Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

Skip to comments.

Sharyl Attkisson on being hacked: My computers turned themselves on/off in the middle of the night
Hotair ^ | 06/17/2013 | AllahPundit

Posted on 06/17/2013 12:55:56 PM PDT by SeekAndFind

Via the Right Scoop, a follow-up to Friday’s post. Forgive me for a possibly stupid question but when she says that her computers were turning on and off, she means they were powering on and then powering down, not that they were merely “waking up” from sleep mode, right? When I tweeted the link to this, a bunch of people tweeted back that a computer might “wake up” automatically due to Windows Update. But Attkisson has had professional computer forensics people investigate, though; obviously she knows the difference by now between a computer updating itself and doing something freaky weird like powering on. The question is, how could a remote intruder access the computer in the first place if it was powered down? They would have needed to gain physical access to the machine and installed some sort of remote power switch, I assume. And why would they do something like that if, per Attkisson herself, they took sophisticated steps to erase their digital fingerprints after they messed around in her hard drive? If you don’t want your target to know she’s being hacked then maybe don’t alert her by remotely powering on her computer. Something doesn’t add up.

Maybe she means that her computers did merely “wake up” from sleep mode but that there was no apparent explanation for it, including automatic updating?

She’s careful not to make any direct accusations but here’s an awfully heavy hint about what she thinks the hacker was after:

“Whoever was in my work computer, the only thing I was working on were work-related things with CBS were big stories I guess during the time period in questions were I guess Benghazi and ‘Fast and Furious.’ The intruders did have access to personal information including passwords to my financial accounts and so on, but didn’t tamper with those, so they weren’t interested in stealing my identity or doing things to my finances. So people can decide on their own what they might have been trying to do in there.”

Watch at 1:20 too for when she says she’s “not prepared” yet to talk about who they think is responsible. That sounds like she and the forensic investigators have some inkling but aren’t ready, for whatever reason, to be more specific. Given the emphasis in the clip about the timing of the hacking, i.e. when she was hard at work on Benghazi and Fast & Furious, if she had reason to believe it wasn’t the feds but rather some freelance hacker, this would have been the moment to say so, no? E.g., “Many people have asked me if I think the Department of Justice is responsible but our research points to a private actor.” Everyone suspects the DOJ here in light of the AP/James Rosen revelations and of course she knows that, and yet she conspicuously refuses to rule them out. How come?

CLICK ABOVE LINK FOR THE VIDEO



TOPICS: Constitution/Conservatism; Crime/Corruption; Government
KEYWORDS: hacking; nsa; policestate; sharylattkisson; surveillancestate
Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first 1-2021-36 next last

1 posted on 06/17/2013 12:55:56 PM PDT by SeekAndFind
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | View Replies]

To: SeekAndFind

Wake-on-LAN?


2 posted on 06/17/2013 12:59:31 PM PDT by Egon (Apparently, Jimmy Carter DOES need a third term.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: SeekAndFind

Boohoo. You get what you vote for lady and your political organization, “CBS” gets what it deserves.


3 posted on 06/17/2013 1:00:14 PM PDT by Dallas59 (Q: The worst president in US history?)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: SeekAndFind

“Good Morning, Dave...”


4 posted on 06/17/2013 1:00:23 PM PDT by TADSLOS (The Event Horizon has come and gone. Buckle up and hang on.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: SeekAndFind
a computer might “wake up” automatically due to Windows Update

Actually, I consider Windows Update a form of hacking!

5 posted on 06/17/2013 1:01:13 PM PDT by JennysCool (My hypocrisy goes only so far)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Dallas59

RE: Boohoo. You get what you vote for lady

Did she vote for Obama?


6 posted on 06/17/2013 1:01:29 PM PDT by SeekAndFind
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 3 | View Replies]

To: SeekAndFind

It seems like every story that I see on this issue is from some news agency that ISN’T CBS. What’s up with that? CBS should be all over this.


7 posted on 06/17/2013 1:01:39 PM PDT by Sopater (Is it not lawful for me to do what I will with mine own? - Matthew 20:15a)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: SeekAndFind

You left them (unencrypted) hooked up to the internet???


8 posted on 06/17/2013 1:02:21 PM PDT by 2banana (My common ground with terrorists - they want to die for islam and we want to kill them)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: SeekAndFind
They would have needed to gain physical access to the machine and installed some sort of remote power switch, I assume.

I believe that if someone can access the BIOS, they can set the computer to come on automatically at a set time every day if they like.
9 posted on 06/17/2013 1:04:45 PM PDT by Sopater (Is it not lawful for me to do what I will with mine own? - Matthew 20:15a)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Dallas59

They are discovering that the beast they helped create makes a terrible taskmaster.


10 posted on 06/17/2013 1:04:52 PM PDT by Blood of Tyrants (Inside every liberal and WOD defender is a totalitarian screaming to get out.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 3 | View Replies]

To: Dallas59

How do you know whom she voted for?

It’s notable that Sharyl Attkisson was one of the only—if not THE only—mainstream media reporter outside FOX doing any investigative reporting on either F&F or Benghazi, so I wouldn’t be so quick to heap scorn on her.


11 posted on 06/17/2013 1:06:10 PM PDT by rightwingintelligentsia (Truth/Lies; Liberty/Tyranny--WHAT DIFFERENCE DOES IT MAKE??)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 3 | View Replies]

To: Sopater

Happened to us years ago (dial-up modem days). Got hacked and someone programmed the machine to dial some number in Africa at 4AM and begin forwarding emails. Little problem in that the early morning one-hour call to Senegal stuck out like a sore thumb on our phone bill.


12 posted on 06/17/2013 1:07:26 PM PDT by Buckeye McFrog
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 9 | View Replies]

To: SeekAndFind

Sleep well Sharyl. I’m sure it was only hackers. No black bags were involved. I know the Clinton’s would never hire a private eye. Cough Terry Lenzer cough.


13 posted on 06/17/2013 1:11:07 PM PDT by Stentor
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: SeekAndFind

She may have been suspicious in general and then even normal stuff would look suspicious.


14 posted on 06/17/2013 1:11:14 PM PDT by Raycpa
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: SeekAndFind

15 posted on 06/17/2013 1:12:21 PM PDT by LyinLibs (If victims of islam were more "islamophobic," maybe they'd still be alive.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: SeekAndFind

Who you gonna call?


16 posted on 06/17/2013 1:16:17 PM PDT by Old Yeller (You can't spell Stanley Ann without S-A-T-A-N)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Egon

To hit it with a WOL magic packet, you need to access the network with another system.

How may other systems on that subnet are compromised?

All of them?


17 posted on 06/17/2013 1:21:49 PM PDT by Only1choice____Freedom (As long as America's tolerence of failure is not overwhelmed by a desire to succeed, we will fail.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 2 | View Replies]

To: rightwingintelligentsia
It’s notable that Sharyl Attkisson was one of the only—if not THE only—mainstream media reporter outside FOX doing any investigative reporting on either F&F or Benghazi...

Yeah...a pure coinky-dinky, no doubt. The media are like battered wives - he does this to them and they swoon over him anyway.

18 posted on 06/17/2013 1:22:06 PM PDT by Billthedrill
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 11 | View Replies]

To: Dallas59
"You get what you vote for lady and your political organization, “CBS” gets what it deserves."

Knowing what we know it is UNLIKELY that Atkkisson voted for Obama. She was #1 in the nation on reporting on Fast and Furious and was pretty aggressive on Benghazi as well (which is probably why she was hacked).

19 posted on 06/17/2013 1:22:11 PM PDT by cookcounty (IRS = Internal Revenge Service.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 3 | View Replies]

To: Egon

You got it, most likely.


20 posted on 06/17/2013 1:23:15 PM PDT by upchuck (To the faceless, jack-booted government bureaucrat who just scanned this post: SCREW YOU!)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 2 | View Replies]


Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first 1-2021-36 next last

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.

Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

FreeRepublic, LLC, PO BOX 9771, FRESNO, CA 93794
FreeRepublic.com is powered by software copyright 2000-2008 John Robinson