FBI Investigating Mystery Laptops Sent To US Governors 329
itwbennett writes "The FBI is trying to find out who is sending laptops to state governors across the US, including the governors of Wyoming and West Virginia. The West Virginia laptops were delivered to the governor's office on August 5, according to the Charleston Gazette, which first reported the story. Kyle Schafer, West Virginia's chief technology officer, says he doesn't know what's on the laptops, but he handed them over to the authorities. 'Our expectation is that this is not a gesture of good will,' he said. 'People don't just send you five laptops for no good reason.'"
If they don't want them (Score:2, Interesting)
I'll take them.
Seriously, they don't have one good tech guy who could wipe the drives/check the internals for rogue hardware?
If the govenors do not want them... (Score:5, Interesting)
Interesting angle on social engineering... (Score:5, Interesting)
You get the laptops delivered to a big enough organisation, whoever signs for them assumes *somebody* ordered them for a reason, but can't find out who. So they stash them somewhere. Fast forwards to when someone new joins the organisation and needs a laptop, somebody mentions there are a couple lying around in boxes and bingo, you've got malware in through the front door without touching an Internet connection.
Makes me wonder, how often this has been done successfully to less vigilant offices, worked, and we haven't heard about it.
Re:If they don't want them (Score:5, Interesting)
Seriously, they don't have one good tech guy who could wipe the drives/check the internals for rogue hardware?
Not at a cost less than the price of one new laptop. Smart hardware people with time to prepare could hide just about any device just about anywhere. Or hide nothing at all just so people waste time looking for what isn't there.
I get the impression this is just a prank by someone with a little too much free cash and a bad sense of humor. Either that or a marketing thing by a laptop manufacturer.
a delivered local wi-fi attack? (Score:3, Interesting)
fedex sleeping laptop
wake at delivery time
run superduper wi-fi haxor proggy
phone home
Hacked hardware? (Score:5, Interesting)
2 democrats (Score:4, Interesting)
Re:Interesting angle on social engineering... (Score:5, Interesting)
That's an expensive hack! Especially when the typical methods are practically free. I wonder how effective it is.
You know, it might be cheaper to just "accidentally" drop usb drives near the office or, if you're not targeting a particular office specifically, leave the drives in coffee shops and local restaurants. Someone takes it home and tries looking at it, pwnage.
Re:Interesting angle on social engineering... (Score:2, Interesting)
However, if you do that with a large enough company to get "undetected" (assuming smaller companies would recognise something fishy is going on) there should be a large risk that this laptop goes to the IT-people first to get completely altered to companies standards.
That usually should mean complete format and using an image of whatever the company is using as client OS. So there goes your malware (at least most of it).
So I am very confident that this has to be taken into account.
Re:Interesting angle on social engineering... (Score:2, Interesting)
Stop being so paranoid (Score:5, Interesting)
Don't assume Fraud is occuring on the delivery (Score:5, Interesting)
Go for the obvious. Someone is trying to get revenge on corporation "x" by purchasing a bunch of computers and having them drop shipped. By the time accounting catches up with the paperwork, the computers will be in the hands of the FBI for a month. If the scam is done right, it is done by an ex-employee or someone with just enough access to know who the preferred suppliers are. You make a couple of phone calls, send the right paperwork, and next thing your computer vendor is drop shipping a bunch of computers somewhere.
Having worked for distributors, I'm surprised this doesn't happen more often. Having stuff go missing for weeks on end inside factories, fairly routine ... This wouldn't be hard to do. Just ship a bunch of computers somewhere else.
It is even difficult to get charged for doing something like this. FAXing the paperwork leaves no fingerprints. To the accounting department, the transaction looks like typical incompetence. The corporation won't request charges laid, because then they would have to admit they were incompetent too, and this stuff happens all the time. The police have a tough time charging you, because you didn't steal anything. If done right, you didn't even touch anything so there is no physical evidence. No evidence means no crime, and your revenge makes the national newspapers. Perfect revenge scheme.
Re:That might not be safe enough (Score:2, Interesting)
Offtopic, but does anyone know how to remove the U3 "feature" using Linux? I heard there are Win32 removal tools, but I don't trust removal tools from people who actually invented U3...
Re:That might not be safe enough (Score:5, Interesting)
Really? They why state governors? They really don't have a lot of access to secret stuff. My guess is a little more amusing. Someone has figured out how to hack into HPs GSA ordering system and is pranking them. They are basically ordering laptops on the states dime from HP just to see if anyone notices. Sort of like ordering Pizzicati to be set to buddy's house as a joke. The difference is this is going to be a federal offense.
Re:Interesting angle on social engineering... (Score:3, Interesting)
You get the laptops delivered to a big enough organisation, whoever signs for them assumes *somebody* ordered them for a reason, but can't find out who.
Hehe. I worked for a large company where on more than one occasion someone just sends their laptop in to the workshop only to be lost in the stack because they didn't put a ticket number on it. It wasn't stolen but rather just with all the other laptops in a pile and was basically unlocatable for a few months.
Secondly, the purchasing approval process sometimes takes a while so by the time someone gets their laptop purchase approved they might no longer be with the company.
Re:If they don't want them (Score:3, Interesting)
Re:That might not be safe enough (Score:5, Interesting)
Re:Interesting angle on social engineering... (Score:3, Interesting)