[prarie earth]

How do they know these guys aren't garden variety hackers?

[goldstategop]

Like a teen kid trying to outsmart Bill Gates? I suspect its more likely than a bunch of Al Qaeda terrorists smuggling operational directives across the Internet concealed in porno pictures.

[HiTech RedNeck]

This is more like 'annoyism'.

[The Duke]

fits the profile of 'terrorist activity.'

So...there's evidence of a program of violence being undertaken to promote political change?

Why do I think this is all about government redefining another word as a means of ultimately gaining increased control over my life(?)

[Cindy]

NIPC.gov: WARNINGS - ADVISORIES

[JerseyHighlander]

The World Tribune's creditability is teetering into the Debka abyss. They know not of what they speak. The worm is Microsoft made, do not forget. It was only discovered in the Microsoft code recently, by a group of Chinese hackers. They publicly announced the discovery of the sloppy code, and gave microsft weeks to fix it. (IMHO, I believe there was blackmail attempted before they went public.)

But, the characteristics of the worm are much similar to tactics used by Russian porn hustlers/hackers. So to pin this on an Arab/Islamic front without evidence is pure speculation. For those who said Red China was using the Taliban and other Islamic groups as a foil, this could be seen as a continuation of a destabilization campaign. It's more likely a group of computer geeks who have found what Microsoft Programmers wrote into the code, and exploited it for mad props. Billy Gates is pwned, etc.

[nmh]

"Evidence gathered by Microsoft, the FBI, and the Secret Service on the worldwide attacks made against the computers running the Windows operating system fits the profile of 'terrorist activity."

Aw, gimme a break! Leave it to Microsoft, the shi*iest software vendor around to muddy the water with terrorism. The truth is Microsoft has retarded programmers that spew out lousy code. There is NO terrorist attack going on. Of course Microsoft wants to blame someone else. It's becoming painfully obvious that Microsft puts out shi* for products so they must desperately point to someone else.

You can ONLY hope that when Microsoft ships their development work off shore that THOSE programmers aren't as stupid as those at Microsoft.

[nmh]

Microsoft has been terrorizing its customers for YEARS with shi* products. Yeah, you could say that Microsoft is a "terrorist" via software.

[FairOpinion]

Finally they are actually starting to acknowledge this!!!

http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp-dyn/A50765-2002Jun26


Cyber-Attacks by Al Qaeda Feared
Terrorists at Threshold of Using Internet as Tool of Bloodshed, Experts Say

From the Middle East and South Asia, unknown browsers were exploring the digital systems used to manage Bay Area utilities and government offices. Hsiung, a specialist in high-technology crime, alerted the FBI's San Francisco computer intrusion squad.

Some of the probes suggested planning for a conventional attack, U.S. officials said. But others homed in on a class of digital devices that allow remote control of services such as fire dispatch and of equipment such as pipelines. More information about those devices -- and how to program them -- turned up on al Qaeda computers seized this year, according to law enforcement and national security officials.

One al Qaeda laptop found in Afghanistan, sources said, had made multiple visits to a French site run by the Societé Anonyme, or Anonymous Society. The site offers a two-volume online "Sabotage Handbook" with sections on tools of the trade, planning a hit, switch gear and instrumentation, anti-surveillance methods and advanced techniques. In Islamic chat rooms, other computers linked to al Qaeda had access to "cracking" tools used to search out networked computers, scan for security flaws and exploit them to gain entry -- or full command.

Most significantly, perhaps, U.S. investigators have found evidence in the logs that mark a browser's path through the Internet that al Qaeda operators spent time on sites that offer software and programming instructions for the digital switches that run power, water, transport and communications grids. In some interrogations, the most recent of which was reported to policymakers last week, al Qaeda prisoners have described intentions, in general terms, to use those tools.

Specialized digital devices are used by the millions as the brains of American "critical infrastructure" -- a term defined by federal directive to mean industrial sectors that are "essential to the minimum operations of the economy and government."

The devices are called distributed control systems, or DCS, and supervisory control and data acquisition, or SCADA, systems. The simplest ones collect measurements, throw railway switches, close circuit-breakers or adjust valves in the pipes that carry water, oil and gas. More complicated versions sift incoming data, govern multiple devices and cover a broader area.

[FairOpinion]

ping

[FairOpinion]

ping

[AnimalLover]

LOOK WHAT I FOUND!

The following article is from the Los Angeles Times

www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/la042502china.story

CIA WARNS OF CHINESE PLANS FOR CYBER-ATTACKS ON U.S.

April 25, 2002

The LA Times reports: "U.S. intelligence officials believe the Chinese military is working to launch wide-scale cyber-attacks on American and Taiwanese computer networks, including Internet-linked military systems considered vulnerable to sabotage, according to a classified CIA report.

U.S. authorities are bracing for a possible wave of hacking attacks by Chinese students against the United States in coming weeks. The confidential alert was sent to intelligence officials a week ago.

Although U.S. officials have voiced concerns about individual hackers in China who have defaced federal and private Web sites, the United States has resisted publicly linking the Chinese government to those attacks or to broader cyber-style warfare.

The new CIA report makes clear that U.S. intelligence analysts have become increasingly concerned that authorities in Beijing are actively planning to damage and disrupt U.S. computer systems through the use of Internet hacking and computer viruses.

Although the assessment concludes that China has not yet acquired the technical sophistication to do broad damage to U.S. and Taiwanese systems, it maintains that this is the 'intended goal' of the People's Liberation Army in China. 'The mission of Chinese special forces includes physical sabotage' of vulnerable systems, the report says--a sign that some analysts said is driven by China's hostility toward Taiwan..."

[JustPiper]

Ping!

[RISU]

WHO ASKED MICROSOFT TO PUT IN A DOOR FOR "REMOTE PROCEDURE CALL"?

Friends, MS has laced your computer with ways and means to control your behavior via the control of your computer.

Why is this?

Because those who are responsible for protecting our rights are still trying to figure out how email works!

Microsoft is proving to be a menace, and seems not to respect privacy or rights. The rsult of its flawed approach to control remotely means you andI suffer from stoppages and problems all the time. I for one would join a class action suit against MS for the shear amount of my life wasted rebooting and re-installing over the years.

The solution is "competition". Notice how many "operating system" companies are competing for your business? Hardly any, and LINUX, a great white hope, is being piower played into a corner by MS and its money.

How did they gety all that money? By selling you and I the same thing over, and over, and over again.

There is probably a "deal with the devil" at work here as well, with elements of the Government benefiting from the vulnerability of your conmputer, and therefore giving MS a green light to walk on your rights. MS has an office at NSA I hear.

Horrible situation for those of us who respect privacy rights.

[George W. Bush]

Windows: the terrorist operating system

And their profits are used to promote gun-control and to promote abortion worldwide.

Jump to Linux before it's too late. Stop giving money to Gates.

[TomServo]

Already posted here.

[OrioleFan]

Biggest virus developers run into is when the Microsoft OS reserves half of memory regardless of how much memory your PC has, then allows COTS packages to load DLLs wherever in what's left. You can't get enough contiguous memory to make your software efficient. Windows IS the virus.

[martin_fierro]

FREE PC PROTECTION: Spyware removers: Spybot S&D AdAware Bayden Systems Popup Popper: Blocks popup ads well in MSIE MailWasher: Good for pre-screening & bouncing SPAM AVG Anti-Virus Free Edition: Free anti-viral protection Windows Update: At least install the critical ones ZoneAlarm: Excellent Firewall Alternative browsers: Mozilla Opera