It has been a month since my upgrade to Vista. I like to keep up with tech trends and though reluctant to throw out XP, I forced myself to just 'swallow the pill'. After all - change is inevitable, and resistance to change shows only our inability to adapt to new scenarios and obstacles. I refuse to be left in the dust of an evolutionary sandstorm. I have thus relinquished my pride and dipped into the improvements Vista has to offer. Improvements such as increased performance with audio hardware and DAW(Digital Audio Workstation) software. We're talking about a Microsoft upgrade that almost rivals the audio development quality seen on Mac DAW's for years - but with none of the proprietary hardware BS that is forged into the Mac world.

"Wait!"

You exclaim,

"What does this have to do with the title of this post?"

I'm getting to that.

After installing all of my usual apps on Vista I was impressed to see most everything was 100% backward compatible. I expected much of my software to be rendered incompatible. Out of everything I've tried to run on it - 99% produce excellent results in both loading time and performance as compared with those same apps running under XP. Improved support against malware, spyware, and trojans - complete with a user rights management system that a seasoned Linux user could appreciate. All these positive aspects and more, and then.....

ALERT!

After running Vista for only a few days - with a complete love for the new platform the first sign of trouble erupted. I began noticing latency on my home network connection - so I booted my port sniffing software and networking tools to see what was happening. What I found was foundation shaking. The two images below show graphical depictions of what has and IS trying to connect to my computer even in an idle state;

NOTE;
DoD Network Information Center(Department of Defense)

United Nations Development Program(Seems to correlate to the parent branch of the U.N.
InformaticsDivision)

Halliburton Company(We all know these guys)

Pictures removed

There have been many other unwarranted connections that I thought too redundant to post
images for. To list a couple;

*Ministry of Defense Data Return Agent

*DOHS-Recon(traceroutes for this address provided nothing, suspected blocks on traceroute. Many of us who are monitoring this situation have suspected the acronym stands for the Department of Homeland Security*Reconnaissance?*. This is merely a guess, but an educated one at that.)


I ran traceroutes on the IP's, and sure enough they came back legit and government owned. I thought this might be exclusive to my system, so I ran over to a friend of mine who upgraded to Vista when it first became available(MICROSOFT FAN BOY! ;P ). After installing monitoring software on his system, the hits it caught on his network were immediate and almost identical in source. Attempts on both TCP and UDP by suspicious government owned addresses. Again, even when idle and running only a bare minimum of system processes. I've written a college report on the same phenomenon, which has gained considerable attention by even my instructor. I've posted similar articles on a few tech sites and the like that I frequent more often than this bored, and there are a number of Vista users who have replied with similar claims.

Is there anyone in the abandonia community with a US based connection who is experiencing this watchdog behavior? Are any foreign Vista users experiencing similar attacks from their own countries ministries and governing agencies?

Mod note - The pictures contained Sixapes' IP address, with all the Digging that's been going on, I didn't think it best to have them there.

as i know the MOD came under attack so it might be some attempt to use those PC's to infiltrate yours.

well maybe i should try this peer guardian to see if someone is trying to access my maschine. i am sure there is a lot of them trying cause in another forum part i was already whining abotu my 70000+ attempts to break into my computer...

Perhaps DoD and MS had some sort of ...agreement?

What's the big supprise? I don't get it. If they weren't trying to monitor their citizens traffic, they wouldn't be doing their job, but they are doing their job, just like any other government. Do yourself a favour and let go of the dream that your government is there to act as cuddly teddybears, good to have in times of distress. Every government thirst for knowledge about all sorts of things (sinister ideas included), "even" the US government.

Hint: Look up the Echelon surveilance system.

Midget, you're talking about monitoring traffic.
What SixApes pointed out is they are doing more than that... they are hacking into the citizens' computers.

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(the_fifth_horseman @ Jul 19 2007, 06:03 PM) [snapback]300215[/snapback]</div>Yes, and let's face it, to the pros those two are equals. Stop being so goddamn naive.

EDIT: Monitoring traffic is more than just knowing where you are, it's also about knowing where you have been and what you have done.

i think traffic monitoring is as just as immoral as wire traffic monitoring

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(_r.u.s.s. @ Jul 19 2007, 06:12 PM) [snapback]300217[/snapback]</div>Isn't it funny that, to protect the moral values, applying those moral values doesn't enter the equation. Two wrongs DO make one right, it seems.

Hardly. The difference is as the one between just observing your home and breaking in and searching it... without a warrant.
In the first case, I might know about your daily routine, people whom you meet and your habits, but it is only in the second I will know about the silverware you've got in your cupboard (or the naughty pictures of Angelina Jolie behind your pillow :P).

IMO, what they do is a blatant violation of our privacy.

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(the_fifth_horseman @ Jul 19 2007, 06:22 PM) [snapback]300219[/snapback]</div>Two words: Tempest attacks.

In the US, buying shielding material to prevent tempest attacks requires a government issued lisence....
Tempest attacks are also a form of burglary.
(T.A: is when they pick up the electronic signals, by antenna, from your PC as you press a key or otherwise operate any input/output device. Why is this burglary? They can pick up anything you type at home without you having to send it out on the web.)

But ok, my bad, wrong phrasing. Let's use the term Information Gathering instead then.