White House Computers Hacked, Viral Trojan Horse Bug

I'm not buying that story. Sorry just too sci-fi. Air gap...yeah sure. No WiFi cards and still. Yeah sure...must have been a 4G phone system. Ping ping ping...from one cell tower to the next...yep. They called and asked if their refrigerator was running...a reply to: jadedANDcynical

But if they didn't what else would we be doing to wile away this fine Friday afternoon. reply to: ThirdEyeofHorus

a reply to: AutumnWitch657

I take it you don't understand air gapping malware

Because most modern computers, especially laptops, have built-in microphones and speakers, air-gap malware is designed to communicate secure information acoustically, at frequencies near or beyond the limit of human hearing. The technique is limited to computers in close physical proximity (about 65 feet (20 m)[2]), and is also limited by the requirement that both the transmitting and receiving machines be infected with the proper malware to form the communication link. The physical proximity limit can be overcome by creating an acoustically linked mesh network, but is only effective if the mesh network ultimately has a traditional ethernet connection to the outside world by which the secure information can be removed from the secure facility.

a reply to: signalfire

National Security sources told ABC News there is evidence that the malware was inserted by hackers believed to be sponsored by the Russian government, and is a very serious threat.

But all these security system in the USA are about breaking our security and hacking our system so that the CIA/NSA can steel corporate interests from around the world and spy on everyone but apart from a few pay systems and traffic lights not working I think this would be the best thing that could ever happen in the states.

OK I can see its never going to happen because as usual it a dig at Russia but I can dream.

The USA needs not lecture the world about hacking after the flame virus and revelations about NSA hacking from Snowden and Wikileaks and if the Whitehouse data is so important then get the fcuk off our internet and pretending you own it or have some magical powers about policeing the "Peoples internet" because they don't

With shame I am using Microsoft's virusware just now so the whitehouse will be the first to know who I am but ask me if I care so much as not to hit the post button

originally posted by: AutumnWitch657
What's even funnier is that people think these computers are all connected to each other and run by the government. My phone , my water, my electric, my cable, the gas line, the drains... everything is private enterprise not run by the government. But some people will believe anything. If it sounds good. Or even if it doesn't. reply to: Shadoefax


PS I love your screen name.

Run by the government or not doesn't matter. If it's online it's vulnerable.

originally posted by: AutumnWitch657
I'm not buying that story. Sorry just too sci-fi. Air gap...yeah sure. No WiFi cards and still. Yeah sure...must have been a 4G phone system. Ping ping ping...from one cell tower to the next...yep. They called and asked if their refrigerator was running...a reply to: jadedANDcynical

You don't understand air gaps. An air gap is a computer that is only on an internal network. The internal network isn't connected to any computers that are connected to an outside network. Stuxnet breached this by taking advantage of an exploit that allowed code to be run from a USB drive when plugged in. Since then the ability to breach airgaps has increased but they all involve the idea of taking another piece of hardware and plugging it into that computer. This is why the so called hack proof computers that I addressed in my previous post have no ability to plug an external device into them. It's a security measure against infected peripherals. Taking this security precaution has extensive usability limitations and that's why it isn't used everywhere.

originally posted by: Thorneblood
a reply to: AutumnWitch657

I take it you don't understand air gapping malware

Because most modern computers, especially laptops, have built-in microphones and speakers, air-gap malware is designed to communicate secure information acoustically, at frequencies near or beyond the limit of human hearing. The technique is limited to computers in close physical proximity (about 65 feet (20 m)[2]), and is also limited by the requirement that both the transmitting and receiving machines be infected with the proper malware to form the communication link. The physical proximity limit can be overcome by creating an acoustically linked mesh network, but is only effective if the mesh network ultimately has a traditional ethernet connection to the outside world by which the secure information can be removed from the secure facility.

What this is referring to is what it's claimed badBIOS is doing, but we haven't even proven badBIOS exists. The theory behind what is happening is sound aside from one issue: the listening computer needs software to be running that can translate noises in the microphone back into code. It also has one other significant limitation if it is real: not connecting a microphone (which shouldn't be an issue if you're not using peripheral devices anyways) means the target computer has no way to listen and get code.

what about electric cable network communication ? www.netgear.com...

originally posted by: Dolby_X
what about electric cable network communication ? www.netgear.com...

Those basically work the same as an internet connection, you're just sending signals over copper wire. The powerline hardware filters out electrical noise and sends/receives the signal. Like anything having to do with a computer, without the appropriate hardware it doesn't work. You can't just access someones computer through the electrical outlet unless their machine is already set up to listen for those types of signals.

a reply to: sheepslayer247
Just propaganda, until they start telling us that they thought it was to target infrastructure but instead it systematically pulled all of the funds out of social security and whatever other services and erased the records and all backup archives etc.
Now that will probably finally get everyone mad enough to do something.

Not say that is what it will do but every time they tell us to expect one thing it is a total opposite.
Fingers crossed that the Government Version of Norton or Mccrappie or whatever can do the job!

Come on really?

Internet was the main reason that democrats lost the election, I mean MSM was not telling the truth about anything.

Now a few days later, the internet is a threat to our national security!

Well seems like they better lock it down, to prevent this from happening in 2016.

a reply to: AutumnWitch657

There is a well known phenomena called the antenna effect.

Power cables can be considered linear antennas . . . Whenever PLC signals overlay frequency ranges of wireless services, interference may occur.8

Another research paper, published by the British Broadcasting Corporation, states:

there is the difficulty for radio-system users that the signals [PLC] injects do not simply travel from point to point along the wiring, they also escape as radiated emissions [emphasis in original]6

Using this effect, your commnications can be tapped by reading the electrical noise created by typing/talking on the phone and no electronic bug would ever be needed.

Espionage using the antenna effect

The United States and the Soviet Union both started on preventing snooping by wireless means on their teleprinters, cryptosystems and computers in the 1950s. Even though these machines are not considered wireless transmitters, they have unintended wireless emissions and create dirty electricity, which can be used to decipher the secret messages.

If it can transmit by noise, it can receive by noise.

Power Line Communication turns electrical wires into antennas direct pdf link

a reply to: Aazadan

Oh I understand all that, there is actually a fascinating article in Wired all about it...

Wired

Computers housing the world’s most sensitive data are usually “air-gapped” or isolated from the internet. They’re also not connected to other systems that are internet-connected, and their Bluetooth feature is disabled, too. Sometimes, workers are not even allowed to bring mobile phones within range of the computers. All of this is done to keep important data out of the hands of remote hackers.

But these security measures may be futile in the face of a new technique researchers in Israel have developed for stealthily extracting sensitive data from isolated machines—using radio frequency signals and a mobile phone.

The attack recalls a method the NSA has been secretly using for at least six years to siphon data in a similar manner. An NSA catalogue of spy tools leaked online last year describes systems that use radio frequency signals to remotely siphon data from air-gapped machines using transceivers—a combination receiver and transmitter—attached to or embedded in the computer instead of a mobile phone. The spy agency has reportedly used the method in China, Russia and even Iran. But the exact technique for doing this has never been revealed.

The researchers in Israel make no claims that theirs is the method used by the NSA, but Dudu Mimran, chief technology officer at the Israeli lab behind the research, acknowledges that if student researchers have discovered a method for using radio signals to extract data from hard-to-reach systems, professionals with more experience and resources likely have discovered it, too.

a reply to: xuenchen

In other News.........Home Depot announced that 53 Million Customers E-Mail Addresses were Hacked from their Online Website by Persons Unknown . SPAM Cleanup on Isle 3 Johnny..................

originally posted by: rigel4
This is bull#.. I don't believe it.

Many of these examples given are off-line scada networks.

someone is hiding something behind this.

Like Stuxnet? Created by our government to attack Iranian nuclear infrastructure only to have it backfire on us?

originally posted by: Thorneblood
a reply to: Aazadan

Oh I understand all that, there is actually a fascinating article in Wired all about it...

Your article is referring to extracting data, as in reading it. It makes no claims that the same can be done in order to send information to a system in order to upload malware. They actually state just the opposite, that it cannot upload information.

A destructive “Trojan Horse” malware program has penetrated the software that runs much of the nation’s critical infrastructure and is poised to cause an economic catastrophe, according to the Department of Homeland Security.

Aint that great timing ?

After the potus spoke the other day about 'infrastructure'.

The next day DOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM.

OMG,OMG,OMG !

Tin foil hate time.

Dare I say I smell a 'false flag' hell, and i hate using that phrase.

The hacked software is used to control complex industrial operations like oil and gas pipelines, power transmission grids, water distribution and filtration systems, wind turbines and even some nuclear plants. Shutting down or damaging any of these vital public utilities could severely impact hundreds of thousands of Americans.

This doesn't pass the "smell test" for me. I really doubt that some unclassified computer system in the white house is controlling that much infrastructure.

Most water distribution systems still rely on old-fashioned valves to shut off water mains. Case in point: when the water main broke on the GW parkway outside of Washington, DC, it took a while before they could even figure out what valves to close to stop the flooding.

With respect to the power transmission grids, this is made up of a bunch of disparate power providers that don't have interconnected control systems. And, as seen in the Southern California blackout a few years ago, they don't even know how all that crap works together. Now it's possible that there is an off switch somewhere, but if you push that button, it could bring the whole grid down hard. And it could take quite a while to get it back up again.

And the white house has a control switch for "wind turbines." Given the minuscule amount of power produced from wind turbines, what's the point?

This article is propaganda at best, or total idiocy at worst.


Dex

Between this and the Washington D.C. leaked November 9th 'White House Emergency Broadcast Alert' I'm glad I have a plan and the wife and I will be on point&guard over the next few days. These 'coincidences' just don't add up with a LAND SLIDE of the American populous gunning for Obama's removal from office and the Republican take-over of the House and Senate.

What this all smells like to me, is the priming of the American people for a false flag to secure national Martial Law and the cease of the American democratic process to halt Obama's exit and block or delay the 2016 Presidential election process.

Get your bug out bags, your water purification tabs, your plan, your supplies, your cash out of the bank, and prepare to be mobile and get away from city centers folks. If the power goes out in a populated area, you'll have 7 days before all hell is officially unleashed as folks begin to starve. This could all be leading to the imminent (and planned) collapse we've all been contemplating and considering as a possibility.

There's nothing wrong with being prepared and not trusting the government or the military-industrial-complex-run media outlets. Russia is not LOOKING for war with America. The American government is looking to instigate infrastructure upheaval and destabilization, which will turn Americans against one another in major city centers.

Dex...I completely agree with you. No computer is sitting in the White House and controlling the hoover dam's output, or New York City power grids, this is completely bogus but will be entirely eaten up by your typical ignorant citizen.

There's also the possibility that mass produced integrated circuits widely used in computers already have some "backdoor" build into them that could facilitate some sort of communication. See
Chinese integrated circuits backdoor
Integrated circuits can be compromised using Undetectable hardware Trojans
U.S. military could be shut down by secret 'back door'

Maybe some cheap chips picked up my motherboard or graphics card producers already have communications abilities of some sort hard-wired in?

a reply to: Aazadan

You cannot be that obtuse.

Not with the power the NSA tools possess, and those are the ones we know about.

I have never understood why there is not a separate internet(internet 2.0) for the government and not connected to the internet where hackers from outside the US can not get to it.