FBI remotely installs spyware to trace bomb threat

ZDNet News ^ | July 18, 2007 | Declan McCullagh

[wolfcreek]

Note to self: Be sure add to spyware blocker.

[coloradan]

All it would take is for one corrupt cop to disclose how to get malware to pass itself off as policeware...

[Plutarch]

If the FBI is so smart at such stuff, why don’t they nab a few virus makers, spammers, etc.?

[familyop]

"A reference to the operating system's registry indicates that CIPAV can target, as you might expect given its market share lack of security and desire to expose terrorist and legitimate users alike, Microsoft Windows."

Don't break the law, and don't connect MS to the Internet.

[300magnum]

Note to self: Be sure add to spyware blocker.

---

Spyware blockers may not work...

~snip~ One possibility is that the FBI has persuaded security software makers to overlook CIPAV and not alert their users to its presence.

Another is that the FBI has found (or paid someone to uncover) unknown vulnerabilities in Windows or Windows-based security software that would permit CIPAV to be installed.~snip~

[FReepaholic]

Remember how the goverment was all over Microsoft for years and then the case got settled and went away?

I've always wondered if MS agreed to put "backdoors" in it's OS for the Feds to use when needed.

[Lurker]

Another is that the FBI has found (or paid someone to uncover) unknown vulnerabilities in Windows or Windows-based security software that would permit CIPAV to be installed.~snip~

So how long you think that took? 15 minutes or so?

L

[300magnum]

I've always wondered if MS agreed to put "backdoors" in it's OS for the Feds to use when needed.

I would assume more than a few Feds work for MS also.

[Ol' Dan Tucker]

One possibility is that the FBI has persuaded security software makers to overlook CIPAV and not alert their users to its presence.

Not a possibility, but a reality.

AV vendors split over FBI Trojan snoops:

Eric Chien, chief researcher at Symantec's antivirus research lab, said that provided a hypothetical keystroke logging tool was used only by the FBI, then Symantec would avoid updating its antivirus tools to detect such a Trojan.

Symantec is yet to hear back from the FBI on its enquiries about Magic Lantern.

"If it was under the control of the FBI, with appropriate technical safeguards in place to prevent possible misuse, and nobody else used it - we wouldn't detect it," said Chien. "However we would detect modified versions that might be used by hackers."

Hollywood vs. the antivirus industry:

Symantec mouthpiece Eric Chien said his firm would work with FBI agents to infect their paying customers. He clarified Symantec's patriotism in a story published in The Register. "If it was under the control of the FBI, with appropriate technical safeguards in place to prevent possible misuse, and nobody else used it — we wouldn't detect it," Chien explained.

Symantec didn't stand alone in its patriotism back then. Associated Press reporter Ted Bridis claimed an unnamed McAfee expert "contacted the FBI on [21 Nov 01] to ensure its software wouldn't inadvertently detect the bureau's snooping software."

Unfortunately, this rush of patriotism caused a serious publicity snafu for the U.S. antivirus industry. Customers threatened to switch to non-patriotic products to achieve the protection they desired. Symantec quickly backed away from Chien's patriotic statements. McAfee went so far as to contest the accuracy of the AP story to assuage their client base. "Network Associates/McAfee.com Corporation has not contacted the FBI, nor has the FBI contacted NAI/McAfee.com Corp., regarding Magic Lantern."

(Longtime Vmyths readers will recall AP reporter Ted Bridis exposed "The China Syndrome" while working for the Wall Street Journal. I don't take his reporting lightly — and I independently narrowed the identity of the McAfee expert to two individuals. One regularly advises the White House on national cyber-security doctrine; the other departed on an apparently no-notice business trip to Europe when the brouhaha surfaced.)

Ah! But McAfee admitted to an intriguing exemption for the FBI's Magic Lantern trojan. The firm "does and will continue to comply with any and all U.S. laws and legislation." Think about this for a moment.

[rocksblues]

I've always wondered if MS agreed to put "backdoors" in it's OS for the Feds to use when needed.

Where is the NY Times when you really need them?

[BwanaNdege]

The last time this country, the entire country, was really at war (WWII) government censors were reading private letters and deleting sensitive information.

Some day all you progressives & libertarians will have to choose between those who want “spy” (via the Patriot Act) on folks in order to locate terrorist bombers and those who what to impose Sharia.

(flameproof suit cleaned & pressed and ready to wear) :-)

[Ender Wiggin]

“One possibility is that the FBI has persuaded security software makers to overlook CIPAV and not alert their users to its presence. “

I remember hearing about this some time ago wrt keylog malware.

Makes sense- if I’m running antispyware stuff that CAN catch FBI spybots, it will! So the antispyware and virus protection people must be agreeing to not include the signatures in their product.

Does that make the product defective?

If ACLU knew that fbi was colluding with spyware vendors (so that terrorists can be dimed out) I bet they’ll sue.

[wolfcreek]

“Spyware blockers may not work...”

Didn’t it mention using e-mails to install it. I got blockers for that too and no matter what kind of Porno they tempt me with, I will not open the attachment. LOL!

[Just another Joe]

Some day all you progressives & libertarians will have to choose between those who want “spy” (via the Patriot Act) on folks in order to locate terrorist bombers and those who what to impose Sharia.

And those are my only two choices?
Depending on who gets into office, I don't see much choice.

[rocksblues]

I am a charter member of above!

[BlackbirdSST]

Hillary will just love all these new powers! You think that we had it bad under bubba? Blackbird.

[KDD]

. As George Washington said in 1774, “The crisis is arrived when we must assert our rights or submit to every imposition which can be heaped upon us, till custom and use shall make us . . . slaves.”

The contempt felt for those who would not fight for their own liberty was expressed by Samuel Adams: “If ye love wealth better than liberty, the tranquillity of servitude better than the animating contest of freedom, go home from us in peace. We ask not your counsels or arms. Crouch down and lick the hands which feed you. May your chains set lightly upon you, and may posterity forget that ye were our countrymen.”

Imagine that men from that era were observing us today. They would see that we send up to 50% of our income to different levels of government, and we are told that this is not sufficient — that our duty is to sacrifice more. (Consider this shocking fact: the colonists paid approximately 1% of their incomes in taxes!) They would see an incredible number of regulations on all types of domestic and foreign commerce. They would see an immense army of bureaucrats to enforce the regulations and another army of real soldiers residing more or less permanently in other countries. It would be clear to them that Jefferson’s statement is unfortunately still true that “even under the best forms [of government] those entrusted with power have, in time and by slow operation, perverted it into tyranny.”

The biggest surprise to our observers would not be that those in power seek to expand their power. They would have expected that. The biggest surprise would be the degraded state of many Americans who have lost the stature that comes from taking responsibility for one’s own life. They would see millions of dependent creatures, comfortable in their dependency, crouching and licking the hands that feed them, and begging for more, asking only that the benefits they get are paid for by the sacrifices of other people.

Can any of us deny that the citizens are primarily to blame for the erosion of their own liberties? Most are traveling the road to serfdom willingly. But the road goes nowhere new. It leads only to the same forms of tyranny that have characterized most societies in history.

There is liberty . . . and there are thousands of forms of tyranny. There are men’s rights . . . and thousands of rationalizations for violating them. When it comes to liberty, everything but the real thing is the wrong thing. We must accept no substitutes.
Bryce Buchanan

[Nervous Tick]

>> Some day all you progressives & libertarians will have to choose between those who want “spy” (via the Patriot Act) on folks in order to locate terrorist bombers and those who what to impose Sharia. (flameproof suit cleaned & pressed and ready to wear) :-)

No flames, my FRiend... I get that part.

It doesn’t bother me at all that W’s justice department does this sort of thing.

But it positively sends cold chills up and down my spine to think that HILLARY!s justice department would have the capability and the green light to use it.

[BwanaNdege]

"But it positively sends cold chills up and down my spine to think that HILLARY!s justice department would have the capability and the green light to use it."

Remember "FileGate", "TravelGate" and Vince Foster. Hillery will "use it", green light or not.

The question is not whether I object to the Feds tapping into my mail (snail or otherwise). What matters is do I want Akmed Jihad succeding with his plan to blow up folks at the local mall/elementary school/football game/fill-in-the-blank because some smarmy judge rules that the law enforcement folks might be "profiling" in their request for a wire-tap.

I don't like waiting in a line of traffic while the highway patrol does a license or sobriety check on a Saturday evening. However, I much prefer that to meeting a drunk head on traveling in my lane at 85 mph. We all give up some rights as a part of living in society.

If I lived in the upper east side of Manhattan, I'd probably have to give up my right to raise pigs & chickens in the "backyard". If I want to live in peace & safety in the midst of Islamic Jihad then I will probably have to endure the feds snooping some on everyone, me included.