Physically destroy IT equipment to contain malware
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Post: http://arstechnica.com/information-technology/2013/07/us-agency-baffled-by-modern-technology-destroys-mice-to-get-rid-of-viruses/
In short:
In December 2011, the Department of Homeland Security notified the EDA that there was a possible malware infection within the two agencies' systems. EDA's CIO, fearing that the agency was under attack from a nation-state, insisted instead on a policy of physical destruction. The EDA destroyed not only (uninfected) desktop computers but also printers, cameras, keyboards, and even mice. The total cost to the taxpayer of this incident was $2.7 million: $823,000 went to the security contractor for its investigation and advice, $1,061,000 for the acquisition of temporary infrastructure (requisitioned from the Census Bureau), $4,300 to destroy $170,500 in IT equipment, and $688,000 paid to contractors to assist in development of a long-term response. Full recovery took close to a year.
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Well, their policy worked, didn't it?
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I like to think of this in human terms. If you have a migraine, sure you can take some Migraleave, but you could also cut off your head, arms and legs and dispose of them all in fire. That also cures the migrane.
Yes, I am being facetious.
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To be fair, if they're still using CRTs at the end of December 2011, it was probably the only way they were going to get IT upgrades - get them from the military budget, since that seems to be unlimited.
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@russ0519 said:
To be fair, if they're still using CRTs at the end of December 2011, it was probably the only way they were going to get IT upgrades - get them from the military budget, since that seems to be unlimited.
Maybe the staff wanted new computers, so they all just agreed to blame it on the Department of Homeland Security.
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@russ0519 said:
To be fair, if they're still using CRTs at the end of December 2011, it was probably the only way they were going to get IT upgrades - get them from the military budget, since that seems to be unlimited.
Some guy in the article comments (presumably not you, but who knows) said that too... where are you getting this from? The article doesn't mention CRTs, neither does the linked PDF.
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@blakeyrat said:
@russ0519 said:
To be fair, if they're still using CRTs at the end of December 2011, it was probably the only way they were going to get IT upgrades - get them from the military budget, since that seems to be unlimited.
Some guy in the article comments (presumably not you, but who knows) said that too... where are you getting this from? The article doesn't mention CRTs, neither does the linked PDF.
The picture in the article is a CRT. Granted, it may just be a stock photo, but I wouldn't say that it's a leap that some forgotten branch of the government wanted computers that were actually usable, and given how much red tape there is and budgets they decided to just blame everything on a hack attack and get the budget that way.
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@blakeyrat said:
Some guy in the article comments (presumably not you, but who knows) said that too... where are you getting this from? The article doesn't mention CRTs, neither does the linked PDF.
I suppose they read the title and maybe the above summary, and then stopped reading after the first photo on the page.
Edit: And in the time it took me to type the above, russ519 even confirmed it …
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@russ0519 said:
The picture in the article is a CRT.
It also says "ACID CD BURN" on it. Seems like that picture was taken about 18 years ago.
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@blakeyrat said:
where are you getting this from? The article doesn't mention CRTs, neither does the linked PDF.
So, TRWTF is that they used a photo of a smashed CRT, which is probably just a stock photo they had sitting around and not one of the pieces that actually got smashed, instead of doing the sensible and logical thing, which would be to use a stock photo of a smashed LCD.
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@russ0519 said:
The picture in the article is a CRT. Granted, it may just be a stock photo,
It's ALWAYS A FUCKING STOCK PHOTO! How did you not know that? Are you an infant, just now exploring the world around you?
Well goo goo gaa gaa here's a protip for you little one: online newspapers use stock photos to illustrate articles 99% of the time. Now you have gained wisdom, and we'll have those diapers off in no time at all.
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@blakeyrat said:
@russ0519 said:
The picture in the article is a CRT. Granted, it may just be a stock photo,
It's ALWAYS A FUCKING STOCK PHOTO! How did you not know that? Are you an infant, just now exploring the world around you?
Well goo goo gaa gaa here's a protip for you little one: online newspapers use stock photos to illustrate articles 99% of the time. Now you have gained wisdom, and we'll have those diapers off in no time at all.
They really sad thing is how clear it is that's not a photo of the equipment from the story.
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@russ0519 said:
it may just be a stock photo, but I wouldn't say that it's a leap that
YES. YES IT IS A LEAP. There's a difference between a reasonable assumption and making shit up. You're making shit up because you want a nice story in your head. It's a leap. You have no data and no real reason to assume any kind of CRT, and reasonable assumption points the opposite direction: that it's a stupid, poorly chosen stock photo.
I don't blame your for thinking superficially about a thing that is entirely inconsequential to you personally. That's okay. Not a problem. I just blame you for trying to defend your faulty position when you know you've given the article hardly the barest of thoughts in between alt-tabs to the photos of shiny, moist vaginas you have open in the other window.
*alt-tabs*
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This article is a report from a government audit of an event that happened years ago and wasn't considered newsworthy at the time it happened. How could they even HAVE photos of the actual equipment destroyed? Do you think a newspaper photographer would hang out at dumpsters and take photos of everything destroyed just in case it became a news story a couple years later? Does that sound like a likely scenario.
Man I know I'm ranting on this, but how disengaged does your brain have to be to assume that photo has anything to do with the actual event. What field do you work in, russ0519? Please tell me it's not something like software development, and instead is something like astrology.
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@morbiuswilters said:
They really sad thing is how clear it is that's not a photo of the equipment from the story.
They couldn't use any photo of the actual equipment. With the insides exposed like that, it's a security risk. Someone might ZOOM ENHANCE enough to see the bits on the hard drive, and that exposes secret government data.
Or worse, some of those bits might be the virus itself. Someone in the office could read the article, the photo with the virus would get back on the network, and then everything's reinfected!!!!
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@blakeyrat said:
Man I know I'm ranting on this, but how disengaged does your brain have to be to assume that photo has anything to do with the actual event. What field do you work in, russ0519? Please tell me it's not something like software development, and instead is something like astrology.
I work for the governement here, and i can say that when the newspaper show a bucket collecting water out of a high end server, it is actually taken in our server room :)
30°C outside, cooling system stuck at 9°C, imagine the condensation ^^
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@blakeyrat said:
Man I know I'm ranting on this, but how disengaged does your brain have to be to assume that photo has anything to do with the actual event.
I already invented a porn story to explain that. Knowing russ' post, he's probably convinced by that.
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@Lorne Kates said:
Or worse, some of those bits might be the virus itself. Someone in the office could read the article, the photo with the virus would get back on the network, and then everything's reinfected!!!!
It's a weeping angel.... AAAAHHH
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I too want to point out that the photo in the article is clearly not an actual photo of the destroyed equipment.
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@spamcourt said:
I too want to point out that the photo in the article is clearly not an actual photo of the destroyed equipment.
The actual photos are behind an ad-wall. You only see the stock photo if you're using an adblocker to block their CDN. Jerk.
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@Lorne Kates said:
The actual photos are behind an ad-wall. You only see the stock photo if you're using an adblocker to block their CDN. Jerk.
Thread derailment in 3...2...
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@mikeTheLiar said:
@Lorne Kates said:
The actual photos are behind an ad-wall. You only see the stock photo if you're using an adblocker to block their CDN. Jerk.
Thread derailment in 3...2...What happened to "1"?
Oh, I know-- javascript countdowns don't work you block the CDN. Hope you like complaining about your self-broken-ass web.
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@mikeTheLiar said:
@Lorne Kates said:
You rang?The actual photos are behind an ad-wall. You only see the stock photo if you're using an adblocker to block their CDN. Jerk.
Thread derailment in 3...2...
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@drurowin said:
@mikeTheLiar said:
@Lorne Kates said:
You rang?The actual photos are behind an ad-wall. You only see the stock photo if you're using an adblocker to block their CDN. Jerk.
Thread derailment in 3...2...
How wide are these rails? 1 meter? 2 meters? Parking meters?
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@Ben L. said:
@drurowin said:
@mikeTheLiar said:
@Lorne Kates said:
You rang?The actual photos are behind an ad-wall. You only see the stock photo if you're using an adblocker to block their CDN. Jerk.
Thread derailment in 3...2...
How wide are these rails? 1 meter? 2 meters? Parking meters?Use men's units, son.
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@Ben L. said:
@drurowin said:
@mikeTheLiar said:
@Lorne Kates said:
You rang?The actual photos are behind an ad-wall. You only see the stock photo if you're using an adblocker to block their CDN. Jerk.
Thread derailment in 3...2...
How wide are these rails? 1 meter? 2 meters? Parking meters?
Grails, actually.
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@morbiuswilters said:
@Ben L. said:
@drurowin said:
@mikeTheLiar said:
@Lorne Kates said:
You rang?The actual photos are behind an ad-wall. You only see the stock photo if you're using an adblocker to block their CDN. Jerk.
Thread derailment in 3...2...
How wide are these rails? 1 meter? 2 meters? Parking meters?Use men's units, son.
But if I measure it in centimeters it sounds much bigger!
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@mikeTheLiar said:
@Ben L. said:
@drurowin said:
@mikeTheLiar said:
@Lorne Kates said:
You rang?The actual photos are behind an ad-wall. You only see the stock photo if you're using an adblocker to block their CDN. Jerk.
Thread derailment in 3...2...
How wide are these rails? 1 meter? 2 meters? Parking meters?
Grails, actually.Before clicking the link, I thought it would be about the web framework, and I planned on replying with a link to Monty Python just to be a dick, but it appears you out-dicked me.
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@mikeTheLiar said:
@morbiuswilters said:
@Ben L. said:
@drurowin said:
@mikeTheLiar said:
@Lorne Kates said:
You rang?The actual photos are behind an ad-wall. You only see the stock photo if you're using an adblocker to block their CDN. Jerk.
Thread derailment in 3...2...
How wide are these rails? 1 meter? 2 meters? Parking meters?Use men's units, son.
But if I measure it in centimeters it sounds much bigger!
Sounds even bigger if you use Angstroms.
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@morbiuswilters said:
it appears you out-dicked me
I wouldn't have thought it was possible, but you're right.
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@El_Heffe said:
@morbiuswilters said:
it appears you out-dicked me
I wouldn't have thought it was possible, but you're right.
And it only took 245 posts! I learn quickly.
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@El_Heffe said:
@morbiuswilters said:
it appears you out-dicked me
I wouldn't have thought it was possible, but you're right.I still don't get why Monty Python has anything to do with this conversation. In fact, this xkcd is somehow MORE relevant:
A relevant xkcd? Well, only relatively.
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@Ben L. said:
I still don't get why Monty Python has anything to do with this conversation.
Its known as "The 6 Degrees of Bacon". Any word or phrase can eventually be linked to Monty Python.
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@El_Heffe said:
@Ben L. said:
I still don't get why Monty Python has anything to do with this conversation.
Its known as "The 6 Degrees of Bacon". Any word or phrase can eventually be linked to Monty Python.
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@Ben L. said:
Let's discuss how bad this video about BACON is.
Is the pig the guy at 0:30 or the guy at 1:05?
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@Ben L. said:
Filed under: am I doing it right
No. @El_Heffe said:Any word or phrase can eventually be linked to Monty Python.
Adolf Hitler was in Triumph des Willens with Leni Riefenstahl
Leni Riefenstahl was in Games of the XXI Olympiad with Greg Louganis
Greg Louganis was in Touch Me with Bonnie Root
Bonnie Root was in Rails & Ties with Kevin Bacon
Kevin Bacon was in The Big Picture with John Cleese
Hitler <font face="courier new,courier">-></font> Bacon <font face="courier new,courier">-></font> Monty Python
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@El_Heffe said:
@Ben L. said:
Filed under: am I doing it right
No. @El_Heffe said:Any word or phrase can eventually be linked to Monty Python.
Adolf Hitler was in Triumph des Willens with Leni Riefenstahl
Leni Riefenstahl was in Games of the XXI Olympiad with Greg Louganis
Greg Louganis was in Touch Me with Bonnie Root
Bonnie Root was in Rails & Ties with Kevin Bacon
Kevin Bacon was in The Big Picture with John Cleese
Hitler <font face="courier new,courier">-></font> Bacon <font face="courier new,courier">-></font> Monty Python
I just came.
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@El_Heffe said:
And Rails!@Ben L. said:
Filed under: am I doing it right
No. @El_Heffe said:Any word or phrase can eventually be linked to Monty Python.
Adolf Hitler was in Triumph des Willens with Leni Riefenstahl
Leni Riefenstahl was in Games of the XXI Olympiad with Greg Louganis
Greg Louganis was in Touch Me with Bonnie Root
Bonnie Root was in Rails & Ties with Kevin Bacon
Kevin Bacon was in The Big Picture with John Cleese
Hitler <font face="courier new,courier">-></font> Bacon <font face="courier new,courier">-></font> Monty Python
(Oh and Kevin Bacon was in X-men First Class which had Nazis.)
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More Bacon and Monty Python
- Madonna -> Bacon -> Monty Python
Madonna was in Shanghai Surprise with Sean Penn
Sean Penn was in Mystic River with Kevin Bacon
Kevin Bacon was in Novocaine with Keith David
Keith David was in Hollywood Homicide with Eric Idle- John Wayne -> Bacon -> Monthy Python
John Wayne was in The Longest Day with Robert Wagner
Robert Wagner was in Wild Things with Kevin Bacon
Kevin Bacon was in My Dog Skip with Diane lane
Diane Lane was in Chaplin with Kevin Kline
Kevin Kline was in A Fish Called Wanda with Michael Palin and John Cleese
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Alex Papadimoulis → Bacon → blakeyrat → Bacon → dhromed → Bacon → morbiuswilters → Bacon → Kevin Bacon → Bacon → Francis Bacon → Bacon → Eli Bacon → Bacon → cardiac arrest → Bacon → lawful arrest → Bacon → United States Supreme Court
Therefore, this site is run by the United States Supreme Court.
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@blakeyrat said:
@Ben L. said:
Let's discuss how bad this video about BACON is.
Is the pig the guy at 0:30 or the guy at 1:05?
what is wrong with brits and their teeth, they look like they chew on sheet metal for a living
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Can we turn this into another thread about model railway gauges? I assumed that was the fascinating direction this thread was about to take, but the subsequent nominative association games have left me disappointed.
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@Ronald said:
what is wrong with brits and their teeth, they look like they chew on sheet metal for a living
Well, you do know what they say about British food...
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@ender said:
Well, you do know what they say about British food...
No... who are 'they' and what DO they say?
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@eViLegion said:
@ender said:
Well, you do know what they say about British food...
No... who are 'they' and what DO they say?
<font face="Verdana" size="2">Heaven Is Where:</font>
<font face="Verdana" size="2"> The French are the chefs
The Italians are the lovers
The British are the police
The Germans are the mechanics
And the Swiss make everything run on time</font><font face="Verdana" size="2">Hell is Where:</font>
<font face="Verdana" size="2">The British are the chefs
The Swiss are the lovers
The French are the mechanics
The Italians make everything run on time
And the Germans are the police
- famous old European joke
</font>
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@Snooder said:
@eViLegion said:
@ender said:
Well, you do know what they say about British food...
No... who are 'they' and what DO they say?
<font face="Verdana" size="2">Heaven Is Where:</font>
<font face="Verdana" size="2"> The French are the chefs
The Italians are the lovers
The British are the police
The Germans are the mechanics
And the Swiss make everything run on time</font><font face="Verdana" size="2">Hell is Where:</font>
<font face="Verdana" size="2">The British are the chefs
The Swiss are the lovers
The French are the mechanics
The Italians make everything run on time
And the Germans are the police
- famous old European joke
</font>Fair enough, that's actually pretty clever. [url=http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_cases_of_police_brutality_in_the_United_Kingdom]Except the bit about British police.[/url]
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@eViLegion said:
Fair enough, that's actually pretty clever. Except the bit about British police.
It says a great deal that those are the best examples of British police brutality. Over in New York, after an arrest, you got good odds of getting a broomstick stuck up your ass. Now THAT is brutality.
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Here in Seattle they shoot you for jaywalking.
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@blakeyrat said:
Here in Seattle they shoot you for jaywalking.
Yeah and in Dallas they shoot people for trespassing in libraries
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@Ronald said:
@blakeyrat said:
Here in Seattle they shoot you for jaywalking.
Yeah and in Dallas they shoot people for trespassing
in librariesYou can even lawfully shoot the repo man.
