Hooooooooooowl...
If this is true, this would be the howler of the year.
And whoever did it - applause. Done by the book - the higher the target, the less likely for him/her to be computer and security literate.
The recent cyberattack on the German government began with the compromise of Chancellor Angela Merkel's personal computer, it is alleged. German newspaper Bild claims Merkel's computer was one of the first systems to be infected with malware linked to miscreants in Russia. Hackers reportedly used Merkel's computer to send …
You don't need to be very computer savvy to have earned a degree in Chemistry, physical or otherwise. You have to have good math capability and know your subject but computers are only needed for research. All can be done without a PC or MAC.
More depends on how the curricula and classwork itself is dependent on use of computers. I think the Chancellor went to University back when there was more impetus on book learning than computers.
"You have to have good math capability and know your subject but computers are only needed for research"
Not my area exactly but ...You know, presumably, that solutions of the wave equation for anything other than the hydrogen molecule that approximations methods have to be used - that means computers, for anything rather larger , it means BIG computers
@Dan Paul,
She has a Doctorate in quantum chemistry. I am a Chartered Chemist, and was one of the earlier adopters of computers in chemistry. I was (in a a very minor way) one of the people who helped move chemistry from minicomputers to PCs. Almost all chemistry relies heavily on computers, but physical scientists generally consider computing to be just a necessary tool and not an end in itself.
I started doing serious computing stuff when I had to write a laboratory management system, and a later a financial management system, that would run on a number of LANs connected by a WAN. This included specifying and purchasing and installing equipment and staff training. My "qualifications" were the experience of running a chromatography and high-resolution mass spectrometry laboratory for the organization. This involved connecting together systems that run on DECnet, Token Ring, RDOS, PDPs, VAXen, UNIX minis, PC DOS, CP/M, POS, the Apple ][, and a whole pile of other assorted equipment with serial ports. My recollection was that this was pretty easy compared to mass spectrometry...
Incidentally as a subtle, but good-hearted, dig at people who "know computing", I was put in charge of computing for 300 scientists (>400 computers) by an organization that did not believe in "putting computer people in charge of computing". Their rational was that people who "did computing" did not always see the needs of the business, and were just as likely to set up systems with a 4GL or Java or whatever was becoming cool at the time because "it was interesting" - Particularly if it helped their career development.
Angela is a bit younger than me; but back then, even in East Germany, she would have required a fairly detailed understanding of computers to get a Doctorate in quantum chemistry. I expect that nowadays she might be too busy to look after her own computer, so she probably relied on a professional [expert],[security officer],[self-important bureaucrat].
Disclosure: I learnt FORTRAN as an essential part of my chemistry course in 1969, so my mind is probably damaged - All of the above may, probably, be disregarded.
Anonymous Coward,
her doctorate is in physical chemistry, but her dissertation involved quantum chemistry:
Am 8. Januar 1986 reichte sie ihre Dissertation Untersuchung des Mechanismus von Zerfallsreaktionen mit einfachem Bindungsbruch und Berechnung ihrer Geschwindigkeitskonstanten auf der Grundlage quantenchemischer und statistischer Methoden ein.
(On 8th January 1986 she submitted her dissertation Investigation of the mechanism of decay reactions with single bond breaking and calculation of their velocity constants on the basis of quantum chemical and statistical methods.)
Yes, quantum chemistry existed in 1986; see the earlier work by Linus Pauling et al. to allay your doubts.
"the less likely for him/her to be computer and security literate"
In my experience, these situations have less to do with computer literacy, and more to do with an ego that sets you apart from above mere mortals.
I've seen some weird shit on the PC's of some corporate big nobs that would get anyone else fired.
The higher your position it seems, the more likely you are to grant yourself carte-blanche to bypass the security rules and processes that, whilst a pain, are there for good reason.
I have to say, since the moment Admiral Canaris was forcefully removed from office, german counterintelligence has been a bit lacklustre.
Probably not: See Wikipedia - Reinhard Gehlen who, apparently, died of old age.
First the US [allegedly] bugged her phone and now Russia has [allegedly] hacked her computer. If she has a tablet, I am sure the Chinese are interested in having a go. Wait! Perhaps it has already been done, but it was a wetware hack... The newspaper did not mention how Merkel herself may have been infected. Ew!
because they use Qbits while us peons use regular bits.
So don't worry people, the Russians only got entangled bits, which require Schrodinger's Cat to be probably killed with a Geiger counter and a poison gas pellet before they will yield their secrets.
It will be interesting to see who else had hacked Merkel's IT. There were 5 countries tapping her phone (including the "allies" such as the US and UK), and how her other information assets have been compromised by multiple parties.
The Chancellor and the government really should be asking the BND what they are doing - because they were also caught by the Austrians spying. Perhaps Maxwell Smart is running the place.
". . . it is alleged." and "German newspaper Bild claims Merkel's computer was one of the first systems to be infected with malware linked to miscreants in Russia."
Instead of discussing the veracity of Merkel's computer skills, it might be more fruitful to question the source of the story. What kind of credibility does the Bild have?