Whose computers and software can you trust?

It was a build-up - prior to that they were less skilled at incompetence, learning from overseas ‘experience’ as others have mentioned enabled them to fast-track their skills in this area, but they had some well earned runs of the short-sightess (and other, notably ‘hair brained’) scoreboards already. Since that time the shell game of ‘what will we call the next big thing that is just a re-stuffup of some previous big thing’ has taken us to a myriad of ‘interesting places’ … sadly under different clothes the soiled undergarments of outsourcing are still there, crawling with life …

I remember one who we called an MBWA - management by walking around. Clearly there was nothing interesting happening in his office, he spent a lot if time in mine and many others. We were eventually outsourced - lots of knowledge went - a few years later it was all taken back in house again … anecdotally a common story …

So in essence, we’ve added another question to the topic - “and who do you trust to implement the computers and software you cannot trust” - answer - nobody …

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I failed a core module of my MBA program because I disagreed with the professor - who had absolutely no experience and just went with the ‘theory’ rather than what actually occurs. Had to re-take the course - this time, biting my tongue and saying what they wanted to hear.

So much for ‘learning to think’.

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It’s about them programming you (or trying to), not learning to think :wink:

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The battery is there to retain the boot up memory, ie, no power no memory of the initial few low level microcode commands that then lead to the complex layers of software to activate and open.

Trend-Micro anyone?

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I see this was in the Apple desktop environment, but of course if the apps are doing bad things there they are probably similarly naughty on Windows, Android and iOS.

Ten years ago (or maybe fifteen) it was possible to run a software firewall based upon white-listing - assume the program does not need Internet access, and block it, until proven otherwise. Unfortunately (and fortunately) times have changed, and applications phone home to check for updates, make sure the customer has paid, and do all sorts of other things.

I say this is unfortunate and fortunate, because we need our applications to stay up-to-date and ahead of the latest threats… but at the same time we cannot easily see what they are sending to the mother-ship.

The same publication tells me that our government wants yet more access into our personal lives.

There is no reasonable excuse for this kind of broad, Orwellian spying on one’s own citizens. ‘Security’ agencies are just annoyed that they are gradually losing the rich streams of data that an unencrypted Internet offered to them in a golden age for ‘spying on everyone’. That age is ending, but we must cower before the threat that is communism - I mean, terrorism - and hand over any liberties to our benign Protectors.

I love this paragraph in the article - which isn’t even placed in quotation marks, but appears to be editorialising:

While the five countries are committed to personal and privacy rights that, along with the digital economy and government data, are protected by encryption, lawful access to information for the purpose of investigating threats and prosecuting crime now appears paramount.

Orwellian, indeed. Of course, if you have nothing to hide… give me your passwords.

And the article ends by stating that:

Capabilities to counter foreign interference and disinformation are also to be developed.

“We will decide what you read, and where you read it!”

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Very sly and nasty. :stuck_out_tongue_closed_eyes:

It wouldn’t be the first time that a software vendor’s product has been compromised, either by the vendor or by third parties.

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Slightly Off Topic, but the ABC had an article on the Chinese video surveillance network used by the Australian Government. They talk about the software insecurity and the backdoors built into the Dahua & Hikvision CCTV cameras which supposedly allowed the Chinese Government to tap into any of these cameras they want.

At the end of one of my earlier posts:

I recommended reading Peter W Singer - Ghost Fleet - A novel of the next world war. If you haven’t read it, its worth looking at because it’s looking less like fiction and more like fact.

Big Brother IS watching!

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Unless you are on ‘SkyMuster’?
And big brother knows something we don’t.

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Resurrecting this thread after more than a year. The answer seems to be “None”.

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