Slashdot Mirror
NSA Says It Foiled Plot To Destroy US Economy Through Malware
mrspoonsi writes "Business Insider Reports: The National Security Agency described for the first time a cataclysmic cyber threat it claims to have stopped On Sunday's '60 Minutes.' Called a BIOS attack, the exploit would have ruined, or 'bricked,' computers across the country, causing untold damage to the national and even global economy. Even more shocking, CBS goes as far as to point a finger directly at China for the plot — 'While the NSA would not name the country behind it, cyber security experts briefed on the operation told us it was China.' The NSA says it closed this vulnerability by working with computer manufacturers. Debora Plunkett, director of cyber defense for the NSA: One of our analysts actually saw that the nation state had the intention to develop and to deliver — to actually use this capability — to destroy computers."
Sorry, I'm not buying it. Despite the NSA's best efforts, Microsoft did release Vista.
Koans and fables for the software engineer
Ah the Chinese are so helpful ... oh wait!
I routinely stop alien invasions. Their lazors are no match for my hands (and let's not mention my other weapon... in my pants).
Your move NSA - what have you done lately?
Maybe one part of the NSA wrote the malware and another part found out about it and stopped them.
If Slashdot were chemistry it would look like this:Cadaverine
There have been BIOS destroying viruses before. Now the NSA is in the antivirus business? And by doing so, they save the U.S. economy? Even Norton and McAfee don't make this claim.
Now that they have committed themselves to the role of protecting the country, can they track down the people who wish to bring down our country by exploiting our fears?
"Hi [insert computer bios maker here], I'm with the NSA - we've detected a BIOS damaging malware and we would like to you implement these changes to prevent it - No, we totally aren't actually just making shit up to get you to install a backdoor for us, okthxbie"-
The Digital Sorceress
The NSA probably commissioned some vendor to write a key-logger that would install in a computer's BIOS. They probably paid billions of dollars for development and research.
Then they tested it on a few computers and the NSA malware bricked them all.
So the NSA canceled the project, saving America from a malware threat that would have tanked the economy. See how diligently they work to save Americans from cyber threats?
Next week they'll stimulate the economy by breaking everyone's windows (pun intended).
That's what you get for outsourcing your propaganda to the private sector.
you don't understand - they secretly patched everyone's machines, so now we're all safe. It's all good!