U.S. Department of Homeland Security warns computer users: Disable Java now

reply to post by minnow


I disabled then uninstalled and youtube video still works for me.

To uninstall - do it like uninstalling any program in control panel.
To disable - www.java.com...

reply to post by tgidkp


My thinking is that hacker will use Java as a back door of some type to infect your PC will malicious malware. If malware entered your PC the anti virus software & firewall can & will detect it & thwart it.

But truth be told, no PC is safe if its connected to the Internet.

I disabled Java on my Computer, do I need to disable it on my browser also?? I use firefox, if it's disabled on my computer but enabled on my browser will I still get the bad stuff??

Java tester:
javatester.org...

I get a blank.
But unless Java and Active X and other scripts can be turned on without
our knowledge we might be safe.

reply to post by RN311


I went to Firefox to check for updates to my add-ons....as I did not see Java there...it was disabled by default....because it was out of date...but YMMV.

reply to post by DontTreadOnMe


Chrome does the same thing. I hate Java so hard. It's the most annoying thing to have, constantly bothering you with updates. It's even worse than iTunes.

It's always "Update me" when I turn my PC on and I just think "FFFFFFFFFFUUUUUUUUU".

Has anyone actually thought through the real implications of this????

A .jar file is a java executable (usually)

Google androids apps are .apk which is actually a slightly modified version of the .jar file. As a matter of fact the android opperating system uses java deeply.

So those smart phones with your bank info for buying apps from the google play store, and your email information, and your personal info.... just became the property of digital mavericks.

Good thing I store extremely minimal info in my phone.

Not about to take advice from the government

reply to post by lolita64


exactly. Rule of thumb, do the opposite. LOL

I dont even see what the big deal is. If you do get infected and cant remove it, which is hardly ever the case, you just wipe and re-install your OS, possibly take the opportunity to upgrade.

I keep all my "must haves" like pictures, files, ect on a separate external hard drive I made internal. I took apart the USB hard drive, connected it to the motherboard and the power supply, and ran the circuit to the front of the case, taking advantage of a hole I drilled before for the on/off button I found that fit. It is OFF almost always. The rest is replaceable so I wipe every 6 months Anyways. I write zeros to my drives every year.

I NEVER use online banking or enter my real information into ANY site. There is no reason to use your real name and information for any reason. I dont buy things online and I dont use any online transactions of any kind.

IF I must I would use a gift card and a fake account at what ever site I wanted to purchase something at. OR I ask a store to order the product for me. They dont usually ask for much on top of the price they pay as it is that you know what the cost is.

Doing these things, I can be hacked a thousand times and short of messing with my bios, there is nothing a hacker can do to my machine or life.

Also I dont go to "shady" sites. I have no virus protection or malware protection. Just a firewall.

SOOO....people need to be smart and take a few little steps and stop going nuts over hackers.

Wait a minute.
Java is not secure, it runs on Windows , which is not secure, which connects to the public internet; which is also not secure.

Seems the issue is more than Java.

Reality is if you want 100% security on the Internet you need to invest in a standalone integrated security appliance then only connect from a Live OS on whatever you are using to access the web ( an example might be Linux live CD: news.cnet.com...) which prevents changes being made to the OS as it runs from a CD/DVD.

This isnt much fun though.

For all normal user the best you can do is get your OS on auto updates and use a good internet security program with application layer security (Comodo/Kaspereky for e.g) live process monitoring and boot sector scanning.


You can run sandboxed environments from these programs which will provide good protection from executables and other malwares but whilst you use Windows you are at the mercy of luck.

Originally posted by Sly1one
Hmm...Java is probably interfering with DHS's own illegal malicious intrusive identity theft programs already running on our computers...

Ding Ding Ding- We have a winner!

DHS doesn't care Jack about an individuals security.

hey - Java fix it.
it's their software - as many updates as they send - you'd think they could stitch one pearl two.

reply to post by jibajaba

They do as they catch them and fix them as they catch them, and then hackers find more and then they fix those.

Just about all OS's and applications have exposures that someone is eventually going to exploit if they think it's worth exploiting. Not like this is anything new.

Overall, I think it's kinda cute how the DHS is so concerned. Ominously cute, but cute nonetheless.

We have new virus attacks every day on all sorts of levels.
What makes this one so important that all of a sudden the Government gets involved?
Something smells funny on this one.
My guess is there is some sort of issue with Java that if left alone will expose their spying on the general population and they know it.
Its better for them if everyone disables it while they try to cover their tracks.
Just my opinion, but i've never seen them care about viruses and hacking into personal computers before.

reply to post by goou111


I'm leaving it up. If I get a virus through this means, I'll sue Oracle for negligence - but seriously - i'm guessing there's something in EULAs that exempts them from responsibility for their products causing/enabling property damage and theft, much the way vaccine makers are exempt from responsibility if they wipe out 3/4 of a nation's population through an "oopsie", but, have any of these companies ever been held accountable for their weak programming?

Anyhow, I figure by next week there will be about 30 new Java updates like normal anyway, and patching this will probably just be one of their many obnoxious constant updates.

Originally posted by lolita64
Right.

I think I'll keep it on thank you very much.

If DHS says something = do the opposite... you'll be safer.

edit on 11-1-2013 by lolita64 because: (no reason given)

I think I am inclined to agree with this poster. In fact, I have re-installed a new copy of Java 7 right after reading this. If you want your crap protected from hackers, get a VPN and change your DNS number's, use AVAST and Comodo Firewall in tandem. Any number of security positions, however you do not want to trust the DHS for your security. History is replete with their mistakes and misdeeds and they have cost lives as a result of these mistakes and dastardly deeds.

Besides, one would think that Oracle, having heard this news would be working quick on a script update. I mean after all, WINDOWS has had this type of script patch every second Tuesday of every month since the inception of Windows 98. It has it's own Holiday Name called "Patch Tuesday".

Why can't Oracle make one security patch?....Considering that I am sure that the DHS would willingly hand over any code/script information to them, so that they may protect us.

Why is it that the DHS wants us to just abandon it?

I think that it is because Java is interrupting the process of DHS spying on us because JAVA has been a target of Apple for quite sometime now (especially in the last year) and Apple is going to be the new WINDOWS.

Chances are, DHS is predicting that Apple devices will rule the internet and computer world, and that Java will be replaced with something that they already have intrusion script established or installed into, and has a "handshake partnership" with Apple to let them spy on us.


Java is not a part of this and does not function on the apple devices.
Steve Jobs comments on the discontinuation of JAVA (2010))



I suspect Apple is trying to do to JAVA what they did with Flash vs. Online Apple Video.

Who knows? DHS probably offered Apple/Steve Jobs the new position, to be the king of the computer world....now that Bill Gates has stepped down and Windows is so hated by the masses.
Even this last OS (Windows 8), is so un-user friendly and really makes no sense as to why it was designed this way. It is almost like they are trying to push people to Apple devices by pissing them off.
Every single person I have spoken with says they HATE this latest Windows OS.

Apple will be our savior in the media......our destroyer behind the curtains, as they allow DHS to come and go at will,.... at the price of their digital souls.

Apple will be the new WINDOWS and this is what Jobs and Wozniak wanted from the beginning.
DHS probably offered Steve, before he died, life-long financial support for his family or something if he would sign over Apple before he died and assured him that he was doing a service for mankind in the process.

I really think that Apple sold out for the top position.....not to mention how much money will be showered upon them, and it's that DHS cannot use JAVA in Apple OS's to spy on us as it is a self contained, embedded run-time environment that is much like a small Operating System that is within the Windows Operating system.

I am guessing, for this reason, the DHS team cannot see or read what is going on in there remotely, or what may be stored in there if one has written a programming script, that is a vault and has programs stored in this JAVA environment. Maybe just something as simple as not being able to see remotely what one types in real time.....as you would not be able to view JAVA information using a remote spy program.

maybe this is a silly question... Could Java be used as a tool for acquiring computer process boost from around the world pc's to serve purpose of one?

Originally posted by voyger2
maybe this is a silly question... Could Java be used as a tool for acquiring computer process boost from around the world pc's to serve purpose of one?

edit on 12-1-2013 by voyger2 because: (no reason given)

No, it is merely an embedded programming language that cannot be read remotely. So if 2 t3rr0rizts were chatting with each other, DHS would not be able to read it in real time. Or if people who used their own minds, instead of letting the government think for them......or conspiracy theorists rather, they would not be able to read how much the world hated them, or where people would be meeting to discuss the possibility of retaliating as they tried to bully us around with their police state.

reply to post by kcabmi


so terr's should leave java on

Originally posted by voyger2
reply to post by kcabmi

 

so terr's should leave java on

I can't tell others what to do, but I am. Eventually they will phase it out anyway, as DHS buys JAVA out in the future and shuts it down. They may be waiting until the economic collapse...everyone will be wiling to see anything at that time.