New Big Brother Cyber Weapon Turns on Your Computer's Microphone, Takes Screen Shots, Copies Data an

This is why i have alway disconected my pc since the days of dial up. Never know

Thanks for the old news. Hopefully this reaches new people.

Originally posted by darkbake
I've heard of Flame before, its origins seem to stem from either Israel, the United States, or joint efforts between the two seeing as it was used to attack computers in Iran... oh wow I was right, according to Wikipedia:

On June 19, 2012, The Washington Post published an article that Flame was jointly developed by U.S. National Security Agency, CIA and Israel’s military at least five years ago as part of a classified effort code-named Olympic Games to collect intelligence in preparation for cyber-sabotage aimed at slowing Iranian nuclear efforts.

Source

I haven't been too worried about this, I've always assumed that the downfall of the intelligence community is actually going to be having too much information to sift through - what is relevant? What is a false lead, or simply made up? How are they supposed to sift through so much data in the first place? It is often easy to hide in plain sight.

Unless you are already a target, I guess.

edit on 28-6-2012 by darkbake because: (no reason given)

I have believe these new viruses (stuxnet and flame) have been designed to delete themselves so the country/hacker or corporations can not re-engineer them and turn it around on their attacker...

However, this is a giant fail in thinking on their part. Once the viruses are deconstructed and they will used to attack other countries and the public.

Things like this are why I'm glad that even though my laptop is pretty old and runs slowly, it doesn't have a webcam or a microphone. It does what I need it to do and that's good enough for me!

reply to post by HolgerTheDane2

However - we have been targeting Linux for years.
Too many holier than thou ranting against Windows and claiming that their OPEN SOURCE is secure.
Do you guys ever stop to think what OPEN SOURCE means?
Many Linux users I know happily install anything because it is found on OPEN SOURCE websites. Critical thinking? Not much.

I agree totally.

Too many new( & a few oldies) *nix users live in a false sense of security....they openly tout their impenetrable system and yet, fail to implement any security on their box.

This is - unfortunately - all too common.

On the other side of the coin, *nix is far more secure(I think anyway) than Micro$oft. Open source allows users all over the world to find security holes and notify someone who is capable of enacting a fix/patch. This usually means that software is updated more often on a *nix system when compared with equivalent M$ software.

Ultimately though - and this goes for any system on the planet - the end user is the biggest security risk of the lot.

These viruses have been around for quite some time. I mean phone tapping was nothing new in the 80s when tech was flourishinjg rapidly. It's the 21st century, there are programs that can track everything you do, and they are being used on you right now.

I am a good programmer, and right now I have enough programming knoweledge where I could type up a simple program t track your IP, keylog you, and even download certain material without you knowing, all under the guise of a link to a pic on a random site. There is no limit to what people can do,. Honesty I don't know what all the fear is about, we are already under Big Brother and no one seems to notice.

People will only start to get scared when they come right out and say it that they are monitoring you. But they don't have to do that. People are monitoring you right now. Through your tele, you can be monitored. Through your phone, your Xbox controller, the posibilities are endless. Anything that can recieve and send signals can be used to track you, and those devices are all around you aren't they?

Also why I'm glad to have a pc that never has a mic connected, nor has a webcam

I and my computer are one. If something like this invaded my machine, I would know. If my microphone/webcam turned on by itself, I would know. I watch my CPU cycles like a hawk. If something was off, I would know.

They're not invading my privacy anytime soon.

reply to post by DarkKnight21


eh, i pretty much assume everything i do is being watched anyway.

i already know...

i have to admit, i sometimes wave at them...

reply to post by DarkKnight21


nothing new here
microsoft has inherent faults so that they can see you computer at any time
windows that is

I'm like Jude, had tape over my camera eye for years!
I have an Imac and I once heard the Chinese made them so that they could spy on us too.
I guess real anonymity is so 20th century eh?
My question is, could these 'spy' efforts be used against people in a court of law without a warrant?
Patriot Act anyone?

Originally posted by HolgerTheDane2

Too many holier than thou ranting against Windows and claiming that their OPEN SOURCE is secure. Do you guys ever stop to think what OPEN SOURCE means?

Many Linux users I know happily install anything because it is found on OPEN SOURCE websites. Critical thinking? Not much.

Yes, Open Source means that the source is open. You can download the sourcecode, read through it yourself to see what it is doing and then compile it yourself. How many Windows applications can you do that with? Or Windows itself?

Thre reason why they say that Open Source is more secure is because there are more eyes to look at the source. If a website made sourcecode available with some sneaky backdoor, the community would be able to spot it and raise the alarm. If a hacker is able to spot a security flaw in the code that could be exploited, then a non-hacker would also be able to spot it and make the programmer aware. Security through transparency was not the goal of Open Source but it certainly lends itself to that model.

Of course many people will never do that, or they will just download a pre-compiled binary, but at least the option is there if you want to take it. There are even more Windows users who will install any free rubbish that slows down or infects their computer. Is Open Source the best solution? Maybe not, but you really want to compare it to Windows?!?

Critical thinking. Hah.

Wow the poor guys at the NSA must be mentally scared from looking at me through my laptop camera. Bet you never wanted to see that did you Mr NSA officer. Go ahead and get that image out of your head.

Originally posted by hoochymama
This is the reason Windows is on 90% of Computers. They should of been labeled a Monopoly a long time ago but the Government only went after Office.

Thank God I dont run Windows/Apple so I dont have to worry about it.

I feel you, and I am with you on that.
However, Just because we run Linux...
Does not mean we are "immune" from this kind of thing.

Sure,
All the windows&apple users will be targeted first, & easiest..
But just because a system runs Linux.. doesn't quite make it impenetrable.
Unless the admin. of said Linux system was very knowledgeable in security and had an extremely hardened system, I think they to could be fairly easily "had".

Oh well,
I don;t own webcams, not even on my thinkpad,
and I don't talk when Im home at my computers, so what they going to hear through the mic.? Nothing! lol
Still, Someone, somewhere... will find a way to take this, reinvent it, and use it against the fascist pricks.

Originally posted by DarkKnight21
wakeup-world.com

Cool website.

Originally posted by yourmaker
it doesn't matter too much in the short term, this will only last as long,
people of all backgrounds will eventually get pissed and involved, it's inevitable.
these kinds of things unite people, the only problem is their mind control is so powerful it would take a week without television and papers to pull it off.

btw i'm getting an imac on sunday, probably the best computer for such a government virus wouldn't you agree?

Oh, you're getting an iMac because it is safe? Right, that's not the kind of computer that always gets broken into in computer security competitions in a few minutes... Oh wait it is.

Better off leaving the net with a Linux build

Originally posted by c_sautter
That has been a capability for a long time. Hackers and the like have been able to do this with phone cameras, webcams, etc for a very long time.

Thank you ,captain obvious !!


So you came to tell us that these sort of practices were already possible, did you really think no one was already aware of that?!


Difference being of course that those hackers did not have one central point in which they kept all this data and did not operate as one entity, they were not a single official agency were they ? Could these lone hackers use any of the data they collected against you in any legal form ?

the answer is obvious of course.

I wonder how long before snooping like this is done at the hardware level, rather than the software level, to stop people blocking it by installing non-m$ operating systems.