Saturday, March 28, 2009

GHOSTNET and the death of privacy

Almost 1300 computers in 103 countries have been hacked by a spy ring, perhaps in China, perhaps enabled by the Chinese government. A Canadian research team, acting on behalf of the Dalai Lama--whose computer had been attacked--found the trail and has uncovered this much so far.

The malware is remarkable both for its sweep — in computer jargon, it has not been merely “phishing” for random consumers’ information, but “whaling” for particular important targets — and for its Big Brother-style capacities. It can, for example, turn on the camera and audio-recording functions of an infected computer, enabling monitors to see and hear what goes on in a room.
This is more than just a bit creepy. We once thought of television being the main channel by which the world of evil infiltrated every home. Now evil people have found a new more perverse way to infiltrate. Strangers who are likely enemies can now turn on the camera and recording functions of your computer.

Want privacy? It may come at the cost of serious personal technological downsizing.

7 comments:

Anonymous said...

Creepy?

Everybody knows that there's nothing you do on the Internet that's all that personal, anyway. I don't know why this should be at all surprising.

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Anonymous said...

Indecisive girl here. Invading one's privacy via internet can be helpful in some cases:

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,511778,00.html

I'll bet the folks at Google did a few high-fives when they heard about this!

(Sorry about all the deleted comments. I couldn't get the link to display correctly before.)

Bruce Gee said...

I would call someone being able to watch and listen in in the room where your computer resides: creepy AND personal. This is probably not happening on anything like a large scale, but in five years? It may be commonplace.eststi

Bruce Gee said...

Doggone it, Indecisivegirl, that's JUST what I'm talking about! Men can't go sneaking off anymore. What's this world coming to?

All I can say is, that dog can bite back. Even wives have secrets...