Human Target -- Skeleton Key to the Internet
veritas_libertas
Member Posts: 5,746 ■■■■■■■■■■
in Off-Topic
So I was bored last night, and decided to scan Fancast (or maybe it was Hulu?) for any interesting television shows to watch. I noticed the title on one show, Human Target, and wondered if it was any good. I watched the first episode, and then the second. I coudn't believe the plot of the second episode, it was so absurd that I literally laughed out loud! How pathetic! The hidden client (if you watched it you know what I mean by this) is suppose to be a highly skilled hacker that has found a flaw in the Internet that allows her to bypass all passwords, firewall, etc. 
Where do these directors come up with this stuff? At least when I watch Warehouse 13 I know it's suppose to be crazy!
Where do these directors come up with this stuff? At least when I watch Warehouse 13 I know it's suppose to be crazy!
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Ahriakin
Member Posts: 1,799 ■■■■■■■■□□
Or last year's 24, were there was one firewall guarding the entire nation and apparently it didn't make sense to pull the plug on the internet connection when a chemical factory was under cyber attack....no no no, send the manager in to die as the IT guy is obviously out sick and no one else knows where the cable mode is. Or Die Hard 4 and it's USB hard drive that could back up the entire banking system (hell they did it from a purpose built super data bunker, whatever about knowing the actual capacity mismatch how could anyone write a script where in one case a bank of data units was needed but it could also be stored on a single book sized drive).
Oh so many...We responded to the Year 2000 issue with "Y2K" solutions...isn't this the kind of thinking that got us into trouble in the first place? -
Forsaken_GA
Member Posts: 4,024 ■■■■■■■■■■
Or last year's 24, were there was one firewall guarding the entire nation and apparently it didn't make sense to pull the plug on the internet connection when a chemical factory was under cyber attack....no no no, send the manager in to die as the IT guy is obviously out sick and no one else knows where the cable mode is.
Yeah, last seasons 24 had me very drunk indeed.
And let's just say this season's premier left me with a good buzz. Two nights in a row! -
veritas_libertas
Member Posts: 5,746 ■■■■■■■■■■
Anyone watch Criminal Minds? There is the one where Dr. Reid tells the parents of a child who committed suicide to give them the IP address of their Internet connection (as though they would even know how to get that,) and Garcia would just read the files off of their computers
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Forsaken_GA
Member Posts: 4,024 ■■■■■■■■■■
my favorite internet tv joke was on The IT Crowd when they gave Jen a box and told her it was the internet.
(and if you have not seen The IT Crowd, you're doing yourself a disservice. Go find it. There's 3 seasons, but each season is like 6 episodes!) -
tiersten
Member Posts: 4,505
Vaguely related but this graphic designer is the guy that makes all those flashy yet nonfunctional UIs for TV/movies. -
Slowhand
Mod Posts: 5,161 Mod
You've gotta love movie-makers for picking up on the fear of the unknown. After all, how exciting would CSI be if they had to span 6 to 8 weeks for a DNA result or how much fun would Die Hard have been if Hans and his cronies silently slipped in on a Saturday and cracked the vault to steal all that money from Nakatomi Plaza? I got a real kick out of the following lists from Cracked:
5 Things Hollywood Thinks Computers Can Do
7 Police Myths Everyone Believes Thanks to Movies
Free Microsoft Training: Microsoft Learn
Free PowerShell Resources: Top PowerShell Blogs
Free DevOps/Azure Resources: Visual Studio Dev Essentials
Let it never be said that I didn't do the very least I could do. -
tiersten
Member Posts: 4,505
List is good apart from the part about how the FBI can remotely turn on your phone and then enable the microphone. I guess its so super secret that nobody has noticed that their cell phone does mysterious things and keeps the radio running even when its off.
Real courts are having issues because of shows like CSI because juries are expecting the same results at the same speeds. -
Kaminsky
Member Posts: 1,235
Remember going to the cinema to see Independace Day and saying very loudly, "THAT was bloody lucky" when he uploaded the virus into the alien mothership...Kam. -
tiersten
Member Posts: 4,505
Maybe Steve Jobs is actually an alien and thats why the Powerbook was compatible with the alien mothership...Remember going to the cinema to see Independace Day and saying very loudly, "THAT was bloody lucky" when he uploaded the virus into the alien mothership... -
veritas_libertas
Member Posts: 5,746 ■■■■■■■■■■
List is good apart from the part about how the FBI can remotely turn on your phone and then enable the microphone. I guess its so super secret that nobody has noticed that their cell phone does mysterious things and keeps the radio running even when its off.
Real courts are having issues because of shows like CSI because juries are expecting the same results at the same speeds.
I don't know about, "turning on a cell phone" but turning on a microphone remotely is not that surprising especially with modern smart phones. A cell phone forensic investigator at my local ISSA group has written, and spoken on cell phone spying. Countries such as India, China, and Russia are places that you buy these types of viruses that you either physically install, or send someone an e-mail attachment that they open and it installs on the phone. I would imagine we will be seeing more and more of this in the future.
I am hoping to take a class on cell phone forensics this year or the next.
FBI taps cell phone mic as eavesdropping tool | Tech News on ZDNet
Cellular Forensics, LLC -
ColbyG
Member Posts: 1,264
You don't know about that flaw in the interwebs? I use it all the time. I'm actually reading all your emails right now. -
tiersten
Member Posts: 4,505
Yeah. I can see that happen along with something that snoops on the messages you send/receive. Its the part where they claim that FBI can remotely turn on any phone that I call shenanigans on. If its a special hacked phone then yeah sure they'll be able to do that. They're not going to be able to do that to any cell phone in the world though.veritas_libertas wrote: »I don't know about, "turning on a cell phone" but turning on a microphone remotely is not that surprising especially with modern smart phones. -
veritas_libertas
Member Posts: 5,746 ■■■■■■■■■■
Yeah. I can see that happen along with something that snoops on the messages you send/receive. Its the part where they claim that FBI can remotely turn on any phone that I call shenanigans on. If its a special hacked phone then yeah sure they'll be able to do that. They're not going to be able to do that to any cell phone in the world though.
Yeah, that does seem far-fetched. Then again, could it possibly be sent a "Wake-on-Lan"? If the phone was just hibernating (which is common for smart phones) and the battery not pulled could you turn it on and listen in? The only risk in doing so would be if the person is paranoid enough to ditch the phone when it just magically turns on. -
dynamik
Banned Posts: 12,312 ■■■■■■■■■□
You can also sometimes tap into Bluetooth headsets and listen in to conversations. Even if the person isn't using it for a phone call. -
veritas_libertas
Member Posts: 5,746 ■■■■■■■■■■
Just noticed an interesting post on Bruce Schneier's Blog:
Schneier on Security: Remotely Eavesdropping on Cell Phone Microphones -
tiersten
Member Posts: 4,505
From that article, it generally indicates that it is some sort of software tool that gets sent to the phone via undisclosed methods. Certain phone OSes do allow over the air updates which are assumed to be legitmate if they're received. I guess they're expecting the carrier to have filtered out those messages. Even if the manufacturer doesn't design this feature in, there are plenty of exploits and bugs in the various implementations that give avenues of attack. Search for the Nokia SMS exploit which bugged out the phone and would prevent you from receiving new messages.
Still no confirmation of the super secret remote turn on though... -
veritas_libertas
Member Posts: 5,746 ■■■■■■■■■■
Still no confirmation of the super secret remote turn on though...
But I tell you it's there man!
This is reminding me of that Mel Gibson movie where plays that paranoid conspiracy person who works with the reporter... Oh, here it is:
Conspiracy Theory (film) - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia -
tiersten
Member Posts: 4,505
Yeah. Not many Bluetooth devices even implement the encryption features. The ones that do are generally vulnerable to the pairing attack as well.You can also sometimes tap into Bluetooth headsets and listen in to conversations. Even if the person isn't using it for a phone call.
If you're paranoid about security then avoid any wireless technology or invest in a giant Faraday cage and TEMPEST shielding... -
tiersten
Member Posts: 4,505
My phone already has awful battery life. I don't want the secret world cabal making it any worse when they're listening in on me! Or maybe thats why its got bad battery life! :Overitas_libertas wrote: »But I tell you it's there man! -
veritas_libertas
Member Posts: 5,746 ■■■■■■■■■■
Found the link: Eavesdrop Bluetooth Video ? 5min.com
Nice find, thanks.
Isn't this guy asking to get in trouble by just listening in? -
Forsaken_GA
Member Posts: 4,024 ■■■■■■■■■■
From that article, it generally indicates that it is some sort of software tool that gets sent to the phone via undisclosed methods. Certain phone OSes do allow over the air updates which are assumed to be legitmate if they're received. I guess they're expecting the carrier to have filtered out those messages. Even if the manufacturer doesn't design this feature in, there are plenty of exploits and bugs in the various implementations that give avenues of attack. Search for the Nokia SMS exploit which bugged out the phone and would prevent you from receiving new messages.
Still no confirmation of the super secret remote turn on though...
I actually wouldn't be surprised if it was possible. Take my Blackberry for instance. If I power it down, and the bring it back up, it's pretty quick, it reminds me quite a bit of a computer hibernating. If I pull the battery and then put it back in, the damn thing takes forever and a day to come back up. So it wouldn't surprise me one bit if turning my phone off just put it into some sort of low power mode that was still capable of sending out a beacon to give out it's location, and still receive a signal that could turn it back on.
Which is why if I ever need to disable my phone because I'm paranoid about being tracked, I'll pull the battery out. Pretty hard to turn a phone back on when it has no power source.
If I need to make sure I don't receive any phone calls because I'm in a movie, I'll just power it down like normal. If the FBI wants to turn my phone back on and use the microphone to listen to the audio feed of Avatar, more power to them. -
Kaminsky
Member Posts: 1,235
You can also sometimes tap into Bluetooth headsets and listen in to conversations. Even if the person isn't using it for a phone call.
Years ago now, a friend of mine's son was on a cool university course called IT Forensics. He came homw one christmas and showed his dad how he could phone his friend but through his dad's phone without his dad even noticing anything.
One thing I keep saying is that over the last 20 years it has mainly been about getting IT out there and just getting it to work in the first place. These days it is mostly about securing it and making the best use of it. There are so many layers of technology and each of them has it's own nuances that you can use to your own advantage, if you know about them. That's where hackers come in and also where guru's live. How many know the intracacies of the net use dos command and how you used to be able to play with that.Kam. -
tiersten
Member Posts: 4,505
Yeah. It is certainly possible. I just think its quite unlikely to actually exist for every phone like the site and the rumours say.Forsaken_GA wrote: »I actually wouldn't be surprised if it was possible. Take my Blackberry for instance. If I power it down, and the bring it back up, it's pretty quick, it reminds me quite a bit of a computer hibernating. If I pull the battery and then put it back in, the damn thing takes forever and a day to come back up. So it wouldn't surprise me one bit if turning my phone off just put it into some sort of low power mode that was still capable of sending out a beacon to give out it's location, and still receive a signal that could turn it back on.
Location is easy enough already and the cell towers already do this as part of how they normally operate. They need to know where you are in relation to the cell towers nearby so they use the correct sector antennas. Lots of smartphones are coming with GPS or AGPS implemented as well.
It would be hard to hide this though if this was built into all or at least most phones. Phone hackers have full access to the main CPU and the radio CPU along with the software that runs on both. Unless it was really low level and implemented in hardware they'd notice weird stuff like this happening quite quickly.
The techs in the cell provider would also have to know about this capability. Lots of high end networking gear has LI abilities but they're well documented and known to exist.
I know you're listening. Well maybe not in the cinema but elsewhere!Forsaken_GA wrote: »If I need to make sure I don't receive any phone calls because I'm in a movie, I'll just power it down like normal. If the FBI wants to turn my phone back on and use the microphone to listen to the audio feed of Avatar, more power to them.
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Forsaken_GA
Member Posts: 4,024 ■■■■■■■■■■
Yeah. It is certainly possible. I just think its quite unlikely to actually exist for every phone like the site and the rumours say.
Oh, I agree. Too many folks like to tinker, so it'd be pretty damn hard to conceal this.
Personally, I think the rumor mill gives our governmental agency entirely too much credit.