i only just learnt of this. what a shitty thing to do to your customers. heres a page that can tell you if youre infected: https://filippo.io/Badfish/
reminds me of this terrifying comment from michael hayden, former head of the nsa and the cia: "Now, with regards to Angry Birds, we're not mad at Angry Birds, and we're not trying to defend the universe from Angry Birds. Although you might want to consider defending yourself from Angry Birds, because the free software app that you can download apparently sucks the brains out of your iPhone and sends it back to the Angry Birds starship, where they then process the data for sale. If you aren't paying for the app, you aren't a customer, you're the product. "What NSA apparently does - and here I'm only reflecting what I have read in the newspaper - is legitimate intelligence targets, if they're stupid enough to download Angry Birds, we're going to jump on that link going back to the Angry Birds starship and we're going to read all the brains of his iPhone too. But it's not about Angry Birds per se, and it's not about sucking up the data of 1.5 billion people who have downloaded the app."
This is the overlying disturbing undertone of my big epic sci-fi TV show/ movie series. It has it's benefits in my world, such as war doesn't mean you are wholesale slaughtered like in the medieval times, and people live in a nice corporate bubble where all their needs are taken care of. But it has the downside of losing everything that makes us uniquely human, individuals. No ability to truly control one's future, no privacy, and beholden to a master with actions and lives dictated. To me, it is such a plausible setup for a future because of how comfortable and complacent most people are today in heading towards such a system. The number one response I hear from people in this issue, by far, is "I am not a criminal/ have done nothing wrong, why does it matter I am being spied on?". This is the number one answer because most people are NOT criminals. In my sci-fi world, they are no classical signs of 'oppression' such as blatant slavery, murder, forced poverty, restrictions on family size/ life. I really think the big money and government is current learning this, that if you avoid the big topics that really piss people off, and instead only slowly and discreetly file away at privacy and individual rights, people not only will lose perspective, in the long run, they won't mind. And they are learning right now where the lines are, and stop when we make too much noise, then try it again a different way (Hello, SOPA!) As long as everything is subtle, basic needs are met, some happiness is allowed in their lives (such as no restrictions on family, a number one source of personal happiness and satisfaction in the lives of most humans), and order and security is maintained with just enough wiggle room for the dissidents to remove themselves or incriminate themselves and be removed from the safety bubble and be outcast, "free" to do as they will in the black of space. People will have the perspective of happiness, and won't be able to really put their finger on anything that is really wrong when everything they could need is available, and so many people are happy they must conclude it is a happy and good system. People turn into cows, happily lead along to be milked or slaughtered, because their lives are so complacent and nice. If communities are allowed to exist, people feel important even if they are just a number and a commodity to their leaders. More than just a commodity, they are told how important they are as assets, since they produce the same things they sell to each other, and those on top take all the profits from their own system and use it to leverage the power and resources needed to keep it humming along. The citizens are happily building and maintaining their own cages, and those for all future generations as well. As you can tell, I have been writing a lot lately. What I am finding the most disturbing about my world as it takes shape, is the fact that I know plenty of people who will see my universe, the corporate government setup and the nice cozy stations full of worker drones and families carefully planned out on a spreadsheet, who won't find anything disturbing about it. They wouldn't call such a nice, neat place a dystopia because the system happily buzzes along at the same pace, no huge revelations or changes about the core. No Soylent Green, no virtual realities where humans are just grown in a robot's farm... the people accepted this world, and most don't fight back. I am not even sure if I am going to bother with classic sci-fi elements like drugging the population or using some kind of system to keep them complacent. I honestly think the system I set up is so honest and real, it doesn't need to be explained away. People will just accept it in my world, and I think many people who see it will also accept it, and see it as a nice, neat little future. Everything outside of the bubbles, however... are quite messy. And that is where all the fun stuff happens. I am hoping I can really tell these two stories at the same time, the fun, classic sci-fi action with the deeply disturbing world that it exists in, and find two distinct audiences; those who enjoyed the classic action and sci-fi story, and those who see the sickening parallels to our own time in the perfect little corporate dystopias that came to be without any objection from the general populace.
I just asked my mom about Net Neutrality and what she thought of the fight going on in congress. She shrugged her shoulders. "what is that?" she asked. -_- She then pretended to listen as I explained it to her. Obviously, not caring as she read the paper. She reads the paper and watches the news daily, yet like most people, still has no idea what is going on. -_- I invest far less time with news media than them, yet still manage to pick up things they don't, happily missing the day to day drivel but big issues still come across my radar. Mulch is like fucking Mr. Universe with how much news he watches and reads... phew!
i think thats because people will hear some very basic surface facts on the news and assume they know whats going on. of course they have no idea why something is going on, who is behind this and that, and miss the 99% of things that arent reported, but whos paying attention anyway? the real news is kim kardashian.
US regulator says Anthem "refuses to cooperate" in security audit https://nakedsecurity.sophos.com/20...nthem-refuses-to-cooperate-in-security-audit/ Sigh
So Lain... is Hillary ignorant about wrongdoing with her server, or a lying fucking politicians who was fully briefed on security laws by the technician when the server was set up for her?
Both? I'm not as up to speed on the latest but it's my understanding that she's not the only one in violation of said policy, a full audit might reveal that but who knows if that will ever happen. Working in the industry I can proffer a guess that the technician wasn't as thorough as he might have been, relying on the users common sense and no doubt asumming he/she got the email/memo about same so he glosses over the finer points while the user is texting/talking/fantasizing about a life that doesn't resemble hell so much and not gleaning all of the important pieces of the speech/email/memo.
I am a bit curious if people trained in networking are not only trained in security (I imagine at least a basic ability is needed, especially since the whole point behind the setup was security) but the LAWS as well. Are they seen as separate, or is it really part of understanding security?
If properly certified, they've been versed in the laws relevant to their classification, and have been tested on same. The CISSP, for example, has an entire segment on regulations and legal issues.
i wouldnt willing let the government 'audit' the system either, though likely for different reasons. i just dont trust em.
The overall issue is that none of these people are qualified to audit these networks, or secure them. There's two reasons for this. First, there's simply not enough qualified people to setup, secure, manage and audit all of these networks. There's simply too many persons with access they aren't qualified to have under the assumption that their meager pay and a good moral code will keep them in step. This is a dangerously false assumption that negates any efforts to setup, secure, manage and audit all of these networks. Secondarily, for every trained, competent, reliable person with a good moral code, there as at least as many without a good moral code, or perhaps a moral code that runs contrary to the generally accepted moral code. Slave labor only works until the slaves know more than their masters, and then it's game on.
Are you cheating on your significant other? Hopefully you're not using Ashley Madison to do so. Recently a group of hackers found out that the site, a meat-market for sleezebags looking to hook up with other sleezebags and hide it from their sig other, wasn't purging client data after charging them a fee for said service. Apparrently if you don't want anyone to ever find out about your sleezebaggery, you can pay the site to 'purge' your information from their systems, j.i.c.. Turns out that isn't the case. So the hackers stole everything they had. EVERYTHING. Databases, software, client information, credit card info, you name it, they stole it. They told them to shut it down or they would release the info to the public, outing who knows how many thousands of sleezebags using the site to cheat on the people they claim to be devoted to. Here's the fallout..... Ashley Madison hack is not only real, it’s worse than we thought So, if you happen to be associated with that site in anyway, be prepared to be single at the very least, and possibly have your life ruined at the very worst. The hacker side of me says fuck them. The security side of me understands the magnitude of this breach and knows that it's not the last of it's kind. Good times
Ashley Madison is sooooooo fucked as a business. They didn't properly store their credit card and transaction info, nor did they properly encrypt anything. They did not follow proper storage and regulatory standards required for online businesses and companies. They also committed fraud by selling a service to people that they didn't do. If they don't get sued into oblivion by credit card companies and regulatory agencies, whatever is left will be sued into oblivion by their customers. Sooooooo fucked.
Now sit and think about all of the companies/govt entities holding as damaging or even more damaging information being 'secured' with the same level of quality control and background screening. Soon you begin to comprehend how totally boned we are on the whole. Who wants a blunt?
