Sneaky computer geeks

[OverTQ]

Megan Fox Sweats While the USAF Melts

May 4, 2010: Offers to hire American airmen, stationed at an airbase on the Central Pacific island of Guam, as extras in the Transformers 3 movie, turned out to be an unexpectedly scary training exercise. First, keep in mind that there is no Transformers 3 filming scheduled for Guam. The email was a fake, used to test how well airmen could detect a hacker attempts to deceive military Internet users to give up valuable information.

The Transformers 3 email was a test to see how many airmen would fall for a "spear phishing" offensive. "Phishing" (pronounced "fishing") is when a hacker sends out thousands, or millions, of emails that look like warnings from banks, eBay or PayPal, asking for you to log in (thus revealing your password to the hackers, who have set up a false website for this purpose) to take care of some administrative matter. The hacker then uses your password to loot your account. "Spear phishing" is when the emails are prepared with specific individuals in mind. The purpose here is to get specific information from, say, a bank manager, or someone known to be working on a secret project. In the Guam case, the targets of the spear phishing test were asked to go to a web site and fill out an application form to be eligible to be an extra. That form asked for information that would have enabled hostile hackers to gain more access to air force networks. A lot of the airmen who received the Transformers 3 email, responded. The air force won't say how many, but it was more than expected. A lot more.

The hundreds of separate spear phishing attacks on American military personnel each year is worrisome, because it means someone is looking for defense related data, including classified stuff. Most people don't fall for phishing attacks, but the hackers know that some will. This is especially true if the hackers can come up with the right hook. Seeking extras, among young male airmen, for a movie set containing a sweaty and scantily clad Megan Fox, was apparently too much for even the most security minded trooper to resist.

Military personnel are trained to watch out for things like phishing attacks, but hackers only need to get a few victims to fall for it. The Department of Defense has publicized this spear phishing attack in order to encourage any military personnel, who may have fallen for one (or think they did) to report that as soon as possible.

How to defend against this? There's no perfect protection from these kinds of attacks, but there are things that can be done to reduce vulnerability. This consists of more education of users (to make them aware of what kind of dangers they face), and hardware and software defenses against attacks. Another approach favored by military, and government, users is frequent scans of user computers, and strict rules about what you can put on them. What all of this tries to do is limit the damage, not eliminate it. This reflects an ancient military adage; "it's not a matter of who is better, but who is worse (off)." While American organizations are more enthusiastic users of the Internet than anyone else, any country that tries to compete with the United States, has some Internet vulnerability. If they are less well protected than U.S. systems, they are going to suffer more if they are attacked

Strategy Page

That's just not fair.

[M2]

I get phishing emails to my work email account on a regular basis, and duly report them to our J6 and/or "cyberwatch" folks. I usually get the "yeah, we know" response, and nothing is ever done to stop it. It seems they spent more time trying to restrict what we do on the computer, and not what others are trying to do to us...

And would promises of a "sweaty and scantily clad Megan Fox" lure me to their web site? Hell yeah! Even if I knew it was bullshit, I’d still go!

Cheers! M2

[OverTQ]

And would promises of a "sweaty and scantily clad Megan Fox" lure me to their web site? Hell yeah! Even if I knew it was bullshit, I’d still go!

Cheers! M2

The bastards know our weakness

[BADFNZ]

Standby for weekly Information Protection training.

[Guest Raptor08]

I almost fell into the same trap these Airman did. I found a link somewhere that said they needed extras for Transformers 3, shooting in San Diego, $200 per day. I called the number that was posted and this older guy picked up who was acting a little too nice for the movie business. He was an ultra kind generous sweetheart and was so interested in my participation that he gave me his personal number(warning sign). He then told me that for a one time fee of 98.90 that he could guarantee me work, which was the final straw (since theres no agency that can guarantee you work) so I said good bye and hung up. It wasn't until later when I did some research that a few other people had done it too and realized it was a scam. It turns out they do need extras but only for very specific roles and looks.

P.S. I didn't do it for M.F. if I wanted to meet her I'd simply go to my friends restaurant where she comes on a semi weekly basis.

[magnetfreezer]

P.S. I didn't do it for M.F. if I wanted to meet her I'd simply go to my friends restaurant where she comes on a semi weekly basis.

Lucky or STS?

[DFRESH]

... if I wanted to meet her I'd simply go to my friends restaurant where she comes on a semi weekly basis.

Or you could swing by my place, where she comes every hour, on the hour.

[sky_king]

ba-da-bing

[Guest Raptor08]

I can't say my true opinion on Megan but I can say that 1. I personally know people that are x10 hotter than her and 2. my friend (whose a waiter and has served her before) says shes not as attractive in person.

Should've known this would turn into a Megan Fox thread. But then again, most of you are pilots.