I was just reading an article there and got a popup notice telling me that I had been hacked by the Syrian Electronic Army. I immediately shut down my browser and ran a Malwarebytes scan, but fortunately nothing came up. The popup had a button titled OK, which by no means should you click on. Just shut down your browser. Until the CBC shuts the door on these hackers, it would probably be a good idea to avoid their site for now.

Lol, "Syrian Electronic Army". Sorry, but I find that title hilarious. Sounds like something that came out from Far Cry 3: Blood Dragon. ^^

Here's an article on the BBC about it. Apparently they've managed to hack into a number of sites:

http://www.bbc.com/news/technology-30232899


While you may think it sounds hilarious, they're not an organization that people should be taking lightly. They seem to have some pretty savvy hackers working for them.

I have no idea how he found that funny. This is very serious and they are very serious.

I've been on the CBC site a few times today and yesterday.... No problems.

But yeah, the SEA are know to hack all types of media sites.

Agreed. I've been looking into them a bit further and it seems that they've had a pretty easy time of hacking into various sites the last several years. Should they decide to up their ante, they could cause some pretty serious problems for internet users. So far they seem to be content at just drawing attention to themselves, let's hope they keep it that way.


I had no problems there yesterday either, but just this morning I got that pop up with the very first story I looked up.

PS: Oh crap, I spelled "broadcasting" wrong. I hate when I screw up a thread title.

I was just there about 30 minutes ago, no pop-ups.

I do use Firefox with NoScript and Ad Block Plus. I suspect that may be why. (Or there was simply no attempt.)

But thanks for the warning non the less.

I use Firefox as well, with Ad Block Plus. Though I'm not using NoScript. Maybe I should give it a try.

You should!

It can be a bit annoying getting it set up at first so the sites you want to work work, but nothing more. Well worth it.

That's a pretty odd target, if you ask me. I can't imagine what anyone would get out of targeting the CBC. The only thing controversial about the CBC is that some believe it to be poorly funded. That means they should be targeting the government's websites, not the CBC. Maybe they just found a site that they deemed easy to hack? Or maybe they want media sites for some reason and CBC is one of the largest in the country.

By the way, I'm curious about how often American news watchers pay attention to the CBC on any level. Does anyone here ever check the news on cbc.ca?

Done and done. Another layer added to my overall security system. It will take a pretty savvy virus to make through to my hard drive. I was bit reluctant to give it a try when I first came across it awhile ago, since Java script can add a lot to a site, but it seems pretty easy to exclude trusted sites.


As I mentioned, they seem content to simply draw attention to themselves for now. And a media site would be a good target for that sort of thing. Reading about them on the BBC, it doesn't seem that they've engaged in anything really malicious so far, they've just been making nuisances of themselves. They're kind of acting like a bunch of bored teenagers with nothing better to do with their time and skills.

People should avoid cbc altogether, IMO.

Nothing but a bunch of biased drivel that gets subsidized 1.2 billion dollars a year from the tax payers to make 'quality' shows like little mosque on the prairie, and then they complain that they need more money to stay afloat, yet every other broadcaster like global, city tv, ctv, sun, etc, don't get a dime from the tax payers and they're doing fine.

I say cut the cbcs tax subsidies and let them try to stay alive like everyone else, maybe they'll learn to cut their spending and quit giving the top guys million dollar Christmas bonuses, courtesy of yours truly, the Canadian tax payer.

If you wanna be a partisan biased news organization, go ahead it's a free country, just don't use my hard earned money to do so.

/Rant.

As you can tell, not a fan of cbc at all.

It seems you title was hacked to correct it.

The FBI has said numerous times that the greatest threat to personal PCs is java script. It is the number one way hackers employ their malware. NoScript has been around for almost a decade and it is very easy to control it's functions. I am an expert in security add-ons for firefox and I run 15 security add-ons on my Waterfox browser and have since before Firefox was even called Firefox. I highly recommend RequestPolicy to work side by side with NoScript. It works pretty much the same way so if you are comfortable with NoScript's options then you will also be able run RequestPolicy as well.

I also recommend Ghostery, Better Privacy, HTTPS Everywhere and add block plus for starters. Everything else I run is for advanced users only but my complete list is;

ad block plus
ad blocker for gmail
better privacy
certificate patrol
cipher fox
cookie controller
dnssec validator
dr web anti virus link checker
ghostery
https finder
https everywhere
no script
perspectives
requestpolicy
wot
lastpass

Why do I use all of these programs. Simple; Viruses are now spread through Facebook advertisemants where they steal your identity with your approval. Just by using Facebook you are agreeing to allow other advertising companies to take your personal information and create accounts without your knowledge. Advertising is run through JAVA script and it is very difficult for Anti Virus to detect those security breaches. The malware is hidden in 3rd party apps that are included with your downloads and are also called PUPS (potentially unwanted programs) Today they are able to hide key loggers and advertising programs that highjack your browsers. They hide deep within the registry unable to be detected by registry scanners like CCleaner and other easy to use cleaners. They also act like worms hiding in other well hidden folders. You need to do a deep cleaners that takes hours of work just to remove modern day PUPS that even Malwarebytes will not detect.

That's why.

If you are or have been infected with PUPS, if your anti virus or even Malwarebytes have detected and removed PUPS from your PC it is VERY likely that there are still some hidden in your OS. Don't take PUPS lightly. It is one of the most common ways that malware infects your OS. If you PM me I will send you Step by Step instructions on how to permanently remove them.

hmm, never experienced this personally, but I have had no power for nearly the past 18 hours..

I think i still know a person who works on call for tech support at the CBC Offices in Toronto.. I think I'll give them a call and find out just what happened..

CBC has Stuart McLean in the Vinyl Cafe, your argument is automatically invalidated

Thanks. I'm rather anol about my spelling, and my grammar as well. I'll sometimes edit my messages several times in order to get it right. But a thread title is nothing I can fix on my own.

As for the hack, I just read an article about it on the CBC, the issue has been fixed. Apparently they weren't hacked, Gigya.com was. It's a service that various sites use, not just the CBC.

http://www.cbc.ca/news/technology/syrian-electronic-army-claims-hack-of-news-sites-including-cbc-1.2851962

Thanks for the info. I was already using BetterPrivacy and AdBlockPlus, and have been using CCleaner to manage my cookies, but I've also added RequestPolicy as well. I'll also be sure to check out some of the others you mention. Unfortunatly it's going to take some time to get everything configured now. It's been enlightening to see how many scripts are being run that serve no purpose in the actual functioning of a site. I keep seeing googleanolytics everywhere I go for instance. I don't like the idea of being tracked when I'm browsing, and I now have a couple more tools to prevent that from happening.

Cuz they have a lot of post secondary education, and they have the money to keep obtaining skills training from top schools

They're trying to draw attention to themselves for what exactly? The whole world, and possibly even rocks on Mars, already know they're just a bunch of clowns.

Yeah, that's what I can't quite understand myself. They don't seem to accomplish anything other than making themselves look like idiots.

Ya it is very interesting when you surf the net with these programs on FULL worldwide settings and also as you mentioned to see all the scripts that are running on NoScript. RequestPolicy is even more interesting because you will find out for example when you go to one site how many other sites are acknowledging your presence too. That is what RequestPolicy does is that it blocks 2nd and 3rd party websites from gathering your information without your knowledge. Of course sometimes certain websites will not function properly when you block google or even other services like facebook even and yahoo and others that you have never heard of. But it is up to you to decide if the website is worth it. Still I never allow full access. If I do then it is only for a short time by using the "temporary" feature.

Rather a pain trying to get everything configured though. I've also added Ghostery as well. I've spent the entire day just setting up these new security features since that pop up appeared. It will be worth it in the long run though, and I'm getting a better understanding of how my favoured websites work.

Thanks for the recommendations ktbu. I've added them all, but is it not HTTPS Nowhere?

The readme for HTTPS Nowhere does mention HTTPS Everywhere, but it doesn't seem to exist on Mozilla's add on pages.

Ah. That would be why only HTTPS Nowhere showed up.

I've since found HTTPS Everywhere using Google instead.

Thanks.