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posted by janrinok on Wednesday February 07 2018, @11:05PM   Printer-friendly
from the colour-me-surprised-again dept.

Every few years, bugs known to affect all known version of Microsoft Windows turn up calling into question many claims from the lobbying giant regarding their software branch. The Inquirer is one of many sites reporting on recently leaked NSA tools which can target all versions of Windows from the past two decades. Althougth the emphasis in the article titles is on NSA, the exploits only make use of widely known holes in Microsoft systems which Microsoft often tells NSA about long before issuing an attempt at a patch. Their collaboration goes back for years, and even long before it was the first to join the NSA in kicking off the Prism program.

Researcher Sean Dillon from cybersecurity firm RiskSense tweaked the source code of three nicked NSA exploits - EternalSynergy, EternalChampion and EternalRomance - to work against Windows versions dating back as far as Windows 2000.

Windows machines taken over through these exploits are part of a large black market industry where compromised machines are bought, sold, traded, and fought over for the purposes of producing spam, launching distributed denial of service attacks, spreading further malware, ad click spoofing, manipulating polls and games, and many more illegal activities.

Source : https://www.theinquirer.net/inquirer/news/3026129/leaked-nsa-hacking-tools-can-target-all-windows-versions-from-the-past-two-decades


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  • (Score: 5, Insightful) by requerdanos on Thursday February 08 2018, @01:04AM (11 children)

    by requerdanos (5997) Subscriber Badge on Thursday February 08 2018, @01:04AM (#634583) Journal

    holes in Microsoft systems which Microsoft often tells NSA about long before issuing an attempt at a patch. Their collaboration goes back for years

    Is it really just me who hears alarm bells accompanying any such statement? Why does Windows still even exist as a going concern, given the above? This is a significant part of why I don't run Windows anymore and I encourage World+Dog to join me in this.

    If I was really anti-NSA to the core (and I am pretty anti-NSA, go away NSA, I am a US-ian, leave me alone), I would not use Internet [theguardian.com] either. But I guess you have to pick your battles.

    "Don't use Windows," for me, in my situation, is pretty easy, while "Don't use Internet" would be a lot harder.

    If you are required to use Windows by your employer, this is a shame. But if required to use it by your school, that's a frightening injustice [gnu.org] that furthers the cycle of dependence on an undesirable ecosystem.

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  • (Score: 3, Insightful) by Azuma Hazuki on Thursday February 08 2018, @03:11AM (10 children)

    by Azuma Hazuki (5086) on Thursday February 08 2018, @03:11AM (#634655) Journal

    The older I get the more I realize the world follows the golden rule: he who has the gold makes the rules. Most of our fellow human beings, it appears, are utter moral nullities. And there's nothing we can do about it; when the worst of them get power, we can't even realistically defend ourselves.

    --
    I am "that girl" your mother warned you about...
    • (Score: 2) by crafoo on Thursday February 08 2018, @04:10AM (6 children)

      by crafoo (6639) on Thursday February 08 2018, @04:10AM (#634665)

      Money, "gold", is a proxy for power. Power means you can make people do things they would otherwise prefer not to. So yeah, people with the power make the rules and then enforce them with violence as necessary. It has interesting implications once you take it to heart, in a Realpolitik sense. Who actually rules our country? How do we interact with the rest of the world and in what manner do we make agreements?

      One of the most fascinating aspects of the latest PC and SJW trend is their ability to amass some amount of power over their fellow citizens through what appears to be simply controlling speech, language, and communication. I don't think it will survive when those with real power decide it no longer serves them.

      • (Score: 5, Informative) by Azuma Hazuki on Thursday February 08 2018, @05:13AM (2 children)

        by Azuma Hazuki (5086) on Thursday February 08 2018, @05:13AM (#634686) Journal

        You don't think the ones with "real power" are on your side, do you? Please don't delude yourself into thinking they'll let you be part of the club if you kiss up to them enough...

        --
        I am "that girl" your mother warned you about...
        • (Score: 4, Informative) by canopic jug on Thursday February 08 2018, @05:57AM (1 child)

          by canopic jug (3949) Subscriber Badge on Thursday February 08 2018, @05:57AM (#634711) Journal

          You don't think the ones with "real power" are on your side, do you? Please don't delude yourself into thinking they'll let you be part of the club if you kiss up to them enough...

          The late George Carlin said it rather clearly for those obtuse enough not to see it for themselves or in too much denial to admit what they see: "It's a big club and you ain't in it [youtube.com]"

          Likewise, sucking up to Bill and his empire won't somehow, magically make anyone wealthy or powerful. He got his money from his parents and the DOS monopoly granted by his mom's connections inside IBM. From there it was just to continue his sole college activity of playing poker (bluff and bullshit) and Risk (leverage and extend an existing monopoly) using those two presents.

          About the known lack of security in any Windows system, that ignored by people hoping find a path to riches and wealth by sucking up to Bill. However, on a national level, I'm starting to wonder how indpendent some countries really are and how much their own politicians are really allowed to make their own decisions. It's in no country's own interest to run or use M$ products at all. Yet they all do, almost exclusively. However, it is a great advantage to have their opponents using M$ products, in both government and business. That guarantees no surprises and that intel teams can check up on activities as needed without any inconvenience.

          --
          Money is not free speech. Elections should not be auctions.
          • (Score: 2) by t-3 on Thursday February 08 2018, @05:28PM

            by t-3 (4907) on Thursday February 08 2018, @05:28PM (#635049)

            Countries using Windows isn't surprising. Corruption and bureaucracy go hand in hand. I can't think of any countries with a functioning government that don't also have massive bureaucracies, so the bribes to buy MS (and push it to the population, in schools, services, etc) are almost 100% guaranteed to be effective.

      • (Score: 2) by captain normal on Thursday February 08 2018, @05:18AM (1 child)

        by captain normal (2205) on Thursday February 08 2018, @05:18AM (#634689)

        Ahh...the "Golden Rule".Then there is another rule: "Grab the one who has the gold by the balls, and they are sure to follow".

        --
        When life isn't going right, go left.
        • (Score: 2) by kazzie on Thursday February 08 2018, @03:08PM

          by kazzie (5309) Subscriber Badge on Thursday February 08 2018, @03:08PM (#634944)

          Is that what they do on Golden balls [wikipedia.org]?

      • (Score: 2) by DannyB on Thursday February 08 2018, @03:36PM

        by DannyB (5839) Subscriber Badge on Thursday February 08 2018, @03:36PM (#634959) Journal

        One of two things needs to happen:

        1. There needs to be less corruption.
        -OR-
        2. There needs to be more opportunity to participate in it.

        --
        People today are educated enough to repeat what they are taught but not to question what they are taught.
    • (Score: 2) by realDonaldTrump on Thursday February 08 2018, @05:32PM (2 children)

      by realDonaldTrump (6614) on Thursday February 08 2018, @05:32PM (#635052) Homepage Journal

      Our nation’s capital, Washington, is a swamp. It's a swamp built on a swamp. I call it the swamp. You have tremendous waste, fraud, and abuse. I'm going to DRAIN THE SWAMP. It’s going to be America First. One team, one people, one American family.