Russian researchers expose breakthrough U.S. spying program

NYJimbo

NYJimbo

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https://www.yahoo.com/tech/s/russia...rough-u-spying-program-194217480--sector.html

"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."

Not sure how much of this is just media hype, but it sounds intriguing.
 
I wonder if this is part of the operation that "reprograms" the equipment at the shipping ports and repackages them.
 
I'm not at all surprised. As the Yahoo article mentions there are many ways they could get their hands on unencrypted firmware. Reverse engineering is not a trivial endeavor. But if a Phd candidate at a university can figure out a hack for HP printer firmware, http://ids.cs.columbia.edu/sites/default/files/CuiPrintMeIfYouDare.pdf, just think what a well funded organization could do.

This is the article I read earlier today in the NYTimes - http://www.nytimes.com/2015/02/17/t...column-region&region=top-news&WT.nav=top-news.

What I really would like to know is how does someone like Kaspersky even find this stuff? Do they have spyware out there monitoring traffic? Inquiring minds want to know!!! LOL!!!
 
markverhyden said:
What I really would like to know is how does someone like Kaspersky even find this stuff? Do they have spyware out there monitoring traffic? Inquiring minds want to know!!! LOL!!!
Click to expand...
Indeed. Being that Kaspersky is Russian you just gotta wonder if Russian values when dealing with the "public" is more moral that most of the world.. gosh knows we won't get the truth from the US agencies. Maybe moral is the incorrect terminology... Seeing that we are in a defacto cyber war with Russia it is in their best interest to protect themselves from the US as well as their industry and population. Then, they get to play the "shame on you USA" card - which we deserve. Ugh.
 
While it is glossed over in his wiki - Eugene Kaspersky is VERY much a product of the KGB. He was recruited while still in middle/high school and sent through a specialized program. He worked solely for the KGB until the breakup of the USSR and has close ties with the FSR still today. I find it very interesting that all of the super-duper secret spy **** his organisation "discovers" is usually tied back to the US or one of its allies. Our pavlovian news media loves to just jump right on those disclosures without a single shred of evidence the code originated here.
 
Man.....and all this time of failing hard drives, I just thought they were "bad" drives.....LOL

What next???????

I hear a few people saying "the cave in the mountains is looking better and better"

LOL
 
oldtech said:
While it is glossed over in his wiki - Eugene Kaspersky is VERY much a product of the KGB. He was recruited while still in middle/high school and sent through a specialized program. He worked solely for the KGB until the breakup of the USSR and has close ties with the FSB still today.
Click to expand...

This is just my opinion - tinfoil paranoid conspiracist what I am - does that suggest KAV installs may be open to snooping by the FSB allegedly ? I have no evidence to support this nutjob theory - but with many AV reporting back to da cloud - who knows what they upload :eek:
 
Well, if the KAV people were lying, someone would have called them out, or they soon will; or perhaps confirm the findings, but indicate it's not quite as it has been prevented.

And KAV may be finding a lot of stuff about NSA/US and allies because well.... they are probably more active.
 
The really sad part of all this, is that so many people try to 'out' the 'big bad united states of america' as though we are a evil country. The truth is both the russians and chinese probably have similiar technology but it's not yet uncovered.
 
markverhyden said:
Interesting, related item I heard on the news. The US State Department had their unclassified email system hacked back in Nov and the black hats are still hanging around in the system. Of course some are blaming the Russians on this one.

http://www.wsj.com/articles/three-months-later-state-department-hasnt-rooted-out-hackers-1424391453
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Yes Mark, and yet they are all over Hillary Clinton for having a private email server and not being listed in the State Departments official classified email address book. What most people do not know was the fear that the entire u.s. state departments entire email system would soon be accessed by russian hackers. Would you as the director of an organization that was compromised by a foreign state trust that system? The former First Lady was in my opinion, quite wise to keep a private server.
 
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