The FBI Has a Trojan To Watch You 372
G_of_the_J writes "A man who had cut 18 cables affecting Verizon and Comcast was blackmailing them. He had demanded bank accounts be set up and information be provided on web sites that he specified. Although he used anonymous access to get to the web sites, the FBI had planted a trojan which was downloaded to his computer. The trojan then sent his IP address and other information to the FBI."
Magic Lantern (Score:2, Interesting)
Is this Magic Lantern, or something new?
Re:Just another... (Score:5, Interesting)
... reason to not use Microsoft products.
What makes you think they don't have a variant for Linux? User stupidity (i.e: bad/no security) isn't unique to Windows. Off the top of my head, if they are relying on the web as an infection vector combined with user stupidity, why not write it into a Firefox extension?
Yeah, it wouldn't get your typical /. geek, but most criminals aren't known for their foresight or intelligence. "Oh, the private website with the bank account information needs me to install this software! Ok, what could possibly go wrong?"
Re:CIPAV (Score:1, Interesting)
How many more agencies have software like this?
Anyone have any info on how to detect/remove software like this?
Re:So We can Assume... (Score:3, Interesting)
No, for the same reason you do not have a right to keep and bear nuclear devices or chemical and/or biological weapons.
They could do it without a trojan... (Score:5, Interesting)
They could do it without a trojan, if they had the right signing key. I forget which worm it was, but a few years back there was a major vulnerability that Microsoft patched, which triggered the automatic reboot. The issue was the patch went ahead and updated the machine even if you had the system set to "download, but notify" rather than automagically patch. Similar deal here [zdnet.com] where an update did something it should not have.
Were I the FBI, I'd make Microsoft 'digitally sign' such a beasty, and then send it via an unannounced update.
Always helps to have stupid criminals, however.
Re:CIPAV (Score:1, Interesting)
Re:no wonder he was unemployed.... (Score:5, Interesting)
Exactly. It amazes me the number of buffoons that get caught by the FBI's lame attempt at tracking with their software.
you have to be a wannabe ankle-biter to download and run anything you don't know exactly what it is.
Re:no wonder he was unemployed.... (Score:5, Interesting)
It doesn't have to be that stupid. My PC is constantly asking me to auto-update components from:
If the FBI has cooperation from any one of these organizations, it would be trivial to get someone to slip a piece of data into an auto-update for a specific customer.
Re:All future cable cutters ... (Score:2, Interesting)
or you could just submit a Ask Slashdot and get all the answers to your future crime.
Re:CIPAV (Score:3, Interesting)
How many more agencies have software like this?
Anyone have any info on how to detect/remove software like this?
I doubt you will get an accurate count. The more successful it is and the longer it remains out of the hands of researchers will determine how many actually adopt its use.
Detecting it with a scanner will be problematic as it is not something that would be released widely like "traditional" commercial/criminal Spyware. Targeted distribution over short periods of time makes discovery and analysis even harder.
The first peice of advice here would be to strongly recommend avoiding activities that put you at risk of being targeted by Law Enforcement... For those that may fall on the more paranoid side of the discussion however, imaging and boot-to-restore solutions may offer a means to ensure that your computer is clean. They will not detect or block the program from working, but they can help with the cleanup. Whether restoring an image every time you start your computer makes any practical sense is entirely up to you...
JMHO
Re:CIPAV (Score:3, Interesting)
Re:Duh? (Score:5, Interesting)
here are some facts...
1 - criminals are typically dumb as hell.
2 - smart criminals are still dumb.
3 - it is incredibly RARE to have a very smart criminal, when you find one and they do a lot of criminal acts and get away with it, they get cocky and then become a dumb criminal. Example? Kevin Mitnick. he got cocky, then did some really REALLY dumb things to get caught.
Real professional computer criminals DO exist. and you will never hear about them because they dont get caught. Computer Crime forensics pros are not as good as they all want you to think they are, they may be WIZZES at computers but they are not Wizzes at encryption, obfuscation and stenography, let alone secret squirrel stuff. It is really easy for a 13 year old punk to get and use the same technology that the biggest nations are using for their spies. If a kid is talented enough and has enough self control he can easily elude the entire FBI and NSA together online. it's not technically or technologically hard, it's simply being able to NEVER EVER get sloppy. because the second you get sloppy, you're nailed. The longer you go the harder it is not to get sloppy or accidentally give them a pattern. to the FBI, it's a matter of time... you will screw up, they will get you.
FBI ? come on, don't mock us (Score:4, Interesting)
Is it just me, or does it seem rather contrived that the FBI would (successfully) use a trojan to catch a criminal who is at least someone technically proficient ? Presumably the con would be surfing through a proxy at the very least, and is probably not the kind of user who runs unsolicited downloads from public web sites.
Call me crazy, but I'd say this smells like a piece of theatre. Now I'm not saying the FBI hired the con, but sometimes I wonder... In an increasingly complex tech world, maybe they feel the need to put on a show, to make people believe the FBI still has things under control.
Hmm... Magic Lantern... (Score:1, Interesting)
Warning... Tinfoil hat alert...
The front page of Slashdot was an interesting read for me today... We see here the top story is about "Magic Lantern," and just two stories down one about the potential of "Adobe Flash TV's." Coincidence? :-O
Maybe, and I'm speculating, there is a dual meaning to Adobe's "Flash" product?
The news about this seems to indicate that it the exploit works with any OS. So, the mechanism of infection must be must be common...
Flash is closed-source and almost ubiquitous -- it runs on Linux, Mac, BSD and Windows. It also has a track record of being vulnerable, but... it's also owned by a US company... What if the US government were to offer a contract to Adobe -- or, perhaps (post 911) an offer that they couldn't refuse?
Re:CIPAV (Score:3, Interesting)
Re:CIPAV (Score:3, Interesting)
Don't forget the war on poverty....
That was my favorite. Especially the part where it ended quickly, as poor people all over the US started asking where they could go to surrender.
Now if we could figure out an equally clever response to all the other bogus "wars" on abstract concepts.