Topic: SECURITY - on June 9, 2013 at 5:29:00 PM CEST
PRISM and Other Spy Tools
PRISM has been in use since about 2003 based on a resume of a user and likely indicates PRISM collection well before recent publication of PRISM access to Internet servers, beginning with Microsoft in 2007. Numerous similar spying tools and programs are described below.
A discussion in 2000 between journalist Duncan Campbell and a Microsoft executive about NSA planting a key in Microsoft products
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Topic: SECURITY - on June 9, 2013 at 5:11:00 PM CEST
PRISM-Welle ebbt nicht ab – und das ist auch gut so
Die Enthüllungen über die umfassenden US-Überwachungstätigkeiten im Rahmen des PRISM-Programms haben ein großes internationales Medienecho hervorgerufen. Allerorten bestreiten, kritisieren und bekräftigen die beteiligten Akteure irgendwas. Der Guardian bloggt fortlaufend zu PRISM und Co. Im deutschsprachigen Raum spiegelt sueddeutsche.de das recht ausführlich.
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Topic: SECURITY - on June 7, 2013 at 5:29:00 PM CEST
Anonymous leaks PRISM-Docs
Anonymous hat Dokumente zu PRISM geleakt, die anscheinend besagen, dass es neben der massenhaften Bespitzelung praktisch aller Social Networks auch ein Programm namens GIG gibt, praktisch eine Info-Sharing-Plattform für Geheimdienste in 35 Ländern. Yay!
Der Codename lautet Prism. Dahinter verbirgt sich nach Berichten von "Washington Post" und "Guardian" ein streng geheimes Abhörprogramm, das die National Security Agency (NSA) seit 2007 aufbaut. Aus Dokumenten vom April dieses Jahres soll hervorgehen, dass der Geheimdienst Zugriff auf die Server von Microsoft Chart zeigen, Google Chart zeigen, Facebook Chart zeigen, Apple Chart zeigen und anderen IT-Firmen hat. Die NSA fischt die Daten der Nutzer direkt ab, die Unternehmen wollen offiziell von nichts wissen.
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Topic: SECURITY - on July 24, 2012 at 8:16:00 AM CEST
Manufacturer declares death of bugs Stuxnet used to sabotage Iran nukes
German conglomerate Siemens on Monday said it has fixed vulnerabilities in its software products that appeared to be identical to those that allowed the Stuxnet computer worm to disrupt Iran's nuclear program.
In advisories published here and here, Siemens said it updated its Simatic Step7 and Simatic WinCC software applications to "address vulnerabilities first discovered in 2010." That was the same year the Stuxnet worm was discovered burrowing into industrial control systems in Iran and other countries throughout the world.
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Topic: SECURITY - on June 26, 2012 at 9:34:00 AM CEST
Proxy Your Way to Online Anonymity
Whatever your reason for desiring anonymity, you’ll find it hard to make yourself truly traceless on the web. Even if you refrain from signing in to any services, your IP traffic is logged almost everywhere you go. Even if you’re not worried about Big Brother, this can be disconcerting. Worry not, there’s still one thing you can do to get invisible — put all of your network activity behind a proxy. This masks your IP address using a virtual detour that makes it appear that your connection is originating from somewhere else in the world, like Brazil or China. Here’s how to set yourself up for backdoor browsing.
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Topic: SECURITY - on June 25, 2012 at 1:00:00 PM CEST
NSA: It Would Violate Your Privacy to Say if We Spied on You
The surveillance experts at the National Security Agency won’t tell two powerful United States Senators how many Americans have had their communications picked up by the agency as part of its sweeping new counterterrorism powers. The reason: it would violate your privacy to say so.
That claim comes in a short letter sent Monday to civil libertarian Senators Ron Wyden and Mark Udall. The two members of the Senate’s intelligence oversight committee asked the NSA a simple question last month: under the broad powers granted in 2008′s expansion of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, how many persons inside the United States have been spied upon by the NSA?
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Topic: SECURITY - on June 24, 2012 at 12:19:00 PM CEST
DefCon: 20 Years of Hackers, Hijinks and Snooping Feds
In 1992, former hacker Jeff Moss invited a bunch of hacker friends he'd met primarily on electronic bulletin boards to come to Las Vegas to party in the desert. That party grew into a legendary conference that's become one of the premiere gatherings for hackers from around the world - as well as for undercover intelligence agents who want to spy on them (or recruit them).
More than 7,000 hackers and security professionals attend annually. Other hacker conferences have tried to copy DefCon's secret sauce throughout the years, but none have been able to match its successful mix of smart talks, organized chaos and hearty parties. Next month, DefCon will celebrate its 20th year, by bringing back some of the original speakers that made year one so special.
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Topic: SECURITY - on June 24, 2012 at 12:13:00 PM CEST
A virus specialized for AutoCAD, a perfect cyber espionage tool
In recent years we are assisting to a profoundly change in the nature of malware, it is increased the development for spy purposes, for its spread in both private and government sectors.
The recent case of Flame malware has demonstrated the efficiency of a malicious agent as a gathering tool in a typical context of state-sponsored attack for cyber espionage.
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Topic: SECURITY - on June 23, 2012 at 10:18:00 AM CEST
IDair's new fingerprint reader captures prints from 6 meters away
Forget the key card to your office building? Just wave your hand at the door, and you're in. "You don't have to stop at a station. Nobody checks your ID. You just walk through," explains Clemson-educated physicist Joel Burcham of his new Huntsville company called IDair.
IDair makes a machine that Burcham says can photographically capture a fingerprint from as far away as six meters in enough detail to match against a database. Add facial and iris-recognition technology, Burcham said, and you have the basis for a good biometrics system that can control access to any building or room within a building.
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Topic: SECURITY - on June 20, 2012 at 9:07:00 AM CEST
Visa, Mastercard Credit Card Information Hacked? What you should do know
Two days ago a hacker going by the name Reckz0r claimed to have gained over 50 Gigabyte worth of data from 79 banking companies that he hacked in to over the course of the past three months. The data is said to contain extensive information, including customer Visa and Mastercard credit card data.
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Topic: SECURITY - on June 20, 2012 at 9:06:00 AM CEST
U.S., Israel developed Flame computer virus to slow Iranian nuclear efforts, officials say
The United States and Israel jointly developed a sophisticated computer virus nicknamed Flame that collected intelligence in preparation for cyber-sabotage aimed at slowing Iran’s ability to develop a nuclear weapon, according to Western officials with knowledge of the effort.
The massive piece of malware secretly mapped and monitored Iran’s computer networks, sending back a steady stream of intelligence to prepare for a cyberwarfare campaign, according to the officials.
The effort, involving the National Security Agency, the CIA and Israel’s military, has included the use of destructive software such as the Stuxnet virus to cause malfunctions in Iran’s nuclear-enrichment equipment.
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Topic: SECURITY - on June 17, 2012 at 1:40:00 PM CEST
South African intel officials faked threats to increase spy budget
SENIOR crime intelligence officials planted paid informers to make fake right-wing-related threats against the government.
This was allegedly part of a wider strategy to loot the unit’s Secret Service Account for personal benefit.
Law enforcement agency sources allege that spy bosses worked their way into the R600 million-a-year slush fund by fabricating information to create a false impression of imminent, unprecedented attacks on black people and ANC members.
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