Army Computers Being Infected By The Conflicker Worm stupid, stupid, stupid government

[Baniboy 3]

I was reading some news today and found out that in Germany, thousands of military computers were infected by this worm, how can they be so stupid?Who got the idea of having M$ crap in army? I thought they have their own operating systems that are customized to not be hacked or at least they would have a proper antivirus! They could even use free avast to stop this damn worm! Anyway, i also found out that sme laptops in Finland's army system have been infected too, but not many... Imagine if one of these would infect the main computer that holds up the whole network... what a disaster!Who idiot's idea was to use windows as a main operating system IN THE ARMY COMPUTERS?????!! I mean really... how can someone be so stupid?!

[Echo_of_thunder 1]

Not just them but the french navy also. If you will do a search here in Xisto Baniboy you will find a few other posts on the cornflicker worm.

[rayzoredge 2]

Article

Just because it's the military doesn't mean that the people who run the show aren't infallible to the same circumstances that Conficker/Conflicker relies on to propagate.

I would say much more about our military's vulnerability or preventative measures against Conficker but I don't want to breach OPSEC.

[Baniboy 3]

Article
Just because it's the military doesn't mean that the people who run the show aren't infallible to the same circumstances that Conficker/Conflicker relies on to propagate.

I would say much more about our military's vulnerability or preventative measures against Conficker but I don't want to breach OPSEC.

Well you might be right but they still should use linux or something... NOT WINDOWS! it's the most unsafe thing to use, now the britain and frenchies got the same thing too... My point is that the government is really stupid if it has it's military computers using windows OS.

[princeofvegas 0]

They probably went with windows because of its usability. I could only imagine trying to explain to a bunch of jarheads (no offense intended) how to operate a linux system. Windows is just more widely used. Maybe when linux becomes more mainstream people will start switching to it, including the military's and governments.

[Baniboy 3]

post Today, 10:10 PMThey probably went with windows because of its usability. I could only imagine trying to explain to a bunch of jarheads (no offense intended) how to operate a linux system. Windows is just more widely used. Maybe when linux becomes more mainstream people will start switching to it, including the military's and governments.

I think it's most like technical experts in the military than an average "jarhead". I don't see any reason why a expert (or even non-expert like me) could not operate linux system. Yea the command line might be a little difficult at first but you can always use the visual paths... I also think that students must be taught more than 1 operating system because it's unfair against linux and mac to teach only M$ crap.

[Xalor 0]

I don't believe that Government computers would actually use an operating system such as Linux or Apple's OSX. I wouldn't think that Apple would have the clout to be able to make the government trusting of a company with few years and not enough popularity, like Windows. Linux on the other hand has a true flaw, that its all based from the same source, so almost anyone could get intricate knowledge of Linux. Microsoft has the ability to make a heavily secure OS to run on their systems. You also have to understand that information is leaked all over. If someone found out about it on some secret iRC or a hacker forum in the underbelly of the Web, they could have the ability to make a virus that could put a country's tech department in a vulnerable state. The firesail is the way that its actually referred to, and anyone that had inside info could get in. Conficker or Conflicker could also be a virus that attacks the root of Windows instead of the external side, like the Drives, and Files, this would try to attack the inside of Windows.

[networker 0]

That sound ridiculous that the army is using Windows.Yes it's true,you would think that they would use they're own operatingsystem,or at least Linux.Ideally I would think,An army should use computer networks as little as possible really. I know that sound simplesque but it's still true.The bigger the network,the more chance you will be hacked.The army is serious stuff.

[Echo_of_thunder 1]

That sound ridiculous that the army is using Windows.Yes it's true,you would think that they would use they're own operating
system,or at least Linux.
Ideally I would think,An army should use computer networks as little as
possible really. I know that sound simplesque but it's still true.
The bigger the network,the more chance you will be hacked.
The army is serious stuff.

You know though Networker, I bet they do use there own network for a lot of things that we do not really know about. It would be stupid and foolish if they did not have there own in some way or another.

[-Sky- 0]

Wow. I wonder how many computers now have been infected by this worm....? I know my PC has not been infected with it yet. (OMG...YET.. ) But their should be a cure for it somewhere, like a good Anti-Virus that can detect and clean it from your computer.

[networker 0]

You know though Networker, I bet they do use there own network for a lot of things that we do not really know about. It would be stupid and foolish if they did not have there own in some way or another.

That's true. At least I certainly hope so.
Really though, the general public shouldn't even know about
certain military situations.After all,loose lips sink ships.
Sure there is freedom of the press,but sometimes there must be certain limits
for the sake of public safety and security.

[iGuest 3]

Wow, interesting judgement without any expression of understanding the reasoning that I can discern. What would be the politics and economics of a government agency using a monoculture system rather than a variety of dozens of systems, which would then cover your belief that appeared to be that "MS Windows is too vulnerable"? From studying the SANs site site most vulnerable systems list what does that imply would happen of say Macs became the most popular distribution, and thus cheapest by the nature of scale. So there is calculation in cost of machines (how many million are we talking about with Gov?) as well as the cost of training machine users and administrators. It is not by accident the Ubuntu distribution of Linux is working overtime on "easy to use" systems.  they are cheap enough - if you can get the dozens of program your organization has invested in, and thus committed to using - and you have hundreds of admins willing and capable of retraining in a speedy enough process to change your system over to one people are intimidated by.

Some of the replies to your post indicates that some recognize they don't see the whole picture and even imagine that the Army has some systems going one that they don't know about. That sounds thoughtful and it also points to secret nature of security, which is insightful.

Another angle is that there is also the the simple managing of resource and the choices that must be made when government mandates specific requirements of systems by creating new laws, which business can ignore with a level of impudence that the IG won't let government agencies get away with. I.E. More security mandates than funding and man power accommodates. It is sort of like hurry up and wait only more so and more complicated. Oh, and let mention that cronyism in government is as much the nature of the system in fact as it corrupt in principle. Remember that the previous administration ran a much on the theory of chronyism and even after it proved in fact disastrous for the FEMA and New Orleans and yet the American people elected the administration a second term - with significant oversight. Yes. Are saying America is stupid, no, is it Germany ( I don't think so) that is stupid or just armies in general? See what I mean?   

Here some of the basic as I understand them. As foxfire's distribution and market share increases, so does it's vulnerability, compared to IE. Like wise with OSes, While I am no fan of corporate domination, that is the primary reason that Windows has been found to be attacked more than other systems and thus with more effort put out by crackers (malicious hackers) thus the system becomes more vulnerable by the nature of its prolific use. Macs are thought of as high end and pretegious becuase of that. Your congressman is unlikely to  okay the Arym to buy them evern 3000 at a time. Apple also decided to use a UNIX foundation for the Mac 10x system. They bought rights to system that had been gone over for more than 20 years by the opensource community in a similar fashion, although predating by 10 years as Linux has gone through in the past tweety or thirty years - I'm losing take of time, eh?

Anyhow, as you can see, thoughfullness take time and I just got started here, it is process, like building defenses for zero day attacks. It also takes resources for an admin to update the computers under their responsibility. Studing Enterprise systems, I ahve learned that it is often not practical to give machines the freedom to update there antivirus just any ole time. It also is not some much in fashion of Systems Admins to continually educate their users on the timeing of their update systems. I worked in medical system with 1700 computers. Easily 10% of those boxed are turned off rather than logged off of - for a lot of reasons - so maybe that is 170 computers that are respreading infections - a pain in the a--? Sure, are the people dumb or is a culture issue that we can use to turn the Army into nationality or racial jokes to let off steam?

Cheers

[Baniboy 3]

But their should be a cure for it somewhere, like a good Anti-Virus that can detect and clean it from your computer.

Big antivirus companies do have the solution already, I don't know about the new version of conflicker worm tho.

[iGuest 3]

Windows vs LinuxArmy Computers Being Infected By The Conflicker Worm

I was a programmer/analyst in a Windows platform for 14 years (from DOS 3.2 through Windows NT, BASIC to .Net).

The company I was at during my last programming gig used Linux Fedora for one of it's file servers (because it was so secure [this was an aerospace firm with international military contracts]).

Long story short... Learning Linux was no more difficult than learning the first version of Windows. I switched to Ubuntu Linux about 3 years ago and never looked back. I'm now doing website design with this FREE/SECURE operating system and excellent tools.

I'm really being negative toward Microsoft or Bill Gates, but DOS (and everything it spawned) was built off an original kernel that was not DESIGNED to run in a network environment (thus all the "service packs". Linux, OTOH, WAS!

Bill G. Should do everyone a favor and redesign the Windows kernel from the ground up to INCLUDE NETWORK SECURITY from the GET GO!

-reply by rationalokie