Is There a SPY INSIDE yr HDD?

[Virgorising]

PLZ stop.should i send you a cheque or cash.:$:awe:

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[Virgorising]

Hi. Just found this. Is there a take away? I don't know enough to know. Do they need source code and so collusion re the Mfgs or not?

http://www.reddit.com/r/news/comments/2wntn6/theres_no_way_of_knowing_if_the_nsas_spyware_is/

All of this is interesting (also depressing) but for me, esp this:

[–]mrsifter 12 points 5 days ago
I believe kaspersky found the piece of malware that installed the firmware and reverse engineered it that way (instead of detecting the malware on an already infected drive). Without actually opening up the hard drive to access a JTAG/serial interface on the controller like this guy did http://spritesmods.com/?art=hddhack you can't reliably dump the firmware via software to check it for malware (as the infected firmware could intercept your commands and return a firmware dump different from what is actually running)
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Just found this one:
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2015/02/17/kaspersky_labs_equation_group/

Sigh. This is NOTHING NEW! Means all our older spinner drives have it! But, it also says, WD says they did not share source code.

I mean it: we need to organize and rise up! The Patriot Act must never mean the sky is the limit to what is being done in secret! Again, all subverting The Constitution!!!
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Just struck me....back in the day, when America stood up and was at its finest re Watergate (I have the best, two disk edition of All the President's Men & also the docu via Redford on it), infantile, pernicious, knee jerk partisanship disappeared and everyone acted as one for the good of The Nation. Including The High court which was not exactly liberal at the time. But the Nixon tapes vote was UNANIMOUS. Right now, if this got to and was granted cert by the current High Court.....the bible thumping brainless reactionaries there would vote it down. Bettcha.

 

[Virgorising]

OMG! SERIOUSLY?

http://www.iran-daily.com/News/111956.html

http://mashable.com/2015/02/17/equation-group-what-to-do/

Smash them? And what do we REPLACE THEM WITH?

This just cracked me up....lunatic laughing is what happens to me when there are no other options. Opposite of..... how adorable and funny and happy-making this is laughing.
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Update: We the People.....organized, brought ongoing pressure to insure net neutrality. Did not happen by itself. We first need to sign every petition there is. Start with this one---our elected officials work for US; WE pay their salaries:

https://www.aclu.org/secure/tell-congress-end-the-surveillance-state/thank-you

 

[VirtualLarry]

http://mashable.com/2015/02/17/equation-group-what-to-do/

Smash them? And what do we REPLACE THEM WITH?

https://www.aclu.org/secure/tell-congress-end-the-surveillance-state/thank-you

There are ways around an infected HDD. Sort of. If you don't use the drive to boot off of, it can't intercept and pass an infected boot sector to the BIOS bootloader. So if you "raw encrypt" the drive, even if it is squirreling away sectors to the service platter, then it won't have anything of value to store.

 

[Virgorising]

There are ways around an infected HDD. Sort of. If you don't use the drive to boot off of, it can't intercept and pass an infected boot sector to the BIOS bootloader. So if you "raw encrypt" the drive, even if it is squirreling away sectors to the service platter, then it won't have anything of value to store.

I appreciate this, Larry....just that you care, which U always do. (Some craven humans too artificially chill to risk caring.) But this sounds dangerously simple. Cause who says the spy lives only in the boot sector?

Given, it's in the firmware, period. It seems the spy is in the DNA of the drive whether we boot from it or not.

We must stop wasting time trying to get slick and circumvent this technically... do tech offense as if this is March madness (tho I am doing that too out of desperation)....and deal with the core issue: the out of control NSA.

Thanks again for yr usual caring!

 

[Virgorising]

Hold it! Jus found THIS:

http://www.freeyourselffrommicrosoftandthensa.org/

Could the reality of the history of this get any uglier? YES, IT CAN. It gets uglier every 4 mins!

But is this the answer?

Remember, this is an old offering. Re what we now know, what difference would it make running an open source OS when the spy is in the drive's firmware?
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Edit: Now found THIS:

http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/interest-privacy-will-ensure-youre-targeted-nsa/

Means, given my searches, orientation, the petitions I sign every day almost, supportive emails to the White House.....railing against what I do....I...little me...might actually be on watch lists! Like some terrorist. See. I am again doing the lunatic laugh.....cause this is just OFF THE CHAIN INSANE.

"It’s reasonable to assume that VPNs, encryption software, and other security-related apps and services will also earn you a spot on the surveillance list."