Human Target -- Skeleton Key to the Internet

Maybe they've watched The Net and thought oooo thats a good idea!

Ahriakin

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...

Ahriakin wrote: »

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!

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

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!)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iRmxXp62O8g

You mean this one? Nice....

Vaguely related but this graphic designer is the guy that makes all those flashy yet nonfunctional UIs for TV/movies.

Slowhand

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

Slowhand wrote: »

7 Police Myths Everyone Believes Thanks to Movies

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

Slowhand wrote: »

5 Things Hollywood Thinks Computers Can Do
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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...

Kaminsky wrote: »

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...

Maybe Steve Jobs is actually an alien and thats why the Powerbook was compatible with the alien mothership...

FBI taps cell phone mic as eavesdropping tool | Tech News on ZDNet

Cellular Forensics, LLC

tiersten wrote: »

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.

ColbyG

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.

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.

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.

tiersten wrote: »

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

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.

Just noticed an interesting post on Bruce Schneier's Blog:

Schneier on Security: Remotely Eavesdropping on Cell Phone Microphones

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...

tiersten wrote: »

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

dynamik wrote: »

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.

Yeah. Not many Bluetooth devices even implement the encryption features. The ones that do are generally vulnerable to the pairing attack as well.

If you're paranoid about security then avoid any wireless technology or invest in a giant Faraday cage and TEMPEST shielding...

veritas_libertas wrote: »

But I tell you it's there man!

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! :O

dynamik

Found the link: Eavesdrop Bluetooth Video ? 5min.com

dynamik wrote: »

Found the link: Eavesdrop Bluetooth Video ? 5min.com

Nice find, thanks.

Isn't this guy asking to get in trouble by just listening in?

tiersten wrote: »

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

dynamik wrote: »

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.

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.

Yeah. It is certainly possible. I just think its quite unlikely to actually exist for every phone like the site and the rumours say.

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.

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.

I know you're listening. Well maybe not in the cinema but elsewhere!