tour Russia, China, and Iran in the Beautiful 2013 Ford Fusion *.
( *at their own expense. )
You have the right to remain sentient. If you give up the right to remain sentient, you will be elected to public office
'nuff said.