NSA Tucks Away Backdoors in HDD firmware

[TuFun]

"Kaspersky Labs exposed a breakthrough U.S. spying program, which taps into hard drives. According to Kaspersky, malicious software is hidden in the firmware, and launches every time a computer is turned on."

http://www.guru3d.com/news-story/nsa-tucks-away-backdoors-in-hdd-firmware,3.html

Add this...

"The hacker network behind an unprecedented $1 billion attack on banks took control of financial systems by first sending out emails with malware Word files, RT found out from an expert at the Russian cybersecurity firm which revealed the crime."
http://rt.com/news/232627-banks-hacked-russian-expert/

[stansdds]

Careful what put on your computer or otherwise post to the internet/cloud/social media and what websites you frequent.

[gman5250]

TF. thanks for the HU

I recently was utterly wiped out by a security update that came through a "trusted" source. The update co-opted my OS and prioritized the code into it's own hierarchy. The results devastated my system, to the point where I was forced to do an industrial grade wipe of three hard drives...nearly 4.5 TB of data. Even with my backups, I lost months of valuable development time.

The move away from internet freedom invites the worst of the worst to take up residence in your system. Many of the worst hacks can be traced back to "friendly" sources.

Having listened to numerous interviews from John McKafee and a recent interview of John Draper, aka "Captain Crunch", it seems it would be wise to invest in installing encryption protection if you value your personal privacy. Draper's new Thundercloud, currently in development looks quite impressive.

For those in doubt, note that CISPA was just enacted by "Executive Order", despite the overwhelming objection of Congress and the American public.
We're not in Kansas any more.

IMHO

[Toastmaker]

This is a snow job by Kaspersky to try to make themselves look like elite cyber detectives. There is no "Equation Group". It's made up to try and insinuate some non-existent NSA link !

[KellyB]

This is a snow job by Kaspersky to try to make themselves look like elite cyber detectives. There is no "Equation Group". It's made up to try and insinuate some non-existent NSA link !

I'm not a conspiracy nut, but after Snowden's revelations, I have no more trust in the fed's concern about my privacy than I have for Google, Facebook, etc. Ask Angela Merkel how she feels about the propriety of our NSA.

I watch some spy stuff, and sometimes remind myself that life imitates art.

[Toastmaker]

I can certainly see your point- but this particular claim by Kaspersky is a sham.

[StormILM]

I'm not so sure this is a false report. Kaspersky has indeed found a number of very covert designer bugs that only a Govt could muster the financial and technical resources to create. Looking at programs like Stuxnet & Suter(which are a couple of examples out of hundreds or more iterations of "Offensive" covert programs) these programs are most likely associated with a lab in the city of Haifa.