McAfee: Cold War-Style Computer Attack Likely
Source: Tom's Guide US | Keywords: McAfee, Cold, War, Cyberwar, Security | Themes: The Internet, Software
It's the Cold War again, only this time it's with virtual rockets focused on our hard drives.
Yesterday McAfee warned that various countries are arming for cyberwarfare, and is no longer just a fictional idea. The warning stems from the company's fifth annual Virtual Criminology Report, and even provides a grim look into the future, indicating that the United States, Russia, France, Israel and China are locked and loaded with numerous cyberweapons. That's right, it's the 80s all over again, only this time the missiles are virtual.
"McAfee began to warn of the global cyberarms race more than two years ago, but now we’re seeing increasing evidence that it’s become real," said Dave DeWalt, McAfee president and CEO. "Now several nations around the world are actively engaged in cyberwar-like preparations and attacks. Today, the weapons are not nuclear, but virtual, and everyone must adapt to these threats."
The report defines cyberwar and provides an insight into what's going on here in the States and overseas, and how the private sector will be caught in the "crossfire." The report studies examples of politically-motivated cyberattacks while identifying the countries that are currently developing cyberdefenses and cyberoffenses. It also states that government disclosure is an issue, indicating that classified information hinders public and private sector cybercrime defense.
The report also states that a public cyberwarfare debate with government officials needs to take place. Until that happens, McAgee said that future cyberattacks targeting critical infrastructure "could be devastating."
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wtf? now i need like kevlar for my harddrive now? wow
like that one time I got stuck on on the red light on my base for like 10minutes, i swear someone from other country could have hacked traffic light server
awwww.... i was just finished preparing for the resistance
*looks at his closet full of guns*
im confident my windows 95 firewall will save me
Nuclear binary bombs?
In other news today McAfee's stock rose 8% today on an unexplained boost in sales. Up next Norton Anti-virus can exercise the deamons from your PC more at 11.
What's McAgee?
awwww.... i was just finished preparing for the resistance*looks at his closet full of guns*
Lol
Like McAfee can stop it.
Maybe they should start selling a cure for the H1N1 virus.
They are warning of attacks that have been around for close to 10 years.
If the power and utility companies can't function without the internet..... then stupid is as stupid does.
Hopefully the US govt. does not rely on the internets for their communication. They have only had 9 years to prepare.
A young teenager from Montreal brought some internet giants to their knees. What do you think a bunch of smart Chinese computer geeks can do. Oh by the way.... you can rent botnets from the Russians if the Chinese does not have enough already.
The problem is that the people running the country have no idea about technology. The internets.... I rest my case.
However Obama seems to be a little more current.
All essential services should have a plan in place to operate without the internet. It's only been 9 years.
Funny that McAfee knows this but still cant stop a simple tracking cookie.
I've never found a piece of malware that is harder to remove from a hard drive than the 60-day McAfee trial thta comes preinstalled on seemingly every laptop these days.
McAfee are the cyber terrorists, that's how they know so much about the conspiracy. Think about it...
I've heard rumours that the government has been stockpiling computers that can play Crysis..we should all be worried.
"Oh it's not that bad.....I mean ITS HORRIBLE! You must buy our product to be protected!"
Marketing at its best/worst depending on your point of view...
Somehow my computer has never found an apocalyptic doom from only using freeware antivirus, I'll never pay for McAffee.
McAffee and Norton are more of a problem than viruses and malware could ever be. There's no doubt in my mind that a good measure of viruses stem from those SOBs. Prove me wrong someone.
Hey, just don't sell our AV outside the US.
...its easy.. if there ends up being an issue.. from say Russia... everybody blocks Russia (they do this sort of thing with spam)... then Russia doesn't get any more google.. or facebook.. or anything hahahaha... im not worried
News Headlines:
Virus of Unknown Origin or Purpose Spreading Throughout Internet
*Month later*
P//Bomb Virus Believed of Chinese or Korean Origin
*Week later*
P//Bomb Virus Deletes ALL Internet Porn
*Day later*
RIOTS IN THE STREETS! MASS HYSTERIA OVER LOSS OF PORN!
*Day later*
Tensions Growing. WHO IS TO BLAME FOR THIS ATROCITY?!
*Next day*
America Blames China. China Blames Korea. Korea Blames Russia. Russia Blames Georgia. Georgia Blames Iraq. Iraq Blames Pakistan. Pakistan Blames India. India Blames Homeless Man. Homeless Man Blames America. All Nations Out For Blood.
*Nuclear Holocaust*
If i would launch an attack i would hirst kill the AV companies.
Even better if you infect the AV update files. LOL
Imagine Millions of users getting an update that destroys their machines as AV software ussualy have full access to your files.
And after the War is over.. the goverment restores the data from backups.. and a new day has born... stupid, a good system administrator can restore systems in les than 10 minutes..
Argh PC H1N1, lets all shit bricks over nothing. I bet McAfee's double dealing - "oh my how did this pathetic shit of a virus manage to rip all computers 'protected' by our 'antivirus' 'software'*? for the low low cost of $300 you can be 'protected'** from this threat."
*Software: something that uses resources, may or may not have a purpose
**we guarantee nothing.
Something along these lines has been coming (and happening) for quite awhile. I agree that our government should have some sort of plan in place in case of some major attack. The internet is an important resource to power companies and government bodies in case of an accident. This does not mean that it is the only means of communication.
As for the public: users should be maintaining their choice of updated AV and Spyware removal software. The trouble is that many users lack sufficient knowledge to realize why this is required. I will not even point out why our browsing habits put at us at risk as well. Does anyone remember the estimated US-Botnet numbers?
i'd better start stocking up on porn.
This article is lame! McAfee is a complete drain on the resources.
I can't wait for the next series of films involving cyber spies based of of this. I know it's not a new concept, but someone in hollywood should be inspired by this news to make some jason bourne-esque movies on this.
YEAH, I knew all those hours spent on FPSs would some day be of some use
McAfee And symantec are possibly to 2 worst AV products on the market. Doubt any real IT person is going to worry about anything they say.
Christ, even AVG FREE does a better job these days haha.
Although I have not heard too much on cyberwarfare outside of news sites, I have no doubt that it's been active for quite some time now. I agree with those who say it's some pathetically lame marketing scam using real-world events to sell half-ass AV protection. I use McAfee siteadvisor for firefox, and that's it. My AV is AVG free, and it has never given me any problems and has removed any threats I've had or that it has detected.
...its easy.. if there ends up being an issue.. from say Russia... everybody blocks Russia (they do this sort of thing with spam)... then Russia doesn't get any more google.. or facebook.. or anything hahahaha... im not worried
Interesting Fact:
Gotta stop the Akamai Servers from caching Google or Facebook first...anybody who knows about Akamai servers knows the technical details...in short, if Russia was to search for www.google.com would not hit (most likely not) the Google servers of America but Akamai server somewhere near them ;-)
Interesting Fact:Gotta stop the Akamai Servers from caching Google or Facebook first...anybody who knows about Akamai servers knows the technical details...in short, if Russia was to search for www.google.com would not hit (most likely not) the Google servers of America but Akamai server somewhere near them ;-)
I'm sorry, spoke too soon. I knew about Akamai servers but didn't mention that you have to be a customer with them so it would be up to Google or whoever to cease access...
We need the implementation of adaptive security control not JUST signatures. The only reason why Norton and McAfee are popular is because companies like Walmart and Dell push them onto people (Dell preinstalls them and Walmart only sells them). Tests show that they are just not that great compared to other programs out there. Since marketers seems to influence people with scares and unnecessary "needs", I wouldn't be surprised if these AV companies had something to do with these attacks/virus/malware etc. So do people who are working on their desktop have Netflix popups think that malware just wanted to promote Netflix for free? It's annoying and consistent advertisement is what it is. I have seen websites (was ~5+ years back) that offer renting services for malware with discounts for bulk-bundled purchases. Never rule out the possibilities ;-)