The NSA has Been in Your Computer for Twenty Years!!!

In case you missed it, the NSA and their British equivalent evidently hacked the World's largest SIM card manufacturer in order to get the ability to INSTANTLY AND WITHOUT KNOWLEDGE, WARRANT, OR JUST CAUSE obtain ALL of your phone calls and text messages. INSTANTLY AND WITHOUT YOUR KNOWLEDGE. The manufacturer denies the breach was that large, but who knows?

gizmodo.com... book&utm_medium=socialflow

From the article: "The reports from last week claimed that the NSA and Britain's equivalent, GCHQ, has been able to decrypt cell phone signals in mid-air or remotely implant malware on hardware to grab SIM encryption keys on any phone using a Gemalto SIM card."

More: "It is extremely difficult to remotely attack a large number of SIM cards on an individual basis," exlplains Gemalto. "This fact, combined with the complex architecture of our networks explains why the intelligence services instead, chose to target the data as it was transmitted between suppliers and mobile operators."

And to make matters worse, they have ALREADY INFILTRATED YOUR FIRMWARE: www.computerworld.com...

From the article: "Malware intentionally created by the U.S. National Security Agency to infect personal computer hard disk drives (HDDs) and solid-state drives (SSDs) cannot be detected by antivirus programs. The spyware, which infects a drive's firmware, can also produce a treasure trove of data for any government agency controlling the drives, according to Russian security software maker Kaspersky Lab. Kaspersky released a report this week saying that it had discovered the spyware on hard drives in personal computers from 30 countries, including the U.S. The company said the malware, known as Fanny, likely predated other NSA spyware, such as Stuxnet, and has likely been in use for nearly two decades."

Let that sink in for a minute: "HAS LIKELY BEEN IN USE FOR NEARLY TWO DECADES"!!!!

Questions that come to mind:
How many computer systems owned by financial and political power figures have been compromised?
How much "insider information" was gleaned from these systems over the past two decades?
In what way was that information utilized AND BY WHOM?
How far ahead of the industry tech curve is our government?
Do we really have ANY privacy left at this point?

Honestly, I am going to start asking around some of my civil litigation colleagues who are class action certified to see what the realistic feasibility of a class action for this massive breach of civil rights would be. I'm utterly flabbergasted. This is COMPLETELY UNACCEPTABLE!!!

a reply to: jaffo

What I find hilarious when some on ATS say

It is too big and if it was true it would come out therefore it isn't true

It has already come out

The spying. The 9/11, you name it, everything is out

Ah...yep. The fact that it is news to anyone that the NSA and corporations, too, invade our privacy is more surprising to me that this.

Already covered in a thread here last week.. ;-)

i should ask those guys for a list of my porn just to know how my tastes have evolved throughout the years.
I think you can learn a lot about yourself.

I know this should be upsetting, and serious, but the truth is we were never off the grid, be it the radio in your car, the traditional phone, hec, there are ways to connect to a computer that is not even hooked up to the internet.
We have always lived with the illusion of privacy, that's all really.

originally posted by: IShotMyLastMuse
i should ask those guys for a list of my porn just to know how my tastes have evolved throughout the years.
I think you can learn a lot about yourself.

I know this should be upsetting, and serious, but the truth is we were never off the grid, be it the radio in your car, the traditional phone, hec, there are ways to connect to a computer that is not even hooked up to the internet.
We have always lived with the illusion of privacy, that's all really.

I have to respectfully disagree about privacy. It did not used to be easy or fast to get on someone's call and it used to be hard to get at someone's mail. Now? Everything is sent digitally and none of it seems to be secure at all. We have always longed for this super duper techno future where everything is digital and instant and available. Is it possible that as we get closer to it, we realize that it just is not workable and that maybe getting back to a slightly more rudimentary technology for certain things is the way to go? Just seems like there will never, ever be a way to lock down privacy and security for the digital era of information. (Oh, and I lol'd about the porn. Funny because it's true.)

originally posted by: LotToTell2
a reply to: jaffo

What I find hilarious when some on ATS say

It is too big and if it was true it would come out therefore it isn't true

It has already come out

The spying. The 9/11, you name it, everything is out

This is nothing like all the many other refutable and clearly ridiculous claims made every day on ATS. This was a reasonable suspicion to have, we had evidence of these agencies operating outside of the law, none of this would have come to light were it not for the leaking by Snowden.

If anything, this proves the point once again, there needs to be EVIDENCE of something, then it becomes conspiracy fact, rather than just opinion.

People demanding evidence or reasonable explanation for something are the rational and logical ones here, those who simply accept the most outlandish claims and stories without any evidence at all are the ones damaging the reputation of Conspiracy Theorists.

originally posted by: AgentSmith
Already covered in a thread here last week.. ;-)

Roger that. But to be fair, this is an updated story with feedback from the manufacturer.

a reply to: jaffo

Oh, you are totally right that now it's much faster, but the spying has always been there, just in different forms, spying on others is probably as old as time itself.
Was only a matter of time before it went "global"
should we go back to more primitive tech? i guess.
CAN we go back to primitive tech? nope.
sadly the infrastructure we have build could not exist on older tech and us personally as individuals also cannot.
someone more intelligent than me should make an argument about how as humans we long for a sense of "connectivness" with fellow human beings across the planet, i mean what is ATS after all if not a place for people from all corners of the world to feel closer to each other? and in trying to achieve this "connectivness" we naturally expose ourselves, to different degrees via social media, blogs, youtube comments etc.
It seems we WANT to be heard, and in a strange way we WANT to be watched,
So then the question becomes, how much of your privacy did you voluntarily give up before being outraged about someone invading your privacy?

I gave up caring about the concept of the authorities constantly watching my computer. What really pissed me off was my monitor being intercepted. Not the computer, the monitor. They actually shot it with infra-red one time, although they might've been looking for aerosol in my room. They stopped doing that though because they know I always have my camera handy.

originally posted by: VigiliaProcuratio
I gave up caring about the concept of the authorities constantly watching my computer. What really pissed me off was my monitor being intercepted. Not the computer, the monitor. They actually shot it with infra-red one time, although they might've been looking for aerosol in my room. They stopped doing that though because they know I always have my camera handy.

I...am astounded by this response. But I would like to hear more...

a reply to: jaffo

Ah, me and the government have a love-hate relationship. We got some kind of psychic thing going on. Oh well, it's all shîts & giggles as one might say.
 

originally posted by: VigiliaProcuratio
I gave up caring about the concept of the authorities constantly watching my computer. What really pissed me off was my monitor being intercepted. Not the computer, the monitor. They actually shot it with infra-red one time, although they might've been looking for aerosol in my room. They stopped doing that though because they know I always have my camera handy.

I have an interest in more exotic data gathering and monitoring techniques, can you perhaps elaborate on what you mean by this please?

An infra red what? Laser?
How did you detect the IR source?
What was it's purpose?
Any other details?

originally posted by: AgentSmith
An infra red what? Laser?
How did you detect the IR source?
What was it's purpose?
Any other details?

I'm guessing that it was infra-red. I didn't explicitly detect it, my monitor just decided to display some kind of weird bar-code. The computer image was completely blocked. I used to get discolouration too, magenta seemed to be the usual suspect, and I considered that as being microwave interference.

originally posted by: VigiliaProcuratio

originally posted by: AgentSmith
An infra red what? Laser?
How did you detect the IR source?
What was it's purpose?
Any other details?

I'm guessing that it was infra-red. I didn't explicitly detect it, my monitor just decided to display some kind of weird bar-code. The computer image was completely blocked. I used to get discolouration too, magenta seemed to be the usual suspect, and I considered that as being microwave interference.

I see.. Well I hope that you can get some peace and no one harasses you.

THEY created the INTERNET from a secure email system...DUH.
NOTHING ever put online has or will be secure.
THAT is to to be expected if you are familiar whith how they have operated in the passed. THEY just can't read all of it and THEY need a software lie INSIGHT on Capt America to handle the variables.
Once they have a good A.I. they will do it.

originally posted by: VigiliaProcuratio

originally posted by: AgentSmith
An infra red what? Laser?
How did you detect the IR source?
What was it's purpose?
Any other details?

I'm guessing that it was infra-red. I didn't explicitly detect it, my monitor just decided to display some kind of weird bar-code. The computer image was completely blocked. I used to get discolouration too, magenta seemed to be the usual suspect, and I considered that as being microwave interference.

I can tell from the description of the bar code and magenta, you have an ATI brand video card. It's not the government, it's just bad video RAM. The actual onboard RAM of the video card is overheating and failing.

originally posted by: AgentSmith
I see.. Well I hope that you can get some peace and no one harasses you.

Thanks! Funnily enough, it has been rather quiet this last week.
 

Maybe. Maybe not. Dunno. But...

One time I type something into notepad as a test. What I typed was really, really sensitive. It took 30 seconds for a bottle to hit the front of my house. Somebody got the message.

Another time my monitor suddenly went full magenta. I had to tap the blighter several times to degauss it. Thing is, it was a LCD so I got a bit confused about that. Then I realised there was a taxi directly outside. Given previous experiences, I instantly suspected that it was TV Licensing (because I didn't have a telly). So, I opened up notepad and typed "THE F*CK ARE YOU DOING??" Honestly, I had never before and never since seen a cab hit 40mph so fast, he didn't have a chance to turn his hazards off. Minutes later I found out that two Nigerians had just decapitated a soldier in London.

That's not the GPU messing up.
 

a reply to: VigiliaProcuratio

/shrug

I can only speak to the barcode/magenta. Seen it a lot on the older X series ATI cards, for example the X1900. I can't really comment on anything else.