SSDD

Story: Virus hits nearly 75% of systems on Afghanistan military baseTotal Replies: 12
Author Content
tuxchick

Dec 02, 2008
1:56 PM EDT
The article is (deliberately?) shy on meaningful details. As usual, nobody says "Windows". But I bet money that's what it is. What good is it banning removable media? Hello, where did they hire their IT bosses from, the day labor shack? Same goes for the "reporters."

I read the linked articles, nope, nothing there, just lots of vague handwaving about Teh Evel Rooshun n Chinee Hackzorz. Though one of them inadvertently let slip the name of one the of malwares, agent.btz. Let us see what treasures lurk in Google:

http://www.f-secure.com/v-descs/worm_w32_agent_btz.shtml
Quoting: F-Secure Malware Information Pages: Worm:W32/Agent.BTZ

File System Changes Creates these files:

%windir%system32muxbde40.dll %windir%system32winview.ocx %temp%6D73776D706461742E746C62FA.tmp %windir%system32mswmpdat.tlb


Boy howdy, that sure looks like a clue to me!
tracyanne

Dec 02, 2008
4:28 PM EDT
Gives me goose bumps just knowing that the US army relies on Microsoft Windows for something this important.
Scott_Ruecker

Dec 02, 2008
4:31 PM EDT
How is it that the NSA and Homeland Security have figured out that Linux (FOSS) is the way to go if you want secure system but the U.S. Army has not?!?!?

tracyanne

Dec 02, 2008
4:35 PM EDT
@Scott... Army Intelligence.
vainrveenr

Dec 02, 2008
4:51 PM EDT
Quoting:I read the linked articles, nope, nothing there, just lots of vague handwaving about Teh Evel Rooshun n Chinee Hackzorz. Though one of them inadvertently let slip the name of one the of malwares, agent.btz.
Could this also plausibly be Pakistan's brightest minds taking to turning against the U.S. military in Afghanistan concurrently with the cyberwarfare engaged upon their powerful southern neighbor during this post-Mombai period of time?? To wit: - 'Indian Sites Cyber-Jacked by Pakistani Hackers', http://www.chowrangi.com/?p=3542&cp=2 - 'Pakistani hackers hack Indian website', http://www.thenews.com.pk/updates.asp?id=60966 - 'Feuding India, Pakistani Hackers Deface Web Sites', http://www.pcworld.com/businesscenter/article/154544/feuding... - 'Feuding India, Pakistani hackers deface web sites', http://reseller.co.nz/reseller.nsf/inews/78751AD12B4AA384CC2... - 'Indian, Pak hackers deface govt websites', http://www.zeenews.com/sci-tech/net-news/2008-11-26/486544ne...

- (...etcetera...)

tracyanne

Dec 02, 2008
4:54 PM EDT
http://www.armytimes.com/news/2007/01/atMSoffice070129/

Quoting:All Army personnel are eligible to receive licensed copies of Microsoft Office desktop applications for use on their home computers under an enterprise licensing arrangement with the software manufacturer.
Scott_Ruecker

Dec 02, 2008
5:33 PM EDT
@tracyanne: I walked into that didn't I? LOL!!
ColonelPanik

Dec 02, 2008
6:27 PM EDT
SNAFU
hughesjr

Dec 02, 2008
6:28 PM EDT
I do consulting work for the US Navy, and it is very hard for me to get them to even let me install linux on old hardware that they are trying to throw away ... to use for things like snort sensors and the like.

The IT guys there truly believe that Windows is more secure than Linux. With that as a starting point, it is hard to get anything done.
moopst

Dec 02, 2008
6:56 PM EDT
I work for a very large aerospace and defense contractor (well, the largest, Lockheed-Martin) and it's all Windows desktops and many Windows servers. We do have some RedHat servers and Solaris, and some antique mainframes and VMS servers but the corporate desktop is XP / Outlook / Excel spreadsheets / Power Point / and some use of Sharepoint.

They did a Technology Adoption Program (TAP) for Vista over a year ago and it seems like they decided not to adopt the technology - for now at least.

On the plus side they do encrypt the notebook computers and seem to have a robust network firewall. Go to a music lyrics site and see lots of interesting things getting blocked.
jezuch

Dec 03, 2008
2:58 AM EDT
Quoting:SNAFU


And FUBAR? . . . . . SNAFUBAR!! ;)
theboomboomcars

Dec 03, 2008
10:18 AM EDT
jezuch, bless you. Be sure to cover your mouth next time.
Sander_Marechal

Dec 03, 2008
10:26 AM EDT
I prefer BOHICA

(see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SNAFU#Variations)

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