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NBC Story about Hacking at Sochi is 100% Fraudulent

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Re: NBC Story about Hacking at Sochi is 100% Fraudulent

#31

You can see huffingtonpost and drugereport post completely opposite, manipulative, news as far as American politics go. However, when it comes to international news, stories on both align perfectly, there is never a story that's off of the USA-party line. Russia bad! Putin bad! Olympics bad! I haven't seen a single positive thing, and I very much doubt there isn't a single positive to report. I read plenty in Russian…

It's funny to watch the Olympic coverage in Canada because it has been a steady stream of Russia bashing including lots of innuendo about corruption in building Olympic facilities and how they are not ready in time and how it is dangerous for gays (even though they visited one of the 3 gay clubs in Sochi" Of course all that was the senior journalists who have been bought by the establishment. People like Peter Mandsb…

That's interesting, I haven't seen the later comments in US media so far. What I have noticed over time, though, is same kind monotonous, pointed, news buzz builds up for every other geopolitical event. Iraq, Iraq, Iraq. Iran, Iran, Iran. Libya Libya Libya. Syria Syria Syria. It's like an extremely well oiled machine. I really wonder how this works on the inside, with all these regular people journalists, some of which I actually know, who I can't imagine to be part of some conspiracy. I don't think very many people actually consciously realize what's happening, but somehow it is. It is probably the 'establishment', cynical elite, that doesn't care for ethics, but for (geo)politic advantage for the party, or country.

Re: NBC Story about Hacking at Sochi is 100% Fraudulent

#32
post #7

What does he think he's doing with that MacBook box! @ 1m10s

That was very strange. I was thinking, "Really? Has this guy never opened a box before?"

What was interesting was I repeated this story and later found this site and others and started looking back at what was said and no feel bad that I was "hacked" by the news guy in believing something that wasn't true. I wonder if their hotel story is just as bogus. I had forgotten briefly that you can never trust your news organizations when you live in an authoritarian state :-(

Re: NBC Story about Hacking at Sochi is 100% Fraudulent

#33

The longer version of the report shows more details: http://www.nbcnews.com/watch/nbc-news-web-extra/honeypot-tes... On the phone they went to a website and ignored warnings in order to download and execute a malicious APK. On the PC they followed a link in a scammy looking phishing email to download and open a malicious Office document. On the Mac they visited a website that had an ad suggesting that they needed an…

But wait we can still stay on the #Sochiproblems bandwagon right?!

Re: NBC Story about Hacking at Sochi is 100% Fraudulent

#34

So many of the news stories about Russia recently have been fraudulent. Like the uproar about the child protection law that is called an "anti-gay" law, but nobody has found any evidence of the law being enforced. How many silly laws get passed in the USA that never get enforced? That's what democracy is all about. There is no wise all-knowing king who can rule by proclamation; instead we muddle through with a crowd…

Journalists are now bought and paid for by rich patrons.

That's one way of looking at it. Another way is that activists use it as an instrument of storytelling their agenda. It's even worse when it masquerades as 'quality' journalism, dressed up in broadsheet (or more to the point, Berliner format) and verbiage.

I feel that there is just too much of the wrong motivation behind 'journalism'.

Re: NBC Story about Hacking at Sochi is 100% Fraudulent

#35

The longer version of the report shows more details: http://www.nbcnews.com/watch/nbc-news-web-extra/honeypot-tes... On the phone they went to a website and ignored warnings in order to download and execute a malicious APK. On the PC they followed a link in a scammy looking phishing email to download and open a malicious Office document. On the Mac they visited a website that had an ad suggesting that they needed an…

A bit offtopic but the recent "Russian anti-gay law" media coverage is as credible as this hacking story: http://www.blacklistednews.com/The_Olympics_of_Hate_in_a_Nat...

Re: NBC Story about Hacking at Sochi is 100% Fraudulent

#36
post #11

At 2:37 in the video, the "special software" that allegedly showed that the computers had been hacked is a tcpdump revealing nothing but pings and DNS PTR queries.

To Google. And the DNS traffic is most likely from the ping or tcpdump itself.

But actually, one of his closing remarks is unintentionally helpful: "The best way to protect yourself ... if you don't really need a device, don't bring it" [lest it get stolen by US customs as you're returning home].

Re: NBC Story about Hacking at Sochi is 100% Fraudulent

#37
The story wasn't 100% fraudulent:

"Personal Privacy Note: Travelers should be aware that Russian Federal law permits the monitoring, retention and analysis of all data that traverses Russian communication networks, including internet browsing, e-mail messages, telephone calls, and fax transmissions." [1]

"Additionally, cyber criminals may use the games as a lure in spam, phishing or drive-by-download campaigns to gain personally identifiable information or harvest credentials for financial gain. Lastly, those physically attending the games should be cognizant that their communications will likely be monitored." [2]

Basically, while at Sochi, you will have very little digital privacy and if you visit Olympic game related websites, they may attempt to (broadly speaking) "hack" your computer.

[1] http://travel.state.gov/content/passports/english/go/Sochi.h...

[2] https://www.us-cert.gov/ncas/tips/ST14-001

Re: NBC Story about Hacking at Sochi is 100% Fraudulent

#39

Can we please get back to discussing how Russia is abusing the US yogurt company Chobani by not letting its yogurt cups into the country. This is all over the news wire, every outlet is reporting on it, the Obama administration has intervened, and it needs to be on top page of HN like now. http://www.nytimes.com/2014/02/06/nyregion/russia-blocking-a... (*sarcasm) Is there any story about Russia right now that's not a…

The U.S. blocks the spontaneous import of goods which haven't been certified for the U.S. market all the time, yet when russia applies the same criteria, they're somehow differently evil and/or unsporting?

Sounds like freedom hating.

Re: NBC Story about Hacking at Sochi is 100% Fraudulent

#40
post #11

At 2:37 in the video, the "special software" that allegedly showed that the computers had been hacked is a tcpdump revealing nothing but pings and DNS PTR queries.

This is like a 60 Minutes report on "hacking" where a guy from Symantec ran Windows Task Manager for a credulous Leslie Stahl and postured about how all that activity could be viruses.

Reminds me of VB GUI IP tracking[1] and double keyboarding[2].

[1]: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hkDD03yeLnU

[2]: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u8qgehH3kEQ

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