Sneaker net Caught??

[Bleep]

This story was in our local paper today with the headline. Utility employees compromised security by tracking space aliens.
according to the tva the SETI program allows computer hackers to invade there computers.
The story is a AP story but a search I made on the TVA website found nothing, Link
16 employees and one contractor have had charges filed against them. Bleep

 

[Poof]

Bleep - I wonder if this has something to do with a thread posted at Ars here that gave info and a link to Symantec and their discovery of a SETI@Home worm, similar to the Bymer worm for RC5.

Probably an overly astute manager saw this if they subscribe to Symantec's antivirus updates, and freaked out.

 

[mechBgon]

<< Utility employees compromised security by tracking space aliens. >>



That strikes me as unlikely. TVA should have a look at the Large Company Teams list and ask themselves if these companies are unconcerned with network security, or just stupid.

...or maybe someone else is stupid. Hmmmm! :|

 

[Assimilator1]

I hope this isn't true.
I really can't understand how having SETI would leave a security weakness? ,anyone?

Maybe their just using SETI as a scapegoat ? because of thier poor security?

BTW what's an 'AP story' ?

Found this on Symantec site

Compromises security settings: Antivirus software and monitoring tools' processes are killed
,man this could really freak out some company people &amp; lose soem big production .......

I only hope they read this bit too
To remove or reset SETI@Home
SETI@Home is a legitimate program that uses Internet-connected computers to search for extraterrestrial intelligence. For information on the program, or how to reset your account, go to:......(SETI's site linked).

Judging by the info their ,maybe TVA's machines got infected by this worm(which would of happened without SETI being there in the 1st place) &amp; the people who were runnng SETI got blamed

This is a dark day indeed

As for the scum who wrote this virus :| ,I hope his account has been banned.....

 

[Poof]

Assim - AP = &quot;Associated Press&quot;

 

[Russ]

<< Maybe their just using SETI as a scapegoat? >>



Bingo!

Russ, NCNE

 

[Bleep]

This was a pretty long article and I wish I could find it somewhere to link to but further on in the story it said

<< During the two years the program has been running, hackers have never damaged any SETI computers, program manager David P. Anderson said >>

I think someone went off the deep end here, maybe a new management person making a name for himself.
Bleep

 

[mechBgon]

I dropped an email to the TVA with a link to the Large Company Teams list, and suggested that they brace for some criticism. Maybe other people would be interested in emailing tvainfo@tva.gov...

 

[Robor]

Ditto on hoping our IT people don't start screaming &quot;the sky is falling&quot; if they find SETI@Home on our work boxes. I use SetiLog or the SETI Service program to keep them hidden but anyone who knows what to look for would spot it quickly. I've got like 50 clients running! In fact, I even included it in my Win2000 Pro image (my location only).

Monday could suck. Well, it will suck anyway but it could really suck if I'm told to remove SETI.

Rob

 

[Assimilator1]

mechBgon
heh ,good idea ,I wonder if I should give them a link to this thread!?
[edit]Done ,but no link to this thread.

 

[Wiz]

Ok, I just shot this off at them: (hope I am not being too rough)

I certainly was surprised to hear that some of you are blaming a legitimate distributed computing project for your apparent lack of security standards. Forgive me if I am wrong but what I read indicates a very clear lack of understanding and desire to create a scapegoat in order to relieve some IT security departments culpability.
I own a corporation and have firewalls and virus shields running on all my company machines. I also have the Seti@home project running on most of them and have never had a problem from it.
Think first before making such stupid statements in the future.

Just take a look at the small, medium and large companies (top 200 each) that are running this project:
http://setiathome.ssl.berkeley.edu/stats/team/team_type_1.html
http://setiathome.ssl.berkeley.edu/stats/team/team_type_2.html
http://setiathome.ssl.berkeley.edu/stats/team/team_type_3.html

The Universities:
http://setiathome.ssl.berkeley.edu/stats/team/team_type_7.html

The Government Orgs:
http://setiathome.ssl.berkeley.edu/stats/team/team_type_9.html

Sincerely,
Richard Bastedo
President
GygaBite, Incorporated

 

[phule]

Maybe this all wouldn't be happening if these people had gotten permission to run the client before hand...like they're supposed to.

 

[mechBgon]

Good point, phule, but saying the people didn't have permission to run SETI on company computers is a bit different than saying that they caused a security breach by participating in the most popular DC project in the world. I smell a rotten Trout here...

 

[phule]

mechBgon,

Most certainly true. It's the fact that the upper-ups (usually not the brightest bulbs in the box to begin with) had no clue as to what seti@home is that it got the bad-press. Had someone been educated and had given their permission to use the resources, I'm sure that they would have never even thought what they did.

On a historical note, this is a similar thing US West (?) tried to do when an employee used a number of their machines to run Primes95. They blamed network slow-downs, bad service, etc on the Primes95 executable.

edit:
this whole thing is yet another reason why &quot;if it's not yours don't use it&quot; needs to be driven home. distributed computing projects don't need this bad and obviously wrong press. but now that it's out there, lots of people will believe it.

 

[Assimilator1]

Phule
Maybe this all wouldn't be happening if these people had gotten permission to run the client before hand...like they're supposed to

Is that fact that they didn't have permission?

this whole thing is yet another reason why &quot;if it's not yours don't use it&quot; needs to be driven home.

You have got to be kiddin me!?:Q ,a whopping amount of various teams outputs are from work machines (as well as friends &amp; families).Work machines just need the proper permission &amp; careful management &amp; information given

 

[phule]

&quot;Is that fact that they didn't have permission?&quot;


So you're saying that these people got permission from their bosses who then turned around and forgot what the client(s) did and put the blame on them for something they (the clients) could not possibly do?!

I'd like to see your evidence that says they _did_ get permission; that they _did_ inform their bosses about what the client did; that they _did_ everything &quot;by the book.&quot;

These people apparently had _charges_ filed against them.

As for the &quot;if it's not yours don't use it&quot; comment, I think you are missing the point. I am well aware of the contributions that many companies computer systems have made to distrbuted computing. I am also well aware of all the abuses going on and how many people get caught up in the &quot;stats craze.&quot; To me it is far better to stay away from machines that are not yours until you have 1. a good understanding of what the client is doing, 2. a good understanding of what the client is not doing, 3. a good proposal written up to give to everyone in charge of those machines detailing exactly what you propose to do, how the clients will be managed, and any possible consequences.

 

[Assimilator1]

phule
When I said
Is that fact that they didn't have permission?&quot;

I was asking you a question , I wanted to know if you had assumed they didn't have permission or knew that they didn't have permsission?

1. a good understanding of what the client is doing, 2. a good understanding of what the client is not doing, 3. a good proposal written up to give to everyone in charge of those machines detailing exactly what you propose to do, how the clients will be managed, and any possible consequences.

Funnily enough I did just that when I tried to assimilate some works PC's,they turned me down in the end ,but I wasn't surprised because I'm not even in the IT department ,or even use the PC's!.
But if the people in charge want to do it ,&amp; can do it legitemately then why not?

 

[phule]

As linked to from /., I'll let an article from a news source do the talking over me doing the speculating

http://www.knoxnews.com/archives/browserecent/06162001/archives/31399.shtml

 

[ElFenix]

<< Richard Chambers, TVA's inspector general, said: &quot;If you're allowing others to tap into your computer, you have got some additional risk there.&quot;

Anthony Smith, a senior manager of TVA's computer system, said the inspector general's office first detected the SETI programs on TVA computers, and managers made sure all were deleted.

The use of the SETI program on 17 TVA computers presented &quot;some kind of risk,&quot; Smith said.

But SETI uses a high level of protective encryption, he found, so there was &quot;a relatively low risk&quot; to TVA. >>



i'm not sure these inspectors know what the h3ll they're talking about... absolutely nothing about computer security, that is for sure. and absolutely nothing about how the client works.

 

[Russ]

I think the key statement in that article is this:



<< but 17 improperly used office computers for as long as a year to check data from space for evidence of aliens, the agency's inspector general found. >>



It sounds like they did not have permission. Unless, of course, management is just playing CYA - which would not be surprising.

Russ, NCNE

 

[Wiz]

OK people - time for a well deserved observation and recommendation:

Management will always hang you out to dry if it means the difference between you losing your job or them losing theirs.

If you do get permission to use company resources for anything make sure you get it in writing and have it signed and that you put that signed permission in a very safe place so when it comes time to put up or shut up you have a hole card.

 

[Assimilator1]

Thanks for the link Phule

All were given warnings that the computer program they used could have allowed hackers direct or indirect access to TVA computers and caused damage
Bullshit!:|

Richard Chambers, TVA's inspector general, said: &quot;If you're allowing others to tap into your computer, you have got some additional risk there.&quot;
wtf are they on about? if they are that paranoid about being hacked then why have an internet connection at all!?

Don Hickman, a senior manager in the TVA inspector general's office, said the staff knew the SETI program could allow hackers into a computer system and pointed to a news story showing at least one successful infiltration of SETI's Web site.

Hackers tricked the SETI Web page into giving them thousands of e-mail addresses of SETI users and then sent users notes claiming to have more information on them.

They really are grasping at straws here :| ,the hackers hacked a SETI Email database NOT any SETI client.
That could of compromised their Email ,if a virus was sent to that, but I would hope they have good security their ,&amp; anyway it's nothing to do with the SETI client.

But David P. Anderson, director of the SETI project, said hackers have never damaged the project's computer system or any computers of its more than 3 million users the past two years.


Downloading the program from the University of California at Berkeley, called SETIhome (Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence), was both a violation of written TVA policy and computer security,

Now that is the only real reason that they should be disciplined for ,they didn't have permission ,(I finally get my answer).
BTW I wonder what team they are on?

 

[Wiz]

I totally agree Assim1, everything but the last line is complete and utter nonsensical bullshit! If they would all pull their collective heads out of their asses for a minute they would not be making such a big deal over this. It is merely that some users thought it would be cool to run the seti screen saver and prolly didn't think it would be any problem.
Then some idiot manager straight out of a Dogbert management training seminar found out it was running and threw a tizzy fit. Escalation meant a bunch of people lost their jobs and TVA came out with a bunch of patently ridiculous statements that made them appear to be the complete fools they are.