back to article Matryoshki of news: Tech giants flash code to Russia, Dutch hack Kremlin spies, and more

Technology companies can't decide whether to take Russian money or run from it – not that they've ever been much good at turning down cash. McAfee, SAP, and Symantec, which make software used by the US government, allowed Russian authorities to scan their source code for backdoors and other flaws, according to Reuters on …

  1. Voland's right hand Silver badge

    AIVD [became] witness to the Russian hackers harassing and penetrating the leaders of the Democratic Party,

    Yuck... This is an image I will have to bleach from my cerebral cortex.

    This is an overstatement as they hacked the cameras OUTSIDE the building. Still - a reminder for all of us about the dangers of IOT. Very good hack if you can pull it off too.

    1. John McCallum
      Mushroom

      POTUS

      I wonder how our pet Republicans will react to that hmm how will I put it >>>>>>

  2. disgruntled yank

    Really!

    "This is, don't forget, the same Russian government that [etc.]"

    So my memories of Nicholas II authorizing the release of Clinton emails to Wikileaks were created by fake news?

  3. Jim Mitchell

    After checking the code for backdoors, etc, how do the governments guarantee the binaries that they actually use is the same code?

  4. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Facebook/antivirus

    Interestingly, Facebook forces users to submit to having their computers scanned by ESET:

    https://community.norton.com/en/forums/i-have-been-blocked-logging-facebook-it-claims-i-have-malware-and-must-add-eset-program-scan

    ESET also now happens to be part of Googles Chrome browwser "cleanup":

    https://www.theregister.co.uk/2017/10/16/chrome_for_windows_malware/

    Also, many developers use the Facebook Graph API to post comments to Facebook as the actual user using the users Facebook access tokens:

    (1) “****** Antivirus just saved my computer from infection! Try it now. It’s free.”

    (2) “My ****** Antivirus just updated, with powerful new security features. Download it for FREE. You’ll love it.”

    (3) “I just installed ****** Antivirus for free. I really like it. If you want the best protection, download ****** like I did.”

    How easy would it be for a developer to abuse the Graph API to post comments that could be determined to be hateful or divisive?

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: Facebook/antivirus

      That turns out not to be a problem for those of us who don't use Facebook.

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