Comments on: Petraeus CyberClusterFuck: Broadwell used world's dumbest email troll security protocols

By: Jako

Jako — Mon, 19 Nov 2012 05:23:00 +0000

I find it amazing that the director of the CIA would not use freely available and public means to secure his communications like Enigmail email encryption and offshore VPN and email like Unspyable. Where do we find these guys and put them in such positions. Of course being so dumb as to get involved in such a thing in the first place speaks volumes in itself.

By: Antinous / Moderator

Antinous / Moderator — Fri, 16 Nov 2012 21:28:00 +0000

And today's Urban Dictionary Word of the Day is pentagonorrhea.

By: ChickieD

ChickieD — Fri, 16 Nov 2012 15:12:00 +0000

I think the point is that she might have made up a more clever gmail account name than “broadwelllovespatraeus@gmail”

By: Cowicide

Cowicide — Fri, 16 Nov 2012 07:53:00 +0000

Tvoorevfu!

By: schmaltastic

schmaltastic — Fri, 16 Nov 2012 04:14:00 +0000

That wasn’t TOR, which accomplishes anonymity through a series of gateway hops. According to the article, this LulzSec guy was done in by an anonymous proxy service that kept logs (!!!). There’s no easy way to verify if a service claiming to be an anonymous proxy keeps logs or not, or if it is in fact run by the FBI, which is nearly equivalent.

Yeah, long-range WiFi antenna. And don’t forget to change your writing style between your anonymous and regular accounts too. I can’t even imagine what would be considered “anonymous enough” if the goal was to post stuff about someone like Petraeus anonymously. Seems only hubris could prompt someone to try.

By: ldobe

ldobe — Fri, 16 Nov 2012 03:53:00 +0000

Real nice establishment you got here…. It’d be a shame if the proprietor and staff get locked up for a few years as part of a terrorism investigation.

By: Steve Nordquist

Steve Nordquist — Fri, 16 Nov 2012 03:48:00 +0000

Break up the war on love and humanity already and get those pamphlets on OpenBSD out there in the halls for journos. On people who are X.11 and triceps dorks…under what circumstances will it be important that you put middling mescaline on my bike or door handle monday mornings, anyhow?

By: zweii

zweii — Fri, 16 Nov 2012 03:37:00 +0000

I was agreeing with you and I think those moves mentioned in this article seems smart for an ordinary person to do which is contrary to the title.

By: jackbird

jackbird — Fri, 16 Nov 2012 03:06:00 +0000

Ajregffz?

By: Cowicide

Cowicide — Fri, 16 Nov 2012 02:56:00 +0000

Not sure if you’re referring to me. To be clear, my suggestion wouldn’t be to use a next door neighbor’s wifi router, either.

By: zweii

zweii — Fri, 16 Nov 2012 02:44:00 +0000

I don’t get it either.

I think using a neighbors wifi will be dumber than all of those mentioned here.

By: Cowicide

Cowicide — Fri, 16 Nov 2012 01:34:00 +0000

Sometimes that works, sometimes it doesn’t:

http://www.thetechherald.com/articles/Proxy-logs-helped-FBI-track-and-arrest-LulzSec-member

By: Florian Bösch

Florian Bösch — Fri, 16 Nov 2012 00:32:00 +0000

You could also hop trough a series of tunnels/gateways that criss-cross all over the globe. The time it’d require to subpoena the connection logs from all ISPs along the route is probably nearly infinite.

By: dolo54

dolo54 — Thu, 15 Nov 2012 23:35:00 +0000

haha yeah no doubt they just said ‘gimme or else’

By: acerplatanoides

acerplatanoides — Thu, 15 Nov 2012 23:02:00 +0000

you imagine they got a subpoena involved. How 1990s.

By: dolo54

dolo54 — Thu, 15 Nov 2012 22:27:00 +0000

I imagine the FBI found the source of the email as a cybercafe, and subpoenaed the cafe’s security video during the time the emails were sent, thus identifying the sender. World’s dumbest, well that would be the guy who emails someone from the house they are robbing (or updates their facebook page and leaves it logged in, which has happened IRL).

By: Cowicide

Cowicide — Thu, 15 Nov 2012 21:51:00 +0000

You underestimate me.

Look at the first letter of each sentence after you decode it, then decode that word and then you’ll understand.

By: Cowicide

Cowicide — Thu, 15 Nov 2012 21:49:00 +0000

AFAIK, using a random, 3rd party wifi router via long distance is the smartest move along with encryption and masking your MAC address, etc., etc.

http://www.instructables.com/id/Wifi-Signal-Strainer-WokFi/C1G5QYIFYTCPN43

And, read this interview:

http://interviews.slashdot.org/story/03/03/27/1357236/security-expert-paul-kocher-answers-in-detail

By: MrScience

MrScience — Thu, 15 Nov 2012 21:44:00 +0000

I use double-ROT13 in every communication, for even more protection!

By: noah django

noah django — Thu, 15 Nov 2012 21:41:00 +0000

idiot here. that was my question, too. what should i use–I mean, what should she have used?

By: noah django

noah django — Thu, 15 Nov 2012 21:39:00 +0000

”be sure to drink your Ovaltine”? FFFFUUUUUUUUUU

By: royaltrux

royaltrux — Thu, 15 Nov 2012 21:39:00 +0000

You underestimate me. “super secret” indeed.

By: Cowicide

Cowicide — Thu, 15 Nov 2012 21:32:00 +0000

used world’s dumbest email troll security protocols

What were the dumb security protocols she used, specifically? Not using her home’s Internet connection sounds like a smart move to me.

By: Cowicide

Cowicide — Thu, 15 Nov 2012 21:28:00 +0000

Abobql jvyy rire ernq guvf fhcre frperg zrffntr.

By: acerplatanoides

acerplatanoides — Thu, 15 Nov 2012 21:18:00 +0000

If we’re dreaming dreams, lets just fire all the generals. :)

By: Lobster

Lobster — Thu, 15 Nov 2012 21:13:00 +0000

Cyberomnishambles?

By: ChicagoD

ChicagoD — Thu, 15 Nov 2012 21:13:00 +0000

Well, as far as that goes, the general would be better off keeping Little Patton in his pants. That, in and of itself, is an unacceptable security risk. Once Patton is rampaging through Broadwell’s Bavaria (all the way to whatever Pilsen is in this analogy . . .) all bets are off.

By: royaltrux

royaltrux — Thu, 15 Nov 2012 21:11:00 +0000

ROT52 is virtually unbreakable.

By: acerplatanoides

acerplatanoides — Thu, 15 Nov 2012 21:09:00 +0000

I assure you, most of the places that generals spend their time, people will come and find you if you have such a device on your person. The building itself will know.

And if that phone is not on you, it’s not secure enough to meet the goal you got it for. That’s a great solution, for you and I, but not for people who spend all their time in our most secure facilities.

By: ChicagoD

ChicagoD — Thu, 15 Nov 2012 21:04:00 +0000

Are there still cybercafes in the U.S.? I think we call them “Chicago Public Libraries” where I live.

Also, two burner phones with text messaging. Do your thing. Throw he phones away. Done.