‘You Hacked, ALL Data Encrypted’

[Onkel Neal]

Hackers are holding San Francisco’s light-rail system for ransom
http://www.theverge.com/2016/11/27/13758412/hackers-san-francisco-light-rail-system-ransomware-cybersecurity-muni

oops, Windows 2000? :k_confused:

[Skybird]

I just giggle.

[NeonSamurai]

I wouldn't laugh. This stuff hasn't just been hitting big businesses and government, its also been hitting ordinary people and charities too. If you get it you are well and truly screwed, as there is virtually no way of decrypting the data without paying a bunch of money in ransom, and it is becoming more and more common. It's becoming a serious problem due to how successful it is, and how little effort it takes.

Plus it can hit virtually any operating system version, and type, and antivirus often isn't effective in stopping it.

[Oberon]

Even a stopped clock is right twice a day. :03:

[MaDef]

I wouldn't laugh. This stuff hasn't just been hitting big businesses and government, its also been hitting ordinary people and charities too. If you get it you are well and truly screwed, as there is virtually no way of decrypting the data without paying a bunch of money in ransom, and it is becoming more and more common. It's becoming a serious problem due to how successful it is, and how little effort it takes.

Plus it can hit virtually any operating system version, and type, and antivirus often isn't effective in stopping it.
Which is why backups are so important.

[Eichhörnchen]

MaDef is right... but I never have anything stored on the pc that I can't afford to lose: all sensitive stuff is written down on paper or stored on a non-internet device. As far as I know, then, the most hassle I would face is a re-install.

[Dowly]

Even a stopped clock is right twice a day. :03:And my oh my how proud that little clock is when that happens.

[Skybird]

I wouldn't laugh. This stuff hasn't just been hitting big businesses and government, its also been hitting ordinary people and charities too. If you get it you are well and truly screwed, as there is virtually no way of decrypting the data without paying a bunch of money in ransom, and it is becoming more and more common. It's becoming a serious problem due to how successful it is, and how little effort it takes.

Plus it can hit virtually any operating system version, and type, and antivirus often isn't effective in stopping it.
You got my giggles wrong. Usually I am the one who gets giggled about when telling tales of horror and apocalypse regarding these things, you see.

I am quite aware of the immense vulnerabilties and dangers. Thats why I warn of them so often. And get just giggles in return. So this time I giggled - in revenge.

Crime. But technical failures as well. Just the past 24 hours Germany was hit by a practically nation-wide breakdown of internet and web-basing telephones. Once again, has happened before. Since they switch telephones to VoIP, telephones have become as reliable as back in the early 70s again. They call that "improved services". I need to relaunch by router at least once a day. I have down-times at leats once per week. My hometown where I live is considered to be a Telekom-well-supplied region, and a hotspot.

Very stupid to give up the independeant telephone wire network. Very stupid to turn all communicaiton into one single "monoculture" with practically no redundacy in the network. If the web fails, all communicaiton shut down. Stupid. To abuse Patton: monocultures are monuments for the stupidity of man.

I have diversified internet, telephone, cellphone and TV on four different distributors/sources. Costs me more money, yes. But leaves me with options if one fails. Which happens often. In the civilised first high tech world named Germany, city with 380 thousand people. Hilarious.

[Oberon]

And my oh my how proud that little clock is when that happens.

Oh yeah, you never hear the end of it. :dead:

[Skybird]

Since I mentioned it above, Telekom now says they have indices that they fell victim to an external hacker attack.

Routers in almost one million households/offices are temporarily or for lasting effect offline since yesterday afternoon. All router-depending services in these households/offices are affected.

Possible that the routers were directly attacked, it seems not every router model but only certain product lines are affected. So much for hardware-sided firewalls.

Nightmare scenario for friends of black humour: stockmarkets go rock-bottom, you desperately want to place orders to sell - and cannot. Imagination can plot easily according criminal attack scenarios.

^^ I had posted this in a wrong thread originally, and so moved it here where it was intended to be anyway.

[Skybird]

German Federal Office for IT Security (BSI) now says it was an external attack of even greater proportions, and that governmental IT networks had been under attack as well.

It is feared that this also is just a systematic testrun, like there seem to have been several ones over the past months, directed against Western companies and nations. Somebody seems to test out Western IT infrastructure and its typical vulnerability and potential for abuse since quite some time now. Say insiders and security experts. Many fingers point at Russia. But it could also be non-national hacker groups wanting to land a big coup in the future, at some international conference. The ID of the attacker(s) are not known.

[Jimbuna]

Best policy if possible is to have nothing on your system you wouldn't want anyone else to access but that is obviously easier said than done in this day and age.

[Skybird]

They now know that the attack indeed was an attack for sure, and that it was much bigger. The attacker was a known bot net named "Mirai", which tried to make the attacked routers part of its botnet structure.

This is very worrying news, since Mirai also is behind several other major sized attacks across the globe this year, especially in Europe. In all these cases the goal was to hijack household devices and/or the so-called internet-of-things as well as weakly secured business networks and office stations, to include them into the botnet and by this creating kind of s super weapon - obviously for a huge attack in the future, probably to take out the data ifnrastructure completely. The apst attacks have thus been described by IT security expwerts as most likely testruns only. Weapon tests.

Could be Russia. Could be a political activist hacker group. Could be organised crime.

This has been the third such weapon test within just a couple of weeks. It kostly failed this time (the others were inb parts or mostly successful), but the attacked routers as a consequences of that bogged attack could not connect to the web anymore and needed new firmware and cold boot.

Which is a happy end. Else we might not even have noticed that 1 million routers in Germany got hijacked by Mirai - and now would work for it or could be calle dup to work for it any time.

Your household becomes part of the warzone, your possessions and belongings become weapons in this war. Just that you have no word in this war, do not know your masters, and maybe even do not realise that you are getting abused as drones. Just the casualties, the costs - these will be yours.

Yes. A warzone.

Resist as you can - or forfeit your right to later complain.

Especially: PAY CASH and INSIST ON CASH PAYMENT - always, everywhere. Boycott everybody not accepting cash anymore. If that means to avoid Sweden and Norway (wich by new laws ban use of cash) for holiday, do it. There are other nice countries to travel to.

Going digitally not necessarily always is better. And in some instances, it is the nightmare option that you should want to avoid at all cost.

[Onkel Neal]

Especially: PAY CASH and INSIST ON CASH PAYMENT - always, everywhere. Boycott everybody not accepting cash anymore. [/B]If that means to avoid Sweden and Norway (wich by new laws ban use of cash) for holiday, do it. There are other nice countries to travel to[B].

.

"Dogs bite people."
"What? Ok, I am never going outside again!"



Sorry, that's not going to happen. Not going to go back to the stone age just because of some risk.

[Skybird]

Total government control over your possessions by forcing you to not save them materially on your side, but exposing them to bank and state plundering - your savings, pensions, money, everything, in digital format and thus being able to make you pay for anything the government sees legit - hows that as a motivation to insist on cash money being kept, eh?

In other words: freedom.

All my savings and treasury - is not at the bank anymore. ;)

There are reasons why they try so unforgivingly to kill cash money, the Rogoffs and Bernankes of this world.

Wake up. I am not caveman from the stone-age.

[Onkel Neal]

Ok, I know you don't see it, but being alarmist doesn't equate to being a sage. Yes, there is risk in living in the modern world, and using a bank and a credit card, but it is manageable. It's not a big deal. There's a lot of risk to having all your savings under the mattress, too, or carrying $5000 cash with you all the time.

If you're so worried about the hidden puppetmasters pulling the rug out from under you, maybe you should divest yourself of cash too, and go back to bartering real, actual goods. After all, what is cash, but another form of credit? You should get rid of those marks before the Rothschilds plunge the currency into another round of inflation.

People can always use chickens. They also lay eggs. See if your landlord will accept chickens for payment.

[Commander Wallace]

Best policy if possible is to have nothing on your system you wouldn't want anyone else to access but that is obviously easier said than done in this day and age.


:sign_yeah: There is also numerous software available whereby you can encrypt your own data. However, it's always a good idea to back up your information.

[Skybird]

Alarmism has nothing to do with it. The massive redistribution and the expropriation to make ordinary people pay with their pensions and savings for the debts risen by political parties and politicians and banks, negative interest rates and all that - that is reality.

Also, if you have money at your bank, on your bank account, at your bank, you are de facto an investor, not different to holding stocks. You bet that the money manages well and you get a share from its profit. in times of so-called "negative interest", this is illusional. But more important, you have to pay for the bank if it manages bad or get hit by disaster. Investors risk.

Such a thing like "negative interest" does not exist. The direction at which "interest" flows, is one way per definition, not possibly both ways, depending on times. It flows from leaser to lender, never th eother way around. Negative interests are no interests, they are fees at the cost of the investor - who of course is no investor then, but an idiot.

In Germany, deposit insurance "guarantee" :D deposits of up to 100.000 Euro per person. But already this low level means that if this guarantee ever gets called up in huge numbers becasue one bank suffers a meltdown, there would be more demand for "money" than there is real money available. The discrepancy exceeds a factor of at least 75. In such a scenario, if you have more money on your bank account, you probably simply lose it. Period. Which serves you right. you were an investor, you had a right to bid on profits when opening a bank account and save money there - and you had to accept the risks. You played, you lost. Next.

The turmoils this could - and will - cause in real economy, if the trigger is just big enough, will mean a massive drop in stocks indices. This is becasue companies gpoing bancrupt and cannot work anymore, loose their value, and so does their stocks. So when you think you did clever by buying stocks, I tell you - you cannot avoid to nevertheless live dangerously. History shows this impressively. I mean none of all what I say is new - we have been there before, haven't we.

If you hold physicla precious metals, there could be prohibition at any time, if it serves the politicians' interest to keep the show running and themselves starringatf the party.

I am surprised that a capitalist like you - at least I take you for one - so comfortably ignores all this, Neal. Just for that tiny piece of plastic in your hand.

Worst news of all, is this, imo: the old reasonable rules, those that modern alchemists started to ignore and to ridicule - even these rules seem to have no validity anymore. the system'S inner dynamic has become so unpredictable and instabile that just anything could happen, anytime, and nothign is ruled out. you cannot calculate probabilities and base your decision on that anymore, that has become an illusion. In other words, as I see it the situation is so disastrous that practically every form of investing has become - a gamble from A to Z: stocks, gold, property, cash money - everything. Because probabilties mean nothign anymore, and just anythig can happen just any moment. That bad it is. There is no responsible way of investing anymore, it all is becominging gambling now. And the banks want everybody to get him forced to participate - at his cost. Investing, and gambling - are two very different things. To buy a tiny bit of time.

With every single time you pay via credit card instead of notes and coins, you signal and vote that you accept credit card payment, and you make it more likely that the banning of cash money comes even earlier, like now in Scandinavia where they now will enforce it by law. You then will not only pay seldomly with cash money in Sweden - we will be prohibited and will find it impossible to pay with anythign different than a credit card there. Money becomes illegal.

Last but not least, digital payment means record keeping. You have nothing but lame words as promises for that these records will ever be deleted. Every single pack of bubble gum you pay for, will be recorded. And who knows. Maybe there once will be a time when bubble gum is considered to be illegal, or makes you a social outcast. And then these records will be dug out and used against you. Or a deale long ago can be used to compromise your reputation, to character-assassinate you. It will be done. And laws will not prevent this. Insurance companies will read these records, and draw their conclusions, and set your payments accordingly - if they even accept you. You may not get that job, and will not even know why you were not accepted. They know, however - they read your history of past spendings and buyings, leading them to conclusions about you.

Not even mentioning the profiling options for targetted commercials and avertising.

But the worst thing in all this is that people will be forced to expose their private property and savings to plunderings by the state by needing to chnage material wealth for imagined digital "wealth" that can be exproriated with a pressing of a button. No defence possible. Thats is the top on reason why cahs money should get banned, all other reasons are strawman arguments only.

If that does not worry you, Neal, considering the disastrous state of the "money" system, then nothing ever will frighten you in life. Again, that is no alarmism at all. Its fact, and already happens right now, day in and day out.

In Cyprus, savings above some treshhold of I think 500.000 Euros some years ago got plundered by the state, the bank deposits held by people simply got automatically sacked by the state-ordered ratio. And nothing the owners of this property could do against it, if they had it at the bank. In India just tne days ago they have sacked all banknots of the highest and second highest value - a state with over one billion people. They want to force people to bring money back to the bank in an effort to chnage the old notes for new, smaller ones. They say it is against corruption, but truth is - they want to make people handing their money over to the banks so that the state can control these properties better - and tax and plunder them more easily.

Modern state thinks it must control and overwatch all and everything. That too is part of the promise of socialism. Net takers applaude it. Net givers obviously not.


And if you think you are safe when holding your values in physicla gold and store it in a hideout in a safe, then again any time some ruthless politicians can have a law that prohibits the private possession of gold. That will be the time when i consider even the use of violence to fight this state as a valid, morally demanded option. Needless to say: the masses get told they will socially benefit from these plunderings, will applaude all this, they are net receivers (takers). That is how socialism ticks.

In then end, Neal, you are opening the idea of private property, and the basic natural right to own private porperty, for negotiations and indicate you can accept to let this idea go. The stronger the state, the less freedom and the less right to own property. That simple it is.

And it is already happening. In your country. In mine. And guys like you just turn away and close their eyes. so many are like this. Just not caring, just not imagining to give up that "comfort" of plastic money.

Cash payment over here is more than twice as fast as credit card payment, btw. The health argument (germs on notes and such), has been debunked. The crime argument has been revealed as a myth already. There are no pragmatic arguments in defence of credict card money. And still they want to enforce it, against all resistence, against all reason, against all arguments, against all warning.

And you do not even wonder why, but being annoyed by "alarmism"...?

If you people would do damage just to yourself, I could accept that and live with that, it would not need to concern me. But you guys pull people like me down the drain alongside with you. And that is the only real injustice here, the mean thing you all are guilty of - that you ruin it not just for yourself, but for all others' future as well. You do not even stop before the interest of your children's future but encourage them to continue the mistakes you have started with.

Alarmism...? No, Neal. Freedom. The right to own property all alone, all yourself. Else it is not private property.

On a more theoretical level, the big disaster that economy theory has fallen into is that it has chosen to completely ignore the meaning and importance of money, it has taken the need of money totally out of all its highflying, cleverly spinning formulas. And this spells disaster. Money gets ignored, gets seen as an invalid variable that has no meaning. But money is what grout is for a wall of bricks. We will need to learn that again the rock-hard way. And we will. It will become brutal.

Why should I silently accept to be punished for your, the majority's sins? Its what the ancient Greek called ochlocracy, the tyranny of the majority over the minority. The tyranny of the plebs. Today we mislabel this as democracy. What a cruel joke of history.

[AndyJWest]

Is this another thread you are keeping politics out of, Skybird?

[NeonSamurai]

I'm actually in most ways in agreement with Skybird. The different trends going on right now are rather alarming. The populous on average is getting poorer, while that 0.00001% are becoming more wealthy at an almost exponential rate. I am seeing all kinds of systems of control and observation being steadily put into place, with computers being a massive vulnerability to personal privacy. The corporate world in particular has been at the head of these constant attempts to data-mine people so as to get even more money from them.

There is just so much happening on so many levels, which will have really bad consequences to the average person, on virtually ever aspect of that person's life. At every turn our rights are being eroded, laws are being changed to favor the wealthy or the powerful. People are being psychologically manipulated like never before. The education system across the globe is functionally being destroyed, to disrupt the intelligentsia. Intelligent engaging radical professors are being slowly purged in favor of bland inoffensive teachers that will tow the line.

The world is becoming a more dangerous place, and almost no one is paying attention any more, as we are being turned into completely egocentric entities that only care about self gratification and utter selfishness, who no longer think for themselves at all, who only rely on news sources that feed their own monologue. As long as I get what I want, who cares.


Mark my words, things are going to get a lot worse over the next few decades for all of us.

[Takeda Shingen]

My doomsday plan is simple. While people scramble for resources I'll hit up the pharmaceutical plants. Those prepper and militia types aren't going far in this new world without their Lipitor and Trexall. :haha:

[Skybird]

In German: http://www.focus.de/finanzen/experten/thorsten_schulte/indien-krieg-gegen-das-bargeld-warum-uns-die-lage-in-indien-angst-machen-sollte_id_6270981.html

An Warnungen fehlt es nicht, wohl an der notwendigen Aufmerksamkeit und Achtsamkeit im Westen.

India. Your neck hair should raise when reading this. That it does not, shows what a thankful victim you are. You get lured to embrace serfdom. And you accept it for the cheapest of prices, so you indeed get what you deserve. One will see if you still smirk and laugh in 15, 20 years.

[Skybird]

as we are being turned into completely infantile entities
Corrected that for you.

I mean: consider what people are willing to give up: their privacy, their freeedom, their protection from a tyrannic, plundering state. And for what? To pay cashless. To play "customer" on their smartphones that some even claim to be object of a basic "human right" to have a smartphone.

If these infantile, stupid, lazy things are the standards by which modern man defines "progress" and "modernity", then mankind should go extinct better yesterday than tomorrow, for then it already has overstayed its time anyway.

And we laugh about ancient primitive tribes agreeing to let the white man into their land just for a box of worthless coloured glass marbles? We have no reason to laugh about them. We are acting like these primitives did. The difference is that those tribes did not and could not know whom they were dealing with. But we today: we could easily know what we carelessly trade away - if only we would want to know.

Just that turning away and mocking the warnings is so much more party-like.

[HunterICX]

The world is becoming a more dangerous place, and almost no one is paying attention any more, as we are being turned into completely egocentric entities that only care about self gratification and utter selfishness, who no longer think for themselves at all, who only rely on news sources that feed their own monologue. As long as I get what I want, who cares.

Has it ever been any different in the history of mankind? Tribal Chiefs, Pharaohs, Sultans, Kings, Emperors, Politicians, business tycoons etc aren't very different because in the end of the day they take care of themselves better then they do us.

Mark my words, things are going to get a lot worse over the next few decades for all of us.business as usual.:)

[Onkel Neal]

What was this thread about again....?

[Oberon]

George Soros?

[HunterICX]

What was this thread about again....?

http://i.imgur.com/gGgBM6T.jpg

[NeonSamurai]

Has it ever been any different in the history of mankind? Tribal Chiefs, Pharaohs, Sultans, Kings, Emperors, Politicians, business tycoons etc aren't very different because in the end of the day they take care of themselves better then they do us.

business as usual.:)

Yes its the same in some ways, but it is also much different too. The ability to gain information and spy on individuals is far beyond what it was even 40 years ago. For a while the average person (in first world nations) was reasonably well off, they could afford a house, the would have a full time job that paid alright, and they were not constantly borrowing money. The economic divide had shrunk greatly by then, verse the 1920s or earlier, and this is what we are now sliding back towards at a very rapid pace. Meanwhile the corporations have gained more power than ever before, where they can even sue entire countries (and win) such as the tobacco companies have done as late, or just plain thumb their noses at that country's rules, regulations, and laws. Meanwhile food prices keep shooting up, and the housing market in most major cities is now virtually affordable.

http://i.imgur.com/gGgBM6T.jpg

Ya.. no, I'm talking about a developing Orwellian dystopia, not doomsday. As virtually no one seems to pay attention to the big picture...

[NeonSamurai]

Corrected that for you.

I mean: consider what people are willing to give up: their privacy, their freeedom, their protection from a tyrannic, plundering state. And for what? To pay cashless. To play "customer" on their smartphones that some even claim to be object of a basic "human right" to have a smartphone.

If these infantile, stupid, lazy things are the standards by which modern man defines "progress" and "modernity", then mankind should go extinct better yesterday than tomorrow, for then it already has overstayed its time anyway.

And we laugh about ancient primitive tribes agreeing to let the white man into their land just for a box of worthless coloured glass marbles? We have no reason to laugh about them. We are acting like these primitives did. The difference is that those tribes did not and could not know whom they were dealing with. But we today: we could easily know what we carelessly trade away - if only we would want to know.

Just that turning away and mocking the warnings is so much more party-like.

I actually chose not to use that word, as insulting people is about the worst way to convince them :03: Piles of rhetoric don't work either.

Even if it may be kind of true.

[Skybird]

What was this thread about again....?
The vulnerability of data and info networks, the attacks on both, and then the implication of the insanity to have all money transactions and currency systems in general to be shifted into such a highly vulnerable hunting ground. I then got carried away a bit by your suggestion that all that is just "alarmism" and that your right to pay with a piece of plastic is weighing heavy for you. At least more than your freedom from totalitarian control by the government, I concluded.

Because that is what is being tried: to not enforce these changes with force and pressure, but to make people wanting them. That is the perfect coup then - when nobody sees the need or feels the desire to even wanting to resist. Where there is the censor moved to the inside of people's own heads, they will not be aware of censorship anymore. They censor themselves, and they want it. Perfect coup.

"Visa - Die Freiheit nehm ich mir". - German commercial.

[Oberon]

Simple solution

http://asecuritygroup.com/page2/files/stacks-image-14133d6.jpg

[Oberon]

In all seriousness I think that this is a fight that cannot be won. There is an overwhelming mass of users who have little or not awareness of internet security, or even care about it. They have, and will live their lives with credit cards, facebook, and all the other things which terrify some, and yes, their information will be brought and sold to the highest bidder, and they will essentially become a commodity in a new trading market. But, ultimately they will still get up, go to work, come home from work, eat, drink, sleep, go out with friends, surf the net, connect with friends, and do all the things that 60-70% of the internet user base does with only a cursory regard for security and the use of the information that they broadcast.
Will this lead to the downfall of mankind?
I doubt it, I imagine that more of the same will continue, internet attacks will get bigger and more powerful, there will be more disruption in our lives because of it, but just as people design bigger mice, others will design bigger mouse-traps, equipment and updates that are designed to counter the vulnerabilities in older software, but of course these fixes will likely introduce new vulnerabilities which will then need to be patched and so on and so forth.
You cannot escape this, you cannot live a life without this unless you want to create further hardship for yourself. If you wish to do this, then it is your decision, but eventually you will come into some contact with the interconnected world that you cannot escape from. Short of taking yourself into Alaska or Siberia, living off whatever food you can scavenge or kill, and either only generating electricity through renewables or not having any electricity at all. Of course, if you get ill then you'll have to hope that you have a herb or something nearby that will work with your illness otherwise you're screwed, but you'll have that true 'off the grid' experience.
There's something to be said for that lifestyle, and not just that it is brutal, but there is perhaps a certain reward to taking what nature can throw at you and not dying.
The rest of the world, though, will keep on ticking, keep on connecting, keep on transmitting. You think things are vulnerable now, wait until we start connecting people directly to the internet. Wait until the increased automation makes a whole section of society unemployed. There are much bigger battles ahead, and no-one in the upper echelons of power seems to be even thinking about them. When you couple that with the entry into a new climatic norm, the potential for global sea level rises effecting dozens of major cities which are nearly all by the sea or rivers, and we've got a big battle on our hands and we really need to start preparing for it now. But we won't. Will it end us all? No, but it's going to make things very unstable, and I think that there will be some dark, and some light times ahead. Some nations will possibly become shining beacons of hope and change, others will collapse into anarchy. There may be another major war which will put humanity back a few centuries but it won't kill us all off. We're a stubborn lot.
Ultimately though, there's sod all we can do about it, just get on with our lives and try to make the best of it, look after each other, and just bring a bit of happiness to others wherever we can, because it's a pretty depressing world at times, and if we want to get through it then we need some reason to continue to do so, if there's no future to live for then we need to find another reason to live. :yep:

[Oberon]

And for a timely example of what I mean about a losing battle, take a look at the UK and the 'Snoopers charter' which will get royal assent on Thursday. Now for a year, ISPs will have to keep a record of every website and messaging service you visit on any device.
There has been rebellion on this from every corner, from ISPs themselves down to figures like Sir Tim Berners-Lee. In the end though it was for naught, and it was railroaded through parliament.
That being said, there will be attempts to repeal it, but I doubt that they will succeed, although I hope that they do, and we'll probably be stuck with it.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-38134560

:nope:

[Skybird]

I actually chose not to use that word, as insulting people is about the worst way to convince them :03: Piles of rhetoric don't work either.

Even if it may be kind of true.

https://www.amazon.de/Die-Stunde-Dilettanten-verschaukeln-lassen/dp/3552055541/ref=sr_1_fkmr1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1480501671&sr=8-3-fkmr1&keywords=rietzschel+dilletant

You are German. Very recommended. Sophisticated in language. Devastating in content.

"Der Dilettant reduziert alles auf das Maß seines Vorstellungsvermögens."

[Skybird]

More good news.

http://blog.checkpoint.com/2016/11/30/1-million-google-accounts-breached-gooligan/

Its the biggest Google database breach ever so far, they say.

Breaching account databases of companies has become an ordinary hobby these days. Nothing to see here, no worries wanted, move on and enjoy life.

P.S. Check their list of infested apps down the article, there are a few really known names amongst them.

[HunterICX]

More good news.

http://blog.checkpoint.com/2016/11/30/1-million-google-accounts-breached-gooligan/

Its the biggest Google database breach ever so far, they say.


Breach caused by the users themselves for installing crap and clicking on links without giving it a second thought.

Nothing really knew there.

[Skybird]

Not really. Breach is caused by software from Google's "secure" Playstore. Its not all just garbage code from some obscure Android website in Romania or Russia.

That is as if the official download repository for Linux would get corrupted. Infection of the brain itself and the central nervous system strain along the backspine.

Playstore just 2-3 years ago was said to be "safe". :haha:And Android was said to be not needing any protection or anti virus. :har: In the over two years I used Android tablets now, the damage rate and infestation of software in Google'S store has dramatically exploded. If you still think you need no security software for Android like you need for Windows, then nobody can help you. Problem is: they do not work as reliable under Android than they did under Windows in its better years. I now no longer consider to ever update my hardware depending on Android. Its history for me, like Windows. No more newer Android tablets for me. Thank God I do not need such things urgently anyway.

[Dowly]

Not really. Breach is caused by software from Google's "secure" Playstore. Its not all just garbage code from some obscure Android website in Romania or Russia.
From the article you posted:
We found traces of the Gooligan malware code in dozens of legitimate-looking apps on third-party Android app stores. These stores are an attractive alternative to Google Play because many of their apps are free, or offer free versions of paid apps.
You do read the articles you post, right?

[Skybird]

I read them for sure, but this time ooopsed up the memorizing. I stored the related passage with exactly the opposite meaning into some corner of my memory.

Which is forgivable because nevertheless it is a fatc that the number of infested apps in Google Playstore has constantly grown rapidly over the past 30 months since I use Android tabs. Myself, I got hit twice already, with a Backgammon app and an - at that time quite popular - security app (ironically). and I do not even use a smartphone, only WLAN tab, which was a fact to my rescue, probably.

[Skybird]

And an upodate on the currently running Mirai attack. The attack still goes on, says Telekom and German Federal Office for IT Security BSI. While some routers refused to accept the code trying to infest them, and broke down due to that, many other routers have accepted it, as well as webcams, heating control circuits and various gadgets from households. Its not over and most likely will run on for more days to come. It still is growing, despite the apparently working patches that were fed into the router networks by Telekom.

Its possible though yet undetermined, that the number of attacked targets was/is several times as biog as just those close to 1 million routers that stopped working recently. And this to the already existing size of the Mirai botnet.

[August]

Mark my words, things are going to get a lot worse over the next few decades for all of us.

Heck i've found just getting older makes things a lot worse. :)

[Sailor Steve]

I can't speak for anyone else, but I suspect the next few decades are going to get a lot better for me. Or at least a lot simpler.

[Jimbuna]

I can't speak for anyone else, but I suspect the next few decades are going to get a lot better for me. Or at least a lot simpler.

Taking into account the state of your memory, I suspect a great deal 'simpler' :O:

[Skybird]

Update for Dowly:

Some German media today reported that Gooligan malware indeed gets spread via apps bought in the Google Playstore as well as via apps bought form other appstores.

Google Playstore is fully affected by this. Which does not surprise me. As I dsaid, Playstore is not the totally safe repository that many take it for. Its only better than others.

Just saying. ;)

---

On the positive side: German police has after four years and in cooperaiton with Europol cracked down hard on the Avalanche botnet, consisting of over half a million of infested machines and having caused financial damages of "several hundred million" in the past two years, with 6 million losses alone in Germany". During arrests in various European cities, in Kiew a firefight of some kind took place, with a suspect attackling police with his assault rifle. Nobody was injured thoiughht, the suspect got overwhelmed.

Its the biggest success of law enforcement against this kind of crime, accordingly wide the grin was that the Germans were showing today. :D

What they do not say is that while it is the biggest single success, in the total picture it is just a drop on the hot stone. Usually police and law enforcement trail behind, with criminals setting the pace from a comfortable lead. Total global damages from cybercrime and virtual bank robberies are in the billions.

[Onkel Neal]

Update for Dowly:

Some German media today reported that Gooligan malware indeed gets spread via apps bought in the Google Playstore as well as via apps bought form other appstores.

Google Playstore is fully affected by this. Which does not surprise me. As I dsaid, Playstore is not the totally safe repository that many take it for. Its only better than others.

Just saying. ;)

---

On the positive side: German police has after four years and in cooperaiton with Europol cracked down hard on the Avalanche botnet, consisting of over half a million of infested machines and having caused financial damages of "several hundred million" in the past two years, with 6 million losses alone in Germany". During arrests in various European cities, in Kiew a firefight of some kind took place, with a suspect attackling police with his assault rifle. Nobody was injured thoiughht, the suspect got overwhelmed.


A Botnet Takes Down Nearly a Million German Routers (https://krebsonsecurity.com/2016/11/new-mirai-worm-knocks-900k-germans-offline/)

I really did not like reading this article, especially the part about Mirai aggressively scans the Internet for new victims, and that SANS’s research has shown vulnerable devices are compromised by the new Mirai variant within five to ten minutes of being plugged into the Internet. :timeout:

[Catfish]

Also interesting, only in german (yet):

"I only showed the bomb exists".

https://www.dasmagazin.ch/2016/12/03/ich-habe-nur-gezeigt-dass-es-die-bombe-gibt/

About a company "Cambridge Analytics", and how it is able to influence elections, from "Brexit" to "Trump". It seems to have failed Cruz, but this is scary stuff.

Yes i know no one wants to hear about that :03:

[Skybird]

A Botnet Takes Down Nearly a Million German Routers (https://krebsonsecurity.com/2016/11/new-mirai-worm-knocks-900k-germans-offline/)

I really did not like reading this article, especially the part about :timeout:
Yes, but why quoting me for your article? Gooligan, Mirai and Avalanche are three different stories. Do I miss something here?

Last thing I read abut Mirai some days ago is that it still spreads with a rate of several thousand platforms per day.

[Onkel Neal]

Yes, but why quoting me for your article? Gooligan, Mirai and Avalanche are three different stories. Do I miss something here?

Last thing I read abut Mirai some days ago is that it still spreads with a rate of several thousand platforms per day.

I was quoting you because the story I found seemed to be similar to the info you were speaking about, that's all.

Also interesting, only in german (yet):

"I only showed the bomb exists".

https://www.dasmagazin.ch/2016/12/03/ich-habe-nur-gezeigt-dass-es-die-bombe-gibt/

About a company "Cambridge Analytics", and how it is able to influence elections, from "Brexit" to "Trump". It seems to have failed Cruz, but this is scary stuff.

Yes i know no one wants to hear about that :03:


By the end of 2014, Cambridge Analytica had entered the US campaign, initially as a consultant to the Republican Ted Cruz, financed by the secret US software billionaire Robert Mercer. :O:

[Skybird]

I was quoting you because the story I found seemed to be similar to the info you were speaking about, that's all.




:O:
I see. Yes, I mentioned Mirai before. Just not in that one quote. :)

Have been affected by Mirai myself, too, so were my parents. Its a router attack, and the effected routers in fact defeated the attack - at the cost of beign attacked again and again and not bein able to log into the web for that reason. Thats why these routers bogged down. Malfunctioning - as a sign of victory: you always learn something new every day, week...

Many routers not showing any symptoms, may need to worry... :o If it works, it may be infested, if it works not, it may show by that to not be infested - can it get any queerer?

[Oberon]

Mirai has had a play around over here too, it's an impressive beastie alright.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-38167453

Of course, the term 'Mirai' is actually Japanese...it means 'the future'.

[Skybird]

There are many forms of digital blackmail.

According to German newspapers, Chinese newspaper GlobalTimes published a story about 167 Chinese women being compromised who used one of the 2400 Chinese websites where you can ask for a credit and financial lending deals, and had to file in nude photos of themselves, with ID paper in their hand, these photos the creditors would give to family, employer and friends if the debtors would not pay back the money. On such platforms, Der Spiegel reports, interest rates of up to 30% per week are being asked for. The yearly total revenue is estimated to be beyond 140 billion dollar. :o

A file of 10 GB with photos and videos of 167 young naked Chinese female debtors has been stolen and leaked and now is floating around the web.

Maybe nothing too worrysome for Westsern facebook fans. For a woman in China, embedded in Chinese cultural context and climate - a disaster.

It seems the negatives of the internet era are only learned by many people through the harsh and painful lessons.

[Jimbuna]

^ You'll never recognise me in that wig and wearing all that lipstick and makeup :smug:

[Catfish]

^ :har: :up: