| User Info
| And Now The Topper: Preloaded Computer Viruses! in forum [Market-Ticker]
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Fraudster
Posts: 4174
Incept: 2011-05-10
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In the pursuit of a quick buck, and campaign contribution, and cheap consumable, we choose to screw ourselves over. Can you really say we don't deserve what we get here?
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"Let China sleep, for when she wakes, she will shake the world." - Napoleon Bonaparte
"Circulation ceases first at the outer edges [Europe and Japan]. It will take a while yet for the decay to reach the heart [America]." - Foundation & Empire by Isaac Asimov
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Supertruckertom
Posts: 215
Incept: 2010-11-07
USA
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Are they in the BIOS on the motherboards or on the HD?
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What I do is fairly simple.
People need their stuff.
It is my job to get it to them.
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Duc888
Posts: 7368
Incept: 2008-11-06
CT, the UNconstitution State
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.....actually we did the same thing to Saddam prior to GW1. We had all his **** dialled in. PC's, fax machines and even his friggin printers.
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...burp
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Randy123
Posts: 5785
Incept: 2008-09-24
Earth
Online
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What a shock
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China is the Enemy. Wake Up.
New Normal. Same As The Old Awful.
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Marvinmartian
Posts: 750
Incept: 2011-03-16
Pasadena, CA
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Its ironic that this news comes from rt.com --- Russia Today I cant wait to see what the Crypto-Gram Newsletter has to say about this when it comes out on the 15th. http://www.schneier.com/crypto-gram.html |
Rentier
Posts: 193
Incept: 2010-06-19
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Interesting article, but doesn't provide much since they don't bother to name any of the manufactures that they found infected.
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Bsfootprint
Posts: 965
Incept: 2011-02-27
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Wouldn't surprise me if it's as bad as MS says it is. Though the RT article (the MS quotes in particular) smells like an attempt to trigger FUD in customer's minds.  In any case, this is why I install the OS from scratch. Avoids all that pre-installed crapware (which is nasty enough all by itself.)
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When I hear central bankers are blowing bubbles, I like to picture a large, happy and well-endowed male chimp named 'Bubbles'...
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Reluctantdebtor
Posts: 131
Incept: 2010-03-05
ohio
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This kind of thing happened years ago. Among many mass-produced items affected were digital picture frames from China. Either by installing software from the accompanying CD, or by infection through the firmware itself through a USB connection, many PCs were turned into botnet zombies, subjected to data theft, or just messed up in general. http://www.sfgate.com/business/article/V.... |
Landshark
Posts: 11272
Incept: 2008-02-07
The Wild West
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When you said "Preloaded Computer Virus" I thought you were referring to Windows....
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Success in life is a matter not so much of talent and opportunity as of concentration and perseverance.
– C. W. Wendte
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Xkn
Posts: 18
Incept: 2011-04-30
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This is hardly news, they have been shipping malware on USB sticks for many years. This is Chicom government-ordered cyberwarfare attack, not some lowly
guys in the basement wearing thick glasses trying to steal credit card numbers.
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Erbo
Posts: 120
Incept: 2010-06-10
Denver, CO
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If you get one of these laptops, the first time you turn it on, I would boot it off a KNOPPIX CD-ROM and use dd to overwrite the entire hard drive with zeros: $ dd if=/dev/zero of=/dev/sda bs=4k (The above command is an example; the exact output device name will depend on your machine's configuration. And for God's sake DON'T do this on a working system...) Then boot from a known good Windows install disk such as a Microsoft-labeled OEM or retail copy (the System Restore CD that came with the machine cannot be considered "known good") and install. Or install your favorite Linux distribution.
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"There is a ready solution for anyone on the public payroll who feels that he is not paid enough: He can resign and work for a living. This applies with equal force to Congressmen, Welfare 'clients,' school teachers, generals, garbage collectors, and judges." - Ira Johnson
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Drjerry
Posts: 584
Incept: 2007-11-06
Seattle
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When I boot my system, the screen shows "WELCOME TO MACINTOSH" I haven't found a virus yet.
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Randy123
Posts: 5785
Incept: 2008-09-24
Earth
Online
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Jerry the virus you have was when you threw Chinese slave laborers off of the roof at Foxconn. Congrats.
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China is the Enemy. Wake Up.
New Normal. Same As The Old Awful.
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Snowmizuh
Posts: 1356
Incept: 2009-03-18
Alabama
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Thomasblair
Posts: 35
Incept: 2009-04-03
AL
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randy, snow;
Pretty sure jerry was making a joke...
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Randy123
Posts: 5785
Incept: 2008-09-24
Earth
Online
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Yeah, but I wasn't.
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China is the Enemy. Wake Up.
New Normal. Same As The Old Awful.
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Oddone
Posts: 85
Incept: 2008-07-14
About 10 miles from Genesis
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First off, this should come as no surprise - as Xkn said, Chinese state-sponsored hacking groups have been pushing out malware for years and I seem to recall there being concerns more than once in the last decade about embedded firmware coming out of Taiwan that had backdoor code in it.
Second, as far as the great debate on Apple versus Microsoft with regard to OS-level security, it's worth noting that while OSX does not share Windows' vulnerabilities to self-propagating malware due to architectural differences, (1) it is not only possible but fairly simple to "lock down" a Windows machine comparably to a typical *NIX install (including emulating "su"/"sudo" functionality: requiring an administrator login to approve potentially risky actions), and (2) OSX not being affected by typical Windows viral attacks does not automagically mean OSX is protected against other methods and vectors of attack. Apple's propensity toward making it look like Windows viruses are the only threat OSX will face, and by being immune to them OSX is ironclad, is part of the reason why each security failure on Apple's part is the source of much amusement in ITSEC circles. OSX is not invulnerable, Apple's hype to the contrary notwithstanding; if anything, its user base is more susceptible to social-engineering attacks in particular because of possessing a false sense of security.
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Ckaminski
Posts: 1578
Incept: 2011-04-08
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Quote:Example of Apple's amateurism when it comes to security: Nothing, and absolutely nothing, can protect you against social engineering attacks unless you are diligent and vigilant. I had a woman call me to make an appt to visit a doctor. I was not expecting it, but I suspected a friend had pulled some strings and this was the result. The kind lady on the phone was asking me all sorts of questions (DOB, address, health plan info, etc). My suspicion-o-meter was on overload - but I gave her enough (address) to send a reminder card, and told her everything else I would do when I got into the office. And the only reason she got that much was because she answered the office phone when I insisted I do a call-back. That is *NOT* what 90% of your normal average folks would do. They would happily comply with every up to and including their DOB and SSN, and bam - id theft nightmare. That said, as the recent Java debacle has proven - vendors need to be called out continuously on security issues. Their negligence affects us all. |
Otiswild
Posts: 5621
Incept: 2009-03-09
Inside you, the force is!
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Gizmodo
Posts: 2952
Incept: 2009-04-15
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Is this really a surprise to anyone? On the practical side about what to do about it - and I wish they tested desktops too (way to not name the manufacturers M$) - shouldn't booting into a Live CD or USB and running a virus scan from there, outside the OS, probably pick up the preloaded nasties?
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"Shut up. You don't get a lawyer!" -Senator Lindsey Grahamnesty (and the United States government) on the civil liberties of indefinitely detained American citizens
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