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Spyware Embedded by U.S. in Foreign Networks, Security Firm Says

JANFU

JANFU

Land by the Gulf Stream
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Thoughts are?
Next war Cyber warfare will be critical to success.
My personal opinion- I think that war between China and the US in the next 10-15 years is highly probable.

http://www.nytimes.com/2015/02/17/t...column-region&region=top-news&WT.nav=top-news

SAN FRANCISCO — The United States has found a way to permanently embed surveillance and sabotage tools in computers and networks it has targeted in Iran, Russia, Pakistan, China, Afghanistan and other countries closely watched by American intelligence agencies, according to a Russian cybersecurity firm.

In a presentation of its findings at a conference in Mexico on Monday, Kaspersky Lab, the Russian firm, said that the implants had been placed by what it called the “Equation Group,” which appears to be a veiled reference to the National Security Agency and its military counterpart, United States Cyber Command.

Some other links
Beyond Stuxnet and Flame: Equation 'most advanced' cybercriminal gang recorded | ZDNet

Suite of Sophisticated Nation-State Attack Tools Found With Connection to Stuxnet | WIRED
 
JANFU said:
Thoughts are?
Next war Cyber warfare will be critical to success.
My personal opinion- I think that war between China and the US in the next 10-15 years is highly probable.

http://www.nytimes.com/2015/02/17/t...st-column-region®ion=top-news&WT.nav=top-news

SAN FRANCISCO — The United States has found a way to permanently embed surveillance and sabotage tools in computers and networks it has targeted in Iran, Russia, Pakistan, China, Afghanistan and other countries closely watched by American intelligence agencies, according to a Russian cybersecurity firm.

In a presentation of its findings at a conference in Mexico on Monday, Kaspersky Lab, the Russian firm, said that the implants had been placed by what it called the “Equation Group,” which appears to be a veiled reference to the National Security Agency and its military counterpart, United States Cyber Command.

Some other links
Beyond Stuxnet and Flame: Equation 'most advanced' cybercriminal gang recorded | ZDNet

Suite of Sophisticated Nation-State Attack Tools Found With Connection to Stuxnet | WIRED
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Can't speak to the timing, but I would agree that US policies are provocations to China.
 
Montecresto said:
Can't speak to the timing, but I would agree that US policies are provocations to China.
Click to expand...
China- India border incursions- still wanting Chinese territory returned-
Then we have the South China Sea- That is a major flashpoint.
Claiming territory in SC Sea that in many cases is not theirs to legally claim.
 
JANFU said:
China- India border incursions- still wanting Chinese territory returned-
Then we have the South China Sea- That is a major flashpoint.
Claiming territory in SC Sea that in many cases is not theirs to legally claim.
Click to expand...

Powerful nations have always taken what they want and the US is not without blame in this. Just like the US was not going to go along with Japans designs on the South Pacific region, and if it required a little deceit and intrigue to get the American people on board, ok. I suspect the US won't back down on China either. Its the biggest thing I hate about FP.
 
How is that not an act of war. All the countries affected should declare war.
 
Henrin said:
How is that not an act of war. All the countries affected should declare war.
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If China declares it to be an act of war to them, then it really doesn't matter what Americans think it is. Japan considered FDR's provocations to be acts of war (sorry to state the obvious there) and attacked us because of it. I hope China doesn't do that, even by JANFU's timeline.
 
Montecresto said:
If China declares it to be an act of war to them, then it really doesn't matter what Americans think it is. Japan considered FDR's provocations to be acts of war (sorry to state the obvious there) and attacked us because of it. I hope China doesn't do that, even by JANFU's timeline.
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I think its about time countries learn to stop messing with each other, and if that means another world war, so be it.
 
Henrin said:
I think its about time countries learn to stop messing with each other, and if that means another world war, so be it.
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Well, we've already had two of those and nobody stopped doing that, so no, lets not and do something different.
 
Montecresto said:
Well, we've already had two of those and nobody stopped doing that, so no, lets not and do something different.
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The wars did help create the UN and the EU. It's entirely possible another dose of pain is what world leaders need to drive the point the rest of the way home.
 
Henrin said:
The wars did help create the UN and the EU. It's entirely possible another dose of pain is what world leaders need to drive the point the rest of the way home.
Click to expand...

Yeah, I hear ya dude, and no, I ain't going there. Besides, you suggested that another world war would put an end to countries messing with each other, and that's the point I corrected. You didn't say that another world war would give us another great institution like the UN.
 
Montecresto said:
Yeah, I hear ya dude, and no, I ain't going there. Besides, you suggested that another world war would put an end to countries messing with each other, and that's the point I corrected. You didn't say that another world war would give us another great institution like the UN.
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Nations are like really bad children that think they can do whatever they want. They will wage war on whomever they think they can beat up and be sneaky around the kid they think is blind and won't pop them for it. The only thing that will teach them to cut it out is getting beat down.
 
Henrin said:
Nations are like really bad children that think they can do whatever they want. They will wage war on whomever they think they can beat up and be sneaky around the kid they think is blind and won't pop them for it. The only thing that will teach them to cut it out is getting beat down.
Click to expand...

Ok sure dude, you go right on lobbying for a Third World War.
 
Cue that quote about war by Einstein...
 
To simplify the claims made by Kaspersky, it means that the majority of the world's computers are spied on by the NSA.

Only confirms that which we have already known.
 
JANFU said:
Thoughts are?
Next war Cyber warfare will be critical to success.
My personal opinion- I think that war between China and the US in the next 10-15 years is highly probable.

http://www.nytimes.com/2015/02/17/t...st-column-region®ion=top-news&WT.nav=top-news

SAN FRANCISCO — The United States has found a way to permanently embed surveillance and sabotage tools in computers and networks it has targeted in Iran, Russia, Pakistan, China, Afghanistan and other countries closely watched by American intelligence agencies, according to a Russian cybersecurity firm.

In a presentation of its findings at a conference in Mexico on Monday, Kaspersky Lab, the Russian firm, said that the implants had been placed by what it called the “Equation Group,” which appears to be a veiled reference to the National Security Agency and its military counterpart, United States Cyber Command.

Some other links
Beyond Stuxnet and Flame: Equation 'most advanced' cybercriminal gang recorded | ZDNet

Suite of Sophisticated Nation-State Attack Tools Found With Connection to Stuxnet | WIRED
Click to expand...

It's China that makes most of the equipment. How do they know it's not China doing it?
 
JANFU said:
In a presentation of its findings at a conference in Mexico on Monday, Kaspersky Lab, the Russian firm, said that the implants had been placed by what it called the “Equation Group,” which appears to be a veiled reference to the National Security Agency and its military counterpart, United States Cyber Command.
Click to expand...
Stuxnet was originally detected by a relatively small anti-virus firm in Belarus (VirusBlokAda). Afterwards, Kapersky Labs (Russia) and Symantic (global) independently unraveled the complex code. From file-names and other miscellaneous clues (ie. // comments in the code), researchers arrived at the conclusion that Stuxnet, Flame, etc. was a collaborative effort of the NSA and Unit 8200 (Israeli intelligence). One of the most troubling aspects discovered was that valid Security Certificates were used to help cloak the code. Special equipment is used to produce Security Certificates and to fabricate one requires not only that the counterfeiter possess/decrypt the encryption keys, but is also able to create the Certificate at a *specific* moment in time for it to be valid. This is an extremely difficult feat to accomplish from the outside.

Although the Stuxnet code in-toto is transferable from both connected systems and air-gaped systems (via USB drives), the malicious portion did not become operational unless specific conditions were met. In the case of Stuxnet, the delivery portion of the code looked for two versions of Siemens industrial software that had to be managing only four specific models of remote programmable controllers (RPC's). If these conditions were not present, the malicious portion of the code did not un-bundle. Highly targeted and highly sophisticated.
 
Simpleχity;1064323537 said:
Stuxnet was originally detected by a relatively small anti-virus firm in Belarus (VirusBlokAda). Afterwards, Kapersky Labs (Russia) and Symantic (global) independently unraveled the complex code. From file-names and other miscellaneous clues (ie. // comments in the code), researchers arrived at the conclusion that Stuxnet, Flame, etc. was a collaborative effort of the NSA and Unit 8200 (Israeli intelligence). One of the most troubling aspects discovered was that valid Security Certificates were used to help cloak the code. Special equipment is used to produce Security Certificates and to fabricate one requires not only that the counterfeiter possess/decrypt the encryption keys, but is also able to create the Certificate at a *specific* moment in time for it to be valid. This is an extremely difficult feat to accomplish from the outside.

Although the Stuxnet code in-toto is transferable from both connected systems and air-gaped systems (via USB drives), the malicious portion did not become operational unless specific conditions were met. In the case of Stuxnet, the delivery portion of the code looked for two versions of Siemens industrial software that had to be managing only four specific models of remote programmable controllers (RPC's). If these conditions were not present, the malicious portion of the code did not un-bundle. Highly targeted and highly sophisticated.
Click to expand...

And it worked well.
Some may have missed this.
China builds computer network impenetrable to hackers - Telegraph

In two years' time, a fibre-optic cable between the two cities will transmit quantum encryption keys that can completely secure government, financial and military information from eavesdroppers.

"We learnt after the Edward Snowden affair that we are always being hacked," said Prof Pan Jianwei, a quantum physicist at the University of Science and Technology of China (USTC) in Hefei, who is leading the project.

China Demands Tech Companies to give them Backdoor and Encryption Keys - Hacker News
China has introduced strict new banking cyber security regulations on western companies selling technology to Chinese banks. The Chinese government wants backdoors installed in all technologies that imports into the Middle Kingdom for the benefit of Chinese security services.

The latest rules also state that western companies must hand over the Encryption Keys and secret source code as well. The requirements are so absurd that it would be impossible for companies like Apple to comply, which could harm American businesses.
 
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