I read that the military weaponized the hackers not so long ago. Now, a skilled nerd could be lethal as any Rambo or Braddock of the fiction.
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That would be a boring movie, tho⌠or just dumb.
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The only bright news is that it was Florida, meaning the water was already unsafe to consume. 
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Via Bruce Schneier, who now says he was wrong about dismissing reports of the attack.
The Long Hack: How China Exploited a U.S. Tech Supplier
For years, U.S. investigators found tampering in products made by Super Micro Computer Inc. The company says it was never told. Neither was the public.
By Jordan Robertson and Michael Riley
February 12, 2021, 5:00 a.m.
In 2010, the U.S. Department of Defense found thousands of its computer servers sending military network data to Chinaâthe result of code hidden in chips that handled the machinesâ startup process.
I bought SuperMicro because it was what the U.S. military/XXX liked⌠if their stuff is hacked to shreds then who the hell are we supposed to buy equipment from, then? And to think that way back when Lenovo took over IBMâs laptops etc we used to joke about Chinese spyware⌠and were rightâŚ
Iâm never quite paranoid enough for my own goodâŚ
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Is there any evidence that a wide range of supermicro products were affected, or only those bound for the US government? I havenât read the fine article yet, I admit.
Primarily I was commenting to say that in the fullness of hindsight, mimicking military purchasing decisions may be the riskier path. First, theyâre a tempting target. Second, though, they have a history of leaving vulnerabilities in place after theyâre discovered. That wastes their opponentsâ time and is an opportunity to analyze data flow, their decision-making, and even to send false information.
As for who you can trust? Canât trust anyone. Supply chains are a shambles.
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Primarily I was commenting to say that in the fullness of hindsight, mimicking military purchasing decisions may be the riskier path.
Thatâs a fair point. Still, do you trust stuff you can clearly assume to be compromised because of legal requirements to assist security forces or do you buy the stuff your own security forces do in the hope that the supply chain is a bit better? I agree, hard question, and an expense imposed on my business that I donât appreciate.
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Apparently my privacy conscious browser settings disqualify me from reading that story. Anyone want to summarize what the researchers are alarmed about?
They are affraid of bad use of AI. They think that the surveillance policies will be more and more strong each and everyday. So, the AI could be used to save time and profile portential threats. But an unethical AI could damage vulnerable and innocent people.I can be wrong, but what they call intelligence, is just algorithms.
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Thanks. That doesnât sound like anything new.
Surveil - Profile - Discriminate
Sounds like business as usual. Ethical AI in the hands of unethical people works just as well for these things.
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Not the case, it was open sourced, and people have republished clones (with added malware), I still run the original, and it hasnât updated in like 2 years.
Alexa, swap out this code that Amazon approved for malware⌠Installed Skills can double-cross their users
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Clop ransomware gang leaks online what looks like stolen Bombardier blueprints of GlobalEye radar snoop jet
Revealed: The military radar system swiped from aerospace biz, leaked online by Clop ransomware gang
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I canât understand why anyone would even own one of these damn things.
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Because they are unable to convey to their partner what a terrible idea this is⌠:(
Smashing it with a hammer might convey the ideaâŚ
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What, all of them?
If one somehow found its way into my house, it would be in the trash in a thousand pieces in less than five minutes.
And it would still be listeningâŚ
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