Topic: SECURITY - on September 9, 2013 at 1:21:00 PM CEST
Pay Us $85 To Avoid Full-On Airport Molestation
Travelers could soon be able to keep their shoes on while going through security at more airports around the country.
The U.S. Transportation Security Administration said Wednesday that it will expand faster screening lanes to 100 airports by year end, up from 40 now. The agency says the expansion is part of its attempt to make screening more effective by breaking away from a single approach at all airports.
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Topic: SECURITY - on September 9, 2013 at 1:20:00 PM CEST
iSpy: How the NSA Accesses Smartphone Data
The US intelligence agency NSA has been taking advantage of the smartphone boom. It has developed the ability to hack into iPhones, android devices and even the BlackBerry, previously believed to be particularly secure.
Michael Hayden has an interesting story to tell about the iPhone. He and his wife were in an Apple store in Virginia, Hayden, the former head of the United States National Security Agency (NSA), said at a conference in Washington recently. A salesman approached and raved about the iPhone, saying that there were already "400,000 apps" for the device. Hayden, amused, turned to his wife and quietly asked: "This kid doesn't know who I am, does he? Four-hundred-thousand apps means 400,000 possibilities for attacks."
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Topic: SECURITY - on September 8, 2013 at 6:35:00 PM CEST
Epic: A Privacy-Focused Web Browser
I've been advising Epic Browser, a startup building a privacy-focused, Chrome-based browser that starts where incognito mode ends. Epic employs a host of tactics designed to make what happens inside your browser stay there, to the tune of a thousand blocks in a typical hour of browsing. They also provide a built-in proxy service. If the corporations and governments are going to watch us, there's no reason to make it any easier for them. Epic has Mac and Windows builds for now. Their site goes into far greater detail about how they block tracking methods most browsers don't.
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Topic: SECURITY - on September 8, 2013 at 6:33:00 PM CEST
Privacy Scandal: NSA Can Spy on Smart Phone Data
SPIEGEL has learned from internal NSA documents that the US intelligence agency has the capability of tapping user data from the iPhone, devices using Android as well as BlackBerry, a system previously believed to be highly secure.
The United States' National Security Agency intelligence-gathering operation is capable of accessing user data from smart phones from all leading manufacturers. Top secret NSA documents that SPIEGEL has seen explicitly note that the NSA can tap into such information on Apple iPhones, BlackBerry devices and Google's Android mobile operating system.
The documents state that it is possible for the NSA to tap most sensitive data held on these smart phones, including contact lists, SMS traffic, notes and location information about where a user has been.
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Topic: SECURITY - on September 8, 2013 at 6:31:00 PM CEST
Kein großes Smartphone-Betriebssystem vor US-Geheimdienst sicher
Der US-amerikanische Geheimdienst NSA kann sich Zugang zu Nutzerdaten von iPhones, Android-Smartphones und BlackBerry-Geräten verschaffen. Dies berichtet das Hamburger Nachrichtenmagazin Der Spiegel in seiner am morgigen Montag erscheindenden Ausgabe. In geheimen Unterlagen, die die Redaktion nach eigenen Angaben einsehen konnten, sei ausdrücklich von Smartphones mit diesen Mobil-Betriebsystemen die Rede.
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Topic: POLICE REPORT - on September 6, 2013 at 1:48:00 PM CEST
Dutch police using sniffer rats to solve crimes
Ten brown rats have been recruited by Dutch police to help forensic firearms experts sniff out gunshot residue.
The rats have a highly developed sense of smell, and are easier and cheaper to train than dogs, said force spokesman Ed Kraszewski on Thursday.
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Topic: SECURITY - on September 6, 2013 at 1:46:00 PM CEST
Sudden spike of Tor users likely caused by one “massive” botnet
Researchers have found a new theory to explain the sudden spike in computers using the Tor anonymity network: a massive botnet that was recently updated to use Tor to communicate with its mothership.
Mevade.A, a network of infected computers dating back to at least 2009, has mainly used standard Web-based protocols to send and receive data to command and control (C&C) servers, according to researchers at security firm Fox-IT. Around the same time that Tor Project leaders began observing an unexplained doubling in Tor clients, Mevade overhauled its communication mechanism to use anonymized Tor addresses ending in .onion. In the week that has passed since Tor reported the uptick, the number of users has continued to mushroom.
arstechnica.com Cyber-thieves blamed for leap in Tor dark net use
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Topic: SECURITY - on September 6, 2013 at 1:45:00 PM CEST
Government To Release Hundreds of Documents On NSA Spying
In response to a lawsuit by the Electronic Frontier Foundation, the Department of Justice is preparing to release a trove of documents related to the government's secret interpretation of Section 215 of the PATRIOT Act. The declassified documents will include previously secret opinions of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court.
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Topic: SECURITY - on September 6, 2013 at 1:44:00 PM CEST
How to remain secure against NSA surveillance
Now that we have enough details about how the NSA eavesdrops on the internet, including today's disclosures of the NSA's deliberate weakening of cryptographic systems, we can finally start to figure out how to protect ourselves.
For the past two weeks, I have been working with the Guardian on NSA stories, and have read hundreds of top-secret NSA documents provided by whistleblower Edward Snowden. I wasn't part of today's story – it was in process well before I showed up – but everything I read confirms what the Guardian is reporting.
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Topic: SECURITY - on September 6, 2013 at 1:40:00 PM CEST
N.S.A. Able to Foil Basic Safeguards of Privacy on Web
The National Security Agency is winning its long-running secret war on encryption, using supercomputers, technical trickery, court orders and behind-the-scenes persuasion to undermine the major tools protecting the privacy of everyday communications in the Internet age, according to newly disclosed documents.
The agency has circumvented or cracked much of the encryption, or digital scrambling, that guards global commerce and banking systems, protects sensitive data like trade secrets and medical records, and automatically secures the e-mails, Web searches, Internet chats and phone calls of Americans and others around the world, the documents show.
nytimes.com Revealed: How US and UK spy agencies defeat internet privacy and security Revealed: The NSA’s Secret Campaign to Crack, Undermine Internet Security Snowden leaks: US and UK 'crack online encryption'
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Topic: FUN - on September 5, 2013 at 2:51:00 PM CEST
Die unglaubliche Geschicklichkeit und cooler Trick
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Topic: DRUGS - on September 5, 2013 at 2:44:00 PM CEST
Here Are All The People Who Have Died From A Marijuana Overdose
Just how deadly a killer is marijuana? Here's a GIF showing all of the people who have died after overdosing on pot:
Yeah, not a single person has ever died from a weed overdose. We don't have numbers on pandas, but we're guessing it's about the same. According to one frequently cited study, a marijuana smoker would have to consume 20,000 to 40,000 times the amount of THC in a joint in order to be at risk of dying.
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