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Microsoft to begin alerting users about suspected government snooping
The Register ^ | 12/31/15 | staff

Posted on 12/31/2015 9:16:08 AM PST by Nachum

Microsoft will warn email and OneDrive users if it detects apparent attempts by governments to hack into their accounts.

The rollout of the alert system on Wednesday follows reports Redmond had failed to warn Hotmail users targeted by Chinese hackers, according to former employees.

Reuters reports Microsoft was hacked in 2011 but failed to notify affected users, partly to avoid antagonising China, the suspected culprit. Targeted users were instead advised to pick new passwords without any particular reason being supplied at the time.

Google, Facebook, Twitter and Yahoo already offer similar government hacker alert systems to the one just introduced by Microsoft. Alerts are far from rare. Google, for example, reportedly tells tens of thousands of users every few months that they’ve been targeted by foreign spooks.

Redmond’s alerting system has raised issues about US data breach disclosure laws. “If China had stolen Hotmail users' passwords, Microsoft would have had to tell users,” Christopher Soghoian, a principal technologist at the ACLU, stated in an update to his personal Twitter account But *private emails* are not considered PII [personally identifiable information].”

(Excerpt) Read more at theregister.co.uk ...


TOPICS: News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: microsoft; snooping; windowspinglist
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Oh, so does that mean that Windows 8 doesn't send every key stroke to the NSA?
1 posted on 12/31/2015 9:16:08 AM PST by Nachum
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To: Jet Jaguar; NorwegianViking; ExTexasRedhead; HollyB; FromLori; EricTheRed_VocalMinority; ...

The list, Ping

Let me know if you would like to be on or off the ping list

http://www.nachumlist.com/


2 posted on 12/31/2015 9:16:46 AM PST by Nachum (Obamacare: It's. The. Flaw.)
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To: Nachum

“Reuters reports Microsoft was hacked in 2011 but failed to notify affected users, partly to avoid antagonising China, the suspected culprit. Targeted users were instead advised to pick new passwords without any particular reason being supplied at the time.”

Hmm, I think they made me change my password around that time, those red bastards probably got me.


3 posted on 12/31/2015 9:20:04 AM PST by Boogieman
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To: Nachum; dayglored

Pinging for the Windows Ping list. . .


4 posted on 12/31/2015 9:26:22 AM PST by Swordmaker (This tag line is a Microsoft insult free zone... but if the insults to Mac users continue....)
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To: Swordmaker

I say the NSA is hacking into this site and causing all those random special characters!! : )


5 posted on 12/31/2015 9:47:23 AM PST by minnesota_bound
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To: Nachum

It doesn’t.


6 posted on 12/31/2015 9:49:34 AM PST by Scutter
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To: Nachum

This doesn’t really bother me. As part of the great OPM hack, China and Russia already know everything about me. I sort of wish that our government knew as much about me as the Chinese and Russians do.


7 posted on 12/31/2015 9:53:17 AM PST by Engraved-on-His-hands (Conservative 2016!! The Dole, H.W. Bush, McCain, Romney experiment has failed.)
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To: Nachum
Reuters reports Microsoft was hacked in 2011 but failed to notify affected users, partly to avoid antagonising China, the suspected culprit. Targeted users were instead advised to pick new passwords without any particular reason being supplied at the time.
8 posted on 12/31/2015 10:01:10 AM PST by Grampa Dave (Trump is kicking the ass of the GOPe/RINOs/the media. Don't like him? He must be kicking YOUR ass!!!)
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To: Engraved-on-His-hands; Squantos
This does not really bother me. As part of the great OPM hack, China and Russia already know everything about me. I sort of wish that our government knew as much about me as the Chinese and Russians do.

Recently, my wife and I met a young West Point Grad (anyone under 65 years old is young to us), who has started his own IT business after he was one of those OPM hacked. He uses his we are sorry you were hacked letter from OPM as his sales aid to get attention from potential clients.

9 posted on 12/31/2015 10:08:36 AM PST by Grampa Dave (Trump is kicking the ass of the GOPe/RINOs/the media. Don't like him? He must be kicking YOUR ass!!!)
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To: Nachum

It doesn’t say how the ‘victim’ will be contacted by Microsoft. If you get an email from Microsoft, saying you have been hacked, would you believe it? Just click here for details.


10 posted on 12/31/2015 10:12:19 AM PST by aimhigh (1 John 3:21)
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To: minnesota_bound

I say the NSA is hacking into this site and causing all those random special characters!! : )

Actually those random “characters” are Jim’s and John’s method to confuse “NSA’s”, the “Chicom’s” and “Opecker Prince’s/Isis’s” hacking of our “posts” and “replies”.


11 posted on 12/31/2015 10:13:32 AM PST by Grampa Dave (Trump is kicking the ass of the GOPe/RINOs/the media. Don't like him? He must be kicking YOUR ass!!!)
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To: Nachum

I’ve got Windows 7. They keep asking me to upgrade to the wonderful 10. Not gonna do it. Aw, CRAP! Can the spooks see this?


12 posted on 12/31/2015 10:27:24 AM PST by Libloather (Embrace the suck)
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To: Nachum
Interesting.

They just sent me one of these alerts on Sunday.

13 posted on 12/31/2015 10:44:31 AM PST by Mariner (War Criminal #18 - Be The Leaderless Resistance)
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To: Nachum

Getting hard to know who’s the criminal and who’s the good guy.


14 posted on 12/31/2015 11:12:23 AM PST by I want the USA back (Media: completely irresponsible. Complicit in the destruction of this country.)
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To: Nachum

“partly to avoid antagonising China,” ????

It would seem MS has sunk to the level of the political trash representing us in DC.


15 posted on 12/31/2015 11:22:45 AM PST by exPBRrat
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To: Libloather

I have Win7 too .. and I’m not going to upgrade either.

I just use my computer to connect with family and friends, and write my books.

Therefore, I do not need all the bells and whistles of Win10. My only concern is if they stop updating Win7 (like they did to XP [which I loved]), then I’ll have to decide if I want to go to Win10, or choose Apple. I’ve never used Apple, so I know nothing about it.

The only external thing I do is cover up the camera opening at the top of my computer’s frame around my screen. I did this only because it was reported that new software would allow people to see me. I didn’t want that to happen, so I covered up the lens. If I decide to use Skype, I can just remove the cover on the lens .. easy.

And .. I have Norton .. and I rarely even get people trying to tap into my system. And .. I use the Norton tools to check the cookies they delete from my system .. in case there is anything I would consider suspicious.

I’ve never had malware successfully installed, or had the launching of Trojan emails. These items are always caught by Norton and neutralized.

Plus, I have LifeLock to protect my online transactions; which is connected to my bank transactions. Never have a problem.

It’s possible that someday somebody will find a way around these things .. but with Norton, I use their program to update Norton on a daily basis. In the last few days, it’s been at least 4-5 updates every day.


16 posted on 12/31/2015 12:14:49 PM PST by CyberAnt ("The fields are white unto Harvest")
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To: The Final Harvest

I tried the Windows 10 thingy.
If you opt out of all the invasive stuff (keylogging, mS reporting, allowing your PC to act like an update distributor, etc.) it’s almost like Windows 7.
Only reason I went back to 7 was that my RAID controller wasn’t supported and had no drivers for it available.


17 posted on 12/31/2015 12:28:46 PM PST by BuffaloJack (Slavery will continue to exist and thrive as long a Islam continues to exist.)
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To: Swordmaker; Abby4116; afraidfortherepublic; aft_lizard; AF_Blue; amigatec; AppyPappy; arnoldc1; ...
Microsoft privacy alerts, the good kind ... PING!

You can find all the Windows Ping list threads with FR search: just search on keyword "windowspinglist".

Thanks to Swordmaker for the ping!

18 posted on 12/31/2015 1:01:45 PM PST by dayglored ("Listen. Strange women lying in ponds distributing swords is no basis for a system of government.")
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To: Libloather; The Final Harvest

Not to worry. MSFT has promised support for Win 7 through at least 2020.


19 posted on 12/31/2015 2:10:14 PM PST by upchuck (Happiness never decreases by being shared.)
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To: Grampa Dave

The fix is in.....

http://dan.hersam.com/tools/smart-quotes.html


20 posted on 12/31/2015 2:40:22 PM PST by Squantos ( Be polite, be professional, but have a plan to kill everyone you meet ...)
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