Sharyl Attkisson Shares Update On Computer Hacking Investigation.

Hello,

CBS

Just days after CBS News confirmed that reporter Sharyl Attkisson’s computer had indeed been hacked, Attkisson spoke to Dom Giordano about the investigation. “This suspicious activity has been going on for quite some time – both on my CBS computer and my personal computer,” Attkisson said. “CBS then hired its own independent cyber security firm, which has been conducting a thorough forensic exam … they were able to rule out malware, phishing programs, that sort of thing.”

“There were just signs of unusual happenings for many months, odd behavior like the computers just turning themselves on at night and then turning themselves back off again. I was basically able to verify and obtain information from my sources on the suspicious activity and I reported it to CBS News in January because of course it included CBS equipment and systems.”

I'm far from being an expert when it comes to hacking and internet security but I thought if your machine is powered off then you were safe. To me it's amazing that they can turn your machine on from a remote location, if it is in fact possible.

“Whoever was in my work computer, the only thing I was working on were work-related things with CBS were big stories I guess during the time period in questions were I guess Benghazi and ‘Fast and Furious.’ The intruders did have access to personal information including passwords to my financial accounts and so on, but didn’t tamper with those, so they weren’t interested in stealing my identity or doing things to my finances. So people can decide on their own what they might have been trying to do in there.”

I guess the only safe thing to do is to act as though somebody is watching you all the time. It's a damn shame but I guess that's the world in which we live.

So do I need to unplug my machine or disconnect my modem when I'm not using my computer?

reply to post by shockedamerican


This is what happens when you mix dirty Chicago mobsters with high tech government funded snooping organizations! They always had the tactics but now they have the technology and budget (our money).

I’m beginning to think George Orwell will be recorded in history as a prophet rather than an author.

So do I need to unplug my machine or disconnect my modem when I'm not using my computer?

Do you think it will matter either way?

A lot of people just put their machine to sleep which can be woken up via quite a few different things even a mouse wiggle or a specially designed packet of data sent to the machine, i've heard of people who snore so loudly they vibrate the mouse in the same room just enough to trigger the machine waking back up

But if you're of interest to people don't be surprised if they use anything to find out your details such as covert camera's, key loggers etc so the best bet to stop access from times when you aint at the machine is to unplug it but really when the spooks at the NSA fancy a copy of the data on your machine they'll just pop along while you are out and do a quick copy of your hard drive and be gone

If you really want to keep your data hidden then keep it on your person encrypted and only access it using methods you know are safe

reply to post by Maxatoria

i've heard of people who snore so loudly they vibrate the mouse in the same room just enough to trigger the machine waking back up

Wow! That's loud if you wake your machine!

I wonder if she didn't power it off but just put it in sleep mode as you suggest.

The only "true" way to keep your data safe would be to encrypt the drive so that you have to have a password to access the hard drive, perhaps even before POST. With LIVE boot disks and USBs, even encrypting the drive is not a surefire way to safeguard your data.

With a bootable USB, I can access your PC hard drive, run scans, copy data without accessing the Operating System on your hard drive. Heck, most Linux disks are "Live Boots". So, if you are really paranoid and need to encrypt and safe guard the important stuff, take it with you on a USB drive at all times and you should have nothing to worry about.

If you are worried about someone getting your your PC remotely, unplug, take out hard drive and run, or have a special boot disk and code on the hard drive, that if the disk is not present, then the hard drive will be physically damaged, but that is more trouble then it's worth.

reply to post by Skada


So do you think it's possible to power a computer on from a remote location?

I'm saying after I shut my computer down can someone , a hacker, access my connection and turn my computer on without my permission? This is basically what the reporter claims happened to her machine. I didn't know such a thing was even possible.

reply to post by shockedamerican


It's possible, but improbable.
Your machine will always have a remnant of power going to the motherboard, when you press your "power on" button, it fires up everything attached to the motherboard.
It wouldn't be a difficult thing if NSA or some other big brother agency could plant a command on to your startup BIOS that they can send a signal to power everything up.
However, it would be far easier for them to snoop while you're online and you don't even know it.
If you're very nervous about snooping while you're away from your PC, physically disconnect your modem or wireless card when you're away from your PC

reply to post by shockedamerican


Yes, it is in the code on the network card. There is a way to turn it off, but then again, there might be a way for the alphabet soups to turn it on. Check out your BIOS settings, for boot up options and the sort.

Think of it this way, your network cable is always sending power to the card, and some cards have a little option to power on if a certain code is set. Heck, I run a PC lab and have a program to turn on the PCs here, it also allows me to connect to them, see their screen, push programs, and run programs remotely. This is a commercial based program. If I have that type of program, then you can bet your sweet paycheck the alphabet agencies have better code.

Originally posted by Konstantinos
reply to post by shockedamerican

 

It's possible, but improbable.
Your machine will always have a remnant of power going to the motherboard, when you press your "power on" button, it fires up everything attached to the motherboard.
It wouldn't be a difficult thing if NSA or some other big brother agency could plant a command on to your startup BIOS that they can send a signal to power everything up.
However, it would be far easier for them to snoop while you're online and you don't even know it.
If you're very nervous about snooping while you're away from your PC, physically disconnect your modem or wireless card when you're away from your PC

Great advice on the end there. If it is a desktop, disconnect network cable and power cable, if it is a laptop, disconnect power cables, take out the battery, cover up the webcam. But this borders paranoia for most, and is bothersome to do for the average person. At some point you would just stop using a PC and go into the woods.

reply to post by Konstantinos




I'm not really that concerned I just didn't think it was possible. If they want to snoop they will, I'm not going to lose any sleep.

Thanks for the info. guys.

reply to post by Skada


Exactly...if I ever become that paranoid about being online I think I'll begin talking with a psychiatrist.

Originally posted by shockedamerican
reply to post by Skada

 

Exactly...if I ever become that paranoid about being online I think I'll begin talking with a psychiatrist.

Trees make better conservationists and don't suck the oxygen from a room; and don't judge you based on what you say to them.

Originally posted by shockedamerican
I guess the only safe thing to do is to act as though somebody is watching you all the time. It's a damn shame but I guess that's the world in which we live.

So do I need to unplug my machine or disconnect my modem when I'm not using my computer?

And here you have it, the "chilling effect" caused by such breaches of trust by government.

I've seen it said by so many that "of you've done nothing wrong..." (utter BS), and they never bring up the chilling effect.

Media organizations might think twice before reporting, potential politicians might think twice about running for office, writers will reconsider researching a story for a novel because it might "look suspicious", people might think again about starting a thread because they might be put on a list, sites like ATS might see numbers shrink because they know that just being active on a site like this could possibly make them a target for snooping...

Even if the government denies that they are monitoring people for anything other than real terrorism offenses, people just don't buy it, and we have no reason to either. That is the problem that many are not facing.

In Germany as the Nazis were slowly gaining power in government, the media were in a state of paranoia, and rightly so because they were being watched. Just the fear of being watched was enough to silence most of them, and it created a spiral that ended up, well, you know where it ended up.

"All that is necessary for the forces of evil to triumph is for enough good men to do nothing." This is as much about people being silenced by the chilling effect as it is about anything else. If there is no vocal opposition to something, there are no limitations on its potential.

Your computer CAN be powered on by remote control, but only in very specific circumstances.

Its called Wake on Lan or WoL for short.

• You must be connected to a network of some form.
  
• Your network interface card must support the WoL protocol.
  
• Your network interface card must have WoL turned on, its turned off by default.
  
• Your motherboard must support the WoL protocol.
  
• Your motherboard must have WoL turned on, its off by default.
  
• Your router must not be configured to block the WoL packet from outside the LAN, most will block any WoL packets originating from outside your LAN.
  
• Your router must be configured to forward the WoL packet over the NAT (Network Address Translation) to the correct PC.
  

In other words, your PC isn't going to get woken up remotely, randomly. It must take specific and explicit actions on your half to even enable it. I suppose in theory some very complex virus could make all the config changes to enable it, but I've never heard of that happening.