Question about Internet "Snooping"

S

Starguard

Limp Gawd
Joined
Jul 28, 2003
Messages
332
If someone who has a wired home network disconnects their Ethernet cable from their router, I can only assume that no one in the cloud can access them, thus eliminate the possiblilty of hackers "snooping" through their files. Even with the Ethernet cable removed, is it possible for anyone in the cloud to still gain access to their harddrive through the phone or "POTS" line? :confused:
 
? If there's no physical or logical connection to the internet then obviously no.
 
no.

if your computer has no internet connection, wired or wireless, people can not access it.

Now there is he question of if the NSA has devices in computers that give them access whether or not the actual computer has internet or not.
 
Reason for this post is that a friend of mines told me sometimes (very late at night) he can hear his hard drive making sounds. When he looks at the Ethernet connection port on his router, he can see it blinking like crazy (which is an indication that traffic is flowing) when he knows that he hasnt touched it.

I asked him to disconnect his ethernet cable before bed at night and see what happens. He tells me that he has a light on his computer that still blinks the same way it did when his ethernet cable was connected, and he is afraid that someone may have gained access to it.

I asked had his computer ever been set up for wireless connections, and he says..No!


I told him to pull BOTH cords, (Ethernet and POTS) and tell me what happened. So far I havent been able to get back with him.

Was this considered bad advice?
 
no but there are other explanations.
There are a services that access disk during off hours.
Just a few of many:
AV
index service.
Itunes
Windows update
Windows logs and error reporting does database maintenance.

There are several programs/services that access the internet during off hours.
Just a few:
AV
Windows update
Itunes

Also the cable company does testing and upgrades that are broadcast that causes the traffic cable modem light to flash. This is usually done at 1am or 2am local time.

While it is possible for a virus to install a dialer and connect to a control server over the phone lines. There have been some in the past. There have also been some that dial 900 numbers. They are not common these days.
 
windows update by default runs at 3am i think when set to automatic.

Most automated things will run at AM hours as most people are not using their system.

Think your friend needs to take off his tinfoil hat, or just install a firewall like comodo on his PC and do a block all and only let through what they choose.
 
Only technique i know of reading data off a computer remotely without any wireless or wired connection requires you to be looking at it, so wouldn't taking over the network connection that doesn't exist
 
Another issue that has been bought to my attention is that there is supposed to be a new method that hackers use to track JPEGS by GPS. This is something that I cannot see possible, but others insist that it is!

Has anyone here ever heard of this :confused:
 
Starguard said:
If someone who has a wired home network disconnects their Ethernet cable from their router, I can only assume that no one in the cloud can access them, thus eliminate the possiblilty of hackers "snooping" through their files. Even with the Ethernet cable removed, is it possible for anyone in the cloud to still gain access to their harddrive through the phone or "POTS" line? :confused:
Click to expand...

Please tell me you joined the forum 11 years ago as a still-developing fetus. (j/k)

If the "ethernet cable" you referred to is the one from your computer, to the router, no one else on the local area network can see you and no one outside (the internet) can snoop on you.

If the ethernet cable you're referring to is the one from the Modem to the router, -and- if there -are- other computers connected to the router, those local computers may be able to access your computer
 
jadams said:
The cloud

*cringe*
Click to expand...
You too, eh? I can honestly FEEL my blood pressure rise when someone uses the term, makes me want to punch them.

"Internet of Things" is fast approaching the BS level of "the cloud", too.
 
Starguard said:
Another issue that has been bought to my attention is that there is supposed to be a new method that hackers use to track JPEGS by GPS. This is something that I cannot see possible, but others insist that it is!

Has anyone here ever heard of this :confused:
Click to expand...
You're being trolled, son.

Pictures ( gif, jpgs, ect... ) can be used to track ip addresses, which can then be kinda-sorta reversed to find the approximate location ( note the kinda-sorta ), but that's about as close as we get.

ADDED: Unless they are referring to the meta data phones add to pictures, in which case yes; many phones will tag the GPS coordinates on to an image. This isn't new though.
 
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XOR != OR said:
You too, eh? I can honestly FEEL my blood pressure rise when someone uses the term, makes me want to punch them.

"Internet of Things" is fast approaching the BS level of "the cloud", too.
Click to expand...

Haha. Yup.

Damn you Cisco for trying to make that the new buzzword.
 
I'd be more paranoid about all the cell signals and the hackers on their 4G hotspots trying to hack my brain :eek:
 
http://www.theguardian.com/books/2014/may/12/glenn-greenwald-nsa-tampers-us-internet-routers-snowden

http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/...de-factory-show-cisco-router-getting-implant/

http://www.npr.org/blogs/thetwo-way...t-should-be-able-to-monitor-all-communication

In an interview with NPR's Morning Edition, Greenwald says one of the more "shocking" things he's found is that the National Security Agency physically intercepted shipments of computer hardware, like computers, routers, switches and servers, to outfit them with surveillance equipment.

Once they were done, they repackaged the hardware with "factory sealing" and sent it on its way to unsuspecting companies

What has also been leaked is that software and hardware designs themselves have been manipulated by NSA influence to contain backdoors.
Click to expand...

In one example cited by The Intercept, the NSA disguised itself as a fake Facebook server in order to intercept connections attempted to be made between account holders and the social networking site’s real computers. Instead, however, the NSA sends those unsuspecting Facebook users to a real site embedded with malware that then has the ability to infect that target’s computer.

That program — QUANTUMHAND — became operational in October 2010.

In another example, The Intercept included images from an internal NSA slideshow presentation that indicates surveillance missions can be waged by the agency against targeted email addresses, IP addresses and the “cookies” created by websites like Google, Yahoo, YouTube and countless others to track visitors.

Other programs disclosed by Mr. Snowden and described by The Intercept include CAPTIVATEDAUDIENCE (“used to take over a targeted computer’s microphone and record conversations”, GUMFISH (“can covertly take over a computer’s webcam and snap photographs”), FOGGYBOTTOM (“records logs of Internet browsing histories and collects login details and passwords”), GROK (“used to log keystrokes”) and SALVAGERABBIT to exfiltrate data from removable flash drives connected to a target’s computer.

“If we can get the target to visit us in some sort of web browser, we can probably own them,” an NSA employee wrote in one of the previously secret documents.

The intelligence community’s top-secret “Black Budget” for 2013, obtained by Snowden, lists TURBINE as part of a broader NSA surveillance initiative named “Owning the Net.” The agency sought $67.6 million in taxpayer funding for the program last year. Some of the money was earmarked for TURBINE, expanding the system to encompass “a wider variety” of networks and “enabling greater automation of computer network exploitation.”
Click to expand...

"You have owners. They own you." -- George Carlin
 
Sometimes, the agency’s aim is disruption rather than surveillance. QUANTUMSKY, a piece of NSA malware developed in 2004, is used to block targets from accessing certain websites.

QUANTUMCOPPER, first tested in 2008, corrupts a target’s file downloads.

Before it can extract data from an implant or use it to attack a system, the NSA must first install the malware on a targeted computer or network.

Consequently, the NSA has turned to new and more advanced hacking techniques. These include performing so-called “man-in-the-middle” and “man-on-the-side” attacks, which covertly force a user’s internet browser to route to NSA computer servers that try to infect them with an implant.

The man-in-the-middle tactic can be used, for instance, to covertly change the content of a message as it is being sent between two people, without either knowing that any change has been made by a third party. The same technique is sometimes used to defraud people.

“The thing that raises a red flag for me is the reference to ‘network choke points,’” he says. “That’s the last place that we should be allowing intelligence agencies to compromise the infrastructure – because that is by definition a mass surveillance technique.”

In many cases, firewalls and other security measures do not appear to pose much of an obstacle to the NSA. Indeed, the agency’s hackers appear confident in their ability to circumvent any security mechanism that stands between them and compromising a computer or network.
Click to expand...
This doesn't even touch on things like being able to listen to conversations inside buildings through walls even when the blinds are drawn. The 21st century will be known as the century when privacy died.
 
I fear that in the very near future.. things will not end well for all mankind !!
 
The old adage is that sunlight is the best disinfectant. Maybe by eliminating privacy there will be fewer problems? The trouble is, of course, that the elite work hard to maintain two levels of privacy: general public and elite. The elites spy on each other (like the tapping of Merkel's cell) relentlessly but make sure that we don't have access to their level of information so they can manipulate us to maintain their privilege:

greenspan said:
"We run the risk, by laying out the pros and cons of a particular argument, of inducing people to join in on the debate, and in this regard it is possible to lose control of a process that only we fully understand."
Click to expand...
Translation = Maintain your power via insider information (about the housing bubble in this case).

But, as I said... at least having the elites have little privacy when it comes to each other may help somewhat to avoid worse outcomes. At the same time, when people like Putin are brazen enough to shoot passenger jets out of the sky, you know that things are still not even close to peaceful. Plus, the US, being the largest dealer of arms in the world, needs conflict to maintain the revenue stream.

By having all of the goods on all people (and being able to manufacture false goods when necessary), power can blackmail more than it otherwise could. However, Putin has a trump card called nukes and there are so many of those lying around that it's hard to ever relax. Of course, if people keep pushing out tons of "consumer" babies our planet's ecosystem will turn into the equivalent of China's "cancer villages".

All the people playing video games are the equivalent of Nero fiddling.
 
stormy1 said:
no but there are other explanations.
There are a services that access disk during off hours.
Just a few of many:
AV
index service.
Itunes
Windows update
Windows logs and error reporting does database maintenance.

There are several programs/services that access the internet during off hours.
Just a few:
AV
Windows update
Itunes

Also the cable company does testing and upgrades that are broadcast that causes the traffic cable modem light to flash. This is usually done at 1am or 2am local time.

While it is possible for a virus to install a dialer and connect to a control server over the phone lines. There have been some in the past. There have also been some that dial 900 numbers. They are not common these days.
Click to expand...

Basically this. It could be any number of things running at that hour. Could be a simple defrag running on schedule.
 
If your friend is really that paranoid, tell him to power the computer off at night. If that's still not good enough, have him power off and pull the power cord along with the network and telephone cables. If that still not enough, refer him to a mental health professional.
 
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