Money isn't everything. Yes, I said it. I'm self-taught and degreed in electronics, mechanics, and IT, and I turned down two competing (much better paying) offers to go to work for the startup I'm with now. Why? APPRECIATION. They showed the few employees they had that they were appreciated and their suggestions were seriously considered. A year later, the pay is still pretty low and the benefits are okay but nothing special, but the appreciation is still there.
My first time to college, the Intro to Business instructor pointed out to us that the primary motivator for CEO's and entrepreneurs is money, but for employees it's actually appreciation. Business owners look at things with dollar signs in their eyes, and it blinds them. They think and act like mercenaries, and are surprised when they don't get any loyalty from their employees? I try to stay away from idiots like that.
Got a new system, and it still infected? Hmm... Did he re-use any of his peripherals? I've actually seen a mouse retrofitted with a flashdrive, and used with U3 to install scanner software and collect the data, then the hacker would come back later and swap it for a normal mouse.
What personnel are involved? It's starting to sound like the punk may have access to the hardware. He may be an employee or family member.
I think your hacker is tricky, but not necessarily good. He's found a method that you haven't looked for yet.
Test him. Build another system, but put it inside a VM on a linux machine. Take a snapshot before you expose it on the network, and then wait to see if he infects it. Once he does, take another snapshot, and then do a diff between the two VMs. That should point out where his attack vector is coming from. A SQUID proxy on the host machine will point out what ports he's using, so you can see what probable services are in use.
My last suggestion: your punk may be one of the developers of the software your client has to run. Even devs go bad. The software may have a back door. He may have to look at alternative software to get his work done.
Years ago a friend ran into the "gnat's ass" virus. It embedded itself into everything: executables, the MBR, even the BIOS. Wiping the machine didn't dislodge it. If your client got infected by a variant, he's got problems. At the time, my buddy had to boot and run Norton from a rescue disk with the/force option on, and even then had to re-start it 7 times before it finally got that crap out of his BIOS. You may have to swap the motherboard and HDs to get a grip against this monster. Don't forget to check any other machines and storage devices on his network, including his printers.
Check to see if the router has had any firmware updates lately, then download and re-flash it yourself. You might also setup a SQUID proxy server in front of your clients machine. That should give you a chance to see if the attack is being initiated from outside and coming through the router, or if a bot is opening the door for him. It's going to be a game of compartmentalization and bug stomping. Anything not being monitored and guaranteed clean is suspect.
But the users aren't generally legally and financially responsible for the physical infrastructure and quality of service for a network, while the IT staff and institution (ISP or University) are. Most users don't give a rat's ass if the neighbor is torrenting the latest movie, but the ISP does because they have the technology to monitor network usage, and if they don't curtail it they will be co-defendants in the lawsuit. Lot's of ISPs currently monitor and perform deep packet inspection, and will sever your internet link for "illegal downloads", with threats of blacklisting as well.
Network monitoring is a REQUIREMENT if you want to remain (oh, god. I can't believe I'm typing this...) pro-active and keep your network pushing packets.
Your ARE late to the party. They (Professor Lee Cronin of the University of Glasgow and a team of 45 researchers) had big stories about their work released in July of this year (2012).
But to answer your question: not really. It's called prioritizing potential threats. Getting killed driving to work is first (I drive a tiny, tiny sports car), Getting electrocuted or stabbed while at work (pneumatics and high voltage, baby!) Getting nailed by severe thunderstorms or tornadoes in "tornado alley". Being killed as a "domestic terrorist" (I'm prior military that enjoys my rights). Being killed by 3d printed poisons in a terrorist attack ranks lower down the list than even "frozen piss falling from overhead airliner".
Terrorists are people with a variety of skillsets and levels, just like anyone else. If they have the skills to print toxins, they have the skills to do a whole lot worse. High school kids can make explosives by the trashcan full, a real bio-chemical engineer could easily get creative enough to make highly addictive chemicals that are hypnotics and have embed-able dispensers that release only when they receive encrypted transmissions. Want to control a country? Addict and control the political, financial, religious, and military leaders. Screw messing with the weak sheep. That's simply a non-optimum diversion.
I'm much less concerned about about the rights of F'ing ants than I am about the pain and suffering of other humans. Yes, we should be sensitive to our environment. Don't crap where you sleep, etc... But the requirements and impact of people need to be balanced against the requirements and impact of other species in the environment. Fireants rank pretty low on that scale.
True. I watched my wife die in a hospital bed (they managed to resuscitate her) and it changed my whole outlook on life. I exercise, love my kids (biological and adoptive), drive a totally impractical little sports car, and try to enjoy my life every day. Because I know one thing. It will all change in the blink of an eye one day, and I want to live and enjoy my life as much as I can until that time comes. I don't want to "wait until X, so we can afford to do that". That day will never come. I've spent too much of my life "waiting".
If you won't let yourself live, you're making yourself die.
Good question. I mean, he wasn't just a scientist, he had NAZI SUPER SCIENCE! When normal science just isn't evil enough to get the job done, you MUST CALL IN THE NAZIs!
Really though, we wouldn't have a space program, or any nuclear science, or any of the fallout (snicker) technologies we have today if we hadn't gone talent poaching from the Third Reich as soon as we possibly could. The German people have always been impressive. Not always nice, but always impressive.
It also happens to be embedded in Oracle Databases, and even though it isn't mentioned wither this 0-day affects Android, the Djarvik Engine is modeled after Java. Java is used in an incredible number of applications, it just doesn't get rubbed in your face all the time. Yeah, nobody uses Java anymore. Except... everybody.
Damn, you outed yourself there as an old loser that never "made it" in your career field. "go back to its roots"? You would obviously have told the OP how to do this, and shown off how l337 your were, if you had the slightest clue of how to do this.
Lame. Even as an AC troll.
Go eat another twinkie and play with your star wars dolls in your mom's basement.
Sorry for the confusion. It's been quite a while ago, about 1992 (?), and it was the original passing of the concealed carry law letting people carry weapons for self defense. I am very much opposed to "gun control". There have been numerous times that just having a weapon, and indicating willingness to use it has saved my family and friends from much danger. This includes car jacking, robbery, and outlaw biker gangs. Really.
Actually, at the last local industry expo I went to, the Sonicwall rep told me about their really new, really expensive, ISP grade router that came complete with deep packet inspection, white and black lists, and real-time data stream analysis. So I could push it to my clients to "stop those pirates downloading warez and movies". Companies don't spend any more than they have to, true. But smart companies plan for shifts in the market, and having to spy on their users definitely is a market shift. Buy the equipment now, use the increased capabilities to make happy customers, and have the gear halfway amortized when the spying mandate comes down. Profit!
You think people are afraid of repercussions for their speech for no reason? So you mock them? You, sir, are obviously living a nice secure life, but most of us don't.
I've had family members "hunted" by small town deputies before, for standing on their rights. They had to let that particular officer know that his badge wasn't kevlar, and wouldn't appreciably slow down a bullet. I personally know people in other towns that have official documentation that would almost put police officers away for murder, and was supposed to be destroyed, but would definitely get them killed for having it. So they hold it as "insurance" against mysteriously disappearing in the night, and being tagged a "runaway".
You people in the big cities seem to think that crap like that only happens in B-grade action flicks. I've seen it my whole life, living in the American mid-west.
Most people know that drugs move up from Mexico, and are distributed to the users in the larger cities. But they are routed from small town to small town around the major cities, where the police are easier and cheaper to buy. Lots of these drugs are being moved in the trunks of cars on car carriers. "No one would jeopardize a legitimate car business to move drugs!" Really? Delorean used drugs to try and finance his company, remember. Businesses exist to make money. If you can reduce your risk by paying the judge and sheriff a cool 100,000 dollars each, you can clear over 2 million a month. Untaxed. Which is nice to hear when the economy is down and no one is coming around to buy your cars.
So rest assured, there is more corruption in the small towns than you would believe. Mostly because it's easier to lean on people, and oppress them, than in the larger cities with all those people looking.
More like several people dying. One of these people is going to get stopped for a pat down, but he'll have a freaking bomb strapped on. News at 11. Maybe...
A friend of mine told me years ago, that when he was living in Florida when the concealed carry law went into affect, there was a sudden decrease in the quantity of violent crime incidents. He then noted that tourists started getting mugged and killed fairly regularly after that. Now, rental car companies don't put their stickers on the bumpers anymore, and I've heard of people getting sideswiped off the roads by gang bangers before they're even off the airport property. Why? Tourists can't carry guns on planes, and ground travel with a loaded gun gets dicey pretty quickly. Cops don't like people to be able to defend themselves. They start to wonder why they need cops then. There were quite a few reports of official seizure of personal firearms after hurricane Katrina, leaving many people without means of protecting themselves or their property. I know that got a couple people killed or robbed.
A person can only count on their own ability to provide themselves any safety or security. Having other people work towards that goal also is helpful, but relying on others for basic security needs is just making you their bitch. Your choices are to basically stand on your own feet, or get down on your knees. These are lessons every biker, outlaw, and combat soldier know. Police know it too. The "nice" people are usually kept in ignorance by whomever their guard dogs are, so that they willingly give it up when its time to be sheared.
Very true words the parent wrote. My father just retired from a long, well-paid, career as a CNC programmer in the aerospace industry and I'm currently doing electro-mechanical R&D at a start up (and being paid decently with benefits!) partly because of my diverse skill set. They commented that you don't often see Electronics Tech, Java Programmer, Network Admin, and CNC Machinist on the same resume. I've heard that some idiots ask "What's your vertical?", like everyone needs to be a super specialist in something. I've found that having a broad range of skills makes me valuable to quite a few people, some that are more than willing to pay a consulting fee.
Check out consulting while going through classes. It looks like you already know your stuff well enough that people would be willing to pay you. If you live in an area that isn't "tech heavy" like the coastal areas of the US, you may find people doing start ups that need tech explanations and guidance. My wife does a lot of that for her bosses (she's the IT Director for a multi-million dollar start up).
Going back to school is also a good move, in the meanwhile. Most schools (especially tech schools) have people whose role is to build relationships with local businesses and place appropriate students with them. They love older students with high tech backgrounds and experience. They are easier to place, and more likely to get other students from the school in the door of where ever they go.
Sadly, you are very correct. Back in Dallas, in the 90's, I personally knew people that had their door kicked in by the "Drug Task Force", teargas thrown, and the husband was thrown out of his wheelchair, which was then roughly dismantled/broken in front of him while they "searched it for weapons". What were they guilty of? Living at the house when the police went to the WRONG ADDRESS. A similar incident resulted in a newborn baby's lungs being permanently scarred by tear gas.
The police started curbing their actions when they started getting shot going into houses that were supposed to be easy pickings. The drug dealers had started buying "look-alike" uniforms via mail-order, and pulling raids on rival dealers using the same tactics of the police. When someone steals a dealers drugs and money, the dealer is still on the hook to his supplier. When they heard, "Dallas PD! Open up!" all they could think of was "Those bastards are back! Eat hot lead!"
The lesson here? Poor, honest, people can't afford lawyers to sue city hall to behave correctly, but drug dealers willing to kill a cop will make them watch themselves very carefully.
Apparently the Police Departments of America disagree with this law, and feel that it doesn't apply to them. That's what the big pissing match is all about.
Do a google search for American internment camps Japanese Americans WWII. Over 120,000 Japanese and Japanese-Americans were forced into relocation camps.
Check your history. There's your god damned citation.
So.... You'd get off with a lighter sentence if you went and killed the RIAA attorneys? I like your thinking, and I'll gladly kick in a buck for your legal defense fund.
Slashdot Mirror
Money isn't everything. Yes, I said it. I'm self-taught and degreed in electronics, mechanics, and IT, and I turned down two competing (much better paying) offers to go to work for the startup I'm with now. Why? APPRECIATION. They showed the few employees they had that they were appreciated and their suggestions were seriously considered. A year later, the pay is still pretty low and the benefits are okay but nothing special, but the appreciation is still there.
My first time to college, the Intro to Business instructor pointed out to us that the primary motivator for CEO's and entrepreneurs is money, but for employees it's actually appreciation. Business owners look at things with dollar signs in their eyes, and it blinds them. They think and act like mercenaries, and are surprised when they don't get any loyalty from their employees? I try to stay away from idiots like that.
Got a new system, and it still infected? Hmm... Did he re-use any of his peripherals? I've actually seen a mouse retrofitted with a flashdrive, and used with U3 to install scanner software and collect the data, then the hacker would come back later and swap it for a normal mouse.
What personnel are involved? It's starting to sound like the punk may have access to the hardware. He may be an employee or family member.
I think your hacker is tricky, but not necessarily good. He's found a method that you haven't looked for yet.
Test him. Build another system, but put it inside a VM on a linux machine. Take a snapshot before you expose it on the network, and then wait to see if he infects it. Once he does, take another snapshot, and then do a diff between the two VMs. That should point out where his attack vector is coming from. A SQUID proxy on the host machine will point out what ports he's using, so you can see what probable services are in use.
My last suggestion: your punk may be one of the developers of the software your client has to run. Even devs go bad. The software may have a back door. He may have to look at alternative software to get his work done.
Years ago a friend ran into the "gnat's ass" virus. It embedded itself into everything: executables, the MBR, even the BIOS. Wiping the machine didn't dislodge it. If your client got infected by a variant, he's got problems. At the time, my buddy had to boot and run Norton from a rescue disk with the /force option on, and even then had to re-start it 7 times before it finally got that crap out of his BIOS. You may have to swap the motherboard and HDs to get a grip against this monster. Don't forget to check any other machines and storage devices on his network, including his printers.
Check to see if the router has had any firmware updates lately, then download and re-flash it yourself. You might also setup a SQUID proxy server in front of your clients machine. That should give you a chance to see if the attack is being initiated from outside and coming through the router, or if a bot is opening the door for him. It's going to be a game of compartmentalization and bug stomping. Anything not being monitored and guaranteed clean is suspect.
Nice viewpoint. Really.
But the users aren't generally legally and financially responsible for the physical infrastructure and quality of service for a network, while the IT staff and institution (ISP or University) are. Most users don't give a rat's ass if the neighbor is torrenting the latest movie, but the ISP does because they have the technology to monitor network usage, and if they don't curtail it they will be co-defendants in the lawsuit. Lot's of ISPs currently monitor and perform deep packet inspection, and will sever your internet link for "illegal downloads", with threats of blacklisting as well.
Network monitoring is a REQUIREMENT if you want to remain (oh, god. I can't believe I'm typing this...) pro-active and keep your network pushing packets.
Your ARE late to the party. They (Professor Lee Cronin of the University of Glasgow and a team of 45 researchers) had big stories about their work released in July of this year (2012).
But to answer your question: not really. It's called prioritizing potential threats. Getting killed driving to work is first (I drive a tiny, tiny sports car), Getting electrocuted or stabbed while at work (pneumatics and high voltage, baby!) Getting nailed by severe thunderstorms or tornadoes in "tornado alley". Being killed as a "domestic terrorist" (I'm prior military that enjoys my rights). Being killed by 3d printed poisons in a terrorist attack ranks lower down the list than even "frozen piss falling from overhead airliner".
Terrorists are people with a variety of skillsets and levels, just like anyone else. If they have the skills to print toxins, they have the skills to do a whole lot worse. High school kids can make explosives by the trashcan full, a real bio-chemical engineer could easily get creative enough to make highly addictive chemicals that are hypnotics and have embed-able dispensers that release only when they receive encrypted transmissions. Want to control a country? Addict and control the political, financial, religious, and military leaders. Screw messing with the weak sheep. That's simply a non-optimum diversion.
I'm much less concerned about about the rights of F'ing ants than I am about the pain and suffering of other humans. Yes, we should be sensitive to our environment. Don't crap where you sleep, etc... But the requirements and impact of people need to be balanced against the requirements and impact of other species in the environment. Fireants rank pretty low on that scale.
True. I watched my wife die in a hospital bed (they managed to resuscitate her) and it changed my whole outlook on life. I exercise, love my kids (biological and adoptive), drive a totally impractical little sports car, and try to enjoy my life every day. Because I know one thing. It will all change in the blink of an eye one day, and I want to live and enjoy my life as much as I can until that time comes. I don't want to "wait until X, so we can afford to do that". That day will never come. I've spent too much of my life "waiting".
If you won't let yourself live, you're making yourself die.
Good question. I mean, he wasn't just a scientist, he had NAZI SUPER SCIENCE! When normal science just isn't evil enough to get the job done, you MUST CALL IN THE NAZIs!
Really though, we wouldn't have a space program, or any nuclear science, or any of the fallout (snicker) technologies we have today if we hadn't gone talent poaching from the Third Reich as soon as we possibly could. The German people have always been impressive. Not always nice, but always impressive.
It also happens to be embedded in Oracle Databases, and even though it isn't mentioned wither this 0-day affects Android, the Djarvik Engine is modeled after Java. Java is used in an incredible number of applications, it just doesn't get rubbed in your face all the time. Yeah, nobody uses Java anymore. Except... everybody.
Damn, you outed yourself there as an old loser that never "made it" in your career field. "go back to its roots"? You would obviously have told the OP how to do this, and shown off how l337 your were, if you had the slightest clue of how to do this.
Lame. Even as an AC troll.
Go eat another twinkie and play with your star wars dolls in your mom's basement.
Sorry for the confusion. It's been quite a while ago, about 1992 (?), and it was the original passing of the concealed carry law letting people carry weapons for self defense. I am very much opposed to "gun control". There have been numerous times that just having a weapon, and indicating willingness to use it has saved my family and friends from much danger. This includes car jacking, robbery, and outlaw biker gangs. Really.
Actually, at the last local industry expo I went to, the Sonicwall rep told me about their really new, really expensive, ISP grade router that came complete with deep packet inspection, white and black lists, and real-time data stream analysis. So I could push it to my clients to "stop those pirates downloading warez and movies".
Companies don't spend any more than they have to, true. But smart companies plan for shifts in the market, and having to spy on their users definitely is a market shift. Buy the equipment now, use the increased capabilities to make happy customers, and have the gear halfway amortized when the spying mandate comes down. Profit!
You think people are afraid of repercussions for their speech for no reason? So you mock them? You, sir, are obviously living a nice secure life, but most of us don't.
I've had family members "hunted" by small town deputies before, for standing on their rights. They had to let that particular officer know that his badge wasn't kevlar, and wouldn't appreciably slow down a bullet. I personally know people in other towns that have official documentation that would almost put police officers away for murder, and was supposed to be destroyed, but would definitely get them killed for having it. So they hold it as "insurance" against mysteriously disappearing in the night, and being tagged a "runaway".
You people in the big cities seem to think that crap like that only happens in B-grade action flicks. I've seen it my whole life, living in the American mid-west.
Most people know that drugs move up from Mexico, and are distributed to the users in the larger cities. But they are routed from small town to small town around the major cities, where the police are easier and cheaper to buy. Lots of these drugs are being moved in the trunks of cars on car carriers. "No one would jeopardize a legitimate car business to move drugs!" Really? Delorean used drugs to try and finance his company, remember. Businesses exist to make money. If you can reduce your risk by paying the judge and sheriff a cool 100,000 dollars each, you can clear over 2 million a month. Untaxed. Which is nice to hear when the economy is down and no one is coming around to buy your cars.
So rest assured, there is more corruption in the small towns than you would believe. Mostly because it's easier to lean on people, and oppress them, than in the larger cities with all those people looking.
More like several people dying. One of these people is going to get stopped for a pat down, but he'll have a freaking bomb strapped on. News at 11. Maybe...
A friend of mine told me years ago, that when he was living in Florida when the concealed carry law went into affect, there was a sudden decrease in the quantity of violent crime incidents. He then noted that tourists started getting mugged and killed fairly regularly after that. Now, rental car companies don't put their stickers on the bumpers anymore, and I've heard of people getting sideswiped off the roads by gang bangers before they're even off the airport property.
Why? Tourists can't carry guns on planes, and ground travel with a loaded gun gets dicey pretty quickly. Cops don't like people to be able to defend themselves. They start to wonder why they need cops then.
There were quite a few reports of official seizure of personal firearms after hurricane Katrina, leaving many people without means of protecting themselves or their property. I know that got a couple people killed or robbed.
A person can only count on their own ability to provide themselves any safety or security. Having other people work towards that goal also is helpful, but relying on others for basic security needs is just making you their bitch. Your choices are to basically stand on your own feet, or get down on your knees. These are lessons every biker, outlaw, and combat soldier know. Police know it too. The "nice" people are usually kept in ignorance by whomever their guard dogs are, so that they willingly give it up when its time to be sheared.
I relinquish the floor to the trolls.
No BSOD in years, you say? Damn. Am I the only one that still gets them? Maybe it's because I use my computer for more than facebook and excel.
Well, you've got the "coward" part down pat.
Left? Right? You're talking about different hands of the same organism, correct? Maybe they are both right.
Very true words the parent wrote. My father just retired from a long, well-paid, career as a CNC programmer in the aerospace industry and I'm currently doing electro-mechanical R&D at a start up (and being paid decently with benefits!) partly because of my diverse skill set. They commented that you don't often see Electronics Tech, Java Programmer, Network Admin, and CNC Machinist on the same resume. I've heard that some idiots ask "What's your vertical?", like everyone needs to be a super specialist in something. I've found that having a broad range of skills makes me valuable to quite a few people, some that are more than willing to pay a consulting fee.
Check out consulting while going through classes. It looks like you already know your stuff well enough that people would be willing to pay you. If you live in an area that isn't "tech heavy" like the coastal areas of the US, you may find people doing start ups that need tech explanations and guidance. My wife does a lot of that for her bosses (she's the IT Director for a multi-million dollar start up).
Going back to school is also a good move, in the meanwhile. Most schools (especially tech schools) have people whose role is to build relationships with local businesses and place appropriate students with them. They love older students with high tech backgrounds and experience. They are easier to place, and more likely to get other students from the school in the door of where ever they go.
It was one of the first things Hitler and Mussolini did.
Hit men are "just doing their jobs", too. Still takes a special strain of scum to *want* to do it.
Sadly, you are very correct.
Back in Dallas, in the 90's, I personally knew people that had their door kicked in by the "Drug Task Force", teargas thrown, and the husband was thrown out of his wheelchair, which was then roughly dismantled/broken in front of him while they "searched it for weapons". What were they guilty of? Living at the house when the police went to the WRONG ADDRESS. A similar incident resulted in a newborn baby's lungs being permanently scarred by tear gas.
The police started curbing their actions when they started getting shot going into houses that were supposed to be easy pickings. The drug dealers had started buying "look-alike" uniforms via mail-order, and pulling raids on rival dealers using the same tactics of the police. When someone steals a dealers drugs and money, the dealer is still on the hook to his supplier. When they heard, "Dallas PD! Open up!" all they could think of was "Those bastards are back! Eat hot lead!"
The lesson here? Poor, honest, people can't afford lawyers to sue city hall to behave correctly, but drug dealers willing to kill a cop will make them watch themselves very carefully.
Apparently the Police Departments of America disagree with this law, and feel that it doesn't apply to them. That's what the big pissing match is all about.
Do a google search for American internment camps Japanese Americans WWII. Over 120,000 Japanese and Japanese-Americans were forced into relocation camps.
Check your history. There's your god damned citation.
You think they haven't been ready to do it AGAIN?
So.... You'd get off with a lighter sentence if you went and killed the RIAA attorneys? I like your thinking, and I'll gladly kick in a buck for your legal defense fund.