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Thread ID: 98577	2009-03-30 01:46:00	Which are the cleanest, most protected PCs in the world?	pctek (84)	PC World Chat

Post ID	Timestamp	Content	User
760647	2009-03-30 01:46:00	Big Business? Governments? Nope, the home user that us techs have attended to: An electronic spy network, based mainly in China, has infiltrated computers from government offices around the world, Canadian researchers say. They said the network had infiltrated 1,295 computers in 103 countries. Researchers found that ministries of foreign affairs of Iran, Bangladesh, Latvia, Indonesia, Philippines, Brunei, Barbados and Bhutan appear to had been targeted. Hacked systems were also discovered in the embassies of India, South Korea, Indonesia, Romania, Cyprus, Malta, Thailand, Taiwan, Portugal, Germany and Pakistan. The researchers said hackers were apparently able to take control of computers belonging to several foreign ministries and embassies across the world using malicious software, or malware. By installing malware on compromised computers, hackers were able to take control of them to send and receive classified data. In this case, the software also gave hackers the ability to use audio and video recording devices to monitor the rooms the computers were in. But investigators said they did not know whether or not this element had been used.	pctek (84)
760648	2009-03-30 01:53:00	I guess it's more a matter of the spies not caring about home users' PCs, since they don't contain anything particularly useful.	somebody (208)
760649	2009-03-30 02:09:00	I reckon non-networked assembly-line controllers would leave the home users for dead :p. Nobody on the floor messes with them because they only need to do the one job they were set up for (which they will generally do fine for years on end without needing any attention), and nobody can muck with them over a network either.	Erayd (23)
760650	2009-03-30 02:58:00	The most secure PC is one with no Internet connection or access to other PCs, no optical or floppy drives, and no USB ports. :D	pcuser42 (130)
760651	2009-03-30 03:24:00	That'll be pretty close to the laptop you gave me :p No access at the mo, no nic (yet), you may as well say no USB (1 port) :lol:	Speedy Gonzales (78)
760652	2009-03-30 03:25:00	It has a CD drive though. :p	pcuser42 (130)
760653	2009-03-30 03:27:00	"The only truly secure computer system is one that is powered off, cast in a block of concrete and sealed in a lead-lined room with armed guards." and even then I would check it every now and again......	robsonde (120)
760654	2009-03-30 04:20:00	I guess it's more a matter of the spies not caring about home users' PCs. Large firms with loads of highly paid IT staff and huge IT budgets, and they can't run a few antispywares.............is my point. Bet they all run Nortons. Every large organisation I worked for did.	pctek (84)
760655	2009-03-30 04:24:00	Large firms with loads of highly paid IT staff and huge IT budgets, and they can't run a few antispywares.............is my point. Bet they all run Nortons. Every large organisation I worked for did. Fair enough. What's worse is the attitudes of some staff who work for these companies - at one large firm I worked for, my colleagues would routinely disable automatic updates (Windows security updates), because it "took too long to install". At another company, staff would disable the software firewalls because it would stop some applications from working.	somebody (208)
760656	2009-03-30 04:50:00	Fair enough. What's worse is the attitudes of some staff who work for these companies - at one large firm I worked for, my colleagues would routinely disable automatic updates (Windows security updates), because it "took too long to install". At another company, staff would disable the software firewalls because it would stop some applications from working. We use Sophos here at work. Automatic updates are disabled, but each pc at work is patched once it's verified that it's not going to break something. Having said that, most pc's are the equivalent of Dumb terminals. Can't install stuff.	the_bogan (9949)
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