{"id":29436,"date":"2017-09-15T05:45:37","date_gmt":"2017-09-15T09:45:37","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/admin.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/?p=29436"},"modified":"2017-09-14T13:25:34","modified_gmt":"2017-09-14T17:25:34","slug":"refrigerators-and-anti-virus-software-as-espionage-devices","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/2017\/09\/refrigerators-and-anti-virus-software-as-espionage-devices\/","title":{"rendered":"Refrigerators and anti-virus software as espionage devices"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"Desmond_Llewelyn_01\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Our new cybertechnology\u2013all linked, interconnected, and hackable\u2013including now the \u201cinternet of things\u201d\u2013opens up whole new vistas for espionage. \u00a0The government is requiring that a popular anti-virus and security software program be deleted from agency computers, out of fear that its Russian maker\u00a0is connected to the successor to the KGB. \u00a0And Congress is considering a bill designed to require security measures for the \u201cinternet of things,\u201d lest government refrigerators and coffee-makers get hacked.<\/p>\n

The ban on\u00a0Kaspersky cybersecurity software<\/a>\u00a0for government computers is the result of an FBI investigation, which has found that the company has close ties with Russian intelligence. \u00a0Even if there is not active collusion\u2013which the FBI apparently suspects\u2013 a Russian law allows the state to commandeer companies in the service of national security.<\/p>\n

\n

Kaspersky software is a respected product also used widely by American consumers. \u00a0The company denies all of the charges.\u00a0<\/a><\/p>\n

But Bloomberg Businessweek journalists\u00a0Jordan Robertson and Michael Riley report having seen e-mail correspondence\u00a0<\/a>from the head of the company Eugene Kaspersky about \u201ca big request on the Lubyanka side\u201d (referring to the headquarters of Russian intelligence). \u00a0He writes,<\/p>\n

\u201cThe project includes both technology to protect against attacks (filters) as well as interaction with the hosters (\u2018spreading\u2019 of sacrifice) and active countermeasures (about which, we keep quiet) and so on.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\u201cActive countermeasures,\u201d according to the reporters, refers to the capability of \u201chacking the hackers,\u201d tapping into their<\/em>\u00a0computers,\u00a0identifying them and learning their location so that they can be apprehended.<\/p>\n

This sounds like a good tool against hackers of every variety. \u00a0I see nothing wrong with a Russian security firm taking a contract from a Russian intelligence agency. \u00a0Yes, this capability could wreak havoc with American attempts at cyber-espionage and counter-espionage. \u00a0But this is a security firm. \u00a0<\/em>Protecting from hackers is what security firms are all about, whatever the hackers\u2019 origins. \u00a0The CIA would do well to buy the same product, if it could. \u00a0If not, maybe we would have a problem. \u00a0And the real issue is whether Kaspersky is doing other favors for Lubyanka, such as building in portals for eavesdropping on U.S. government computers.<\/p>\n

In related news, Sen. Cory Gardner (R-Colorado) has introduced legislation requiring that any internet-connected device purchased by the federal government must meet certain security standards. \u00a0\u201cThings like firewalling off\u00a0information<\/span><\/span>, requiring patchable and securable devices, making sure that you don\u2019t have a hardcoded password from a factory that someone can have access to.\u201d<\/p>\n

This would include appliances such as refrigerators and coffeemakers that are designed to be controlled via the internet. \u00a0\u201cThe federal government orders billions of dollars worth of Internet of Things devices each and every year,\u201d says Sen. Gardner. \u201cThese are things that can be hacked into. You can try to control systems, instruments with them. You can certainly read what people are doing and maybe even eavesdrop on a conversation people are having.\u201d<\/p>\n

This is not paranoia. \u00a0The news report on the subject,\u00a0Is Your Refrigerator A National Security Risk? from CBS Denver<\/a>,\u00a0<\/em>says that webcams and baby monitors were hacked into in last year\u2019s cyberattack that took down Twitter, Paypal, and other major sites.<\/p>\n

I can\u2019t decide if people in the federal government have been reading too many spy novels\u2013as in the James Bond stories that feature the ingenious technological genius Q\u2013or not nearly enough. \u00a0(Would M have bought anti-spyware from the Russians?)<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

Photo: \u00a0Desmond Llewelyn as \u201cQ\u201d by Towpilot (Own work) [GFDL (http:\/\/www.gnu.org\/copyleft\/fdl.html) or CC-BY-SA-3.0 (http:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by-sa\/3.0\/)], via Wikimedia Commons<\/em><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p><\/div>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u00a0 Our new cybertechnology\u2013all linked, interconnected, and hackable\u2013including now the \u201cinternet of things\u201d\u2013opens up whole new vistas for espionage. \u00a0The government is requiring that a popular anti-virus and security software program be deleted from agency computers, out of fear that its Russian maker\u00a0is connected to the successor to the KGB. \u00a0And Congress is considering a […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1281,"featured_media":29439,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[19,44],"tags":[3942,2655,5757,1940,5758],"class_list":["post-29436","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-government","category-technology","tag-cybersecurity","tag-espionage","tag-kaspersky-software","tag-russian-espionage","tag-spy-technology"],"yoast_head":"\nRefrigerators and anti-virus software as espionage 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