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Mass hacking seems to be all the rage currently. A vigilante hacker apparently slipped secure code into vulnerable cameras and other insecure networked objects in the "Internet of Things" so that bad guys can't corral those devices into an army of zombie computers, like what happened with the record-breaking Mirai denial-of-service botnet. The Homeland Security Department issued alerts with instructions for fending off similar "Brickerbot malware," so-named because it bricks IoT devices.
And perhaps most unusual, the FBI recently obtained a single warrant in Alaska to hack the computers of thousands of victims in a bid to free them from the global botnet, Kelihos.
On April 5, Deborah M. Smith, chief magistrate judge of the US District Court in Alaska, greenlighted this first use of a controversial court order. Critics have since likened it to a license for mass hacking.
General warrants were a key reason cited by the Founding Fathers for their rebellion against King George.
(Score: 3, Interesting) by urza9814 on Thursday April 27 2017, @06:20PM
I know a LOT of companies with unattended appliances available to the public. Particularly those Kuerig machines. And while those things DO seem to commit suicide quite regularly, they DON'T usually destroy anything else along the way. And if they did I'm sure you'd win that lawsuit pretty easily.
But our legal system thinks computers are magic and hackers are evil sorcerers or some shit that nobody can possibly defend against, so they give everyone a free pass. Ore more accurately, they give big companies a free pass, and screw the rest of us as always...