* Posts by onebignerd

58 publicly visible posts • joined 7 Sep 2017

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ESET rushes to defend rival Malwarebytes in legal war sparked by vendor upset at 'unwanted program' labeling

onebignerd

Malwarebytes gives a PUP to the command prompt being disabled in gpedit. Granted, it is a tactic used for hacking and infection.

Linux-loving Windows 10 May 2020 Update squeaks in with days to spare before June

onebignerd

Good riddance Cortana, don't let the door hit you in the most significant bit!!

cmd.exe is dead, long live PowerShell: Microsoft leads aged command-line interpreter out into 'maintenance mode'

onebignerd

So why is Microsoft developing the Terminal app? PowerShell is a giant backdoor security nightmare, that is overly complicated. Pushing people to PowerShell but it too is obsolete because Microsoft is too busy bloating Windows 10 with unneeded bells and whistles.

IBM's sacking spree reaches Australia – and as staff wait to exit, they're offered AU$4k to find new workers

onebignerd

Wanting people to beg for their jobs, just for the amusement of management. IBM obviously isn't hurting if they can cough up 45K for referrals. What kind of provisos is this offer riddled with? Probably after 6 months to a year of employment, then they'll find a reason not to pay out.

US-CERT lists the 10 most-exploited security bugs and, yeah, it's mostly Microsoft holes people forgot to patch

onebignerd

Not on the list but, WannaCry is still out there causing problems.

Remember Tapplock, the 'unbreakable' smart lock that was allergic to screwdrivers? The FTC just slapped it down for 'deceiving' folks

onebignerd

The hubris of man will not die.

COBOL-coding volunteers sought as slammed mainframes slow New Jersey's coronavirus response

onebignerd

The federal government has the same problem, they pay big money for Cobol programmers because they have alot of systems that depend on it. They did recently upgrade their oldest computer system which was about the same age as NJ's. But it isn't enough to get them out of the jam of ancient systems. They struggle to patch or update the newer systems/PCs they do have, which stretches back to the Regan Administration. The FBI was running ancient PCs even after 9/11 that were unable to use a mouse or run any modern software, still running an old mainframe using multiple databases that could not be synced. Only because their previous director was tech-phobic.

For the past five years, every FBI secret spy court request to snoop on Americans has sucked, says watchdog

onebignerd

This should be clear evidence and cause for Congress to repeal the spying laws of the Patriot Act, radical overhaul of the FISA courts and withdraw the Presidential Orders related to spying that the NSA claims gives them that ability , which by their own admission have not worked. This is also a clear example of why no branch of law enforcement or government should have backdoor access to the encrypted data of U.S citizens. Congress has zero ability too or effectiveness in exercising any kind of oversight.

But then most likely Congress will renew it without much of a debate or fight. The FISA court and the FBI will continue on to abuse the rights of U.S citizens in blatant violation of the laws they are supposed to uphold.

Firefox now defaults to DNS-over-HTTPS for US netizens and some are dischuffed about this

onebignerd

Re: Good and bad

Ah, yes you can.

Famous and respected writers have been starting sentences "but" and "and" for hundreds of years. There are limits on use and hazards in over use, but there is no hard rule. It depends on style.

After blowing $100m to snoop on Americans' phone call logs for four years, what did the NSA get? Just one lead

onebignerd

Scam, Scam, Scam!!!

FYI: FBI raiding NSA's global wiretap database to probe US peeps is probably illegal, unconstitutional, court says

onebignerd

There was an article recently that the NSA told Congress that the dragnet surveillance was ineffective and unused, but they wanted permanent renewal of section 702. Of course with the NSA's torture of the English language who knows what that really means. They told Congress that the data was not collected until an annalist actually looks at it. Nothing will change at the FBI or with any law enforcement agency, with the fusion centers nation wide they still have access.

Want to live long and prosper? Avoid pirated, malware-laden Star Wars free vid streams – and pay to watch instead

onebignerd

Have zero interest in seeing the new Star Wars movies. Pretty sure Spock is not in them.

Americans should have strong privacy-protecting encryption ...that the Feds and cops can break, say senators

onebignerd

Law enforcement has the ability to read encrypted information, called probable cause and a search warrant. The FBI is abusing and pillaging the FISA database, so I see no need to entrust them with more power to abuse. Rather comical that they site a case where they paid tens of thousands to unlock a phone that gave them zilch. An unconvincing argument.

Allowlist, not whitelist. Blocklist, not blacklist. Goodbye, wtf. Microsoft scans Chromium code, lops off offensive words

onebignerd

Pathetic! I think the late Joan Rivers said it best; "Oh, grow up!"

Equifax is going to make you work for that 125 bucks it owes each of you: Biz sneaks out Friday night rule change

onebignerd

Why am I not surprised? The company entrusted with people's financial and personal information allows hackers in due to lazy software patching and poor system security. But no responsibility, no accountability and absolutely no compensation. Translation: We don't give a *!$@%!!!!

NSA asks Congress to permanently reauthorize spying program that was so shambolic, the snoops had shut it down

onebignerd

They claim it's a shambolic mess but want to keep it. Obviously they have found a way to use it that is more covert, probably never stopped using it. Congress will probably rubber stamp it through again.

Years late to the SMB1-killing party, Samba finally dumps the unsafe file-sharing protocol version by default

onebignerd

Re: Now we wait...

Not too long ago, SMBv1 has only been turned off by default since build 1709 of Windows 10, only a year and a half. Microsoft only deprecated SMBv1 in 2014, then took three more years to turn it off.

NASA's JPL may be able to reprogram a probe at the arse end of the solar system, but its security practices are a bit crap

onebignerd

Hardly surprising, the Federal Government has never been able to keep their systems updated or secured. A report through Homeland Security released about Homeland Security, Dept of Education, Dept of Agriculture, Dept of Housing...and others shows the same problems with some systems that are 20 - 35 years old. https://www.hsdl.org/c/substandard-federal-cybersecurity-puts-america-at-risk/

Going dark from encryption? No from obsolete IT equipment, some still running programs written in COBOL which is hard to find programmers for.

US govt now says 21.5 million people exposed by OPM hack – here's what you need to know

onebignerd

Re: "We should be improving cybersecurity"

Don't get your hopes up, this has been going on since '83 after Pres Reagan saw War Games and asked if that was a reality. Billions of dollars, endless presidential directives and orders, panels and studies and still many systems are 20 - 35+ year old legacy systems running programs years out of support, alot written in Cobol which they spend millions finding people to support. Read the big report just published by Homeland Security and/or read Dark Territory by Fred Kaplan to see the sad shape cyber security has always been in the Government.

Self-taught Belgian bloke cracks crypto conundrum that was supposed to be uncrackable until 2034

onebignerd

Human arrogance

Time to stop with the terms unhackable, unsinkable, impenetrable, hack/hacker proof...etc. Even using the term secure is dubious.

Who pwns the watchmen? Maybe Russians selling the source code for three US antivirus vendors

onebignerd

People

People will always be the weakest link in securing PCs or network. The systems at Iran's secret nuclear facility hit with Stuxnet was air gaped.

The NSA cracked most of the AV suites to spy with soon after 9/11, Kaspersky was the only one they couldn't as of the Snowden leaks.

Hurrah for Apollo 9: It has been 50 years since 'nauts first took a Lunar Module out for a spin

onebignerd

Horray we've wasted 50 years not going back to continue studying the moon and living in space. Hardly something to celebrate!

Liz Warren: I'll smash up Amazon, Google, and Facebook – if you elect me to the White House

onebignerd

Why don't we enact some tough privacy and data storage laws (Equifax), better anti-trust laws for banks, insurance and stock/bonds? They broke up MaBell but they are allowing Sprint, Verizon and AT&T to slowly become the same monopoly. Same with oil, natural gas, electricity, media, Government contractors...etc. Facebook will eventually cause it's own self destruction.

Not to mention Government institutions; Postal Service, Social Security, Medicare/Medicaid, Veterans Adimin, Education....etc. It's more complex than just online, retail and social media.

Ever yearn for the Windows 95 shutdown sound? TADA! There's an Electron app for that

onebignerd

Always found the start up sound annoying. Same with all the GUI interface noises available. Disabled!!

Here are another 45,000 reasons to patch Windows systems against old NSA exploits

onebignerd

I'm baffled that people are still using unpatched SMBv1 or even SMBv1 at all, letting WannaCry continue to cause havoc. I found UPnP enabled after reading these articles.

GCHQ pushes for 'virtual crocodile clips' on chat apps – the ability to silently slip into private encrypted comms

onebignerd

If the Governments will use the same encryption algorithms for state secrets that they back door to survial the public and which is verifiable to oversight and to the people, I will support it. With all their insistence that it is safe, lets see them step up.

Have to use SMB 1.0? Windows 10 April 2018 Update says NO

onebignerd

Re: Fix it, don't disable it

Lazy? They released a patch for SMBv1 after WannaCry 2007 and there are newer versions of the protocol. SMBv1 (1990) is 28 years old, Microsoft can't support a protocol developed originally for DOS, O/S2 and later for Windows 3.1 (1992) forever.

onebignerd

Not sad to see SMBv1 gone, don't let the port hit you in the most significant bit on the way out! Should have been put to death 20 years ago.

Personally have it all turned off, SMB, File Sharing, Microsoft Networks, IPV6 and it's Tunneling.

Bruce Schneier: You want real IoT security? Have Uncle Sam start putting boots to asses

onebignerd

IoT should be cremated, it's ashes entombed in concrete and buried in a deep hole. WannaCry is still causing problems because people and businesses will not apply a simple patch or upgrade their systems. We certainly don't need fridges, thermostats, toys, toasters, lights...etc connected to the Internet unpatched.

Facebook's CEO on his latest almighty Zuck-up: OK, we did try to smear critics, but I was too out-of-the-loop to know

onebignerd

Clueless

Zuckerberg just collects a paycheck, cause he doesn't seem to know about anything going on in that company. His promises are wearing very thin!!!

Citation needed: Europe claims Kaspersky wares 'confirmed as malicious'

onebignerd

Re: Ahh the ignorance.

The U.S has become the same operation, with the secret national security letters and the black bag NSA, FBI and CIA hacking and heavy handed tactics against companies and persons since 9/11. The Patriot Act allows a judge to sign a warrant to spy on the computer/Internet activity of hundreds or millions of people nation wide based on a suspicion w/o proof against any one person. The push to back door encryption has little to do with crime solving. Do you realize that even using encryption puts you on the NSA watch list permanently?

The NSA has hacked and backdoored into equipment, routers, switches and PCs that make up U.S critical infrastructure. The same infrastructure that can be hacked by nation states or a high school kid that discovers these backdoors. The FBI and CIA are building their own massive databases, consolidating data from the NSA, license plate readers, facial recognition, finger prints, dna, drivers licenses, consumer databases...etc. Yet in the same breath they claim to value the rights and freedoms the Constitution provides. Suspension of habeas corpus since 9/11 and now permanent law in the Patriot Act, which endangers law abiding citizens. Read what China in doing in this article and compare to where the U.S is heading.

https://www.businessinsider.com/how-china-is-watching-its-citizens-in-a-modern-surveillance-state-2018-4#9-tracking-peoples-social-media-posts-which-can-be-linked-to-the-users-family-and-location-10

The NSA has cracked all a/v suites to enable spying on Internet activity, probably even Kaspersky which was one of a very few they couldn't crack as of the Snowden leaks. And since the U.S shares intelligence information with the other five eyes nations and other intelligence sharing countries, so can other nation states. It is hard claim the U.S is less corrupt or allows more free choice than Russia when when they are entrenched in the same tactics.

onebignerd

Kaspersky can thank the U.S Government for starting this paranoid panic. Do a Google search and find that the U.S Government is having a difficult time removing Kaspersky from their systems as it is integrated into routers, switches and third party software (e.g: Check Point, Bluecoat, Juniper Networks, Microsoft Forefront,[54] Netintelligence, Clearswift, FrontBridge, Netasq, Wedge Networks and others as more than 120 companies are licensing technology from Kaspersky). But since most of these Government agencies can't or won't apply security patches to their systems regularly, Kaspersky should hardly be their biggest concern. Most recently is the Department of Homeland Security passport fraud division.

Microsoft still longs to be a 'lifestyle' brand, but the cupboard looks bare

onebignerd

Microsoft needs to stop trying to be the Windows of every tech market, phone, cloud, game console, computer hardware, search engine...etc. The only reason Windows still has a large hold on PC operating systems is that any other software maker that tries to challenge it gets pushed out or bought up by Microsoft. Their long history shows they don't like competition, even within the partnership with IBM creating O/S2 they couldn't play nice. Now with Windows 10 and the Edge browser they have resorted to bullying of their own users rather than embracing change and competition.

Linux? Well I had high hopes for Linux in the '90s, but without standardization of the platform and consolidation on the fragmenting I don't expect it to make any inroads into the desktop market. Microsoft will never allow Linux to be anything more than a subsystem within Windows 10, an add-on, anything more would pose a direct threat to Microsoft.

Trump's axing of cyber czar role has left gaping holes in US defence

onebignerd

Nothing new

DHS was caught not updating their systems just last month. This is something the U.S Government has failed at since President Regan first saw the movie War Games and asked if it was possible.

The whole nonsense with our Government taking Kaspersky off their systems (which they are STILL struggling with) and Russia hacking, was just a diversion to cover up the fact that they can't secure an unplugged Playstation.

Microsoft: You don't want to use Edge? Are you sure? Really sure?

onebignerd

Only shows Microsoft's desperation to get Edge users. Didn't use IE will NOT use Edge.

Won’t patch systems? Never run malware scans? Welcome to the US State Department!

onebignerd

This has been an issue since President Regan first saw the movie War Games and asked if that was really possible. Ever since it's been an endless stream of studies, oversight committees, presidential recommendations, passing the buck, endless bureaucracy, political posturing and tens of millions of dollars going no where. Military, White House, Pentagon, DOJ...etc. it's all one big insecure mess. Purging the Government of Kaspersky has proved to be more challenging than expected, since it is embedded into other software and hardware. The agencies charged with protecting the country can't protect even a single PC. SCARY!!

Read Dark Territory by Fred Kaplan

On Kaspersky’s 'transparency tour' the truth was clear as mud

onebignerd

The U.S Government needs to publish their evidence (if any) and settle this crap once and for all, since they are the ones who stirred up this panic. Personally I find no cause for concern, nor reason or evidence to stop using Kaspersky.

Actual control of Windows 10 updates (with a catch)... and more from Microsoft

onebignerd

Maybe it's different in Europe, but the percent (%) they are referring to is one word not per cent. Per cent is per penny which does not fit into the context they are using.

It's guaranteed Microsoft will ruin GitHub!

Windows 10 Spring Creators Update team explains the hold-up: You little BSOD!

onebignerd

Re: Windows insider Program

YAWN! The constant claims of the flawless perfection and bullet-proofness of Linux is beyond unimpressive, tiring and insulting to others intelligence.

Maybe it is the exotic hardware that causes the problems?

Are you telling me that Linux never, ever has problems with releases, patches or kernels? I remember several times reading articles about Linux having trouble with new kernels.

Nobody ever runs into a hardware incompatibility problem with Linux?

Claims like that are nonsensical!

Ubuntu wants to slurp PCs' vital statistics – even location – with new desktop installs

onebignerd

Called it!

I knew this would happen eventually with a Linux distro! I'll bet by years end it will be rampant through out Linux. Wouldn't be surprised if the tracking code is removed from the open source license, so it can't be changed or removed. Everybody is addicted to data collecting and tracking of users, like a plague.

Mozilla's opt-out Firefox DNS privacy test sparks, er, privacy outcry

onebignerd

Mozilla/Firefox jumping on the data sucking bandwagon. Not surprised!

Stopped using Firefox, too many problems.

We're Putin our foot down! DHS, FBI blame Russia for ongoing infrastructure hacks

onebignerd

Is this round of blaming Russia carrying the same lack of evidence as with the Kaspersky fearmongering?

Sounds like alot of bullying from Washington trying to provoke Russia. I thought Trump and Putin were BFFs, why are we antagonizing them? Like the U.S is so innocent and pure!! *dry heave*

If DHS is so concerned about security, maybe they should get their own systems secured. Their last audit was a big fail. Why do we need the so much infrastructure connected to the Internet?

Five things you need to know about Microsoft's looming Windows 10 Spring Creators Update

onebignerd

Big Data Suckers

All of Corporate America and Government sell, share, trade, market your data. We are just data, numbers, percentages and dollars to them, no such thing as customers anymore. They tell us they value our trust and privacy, but every data breach shows that they don't take the effort to patch, secure, monitor or even encrypt the data.

"When are the American people going to realize the Government (or Corporate America) doesn't give a f*** about them?" -George Carlin

Here we go again... UK Prime Minister urges nerds to come up with magic crypto backdoors

onebignerd

As Ron White said; "You can't fix stupid."

FBI says it can't unlock 8,000 encrypted devices, demands backdoors for America's 'public safety'

onebignerd

Yeah, I'm sure law enforcement would never abuse such a back door for parallel prosecution or to circumvent a warrant. *eye roll* Our Government and law enforcement already have too much power that rages unchecked, despite the promise of usually nonexistent oversight.

Just recently they published secret NSA programs, one of which specifically targeted Americans. http://www.zdnet.com/article/ragtime-program-appear-in-nsa-leaked-files/ Where is the oversight? Congress, so really no oversight.

Your data will get hacked anyway so you might as well give up protecting it

onebignerd

Walt Disney was cremated.

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