A disturbing read..a disturbing dilema

[Sprocket]

The following article was presented on-line, which I found very disturbing, to say the very least.

"Malware and viruses are being bundled with child abuse images to discourage people from having their computers repaired."

http://news.sky.com/story/1238455/hacke ... -computers

Given the following, if it happened to you, what would you do?

If you went to the police:
1. This is a very serious matter, and you are immediately suspect.
2. They will immediately confiscate your computer(s) for investigation.
3. You may get an immediate ban from accessing the internet.
4. You will have to make a detailed statement as to "how it happened".
5. You may end up in court, having to defend yourself. You may need a lawyer.
6. If news should break that your machine is under investigation, will all of the family and friends believe what you tell them? That you are a victim?
7. Who knows what awaits you.

If you don't go to the police,
1. You would immediately have to remove the infection yourself, if possible.
(The more time goes by, the less you can defend yourself)
2. By not exposing these people, you are allowing them to go under the radar, and infect more machines.
3. You are undermining the efforts of those working to eradicate this scourge of child abuse.
5. And who knows what else.


1. I would hate to lose my PC for what could be months, or forever.
2. I have nothing of great importance on any of my machines. I can totally wipe the infected machine and do a zero overwrite with no loss of anything significant.
3. As for the moral side of it...well, that is a dilema..

I wonder where it will all stop...

Jan

[CrashII]

Sky News....

Panic first, think later...

[Bass]

Thanks for the heads up, Sprocket.
It shows that a decent AV and Malware fighter is a MUST

[ViperPilot]

Thanks for the heads up, Sprocket.
It shows that a decent AV and Malware fighter is a MUST

AND... watch that left index finger (or right, if you're so inclined).

DON'T click on that Link or Banner UNLESS you're 1000% sure you need what they're advertising!

[Capt_Cronic]

I understand your moral dilema BUT all to often the person who tries to do the right thing is the one who gets punnished.

I would clean and wipe my hard drive to dod standards, get my IP# reset, and hope it's not too late.
dont offer ANYTHING unless forced too.

good luck

[PhantomTweak]

Only EVER speak 3 phrases to the poilce:
"This interview is over!"
"I want to leave."
"I want a lawyer."

In that order.
Never say ANYthing else. The instant ANY police officer asks anything, from "May I look in your car?" to "Why did you kill that guy?", break out the three magic phrases. About the only questions I've ever answered verbally are "How are you today, sir?" and "Where are you headed?" NOTHING else. Including "Do you know how fast you were going?".

I got that from a Sheriff's Deputy, the brother of one our guys at the Aerostat Site.

And in the ONE time I ever needed them, they worked perfectly.

NOT a case about this sort of thing, mind, but an assault case. Guy had abused my 11 y/o daughter and then accused me....ME!... of beating him, breaking his arms and one kneecap, and then emasculating him. Pity he managed to get to a phone before he bled out...
Who says Marines are vindictive??
Three magic little phrases....case dismissed due to lack of evidence...


Pat☺

[Steve M]

I think it is truely a dilema. But I would pull my hard drive and call the police. Why? First of all trying to hide this is an admission of guilt in any courts eyes.
Secondly, any way you let vile hackers live to plunder innocent people is aiding and abetting. I Think.
In the end your hard drive is corrupted and making alterations might ruin your chances to prove yourself a victim.

[expat]

Sky News....

Panic first, think later...

Yes, Sky News and the Daily Mail both went to the same school of journalism...........

Matt

[expat]

Only EVER speak 3 phrases to the poilce:
"This interview is over!"
"I want to leave."
"I want a lawyer."

Unfortunately, in English law, your right to silence can and will be used as evidence against you.....

Matt

[expat]

Only EVER speak 3 phrases to the poilce:
"This interview is over!"
"I want to leave."
"I want a lawyer."

Unfortunately, in English law, your right to silence can and will be used as evidence against you.....
And having seen how the UK police go after anyone regardless of how said images came about, I would rescue what data I could and then take a very large hammer to said hard dive and buy a new one!

Matt

[Fozzer]

Maybe I'm just lucky, or maybe the fact that I don't go around browsing "strange" sites, (ie "Adult Sites", etc), and clicking on everything in front of me, (including dodgy e-mail), that I cant remember ever getting any; "nasties" on my Hard Drive!
I regularly check the 'puter with various spy-ware, anti-virus, etc, programs, and it always come up crispy clean!

I also delete all my previous "History" at the end of each day, and although it wont delete actual the data recorded in my hard drive, at least it gives me a clean start for the next days browsing.

I don't need PC Plod and his hammer-wielding mates knocking my front door down at any time of the day..or night...as they do.... ...!

Be VERY aware what you browsing, and are clicking on...There is some very nasty stuff out there!!

Paul...with a new prescription of Anti-Virus Tablets... ...!

[OldAirmail]

Two years ago my wife was pounding on her keyboard an shouting that I had to get her a new computer!

So I took a look at it.

Guess what? The antivirus software that I had installed on her computer was turned off. It was no longer set to auto start.

After cleaning her computer I told her that she had 360 malware/viruses on it.

Then I laughed and told her to keep off the porn sites - she thinks that is the only source of viruses.

[OldAirmail]

I've been thinking about Sprockets post.

In the US there are two areas where you are treated as GUILTY.


If I get pulled in for murder, "they" have to prove that I did it.

If you get charged with spousal abuse, or child sexual abuse (in any form), You .are .guilty.


I remember when they passed a law in the US that if you were charged, NOT IF YOU WERE CONVICTED, but if you were charged with spousal abuse, you lost your right to posses a hand gun (rifle too???).

The US Army was actually pulling front line soldiers out of combat positions to relieve them of their weapons.

Don't like weapons?

No problem, substitute something else. How about the right to drive a car? Spouses have run their wives/husbands over with a car.

One women even did it several time, driving in a circle.


As to the child porn being placed on your computer, I don't think that they'll listen to ANY excuses that you could come up with.

"Yes sir. You say that these aren't "your" pictures. Somebody just put them on your computer. Would you mind coming with us, sir."


You would have to capture the culprit, and PROVE that they did it. That might get you out of jail.

Of course you'd probably still be on a sexual predator list for the rest of your life.



The absolutely correct answer is to call in the police. Letting such people get away with it would be criminal in essence, if not in fact.


Personally - I would do a military grade cleaning of the hard drives. NOTHING is on my hard drive that is worth trying to save if it could lead to a possible arrest & conviction.

At the most, I would probably print out any important documents if it didn't take too long.

[Steve M]

You see, If you dynamite your hard drive, you have lost your own defence. Regardless.. Search engines or internet providers keep a pretty good record of your online activities. Now, without being able to show a sudden spurt of nefarious activity and an infected hard drive you are more than screwed.

[OldAirmail]

I do have to agree with you in general.

The internet providers keep a log of where you went, how long your were there.

They also keep track of the file names you downloaded/uploaded.


Now if the extortionist caused your computer to download files from a porn site, then your internet provider would show that your computer (you) downloaded it.

If that were the case, you're sunk. Dead. Extremely few people would have the wherewithal to defend themselves from these charges, even with an intact hard drive.


If the situation is as Sprocket quoted - "Malware and viruses are being bundled with child abuse images to discourage people from having their computers repaired." - then the extortionist put it on your computer as part of the "malware/virus" bundle.

Not that these people are necessarily rational, but I would think that IF they caused your computer to go to a child porn site THEN they must know that you would probably be shut down and therefor be unable to get any money out of you.


As I said, in this country YOU ARE GUILTY when charged with such a crime as child pornography.

They aren't just stealing from you. They're, potentially, destroying your life and that of hundreds/thousands of others.

Personally, I'd have no problem voting on a jury for the death penalty in this case.