Cutting Edge Technology in the news

[calikid]

This looks very cool. An invisible keyboard for your iPad.
http://www.cnet.com/products/tactus-phorm/

Being a touch typist, all about hate poking at on screen keyboards.
Hope they come out with one for other flavors besides Apple.

[newyorklily]

"Could the NSA turn your computer into a cyber spy?"

http://www.foxnews.com/tech/2015/02/...pid=NL_SciTech

I wonder if they could also use it to plant other things on your computer (like porn) .

Sent from my LG-LS720 using Tapatalk

[CasperParks]

"Could the NSA turn your computer into a cyber spy?"

http://www.foxnews.com/tech/2015/02/...pid=NL_SciTech

I wonder if they could also use it to plant other things on your computer (like porn) .

Sent from my LG-LS720 using Tapatalk

If there was an attempt to shut-down, discredit or silence a person, planting something on a computer would do the trick.

[Garuda]

"Could the NSA turn your computer into a cyber spy?"

http://www.foxnews.com/tech/2015/02/...pid=NL_SciTech

I wonder if they could also use it to plant other things on your computer (like porn) .

Sent from my LG-LS720 using Tapatalk

That's what Stan Romanek claims: that child pornography was installed on his computer without his knowledge in order to frame him.

[newyorklily]

That's what Stan Romanek claims: that child pornography was installed on his computer without his knowledge in order to frame him.

Yes. It kind of makes one wonder but, I don't think he's that important.

Sent from my LG-LS720 using Tapatalk

[pontificator]

"Could the NSA turn your computer into a cyber spy?"

http://www.foxnews.com/tech/2015/02/...pid=NL_SciTech

I wonder if they could also use it to plant other things on your computer (like porn) .

Sent from my LG-LS720 using Tapatalk

I can assure you that they could do whatever they wanted to. I actually had a student who brought a laptop to me, which had been compromised and "astroturfed" with rather a lot of pornography; of the normal kind, if there is such a thing. The remote hacker had been rather busy trying to blackmail them, a matter that soon vanished after I wiped the laptop concerned.

The point being, setting someone up is very easy to do when the adversary is determined, and you only method of avoiding this is to have a parallel set of devices that you only use in public locations, and which do not store anything. I would point to "tails" as a good enough anonymity system, or "kali" if you are feeling very adventurous.

[calikid]

I can't help but think the NSA let the genie out of the bottle when Stuxnet was revealed. It was only a matter of time before such "useful" tools would be turned against us.

Super-sneaky malware found in companies worldwide

A shadowy hacking group has infected computers at companies, universities and governments worldwide with the sneakiest malware ever.

That's according to a report Monday by Internet security company Kaspersky, which described a hacking campaign "that exceeds anything we have ever seen before." The mysterious group, which researchers nicknamed "the Equation group," uses malware that's unusually quiet, complex and powerful.

And in some cases, it planted spyware on computers' firmware, the programming that lives permanently on hardware. It's an unheard-of move that means the malware can avoid detection by antivirus software. Reinstalling a computer's operating system or reformatting the hard disk won't even fix the problem.

If you've got this, you might as well throw your computer away.

What's even more interesting is that Kaspersky's researchers say that the Equation group uses a hacking tool called "GROK." That's a tool used exclusively by the NSA's elite cyber-warfare unit, Tailored Access Operations, according to classified NSA documents released by former contractor Edward Snowden last year.

Kaspersky says the Equation group also appears to have ties to Stuxnet, the computer worm that sabotaged Iran's nuclear enrichment program in 2010 and was later revealed to be a joint U.S.-Israeli project.

The NSA declined to comment specifically on the Kaspersky report. But the agency noted that its efforts are focused on foiling terrorist plots from al-Qaeda and ISIS, stemming the flow of weapons of mass destruction and blocking aggression from foreign rivals.

"The U.S. government calls on our intelligence agencies to protect the United States, its citizens, and its allies," NSA said in a statement to CNN.



Kaspersky research director Costin Raiu said the Equation group hacked into hospitals in China; banks and aerospace companies in Iran; energy companies and government offices in Pakistan; and universities, military facilities and rocket science research institutions in Russia.
Story Continues

[Garuda]

Bought a Lenovo computer on 2014 or 2015? Stop using it now:

http://www.zdnet.com/article/superfi...vo-laptop-now/

Short version: it comes with spyware preinstalled.

Go to this site to check whether you are at risk: https://filippo.io/Badfish/


I've run some tests on the one I had bought half a year ago. At first Chrome and FF were OK. Then I tried the Maxthon Cloud Browser, which was infected, AND REMAINED IN MEMORY after I shut it down, to infect Chrome and FF as well. Meaning, after you've run Maxthon Cloud Browser, check Chrome and FF as well.

My advice: remove the Maxthon Cloud Browser immediately.

UPDATE: if you have a program called 'visual discovery', remove that one as well.

Here is more info on how to remove it: http://www.zdnet.com/article/how-to-...m-your-laptop/

[pontificator]

Further to the above from slashdot:

In a followup to today's news about junk software included with Lenovo computers, an anonymous reader writes
"Robert Graham at Errata Security has published an article announcing his success in extracting the SuperFish self-signed security certificate from the adware which has caused Chinese computer manufacturer Lenovo such embarrassment in the last day. Since SuperFish is already capable of carrying out man-in-the-middle attacks over secure connections on the Lenovo machines which use the certificate, the disclosure of the certificate's password presents hackers with a 'a pre-installed hacking environment' which would be difficult to arrange by other means. The password, "komodia," is also the name of the Komodia Redirector framework, which allows its clients to manipulate TCP/IP network sessions "with a few simple clicks.""

Saying this has become a severe problem is somewhat like saying that a train crash is an inconvenience. So, follow the removal advice posted previously, do not pass go, do not collect $200...

[calikid]

Bought a Lenovo computer on 2014 or 2015? Stop using it now:

http://www.zdnet.com/article/superfi...vo-laptop-now/

Short version: it comes with spyware preinstalled.

Go to this site to check whether you are at risk: https://filippo.io/Badfish/


I've run some tests on the one I had bought half a year ago. At first Chrome and FF were OK. Then I tried the Maxthon Cloud Browser, which was infected, AND REMAINED IN MEMORY after I shut it down, to infect Chrome and FF as well. Meaning, after you've run Maxthon Cloud Browser, check Chrome and FF as well.

My advice: remove the Maxthon Cloud Browser immediately.

UPDATE: if you have a program called 'visual discovery', remove that one as well.

Here is more info on how to remove it: http://www.zdnet.com/article/how-to-...m-your-laptop/

Reminds me of the hidden Sony copyright protection scheme from a few years back.
Better known as a Root Kit.