Slashdot Mirror
NBC News Confuses the World About Cyber-Security
Nerval's Lobster writes "In a video report posted Feb. 4, NBC News reporter Richard Engel, with the help of a security analyst, two fresh laptops, a new cell phone, and a fake identity, pretended to go online with the technical naiveté of a Neanderthal housepet. (Engel's video blog is here.) Almost as soon as he turned on the phone in the Sochi airport, Engel reported hackers snooping around, testing the security of the machines. Engel's story didn't explain whether 'snooping around' meant someone was port-scanning his device in particular with the intention of cracking its security and prying out its secrets, no matter how much effort it took, or if the 'snooping' was other WiFi devices looking for access points and trying automatically to connect with those that were unprotected. Judging from the rest of his story, it was more likely the latter. Engel also reported hackers snooping around a honeypot set up by his security consultant which, as Gartner analyst Paul Proctor also pointed out in a blog posting, is like leaving the honey open and complaining when it attracts flies. When you try to communicate with anything, it also tries to communicate with you; that's how networked computers work: They communicate with each other. None of the 'hacks' or intrusions Engel created or sought out for himself have anything to do with Russia or Sochi, however; those 'hacks' he experienced could have happened in any Starbucks in the country, and does almost every day, Proctor wrote. That's why there is antivirus software for phones and laptops. It's why every expert, document, video, audio clip or even game that has anything at all to do with cybersecurity makes sure to mention you should never open attachments from spam email, or in email from people you don't know, and you should set up your browser to keep random web sites from downloading and installing anything they want on your computer. But keep up the fear-mongering."
This NBC thing is why I treat blogs and traditional media with equal amounts of respect and skepticism. The "real" media is actually far more prone to making things up wholesale than any blogger, who lives and dies by reputation, ever did.
"There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
FYI, the world doesn't watch NBC.
They have publicly stated they plan on monitoring every internet connection originating from Sochi. Cellular or wired. Big surprise.
No one here gives a shit about that lame "o noes hax0rz in mah cup of coffee" NBC article.
:/
The real news is that, after having read tonight's even *more* lame, unhelpful, patronizing and disappointing Slashdot Beta feedback thread, it's now clearer than ever that this ship of ours is sinking. At long last, I think that Netcraft really HAS confirmed it.
Soulskill and the other Dice weasels may indeed be "listening" to us, but they've still got a righteous hard-on for destroying this website regardless of how many times we've rubbed their noses in the beta's odiferous offal. I don't believe their calculated, faux-caring, used-car-salesmen spiel for one moment.
The question now is: Exactly when do we take to the lifeboats, and to what safe harbor do we start rowing towards?
~JPE
Can't stop the Beta? Time to evacuate to ##altslashdot at webchat.freenode.net - Slashcott in effect.
I wonder what experts in other areas are complaining about.
It can't be just this one area they get wrong.
It's not hard to believe there might be a lot of attacks on wireless devices in Sochi. The place is pretty fucked up. Whether these reporters and their consultants know their ass from a wifi antenna or not.
From a story I've linked below:
Dmitry Kozak, a Russian deputy prime minister in charge of preparations for the Olympics, complained about water being wasted by hotel guests when said; "We have surveillance video from the hotels that shows people turn on the shower, direct the nozzle at the wall and then leave the room for the whole day,"
It didn't occur to Kozak that someone might have a problem with being surveilled in the shower until after he blurted this interesting bit of knowledge.
You just have to wonder what sort of pay-offs went into this Sochi Olympics deal. Russia is a deeply fucked up place to begin with and Sochi is a special level of fucked up within that.
I'll admit Slashdot has serious balls to link to a news site that just got its own redesign, with the exact response that this site's beta got (and deserved just as much).
You can hold down the "B" button for continuous firing.
Also very confusing is the existence of Slashbeta. It reflects badly on humans as a species for bringing such garbage into this world.
I'm confident when the sun dies and explodes into super nova whatever the fuck - Humans will look back on their entire history and regret most the creation of Slashbeta.
My computer is password protected, and I simply don't give the password to NBC reporters. So far, no viruses yet! :-)
"There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
Comp.misc on Usenet is the new Slashdot. It is a totally abandoned group, and I have already inaugurated it. Nobody even uses it, so we won't be offending anybody.
Come one come all, join the Slashdot exodus on usenet! Eternal September is a free Usenet provider, and you can read news with Seamonkey, MS Outlook, Opera, Unison (pay product), or the classic Unix programs such as tin, rn, slrn and so forth.
Usenet is free, distributed, uncensored, and allows you to shit-can offensive posters. While it doesn't have moderation per se, the number of replies a topic gets can indicate how interesting the topic is. Additionally, a conversation can go on for months or years (or decades as some have) so you can keep that flamewar going, and with the handy killfile feature you don't have to worry about spamming other people!
Join me there!
I'll admit Slashdot has serious balls to link to a news site that just got its own redesign, with the exact response that this site's beta got (and deserved just as much).
No, it deserved it more. Next to nbcnews.com, beta.slashdot.org is a masterpiece of clean Web design. (Hell, the new nbcnews.com makes buzzfeed.com look not too bad.)
Day 1: It wouldn't stop, the redirecting. At first I thought it was malware. Had my first drink in a long time.
Day 2: Barely had the strength to carry on as the BETA REDIRECTIONS continue.. trying not to talk to hallucinations at the bar and in the bathroom which laugh at me about these redirections.
Day 3: Discovered the BETA redirections were random, and while at first they looked somewhat usable, when I looked at me and my monitor screen in the mirror, a horrible woman with flesh hanging off of her body looked back, trying to lead me into a dance as the word BETA appeared across her rancid breasts.
Day 4: These BETA corridors go on FOREVER! On the plus side, I've taken up disassembling vehicles to corner this BETA beast and sacrifice myself rather than lead others to discovering it. I ate some red snow.
Day 5: Finding it harder to concentrate. I've ate some more of the red snow. The taste is starting to grow on me.
Day 6: This typewriter is the only entertainment I have, apart from throwing things at the walls, trying to get some response from the BETA which is now taking over my mind.
Day 7: Hahahahahha! Would you believe it? I'M STILL BEING REDIRECTED TO SLASHDOT BETA PAGES! AHAHhahahaah! Type, type, ding, ding! Wooo!
Day 8: The hallucinations are actually real! Would you believe it? They have offered to help me if I agree to work for them. I'm thinking about patenting this delicious red snow, the taste is unreal!
Day 9: Having black out sessions where I cannot remember large passings of time. Found some makeup, thought I'd paint a joker smile on my face to amuse the people only I can see!
Day 10: Productive today, part of what I wrote for my new screenplay:
I cannot opt out of Slashdot BETA!
I cannot opt out of Slashdot BETA!
I cannot opt out of Slashdot BETA!
I cannot opt out of Slashdot BETA!
I cannot opt out of Slashdot BETA!
I cannot opt out of Slashdot BETA!
I cannot opt out of Slashdot BETA!
I cannot opt out of Slashdot BETA!
I cannot opt out of Slas
(drops of blood on paper)
but it does have a few interesting features.
Like what?
"First they came for the slanderers and i said nothing."
I don't know where all of this (beta) thing is going. But this is currently impossible to read a story at /. Not only everyone digresses into "beta", but also no relevant "mod" is performed. I just hope it all gets fixed quickly - whatever the solution is - that starts to be annoying.
Slashdot, fix the reply notifications... You won't get away with it...
..they were in Moscow..
How all of the comments about Beta are being moderated to ZERO or worse since that recent story.
Stay strong people... uprate slashbeta comments despite this blatant attack on the userbase.
Hi, it's called a "boycott."
Think of the "f beta" posts as picketing.
Also, this is pretty much a non-story.
Clueless reporter doesn't know what he's talking about - news at all damn day long on every news channel.
What I really want in the new design, is easier access to SlashDataCenter and SlashCareers.... oooooh and SlashBI. I really can't get enough 'Business Intelligence' news formatted as a two paragraph article with a large stock image and zero comments!
There is a discussion topic about the Beta. It is only about 5 items down from this one. We all get it: you don't want the Beta (and I share your feelings, btw). But can we please just keep on enjoying Slashdot too?
I don't like the beta either but I didn't expect this kind of chaos to ensue. No proper discussion can be had in any article as they are filled only with beta comments. Interesting situation indeed. I'm grabbing the popcorn.
It's the same everywhere you look. The current state of IT security is horrible, utter and total crap, and the main reason is that most of the people who work in the sector have no clue, starting from journalists like those and consultants and... well... almost everyone else.
The reason is that much like cryptography, real security is hard. It's not something you pick up in a week course when your boss decides someone in the team needs to specialize on security. There are a great number of actual experts and over the years I've had the pleasure of meeting or working with many of them, but it's a small world and the total number of experts available world-wide is far smaller than the demand for manpower in the security "industry".
Plus it's a bikeshed problem. Lots of people know a little bit about security, so focus is given to the parts that people believe they understand, instead of the real problems. When I do consulting (I don't very much, I dislike it, but I occasional take jobs because I enjoy the problem, or the company) my metaphor for that is that in IT security, it is very easy to find someone who will sell and install you a 3-inch solid steel door with military level security locks for your front door, but very difficult to find someone who will walk around the house with you and point out the easily broken windows and the open basement door.
Here's a free business hint: When you hire a security consultant, ask them for a quick suggestion for a password policy. If you get the two decades old "at least x letters, at least 1 special character, at least 1 number", don't hire them. That bullshit was adequate on Multics systems in the 70s. Today, it will weaken your password security if you programmatically enforce it. (and yes, I have the data to back that up, but that's a short presentation and not a comment field).
So yes, these journalists are spreading bullshit. They are like the power users in a company - the nightmare of IT support. They probably know a little about security, just enough to get it wrong.
Assorted stuff I do sometimes: Lemuria.org
"appealing to a wider audience"
there's antivirus software for phones?! I've never seen anyone use such a thing or hear it advertised. Perhaps it's because I'm safe... I use a Blackberry Z10...
Right!? This could be their marketing poster.
Fuck New Slashdot. The good old /. would have used Natalie Portman!
You know that angry "What the fuck?" bubbling up in the back of your mind?
That's how gun enthusiasts feel when news people start making nonsensical claims about guns.
When some dumb ass says "military style" or "assault magazine clip" or someone ridiculous nonsense, we feel the way you do watching this story.
LK
"Hi. This is my friend, Jack Shit, and you don't know him." - Lord Kano
I thought people come here for content, not stylesheets?
How did I get marked as a troll? Probably should have turned off the karma bonus. Oh, well.
The redesign is less cluttered. I like the static (always at the top) header. The comment widget is nice.
I only said there are a few things I like, there's a lot more I don't.
If you think it's bad with all these 'fuck beta' posts, try reading them on Beta!
Dice shit the bed. They are ruining /. and we're trying to show them our disdain for their poorly thought out actions. Their email address for us to send beta feedback to was full and rarely accepted messages (probably a metaphor for their position on the matter). So we went public with our frustrations.
I can't wait for a tech website to report on the /. revolt of 2014. I also expect a few MBAs to do their thesis on how not to ignore your content providers and ad targets when they provide unmistakable signs of disappointment and resistance.
Flappy butts
Fuck you DICE, fuck YOU VERY MUCH!
And fuck Slashdot Beta!
Fuck beta.
A boycott would be people not using /. at all. At best all the complaining and 'fuck beta' posts are unproductive protests.
A boycott would be people not using /. at all.
OK, call it a strike then. Or civil disobedience.
At best all the complaining and 'fuck beta' posts are unproductive protests.
It's disruptive, yes. Unproductive, no -- if it leads to the assholes pushing beta down our throats to reconsider.
"appealing to a wider audience"
Why would they want to appeal to CowboyNeal? He's busy with his new site!
A boycott would be people not using /. at all. At best all the complaining and 'fuck beta' posts are unproductive protests.
That's coming. The complete boycott is Feb. 10th to Feb 17th. In the mean time, keep up the good work with the Beta comments everyone!
Beyond that, about 7 million people, or 2% of the US, watches NBC news on a given night. 98% of Americans didn't watch that broadcast.
NBC News Confuses a Few Senior Citizens About Cybersecurity
Ftfy
Bonehead reporter couldn't even open the Macbook Air box! It shows him *tearing* one end open like it's a mailer. I would venture to say that every Apple product made in this century has pretty elegant "Frustration Free" (TM-Amazon) packaging. What an idiot.
Hi, I was one of many supervisors at the London Olympics. All the Routers that were put in every single athletes room had backdoors they were specially designed for the Olympic village. After the games they were destroyed. All mobile phone messages was monitored from a temporary prefabricated building which monitored mobile telephones, and any form of wireless communication. The reason given for monitoring everybody was in case somebody from within the village used a computer, or so on to communicate with somebody outside the village to get them inside the village to kill Olympic athletes. These stupid U.S. propaganda stories are just ridiculous. after the Olympic Games are finished and have been successful the U.S. will forget all about homosexuals and spying. The U.S. doesn't give a dam about homosexuals, it is just using them for propaganda purposes that and this spying nonsense. For security reasons all Olympic Games, are heavily monitored nobody wants to see athletes being murdered by any political groups it has happened before that is why the Olympics is heavily monitored when ever the Olympic Games is held. Being paid to spread anti-Russian propaganda: Benjamin Cohen.. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/...
It is now official. Netcraft has confirmed: slashdot beta is dying
One more crippling bombshell hit the already beleaguered slashdot beta community when IDC confirmed that slashdot beta market share has dropped yet again, now down to less than a fraction of 1 percent of all servers. Coming on the heels of a recent Netcraft survey which plainly states that slashdot beta has lost more market share, this news serves to reinforce what we've known all along. slashdot beta is collapsing in complete disarray, as fittingly exemplified by failing dead last [samag.com] in the recent Sys Admin comprehensive networking test.
You don't need to be the Amazing Kreskin [amazingkreskin.com] to predict slashdot beta's future. The hand writing is on the wall: slashdot beta faces a bleak future. In fact there won't be any future at all for slashdot beta because slashdot beta is dying. Things are looking very bad for slashdot beta. As many of us are already aware, slashdot beta continues to lose market share. Red ink flows like a river of blood.
Dice.com is the most endangered of them all, having lost 93% of its core developers. The sudden and unpleasant departures of long time Dice.com developers Jordan Hubbard and Mike Smith only serve to underscore the point more clearly. There can no longer be any doubt: Dice.com is dying.
Let's keep to the facts and look at the numbers.
Slashdot beta leader Theo states that there are 7000 users of slashdot beta. How many users of Dice.com are there? Let's see. The number of Dice.com versus slashdot beta posts on Usenet is roughly in ratio of 5 to 1. Therefore there are about 7000/5 = 1400 Dice.com users. Slashdot beta on Usenet are about half of the volume of Dice.com posts. Therefore there are about 700 users of Dice.com. A recent article put Dice.com at about 80 percent of the slashdot beta market. Therefore there are (7000+1400+700)*4 = 36400 Dice.com users. This is consistent with the number of Dice.com Usenet posts.
Due to the troubles of Walnut Creek, abysmal sales and so on, Dice.com went out of business and was taken over by Reddit who sell another troubled OS. Now Dice.com is also dead, its corpse turned over to yet another charnel house.
All major surveys show that slashdot beta has steadily declined in market share. slashdot beta is very sick and its long term survival prospects are very dim. If slashdot beta is to survive at all it will be among OS dilettante dabblers. slashdot beta continues to decay. Nothing short of a miracle could save it at this point in time. For all practical purposes, slashdot beta is dead.
Reports like this tend to leave the non-technical user overwhelmed and befuddled. What does someone who is ovewhelmed and befuddled do? They freeze up and do nothing, think "deer in the headlights". In other words, these things often exacerbate the problem. But, then, exacerbating problems to boost ratings is nothing new for the media.
Confuses the world? A small world, even in the American sense of the world - which ends just a few hundred meters beyond its borders...
Excuse me, but please get off my Pennisetum Clandestinum, eh!
You got marked as troll for saying you disagree with everyone without giving specifics. Don't take it personally.
"First they came for the slanderers and i said nothing."
More so that it takes effort, involves more complexity, and costs more. Management doesn't want to pay for it, doesn't want projects to take longer because of it, and doesn't want to be inconvenienced by it.
That said, I have seen it swing the other way as well, heightened security being applied to everything regardless of risk due to silly policy. I had a project delayed by about a year to deploy an application because the security goons wanted to lock it down so much as to make it useless (making network communication with it either so difficult, or simply not allowed). This is a database involved contains no sensitive information and the only security really needed is for data integrity. Anyway took them a year of arguing with us about security policy to figure out that this is not an isolated issue and that their idea of security would case a big problem for a lot of business groups. Not to mention legacy applications, which while not ideal, are too expensive to replace all at once, and are business critical. There are levels of acceptable risk, and appropriate security. Risk assessment and security analysis need to be done and several levels of security options available. Categorize your system into one of the options being aware of each's limitations, and plunk it in. However I think many don't want to even do the analysis in a hear no evil see no evil kind of attitude. If we find out that it needs better security we will have to pay more and it will take longer which we don't want. Also typical management BS, where they can get the kudos and translate the project "success" into their next management job, and when it does get pwned somewhere in the future, it will not longer be their problem.
OK, I guess I didn't fully understand how a revolt at Slashdot works and I've been here a long time. :) It's funny that my post gets marked down for being slightly positive yet others get modded up for saying only "Beta sucks!"
I tried modding in the big Timothy response article but most of the good comments were already visible. I'd really be happy with a site that just has article summaries and comments. I don't care so much about redesign, just fix the current issues.
"appealing to a wider audience"
Fuck Beta! My weight does not dictate my web design preference! I don't need them insinuating that we're getting fatter. It's called a CALORIC RESERVE. When the beta destroys the basement kingdoms, you'll be starving and wishing you were a wider visitor too!
Yeap. If you want to go against the group think, your writing must be more clear, and all-around better writing. It's just an artifact of the human tendency to not understand easily what they disagree with.
"First they came for the slanderers and i said nothing."
I was under the impression that antivirus for phones was pretty much useless. The reasoning behind it was that it requires admin/root privileges in order to detect viruses, and most phones only let you operate in an app/user sandbox. The only time antivirus would have these type of permissions is during the install. Have I missed some step forward in phone antivirus applications?
How all of the comments about Beta are being moderated to ZERO or worse since that recent story.
Stay strong people... uprate slashbeta comments despite this blatant attack on the userbase.
How you managed to pull off +4 Interesting for that, I can't imagine.
"Tongue tied and twisted, just an Earth bound misfit
NBC's tech expert finally confesses in his blog three days after the TV broadcast: "Compromises can occur in Russia just as quickly as in any other country ... All the attacks required some kind of user interaction." This contrasts to Tuesday's news broadcast: "Visitors to Russia can expect to be hacked ... it's not a matter of if but when." NBC fabricated the story to mislead their viewers.
It hate to be negative, what was wrong with the old /. ?
The main priority of any website is that it works, the old one did. The new one looks sadly to be a buddy job, ya know, a job you give your buddy a job to keep them employed, and not really care what the consequences are. Ya know don't have to fix the old one, just go back to it and ditch the beta.
I thought people come here for content, not stylesheets?
Yeah, they come for the comments. Comment posting and -reading have many, many problems in the beta, some of them strongly degrading functionality.
Are you a grammar Nazi? I'm trying to improve my English; please correct my errors!
Well, that's different. It's moronic to redesign things all the time, just to supposedly keep audience interest. Moronic. They could just change the stylesheets, if they knew their stylesheets from their content, of course. Instead they played dice with their entire userbase.
People come here for user-generated content, and the beta eviscerates that function pretty cleanly. Even the official dev feedback notes that the user comment feature is an afterthought.