GCHQ, Spying on YOU! | Unfilter 106

Posted on: July 16, 2014

New Snowden revelations show the extent of the GCHQ’s disruption of online services and communities, the Obama administration lets the CIA slide again, and the BRICS nations launch a major attack against the US Dollar.

Plus a good use of Drones, some post-legalization issues in Washington, your feedback, our follow up, and much much more!

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— Show Notes —

The Slow Death of Privacy

CIA vs Senate | Unfilter 89

After five years the Senate’s investigation into the Central Intelligence Agencies torture programs has bursted into the light when a massive fight between top Senate officials and the CIA went public in a big way.

Taking to the floor, traditionally an intelligence agency apologist, blasted the CIA we’ll break it all down.

Obama adm refuses to pursue criminal investigation of CIA spying on Senate staffers

On Thursday this week, a DOJ spokesperson confirmed to McClatchy
that the Justice Dept. won’t pursue any further its investigation
into whether Senate Intelligence Committee staffers took
classified documents from a secure facility, nor a related probe
concerning allegations that the CIA spied on those same
congressional workers.

“The department carefully reviewed the matters referred to us
and did not find sufficient evidence to warrant a criminal
investigation,” spokesman Peter Carr said in a statement
sent to the news agency.

Earlier this year in March, the CIA alleged that Senate staffers
working on a controversial, yet-to-be-published report concerning
the agency’s use of torture tactics after the September 11, 2001
terrorist attacks had improperly removed classified documents
from a protected site and brought them illegally to their Capitol
Hill offices. Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-California), the chair of
the Senate Intelligence Committee working on that report, in turn
fired back and said that the CIA has been secretly monitoring the
computer use of lawmakers and staff members involved.

During an unannounced speech on the floor of Congress that month,
Feinstein said she had “grave concerns that the CIA’s search
may well have violated the separation of powers principles
embodied in the US Constitution.”

There is_”no legitimate reason to allege to the Justice
Department that Senate staff may have committed a
crime,”Feinstein said, adding that she viewed the CIA’s
request for an investigation as a“potential effort to
intimidate this staff.”_

GCHQ’s “Chinese menu” of tools spreads disinformation across Internet

What appears to be an internal Wiki page detailing the cyber-weaponry used by the British spy agency GCHQ was published today by Glenn Greenwald of The Intercept. The page, taken from the documents obtained by former NSA contractor Edward Snowden, lists dozens of tools used by GCHQ to target individuals and their computing devices, spread disinformation posing as others, and “shape” opinion and information available online.

The page had been maintained by GCHQ’s Joint Threat Research Intelligence Group (JTRIG) Covert Internet Technical Development team, but it fell out of use by the time Snowden copied it. Greenwald and NBC previously reported on JTRIG’s “dirty tricks” tactics for psychological operations and information warfare, and the new documents provide a hint at how those tactics were executed.

The effects tools fall into a few broad categories, including:

Denial of service and access:

JTRIG CITD has developed its own equivalent of CryptoLocker—Swamp Donkey, a tool “that will silently locate all predefined types of file [sic] and encrypt them on a target’s machine.”
Sunblock blocks a target from sending or receiving e-mail and viewing websites.
Stealth Moose will “disrupt [the] target’s Windows machine.” And for the ultimate in harassment, there’s ANGRY PIRATE, “a tool that will permanently disable a target’s account on their computer.”

**Information harassment tools: **

A tool appropriately called Badger allows GCHQ to overwhelm targets with spam e-mails “to support an Information Operations campaign.”
Concrete Donkey “is the ability to scatter an audio message to a large number of telephones, or repeatedly bomb a target number with the same message.”
Cannonball is a similar “bombing” tool for SMS messages, and Pitbull targets instant messaging accounts.
For those who prefer old-school communications, Serpent’s Tongue is a fax-bomb, designed for fax broadcasting to multiple phone numbers.
Imperial Barge can connect two target phones together in a call arbitrarily, for those times when GCHQ wants to force people to talk to each other.

Information disruption tools:

BUMPERCAR is a system that uses complaints to YouTube and other sites about “offensive content” to “disrupt and deny Internet-based terror videos and other material.”
Another tool, Silverlord, is used for “disruption of video-based websites hosting extremist content through concerted target discovery and content removal.”
Silverblade is used specifically to report terrorist content on the video site Dailymotion.

Misinformation and spoofing tools.

Underpass is used to “change outcome of online polls.”
Slipstream and Gateway can be used to manipulate traffic to a website, inflating its page views and raising its search rank to alter perception of its popularity.
Gestator can be used for “amplification of a given message, normally video, on popular multimedia websites (Youtube).”
Clean Sweep allows GCHQ to “masquerade Facebook Wall Posts for individuals or entire countries.”
Burlesque, an SMS robot, can send SMS messages spoofed from a particular user.
Scrapheap Challenge does “perfect spoofing of e-mails from Blackberry targets.”
Another tool, called Clumsy Beekeeper, may have been used in GCHQ’s targeting of Anonymous. It is an “IRC effects” tool that was still under development the last time the page was updated.
Chinese Firecracker is intended to crack passwords to forums and other sites so that analysts can post under someone else’s name.

Emergency surveillance bill to be fast-tracked despite 49 MPs’ opposition | The Guardian

The bill requires internet and phone companies to store the communications data generated by phone calls, email, texts and internet use for 12 months and make it accessible to police and security services.

Prime Minister insists police and spy agencies must retain snooping powers
Telecoms firms must keep records of calls, texts and emails for 12 months
The laws are intended to protect powers for GCHQ, MI5 and MI6
Government insists it is not an extension of the Snoopers’ Charter
Extraordinary cross-party deal between Cameron, Clegg and Miliband
Critics condemn the ‘stitch-up’ which will see laws ‘railroaded through’

Wall Street Joins U.S. Intelligence Cronies To Form Fascist “Cyber War Council”

The man behind the push appears to be ex-NSA chief Keith Alexander, who as I reported on last month, is now: Pimping Advice to Wall Street Banks for $1 Million a Month. As I mentioned in that post, one of Mr. Alexander’s most high profile clients is Wall Street’s largest lobbying group the Securities Industry and Financial Markets Association (SIFMA). Unsurprisingly, SIFMA is behind the latest push to formally merge Wall Street with the government intelligence apparatus. Mr. Alexander isn’t wasting any time.

Rep. Alan Grayson (D-Fla.) Concerned Banks Becoming Part of a War Council

Rep. Alan Grayson (D-Fla.), who has publicly questioned how Alexander could serve as a consultant without revealing any classified information, said Tuesday that Congress “needs to keep an eye on” the industry’s proposed working group.

“Because of the murky nature of cybersecurity, I am concerned that a council like this might propose either physical attacks or cyberattacks by the US military on the perceived source of the threats,” Grayson said in a statement. “This could in effect make the banks part of what would begin to look like a war council.”

Bloomberg reports that:

Wall Street’s biggest trade group has proposed a government-industry cyber war council to stave off terrorist attacks that could trigger financial panic by temporarily wiping out account balances, according to an internal document.

The proposal by the Securities Industry and Financial Markets Association, known as Sifma, calls for a committee of executives and deputy-level representatives from at least eight U.S. agencies including the Treasury Department, the National Security Agency and the Department of Homeland Security, all led by a senior White House official.

More centralization. This is the exact opposite of what we want or need. The establishment is very worried about the trend toward decentralization, and making its move on many fronts.

The trade association also reveals in the document that Sifma has retained former NSA director Keith Alexander to “facilitate” the joint effort with the government. Alexander, in turn, has brought in Michael Chertoff, the former U.S. Secretary of Homeland Security, and his firm, Chertoff Group.

Banks Dreading Computer Hacks Call for Cyber War Council – Bloomberg

Why All the Snowden Docs Should Be Public: An Interview with Cryptome

Request to Involved Citizens for Accounting and Release of Snowden Docs: https://t.co/gAFKhiupfc

— Cryptome (@Cryptomeorg) July 15, 2014

Before Snowden and Wikileaks grabbed the headlines, there was Cryptome. Launched in 1996, the website, or “digital library,” as its owners John Young and Deborah Natsios describe it, is a tome of classified documents. Including everything from lists of MI6 agents to details on nuclear technology, the archive currently stands at over 71,600 files, spanning nearly two decades of disclosures.

Among those is all the available information on the Snowden files, and the duo behind the venture are adamant that the entirety of the leaked NSA documents should be dumped online, rather than strategically trickled out by journalists. Cryptome has even made vague hints that the Snowden documents may be released in full this month.

Brics countries create $100bn bank to ease western grip on global finances | Global development | theguardian.com

Brics leaders, from left: Russia’s president Vladimir Putin, India’s prime minister Narendra Modi, Brazil’s president Dilma Rousseff, Chinese president Xi Jinping and South Africa’s president Jacob Zuma. Photograph: Mikhail Klimentyev / Ria Novosti / Kremlin Pool/EPA

The Brics group comprises Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa. The bank, aimed at funding infrastructure projects in developing nations, will be based in Shanghai, and India will preside over its operations for the first five years, followed by Brazil and then Russia

The bank will begin with a subscribed capital of $50bn divided equally between its five founders, with an initial total of $10bn in cash put in over seven years and $40bn in guarantees. It is scheduled to start lending in 2016 and be open to membership by other countries, but the capital share of the Brics cannot drop below 55%.

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Drone Update:

Washington to use drone to monitor wildfires

Washington state says the Federal Aviation Administration has given it authorization to use an unmanned drone to monitor wildfires that pose an urgent threat.

Public Lands Commissioner Peter Goldmark said Tuesday that the additional “real-time information” will make things safer for firefighters.

Weed Wackers:

Cannabis really can trigger paranoia | theguardian.com

We recruited 121 volunteers, all of whom had taken cannabis at least once before, and all of whom reported having experienced paranoid thoughts in the previous month (which is typical of half the population). None had been diagnosed with a mental illness. The volunteers were randomly chosen to receive an intravenous 1.5mg dose of either THC (the equivalent of a strong joint) or a placebo (saline). To track the effects of these substances, we used the most extensive form of assessment yet deployed to test paranoia, including a virtual-reality scenario, a real-life social situation, self-administered questionnaires, and expert interviewer assessments.

The results were clear: THC caused paranoid thoughts. Half of those given THC experienced paranoia, compared with 30% of the placebo group: that is, one in five had an increase in paranoia that was directly attributable to the THC. (Interestingly, the placebo produced extraordinary effects in certain individuals. They were convinced they were stoned, and acted accordingly. Because at the time we didn’t know who had been given the drug, we assumed they were high too.)

Pot unwelcome on federal land in Washington

Larry Chambers, a US Forest Service spokesperson says the agency is legally required to enforce federal laws on public lands they manage, even though Washington voters legalized recreational marijuana in November 2012.

This map of Washington shows what’s federal or tribal land. The highlighted green areas represent National Parks and National Forests, where the Forest Service stresses pot is illegal. You can’t possess it or smoke it or else face a fine.

Seattle City Attorney Apologizes for Taking Pot to Work – NBC News.com

Holmes, who helped sponsor Initiative 502, which made Washington the second state to legalize sales of small amounts of recreational marijuana, showed up at Seattle’s only legal pot store Tuesday to be one of the first Seattleites to make a purchase. But while the marijuana law has changed, “the workplace rule has not changed,” Holmes said in a statement Friday. After discussions with the city’s personnel department, he said, “I have volunteered to donate $3,000 to the Downtown Emergency Service Center. I apologize to my employees, all city employees and to the public.”

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