Syrian Computer Hacking

The article I chose to write about is titled “Computer Spyware is newest Weapon in Syrian Conflict”. The article was published by CNN, on February 17, 2012. This article is about how the Syrian government has started to use computer viruses to hack people’s computers in order to find out what they are doing. So far, they have only found that the Syrian government has hacked computers belonging to members of opposition forces. From what I understand, these viruses are just like ones that we may be able to get on our own computers, accept that these viruses send all the information they gather back to the Syrian government. It has been discovered that these viruses keep track of which keys you use, and also take screen shots of your computer, which would allow the Syrian government to see exactly what someone is doing on their computer. Some of the things professionals have discovered were viewed by the Syrian government include banking files, and well as other personal information. These viruses have been sent to the United States and other professionals for analysis, and they have discovered that the viruses hide within the files in your computer, and are many times invisible to the user, which makes them extremely hard to remove from the computer.

                I feel that although in Syria they don’t have to same rights as we do in America, it’s totally wrong of the government to hack computers belonging to their citizens. I know that the rights people have, and the laws they follow are much different. But I just feel that the government should not be invading the privacy of its citizens. I know that if I lived in Syria and my computer was hacked, it would make me hate the Syrian government even more. So it might be helping the Syrian government at the moment, but I feel that it could possibly cause more people to rise up against the government. This could result in another war, which the United States could possibly get involved in. I’m not saying that this will happen, but form the way things have happened in the past, I wouldn’t be surprised if the United States somehow got involved.