Lin Evans Posted April 30, 2008 Report Share Posted April 30, 2008 Regardless of how one feels about this, the "cat's out of the bag". Microsoft has created a dangerous situation by programming a "back door" around their own so called "security".To make it "easy" for Police, etc., who have posession of one's computer to gain access and bypass Operating System security, Microsoft has created a device with the "intent" of helping catch criminals by allowing police investigators to bypass security and gain access to information on a computer.The sad truth is that these devices will soon be in the hands of criminals as well as police. Locksmiths can use tools to pick your lock - you are not supposed to be able to purchase lock picking devices unless you are a legitimate locksmith. Guess what? Criminals laugh because these devices help make easy access to your homes and any criminal with more than a single digit IQ has one.Unfortunately it will be the same for these devices. How long do you think it will be before these are in the hands of criminals who will only need a few seconds with your computer to gain access to private data you now believe to be "secure?"It's long been suspected that Microsoft had programmed "back doors" around security into their operating systems - now "the cat's out of the bag" and this has been confirmed.Read about it here:http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/micr..._msftlaw29.htmland here:http://tech.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=08/04/29/1441215If this information is accurate, it represents a real threat to continuing privacy and security on your system...Lin Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
xahu34 Posted May 1, 2008 Report Share Posted May 1, 2008 Hello Lin,I am not very pleased about this news, and I actually do not like the activities of the German government to develop a “Bundestrojaner – governmental Trojan horse” for on-line surveillance.There are many other topics on security and privacy which are worthwhile to be discussed – the question may be, if this forum is the right place to do it.Let me again propose an off-topic section within the WnSoft forums.Best regardsXaverMunich Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ken Cox Posted May 1, 2008 Report Share Posted May 1, 2008 IN THE FUTURE HOW BE WE PUT THIS SORT OF STUFF HERETutorials and Articleshttp://www.picturestoexe.com/forums/index.php?showforum=8THIS WOULD INCLUDE OP SYSTEM'S -- WINDOWS MAC ETC VIRUS KEN Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Conflow Posted May 1, 2008 Report Share Posted May 1, 2008 Ken,Good idea ~ but it would be unworkable ~ the logistics are too vast !I just done a few quick Maths,viz:-A) There are 5 Forums in current operation. (4 of these are Application Specific)The Main No:1 General Forum covers a vast range of Categories. C) General Forum No:1 has 3 'Open-Pages' covering:- 12 Categories. 63 Topics. 994 Replies.From: 1/4/08 to 1/5/08If this lot was put under 'One Thread' it would be totally unworkable. If they were put into 'Tutorials & Articles' it would be very unfair tothose who have spent a lot of time writing those 'Tutorials' whoselife span is that of the PTE Program. Whereas current topics changeevery few days."See Attachment"Brian. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ken Cox Posted May 1, 2008 Report Share Posted May 1, 2008 TUTORIALS AND ARTICLESIF MEMEMBERS WOULD READ ALL THREADS -- IE "THE RAT PRINCIPLE" they would be kept up to date - that is why we got the tutorials and articles sectionit becomes apparent that most only read what interests thenselvesKen Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
xahu34 Posted May 1, 2008 Report Share Posted May 1, 2008 IN THE FUTURE HOW BE WE PUT THIS SORT OF STUFF HERETutorials and ArticlesTHIS WOULD INCLUDE OP SYSTEM'S -- WINDOWS MAC ETC VIRUS KENHello Ken,I agree to put this stuff somewhere else, but the Tutorial-Section does not seem to be a good place. Here, Brian's argument is right.Best regardsXaverMunich Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ken Cox Posted May 1, 2008 Report Share Posted May 1, 2008 WELL MAYBE IGOR IN HIS SPARE TIME WILL CREATE A NEW AREAKEN Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stonemason Posted May 1, 2008 Report Share Posted May 1, 2008 Does it actually matter if occasionally an "off topic" thread which may be of interest to forum members is started in the PTE forum it's not as if the board is swamped with such things and as far as I'm concerned anything that is connected to computers and operating systems is relevant to a PTE which relies on both these things operating as they should, to enable us the users to get the best from PTE.To quote Ken"Share your knowledge, the wheel has already been invented"Geoff Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
xahu34 Posted May 2, 2008 Report Share Posted May 2, 2008 ... anything that is connected to computers and operating systems is relevant to a PTE which relies on both these things operating as they should, to enable us the users to get the best from PTE.Geoff,Just a question: How does the knowledge on COFEE (Computer Online Forensic Evidence Extractor) help you to get better results from PTE?Best regardsXaver Munich Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ken Cox Posted May 2, 2008 Report Share Posted May 2, 2008 a year or so ago there was a lot of discussion re threads beig scattered all over so Igor instituted the tutorial and news section this areaPicturesToExe News about PicturesToExe, technical support, discussions doesnt say anything about op systems it saysPicturesToExe News about PicturesToExe, technical support, discussions ken Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stonemason Posted May 2, 2008 Report Share Posted May 2, 2008 Hi Xaver probably you are right and this particular piece of information has little relevance to PTE as such. My point is that we now have ten replies discussing the validity of placing this thread here in the general PTE forum. I think that passing on the info is valid and as this happens so infrequently then the general PTE forum is the best place for it. Obviously if the numbers of threads in this vein started to increase significantly then it would need to be looked at again. Hopefully people will be sensible and research the topic further elsewhere if they are interested, or ignore it if they are not. Let's not get into a situation where people have what they consider useful information, but do not share it with others, because someone else may not consider it relevant.Best regardsGeoff Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ken Cox Posted May 2, 2008 Report Share Posted May 2, 2008 Geoff,Just a question: How does the knowledge on COFEE (Computer Online Forensic Evidence Extractor) help you to get better results from PTE?Best regardsXaver Munich1. DOES COFEE SPY ON OFFICE?See an expanded version of this article with Microsoft's full statement on COFEE at http://news.office-watch.com?610Microsoft is now talking about COFEE, a tool they have released to some law enforcement agencies to let them take a look at Windows computer in a faster, less intrusive way that's easy to use.Microsoft says the tools come on a USB 'stick' which can be inserted into any running Windows computer - a series of scripts can gather information about what's on the machine and save it directly to the hard drive. It's said the tool is useful because it can be used to gather information while the machine is powered on-site and before it's turned off and removed.Of course that also means that COFEE could be used on a covert basis to quickly 'peek' into a computer and gather information without the owner knowing. Great for corporate spying on rival companies.Microsoft says that COFEE is meant for use "by law enforcement only with proper legal authority" but they can't be so na‹ve as to believe the tools won't spread to other people and be used without legal approval. After all, Microsoft hasn't been able to control piracy of any of their other products.Microsoft has said that COFEE doesn't include any 'backdoor' methods of bypassing the encryption systems included in Windows - for example the Bitlocker hard drive encryption in Windows Vista. However there are other password protection features in Windows, Office and other Microsoft applications.At Office Watch our particular interest, as always, is how COFEE might affect Microsoft Office users. So we've asked Microsoft for comment on how COFEE can be used to open password protected files generated by MS Office applications - that includes the older Office 2003 document formats, Office 2007 OOXML document plus less obvious things like password protected Outlook data stores and Access databases.We've asked Microsoft about this but they have declined our invitation to let their Microsoft Office customers know about any changes to the accessibility of documents made with their software.EXTRA: You can read our questions to Microsoft and Microsoft's full statement on COFEE on our web site http://news.office-watch.com?611We'd like to hear your views on COFEE - see the expanded version of the article online http://news.office-watch.com?610 for contact information.______KEN Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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