È la vostra segnalazione del Mac di nuovo all'esercito degli Stati Uniti?
4 dicembre 2007 · da David Bradley
Malgrado l'Apple Mac anecdotal di reclami al contrario i calcolatori non sono invulnerable. Come blogger dell'ospite di Figs di Sig' Il Jenny Oliver ha segnalato precedentemente ci sono molti problemi di sicurezza per gli utenti del Mac. Mi ha trasmesso un aggiornamento recentemente in quale sembra scoprire molto preoccupare la cospirazione che circonda una serie di ingranaggi delle macchine con un Trojan inbuilt che segnala apparentemente di nuovo al governo degli Stati Uniti.
“Ora è di quasi due mesi poiché sono stato incapace usare il mio pro in linea di Macbook,„ dice. “Dopo che le varie offerte per permettere le persone del anti-cybercrime accedano a al mio calcolatore per gli scopi di informazione-riunione negli interessi di sicurezza nazionale ed internazionale, mi sono reso conto che i miei bisogni di affari e personali erano ovviamente più grandi ed ho fatto un totale cancello e reinstallo questa settimana. Il Trojan non identificato (o equivalente) ha avuto zombified il mio laptop e l'agenzia coinvolgere aveva inceppato lo ssh aperto (coperture sicure che maneggiano)… che questo ha significato quello [[they]] gli ha avuto controllo completo sopra. Effettivamente, se non lo avessi usato in un istante, eventualmente si commuterebbe su (persino staccato dalla rete del `!), coperchio chiuso e tutto! Una certa nota di programmazione di abilità là… da che l'agenzia detta del `' stava aspettando un Mac-utente passante a goccia.„
Il panico comincia quando fate la scavatura di voi dovrebbe all'interno della vostra macchina. “Quando in primo luogo ho ottenuto il mio Mac, ho fatto i lotti di esplorazione. Ho notato che se infornassi su programma di utilità di rete, sotto la linguetta che di Info segnalerebbe un collegamento di rete che ha osservato abbastanza straniero,„ lei aggiunge, “questo soltanto sarebbe visibile se esaminato quando completamente staccato dalla rete. “Dispari!„ Ho pensato ed ho supposto allora che dovesse collegare con Apple per qualche motivo e non ho preso la materia più ulteriormente. Era solo dopo che ho scattato casualmente sopra il collegamento bogus e cattivo in Google in settembre che ho fatto un po'più di ricerca. Il IP address di difetto del `' era là dopo che l'incisione, ma esso fosse allora io ricordasse vederlo dal primo… e la reinstallazione stabilisse quella. Ho osservato in su l'indirizzo su www.arin.net - la registrazione americana dei numeri del Internet. 144.3.8.0. Il corpo degli Stati Uniti di infrastruttura e degli assistenti tecnici. Questo il corpo è responsabile della ricostruzione nei posti quali Irak e l'Afghanistan.„
Ho fatto un Google rapido per quel IP address ed ho scoperto una discussione tribuna comunicando piuttosto aleatorio circa la parte posteriore di senso dell'edizione nel novembre 2004, bene prima dell'acquisto del Mac del Jenny. Apparently the Apple Firewire TCP/IP defaults to a 144.x.x.x number on all Macs. What at first appears to be a US government conspiracy actually turns out to be nothing more than a legacy of the fact that the US government ran the first internet machines and these 144.x.x.x addresses are just some of the earliest IPs handed out to organisations, such as Apple, early on.
Anders HiPhi speaking on that forum points out that, “The server is part of the European ORSN network - a 13 strong server array network - through which all European internet traffic passes. The ORSN say they need the US side servers as they don’t have enough resources.” However, he asks, “Even if this is the reason for the IP to be a default in the OS, Apple has it’s own ORSN servers, so why should they program US ARMY servers as their deafult? USACE are almost certainly responsible for Cyber Operations as part of their brief, so why have APPLE put US ARMY CyOps servers as a default when they could have used their own?”
What does Apple have to say on this subject? Apparently, just because the machine defaults to this IP when it doesn’t have a real address to hook into does not mean it is an active address being packet sniffed by a US government employee. It’s an inactive address.
Who knows? Maybe Jenny is right and there is a conspiracy. I’m of a mind to assume that it’s nothing more than a pingback address to an ancient timeserver that is no longer used by Apple’s Firewire drives but that was hardwired in early in the design and is so low priority that there is no impetus to remove it now. Except that it would stop Mac users who dig too deep from worrying needlessly that the US Army is watching their every move. Indeed, I just spoke to Jenny Oliver again and she is relieved that I found this information but wonders why it is not more widely known and readily available to paranoid Mac users. Maybe there really is a conspiracy after all!


















6 responses so far ↓
David Bradley // Dec 4, 2007 at 10:55 am
Similarly, scary news emerged in November that Maxtor, Seagate external hard drives were pre-loaded with trojan horse software
Andy // Dec 4, 2007 at 11:00 am
Macs look nice inside and out - granted.
They get the job done, but I just can’t drag myself away from Bill’s Monopoly.
Windows has got all the options, dials, switches and levers that I crave to set things up just how I want them
It will suck up every virus in sight, slow to a crawl and cause my hair to fall out sometimes but it’s become a habit - for better or worse - Bill’s got me right where he wants me
I know that Macs have come forward a million miles and can run most Windows programs very well because of the Intel processors and the software available, but I just can’t do it.
As for anti virus software - I can recommend Panda.
Jenny Oliver // Dec 4, 2007 at 12:19 pm
Thanks for publishing this, David. Well researched! I hope this reassures others like myself who perhaps did a little too much digging! However, given the current high state of alert re cyber-crime and terrorist activities, it is highly negligent of Apple not to explain this in a more public way. Their response to my attempts to communicate with them has been less than helpful until very recently… and no-one apart from you has given the above detailed answer, even now.
I hope the lack of information will be rectified very soon, as it has been the absence of any knowledgeable response which has intensified the concern.
With regard to Mac security, other users like myself might like also to keep an eye on a blog in the Washington Post by Brian Krebs, who reports on various computer security issues, including Macs.
The latest item, just this November, is here: http://blog.washingtonpost.com/securityfix/2007/11/apple_plugs_44_security_holes_1.html
All the best!
Jenny Oliver // Dec 4, 2007 at 4:16 pm
Hi, again.
On re-reading this I seem to come over as mildly paranoid! To set the record straight, although I did wonder initially about being linked to the US Army, my major concern was that there might have been a considerable abuse of trust by Chinese manufacturers (given the nature of the Google hacks in Sept 07). The principal worry was that it might have been an outside agency which was misusing Macs to hack the west, not so much the US authorities snooping on us (which I find mildly preferable!). This was reinforced by reading about the head of MI5 voicing concerns on 1/12/07 in The Times. http://business.timesonline.co.uk/tol/business/industry_sectors/technology/article2980250.ece
A few things are also still a little disturbing. If the address is ‘not used’, why does it resolve? Why would ‘tracert’ try to find it? It gets as far as the Veterans Association and then bounces. This seems to suggest it is valid, even if general public can’t reach it.
Now back to restoring everything to my poor depleted Mac….. :-[
David Bradley // Dec 4, 2007 at 5:15 pm
Yes Jenny, you maybe came across as slightly paranoid in my write-up…but as you know, just because you’re not paranoid doesn’t mean they aren’t out to get you. 144.x.x.x may yet turn out to be some secret window through which Pentagon spooks are watching Mac users…I’ll keep digging, there are lots of references to that IP address on the web.
Jenny Oliver // Dec 5, 2007 at 9:25 am
I know it’s unladylike, but
!
OK, ‘business’. The matter has indeed been around for some time: snippet from an Apple Insider forum, from ‘John’:
‘I got curious about this, so I e-mailed the contact person for the IP address:
“This IP address is showing up on my Ethernet Interface (fw0) (Firewire or high-speed IEEE 1394 Serial Bus) on my Apple Computer. This is the contact e-mail given by whois for that IP address. Do you have any idea why your IP address is showing up my computer?
John”
Reply:
From: Gary.W.Decoff@us.army.mil
Date: January 3, 2005 4:36:02 AM PST
Subject: RE: IP Address 144.3.8.0
Cc: Gerald.G.Roy@erdc.usace.army.mil
“John,
Yes I do know why.__ Apple Computer is using my IP space as a default for some of their interfaces….
Please bring this to the attention of Apple Computer…__ If enough people tell them about this then just maybe they will stop doing it…
Thanks
Gary”
Go figure.
Edited: I sent it in as a bug report to Apple.’
Several years later and the message still hasn’t got through! Perhaps it will now?
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