UPDATE 1: CTH makes a good point, and has some fun:
In a follow-up tweet Krugman states: “The Times is now on the case”.
Apparently calling the police for a forensic review was out of the question, or something. Very odd.
Next up: Crowdstrike! Wait for it….
UPDATE 2: Crowdstrike would come in handy if it was a server in Ukraine that placed the stuff on Krugman's computer. Or was this Putin helping Trump again?
Yeah...that's not how this works. Telecom guy here.
ReplyDeleteThe hijacking that is likley, if that is what happened, would be that Krugman has a wifi router with security that has been compromised (perhaps he shares Hillary's campaign manager's password of "password").
So it is likely worse than someone just using his IP address--it is someone using his router, like, say, Paul Krugman.
Now I am not saying it is impossible to actually hijack an IP address, but it would require an large amount of effort and expert knowledge to do so. One would have to hijack an ISP's router at some point between his home and the hosting site for the porn, without the ISP's knowledge, in order to be a man-in-the-middle to intercept traffic for his IP address to send it elsewhere in order to disguise the true destination for the porn.
The chances of this going on for any extended period of time are very low. And if there are multiple internet locations that were the source of this downloaded porn, it would mean his ISP was likely the compromised target--and his ISP is probably someone like Comcast, so although not impossible, again, just thinking it is unlikely.
One other thought (same guy who posted previous reply). We are not being told something by Krugman. How does "Krugman's IT Expert" know there was porn transmitted to or from this IP address? Someone "hijacking" his IP would cut him out so he would never actually get it. And as your update mentions the NY Times being on the case, why are they and not the police?
DeleteSo I have a couple thoughts on possible explanations. First thought is the police ARE involved and that is how he knows about the porn issue. Knowing Krugman is a "journalist", and a NY Times one at that, it is quite possible he left out context in quoting this IT expert. Say the trail was tracked down to Krugman's IP, so he asks this expert a loaded question like "Assuming I did not do this, what other possible explanation is there nomatter how unlikely or implausible?" Answer, "someone hijacked your IP".
Second thought is that perhaps the reason the NY Times is involved in looking into this and why they know about the porn is that there may be the possibility that the porn was transmitted through a NY Times VPN. Most corporations, large ones in particular, will have tracking in place for employee use of internet resources. The NY Times may have become aware of this activity either on their own or through police notification and investigated their own internal networks where they tracked the activity to a VPN connection initiated from Krugman's IP address (or perhaps this was a private IP on an internal NY Times network meaning hacking in same way of the NY Times network).
One thing seems clear to me though is that Krugman is leaving out relevant information about what actually happened.
I assumed that your second alternative was probably the case. That either NYT became aware of this or that NYPD did and came to NYT. Krugman sounds very unsavvy about covering his tracks. I think he was caught.
DeleteLooks like Mrs. Krugman caught him.
ReplyDeleteReminds me of the Eddie stand up routine "It wouldn't me!"
ReplyDeleteWasn't Anthony Weiner's first excuse/explanation for his "sexting" activity was that he was "hacked" and someone was impersonating him?
ReplyDeleteIIRC, some others similarly caught used the same (lame) excuse.
He didn't put all the information in the article because he was typing with only one hand ....
ReplyDelete;-)
I knew he was 'off'.
ReplyDeleteFrom Business Insider:
ReplyDeletePaul Krugman, the Nobel Prize-winning economist and columnist for the New York Times, took to Twitter Wednesday to share some alarming news.
"Well, I'm on the phone with my computer security service, and as I understand it someone compromised my IP address and is using it to download child pornography," Krugman said in a since-deleted tweet.
The tweet drew baffled responses from Twitter users, many of whom pointed out that an IP address isn't a device or system that can be compromised — it's just a number that identifies a computer on a WiFi network.
Now this is being passed off as an example of how someone can fall victim to phishing. That one will never fly, Orville. The IP address identifies one computer. His. Nice try. (His photo makes him look like he is shrinking…)
https://www.businessinsider.com/paul-krugman-hacked-qanon-how-to-avoid-phishing-scam-2020-1
Delish!
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