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Arthur T Knackerbracket has found the following story:
The U.S. Secret Service is investigating a breach at a Virginia-based government technology contractor that saw access to several of its systems put up for sale in the cybercrime underground, KrebsOnSecurity has learned. The contractor claims the access being auctioned off was to old test systems that do not have direct connections to its government partner networks.
In mid-August, a member of a popular Russian-language cybercrime forum offered to sell access to the internal network of a U.S. government IT contractor that does business with more than 20 federal agencies, including several branches of the military. The seller bragged that he had access to email correspondence and credentials needed to view databases of the client agencies, and set the opening price at six bitcoins (~USD $60,000).
A review of the screenshots posted to the cybercrime forum as evidence of the unauthorized access revealed several Internet addresses tied to systems at the U.S. Department of Transportation, the National Institutes of Health (NIH), and U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS), a component of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security that manages the nation’s naturalization and immigration system.
Other domains and Internet addresses included in those screenshots pointed to Miracle Systems LLC, an Arlington, Va. based IT contractor that states on its site that it serves 20+ federal agencies as a prime contractor, including the aforementioned agencies.
In an interview with KrebsOnSecurity, Miracle Systems CEO Sandesh Sharda confirmed that the auction concerned credentials and databases were managed by his company, and that an investigating agent from the Secret Service was in his firm’s offices at that very moment looking into the matter.
But he maintained that the purloined data shown in the screenshots was years-old and mapped only to internal test systems that were never connected to its government agency clients.
“The Secret Service came to us and said they’re looking into the issue,” Sharda said. “But it was all old stuff [that was] in our own internal test environment, and it is no longer valid.”
Still, Sharda did acknowledge information shared by Wisconsin-based security firm Hold Security, which alerted KrebsOnSecurity to this incident, indicating that at least eight of its internal systems had been compromised on three separate occasions between November 2018 and July 2019 by Emotet, a malware strain usually distributed via malware-laced email attachments that typically is used to deploy other malicious software.
The Department of Homeland Security did not respond to requests for comment, nor did the Department of Transportation. A spokesperson for the NIH said the agency had investigated the activity and found it was not compromised by the incident.
(Score: 3, Interesting) by legont on Thursday September 12 2019, @12:29AM (14 children)
https://www.cnbc.com/2019/09/11/you-need-to-make-350000-a-year-to-live-a-middle-class-lifestyle-today-heres-why.html [cnbc.com]
Anybody here does it an honest way?
"Wealth is the relentless enemy of understanding" - John Kenneth Galbraith.
(Score: 2, Informative) by khallow on Thursday September 12 2019, @10:44AM (2 children)
Don't live there, don't spend like a sailor, don't have grotesquely unrealistic expectations (like expecting to retire at 34, which is a thing in the story "retire by a reasonable age"), and the drama is averted.
(Score: 2) by legont on Friday September 13 2019, @12:39AM (1 child)
That's where the jobs are. Perhaps more importantly, that's where oppotunities are. One meet people who could help one to get out of this shithole.
Myself, I am moving to midwest for now and out of the country eventually.
"Wealth is the relentless enemy of understanding" - John Kenneth Galbraith.
(Score: 1) by khallow on Friday September 13 2019, @03:44AM
Allegedly not middle class jobs.
Allegedly not opportunities to raise a family on a middle class income.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday September 12 2019, @10:48AM (10 children)
Ok, I'm sorry, but this entire list is fucking insane.
$70/day for food? I spend that much in a fucking month if I save a little. If I don't care, I can't possibly eat more than their 2 days on that list.
$400/mo on clothes? What happens with your current clothes? Wear a few times and throw out?? This is closer to a yearly budget.
$400/mo on utilities??? Wow. I think an entire house here spends that much, but then the "house" is 12 apartments... about 30 people.
Maybe because I live in Germany and my "average" salary of "only" €50k is so fucking poor.... oh wait, it's not. People in this world work for $2/day to make shit that the slobs then throw out because "can't live a middle class lifestyle". This entire "Middle Class" in America sounds more and more like whinny, spoiled rich that bitch that their money doesn't allow them to waste even more resources because they don't qualify to be ultra-rich.
And please, don't tell me that shit costs more in New York. Food costs basically the same, whether New York or Tokyo or Singapore or even middle of GuyDong, China. The same for electricity. But if you are a snob, you don't see food unless it's served to you on a platter.
And what about the "worker class". "Middle class" is suppose to be the "professionals" (like doctors) above the "worker class". But most people are "workers"! And by definition, this "middle class" is actually the upper class elites.
https://www.investopedia.com/financial-edge/0912/which-income-class-are-you.aspx [investopedia.com]
Even if you take the entire location thing into account, that only accounts for housing mostly. So that's maybe $50k/yr TOTAL variance in location. Where is the other 350 - 40*2 - 50 = $220k ??? Even on the top end with the adjustment, the $350k is well out of the middle class.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday September 12 2019, @02:39PM (8 children)
Just generally keep in mind that that's monthly expense for an entire family, not a single.
$70/day food makes sense if one eats out daily and has a family. Even iHOP or Denny's can get to that level.
$400/month clothes... You're living in SanFran. Expect not only higher prices for *everything*, but also you'd better stay pretty fashionable to keep your middle class job. You need everything to be looking 'better than average' if you expect to stay in the 'middle class'.
$400/month in utilities.... You're living in SanFran. I think they're a bit over on them, nevertheless. But even a 900 foot studio apartment can rack up a couple hundred a month.
$3000-$4000 per month for a 900 square foot apartment, for starters. (Unless you're lucky enough to find something rent controlled). Where I live right now I pay a third to a quarter of that for over 2000 square feet. Or live somewhere east of Livermore with a two hour daily commute and its expenses.
Yes, you noted that the housing expenses can be higher, but the reality is that everything is more highly priced. Hell no, food does not cost the same everywhere. Neither does medicine. Nor does electricity. Please do go move to New York, or visit there on vacation and conduct some research as to what it costs to live there. Me, I've lived in the Bay Area while going to school. Flipping expensive and I had the luxury of living in a dorm. You may find it is cheaper to eat in restaurants than get nutritious food from a grocery (hence $70/day).
I'd agree that on average in the United States that $350K family income is elite. It is in many places. But New York, San Francisco, and much of Los Angeles and Chicago.... different universe in terms of expense and lifestyle. One might question whether anybody living in those areas are middle class even if doing working class jobs.
(Score: 2) by legont on Friday September 13 2019, @12:46AM (7 children)
I do believe that we - former middle class - are scewed about 5x in income. A large two bedroom appartment whithin walking distance to one's job in NYC should cost about 2 early salaries after taxes.
"Wealth is the relentless enemy of understanding" - John Kenneth Galbraith.
(Score: 1) by khallow on Friday September 13 2019, @11:50AM (6 children)
What are we doing to deserve 5x more income?
Someone needs to make them first. There aren't enough such apartments now to make that possible.
(Score: 2) by legont on Friday September 13 2019, @05:07PM (3 children)
My personal productivity as a software engineer is up at least 10 times compared to 20 years ago. I am saving the work of dozens if not hundreds of low skills workers. Why other collect almost all the profit?
Note that this is not a complain. My bigger issue with the situation is that if I am not given the saved money, there is nobody to buy the stuff company produces. Therefore, they hoard money instead of manufacturing more, which leads to artificially low interest rates and high real estate prices and overall misery for everybody, including the guys with the money. There will be blood and rich children will hang off the trees. Do they really want it? No, but they can't stop doing it because everybody is doing it.
"Wealth is the relentless enemy of understanding" - John Kenneth Galbraith.
(Score: 1) by khallow on Friday September 13 2019, @10:09PM (2 children)
Does your employer agree? My take on this is that you agreed to this contract. That indicates to me that maybe you're exaggerating a little your value to the company in question.
You are your company's sole purchaser? Because otherwise there's a lot of potential purchasers that saved money goes to - your coworkers, vendors that the company buys stuff in turn from, or the increased spending that comes from the wealth your work brings in. It's definitely not going to some black hole to be lost forever.
Unless, of course, they don't do that. Most such recipients invest or spend the money. Not hoard it.
I see it also leads to non sequiturs since none of those things are consequences of what you claim is the cause. And the shared destiny thing at the end is just typical parasite logic. Nothing is ever all one-sided misery, not even complete extinction.
Unless, of course, those rich people moved out of the crazy countries first.
(Score: 2) by legont on Saturday September 14 2019, @12:21AM (1 child)
I've a suggestion for you. Forget your deep hate complex for a second. Reflect on "negative interest rates".
"Wealth is the relentless enemy of understanding" - John Kenneth Galbraith.
(Score: 1) by khallow on Saturday September 14 2019, @11:44AM
I've already forgotten such for a lifetime. A few seconds more should be pretty easy.
Non sequitur in several ways. This has nothing to do with hate complexes. And it certainly has nothing to do with your relative value to your employer. And given that there's no actual negative interest rates at present, it doesn't really have much to do with that either.
Reflect on what you really mean by "money hoarding". It means YOU DON'T GET THE MONEY. This is all an elaborate rationalization for why you deserve more and such.
(Score: 2) by legont on Friday September 13 2019, @05:22PM (1 child)
Only partially. We don't k now how much partially, but some are saying that more than enough apartments are bought by Chinese investors who don't dwell in there or at least don't produce any value locally. They only help to drive the prices up.
Again, a more pressing issue is under the radar. To make a place like NYC vibrant and intellectually productive, there should be a mix between rich and poor talents. New things grow in bars that are affordable to everybody.
This is broken. The city will have a huge crisis at some point and possibly almost die for a generation or two.
Currently most bright folks are taking buses for 2 hours to the office and, like myself, are dreaming of moving as far away as possible.
"Wealth is the relentless enemy of understanding" - John Kenneth Galbraith.
(Score: 1) by khallow on Friday September 13 2019, @11:17PM
Well, "some" need a two minute hate. Chinese investors make for a convenient target.
(Score: 2) by legont on Friday September 13 2019, @12:33AM
Let me comment on food only and not really for this particular list.
It is typical for young google employees to share apartments in NYC. It is also typical when 3 independent entities share a two bedroom - one per each bedroom with shared living room and one in *kitchen*. The point is that there is no place to cook food, period.
Eating out in NYC... $70 per day is economy setting.
"Wealth is the relentless enemy of understanding" - John Kenneth Galbraith.