John McAfee: ‘I Can Guarantee You, It Was Not the Russians’ (Kim dot Com agrees)

a reply to: ColdWisdom

They're not. An elementary understanding of organic chemistry would reveal that the compound MDMA (methylinedioxymethamphetamine) is uniquely different than methamphetamine hydrochloride. They're similar but they're not 'basically the same thing' and not even close.

No s#. That's the exact point I was making? So I imagine you agree that MDPV is not even close to MDMA either, correct?

originally posted by: theantediluvian
a reply to: IgnoranceIsntBlisss

Okay, so you're more intelligent, and wise in the field of cyber-security, than John McAffee. And that would be pre and post him getting into mind expanding drugs.

You're also an expert on exotic mind expanding drugs too.

Anything I've missed? Perhaps you've been working on a cure for cancer in your spare time? Is your solution to the world hunger problem ready to be unveiled yet?

McAfee was relevant 20-something years ago. MDPV is about as mind expanding as Crack and not particularly exotic but I find it hilarious that you're so desperate to keep hope alive in this stupid McAfee interview that you're now referring to one of the most popular "bath salts" as "exotic" and "mind expanding." Lmao!

As for my expertise? I taught myself to program (QBasic) at 13. At the age of 14, I made my first and only piece of malware, a trojan "trace jammer" that dumped a block of ASM to a file and used system calls to assemble and execute the malicious payload with MS-DOS's debug. I was phishing accounts on IRC before I entered high school. By 15-16, I had taught myself UNIX socket programming in C and was making my own rudimentary pseudo-rootkits (nothing too fancy, mostly just binary wrappers, log cleaners etc). I've sinced learned 5 additional languages to varying degrees.

How many boxes have you hacked again? I personally hacked hundreds before I was out of highschool. I'm currently an IT director and architect/chief dev of a warehouse management system. I've done UNIX and Windows Server administration, network administration and been a de facto database admin (and email admin — Exchange — but that's no great accomplishment). I'm highly experienced with virtualization (particularly Citrix XenServer these days). This week I'll be onsite installing a new rack filled with PowerEdge servers for our new Xen pool and a forklift upgrade of our SAN.

Oh, and I can fix about 1000 Outlook issues. Plus few people can claim to have said "did you try rebooting?" more than me.

If you know anything about folks like me, you already know we're pretty much all recreational drug experts.

Cool, got any programs that can make my computer hack proof? I wish to regain my privacy

Somebody is playing the US people for fools...easy to do! This love Russia by conservative Trump supporters and hate Russia by liberals is a weird new paradigm I suspect is some kind of psychological op designed to further confuse and control the American sheep herd.

The Trump lovers as usual are falling right in line since that kind are the most easy to manipulate.

originally posted by: Indigo5
a reply to: sad_eyed_lady

John McAfee is a fraud and a lunatic..Just a sampling

In February 2016 McAfee received media attention by publicly volunteering to decrypt the iPhone used by the San Bernardino shooters, avoiding the need for Apple to build a backdoor.

McAfee later admitted that these claims were a publicity stunt.

In May 2016, McAfee was appointed Chief Executive Chairman and CEO of MGT Capital Investments. The company announced that it will be renamed John McAfee Global Technologies.

During this time, McAfee claimed that he and his team had exploited a flaw in the Android operating system that allowed him to read encrypted messages from WhatsApp.

Gizmodo investigated these claims and reported that McAfee had sent reporters malware-infected phones to make this hack work.

en.wikipedia.org...

You left something out:

In May 2016, McAfee was appointed Chief Executive Chairman and CEO of MGT Capital Investments. The company announced that it will be renamed John McAfee Global Technologies.[24] During this time, McAfee claimed that he and his team had exploited a flaw in the Android operating system that allowed him to read encrypted messages from WhatsApp.[25] Gizmodo investigated these claims and reported that McAfee had sent reporters malware-infected phones to make this hack work. McAfee responded to these accusations, writing, "Of course the phones had malware on them. How that malware got there is the story, which we will release after speaking with Google. It involves a serious flaw in the Android architecture."[26]McAfee's stated goal for MGT is to improve cybersecurity in a post-anti-virus world. [27

From the most recent hit in Google news about this company:

source
Anyway, McAfee was announced as set to taker over as CEO MGT early in 2016, with the goal of setting it up as a sort of rogue security company. A hacker’s go-to security company, if you like. He’s since come across a number of hurdles, and there have been twists and turns (which you can read about in our previous coverage here, here and here), coupled with a delisting. As things stand, however, he’s CEO of the pink sheet company MGT, and the company is working on acquiring security assets to build out its portfolio.

To suggest he's not currently up to date on cyber-security issues is probably inaccurate.

a reply to: theantediluvian




So now that you did you ad hominem hail mary from the kickoff, your little popshot at part of his input, and have yourself poised to be Hillary's new Chief Technical Officer (CTO), what do you have to say about the on topic bits I have up there for you?

And about your little drug frenzied sideshow...

Around the same time, the former teetotaler started posting to a website for recreational drug users called Bluelight in which he described his experiments with various types of bath salts. “I think it’s the finest drug ever conceived,” he wrote of one, singling out “the indescribable hypersexuality” of the “super perv powder,” but warning that “I had visual and auditory hallucinations and the worst paranoia of my life.” nymag.com...

Hmm. "VARIOUS" "bath salts" (which is laymans terms for essentially the entire field of RC designer drugs, a massive multi-category collection of which contains many of the finest mind expanding chems in the known universe (the 2C family in particular). "Visual and auditory hallucinations" would seem to imply he wasn't just playing at super coke in that summary.

But going by stimulants alone, lets see...

Not the best structured example ever to illustrate my point, but it gets the job done:

Nootropics vs ADHD Psychostimulants
Nootropics, in comparison to ADHD stimulant prescription drugs are much less powerful, yet are also largely devoid of excess side effects. With ADHD stimulants, you get a fast long-lasting burst of euphoric energy that can last for up to twelve hours, followed by a horrible debilitating crash. Though the uprising with these prescription medications is extremely potent, and truly helps one’s focus and willpower for their mechanism of action the side effects are uncomfortable, there is a risk of addiction, tolerance and withdrawal, and they’re more for focus than a total cognitive package. With nootropics, these have almost no side effects, and while they’re much more subtle in stimulation and focus than something like Adderall or Ritalin, over the long-term they pose no risk of addiction or withdrawal, and even get stronger (in the case of the racetams) as they build up in your system over time.

What is a "nootropic"?

Nootropic
Nootropics (pronunciation: /noʊ.əˈtrɒpᵻks/ noh-ə-TROP-iks)—also called smart drugs or cognitive enhancers—are drugs, supplements, or other substances that improve cognitive function, particularly executive functions, memory, creativity, or motivation, in healthy individuals.

What is MDPV? Technically, a stimulant. What is MDMA? Technically, a stimulant. Are they chemically related? The DEA would argue the case in court. Why? Because they're both Cathinone analogs. Et al. Etc.

Of course that article, and probably just about any other like it, are written by people that don't even know what the hell they're talking about, aside from DEA talking point memo's and similar etc news reports.

originally posted by: theantediluvian
If you know anything about folks like me, you already know we're pretty much all recreational drug experts.

What's beyond hilarious here though is this: After smearing his technical credibility & expertise for being a recreational drug expert, in the same post as declaring your technical credibility & expertise, you also boasted about being... a "recreational drug expert"!!!

Oh Ante, the place just wouldn't be the same without you!!

originally posted by: Willtell
Somebody is playing the US people for fools...easy to do! This love Russia by conservative Trump supporters and hate Russia by liberals is a weird new paradigm I suspect is some kind of psychological op designed to further confuse and control the American sheep herd.

The Trump lovers as usual are falling right in line since that kind are the most easy to manipulate.

My main concern is that we were tricked into war fairly recently and they've been banging the drums pretty hard lately. We can never late that happen again. This sounds like Yellow Cake Uranium:

Deadspin
United States intelligence agencies believe that Russian president Vladimir Putin ordered the hacking of the Democratic National Committee in part because he believed the doping scandal that led to hundreds of Russian athletes missing the 2016 Summer Olympics was an American operation, according to a newly declassified intelligence report.

originally posted by: Willtell
Somebody is playing the US people for fools...easy to do! This love Russia by conservative Trump supporters and hate Russia by liberals is a weird new paradigm I suspect is some kind of psychological op designed to further confuse and control the American sheep herd.

The Trump lovers as usual are falling right in line since that kind are the most easy to manipulate.

Define all Trump lovers, and how they are easy to manipulate.

Many of us Trump supporters simply couldn't stand seeing hilldog and co in the office. Remember her VP pick? Kaine? C'mon. And also aren't a fan of the current administration, who on top of it supported hilldog.

Also, If in fact that Russia and U.S create better relations in the future, we don't see that as a bad thing. Do you?

I don't care if he was high on glass when he said this. Show me some proof the Russians did it and I'll believe it. Just show me the proof. Why is this so hard. It's nothing but propoganda, that's why.

You'd have to be a fool to believe it without proof.

Okay - so how about some responses from the rest of the cybersecurity community...

A look into how the hacks happened (the "somebody opens a stupid piece of mail" scenario that every security geek on the planet knows about and groans over. In this case, they were tricked into changing their password and the hackers got that. They were using known malware on this campaign.

A critique on a computer forensics blog which basically says the Grizzly Steppe paper appears to have been put together by a bunch of folks and done in a hurry and that the information it gives is not useful to cybersecurity.

another interesting analysis, with information on the malware

None of those are easy reading and will probably be somewhat incomprehensible unless you've taken some cybersecurity classes.

The takeaway from these blogs is that the FBI didn't release enough information (if that's all of it) to tell whether it was Russia or not. They may have additional cards they're not showing.

Assange and Dotcom are correct in that in the information released there's no clear tie-in (nor is there a clear exoneration of them.)

HOWEVER... this doesn't mean that the tie-in doesn't exist. They may have other links that they're not revealing so that they can continue to monitor them.

a reply to: Byrd

We've heard a lot of that kind of stuff, but what do you have to say about McAfee's remarks?

a reply to: theantediluvian

Are you seriously trying to debunk an anti virus creator from knowing about internet security? the man knows how the internet works. I would not dismiss his testimony so easily. His background and profession merits a say on the matter,

a reply to: theantediluvian

I've read multiple of your posts - in fact I've read the entire thread from the start.
So far you have offered pretty much zero in terms of an objective argument.
You have though listed some rather basic professional achievements in IT (I'll point out I'm a senior technical consultant and what you've listed so far has about zero relevance to the assessment of IT security, malware or hacking) and I'm finding your posts laughably amusing - in the sense that you haven't actually refuted or contributed much at all in terms of an objective argument, or even anything vaguely objective that counters the statements of people like John McAfee.

Let's start with some basics...

1) how exactly can you objectively state that "the Russians did it..." when the information presented so far by the authorities is so ridiculously easy to fake (even for a child) ... ?

...and I think that is the exact point that folks like Julian Assange have been trying to point out.
I do note you're quite keen on attempts at character assassination with basically zero information, other than what you've read or seen in the media.

You've also accused John McAfee's judgement of being influenced by drugs, yet later imply you know enough about the subject to make sweeping claims...

...pot meet kettle...
...you seem quite transparent with your posts...

originally posted by: jimmyx

originally posted by: moebius

originally posted by: Ohanka
a reply to: theantediluvian
...
I think he knows what he's talking about given his background.
...

Would you "think" the same if he agreed with the US intel claims?

why does anyone here think that mcafee has all the details, even the top secret details?....and has anyone heard of "plausible deniability", as it concerns the identification of the "hackers"?....I've work in the field, and there is a lot he doesn't know. as far as his expertise in malware, and hacks, mcafee antivirus software is "ok", but not great.

I'll take the word of the people that love America, and that want to protect us Americans

I don't think anyone said Mr McAfee has the secret details. But let's address the actual substance of the OP shall we?

This post goes to anyone here that is taking the same or similar position of jimmyx.

McAfee mentioned the so-called evidence that was presented by Homeland Security and the FBI in their "Grizzly/Stepp" report.

He broke it down to four main pieces of evidence presented by the aforementioned departments so I suggest we discuss his point in bringing those up.

1.Supposedly the Russians made the mistake of using some Russian language in their coding used to write the malware..which was subsequently detected by our intelligence officials.

2. A Cyrillic keyboard was used (which by the way the forensic scientists can now determine which type of keyboard was used to develop a piece of malware and the Russians know this).

3. They forgot to remove the part of code (the compiler) that writes the time stamp. And supposedly the time stamp was that of Moscow during normal business hours.

4. The I.P. address was allegedly that of a Russian address.

He goes on to point out that if an equivalent of the Russian state hackers for example our CIA were to do an attack on Russia, some of the most obvious things they would NOT DO would be ....

1.Make the amature mistake of using some English language in their coding used to write the malware..which would subsequently be easily detected by the victim's intelligence officials.

2. Use an English keyboard or whatever keyboard the CIA uses (which by the way the CIA knows forensic scientists can now determine which type of keyboard was used to develop a piece of malware).

3. Forget to remove the part of code (the compiler) that writes the time stamp (the time stamp showing actual local time)

4. Have an I.P. address that points to themselves.

Oh and here is the kicker, the hack on the DNC used a piece of malware that was a year and a half old. And there had been many updates since then. Do you seriously believe the Russian Intelligence Service would spend all of their time and effort improving their malware but then when it comes to an important attack they're like "well I used that thing from a few years ago, it only had a few bugs"....

......I don't think so.

a reply to: sad_eyed_lady

After reading the actual IC Assessment, I think he's dead on. This is complete bunk.

Read it here.

Not even the NSA, FBI or CIA fully buy into their own report's conclusions. Read it.

a reply to: theantediluvian
I love how the whole Clinton email scandal has been brushed over by who could have hacked the U.S . In the grand scheme of things this is just another distraction from the real issue . America hacks into every other nations coms, so does just about every other nation . Yet when it happens to the U.S. Of A it's a major scandal #ing dry your eyes . Clinton is corrupt as they come . It doesn't matter who relayed the information , the source is the DNC

originally posted by: loam
a reply to: sad_eyed_lady

After reading the actual IC Assessment, I think he's dead on. This is complete bunk.

Read it here.

Not even the NSA, FBI or CIA fully buy into their own report's conclusions. Read it.

Well loam, I agree with you. I did not read one thing that could be considered insightful enough to persuade me of the level of Russian involvement that is being characterized, outside of this report. I don't see this report shedding much evidence at all.

I think your statement of the agencies not buying into it is very accurate, the report looks like it was crafted, by design, to create ambiguity so it can be used by the spin-meisters for their assertions.

a reply to: sad_eyed_lady

My belief is that it was a whistleblower like Snowden, but someone who didn't make their identity public after what they did to Snowden, the whistleblowers have learned that anonymity is better on your personal life

originally posted by: theantediluvian
a reply to: sad_eyed_lady

If you knew absolutely anything about either McAfee or Kim Dot Com, you'd realize how much you were scraping the bottom of the barrel. McAfee is an unhinged.

Don't take it from me though, take it from a source you trust — Russian state propaganda.

RT - McAfee’s macabre media circus continues as antivirus inventor flees to Guatemala

McAfee’s self-confessed “deteriorating” mental and physical state has possibly been further aggravated by a predilection for MDPV, more commonly known as bath salts.

A “huge fan” of the stimulant, according to online posts, McAfee nonetheless complained that it gave him “visual and auditory hallucinations and the worst paranoia of my life."

In April police raided his house. They found ten legally-acquired firearms, and an amateur laboratory in which McAfee claimed he was going to synthesize the perfect MDPV. No drugs were found, and the entrepreneur was not charged.

Visiting his heavily-fortified compound in the aftermath, an American journalist described the software maker as “unhinged.”

Despite all of that it still does not make what he said on that programme nonsense, in fact its absolute COMMON SENSE and standard hacking usage, a hacker worth anything other than a kid or an attempt to discredit would NOT leave those sorts of details to track the hack.

You may want to discredit the man but he still knows his stuff and any person with a smattering of IT and networking knowledge would back the man up 100%. I don't care if the man is snorting coke off the ass of a chimp as long as he shows his competency in his field and he does in spades on that programme.

God dam, I'm sick of reading this official crock of sh%t narrative "it was the Russians"!

Literally no one believes this sort of propaganda anymore. 20 years ago this would have worked, people have wised up to the lies. The American Elite always need a bogeyman to rally the American public to back their war campaigns and there is nobody better than the Russians!

The video states enough reasons why the evidence is flimsy.. and the fact that the server in question hasn't actually been examined (or was never given permission to be) makes this case easily blown over by an asthmatic blowing through a straw!

Interesting comment in the end of the video: "So this kid obviously downloaded this software year and a half ago ... "
Remember what Assange said in his interview? "Every 13 year old kid could hack them."