On Buying Another Computer, Or A Mother Board And Harddrive

[Bar Meshiaka]

Please bear in mind that the last e-mail of mine is a kind of a diary that runs from the *beginning* 0f this war, to near the end, up almost to this year.
   
  Albion

Ioannis Vranos <ivranos at freemail.gr> wrote:
  Bar Meshiaka wrote:
> Friends,
> 
> I was asked not to use the HTML format in writing posts here, but I
> do not know how to change our computer settings, so please forgive me
> for writing this post in the way it is written.
> 
> A few days ago, we bought a copy of Ubuntu 7.04 and a copy of Hardy
> Heron 8.10 OS off of the internet. 
> 
> We have a 2-1/2-year-old HP Media Center PC and as it turns out, it's
> got a rootkit in the BIOS of the computer. 
> 
> I first put Ubuntu 7.04 OS on it thinking that it might ignore the
> rootkit in the BIOS, as it was written for a Windows computer (by the
> hacker who wrote it). 
> 
> Ubuntu 7.04 got through about 95% of the loading process, but in the
> last 5%, it would not load the security items that are in the OS. I
> thought this very strange. 
> 
> A couple of days later, I then tried installing Hardy Heron 8.10 OS and
> immediately it told me that there was a bug in the BIOS. There was some
> more information that was on the screen, but it went too fast for me to
> write it down. 
> 
> I have been in a war with a pretty sophisticated hacker for 5 years. He
> has killed off 8 computers so far, this HP included. All of them were
> PCs, except for one MacIntosh. 
> 
> It took him 9 months to understand the MacIntosh system well enough to
> hack it. I had Tiger 10.4 OS on an I-Mac G5. 
> 
> Now here is the dilemma. We could buy a new motherboard and a new hard
> drive and install it on our HP. I'm thinking that the cost of doing
> this and having it installed might be somewhere in the $500 range,
> perhaps more. 
> 
> Now on the other hand, I'm seriously considering purchasing a computer
> made especially for Ubuntu OS from System 76 in Denver, CO. 
> 
> I guess my questions would be why patch up an older PC that was not made
> for Ubuntu OS in the beginning (but was made for using Windows) when I
> could purchase a computer that comes with Ubuntu OS already installed? 
> 
> I'm thinking that if he got through MacIntosh once, even if it took 9
> months, that he could get through it again. That seems to rule out
> spending a lot of money to buy another Mac. 
> 
> I understand that Ubuntu OS is not a "silver bullet" of protection, but
> I've been trying to read all that I can about hardening Linux computers
> and Ubuntu OS, in particular. 
> 
> Is there some way to keep the BIOS from being hacked again? I hear that
> putting a password on your BIOS is not a very efficient way to protect
> it. Is there another way to harden and protect the BIOS of which I
> might not be aware? 
> 
> I have chosen to work with Ubuntu OS because I think it's probably the
> most secure OS that's out there, even more secure than a MacIntosh. 
> 
> Mac fans brag constantly that MacIntosh cannot be hacked, but I have
> stone cold proof that this is simply not true. 
> 
> I'm also wondering has anybody on this list ever purchased a computer
> from System 76 or Zareason (Berkely, CA)? If you have, I would like to
> hear your experiences about working with either company, and especially
> their customer support. 
> 
> I'm a "newbie" at working with Ubuntu and, in fact, just saw how it
> looks a few days ago, but if it's a more secure OS, which it seems to
> be, then I'm sure willing to give it a shot. 
> 
> On the other hand, we could repair our old HP with a new motherboard and
> hard drive, but I wonder why do this when we could replace it with a
> brand new clean and secure computer. 
> 
> Thank you for taking the time to read this post. I hope that I didn't
> ask any stupid questions, and I appreciate all your answers. 
> 
> Sincerely,
> Albion


Why is a cracker like this after your PCs?

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