I'm not completely convinced it was Russia. Sure, we have an IP address and a country listed, but it isn't difficult to hide behind a VPN or proxy and make it look like you're coming from any country in the world. A good hacker would know this and cover their tracks, which lead me to believe that the hacker responsible purposely left a trail of bread crumbs that point to Russia. But there is still no real evidence being presented.
Is content that GS finds even admissible in a court of law as valid evidence? You would need to take a forensic analyst approach to preserve the chain of custody. If this is the case, why is GS even digging around looking through computers without legal authority or a warrant?
The other consideration here is that GS could install malware or a rootkit on the machine without the user knowing. We already know that they are being rewarded by the FBI for finding law breakers, so the incentive is there. From a consumer perspective, if these GS employees are FBI informants, there is a breach of trust and we have no reason to believe that they are placing the needs of the consumers first. Is it far fetched to believe that GS would install malware? Is there anything that proves that they wouldn't?
On a side note, I'm a IT professional and this just confirms what I've preached to everyone I know. Never take your computer to Best Buy. At the very best, you'll receive your machine back fully wiped. When computers become infected with viruses, GS will handle virus removal by resetting to factory settings and destroying all of your data. A virus doesn't mean you have to wipe your machine if you know what you're doing.
Techdirt has not posted any stories submitted by kgreenman21.
I'm not completely convinced it was Russia. Sure, we have an IP address and a country listed, but it isn't difficult to hide behind a VPN or proxy and make it look like you're coming from any country in the world. A good hacker would know this and cover their tracks, which lead me to believe that the hacker responsible purposely left a trail of bread crumbs that point to Russia. But there is still no real evidence being presented.
4th Amendment Violation?
Is content that GS finds even admissible in a court of law as valid evidence? You would need to take a forensic analyst approach to preserve the chain of custody. If this is the case, why is GS even digging around looking through computers without legal authority or a warrant?
The other consideration here is that GS could install malware or a rootkit on the machine without the user knowing. We already know that they are being rewarded by the FBI for finding law breakers, so the incentive is there. From a consumer perspective, if these GS employees are FBI informants, there is a breach of trust and we have no reason to believe that they are placing the needs of the consumers first. Is it far fetched to believe that GS would install malware? Is there anything that proves that they wouldn't?
On a side note, I'm a IT professional and this just confirms what I've preached to everyone I know. Never take your computer to Best Buy. At the very best, you'll receive your machine back fully wiped. When computers become infected with viruses, GS will handle virus removal by resetting to factory settings and destroying all of your data. A virus doesn't mean you have to wipe your machine if you know what you're doing.