Computer Associates Offers Warranties 82
Kelvin D. writes, "Computer Associates has come up with a new angle to get consumers to buy its security software — a warranty with cash benefits if you catch a virus ($1,500) or get your identity stolen ($5,000). From the article: 'Users who want the identity theft coverage need to both install and register their copies of Warranty Corporation of America's Mobile Lifeline (included). No registration, no coverage.'" Moblie Lifeline includes something that sounds like a benign Trojan: it lets you retrieve or delete files from your stolen computer if it's ever connected again to the Internet.
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Spelling Error (Score:1, Funny)
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Call me crazy but (Score:5, Insightful)
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I predict if they honor this and publicize it well, they will be bankrupt within two years.
Don't think so. Lets do some math.
Say you spend $25,000, all 500 PCs get botted so bad - 25000-4500 = 20500 profit and their tool doesn't have to work at all.
Now a real guarantee would be a refund of all that you spent in the last 2 years. But what the heck, do it. As if you really cared about security you wouldn't be running Windows with it's track record.
5K isn't going to be enough (Score:2)
IIRC, most people complain that the process takes years to resolve & tens of thousands of dollars to clean up.
Re:5K isn't going to be enough (Score:5, Informative)
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As far as I know, since the introduction of the Pentium II 10 years ago, just about every BIOS will power your system down if it detects overheating. And most CPUs on the market have some variation of "SpeedStep", to clock down, and eventually halt, themselves in the case of overheating.
These aren't really things you can tamper with in software. Especially SpeedStep.
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You could even be rude and set it to send 1000 completely blackened pages to every printer. Don't know if the warranty wou
they need something like that... (Score:1)
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1 - Wait until 3am, then slam the floppy head into the backstop continuously. Also, load/unload the head. Objective: destroy the floppy drive.
2 - Identify a model by vendor. Rewrite the saved settings 10,000 times (damage the nv memory in the modem).
3 - Program out-of-spec settings to the monitor. Attempt to damage a monochrome monitor.
4 - Program nv memory on video card with s
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Agreed. People are going to need at *least* 640K.
It's a trojan political trap (Score:2)
That'll later come back to bite us on the hiney when the RIAA demands this right - which they've done before.
Due process.
Due process.
Due process!
It's slow, it's agonizing, but the alternatives are cutting corners to achieve one's own definition of justice. I don't need to go into detail about the dangers of that...
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It's quite the inverse of what the **AA want, which is to be able to delete files on hardware that they do NOT own, as long as they claim "ownership" of the contents.
In this case, the due process is surely that you
This is no different to deleting files from your
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But the flip side is, the cops are sofa king slow at pursuing these things.
My boss would love this (Score:2, Insightful)
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Worked for me at i28 when I got a worm that would not die; AVG had blocked it from actually running, but something was keeping it there. Rebooted to my Linux partition, downloaded/installed AVG, worked a treat.
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A friend is having problems with viruses on her machine, and I'm trying to do this, but I have not found a LiveCD distribution with AVG. I've used Knoppix and Mepis, but they have ClamAV instead. I've seen some recommendations for LinuxDefender from bitdefender.com, but it looks like it was last updated in 2004. I'm probably going to use ClamAV from either Knoppix or Mepis, but I'm open to suggestions. Do you have any recommendations?
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Fine Print (Score:2, Insightful)
I am also betting that there will be additional fine print about the identity theft... as it occurs so frequently. Plus, you will have to follow their guidelines. Which will probably include industry best practice information... which if you were willing to follow that, in most instances you wouldn't have a problem with identity theft anyways.
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I agree.
Since we're not informed as to what the "fine print" says, it is conceivable that it could include shipping the infected PC to CA or taking it to a "CA Authorized Repair Center", for inspection. If that is so, then there's not telling how long it could be before you get your computer back.
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UP TO (Score:1)
blod is mine.
5K to fix all the crap you have to deal with if your personal information is ussed maliciou
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I can't speak for every bank, but I know the one that I've worked for for 10 years finally figured out a few years ago that using a customer's SSN for anything other than necessary reporting to the Feds was a Bad Thing (tm). We've been diligently scrubbing databases every place we could e
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There can be only one way to win! (Score:2)
NOT, mind you, because dozens (hundreds? Impossible for me to find out) of companies consider my personal and financial information to be their intellectual property to be sold to other companies.
Then you said:
NOT, mind you, because these companies have basically no interest in protecting the data in that losing it does not hurt them any (maybe a token fine tops). So they don't encrypt it, lose backup tapes, let employees take it home on laptops, etc.
If the data is their IP and source of incom
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I forsee a nice way for some money on the side (Score:5, Funny)
2. Buy CAI's package.
3. Infect your machines with the latest trojans that NOBODY has any signatures or heuristics for.
4. Profit.
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It's gonna suck to be CA tech support (Score:3, Insightful)
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Computer Associates doesn't need techs -- since this is really just an insurance plan (read, profit margin)
they should hire people with HMO experience and a list of excuses like "it was a pre-existing condition."
"benign Trojan" (Score:3, Insightful)
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And at least spell wikipedia right if you expect to be taken as an authority on it.
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My recent favorite example:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/E-mail_address [wikipedia.org]
That page stinks. I look at it and don't even want to try to change it, because I expect to but heads with moron.
My next full time job (Score:4, Funny)
Lets you retrieve files? (Score:2, Insightful)
Seems like a potentially dangerous utility, even worse than the Sony rootkit.
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I think that's the key. The program could be such that it will only let you retrieve and delete files once the computer has been reported stolen. Strong cryptography should be enough to prevent spoofing this. At least, I think that's how I would design it.
Identity theft payouts could be interesting (Score:5, Funny)
"Well, Mr. Smith, our records do show that this identity was proven to be stolen. Of course we paid out according to our warrenty. Our records show the $5,000 was paid out on X date. You didn't receive it? Well, we sent it to Y address. That's not you? Oh, it seems to have been paid to the wrong person, but unfortunately we can't do anything about that, as it appears you've been the victim of identity theft. Want to buy a warrenty to protect you against this in the future? No? Well, have a nice day.
The Fine print (Score:2, Insightful)
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The <really> Fine print (Score:2)
We reserve the right to change the wording the moment you make a claim.
We are an insurance company now, and boy are we gonna act like one !
You have to wonder... (Score:3, Insightful)
This is a great product, IMHO. This is CA putting their money where their mouth is. I don't know anything about their actual coding abilities, but I really like it from the actual business angle.
As for me, I run OS X & Linux, and have not yet had the need for an anti-virus product, even though an up to date ClamAV does reside on my systems.
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I'm going to go out on a limb and suggest that having the lion's share of the world's virus, trojan, spyware and other such crap being targetted at your system precludes such an option. (Reasons for this left as an exercise for the reader...)
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Because they only have $40bn in the bank! Ba-dum tish.
Seriously, it's because they don't need to, liability for software flaws being almost the inverse of other forms of liability issues. Next time you have a major outage at work, try telling your boss to sue MS to recoup your lost earnings. Then time how long it takes him to stop giggling.
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Ted: Yeah, makes a man feel good.
Tommy: 'Course it does. Ya think if you leave that box under your pillow at night, the Guarantee Fairy might come by and leave a quarter.
Ted: What's your point?
Tommy: The point is, how do you know the Guarantee Fairy isn't a crazy glue sniffer? "Building model airplanes" says the little fairy, but we're not buying it. Next thing you know, there's m
Subject to what conditions? (Score:1)
Only works if... (Score:3, Interesting)
All potential security holes aside, this presumes that the thieves didn't replace your HD after stealing it, or reformat/reinstall. What would be more useful would be a call-home email to your addy that gives you an IP address, nslookup and tracert data, as well as any other information that can be used to track it back to a physical address. Maybe a keystroke log as well, and a list of recently opened files and visited URL's?
not a new angle... (Score:2, Informative)
Wagon WAY before the horse... (Score:3, Insightful)
1) Identity theft involves a lot more than just the laptop sitting in front of a user. It involves the user's total awareness of unusual requests for personal information and commitment to protect that information. Social engineering, dumpster diving, and (certainly) user stupidity can all compromise the security of the data. CA will find a good chunk of its customers who were just careless about what they wrote down or told whom, and kick itself in the pants. You can't indemnify human failure.
2) If the laptop is compromised by a virus that sends keystrokes to a Romanian website, CA will want forensic proof. It will have to see conclusive evidence that (a) its software worked correctly and was not subject to accidental or deliberate tampering by the user, (b) any personal information obtained in this manner was used intentionally to impersonate the user and cause harm, and of course (c) that the machine in question "failed" as a direct result of the virus (although to what extent "failed" covers is unclear). Just the resources necessary to conduct proper forensics alone is daunting enough, and $5000 for theft and $1500 for virus infection seems a pittance. It's a lose-lose proposition, and CA is trying to make it sound generous.
3) The offer to encrypt or destroy data on any stolen laptop is laughably absurd, and serves no purpose except as a way to TRY and get the last laugh in. "So you took my laptop? Well, I'll just have to think of a REAL GOOD comebacker. Oh, I know. If you are stupid enough to connect it to the Internet, I can erase what you probably already got off the drive by then. Ha, ha." The machine is gone and at the mercy of the thief, and Josephine User is up the creek with no paddles.
4) Most frustratingly, it is misleading for a technology company to offer services that distorts what "identity theft" really involves. You are not educating the user in the process except "If I lose my laptop I get $$$". You are not providing a truly comprehensive plan to combat this problem. All this "offer" does is to try and make money. Again, clever marketing does not make a bad idea into a good one.
Linux Port (Score:1)
Benign Trojan? (Score:1)