More wikileaks!

Discussion in 'West Mall' started by Ag with kids, Dec 21, 2010.

  1. Seattle Husker

    Seattle Husker 10,000+ Posts

    Traveling consultants have been covering their laptop cameras for years. I picked up a chotsky at a technology expo that is a simple slider so my camera is covered when I want it covered.
     
  2. Seattle Husker

    Seattle Husker 10,000+ Posts

    It's a pretty cool product for early adopters. I have 3 in my house. It's pretty eery when you are watching TV and suddenly Alexa tries to respond. She's always listening.

    Siri, OK Google, etc are also always listening on your phone. Cortana isn't always listening in Windows 10 by default...yet.
     
  3. Seattle Husker

    Seattle Husker 10,000+ Posts

    I'm shocked that Wikileaks would expose this information at this time. Roger Stone must be proud of the coincidence. Without giving Wikileaks the benefit of a click, nothing that's been reported so far is that salacious.

    1) Did anyone believe that the CIA (or some US Governmental agency) didn't have these tools at their disposal? Does anyone believe that Russia and China also don't have these tools?

    2) Visit any whitehat site and you'll see that internet appliances like your TV, Refrigerator and others are some of the least secure. This is why secure government systems are generally closed.

    3) Hacked automobiles? This has been a prevalent discussion for some time. 60 minutes did a story on this in Feb of 2015.

    Based on this thread it seems the controversy is that most of the CIA tools they stole from hackers then it goes on to claim the tools were stolen from the CIA? WTF? Intelligence organizations are well known to attend conferences like Blackhat and DEF CON.

    Ultimately, the Wikileaks information falls into the "duh" category.
     
  4. Joe Fan

    Joe Fan 10,000+ Posts

    Encryption doesn’t help when your OS is compromised

     
  5. Joe Fan

    Joe Fan 10,000+ Posts

    How many car crashes has the CIA caused?
    Airplanes?
    Trains?
    Buses?

    JFK, Jr. died in a plane crash
    Next thing you know, Hillary won the NY Senate race
    Just sayin

     
  6. Joe Fan

    Joe Fan 10,000+ Posts

    When it comes to privacy, the Amish were ahead of their time.
    Just sayin
     
  7. I35

    I35 5,000+ Posts

    I guess you didn't see this post on this same topic by Joe


    Does anybody else see the importance of this news? They can now disguise any emails or messages through cyber look like they come from other destinations. This is incredible. That means the CIA have the software to make hacking look like it come from other destinations. Like Russians doing some hackings for example. If I'm correct this is a game changer on how we look at everything.
     
  8. Seattle Husker

    Seattle Husker 10,000+ Posts

    I saw that and no, it's not a game changer but it's red meat for the conspiracy theorists searching for a way to absolve Russia from the DNC hacking. Coincidence?

    We already know that our intelligence agencies tied the hacking to Russia in part due to "signature" left behind from the methods/tools. If we know the "signature" it's ignorant to think we can't recreate that.
     
  9. I35

    I35 5,000+ Posts

    We did always know this? And you never mentioned this before today how far advanced our technology is that it could be that Russia never hacked us, but made to look like they did???

    It's a game changer because the rest of the world now know what you already knew. How will the media spin this? They could take notes from you I guess.
     
  10. Seattle Husker

    Seattle Husker 10,000+ Posts

    You're right. We should assume that we can identify the "signature" but don't have the ability to fake it. Simplifying, can I assume you could recognize your wife's signature but never be able to duplicate it? Or a criminal investigator never be able to recreate the murder scene?

    No, it's not a game changer. That's my opinion as someone with a 21 year career in technology.
     
  11. I35

    I35 5,000+ Posts

    Are you arguing on my behalf now? The questions you are asking are the questions I should be asking you? Seriously I re-read your last post 5 times and it's like you are making my argument for me if I'm reading it right. I'm the one not assuming we can identify a signature after the news today. I have no faith with what technology can do now that we have any clue now on who hack the WikiLeaks email drops.

    If you have insight on the capabilities of what our intel is capable of doing because you've been doing this for 21 years, good for you. But I had no idea that our CIA could cause wrecks in cars, watch me through my TV, or anything else mentioned above. Can they frame me for terrorist threats or kid porn and claim it was sent from my computer if they wanted to take me out and make it provable from my computer? That's a serious question and a scary thought if they choose to frame innocent Americans.
     
  12. Seattle Husker

    Seattle Husker 10,000+ Posts

    I'm not claiming any inside knowledge but have specifically interacted directly with corporate information security for the last 7 years. What you are assuming is that our own intelligence agencies are less sophisticated than quality hackers. To me, that would be a scary proposition. Watch the 60 minutes link above on the car hacking story.

    Yes, our own intelligence agencies have immense power. Too much is some instances but it's not easy to decipher where the line to limit them is when hackers and other government agencies have these same tools. The key is to put the right checks in place so the power can't be abused. We put a lot of trust in our intelligence community not to use the tools for nefarious purposes. Conspiracy theorists assume they are using them for less than noble purposes. I'll give them the benefit of the doubt until proven they don't deserve it.
     
  13. Joe Fan

    Joe Fan 10,000+ Posts

    But wait! That's not all
    JFK himself was no fan of the CIA either
    In fact, he planned to dismantle it --

    “I will splinter the CIA into a thousand pieces and scatter it into the wind” - John F. Kennedy

    And, we all know what happened after that.
     
  14. Joe Fan

    Joe Fan 10,000+ Posts

    Last edited: Mar 7, 2017
  15. mchammer

    mchammer 10,000+ Posts

  16. Joe Fan

    Joe Fan 10,000+ Posts

    [​IMG]
     
    • Like Like x 2
  17. nashhorn

    nashhorn 5,000+ Posts

    D***, I thought that was just on TV. Like '24', or maybe 'Homeland', ya know?
     
    • Like Like x 1
  18. Joe Fan

    Joe Fan 10,000+ Posts

  19. Joe Fan

    Joe Fan 10,000+ Posts

    Incoming .....

     
  20. Joe Fan

    Joe Fan 10,000+ Posts

  21. Joe Fan

    Joe Fan 10,000+ Posts

    [​IMG]
     
    • Like Like x 1
  22. Joe Fan

    Joe Fan 10,000+ Posts

    Reuters spoke to CIA officials who said the Wikileaks documents were legitimate and are focusing on CIA contractors as the likely source.

    Wikileaks today said the first release was less than 1% of what it had received. Wikileaks has already revealed the Angela Merkel's cellphone was bugged and that the CIA/Obama spied on 2012 French election candidates.
     
  23. Brad Austin

    Brad Austin 2,500+ Posts

    When SmartTV's first came out I did research and read Samsung used them to track user habits to sell to other companies. It also mentioned the ability to listen in on your home.

    This was years back and I refused to buy one ever since. Made too much sense and now my assumed paranoia is vindicated. :smile1:
     
  24. Mr. Deez

    Mr. Deez Beer Prophet

    I sure it does some cool things, but looking at the product description, it didn't seem to do anything that I don't mind doing myself. I don't mind googling something on my phone or at a computer. I don't mind thumbing through my music app and picking a song to play on my own. I don't mind making my own shopping list or buying things online myself. And call me weird, but I don't talk to inanimate objects. It's just awkward. I don't even do that with my phone. To me an Echo is sorta like having a butler. Would it be interesting to have a guy who answered my door, took my calls, and dressed me? I guess, but ultimately I'd feel weird having somebody doing those things.

    I'm also very slow to adopt new technology. I didn't get a mobile phone until 2003, didn't get a laptop until 2006, didn't get smartphone until 2013, and didn't get a tablet until last year. I'm a good 3 - 5 years behind most people I know who are of comparable means. I eventually came around on those items, and so I might do the same with an Echo in a few years but it's hard to foresee that.
     
    • Like Like x 1
  25. Brad Austin

    Brad Austin 2,500+ Posts

    Definitely my same tech approach by design. Let all the other eager test subjects expose the flaws and then weigh the pros/cons.
     
    • Like Like x 3
  26. Joe Fan

    Joe Fan 10,000+ Posts

    By the way, did you notice the P/W for Wikileaks Vault 7?

    “SplinterItIntoAThousandPiecesAndScatterItIntoTheWinds”

    No coincidence
     
  27. Joe Fan

    Joe Fan 10,000+ Posts

  28. Phil Elliott

    Phil Elliott 2,500+ Posts

    There's a lot of that going around these days.
     
    • Like Like x 1
  29. Mr. Deez

    Mr. Deez Beer Prophet

    Good point. For me it's for several reasons. First, I don't like to learn how to use new things if there isn't a a good reason, so unless what I already own has major deficiencies, I have no urgency to upgrade.

    Second, I save a fortune and end up with a better product when I do upgrade. If you're the first person to buy the new technology, you're going to pay top dollar for a product that has kinks and isn't user-friendly. Why do that?

    Third, what if the "shiny new object" of the day fizzles out? Sometimes it happens. How would you feel if you had blown a bunch of cash on a laser disc player back in the '90s when you could have just kept your VHS around a few more years and then bought a DVD player? Or even worse, suppose you were one of those people who rushed out and bought a Segway back when it was being hyped up as a product that would change the world. You would have pissed away thousands of dollars on an impractical piece of junk that most self-respecting people would be embarrassed to be seen using in public.
     
    • Like Like x 1
  30. I35

    I35 5,000+ Posts

    Not according to SH. Yesterday was just another normal day.

    "I saw that and no, it's not a game changer but it's red meat for the conspiracy theorists searching for a way to absolve Russia from the DNC hacking."

    It's only red meat for the conspiracy theorist he said. So nothing surprising let's just move on.
     

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