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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.....
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
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.
Lame attempt at distraction there uncle Sam!
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?
Effective immediately: government mandated state controlled anti-virus. Fuck off lawmakers, my PC is clean I don't need your help.
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
How to you transfer files to those computers. USB drives? That's how hackers breach company networks.
Corporations penetrating my computer for data mining? No. Corporations tracking me every way they can without directly hacking? Yes.
What do you do with your never connected computers? The best I can come up with is watching movies or playing old games. Or do you have both side by side with your bank account open in the online computer and your other finical documents open of the offline computer? Though in that case criminals would be more interested in your banking password anyway. No one is going to manually look through your personal financial spreadsheets.
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)
And it's an oxymoron.
an oxymoron...
I love stacking my barbecues in the shed at the end of summer - you can't beat a bit of grill on grill action.
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.
"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
Close relation to the House Committee on Science, Space, and Technology.
Bunch of macaroons.
My case is worse - the FSF have software on my computer. The horror of it all.
Mielipiteet omiani - Opinions personal, facts suspect.
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.
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
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.
Yeah, Mr "House Intelligence Committee chairman Mike Rogers (R.-MI)", where's the technical data supporting the claim that they are already there?
Well, the answer to that question is classified, meaning "We looked all over your computer and saw traces that they had been there."
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...
No, fear-mongering of this intensity probably targets passing things like SOPA and CISPA, so that homeland security can protect us from our squinty eyed, dark colored, vodka loving enemies from somewhere abroad thus ensuring jobs for them and plenty of racy private photos & videos for their dicks.
Something like making computers come with an AV solution out of the box is almost incomprehensible to these people because they can't tell apart a computer from a washing machine.
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.
Per your own reply, you should start worrying right now. You actually should have been worrying for a while. As you point out, even the securest of secrets can be compromised, all it takes is dedication; Well that and knowing that there is a secret to know.
... whatever
Let me put it as simply as possible for everybody here:
Your data as an individual isn't worth a buck. Security professionals on the other hand cost much much more. Enjoy your tin-foil hat though, I'm sure it'll save you when shit actually hits the fan on the internet.
But Captain Adama, we haven't seen the Cylons in over 40 years!!!
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
Surprisingly, however, the House Committee on Macaroons is quite capable.
... 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?
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.
...and the science committee, the House, the Senate and the White House. Pretty much any place that contains politicians is a huge threat to peace of mind, world peace and common sense.
--There are two kinds of people in this world. I don't like either of them.
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)
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.
As an employee of a security company my data can include plans of customers' security systems, passwords, building layouts, etc. I assure you, I'm not alone on SlashDot when I say that there is an awful lot of data on my computers that would be very valuable to interested parties.
"Think about how stupid the average person is. Now, realise that half of them are dumber than that." - George Carlin
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!
At this point, corporate war games only exist in hollywood movies as far as the general public knows anyways.
Also, I really really hope you're not referring to your personal computer that houses this data.
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
Mine? No, but we have a lot of subcontractors scattered around the world that may be using personal computers for work, or vice versa.
"Think about how stupid the average person is. Now, realise that half of them are dumber than that." - George Carlin
Your data as an individual isn't worth a buck.
uhmm, actually it is for me, i.e. many images of Connie Francis and Gina Lollobrigida plus various concert, TV, and movie clips (many of these no longer exist, or if they do, good luck finding them). Plus many tech documents. Maybe not worth in terms of $USD but if data lost, it will be considerable time to replace it (much is not replacable). Yes, I gotta stay consistent with backups. fyi, I don't have any computer games.
mfwright@batnet.com
Sounds like a cookie-cutter response to me.
There is no right to feel safe thru security vaudeville at the expense of everyone's freedom, privacy and tax money.
1999 called
Did you talk to your grandpa?
I would think that security companies out of everybody would have strict policies around BYOD. Or at least preventing those subs from accessing critical data that a hacker may be interested in?
why would a hacker care about any of that? (hint: sentimental value vs. monetary)
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.
One would think . . . We can tell the subs, and they can swear on a stack of bibles, but the word is not always passed on to the guys out in the field. There's a lot of inconsistency in the business, as well. One local company (not someone we use) doesn't even give their guys a vehicle or tools, much less a computer to use.
"Think about how stupid the average person is. Now, realise that half of them are dumber than that." - George Carlin
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.
"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?
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.