I'm surprised by how much of a stir this story is creating. I've used USAA for almost 5 years now and the whole time they've had a "Deposit@Home" javascript that allowed you to scan your check and deposit it immediately the same way. It's the quickest and most convenient way to do it, considering that USAA is an internet-only bank. They're also pretty much the best bank in the world...ATM fee rebates, a decent web interface, and scanning (or sending them in snail-mail in postage paid free deposit envelopes) deposits? What more could you ask for?
As a hermit crab owner (whose crabs are a completely irrational joy in my life...and may be for a long time as they can live 30+ years in captivity) I have in fact seen that crabs remember pleasant and painful experiences. I have three crabs which I try to handle regularly. One of them took a rather nasty fall onto carpet during the first handling session and he has never since gotten over that fear of handling. When I handle him, he dump his shell water all over me and is frantic to escape. Two other crabs, who have had small falls from one hand into the other but nothing as high as the first one, have learned that no harm comes from being handled and have no similar responses when being handled. Their only response is to explore whatever I let them, be it my hands, arms, legs, room, etc. So it doesn't surprise me that scientists have found that crabs can make connections between certain experiences or circumstances and unpleasantness. People who have owned these creatures have known it for years.
This somehow reminds me of that proverb about frogs and boiling water - frog story. You can't throw an animal (i.e. lobster or crab) that regulates its body temperature by moving through different 'microclimates' in its environment into a pot of boiling water and expect it not to try to find a cooler place to go.
I find it rather amusing that the article from ryanair.com linked above mentions Virgin [airlines] in conjunction with their "Beds and Blowjobs" video clip.
It amused me, anyway...
This situation reminds me of the past three ShmooCons I attended. My rule is that if I'm not entirely sure that my computer is hack-proof (an impossibility, I realize, but a goal nonetheless) and I know that I'm not going to be paying enough attention to it to ensure that I would notice if something strange were happening to it...then I don't get on the network and I turn off my wireless antenna so no one can find! When you're in a conference about hacking and computer security, you should expect that your computer should be broken into.
All that aside, if the rules specifically stated that the wired networks were for reporter use only, and were not to be used for hacking ("separate, wired Internet connections set up for reporters are supposed to be off-limits to hacking and the Wall of Sheep" according to the article), then the reporters who used it to get login credentials and then turned them in despite the rule about no hacking and no Wall of Sheep are stupid and deserved to get kicked out.
We applied this to www.uncyclopedia.com?
Britney Spears -> William Shakespeare -> William Shatner
or...
Britney Spears -> William Shakespeare -> Kitten Huffing -> American -> Redneck
"To do anything that suggested a taste for solitude, even to go for a walk by yourself, was always slightly dangerous. There was a word for it in Newspeak: ownlife..." --1984 by George Orwell
As someone who doesn't know that much necessarily about the capabilities of this type of exploit, I still have several questions after reading the article.
1. While this rootkit may very well be something that you can't see while inactive, would you be able to see it with some of the Sysinternals suite of programs (e.g. regmon, procmon, filemon) while running?
2. If someone is tricked into flashing their ROM, is there any way of getting rid of it other than a new computer/new hardware?
3. Is there ANY possibility of blocking it, even if you can't remove it?
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I'm surprised by how much of a stir this story is creating. I've used USAA for almost 5 years now and the whole time they've had a "Deposit@Home" javascript that allowed you to scan your check and deposit it immediately the same way. It's the quickest and most convenient way to do it, considering that USAA is an internet-only bank. They're also pretty much the best bank in the world...ATM fee rebates, a decent web interface, and scanning (or sending them in snail-mail in postage paid free deposit envelopes) deposits? What more could you ask for?
As a hermit crab owner (whose crabs are a completely irrational joy in my life...and may be for a long time as they can live 30+ years in captivity) I have in fact seen that crabs remember pleasant and painful experiences. I have three crabs which I try to handle regularly. One of them took a rather nasty fall onto carpet during the first handling session and he has never since gotten over that fear of handling. When I handle him, he dump his shell water all over me and is frantic to escape. Two other crabs, who have had small falls from one hand into the other but nothing as high as the first one, have learned that no harm comes from being handled and have no similar responses when being handled. Their only response is to explore whatever I let them, be it my hands, arms, legs, room, etc. So it doesn't surprise me that scientists have found that crabs can make connections between certain experiences or circumstances and unpleasantness. People who have owned these creatures have known it for years.
This somehow reminds me of that proverb about frogs and boiling water - frog story. You can't throw an animal (i.e. lobster or crab) that regulates its body temperature by moving through different 'microclimates' in its environment into a pot of boiling water and expect it not to try to find a cooler place to go.
I find it rather amusing that the article from ryanair.com linked above mentions Virgin [airlines] in conjunction with their "Beds and Blowjobs" video clip. It amused me, anyway...
This situation reminds me of the past three ShmooCons I attended. My rule is that if I'm not entirely sure that my computer is hack-proof (an impossibility, I realize, but a goal nonetheless) and I know that I'm not going to be paying enough attention to it to ensure that I would notice if something strange were happening to it...then I don't get on the network and I turn off my wireless antenna so no one can find! When you're in a conference about hacking and computer security, you should expect that your computer should be broken into. All that aside, if the rules specifically stated that the wired networks were for reporter use only, and were not to be used for hacking ("separate, wired Internet connections set up for reporters are supposed to be off-limits to hacking and the Wall of Sheep" according to the article), then the reporters who used it to get login credentials and then turned them in despite the rule about no hacking and no Wall of Sheep are stupid and deserved to get kicked out.
We applied this to www.uncyclopedia.com? Britney Spears -> William Shakespeare -> William Shatner or... Britney Spears -> William Shakespeare -> Kitten Huffing -> American -> Redneck
"To do anything that suggested a taste for solitude, even to go for a walk by yourself, was always slightly dangerous. There was a word for it in Newspeak: ownlife..." --1984 by George Orwell
As someone who doesn't know that much necessarily about the capabilities of this type of exploit, I still have several questions after reading the article. 1. While this rootkit may very well be something that you can't see while inactive, would you be able to see it with some of the Sysinternals suite of programs (e.g. regmon, procmon, filemon) while running? 2. If someone is tricked into flashing their ROM, is there any way of getting rid of it other than a new computer/new hardware? 3. Is there ANY possibility of blocking it, even if you can't remove it?