5 ms·

These are all quotes from the article. Compare the first four with the fifth and tell me if you see anything wrong with this picture: 1) a handful of schools

These are all quotes from the article. Compare the first four with the fifth and tell me if you see anything wrong with this picture: 1) a handful of schools 2) a small number of devices 3) not widespread 4) a very small number of devices 5) self-propagating network worm

TehCorwiz 6y ago
#5 will shock you.
jodrellblank 6y ago
And another quote from the article "Gamarue.I, a worm identified by Microsoft in 2012" which has documentation at Microsoft.com[1] and at some random site [2] saying "This threat tries to use the Windows Autorun function to spread via removable drives, such as USB flash drives." and "Worm:Win32/Gamarue.I copies four essential components from one location to another. These four components are the four files used in the attack: "desktop.ini," "~$wb.usbdrv," "usb drive (1gb).lnk" and "thumbs.db."" Self-propagating it is, self-propagating over a network it doesn't seem to be. Is it more likely "A School in Bradford plugged an infected USB stick into laptops while setting them up, and disabling built-in antivirus in favour of some third-party less effective antivirus"? [1] https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/wdsi/threats/malware-encyclopedia-description?Name=Worm%3aWin32%2fGamarue.I https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/wdsi/threats/malware-encyclo... [2] https://www.enigmasoftware.com/wormwin32gamaruei-removal/ https://www.enigmasoftware.com/wormwin32gamaruei-removal/
Debug_Overload 6y ago
PR damage control > actual damage control and being honest.
- deleted 6y ago
  [deleted]
- fakedang 6y ago
  It's cheaper too, and they can give fat PR damage control contracts to their buddies. Win-win!
x86ARMsRace 6y ago
I fail to see anything contradictory here. As an example, there's nothing contradictory about "a small outbreak of a highly contagious virus". Large outbreaks necessitate an initial small outbreak.
- rdiddly 6y ago
  The contradiction if you want to call it that, is between the apparent importance of emphasizing (four times) the small number of infected systems, and the relative unimportance of that fact when talking about something that is self-copying. In your example, that would consist of dwelling excessively on the small number of patients, and then burying the "highly contagious" part in a couple of semi-technical sentences near the end. Like we're all fretful hens who can't handle that information without significant preparatory plumage-smoothing.
  - x86ARMsRace 6y ago
    Given that this is the BBC and not a technical source, I'd be more willing to write this off as the author having no idea what a self-propagating network worm's implications are.
  - dan-robertson 6y ago
    The worm was identified by Microsoft in 2012. Computer viruses don’t naturally evolve to evade defences so hopefully if other computers are sufficiently updated and secured they won’t be vulnerable. But then again this is the it subdepartment of some random government department which acts via countless local authorities, academy trusts, and contractors while doing things in the way which is both most cheap and best at avoiding culpability for themselves. Probably the messaging is, like all policies towards the poor and disadvantaged, well meaning, but those people who are most nannied by the state are, quite reasonably considering the way this always goes, less likely to trust the government’s statements. In this case presumably the DfE want to avoid parents pulling their children’s ability to get online school because of the latest government cock up.
- alisonkisk 6y ago
  Back in 2019 there was a small outbreak of a highly contagious virus. Some in the Federal government made a big point of how small the outbreak was.
bitwize 6y ago
"...and it's not out of the question that you might have a very minor case of serious brain damage."
cosmodisk 6y ago
I live in the UK and follow day to day news, government announcements,etc. This reads like something straight from the government's PR book. The pattern is always the same: it's small issue, nothing to worry about, we know what's going on( or about to find out). Last week I was bored,so ended up testing so cold google exploits. There are endless numbers of educational institutions with systems so crap that it's hard to believe. It took 15 min to find confidential salary data, various documents, messages, etc. Interestingly enough, most were US schools. I can only imagine what people with skills could do, instead of just googling,like me.
- fbi-director 6y ago
  What do you mean by "so cold google exploits?" If it's a typo for "so called", I'd still love some info on what google exploits are.
  - captn3m0 6y ago
    Google hacking/dorking I think. Specific google searches that reveal accidentally indexed documents. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Google_hacking https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Google_hacking
    - cosmodisk 6y ago
      That's exactly what I've meant.
  - thaumasiotes 6y ago
    I assumed it was a typo for "some cold".
- imtringued 6y ago
  You mean that's the PR you would hear from any organization, whether public or private. A lot of private companies would go one step further and just sue the reporter for damages.

TehCorwiz 6y ago

#5 will shock you.

jodrellblank 6y ago

And another quote from the article "Gamarue.I, a worm identified by Microsoft in 2012" which has documentation at Microsoft.com[1] and at some random site [2] saying "This threat tries to use the Windows Autorun function to spread via removable drives, such as USB flash drives." and "Worm:Win32/Gamarue.I copies four essential components from one location to another. These four components are the four files used in the attack: "desktop.ini," "~$wb.usbdrv," "usb drive (1gb).lnk" and "thumbs.db."" Self-propagating it is, self-propagating over a network it doesn't seem to be. Is it more likely "A School in Bradford plugged an infected USB stick into laptops while setting them up, and disabling built-in antivirus in favour of some third-party less effective antivirus"? [1] https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/wdsi/threats/malware-encyclopedia-description?Name=Worm%3aWin32%2fGamarue.I https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/wdsi/threats/malware-encyclo... [2] https://www.enigmasoftware.com/wormwin32gamaruei-removal/ https://www.enigmasoftware.com/wormwin32gamaruei-removal/

Debug_Overload 6y ago

PR damage control > actual damage control and being honest.

deleted 6y ago
[deleted]
fakedang 6y ago
It's cheaper too, and they can give fat PR damage control contracts to their buddies. Win-win!

x86ARMsRace 6y ago

I fail to see anything contradictory here. As an example, there's nothing contradictory about "a small outbreak of a highly contagious virus". Large outbreaks necessitate an initial small outbreak.

rdiddly 6y ago
The contradiction if you want to call it that, is between the apparent importance of emphasizing (four times) the small number of infected systems, and the relative unimportance of that fact when talking about something that is self-copying. In your example, that would consist of dwelling excessively on the small number of patients, and then burying the "highly contagious" part in a couple of semi-technical sentences near the end. Like we're all fretful hens who can't handle that information without significant preparatory plumage-smoothing.
- x86ARMsRace 6y ago
  Given that this is the BBC and not a technical source, I'd be more willing to write this off as the author having no idea what a self-propagating network worm's implications are.
- dan-robertson 6y ago
  The worm was identified by Microsoft in 2012. Computer viruses don’t naturally evolve to evade defences so hopefully if other computers are sufficiently updated and secured they won’t be vulnerable. But then again this is the it subdepartment of some random government department which acts via countless local authorities, academy trusts, and contractors while doing things in the way which is both most cheap and best at avoiding culpability for themselves. Probably the messaging is, like all policies towards the poor and disadvantaged, well meaning, but those people who are most nannied by the state are, quite reasonably considering the way this always goes, less likely to trust the government’s statements. In this case presumably the DfE want to avoid parents pulling their children’s ability to get online school because of the latest government cock up.
alisonkisk 6y ago
Back in 2019 there was a small outbreak of a highly contagious virus. Some in the Federal government made a big point of how small the outbreak was.

bitwize 6y ago

"...and it's not out of the question that you might have a very minor case of serious brain damage."

cosmodisk 6y ago

I live in the UK and follow day to day news, government announcements,etc. This reads like something straight from the government's PR book. The pattern is always the same: it's small issue, nothing to worry about, we know what's going on( or about to find out). Last week I was bored,so ended up testing so cold google exploits. There are endless numbers of educational institutions with systems so crap that it's hard to believe. It took 15 min to find confidential salary data, various documents, messages, etc. Interestingly enough, most were US schools. I can only imagine what people with skills could do, instead of just googling,like me.

fbi-director 6y ago
What do you mean by "so cold google exploits?" If it's a typo for "so called", I'd still love some info on what google exploits are.
- captn3m0 6y ago
  Google hacking/dorking I think. Specific google searches that reveal accidentally indexed documents. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Google_hacking https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Google_hacking
  - cosmodisk 6y ago
    That's exactly what I've meant.
- thaumasiotes 6y ago
  I assumed it was a typo for "some cold".
imtringued 6y ago
You mean that's the PR you would hear from any organization, whether public or private. A lot of private companies would go one step further and just sue the reporter for damages.