Amnesty releases Detekt anti-spying program for activists

[Pickman's model]

would you be kind enough to explain for those of us plebs and halfwits that can't read code?

i tested him to see if he read my post. he didn't. if he didn't read something as brief as my post i am confident he didn't read the source code. (if it doesn't do now what the developers say it will i am confident most people would say it was crap)

 

[Dr_Herbz]

would you be kind enough to explain for those of us plebs and halfwits that can't read code?

It can't do a silent scan.
It can only detect a miniscule percentage of threats that free antivirus software already detects.

Their whitelist is a bit lazy, to say the least...

process_whitelist = [
'avp.exe',
'avguard.exe',
'avira.oe.systr',
'savservice.exe',
'sbamsvc.exe',
'housecall.bin',
'avastui.exe',
'dphostw.exe',
'ekrn.exe',
]

IMHO, it's piss poor, but it's free, and nobody is forced to use it.

i tested him to see if he read my post. he didn't. if he didn't read something as brief as my post i am confident he didn't read the source code.

I read your post and provided an appropriate reply.

 

[el-ahrairah]

thanks, i basically understood that.

 

[Mr.Bishie]

It's a crap piece of software... nothing more than a publicity stunt.

Considering a group of journalists (members of the NUJ) are taking the MET to the High Court, it's perfect timing.

 

[Pickman's model]

I read your post and provided an appropriate reply.

i am confident you wouldn't pass up a chance to sneer and jeer when i make an apparent mistake, so all i have to go on here is your well-known reputation for honesty and probity. i don't think you'll be surprised i don't believe you.

 

[Dr_Herbz]

i am confident you wouldn't pass up a chance to sneer and jeer when i make an apparent mistake, so all i have to go on here is your well-known reputation for honesty and probity. i don't think you'll be surprised i don't believe you.

Fuck me you're annoying, but just for you...

You said...

when you say it's a crap piece of software, do you mean that it doesn't do now what its developers say it will do? or do you mean that it does do now what its developers say it will do, but it will be rapidly overtaken by spyware developers? if the former it's not crap; if the latter it's not crap. it's just got a very short useful lifespan.

They said...

Detekt is a very useful tool that can uncover the presence of some commonly used spyware on a computer, however it cannot detect all surveillance software.

If you'd bothered your arse to research what it actually does, instead of taking my post as another opportunity to try to score points, but failing, miserably, you would have seen that this doesn't do anything that all the other free anti-spyware programs already do a lot better.

 

[Pickman's model]

Fuck me you're annoying, but just for you...

You said...



They said...



If you'd bothered your arse to research what it actually does, instead of taking my post as another opportunity to try to score points, but failing, miserably, you would have seen that this doesn't do anything that all the other free anti-spyware programs already do a lot better.

what i was more interested in was why *you* said it was crap. i have read about it already.

e2a: amnesty said (from link in op) that "The Detekt software was needed as standard anti-virus programs often missed spying software". i thought it was always intended to be used in conjunction with other software rather than as a replacement for all such software.

 

[DrRingDing]

It can't do a silent scan.
It can only detect a miniscule percentage of threats that free antivirus software already detects.

Their whitelist is a bit lazy, to say the least...

process_whitelist = [
'avp.exe',
'avguard.exe',
'avira.oe.systr',
'savservice.exe',
'sbamsvc.exe',
'housecall.bin',
'avastui.exe',
'dphostw.exe',
'ekrn.exe',
]

IMHO, it's piss poor, but it's free, and nobody is forced to use it.

I don't think you understand what this is for.
....and why have you pulled that whitelist out? That's irrelevant.

This will mainly be used to detect commonly found spyware produced by corporations for states. It will also detect KNOWN government produced spyware. Amnesty have been twats with this one. The person being the mouthpiece doesn't know their arse from their elbow as far as tech goes.

It will be looking for signatures of known spyware. This is produced with human rights defenders in mind. HRDs are not at the top of the tree when it comes to state targets. Governments use spyware like doctors use anti-biotics i.e. if you can use a more commonly used tool to get the job done, why risk your more protected tools for attack?

Amnesty has a good media team that has got this in the worlds press but this is of interest to only a small number of people.

 

[Dr_Herbz]

what i was more interested in was why *you* said it was crap. i have read about it already.

e2a: amnesty said (from link in op) that "The Detekt software was needed as standard anti-virus programs often missed spying software". i thought it was always intended to be used in conjunction with other software rather than as a replacement for all such software.

You didn't ask me why I thought it was crap.

 

[Pickman's model]

You didn't ask me why I thought it was crap.

i didn't say i asked you why you thought it was crap. i asked if it did what it was supposed to do or if it didn't do what it was supposed to do, but answer came there none only some bland wank.

 

[Dr_Herbz]

I don't think you understand what this is for.
....and why have you pulled that whitelist out? That's irrelevant.

This will mainly be used to detect commonly found spyware produced by corporations for states. It will also detect KNOWN government produced spyware. Amnesty have been twats with this one. The person being the mouthpiece doesn't know their arse from their elbow as far as tech goes.

It will be looking for signatures of known spyware. This is produced with human rights defenders in mind. HRDs are not at the top of the tree when it comes to state targets. Governments use spyware like doctors use anti-biotics i.e. if you can use a more commonly used tool to get the job done, why risk your more protected tools for attack?

Amnesty has a good media team that has got this in the worlds press but this is of interest to only a small number of people.

What government-specific spyware does it search for?

 

[farmerbarleymow]

Talking of built in web cams, how do you disable one on a laptop?

Scare the spies off by pulling a moonie at it as often as possible.

Mine was disabled the day I bought the laptop - the standard check of what pre-installed shit do I need to disable before using the machine.

 

[DrRingDing]

What government-specific spyware does it search for?

Citizen Lab work with human rights defenders across the world and analyse they machines and networks. They have detected various bits of software that a few governments have used to spy on activists with. Those will be some of signatures they'll be looking for.

 

[gorski]

http://www.cl.cam.ac.uk/~mgk25/

http://ieeexplore.ieee.org/xpl/articleDetails.jsp?arnumber=6488807

BlueTak or gaffer tape are not enough, it seems...

 

[Fez909]

What government-specific spyware does it search for?

Currently it looks for:

• FinFisher FinSpy
• HackingTeam RCS