NSA has hidden spyware on most Harddrives...

[revelarts]

In the continuing story of how the Bill of rights is a dead letter.

the 4th amendment is blasted to crap again.

not even your hardrives are not safe.
--but but but that's not REALLY personal effects or papers i suppose some lawyers will argue.--
and
---they are only doing it to foreign countries hardrives.--
didn't they say that about phone taps, and email? have they stopped? should you belive it now?


will we vote for anyone to reign this in?

http://www.reuters.com/article/2015/02/16/us-usa-cyberspying-idUSKBN0LK1QV20150216



(Reuters) - The U.S. National Security Agency has figured out how to hide spying software deep within hard drives made by Western Digital, Seagate, Toshiba and other top manufacturers, giving the agency the means to eavesdrop on the majority of the world's computers, according to cyber researchers and former operatives.

That long-sought and closely guarded ability was part of a cluster of spying programs discovered by Kaspersky Lab, the Moscow-based security software maker that has exposed a series of Western cyberespionage operations.
Kaspersky said it found personal computers in 30 countries infected with one or more of the spying programs, with the most infections seen in Iran (http://bit.ly/1stXAWl), followed by Russia, Pakistan, Afghanistan, China, Mali, Syria, Yemen and Algeria. The targets included government and military institutions, telecommunication companies, banks, energy companies, nuclear researchers, media, and Islamic activists, Kaspersky said. (reut.rs/1L5knm0 (http://reut.rs/1L5knm0))
The firm declined to publicly name the country behind the spying campaign, but said it was closely linked to Stuxnet, the NSA-led cyberweapon that was used to attack Iran's uranium enrichment facility. The NSA is the agency responsible for gathering electronic intelligence on behalf of the United States.
A former NSA employee told Reuters that Kaspersky's analysis was correct, and that people still in the intelligence agency valued these spying programs as highly as Stuxnet. Another former intelligence operative confirmed that the NSA had developed the prized technique of concealing spyware in hard drives, but said he did not know which spy efforts relied on it.
NSA spokeswoman Vanee Vines declined to comment.
Kaspersky published the technical details of its research on Monday, which should help infected institutions detect the spying programs, some of which trace back as far as 2001.
The disclosure could further hurt the NSA's surveillance abilities, already damaged by massive leaks by former contractor Edward Snowden. Snowden's revelations have hurt the United States' relations with some allies and slowed the sales of U.S. technology products abroad.
The exposure of these new spying tools could lead to greater backlash against Western technology, particularly in countries such as China (http://bit.ly/1stXs9q), which is already drafting regulations that would require most bank technology suppliers to proffer copies of their software code for inspection.
Peter Swire, one of five members of U.S. President Barack Obama's Review Group on Intelligence and Communications Technology, said the Kaspersky report showed that it is essential for the country to consider the possible impact on trade and diplomatic relations before deciding to use its knowledge of software flaws for intelligence gathering.
"There can be serious negative effects on other U.S. interests," Swire said.
TECHNOLOGICAL BREAKTHROUGH

According to Kaspersky, the spies made a technological breakthrough by figuring out how to lodge malicious software in the obscure code called firmware that launches every time a computer is turned on.
Disk drive firmware is viewed by spies and cybersecurity experts as the second-most valuable real estate on a PC for a hacker, second only to the BIOS code invoked automatically as a computer boots up.
"The hardware will be able to infect the computer over and over," lead Kaspersky researcher Costin Raiu said in an interview.
Though the leaders of the still-active espionage campaign could have taken control of thousands of PCs, giving them the ability to steal files or eavesdrop on anything they wanted, the spies were selective and only established full remote control over machines belonging to the most desirable foreign targets, according to Raiu. He said Kaspersky found only a few especially high-value computers with the hard-drive infections.
Kaspersky's reconstructions of the spying programs show that they could work in disk drives sold by more than a dozen companies, comprising essentially the entire market. They include Western Digital Corp, Seagate Technology Plc, Toshiba Corp, IBM, Micron Technology Inc and Samsung Electronics Co Ltd.

Western Digital, Seagate and Micron said they had no knowledge of these spying programs. Toshiba and Samsung declined to comment. IBM did not respond to requests for comment.
GETTING THE SOURCE CODE

Raiu said the authors of the spying programs must have had access to the proprietary source code that directs the actions of the hard drives. That code can serve as a roadmap to vulnerabilities, allowing those who study it to launch attacks much more easily.
"There is zero chance that someone could rewrite the [hard drive] operating system using public information," Raiu said.
Concerns about access to source code flared after a series of high-profile cyberattacks on Google (http://bit.ly/1svRxX4) Inc and other U.S. companies in 2009 that were blamed on China. Investigators have said they found evidence that the hackers gained access to source code from several big U.S. tech and defense companies.
It is not clear how the NSA may have obtained the hard drives' source code. Western Digital spokesman Steve Shattuck said the company "has not provided its source code to government agencies." The other hard drive makers would not say if they had shared their source code with the NSA.
Seagate spokesman Clive Over said it has "secure measures to prevent tampering or reverse engineering of its firmware and other technologies." Micron spokesman Daniel Francisco said the company took the security of its products seriously and "we are not aware of any instances of foreign code."....
more at link

[NightTrain]

I can see where this spyware would be useful in grabbing data locally, say to a thumb drive.

But the second it tries to phone home to Mama with data it'll be caught and stopped if you have any sort of decent cyber security on your computer.

To say that the NSA or CIA doesn't engage in cyber espionage is silly, it's common knowledge that they do - that was made clear on the attack on Iran's nuke plant. If you can remotely burn down an Iranian nuclear weapons program using nothing but your in-house hackers, then why wouldn't you? That's a lot less risky (and much less expensive) than sending a couple of stealth aircraft there to blow it up, nevermind the political blow back. We could have let Israel bomb them, but they've already got a lot on their plate and they've already blown up a Syrian nuke plant and an Iraqi nuke plant.

It's a double-edged sword. It's cool when you do it to our enemies, but no one likes it when it's used on U.S. citizens. But then you have to consider the U.S. citizens that are planning to blow up a Kitten Factory. It's good that they are caught before engaging in their plans, right?

That being said, I don't think that American citizens all have their computers bugged by this nefarious NSA spyware. It would soon be included in the spyware scans (if it isn't already) and besides - everyone already blurts out everything about themselves on the internet anyway. There's no need to spy when you already have your entire life posted in detail by yourself on Facebook or Instagram or whatever.

[revelarts]

I can see where this spyware would be useful in grabbing data locally, say to a thumb drive.

But the second it tries to phone home to Mama with data it'll be caught and stopped if you have any sort of decent cyber security on your computer.

To say that the NSA or CIA doesn't engage in cyber espionage is silly, it's common knowledge that they do - that was made clear on the attack on Iran's nuke plant. If you can remotely burn down an Iranian nuclear weapons program using nothing but your in-house hackers, then why wouldn't you? That's a lot less risky (and much less expensive) than sending a couple of stealth aircraft there to blow it up, nevermind the political blow back. We could have let Israel bomb them, but they've already got a lot on their plate and they've already blown up a Syrian nuke plant and an Iraqi nuke plant.

It's a double-edged sword. It's cool when you do it to our enemies, but no one likes it when it's used on U.S. citizens. But then you have to consider the U.S. citizens that are planning to blow up a Kitten Factory. It's good that they are caught before engaging in their plans, right?

That being said, I don't think that American citizens all have their computers bugged by this nefarious NSA spyware. It would soon be included in the spyware scans (if it isn't already) and besides - everyone already blurts out everything about themselves on the internet anyway. There's no need to spy when you already have your entire life posted in detail by yourself on Facebook or Instagram or whatever.

I don't blast all my info all over.
if the gov't didn't look they wouldn't know much more than what i send them in my tax returns.
I'd say that goes for a lot of people.

and of course as a weapon against enemy states it's fantastic, but don't foreign countries at nuke facilities have "spyware" protection at least as good as what most americans have? so why does it block/capture/ see/remove here in the U.S. for Mom's dell computer but not for foriegners nuclear scientific IT depts?

And if our gov't assumes executive power to bypass the constitution willy nilly then this is just another in the list of warrantless invasive problems correct?

they need a warrant to come into your house and physically take your computer right?
So why is it, ok to take HD info remotely? that's all they want in a physical seizure anyway.

[PixieStix]

We are not free, we have not been free for some time. Take for instance the fact that we have to report our earnings every year.

I might seem like a far righty. Maybe I am, I don't care. I am sick of all the bureaucrats wanting to know every damned thing about me and what I do at any given moment and how much money I spend and what I have. ect............................................... ..........

It is all about control.

That is why my sigline is what it is. I recently purchased a new computer and microsoft needs to know everything before I could even turn the damned thing on, and google anything.

“I hope we once again have reminded people that man is not free unless government is limited. There's a clear cause and effect here that is as neat and predictable as a law of physics: As government expands, liberty contracts.”
~Ronald Reagan~
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jONF4D_sTK8

[NightTrain]

and of course as a weapon against enemy states it's fantastic, but don't foreign countries at nuke facilities have "spyware" protection at least as good as what most americans have? so why does it block/capture/ see/remove here in the U.S. for Mom's dell computer but not for foriegners nuclear scientific IT depts?

Spyware / Malware / Virus is a cat-and-mouse game. Someone will write a nasty new bug, it will run rampant worldwide for a few hours, and then the security people catch up and write countermeasures for it. That's why your anti-malware programs need to be updated - they need the definitions of the newest bugs out there to keep your machine safe.

So in the case of the Iranian job, the new bug was written and released into those specific computers to get the job done before the Iranian security software was aware of it. I can't imagine those computers not having antivirus & anti-malware... but stranger things have happened.


And if our gov't assumes executive power to bypass the constitution willy nilly then this is just another in the list of warrantless invasive problems correct?

Yes.


they need a warrant to come into your house and physically take your computer right?

Yes.


So why is it, ok to take HD info remotely? that's all they want in a physical seizure anyway.

It isn't okay.

[debater]

You know things are bad when Americans think about freedom and start crying.


My country...

[pete311]

Russia says so? Boy do we believe Russia these days.

[debater]

Orwell is starting to look like an optimist

[NightTrain]

You know things are bad when Americans think about freedom and start crying.


My country...

You're in China.

What do you know about America and Americans?

[Black Diamond]

You're in China.

What do you know about America and Americans?
I am hoping you used the President's accent and annunciation.

[aboutime]

You know things are bad when Americans think about freedom and start crying.


My country...


Yeah, that usually happens because we feel so lucky, and happy enough to make us proud enough to cry in Thankfulness for the FREEDOMS, LIBERTIES, and RIGHTS we have. Miserable people who don't call themselves Americans either lie to themselves, or do something to change their life, by coming here to CRY FREEDOM!
So..you can stick your propaganda campaign up you snookus and inhale till you taste your a-hole.

[debater]

Welcome to the land of the free.

[Gunny]

Welcome to the land of the free.Tell you what, junior. You're just as free as you want to be. And in 72 when hopefully the owner jimnyc has returned, we can see how free you are to spam his board with one-liners.

In the meantime, try to use the time off constructively.

[debater]

Americans used to believe in free speech.

[aboutime]

Americans used to believe in free speech.


We still do you weasle....that's how you manage to show us how stupid you are here.

[debater]

Just like prison inmates, Americans are turning on each other rather than attacking the prison guards that are enslaving us.


Part of the reason the US is collapsing now is that Americans have tunnel vision and are being distracted and divided about what the biggest problem is.

Some Americans think the main issue is illegal immigrants, homosexuals, statues, or Russian election hacking when the real problem is that the elites control the corporations, the media, and the government and have turned the USA into a bankrupt warmongering police state.

Unless the 99% unites and agrees the real enemy is the ruling class that has rigged and corrupted the US, the 1% will continue their destruction until there is an economic crash, civil war, WWIII, and Americans end up in concentration camps.

Wake up.

Think.

Spread the word.

[Gunny]

Americans used to believe in free speech.The Moon is made of green cheese.

[debater]

The most dangerous man to any government is the man who is able to think things out for himself, without regard to the prevailing superstitions and taboos. Almost inevitably he comes to the conclusion that the government he lives under is dishonest, insane, and intolerable.

[High_Plains_Drifter]

The most dangerous man to any government is the man who is able to think things out for himself, without regard to the prevailing superstitions and taboos. Almost inevitably he comes to the conclusion that the government he lives under is dishonest, insane, and intolerable.
What sort of medication have you been taking?

[debater]

They keep talking about drafting a Constitution for Iraq. Why don’t we just give them ours? It was written by a lot of really smart guys,
it has worked for over 200 years,
and we’re not using it anymore.

[High_Plains_Drifter]

They keep talking about drafting a Constitution for Iraq. Why don’t we just give them ours? It was written by a lot of really smart guys,
it has worked for over 200 years,
and we’re not using it anymore.
Now you're copying and pasting without a link, and that's plagiarism, and you can be putting the entire board at risk of legal action.

You're truly one of the worst trolls I've ever seen on the internet.

[aboutime]

What sort of medication have you been taking?



High_Plains_Drifter. He has been using DNC Extract of Cesspool-aid, mixed with generous doses of Stupid pills, and Ignorance juice from the Sewer system of Washington, D.C.....OVERDOSING on all.
<img src="https://pics.me.me/danger-toxic-levels-of-stupidity-detected-wearing-of-approved-brain-4169566.png">

[debater]

The future looks grim.


The government has been taken over by the elites. There is no stopping tyranny now. The 1% will go all the way to start a civil war and launch WWIII while bankrupting and enslaving the whole world.

Americans are stupid cowards and deserve everything coming to them.

Here's what to expect:

Americans will be forced to get a national ID card, passports will be revoked, and domestic travel permits will be required.

Every American will be required to submit a DNA sample, give fingerprints, get microchip implants, and be registered in a facial scan database.

Internet filters will first be required on all computers, mobile phones will be banned, and then the Internet will be shut down.

Free speech and protests will be illegal.

Reporters will be arrested.

Government loudspeakers will be installed on street corners to broadcast propaganda.

Newspapers, magazines, and TV and radio stations will be closed.

Churches will be closed.

Books will be burned.

All guns will be required to be registered and then banned.

Wiretapping will increase.

Neighborhood watch groups will be set up, undercover police will be everywhere, and warrantless home searches will become routine.

Taxes will be raised.

Cash will be banned, there will be negative interest rates, bank fees, bail-ins, capital controls, and gold will be outlawed.

Private property will be banned.

Torture and extra-judicial assassinations will become routine. Government drones and robots will patrol everywhere.

Lawyers will be arrested.

Elections will be canceled, juries will be banned, courts will have show trials, and congress will be eliminated.

Americans will be required to wear uniforms and attend study sessions.

Concentration camps will be opened and Americans will be starved and killed.

The US will look like North Korea does today.

http://www.nydailynews.com/news/world/north-korean-defector-sketches-horrors-prison-camps-article-1.1618141 (http://www.nydailynews.com/news/world/north-korean-defector-sketches-horrors-prison-camps-article-1.1618141)

Since everything was illegal in the Soviet Union, Russians just gave up and the USSR collapsed.

Those who fail to learn history will be doomed to repeat it.

[Black Diamond]

The future looks grim.


The government has been taken over by the elites. There is no stopping tyranny now. The 1% will go all the way to start a civil war and launch WWIII while bankrupting and enslaving the whole world.

Americans are stupid cowards and deserve everything coming to them.

Here's what to expect:

Americans will be forced to get a national ID card, passports will be revoked, and domestic travel permits will be required.

Every American will be required to submit a DNA sample, give fingerprints, get microchip implants, and be registered in a facial scan database.

Internet filters will first be required on all computers, mobile phones will be banned, and then the Internet will be shut down.

Free speech and protests will be illegal.

Reporters will be arrested.

Government loudspeakers will be installed on street corners to broadcast propaganda.

Newspapers, magazines, and TV and radio stations will be closed.

Churches will be closed.

Books will be burned.

All guns will be required to be registered and then banned.

Wiretapping will increase.

Neighborhood watch groups will be set up, undercover police will be everywhere, and warrantless home searches will become routine.

Taxes will be raised.

Cash will be banned, there will be negative interest rates, bank fees, bail-ins, capital controls, and gold will be outlawed.

Private property will be banned.

Torture and extra-judicial assassinations will become routine. Government drones and robots will patrol everywhere.

Lawyers will be arrested.

Elections will be canceled, juries will be banned, courts will have show trials, and congress will be eliminated.

Americans will be required to wear uniforms and attend study sessions.

Concentration camps will be opened and Americans will be starved and killed.

The US will look like North Korea does today.

http://www.nydailynews.com/news/world/north-korean-defector-sketches-horrors-prison-camps-article-1.1618141 (http://www.nydailynews.com/news/world/north-korean-defector-sketches-horrors-prison-camps-article-1.1618141)

Since everything was illegal in the Soviet Union, Russians just gave up and the USSR collapsed.

Those who fail to learn history will be doomed to repeat it.
Nah. The future looks bright ahead. Don't be cruel.

[High_Plains_Drifter]

The future looks grim.


The government has been taken over by the elites. There is no stopping tyranny now. The 1% will go all the way to start a civil war and launch WWIII while bankrupting and enslaving the whole world.

Americans are stupid cowards and deserve everything coming to them.

Here's what to expect:

Americans will be forced to get a national ID card, passports will be revoked, and domestic travel permits will be required.

Every American will be required to submit a DNA sample, give fingerprints, get microchip implants, and be registered in a facial scan database.

Internet filters will first be required on all computers, mobile phones will be banned, and then the Internet will be shut down.

Free speech and protests will be illegal.

Reporters will be arrested.

Government loudspeakers will be installed on street corners to broadcast propaganda.

Newspapers, magazines, and TV and radio stations will be closed.

Churches will be closed.

Books will be burned.

All guns will be required to be registered and then banned.

Wiretapping will increase.

Neighborhood watch groups will be set up, undercover police will be everywhere, and warrantless home searches will become routine.

Taxes will be raised.

Cash will be banned, there will be negative interest rates, bank fees, bail-ins, capital controls, and gold will be outlawed.

Private property will be banned.

Torture and extra-judicial assassinations will become routine. Government drones and robots will patrol everywhere.

Lawyers will be arrested.

Elections will be canceled, juries will be banned, courts will have show trials, and congress will be eliminated.

Americans will be required to wear uniforms and attend study sessions.

Concentration camps will be opened and Americans will be starved and killed.

The US will look like North Korea does today.

http://www.nydailynews.com/news/world/north-korean-defector-sketches-horrors-prison-camps-article-1.1618141 (http://www.nydailynews.com/news/world/north-korean-defector-sketches-horrors-prison-camps-article-1.1618141)

Since everything was illegal in the Soviet Union, Russians just gave up and the USSR collapsed.

Those who fail to learn history will be doomed to repeat it.
This is a SPAMMER, folks. It's not even a person.

[Black Diamond]

This is a SPAMMER, folks. It's not even a person.
Then he can be aborted.

[aboutime]

This is a SPAMMER, folks. It's not even a person.



We all know. But it sure is fun, and funny to watch whoever it is...try to disguise it's lack of intelligence with ignorance.:laugh:

[High_Plains_Drifter]

Then he can be aborted.
"It."

That's why IT is dredging up threads from years and years ago, and making generic anti American posts and then not responding.

Find me ONE post where this thing has responded to anyone...

[Black Diamond]

"It."
i almost said "it"

[Black Diamond]

We all know. But it sure is fun, and funny to watch whoever it is...try to disguise it's lack of intelligence with ignorance.:laugh:
whatever

[Black Diamond]

"It."
so this isn't even a real person? is it a bot from china?

[High_Plains_Drifter]

We all know. But it sure is fun, and funny to watch whoever it is...try to disguise it's lack of intelligence with ignorance.:laugh:
It's some kind of program designed to reply to random threads on message boards and post anti American garbage.

That's why the threads it's responding to have no commonality, and some are from so long ago. This whatever it is, program, is random.

That's also why it hasn't responded to anyone. The posts it's making are prewritten.

[Black Diamond]

It's some kind of program designed to reply to random threads on message boards and post anti American garbage.

That's why the threads it's responding to have no commonality, and some are from so long ago. This whatever it is, program, is random.

That's also why it hasn't responded to anyone. The posts it's making are prewritten.
well that's very unfortunate.

[debater]

The US is a police state now. Americans should be out in the streets with pitchforks and torches, but instead they would rather shut up, cover their ears, and put their heads in the sand.


Weird.