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The Kremlin Candidate | Unfilter 222

chris — Wed, 18 Jan 2017 23:29:12 +0000

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The Red Hack | Unfilter 202

chris — Wed, 31 Aug 2016 20:40:22 +0000

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Pulsed Gun Control | Unfilter 192

chris — Wed, 15 Jun 2016 23:05:18 +0000

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From the Orlando shooting, secret drone emails, to the Brexit this episode of Unfilter covers a lot of ground. We share our thoughts & questions about the shooting, discuss the DNC hack & the latest scandals in the 2016 race.

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National Security Breaking Agency | TechSNAP 236

chris — Thu, 15 Oct 2015 18:03:54 +0000

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How the NSA might be breaking Crypto, fresh zero day exploit against Flash with a twist & Keylogging before computers.

Plus a great batch of your questions, a rocking round-up & much more!

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How might the NSA be breaking crypto?

“There have been rumors for years that the NSA can decrypt a significant fraction of encrypted Internet traffic. In 2012, James Bamford published an article quoting anonymous former NSA officials stating that the agency had achieved a “computing breakthrough” that gave them “the ability to crack current public encryption.” The Snowden documents also hint at some extraordinary capabilities: they show that NSA has built extensive infrastructure to intercept and decrypt VPN traffic and suggest that the agency can decrypt at least some HTTPS and SSH connections on demand. However, the documents do not explain how these breakthroughs work, and speculation about possible backdoors or broken algorithms has been rampant in the technical community.”
“Yesterday at ACM CCS, one of the leading security research venues, we and twelve coauthors presented a paper that we think solves this technical mystery.”
PDF: Imperfect Forward Secrecy: How Diffie-Hellman Fails in Practice
“The key is, somewhat ironically, Diffie-Hellman key exchange, an algorithm that we and many others have advocated as a defense against mass surveillance. Diffie-Hellman is a cornerstone of modern cryptography used for VPNs, HTTPS websites, email, and many other protocols. Our paper shows that, through a confluence of number theory and bad implementation choices, many real-world users of Diffie-Hellman are likely vulnerable to state-level attackers.”
“If a client and server are speaking Diffie-Hellman, they first need to agree on a large prime number with a particular form. There seemed to be no reason why everyone couldn’t just use the same prime, and, in fact, many applications tend to use standardized or hard-coded primes. But there was a very important detail that got lost in translation between the mathematicians and the practitioners: an adversary can perform a single enormous computation to “crack” a particular prime, then easily break any individual connection that uses that prime.”
“For the most common strength of Diffie-Hellman (1024 bits), it would cost a few hundred million dollars to build a machine, based on special purpose hardware, that would be able to crack one Diffie-Hellman prime every year.”
“Would this be worth it for an intelligence agency? Since a handful of primes are so widely reused, the payoff, in terms of connections they could decrypt, would be enormous. Breaking a single, common 1024-bit prime would allow NSA to passively decrypt connections to two-thirds of VPNs and a quarter of all SSH servers globally. Breaking a second 1024-bit prime would allow passive eavesdropping on connections to nearly 20% of the top million HTTPS websites. In other words, a one-time investment in massive computation would make it possible to eavesdrop on trillions of encrypted connections.”
“Based on the evidence we have, we can’t prove for certain that NSA is doing this. However, our proposed Diffie-Hellman break fits the known technical details about their large-scale decryption capabilities better than any competing explanation. For instance, the Snowden documents show that NSA’s VPN decryption infrastructure involves intercepting encrypted connections and passing certain data to supercomputers, which return the key. The design of the system goes to great lengths to collect particular data that would be necessary for an attack on Diffie-Hellman but not for alternative explanations, like a break in AES or other symmetric crypto. While the documents make it clear that NSA uses other attack techniques, like software and hardware “implants,” to break crypto on specific targets, these don’t explain the ability to passively eavesdrop on VPN traffic at a large scale.”
“8.4% of Alexa Top 1M HTTPS domains allow DHE_EXPORT, of which 92.3% use one of the two most popular primes”
“After a week-long precomputation for each of the two top export-grade primes (see Table 1), we can quickly break any key exchange that uses them. Here we show times for computing 3,500 individual logs; the median is 70 seconds.”
“Our calculations suggest that it is plausibly within NSA’s resources to have performed number field sieve precomputations for at least a small number of 1024-bit Diffie-Hellman groups. This would allow them to break any key exchanges made with those groups in close to real time. If true, this would answer one of the major cryptographic questions raised by the Edward Snowden leaks: How is NSA defeating the encryption for widely used VPN protocols?”
If the NSA has precomputed just one DH 1024 group, they would be able to compromise 37% of the HTTPS traffic to the top 1 million sites using an active downgrade attack. If they have precomputed the ten most popular DH 1024 groups, that number increases to 56%
When applied to VPNs, the single most popular DH 1024 group would comprise 66% of all traffic. For SSH, the number is 25%. For both VPN and SSH, the top 10 does not increase the likelihood of compromise, this suggests that outside of a specific very popular 1024 bit group, most other sites do not reuse the same group as others.
“we performed a scan in which we mimicked the algorithms offered by OpenSSH 6.6.1p1, the latest version of OpenSSH. In this scan, 21.8% of servers preferred the 1024-bit Oakley Group 2, and 37.4% preferred a server-defined group. 10% of the server-defined groups were 1024-bit, but, of those, near all provided Oakley Group 2 rather than a custom group”
Recommendations from the paper:
- Transition to elliptic curves: Transitioning to elliptic curve Diffie-Hellman (ECDH) key exchange with appropriate parameters avoids all known feasible cryptanalytic attacks
- Increase minimum key strengths: Server operators should disable DHE_EXPORT and configure DHE ciphersuites to use primes of 2048 bits or larger.
- Avoid fixed-prime 1024-bit groups: For implementations that must continue to use or support 1024-bit groups for compatibility reasons, generating fresh groups may help mitigate some of the damage caused by NFS-style precomputation for very common fixed groups.
- Don’t deliberately weaken crypto: Our downgrade attack on export-grade 512-bit Diffie-Hellman groups in TLS illustrates the fragility of cryptographic “front doors”. Although the key sizes originally used in DHE_EXPORT were intended to be tractable only to NSA, two decades of algorithmic and computational improvements have significantly lowered the bar to attacks on such key sizes.
“Prior to our work, Internet Explorer, Chrome, Firefox, and Opera all accepted 512-bit primes, whereas Safari allowed groups as small as 16 bits. As a result of our disclosures, Internet Explorer, Firefox, and Chrome are transitioning the minimum size of the DHE groups they accept to 1024 bits, and OpenSSL and Safari are expected to follow suit.”
Additional information from the researchers site WeakDH.org
Sysadmin’s guide to securing your servers

https://www.onlinemeetingnow.com/register/?id=pmsy0fu2ck&inf_contact_key=c3de960e4fc660a9c3744ecc74a608bdde91a80fc9d58288c71bfd6d9c0209ad

Fresh Zero Day exploit against fully patched Adobe Flash

Just last week, we were commenting on how quiet things have been on the Adobe Flash front
Sorry for jinxing it for everyone
This zero day exploit even affects Flash version 19.0.0.207 which was released on Tuesday
Adobe expects to release a patch that fixes the Zero day some time next week
“Attackers are exploiting a previously unknown vulnerability in fully patched versions of Adobe’s Flash Player so they can surreptitiously install malware on end users’ computers”
“So far, the attacks are known to target only government agencies as part of a long-running espionage campaign carried out by a group known as Pawn Storm, researchers from antivirus provider Trend Micro said in a blog post published Tuesday. It’s not unusual for such zero-day exploits to be more widely distributed once the initial element of surprise wanes. The critical security flaw is known to reside in Flash versions 19.0.0.185 and 19.0.0.207 and may also affect earlier versions. At this early stage, no other technical details are available”
“In this most recent campaign of Pawn Storm, several Ministries of Foreign Affairs received spear phishing e-mails. These contain links to sites that supposedly contain information about current events, but in reality, these URLs hosted the exploit”
In this wave of attacks, the emails were about the following topics:
- “Suicide car bomb targets NATO troop convoy Kabul”
“Syrian troops make gains as Putin defends air strikes”
“Israel launches airstrikes on targets in Gaza”
“Russia warns of response to reported US nuke buildup in Turkey, Europe”
“US military reports 75 US-trained rebels return Syria”
The most startling thing here is that you would not expect government employees to get such news via email, so they should know better than to fall for emails with these subjects or follow links with such headlines.
“It’s worth noting that the URLs hosting the new Flash zero-day exploit are similar to the URLs seen in attacks that targeted North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) members and the White House in April this year.”
It will be interesting to see if any of the exploit kits manage to pick up this Zero-day before the patch is released
This attack is currently focused on the government, and the attackers likely want to keep their zero-day to themselves
Once a fix is released, I would expect the regular malware authors to reverse engineer the fix to find the exploit, and see this added to the regular exploit kits
Additional Coverage: Krebs

Keylogging before computers: How Soviets used IBM Selectric keyloggers to spy on US diplomats

“A National Security Agency memo that recently resurfaced a few years after it was first published contains a detailed analysis of what very possibly was the world’s first keylogger—a 1970s bug that Soviet spies implanted in US diplomats’ IBM Selectric typewriters to monitor classified letters and memos.”
“The electromechanical implants were nothing short of an engineering marvel. The highly miniaturized series of circuits were stuffed into a metal bar that ran the length of the typewriter, making them invisible to the naked eye. The implant, which could only be seen using X-ray equipment, recorded the precise location of the little ball Selectric typewriters used to imprint a character on paper. With the exception of spaces, tabs, hyphens, and backspaces, the tiny devices had the ability to record every key press and transmit it back to Soviet spies in real time.”
“The Soviet implants were discovered through the painstaking analysis of more than 10 tons’ worth of equipment seized from US embassies and consulates and shipped back to the US. The implants were ultimately found inside 16 typewriters used from 1976 to 1984 at the US embassy in Moscow and the US consulate in Leningrad. The bugs went undetected for the entire eight-year span and only came to light following a tip from a US ally whose own embassy was the target of a similar eavesdropping operation.”
“”Despite the ambiguities in knowing what characters were typed, the typewriter attack against the US was a lucrative source of information for the Soviets,” an NSA document, which was declassified several years ago, concluded. “It was difficult to quantify the damage to the US from this exploitation because it went on for such a long time.” The NSA document was published here in 2012. Ars is reporting the document because it doesn’t appear to have been widely covered before and generated a lively conversation Monday on the blog of encryption and security expert Bruce Schneier.”
“When the implant was first reported, one bugging expert cited in Discover magazine speculated that it worked by measuring minute differences in the time it took each character to be imprinted. That theory was based on the observation that the time the Selectric ball took to complete a rotation was different for each one. A low-tech listening device planted in the room would then transmit the sounds of a typing Selectric to a Soviet-operated computer that would reconstruct the series of key presses.”
“In fact, the implant was far more advanced and worked by measuring the movements of the “bail,” which was the term analysts gave to the mechanical arms that controlled the pitch and rotation of the ball.”
“In reality, the movement of the bails determined which character had been typed because each character had a unique binary movement corresponding to the bails. The magnetic energy picked up by the sensors in the bar was converted into a digital electrical signal. The signals were compressed into a four-bit frequency select word. The bug was able to store up to eight four-bit characters. When the buffer was full, a transmitter in the bar sent the information out to Soviet sensors.”
“There was some ambiguity in determining which characters had been typed. NSA analysts using the laws of probability were able to figure out how the Soviets probably recovered text. Other factors which made it difficult to recover text included the following: The implant could not detect characters that were typed without the ball moving. If the typist pressed space, tab shift, or backspace, these characters were invisible to the implant. Since the ball did not move or tilt when the typist pressed hyphen because it was located at the ball’s home position, the bug could not read this character either.”
“The implants were also remarkable for the number of upgrades they received. Far from being a static device that was built once and then left to do its job, the bugs were constantly refined.”
“There were five varieties or generations of bugs. Three types of units operated using DC power and contained either eight, nine, or ten batteries. The other two types operated from AC power and had beacons to indicate whether the typewriter was turned on or off. Some of the units also had a modified on and off switch with a transformer, while others had a special coaxial screw with a spring and lug. The modified switch sent power to the implant. Since the battery-powered machines had their own internal source of power, the modified switch was not necessary. The special coaxial screw with a spring and lug connected the implant to the typewriter linkage, and this linkage was used as an antenna to transmit the information as it was being typed. Later battery-powered implants had a test point underneath an end screw. By removing the screw and inserting a probe, an individual could easily read battery voltage to see if the batteries were still active.”
“The devices could be turned off to avoid detection when the Soviets knew inspection teams were in close proximity. Newer devices operated by the US may have had the ability to detect the implants, but even then an element of luck would have been required, since the infected typewriter would have to be turned on, the bug would have to be turned on, and the analyzer would have to be tuned to the right frequency. To lower this risk, Soviet spies deliberately designed the devices to use the same frequency band as local television stations.”
I thought this was an interesting example of how espionage works and how hard it can be to detect

Feedback:

2gbps with direct connections?
- ifconfig lagg0 create
- ifconfig lagg0 laggproto roundrobin laggport igb0 laggport igb1
- ifconfig lagg0 192.168.101.1/24
VLAN Basics
PHP-FPM Tweaking
Remote PC power on
- APC AP7900 is $600+, but can be cheap on ebay

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The post National Security Breaking Agency | TechSNAP 236 first appeared on Jupiter Broadcasting.

Androids Go Silent | TTT 199

chris — Thu, 30 Jul 2015 09:48:31 +0000

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Hammertoss malware using GitHub & Twitter for command & control gets exposed, the US sets out to build the world’s fastest Supercomputer, the second major Android flaw this week & the return of Top Gear …sort of.

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Two-factor Exemption | TechSNAP 174

chris — Thu, 07 Aug 2014 20:01:30 +0000

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Russian hackers collect 1.2 billion usernames and passwords, and while questions remain the details are compelling.

Plus simply working around two-factor authentication, crypto-malware that targets NAS Boxes, your questions, our answers and much more!

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Reportedly 1.2 billion username and password combinations found in Russian cybercrime stash

The data was apparently stolen from 420,000 different websites using SQL injection and other common techniques
Original post at Hold Security
“So far, the criminals have not sold many of the records online. Instead, they appear to be using the stolen information to send spam on social networks like Twitter at the behest of other groups, collecting fees for their work.”
The Russian cybercrime group (called CyberVor by Hold Security) appears to have used a large botnet to scan most of the internet looking for vulnerable sites and software and collecting as much data as possible
“Criminals were able to collect 4.5 billion records — each a user name and password — though many overlapped. After sorting through the data, Hold Security found that 1.2 billion of those records were unique”
Because of the varied sources of the data, the passwords are likely a combination of plain text, simple hashes (md5, sha1, sha256), esoteric hashes like md5(salt.password.salt) or md5(salt.md5(password)) etc, and proper cryptographic hashes
Original Coverage from 6 months ago
Alex Holden was the researcher who originally discovered the Adobe breach late last year, and tracked the trafficking of the stolen Target data
Krebs has a Q&A on the subject, based on his past working with Alex Holden, or Holden Security
There has been a bit of backlash against Hold Security, because they are charging $120/year for their “Breach Notification Service” (BNS) to be alerted if your website was one of the ones compromised
Sophos and others still have questions about the data from CyberVor
While still under construction, there is a individual version of the service that will allow you to find out if your electronic identity was found in possession of the CyberVor gang, which will be provided free for the first 30 days
This service will take a SHA512 hash of your password(s), and then compare that to the passwords in the data dump, notifying you which of your passwords may have been compromised
The issue with this is that if a compromised site used proper cryptographic hashes, the only way to compare the passwords without knowing your original password in plain text, is to brute force the hash and return it to the plain text. If Hold Security had your plain text password, they could compare it to the database much more quickly and accurately, but it would then lead them to being a bigger security threat than the exposure of the hashed passwords
Additional Coverage: Forbes

PayPal 2 factor authentication contained simple bypass used for linking ebay account

While investigating the usefulness of the PayPal 2 Factor Authentication system, a security researcher (Joshua Rogers) was astonished to find a simple by pass
PayPal (owned by eBay) has a system to link your eBay account to your PayPal account to facilitate sending and receiving payments in connection with auctions
This system works by sending an additional HTTP GET parameter when directing the user to the PayPal login or signup page
By using “cmd=_integrated-registration” in the request, PayPal skips asking for any two factor authentication, allowing an attacker that knows your username and password to access your account without requiring the second factor
The exploit can be used without needing to have an affiliated eBay account
The issue was reported to PayPal on June 5th 2014, who replied on June 27th and July 4th
After two months the issue has not been resolved, so the researcher released his findings
It is not clear if the issue was reported via the PayPal Bug Bounty program, but if it was, publicly disclosing the vulnerability voids the researchers eligibility for the bug bounty reward

SynoLocker malware targets Synology NAS appliances, encrypts files and demands ransom

New malware has serviced that has been targeting Synology NAS appliances exposed to the Internet
Users will be greeted by a screen telling them that the files on their NAS have been encrypted, and directing them to use tor to visit a website and pay a 0.6 Bitcoin (~$350) ransom to get the decryption keys to regain access to their files
It was not immediately clear how the NAS devices were being compromised
Synology reports: “Based on our current observations, this issue only affects Synology NAS servers running some older versions of DSM (DSM 4.3-3810 or earlier), by exploiting a security vulnerability that was fixed and patched in December, 2013. At present, we have not observed this vulnerability in DSM 5.0”
Users are encouraged to upgrade to the latest DSM 5.0 or:
For DSM 4.3, please install DSM 4.3-3827 or later
For DSM 4.1 or DSM 4.2, please install DSM 4.2-3243 or later
For DSM 4.0, please install DSM 4.0-2259 or later
If you suspect you have been affected by this, Synology recommends following these steps:
1. Shutdown the Synology NAS to prevent any more files being encrypted
2. Contact the Synology support team at security@synology.com or fill out the support form
Users whose files have already been encrypted may not be out of luck, yesterday a new service launched that can decrypt files locked by CryptoLocker similar malware that targetted Windows

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The post Two-factor Exemption | TechSNAP 174 first appeared on Jupiter Broadcasting.

Cannabis Open for Business | Unfilter 105

chris — Wed, 09 Jul 2014 21:15:44 +0000

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Recreational cannabis business opened their doors this week in Washington state, we’ll give you our local report and discuss some of the issues that aren’t getting much attention, and of course the ones that are.

Plus a big new batch of NSA revelations hit over the weekend, including Greenwald’s long awaited revelation. The two stories are important, but was Greenwald’s big story a bit of a bust? We round up the latest overreaches, violations, and lies that have been exposed in just the last week.

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The Slow Death of Privacy

German paper reports second German spy working for US | News | DW.DE | 09.07.2014

Citing its own information as well as sources from German public broadcasters WDR and NDR on Wednesday, the Süddeutsche Zeitung (SZ) reports that officials from Germany’s Federal Criminal Police Agency (BKA) and the public prosecutor’s office are conducting a search in the apartment of a Berlin man. There is initial suspicion that the man is working as a spy.

The federal prosecutor’s office has confirmed that a search is under way.

The SZ reports that Wednesday’s investigation is being seen by observers as “more serious” than a different investigation that began last week. In that case, officials are
investigating a man who admitted to delivering documents to the CIA two years ago in exchange for 25,000 euros.

According to the paper, the two cases are independent of each other.

US ‘kidnaps’ Russian MP’s son to ‘exchange him for Snowden’

Foreign Ministry outraged by #Russian citizen's detention by #US secret service in #Maldives – https://t.co/PnStTwIjWD

— MFA Russia (@mfa_russia) July 8, 2014

A Russian MP claims the US kidnapped his son from the Maldives on bogus cyber-fraud charges and may be preparing to offer him as bait in a swap deal for Edward Snowden.

Roman Seleznyov, 30, was arrested at Male international airport
as he was about to board a flight to Moscow. He was forced by US
secret service agents to board a private plane to Guam and was
later arrested. The Russian ministry slammed his detention as
“a de-facto kidnapping.”

Moscow considers the kidnapping “a new hostile move by
Washington,” and accused the US of ignoring proper procedure
in dealing with foreign nationals suspected of crimes.

“The same happened to Viktor Bout and Konstantin Yaroshenko, who were forced to go
to the US from third countries and convicted on dubious
charges.”

Snowden Asks Russia to Extend Asylum – NYTimes.com

Anatoly G. Kucherna, the attorney, said that he had requested from the Moscow branch of the Federal Migration Service that Mr. Snowden be permitted to remain in Russia after his initial one-year asylum expires on July 31.

“We have submitted documents for extending his stay in Russia,” Mr. Kucherna was quoted as saying by Interfax.

Schneier on Security: NSA Targets the Privacy-Conscious for Surveillance

And, since Cory said it, I do not believe that this came from the Snowden documents. I also don’t believe the TAO catalog came from the Snowden documents. I think there’s a second leaker out there.

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.

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.

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Weed Wackers:

Marijuana shortages could have Washington stores, customers wondering: Where’s the weed?

Oliver is the chief scientist at Analytical 360 in Yakima, the only lab that has been certified to test the heavily taxed marijuana that will wind up on store shelves next month. So far, just two licensed growers have turned in samples for testing, with another due to turn in a small batch next week, he told The Associated Press on Saturday.

“There’s such a small stream of samples coming through,” he said. “There’s going to be some long lines and some high prices.”

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China Loves to Cyber | Unfilter 52

chris — Wed, 29 May 2013 21:23:55 +0000

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Chinese hackers have gained access to the designs of major U.S. weapons systems, a new report claimed on Monday. But we have a few questions about the timing of this announcement, and how it fits into the bigger picture.

And the “March Against Monsanto” protests were held in 52 countries and 436 cities around the world protesting the GMO giant and it’s genetically modified seeds. We’ll dig into the movement’s real goals and see if it has any chance of making a difference.

Plus Why weapons are about to flood into Syria, your feedback, and much much more.

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Worldwide Monsanto Protests

March against Monsanto: Rallying for our future — RT Op-Edge

The worldwide March Against Monsanto this past Saturday was no mere political demonstration. Rather, it was a worldwide mobilization against corporate greed, the assault on our health and environment, and the oppression of small farmers.

Revealed: Monsanto GM corn caused tumors in rats — RT News

French scientists have revealed that rats fed on GMO corn sold by American firm Monsanto, suffered tumors and other complications including kidney and liver damage. When testing the firm’s top brand weed killer the rats showed similar symptoms.

The French government has asked its health and safety agency to assess the study and had also sent it to the European Union’s food safety agency, Reuters reports.

“Based on the conclusion…, the government will ask the European authorities to take all necessary measures to protect human and animal health, measures that could go as far as an emergency suspension of imports of NK603 maize in the European Union,” the French health, environment and farm ministries said in a joint statement.

Researchers from the University of Caen found that rats fed on a diet containing NK603 – a seed variety made tolerant to amounts of Monsanto’s Roundup weedkiller – or given water mixed with the product, at levels permitted in the United States – died earlier than those on a standard diet.

The research conducted by Gilles-Eric Seralini and his colleagues, said the rats suffered mammary tumors, as well as severe liver and kidney damage. The study was published in the journal of Food and Chemical Toxicology and presented at a news conference in London.

Fifty percent of male and 70 percent of female rats died prematurely, compared with only 30 percent and 20 percent in the control group, said the researchers.

China’s Cyber Heist

Chinese hackers steal U.S. weapons systems designs, report says – U.S. News

Chinese hackers have gained access to designs of more than two dozen major U.S. weapons systems, a U.S. report said on Monday, as Australian media said Chinese hackers had stolen the blueprints for Australia’s new spy headquarters.

Citing a report prepared for the Defense Department by the Defense Science Board, the Washington Post said the compromised U.S. designs included those for combat aircraft and ships, as well as missile defenses vital for Europe, Asia and the Gulf.

Among the weapons listed in the report were the advanced Patriot missile system, the Navy’s Aegis ballistic missile defense systems, the F/A–18 fighter jet, the V–22 Osprey, the Black Hawk helicopter and the F–35 Joint Strike Fighter

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Syria: The Proxy War

Russia slams end of EU arms embargo, calls S–300s ‘stabilizing factor’ in Syria — RT News

The EU’s move, which the Russian diplomat branded as an “example
of double standards”, opens the door for Britain and France to
supply weapons to Syrian rebels fighting the regime of President
Bashar Assad.

Criticizing Europe’s decision to open the way for potential arms shipments to Syrian
rebels, Russia insists that its own sale of arms to the Syrian
government helps the international effort to end the
two-year-long conflict, the diplomat added. He was referring to
the delivery of the advanced S–300 long-range air defense
systems, which Russia is carrying out under a contract signed
with Syria several years ago.

“Those systems by definition cannot be used by militant groups
on the battlefield,” Ryabkov said. “We consider this
delivery a factor of stabilization. We believe that moves like
this one to a great degree restrain some hotheads from escalating
the conflict to the international scale, from involving external
forces.”

The S–300 is a series of Russian long-range
surface-to-air missile systems designed to intercept
ballistic missiles, regarded as the most potent weaponry of
its class. The missiles are capable of engaging aerial
targets as far away as 200km, depending on the version used.

However, Russia has neither confirmed, nor denied “the status of
those shipments.”

Russia Sending Air Defense Missiles to Syria to Deter Foreign ‘Hot Heads’ – ABC News

The S–300, one of the world’s most advanced air defense systems, could make it harder for foreign forces to carry out airstrikes inside Syria, as Israel has done this year, or to impose a no-fly zone, as some members of Congress have called for.

The move is Russia’s biggest and most public step so far to bolster the government of Syria’s beleaguered President Bashar al-Assad, its longtime ally. Rybakov made no attempt to hide the Kremlin’s intention to prevent outside forces from tipping the scales in the long and bloody civil war.

“We believe such steps are to a great extent restraining some ‘hot heads’ from considering scenarios in which the conflict may assume an international scale with the participation of outside forces,” he said, according to RIA Novosti.

Israel warns Russia over Syria arms delivery – Middle East – Al Jazeera English

Israeli defence minister: "At this stage I can’t say there is an escalation. The shipments have not been sent on their way yet. And I hope that they will not be sent.

“But if, by misfortune, they arrive in Syria, we will know what to do.”

Yaalon’s comments were made before Benjamin Netanyahu, Israel’s prime minister, ordered his cabinet to stay silent on the issue, according to public radio.

Israel is Pissed, but they are Prepared

Despite Israel’s protests, the S–300 system will not be a large hurdle for that country’s advanced air force. The system can be easily spotted because it sends out a distinctive signal, and Israel may have already tested its own jets against such a system while working with Greece.

Israel in Moscow talks to halt supply of missiles to Syrian regime | World news | guardian.co.uk

Top-level Israeli intelligence figures flew into Moscow on Tuesday night in a last-ditch attempt to talk the Kremlin out of supplying sophisticated anti-aircraft missiles to the Assad regime, which once installed in Syria would have the range and power to target civilian and military aircraft over Tel Aviv.

Israeli diplomats will continue to work both privately and publicly to prevent the transfer until the shipment sails, but officials attempted to lower the diplomatic temperature, insisting Israel had no intention of fighting Russia on the issue.

Israel has read Moscow’s insistence on pursuing its deal to supply Damascus with the powerful missile systems as part of a “cold war” power struggle between the US and Russia playing out in the theatre of the Syrian civil war in which it wants no part.

Obama asked Pentagon to prepare Syria no-fly zone plans – report — RT USA

Officials from the Obama administration have revealed that the White House asked the Pentagon to outline plans for a military no-fly zone over Syria, continuing strategy discussions that have been ongoing for more than a year.

If enacted, the no-fly zone would be enforced by the US military
with help from France, Great Britain and other allies.

Let’s Be Clear: Establishing a ‘No-Fly Zone’ Is an Act of War – Conor Friedersdorf – The Atlantic

“McCain said a realistic plan for a
no-fly zone would include hundreds of planes, and would be most
effective if it included destroying Syrian airplanes on runways, bombing
those runways, and moving U.S. Patriot missile batteries in Turkey
close to the border so they could protect airspace inside northern
Syria,”

Why Are Police So Desperate to Throw Kids in Jail

Parents Claim Calif. School District Failed to Protect Autistic Son in Drug Sting – ABC News

“Our son went to school the morning of Dec. 11 and he didn’t show up at home after school, because he was arrested in his classroom,” Snodgrass said. “Police went into his classroom armed, and handcuffed our son. We were not notified by anyone, and he was held for two days, and we were not able to see him,” a

Thanks to jdmulloy in the Unfilter Subreddit
Increase in the Number of Kids Exposed to Medical Marijuana: Study

Before Colorado passed Medical Marijuana legislation laws the number of kids treated for marijuana exposure was nil. Whereas in the cases examined after, there were 14 cases, out of which eight of those came directly from consuming marijuana food products.

Prescription Drug Abuse Drives Huge Spike In Poisoning Deaths Among Childrent

From 2000 to 2009, the number of children aged 15 to 19 who died from poisoning increased by 91 percent, the CDC says.

Childhood death from poisoning rose 80 percent over the 10-year time period, owing largely to the huge increase in such deaths among children aged 15 to 19. Prescription drug abuse is to blame, according to the CDC.

Drug deaths now outnumber traffic fatalities in U.S., Times analysis shows – Los Angeles Times

Propelled by an increase in prescription narcotic overdoses, drug deaths now outnumber traffic fatalities in the United States, a Times analysis of government data has found.

Drugs exceeded motor vehicle accidents as a cause of death in 2009, killing at least 37,485 people nationwide, according to preliminary data from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

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Tap That Journalist | Unfilter 51

chris — Wed, 22 May 2013 21:41:18 +0000

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The DOJ’s investigations into journalists has expanded, who is the target, and how far is the US government willing to go? We dig into the details.

Ripped apart from a massive tornado Moore Oklahoma, begins their recovery. The media on the other hand has gone into full exploitation mode, we’ll rip them up.

Then Russia outs another CIA operative, Tim Cook Testified in the senate, the flawed Media Shield Law, a BIG drone update, and much much more.

On this week’s Unfilter.

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— Show Notes —

Oklahoma Twister

Dad drives through storm to get son as tornado hits – YouTube

Jeff Lechus talks about driving to pick up his son from school as a tornado hit the area.

Majority thinks global warming, clean energy should be priorities – latimes.com

70% of American adults say global warming should be a priority for the nation’s leaders, while 87% say leaders should make it a priority to develop sources of clean energy. Those support levels have dropped by 7% and 5% respectively since fall.

Tim Cook Testifies to Senate Committee

Apple’s Tim Cook: U.S. Tax Code Handicaps Companies – YouTube

Tim Cook, chief executive officer of Apple Inc., said the iPhone maker doesn’t use “gimmicks” to avoid taxes. Cook, testifying before the Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations in Washington, said the current U.S. tax code “handicaps” American companies. (This is an excerpt from the hearing. Source: Bloomberg)

Apple CEO makes no apology for company’s tax strategy – Yahoo! Finance

In Ireland, where low corporate taxes have been an economic development tool for many years, the government said it had not made a special tax deal with Apple. If Apple’s tax rate was too low, it was the fault of other countries, deputy prime minister Eamon Gilmore told national broadcaster RTE on Tuesday.

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IRS Targets “Tea Party” Groups

IRS official refuses to answer questions at scandal hearing

“I have not violated any IRS rules or regulations, and I have not provided false information to this or any congressional committee,” she said. “Because I am asserting my right not to testify, I know that some people will assume that I have done something wrong. I have not.”

DOJ Targeted Fox News as Well as AP

Fox News Reporter James Rosen Had DoJ Target – Business Insider

The Department of Justice heavily tracked Fox News reporter James Rosen during a 2009 leak probe, according to a report from Ann E. Marimow in the Washington Post.

Media Shield Law has Flaws

White House asks Schumer to introduce press shield law – POLITICO.com

The White House has asked Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) to reintroduce a press shield law, White House officials said Wednesday.

The move comes after questions were raised about the seizure of Associated Press phone records by the Justice Department as part of a national security leak investigation.

White House press secretary Jay Carney said Wednesday that Obama welcomes the reintroduction of the shield bill.

Obama’s media shield law makes prosecuting journalists even easier

“As a Senator, Obama was a vocal supporter of a robust shield
law; he co-sponsored a bill in 2007 and campaigned on the issue in
2008,” Timm wrote. “But when the Senate moved to pass the
bill as soon as Obama came into office, his administration abruptly
changed course and opposed the bill, unless the Senate carved out
an exception for all national security reporters.”

For the Freedom of the Press Foundation, Timm wrote this week
that the latest version of the shield law wouldn’t do much more.
Under the Sept. 2009 request sent from the White House, the shield
law once supported by Pres. Obama would include an exception where
journalists could be subpoenaed if it means national security is at
risk.

“Now, it’s important to remember: virtually the only time the
government subpoenas reporters, it involves leak investigations
into stories by national security reporters. So it’s hard to see
how this bill will significantly help improve press freedom,”
wrote Timm. “Worse, there’s a strong argument that passing the
bill as it ended in 2010 will weaken rights reporters already have
and make it easier for the government to get sources from
reporters.”

“The difference is that instead of DOJ unilaterally making
that determination,” the Justice Department would "have to
convince a judge that this was the case," University of
Minnesota Law Professor Jane Kirtley explained to the Post.

Friend of the Boston Bomber Older Brother Killed by FBI

Man killed by FBI agent knew Tsarnaevs, official says – CNN.com

Ibragim Todashev, the man shot dead last night by an FBI agent in Orlando, Florida, had been acquainted with deceased Boston Marathon attacker Tamerlan Tsarnaev at a mixed martial arts center near Boston, according to a source briefed on the ongoing marathon bombing investigation. Todashev had Tsarnaev’s phone number in his cell phone, the source said.

Man with ties to Boston bombing suspect admits role in 2011 murders; shot during FBI questioning – U.S. News

Dead Boston bombing suspect Tamerlan Tsarnaev and another man — who was killed by the FBI on Wednesday — murdered three people in Massachusetts after a drug deal went wrong in 2011, law enforcement sources tell NBC News.

SPIED HARD

Russian Official Names CIA Station Chief In Moscow

Breaching protocol, a Russian official let a name slip during an interview with Interfax, the state news agency.

The FSB agent told the news agency that last year, another embassy secretary was expelled from Russia for recruiting attempts. That case wasn’t made public, the agent said, but the U.S. was warned.
“We hoped our American colleagues would hear us, given that we also presented to them precise information about CIA officers making recruitment attempts in Moscow and who exactly was doing that,” the FSB agent said.
*

Drone Update

Meet Cyro, The US Navy’s 170 Pound Underwater Jellyfish Drone – Girls Just Wanna Have Guns

Meet Cyro, the Virginia Tech College of Engineering underwater life-like jellyfish drone in development for US Navy surveillance.

Pentagon absorbs portion of CIA’s drone program – YouTube

The Obama administration is handing control of some of its counterterrorism operations that previously fell into the hands of the CIA over to the Pentagon. The controversial drone program used by the CIA to target suspected terrorists has attracted a fair share of criticism as of late, and moving some of its operations over to the Department of Defense will allow Congress to have some oversight. Drone strikes in Yemen will fall into the hands of the Armed Forces while those that occur in Pakistan will continue to be controlled by the CIA.

U.S. Acknowledges Killing 4 Americans in Drone Strikes – NYTimes.com

WASHINGTON — One day before President Obama is due to deliver a major speech on national security, his administration on Wednesday formally acknowledged that the United States had killed four American citizens in drone strikes in Yemen and Pakistan.

The letter also said that the United States had killed three other Americans: Samir Khan, who was killed in the same strike; Mr. Awlaki’s son Abdulrahman al-Awlaki, who was also killed in Yemen; and Jude Mohammed, who was killed in a strike in Pakistan.

“These individuals were not specifically targeted by the United States,” Mr. Holder wrote.

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Cyprus Gone Wild | Unfilter 43

chris — Wed, 27 Mar 2013 22:18:03 +0000

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In just the last week the situation in Cyprus has gone from outrageous to disastrous. We’ll break it down, and discuss the impacts the world changing event could have on the global economy.

And – Did you know the Internet is currently undergoing the “largest attack in history” that’s according to the BBC, and why the FBI has disclosed Real-Time Gmail Spying Powers as a “Top Priority” for 2013.

Plus Mayor Bloomberg begins personally financing a $12 Million Dollar Ad Campaign for Gun Checks, our follow up, your feedback, and much much more.

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— Show Notes —

Global internet slows after “biggest attack in history”

BBC News – Global internet slows after ‘biggest attack in history’

The internet around the world has been slowed down in what security experts are describing as the biggest cyber-attack of its kind in history.

Cyberattack on anti-spam group Spamhaus has ripple effects

Spam-fighting organization Spamhaus said Wednesday that it had been buffeted by a massive distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) attack since mid-March, apparently from groups angry at being blacklisted by the Geneva-based group.

“It is a small miracle that we’re still online,” Spamhaus researcher Vincent Hanna said in an interview.

FBI Pursuing Real-Time Gmail Spying Powers as “Top Priority” for 2013

Andrew Weissmann: FBI wants real-time Gmail, Dropbox spying power.

That’s because a 1994 surveillance law called the Communications Assistance for Law Enforcement Act only allows the government to force Internet providers and phone companies to install surveillance equipment within their networks. But it doesn’t cover email, cloud services, or online chat providers like Skype. Weissmann said that the FBI wants the power to mandate real-time surveillance of everything from Dropbox and online games (“the chat feature in Scrabble”) to Gmail and Google Voice. “Those communications are being used for criminal conversations,” he said.

Mayor Bloomberg Unveils $12 Million Ad Campaign for Gun Checks

Mayor Bloomberg, NRA, gun legislation – latimes.com

New York Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg, a fierce proponent of restrictions on firearms, said he will bankroll a $12-million TV advertising blitz in 13 states to pressure individual senators from both parties during the two-week congressional recess.

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US news media has devolved to ‘carnival act’

Chris Hedges, author, columnist and former Pulitzer-Prize winning journalist for The New York Times spoke with RT about how FCC deregulation during the Clinton administration allowed a handful of corporations to dominate US media.

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Cyprus’ Gone Wild

Cyprus controls expected to hit foreign transactions

With banks due to reopen on Thursday after nearly two weeks, Finance Minister Michael Sarris said capital controls will be “within the realms of reason” and a business leader said he had been told they would affect only international transactions.

Cypriot Youth Rise Up In Pictures: “They Just Got Rid Of All Our Dreams”

They’ve just gotten rid of all our dreams, everything we’ve worked for, everything we’ve achieved up until now, what our parents have achieved,"

Cyprus central bank ousts CEO of troubled Bank of Cyprus

CEO Yiannis Kypri said he was summoned to the Central Bank early on Wednesday and asked to submit his resignation.

“The reason I was given was that, based on the resolution decree recently passed by parliament and upon demands of the troika, an administrator had been appointed at the Bank,” Kypri said in a written statement.

Have The Russians Already Quietly Withdrawn All Their Cash From Cyprus?

No one knows exactly how much money has left Cyprus’ banks, or where it has gone. The two banks at the centre of the crisis – Cyprus Popular Bank, also known as Laiki, and Bank of Cyprus – have units in London which remained open throughout the week and placed no limits on withdrawals. Bank of Cyprus also owns 80 percent of Russia’s Uniastrum Bank, which put no restrictions on withdrawals in Russia. Russians were among Cypriot banks’ largest depositors.

Russia Loses Out as Cyprus Reaches Deal

“I think the Russians were understandably disappointed with this turn of events. They have had a long, successful and happy history and association and this has come partly as a shock despite the fact that many of these things had been rumored,” Cyprus’ finance minister, Michael Sarris, said early on Monday in Brussels.

Europe threatens Cyprus with bankruptcy in power struggle with Russia

On Thursday the European Central Bank told Cyprus yesterday to find funding to secure a €10 billion ($12.9 billion) European Union (EU) bailout by Monday, or face a cut-off of ECB credit and the bankruptcy of Cyprus’ banks and government.

The Cypriot government should instead have learned from Iceland

The Cypriot government should instead have learned from Iceland: taken over the banks, isolated the bad loans, protected deposits, imposed losses on the wealthy, and used a publicly owned banking sector to rebuild the domestic economy. That would have offered its citizens a better future, almost certainly outside the eurozone. But it would have also encroached on private capital’s privileges and clearly couldn’t be tolerated.

Protests in Cyprus over bailout deal – YouTube

Protests have followed the agreement which called for Popular Bank, the country’s second biggest bank, to be closed down and the imposition of austerity measures.

US’ System Setup to Protect the Bankers?

SEC Nom’s HUGE Conflict of Interest – Protect The Bankers? – YouTube

U.S. attorney nominated by President Barack Obama to lead the SEC. Her financial disclosures say that upon leaving New York-based Debevoise & Plimpton LLP, the law firm will give her $42,500 a month in retirement pay for life, or more than $500,000 a year."*

Mary Jo White, Obama’s nominee who will likely be confirmed as head of the SEC- the government agency in charge of regulating the banks- may not have the people’s best interests at hand. She’ll be paid a “retirement for life” from her former white-collar defense law firm that defends bankers.

China’s navy holds landing exercises near disputed islands

China navy seeks to wear out Japanese ships in disputed waters

“The operational goal in the East China Sea is to wear out the Japanese Maritime Self Defence Force and the Japan Coast Guard,” said James Holmes, a maritime strategy expert at the Newport, Rhode Island U.S. Naval War College.

China’s navy holds landing exercises near disputed islands

China’s increasingly powerful navy paid a symbolic visit to the country’s southernmost territorial claim deep in the South China Sea this week as part of military drills in the disputed Spratly Islands involving amphibious landings and aircraft.

Chinese navy exercises ‘surprise’ neighbours – YouTube

Military tension is rising elsewhere in Asia. A Chinese naval taskforce has reached the southernmost part of the South China Sea, which it claims as its own – to the annoyance of neighbouring nations.

Fed pushes big bro drones despite public outcry in US

Smile & Wave! Fed pushes big bro drones despite public outcry in US – YouTube

It appears the sky is the limit for U.S. law enforcement, with aerial surveillance drones set to be used domestically. But Capitol Hill has met some firm resistance to the plans. RT’s Gayane Chichyakyan reports on the attempts to fight back against the federal project.

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Red October Hunts You | TechSNAP 93

chris — Thu, 17 Jan 2013 20:46:48 +0000

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If you thought Stuxnet was a big deal, wait till you meet Red October. The incredible story of some of the most sophisticated malware yet surfaces, and we’ve got the details.

Plus: A Nasty 0-Day exploit for Linksys routers, a HUGE batch of your questions, and much much more – On this week’s episode of TechSNAP!

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0-Day exploit for Linksys routers found

Researchers at DefenseCode have discovered a remote root access exploit for default installations on Linksys routers
When the researchers contacted Cisco and shared the vulnerability as well as Proof of Concept code, Cisco originally claimed that the vulnerability had already been fixed in the latest firmware release, however this turned out the be incorrect
The current Linksys firmware (4.30.14) and all previous versions are vulnerable to this remote root exploit
DefenseCode published a youtube video showing them using the exploit against a Linksys WRT54GL router, and getting busybox shell
It is not clear what if other models of Linksys routers are also vulnerable
Sales figures say Linksys has shipped over 70 million routers
Cisco expects to have a firmware update available before the full research is published in less than two weeks

Java saga continues, patches that don’t fix everything and new exploits

Researchers at Immunity Products looked at the Java 7u11 patch and found that it only fixed one of two vulnerabilities
They say that this means that the next 0-day exploit could cause all the same problems over again
Security Explorations, the firm with a reputation for discovering Java vulnerabilities reports that Oracle has still not addressed issues they reported in April and September of 2012
The September vulnerability , as with the one fixed in Java 7u11 allows an attacker to bypass the java security sandbox and remotely execute code
Metaploit’s HD Moore says Java could take years to fix
the next scheduled Java security release is Feb. 19

Red October – Cyber Espionage campaign dating back to 2007

In October 2012 Kaspersky labs was contacted by a partner (who wishes to remain anonymous, likely a government or defense contractor), and was asked to investigate some malware samples
This week, they started publishing the results of the attack they found, called Rocra (short for ‘Red October’)
Researchers did not find any evidence of links between Rocra and other major malware platforms such as: Stuxnet, Duqu, Flame, Tilded and Gauss
The exploits appear to have been created by Chinese hackers
Some of the Rocra malware modules appear to have been created by Russian-speaking operatives
In addition to exploits for MS Excel and MS Word, the Red October attacks also used exploits for Java 6 and 7 as part of the attack
The malware would check for an internet connection by attempting to connect to legitimate addresses at microsoft (windows update, support.microsoft.com), likely to avoid detection of unusual network traffic. If a connection was not found, some information would still be collected and stored locally, possibly to be copied via file sharing to a machine that did have internet access
The attack was used to gain access to secured systems and lift files, especially files with these extensions:
- txt, csv, eml, doc, vsd, sxw, odt, docx, rtf, pdf, mdb, xls, wab, rst, xps, iau,
  cif, key, crt, cer, hse, pgp, gpg, xia, xiu, xis, xio, xig, acidcsa, acidsca,
  aciddsk, acidpvr, acidppr, acidssa
- Of particular interest are the files with the acid extensions, likely created by “Acid Cryptofiler", which is known to be used by NATO and others in the European Union
The attack was also an ‘advanced persistent threat’, doing things such as:
Extract saved passwords for Web sites, FTP servers, mail and IM accounts from various applications
Send Windows account password hashes to the C&C server for offline cracking
Copy configurations from exposed network devices (Switches and routers with default passwords)
Enumerate visible windows shares and report to the C&C server (probably for future document exfiltration)
Scan connected USB drives for interesting files, the attack even included its own file system parser to copy deleted files
Copy data from connected Nokia and Apple iPhones copy address books, call history, calendar, SMS messages, and browsing history
Infecting Windows Mobile phones with a special mobile version of the Rocra virus
Watch for specially crafted Microsoft Office or PDF documents and execute their malicious payload without user interaction, allowing the attackers to exploit future vulnerabilities to keep control over exploited machines even as old exploits were patched
Standard key logging and screenshots, send back to C&C servers
Execute additional encrypted payload modules according to a pre-defined schedule
Copy all e-mail messages and attachments from Microsoft Outlook and from any mail servers found on the network that were accessible with the previously obtained credentials
Targets Infographic
Detailed Analysis:
- Red October – Introduction Blog Post
- Red October – Diplomatic Cyber Espionage Investigation
- Red October – Stage One – Exploits and Components
- Red October – Stage Two – Modules and Recon
- Red October – Stage Two – Passwords, Email and Physical
- Red October – Stage Two – Persistence and Spreading
- Red October – Stage Two – Mobile and Exfiltration
Digital Undergrounds podcast – Interview with Red October researchers

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Don’t Copy That Floppy | TechSNAP 79

chris — Thu, 11 Oct 2012 16:04:46 +0000

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How a Russian Spy ring used floppies to pass sensitive information, how Backblaze made it through the great hard drive shortage, and why the US congress is saying no to Chinese Telco manufactures.

Plus a big batch of your questions, and our answers.

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How Backblaze dealt with the hard drive shortage

During the hard drive shortage that started a year ago, Backblaze found itself in a rather tight spot, in order to continue offering unlimited storage for $5/month, they needed more drives
The price of a 3TB internal drive shot up from $129 to $349 overnight
However external drives, were prices around $169, at least $100 cheaper than their internal counterparts (mostly because HP, Dell and Apple had bought up most of the supply of internal drives)
BackBlaze fills about 50TB worth of drives per day, so they need a continuous supply of new drives
Between November 2011 and February 2012, Backblaze farmed 5.5 Petabytes worth of hard drives from retailers, mostly consisting of external drives that needed to be removed from their enclosures
The external drives incurred other costs, shucking the drives out of the enclosures, and recycling the leftover shells afterwards
Many stores had ‘limit 2 per customer’ (I remember this well with my own drive buying), and BackBlaze employees employed many devious tactics to try to squeeze more out of each store, including pretending to be a grandmother buying drives for each of her grandchildren for Christmas
Backblaze employees were banned from a number of CostCo and BestBuy stores, or asked to leave empty handed
On Christmas Eve, the CEO of BackBlaze stopped at a friend’s house to pick up 80x 3TB drives his friend had acquired from an online site that forgot to limit the quantity he could order. It had taken the FedEx driver more than 30 minutes to unload all of the drives into the apartment. While loading them into his car, the BackBlaze CEO reflected that the drives he was loading into his car, were worth more than the car
Backblaze still buys external drives when the price is right, ~$30 cheaper than internal drives, to cover the additional cost of preparing the drives
The ‘shucked’ drives can usually not be returned for warranty replacement
Additional Coverage
Additional Coverage
The backblaze storage pod 2.0

Russian spy ring relied on notepad and floppy disks

Sub-Lt. Jeffrey Delisle pled guilty today on charges of breach of trust and two counts of communicating safeguarded information to a foreign entity
The maximum sentence for ‘communicating safeguarded information to a foreign entity’ is life in prison
Delisle was an Analyst at HMCS Trinity, an intelligence facility that tracks vessels entering and exiting Canadian waters via satellites, drones and underwater devices, it is located at the naval base in Halifax, Nova Scotia
He would search for and copy sensitive materials from a secure computer at the base
Copy/pasting the data into notepad, it would then save it to a floppy disk
The floppy was then moved to a regular non-secure computer, where the data was transferred to a USB drive
After taking the USB home, he would access a webmail account, and draft an email, but never send it
His Russian handlers had the username and password to the email account, and would access it, and retrieve the stolen intelligence
The emails were never sent, lessening the chance that they might be intercepted
Delisle walked into the Russian Embassy in Ottawa in 2007 and asked to speak to someone from the GRU (Russian Military Intelligence), offering to sell the secrets he had access to
He was paid $3000/month in prepaid credit cards
the RCMP (Royal Canadian Mounted Police, Equivalent to the FBI in Canada) started investigating him after CBSA (Canada Border Services Acency) Officers alerted the Military when Delisle returned from a short trip to Brazil with a large amount of cash
Additional CBC Coverage

SEC hands out first ever fine for ‘failure to protect customer data’

In the spring of 2005, network traffic at the Florida officers of GunnAllen Financial had slowed to a crawl
The company had outsourced its entire IT department to The Revere Group
GunnAllen’s acting CIO, a partner at Revere Group, asked the manager of the IT team to investigate
A senior network engineer had disabled the WatchGuard firewalls and routed all of the broker-dealer’s IP traffic–including trades and VoIP calls–through his home cable modem
As a result, none of the company’s trades, emails, or phone calls were being archived, in violation of Securities and Exchange Commission regulation
However, this did not appear in the final report from the SEC about the settlement with GunnAllen Financial, which was actually about other breaches of security and policy
Some of the data that was routed through the engineering some connection include: bank routing information, account balances, account numbers, social security numbers, customers’ home addresses and driver’s license numbers
“He’d purposefully break things, then come in in the morning and be the hero, I ended up key-logging all the servers, and I logged him logging in from home at 2:30 in the morning, logging on to BlackBerry servers and breaking them."
Although required by the SEC to keep copies of all emails for 7 years, “There was a point in time for probably two months where no one’s email was logged. I brought it up in a meeting once and was told to shut up [by the acting CIO]”
In 2008 FINRA (Financial Industry Regulatory Authority) fined GunnAllen $750,000 for a “trade allocation scheme” conducted by former head trader, in which profitable stock trades were allocated to his wife’s personal account instead of to the accounts of firm customers
Employees at The Revere Group were afraid to report issues because other employees had been fired

Bug in facebook mobile app could expose your phone number

A feature of the facebook mobile app allows you to compare your mobile contacts list against facebook, and find any people you have in your phone, but not on facebook
A researcher exploited this feature by adding random phone numbers to his phone’s contact list and was able to determine many users’ mobile phone numbers, despite their privacy settings
Facebook originally denied that this was an issue when he reported it to them, they claimed that rate limiting and privacy settings prevented the exploit
The researcher posted proof , in the form of 100s of phone numbers (random digits blocked out to protect the innocent) with the corresponding person’s name
Facebook has since tightened up the rate limiting
TheNextWeb has an article on how to protect your phone number on facebook

TechSNAP viewer discovers IE flaw

IE8 and IE9 in compatibility mode will sometimes mistakenly render plain text content as HTML
This means that the ‘raw’ view of a pastebin of some javascript source code, could cause the browser to execute it, rather than display it
A proof of concept is providers for you to test your browser

US congressional report says Huawei and ZTE are a security threat

A draft of a report by the House Intelligence Committee said Huawei and another Chinese telecom, ZTE, “cannot be trusted” to be free of influence from Beijing and could be used to undermine US security
The report recommends that the chinese hardware manufacturers should be barred from US contracts and acquisitions, due to the security implications of chinese controlled devices in sensitive US installations
US set to reject UN ITU proposals for changes to Global Telecom systems, citing danger of increased foreign espionage
The US fears nations like China and Russia will gain too much control and impose tracking and monitoring, and assert control over content and user information
US says that ITU regulations are “not an appropriate or useful venue to address cybersecurity,”

Feedback

More Info on digi-pass
- PDF with more info
Could provide some insight to GPG Keys?
- Packages are signed by the GPG key of the person or group who created them
- Your package manager maintains a list of the GPG keys you trust (the default is usually to trust official packages from your distro)
- If you use 3rd party packages, you will get a warning
- You must decide if you trust the 3rd party that signed the package, not to include an exploit in the package
- If you trust the 3rd party, you can add their key to your allow list, and you will not receive the warning
- It is unsafe to ignore the warning if you do not trust the source of the packages, especially if you are trying to install an official package
Switching to Publicly Signed SSL?
- Wildcard SSL certificates cover *.domain.com (something.domain.com, otherthing.domain.com)
- This does not include *.something.domain.com
- Covers future sub domains that you might create
- There are also ‘UCC’ (Unified Communications Certificates) certificates, that allow you to enumerate many domains to be covered by a single certificate. Adding or removing a domain to the certificate requires it to be reissued
- UCC certificates are expensive, but are popular for Exchange servers that must cover multiple domains
Securing Cookies
Darwin writes in with a note that in addition to limiting the length of your password, ‘Microsoft Account’ also prevents you using some special characters, including ‘space’

Round-Up

The post Don't Copy That Floppy | TechSNAP 79 first appeared on Jupiter Broadcasting.

Atomic Lighthouses | Jupiter@Nite | 9.29.10

chris — Wed, 29 Sep 2010 22:06:26 +0000

We take a look at the abandoned nuclear lighthouses that line the northern border of Russia. We move on from these crazy left overs of a fallen empire and spotlight a new endeavor to build a nuclear power-plant on top of a floating barge!

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Abandoned Russian Polar Nuclear Lighthouses

Two strontium powered lighthouses vandalised on the Kola Peninsula – Bellona

Officials declare Kola Peninsula free of dangerous, aged nuclear generators

Russia Is Building Floating Nuclear Reactors Near the North Pole

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The post Atomic Lighthouses | Jupiter@Nite | 9.29.10 first appeared on Jupiter Broadcasting.

Russian – Jupiter Broadcasting

The Kremlin Candidate | Unfilter 222

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The Red Hack | Unfilter 202

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Pulsed Gun Control | Unfilter 192

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National Security Breaking Agency | TechSNAP 236

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Androids Go Silent | TTT 199

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Two-factor Exemption | TechSNAP 174

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Cannabis Open for Business | Unfilter 105

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The Slow Death of Privacy

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China Loves to Cyber | Unfilter 52

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Tap That Journalist | Unfilter 51

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Cyprus Gone Wild | Unfilter 43

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Red October Hunts You | TechSNAP 93

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Don’t Copy That Floppy | TechSNAP 79

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