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Israel Hacked Kaspersky, Then Tipped NSA Its Tools Had Been Breached

washingtonpost.com

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Re: Israel Hacked Kaspersky, Then Tipped NSA Its Tools Had Been Breached

#231

Post by willstrafach »

pgeorgi wrote: post #179
myegorov wrote: post #50

Why would anyone unaffiliated with NSA be alarmed that its tools had been breached? What legitimacy does it have at this point? Serious question.

The NSA is angry that their toys were lost because of their incompetence of using a tool that was just doing its job (to find malware) on a system that also hosted their secret toys. They're even more angry that they didn't notice themselves so their buddies from Israel had to tell them. _That_ must have burned. Since the cover-up among relevant folks failed, and since Russia is slowly elevated to "not really friendl…

> The NSA is angry that their toys were lost because of their incompetence of using a tool that was just doing its job

That is not true at all. The software was run on an employee’s home computer, who had illegally brought classified content home.

Re: Israel Hacked Kaspersky, Then Tipped NSA Its Tools Had Been Breached

#232

Post by jgmmo »

jwilk wrote: post #166
erdojo wrote: post #138

This is what I read between the lines: An NSA spook was working on his home laptop and playing around with some special NSA malware. Kaspersky AV detected it - AS IT SHOULD - based on heuristic or behavior-based technology that just about every modern AV has. The data was sent back to Kaspersky servers. This is also how everyone else does it, because this is how A/V companies create signatures that are pushed out to…

Wait, does it really send (suspected) malware home, without asking the user?

Yes. All antiviruses do this. It's one of the major streams of malware samples, and for the company I use to work for -- the most important source -- because those are authenticated as being on real customers machines!

Re: Israel Hacked Kaspersky, Then Tipped NSA Its Tools Had Been Breached

#234

Post by jdiaz5513 »

apexalpha wrote: post #139

Our company uses the enterprise version of Kaspersky. But if we drop this over surveillance issues then it would be a pretty hypocritical to switch to AV software from the USA. Since they are proven to do the exact thing that Kaspersky is now suspected / blamed of doing. So, fellow Europeans, what now? Avast? Any other options? EDIT: Ok so I found a pretty useful Wiki list[1] with European made AV products. I haven't…

This is purely anecdotal, but back when I was doing a lot of Windows sysadmin work (and when viruses were rampant) I wound up tearing through a lot of AV vendors in short order.

Only a handful survived my tests, and now I see them all listed here as European AV vendors. Interesting.

Symantec, by the way, was by far the worst. It got to the point where I would immediately uninstall their products on sight. My favorite was when one of their automatic updates started causing boot failures. That sure kept me busy!

Re: Israel Hacked Kaspersky, Then Tipped NSA Its Tools Had Been Breached

#235

Post by zby »

apexalpha wrote: post #139

Our company uses the enterprise version of Kaspersky. But if we drop this over surveillance issues then it would be a pretty hypocritical to switch to AV software from the USA. Since they are proven to do the exact thing that Kaspersky is now suspected / blamed of doing. So, fellow Europeans, what now? Avast? Any other options? EDIT: Ok so I found a pretty useful Wiki list[1] with European made AV products. I haven't…

Yeah - I agree EU software is the safest option: https://medium.com/@zby/the-safest-option-is-eu-software-abc...

Re: Israel Hacked Kaspersky, Then Tipped NSA Its Tools Had Been Breached

#236

Post by SEJeff »

andreif wrote: post #180
thewhitetulip wrote: post #175

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why would a hacker not use Mac or Linux for sensitive stuff?

Why would a NSA guy use Russian security software?

Because he's a RIS mole pretending to be incompetent.

Re: Israel Hacked Kaspersky, Then Tipped NSA Its Tools Had Been Breached

#237

Post by peterwwillis »

thewhitetulip wrote: post #176
apexalpha wrote: post #139

Our company uses the enterprise version of Kaspersky. But if we drop this over surveillance issues then it would be a pretty hypocritical to switch to AV software from the USA. Since they are proven to do the exact thing that Kaspersky is now suspected / blamed of doing. So, fellow Europeans, what now? Avast? Any other options? EDIT: Ok so I found a pretty useful Wiki list[1] with European made AV products. I haven't…

Use Linux :) there is no other option

Linux is secure in the sense that nobody can use it.

Re: Israel Hacked Kaspersky, Then Tipped NSA Its Tools Had Been Breached

#238

Post by SEJeff »

badminton1 wrote: post #213
thewhitetulip wrote: post #176

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Use Linux :) there is no other option

Many open source projects are infiltrated. You may use Linux but if you run on x86 you are already owned.

Not via Linux, but via the IME that Intel puts on every CPU with full access to all memory and the network cards.

Re: Israel Hacked Kaspersky, Then Tipped NSA Its Tools Had Been Breached

#239

Post by 13of40 »

thewhitetulip wrote: post #175
morsch wrote: post #165

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There is no single source for the article. It refers to a "person familiar with the case" when they explain how an NSA guy exposed his malware to Kaspersky. It refers to different sources which discuss how any malware might have made its way from Kaspersky to the NSA -- unnamed "information security analysts" (they think the KGB hacked Kaspersky), "other experts" (they say the Russian's version of PRISM picked it up)…

Why would a hacker not use Mac or Linux for sensitive stuff?

I assume if you voluntarily give Kaspersky root access to your laptop, they don't care whether it's Windows, Mac, or Linux.

Re: Israel Hacked Kaspersky, Then Tipped NSA Its Tools Had Been Breached

#240

Post by kevinmchugh »

jmkni wrote: post #164
koolba wrote: post #56

Earlier quoted context omitted.

He also ran for POTUS as a Libertarian.

He was born in Scotland so that was never going to work, lol

Born on an Army base to an American father. John McCain was born under similar circumstances, Ted Cruz and George Romney were both born abroad and neither was seriously considered disqualified. The only difference between McCain and McAfee afaict is both McCain's parents were US citizens at the time of his birth. That may be relevant, that part of the law can change, but simply being born oversees doesn't stop a person from being a "natural-born citizen".
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