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Political Party's Videoconference System Hacked, Allowed Spying On Demand

Posted by EditorDavid on from the watching-the-Watchmen dept.

The political party heading the Quebec parliament "had its internal videoconference system hacked in what seems to be a default password hack," writes Slashdot reader courteaudotbiz , citing reports in a Canadian newspaper. "Quebec Liberals got a lesson in how not to use the internet," joked one Quebec news station, writing that the security flaw "allowed anyone to gain access to strategy meetings and watch any of the party's live video conferences; and at least one person did... According to the source it was as easy as using a commonly used password, that is often the default code that never gets changed."

While the default password has since been changed, it represents the second high-profile Canadian password screw-up, since last week in Winnipeg, "Two 14-year-old high school students managed to hack into a Bank of Montreal ATM at a super market during their lunch break using an operator's manual they found online... They notified a nearby BMO branch manager, who was nice enough to write the pair notes for being absent from school as they showed security personnel how they did it."

32 comments

  1. Canada by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Writes an excuse note.

    1. Re: Canada by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      If it was the US they would have arrested those kids. They really do things differently up in Canada.

    2. Re: Canada by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Screw you. Whether or not someone gets arrested and prosecuted really depends on the business and the individuals involved. It doesn't have anything to do with nationality and to suggest it does is racist. While the bank certainly did the smart thing by avoiding bad publicity and getting the issue fixed, there are undoubtedly plenty of countries in Canada that would have been quick to prosecute.

    3. Re: Canada by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Yes, all I bet most of those countries in Canada would prosecute, there's so many.

    4. Re: Canada by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      countries in Canada

      It is probably better for the kids in the US that they are sent to jail. Clearly, they have a chance at a better education there.

    5. Re: Canada by davester666 · · Score: 2

      In today's lesson "Canadian" and "American" are not races, therefore the GP, which only discussed nationalities.

      If the person wrote something like "If it was those slant-eyes at the Bank of China they would have arrested those kids", that would be racist.

      And yes, just from news reports, US companies appear much more likely to go for the "arrest them because they are hackers" vs "thank them for showing us that we are screwing up" compared to Canadian companies.

      --
      Sleep your way to a whiter smile...date a dentist!
    6. Re: Canada by Impy+the+Impiuos+Imp · · Score: 1

      "If it was those back-bacon-eyes at the Bank of Canada, they would have arrested those kids!"

      --
      (-1: Post disagrees with my already-settled worldview) is not a valid mod option.
    7. Re: Canada by Coren22 · · Score: 1

      So would that poster be nationalist instead of racist? :)

      --
      APK likes to ask for responses to the same things over and over. Maybe he just likes the responses?
  2. Who is hiring the security guys at the Bank? by BoRegardless · · Score: 2

    They should be publicly insulted & fired.

    1. Re:Who is hiring the security guys at the Bank? by invictusvoyd · · Score: 1

      Who is hiring the guys who are hiring security guys at the Bank?
      They will never be publicly insulted. And what did you say ? fired? hehe..

    2. Re:Who is hiring the security guys at the Bank? by Impy+the+Impiuos+Imp · · Score: 1

      They should be publicly insulted & fired.

      It's Canada. They are probably required to give them therapy and training and a second chance.

      As for the political conference video watching, don't governments run around saying, "Don't worry about the cameras...if you have nothing to hide." How much more so it should apply for those power hungry plotters

      --
      (-1: Post disagrees with my already-settled worldview) is not a valid mod option.
  3. Incorrect summary about the bank hack by AchilleTalon · · Score: 4, Informative

    The BMO ATM was not hacked two weeks ago, it was hacked two YEARS ago. http://o.canada.com/news/bmo-a...

    --
    Achille Talon
    Hop!
    1. Re: Incorrect summary about the bank hack by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Time flies by faster the older you get :(

    2. Re: Incorrect summary about the bank hack by invictusvoyd · · Score: 1

      used an ATM operatorsâ(TM) manual they found online to get into the administrator mode of an ATM at a Safeway grocery store
      They managed to crack the password on the first try, a result of BMOâ(TM)s machine using one of the factory default passwords that had apparently never been changed.

      I'm seriously feeling a little giddy right now.

    3. Re: Incorrect summary about the bank hack by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Get off my freakin' lawn.

  4. The conferecing system hacker changed the password by mi · · Score: 0

    According to a different article about the same hack, which I read some days ago, the hacker changed the password at the end of his exploit.

    Now, I wonder, why he did not record any of the conversations — to be published on Wikileaks, etc.? Information wants to be free and so on...

    And how would /. react, if he did? Would the reaction depend, for example, on which political party and/or politician were the target(s)?

    --
    In Soviet Washington the swamp drains you.
  5. 06/09/2014 by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    Last week? Well, last week, 2 years ago.

    http://www.huffingtonpost.ca/2014/06/09/bmo-atm-hacked_n_5473217.html

    Wow. Can we please replace EditorDavid?

  6. It's all skewed by invictusvoyd · · Score: 1

    Please excuse Mr. Caleb Turon and Matthew Hewlett for being late during their lunch hour due to assisting BMO with security.

    If you can jail someone for a joint , these kids deserve a fucking medal.

  7. Does that really count? by Jfetjunky · · Score: 1

    Is it really "hacking" when it's just a matter of some walnut being so incompetent as to not reset a default password? Seems like intelligent guessing to me.

    1. Re:Does that really count? by jofas · · Score: 1

      Have you seen "Idiocracy"? Yesterday's trying-default-mfg-passwd is today's "hacking". Look on the plus side: if you *do* change the default password, you are a "security expert".

    2. Re:Does that really count? by Coren22 · · Score: 1

      Look on the plus side: if you *do* change the default password, you are a "security expert".

      That explains so many of my recent arguments.

      --
      APK likes to ask for responses to the same things over and over. Maybe he just likes the responses?
  8. Medical records by surfdaddy · · Score: 0

    Just remember that these governments want to control all of these databases of medical records, faces, biometrics. You can see how secure that is going to be.

    1. Re: Medical records by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Which governments.

      What are you taking about?

      Do you have some kind of mental diffency?

    2. Re:Medical records by Mashiki · · Score: 4, Informative

      Just remember that these governments want to control all of these databases of medical records, faces, biometrics. You can see how secure that is going to be.

      Gotta get around the privacy laws first, and in Canada that's much more difficult then compared to the US or even the EU. Each one of those things fall into individual areas of privacy law, in turn no government body is legally allowed to connect any of those going in turn by the privacy act. Unlike the US and many US citizens who go lulz privacy, the laws are strict enough here that even companies like Facebook have bowed down to them.

      --
      Om, nomnomnom...
    3. Re:Medical records by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Omgz government stifling free business communism Justin just not ready feminazi *head explodes*

  9. bmo sucks by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    the allow 6 digits MAX

  10. Uploaded to youtube? by sproketboy · · Score: 1

    Why hack the video and not upload to youtube?

  11. it wuz haxx0rz! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Yeah, no.

  12. Exact modus operandi of CIA disinformation 101 by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    http://o.canada.com/news/bmo-atm-winnipeg-460526

    EditorDavid have the CIA actually harmed you or your family already?

  13. Re:The conferecing system hacker changed the passw by dryeo · · Score: 1

    It's Quebec, basically politics are split between the separatists and the pro-confederation people and there probably wasn't anything of interest said, if the listener could even understand the language.
    Canada is different then the States, the Provincial political parties are often not associated with the Federal political parties.

    --
    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inverted_totalitarianism
  14. Re:The conferecing system hacker changed the passw by mi · · Score: 1

    Have you really missed my point, or just pretend to have? Oh, well...

    --
    In Soviet Washington the swamp drains you.