In two consecutive days I was exposed to the stupidity of UK media and goverment in regards to online security.
Case 1:
On 3 June the media exploaded with scary titles like GameOver Zeus: Computer users given fortnight warning over virus threat, GameOver Zeus virus is coming for YOUR computer- here's how to swat the cyber bugs, Gameover Warning: People Given Two Weeks to Protect Against 'Powerful Computer Attack'. The colleagues in the office welcomed me with questions on what they can do to protect themselves. Everyone was worried what would happen in 2 weeks.
Bullshit! This is what would happen!
The media is writing crap again just to sell their stories. Here's the original announcement from the FBI. Yes a botnet was disrupted and yes it infected up to 1mln PCs worldwide. But no, nothing bad would happen in 2 weeks. Moreover if something bad was about to happen, it happened already.
I read the above mentioned articles few times and couldn't find any explanation why 2 weeks and what will happen. That's journalism at it's best!
Case 2:
On 4 June the folks over at Hacker News noticed that the UK government backed website Get Safe Online and its password stregth checker tool send plaintext passwords in the URL over HTTP. This is what I call lead bby example... How can you trust those people to give you advice if they cannot sort their own website. Morons.
In the comments people spotted more and more stupid and moronic claim like that Password12345 is ranked 93% exceptional. Yes, this is a very "useful" tool indeed.
I hope someone tell the goverment to immediately cut funding for crap like this.
