At least they didn’t say that women belong in the kitchen
Child tweets gibberish from US nuclear-agency account
181–190 of 220 posts
Re: Child tweets gibberish from US nuclear-agency account
#182The responsible agency is rightfully embarrassed by this oversight, and has now taken stringent measures to ensure something like this never happens again - Henceforth, all tweets can only ever be sent from a remote-desktop server that has to be hosted in a security-clearance-5 site - In order to access the remote-desktop, 2 government employees, who both have 10+ years of government experience, will need to jointly…
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Re: Child tweets gibberish from US nuclear-agency account
#183Earlier quoted context omitted.
What if the child were a little older and typed something related to launching missiles as a joke?
Seriously, they could fake being sick by holding the thermometer against a lightbulb when their mom isn’t looking and after being left home alone for the day dial into that modem connected to the WOPR to play that global thermonuclear war game.
Ha! Nice reference. Well, if they get a nice gf looking like Ally Sheedy then it's all for the greater good
Re: Child tweets gibberish from US nuclear-agency account
#184I don't see how this is as big a deal as people make it out to be. The person in charge of this account probably has nothing to do with anything that remotely matters. You wouldn't worry about your 401k if the asset manager's twitter account posted some gibberish.
Agree.
The account is almost certainly manned by an employee that works in public relations and not making any operational decisions within the agency.
Furthermore, OPM still has all federal employees on “maximum telework”.
With most daycare centers inside the beltway closed or restricted due to COVID-19, maybe we should find a little humanity in this situation. That a public servant is trying to do their job in extraordinarily out-of-the ordinary circumstances, and that this parent’s small child pounded out a few characters on their phone while they were dealing with any of a million things that involves trying to work from home and be a good parent. Something, I think, many people around the world can relate to right now. This government For the People, is absolutely made up By the People; and have real issues, just like everyone does these days.
Also, regardless of what some one-term Presidents have done in the past, Twitter should not be taken so seriously.
Re: Child tweets gibberish from US nuclear-agency account
#185Earlier quoted context omitted.
IIRC, the trick is practical jokes! Change desktop backgrounds, move icons around, leave goofy/giant text Word documents, etc.
Uh, back in high school a schoolmate found a huuge genitalia as desktop background on their laptop since they left it unattended and unlocked. I can tell you, that person never left that thing unlocked ever again.
I did the same cca. 2001 to a fellow female coworker. She had a big Excel document that day and was under pressure to finish it from her boss (well, our boss). She went to toilet and that's all it took me to set it, then maximize back her Excel document. She unaware worked for next hour and then when she finished she called the boss, which was across the room on his desktop, to verify it. The fun part came when I asked for something from her desktop and she had to minimize Excel. She went red in the face and the entire office burst in laughter for next 5 minutes, the boss included. After that day she learned WIN+L.
Re: Child tweets gibberish from US nuclear-agency account
#186http://catb.org/jargon/html/M/molly-guard.html
Cool! Back in the early 00's, there was a Linux kernel module or program to detect and eliminate feline keyboard input.
If only it worked on Linux. It's Windows-only: http://bitboost.com/pawsense/.
This software is the only winner so far of an Ig Noble prize in the category of Computer Science: https://www.improbable.com/ig-about/winners/#ig2000. See https://priceonomics.com/the-software-that-detects-when-a-ca... for a write-up.
Apparently this is still maintained, as it is described as compatible with Windows 2000, XP, Vista, 7, 8, and 10 (excepting "Metro/Modern" mode). Written by this charming coder: http://chrisniswander.com/.
[edited for grammar -- and should note that, of course Linux and ilk OS do offer a "cat" command]
Re: Child tweets gibberish from US nuclear-agency account
#187http://catb.org/jargon/html/M/molly-guard.html
Cool! Back in the early 00's, there was a Linux kernel module or program to detect and eliminate feline keyboard input.
This one? http://www.bitboost.com/pawsense/ (I remember it for having won the Ig Nobel Prize in Computer Science.)
Re: Child tweets gibberish from US nuclear-agency account
#188The responsible agency is rightfully embarrassed by this oversight, and has now taken stringent measures to ensure something like this never happens again - Henceforth, all tweets can only ever be sent from a remote-desktop server that has to be hosted in a security-clearance-5 site - In order to access the remote-desktop, 2 government employees, who both have 10+ years of government experience, will need to jointly…
Reminds me of Reed Hastings quote about what he learned running his software company before Netflix: if your company insists on always adding policies to fix yesterday’s issues, tomorrow you will only have employees who enjoy to following and creating policies (quote not verbatim).
Also, I took your comment to be satire, but it’s hard to tell that from truth these days.
Re: Child tweets gibberish from US nuclear-agency account
#189I don't see how this is as big a deal as people make it out to be. The person in charge of this account probably has nothing to do with anything that remotely matters. You wouldn't worry about your 401k if the asset manager's twitter account posted some gibberish.
I do some work for gov website that is more or less a PR blog. Although you can't do anything to the systems that this agency deals with via the back end to this website, the scope of abuses that someone could engage in if they had these credentials is quite broad, ranging from "Agency XYZ endorses PQR" to "Agency XYZ will begin action against LMN". Or, if you can't see the implications of that ability, consider that…
I think most people underestimate cybersecurity claiming they don’t have much to “steal”.
I think these same people failed to learn the lessons of the 9/11 commission or have horse blinders on so they only apply those learnings to air travel or military contexts.
Think you aren’t worth anyone’s time to hack? Assume hacks are 100% automated — they aren’t targeting you, but if you are vulnerable they won’t do anything to avoid you.
Think you aren’t the biggest target? Assume it costs no more to hack the marginal device / server / Twitter account than it costs to send a single email. Assume the person running this hack is being paid a low wage in the poorest country - your coffee money is a decent day’s wages for them.
Think you have no assets to lose? Assume they can force you deep in debt to the extent that some greedy financial company will offer them a large loan in your name.
Re: Child tweets gibberish from US nuclear-agency account
#190Earlier quoted context omitted.
Is it standard practice to tweet about it when launching a nuclear attack?
I think you’re drastically underestimating how many people would assume it was true
As Reagan almost broadcast, "My fellow Americans, I'm pleased to tell you today that I've signed legislation that will outlaw Russia forever. We begin bombing in five minutes."