Monday, May 12, 2008

I wonder what the penalty is in Chile?

http://www.pogowasright.org/article.php?story=20080512053807216

Six million Chileans' data leaked

Monday, May 12 2008 @ 05:50 AM EDT Contributed by: PrivacyNews News Section: Breaches

A hacker in Chile calling himself the 'Anonymous Coward' published confidential data belonging to six million people on the internet.

Authorities are investigating the theft of the leaked data, which includes identity card numbers, addresses, telephone numbers, emails and academic records.

Information about the president's daughters was reportedly included in the leaked data. The information was obtained by the surreptitious hacker from government, military and Ministry of Education servers and posted on FayerWayer, a Chilean technology blog.

Source - WebUser Related - BBC Related- FayerWayer

[From the article:

According to the El Mercurio newspaper, which had access to the files, the hacker said he intended "to demonstrate how poorly protected the data in Chile is, and how nobody works to protect it".



A couple strange points

http://www.pogowasright.org/article.php?story=20080512053128518

Dahlgren mails ID warning (Naval Surface Warfare Center at Dahlgren update)

Monday, May 12 2008 @ 05:49 AM EDT Contributed by: PrivacyNews News Section: Breaches

The Naval Surface Warfare Center at Dahlgren is mailing 7,200 more letters to former employees through the Internal Revenue Service [Perhaps the IRS has more current addresses? Does this violate the IRS privacy rules? Bob] warning them about potential identity fraud.

In January, four people arrested in Pennsylvania had pages from a [Classified/unclassified? Bob] Navy report dated July 7, 1994, listing names, Social Security numbers and birth dates for 100 current and former employees.

... Naval Surface Warfare Center spokeswoman Stacia Courtney said 2,000 letters were sent out earlier to those who worked for the Navy on or before July 7, 1994. The latest batch is going to people whose addresses were not available for the first mailing.

Courtney said it's not clear how many people have suffered from fraudulent attempts to use their names to obtain credit. [Language suggesting some have? Bob] However, she said those with fraud concerns have been referred to Naval Criminal Investigative Services as the investigation continues.

Source - Fredericksburg.com



...because...

http://www.pogowasright.org/article.php?story=20080512052421573

Data “Dysprotection:” breaches reported last week

Monday, May 12 2008 @ 05:44 AM EDT Contributed by: PrivacyNews News Section: Breaches

A recap of incidents or privacy breaches reported last week for those who enjoy shaking their head and muttering to themselves with their morning coffee.

Source - Chronicles of Dissent



It seems to me that articles like this rarely appear in the news within the impacted region...

http://www.pogowasright.org/article.php?story=2008051207095065

Ca: Licence-plate readers worry privacy advocates

Monday, May 12 2008 @ 07:09 AM EDT Contributed by: PrivacyNews News Section: Non-U.S. News

A new high-tech crime-fighting tool that police believe has revolutionary potential is worrying some civil libertarians and privacy watchdogs.

Automated licence-plate readers are being tried out by police forces in several Canadian jurisdictions.

In Vancouver, police are using them to track down stolen cars and nail driving scofflaws, but the technology's investigative uses could ultimately include counter-terrorism work and tracking sex offenders.

Critics fret it represents creeping big brotherism, another step towards a surveillance society.

Source - New Brunswick Business Journal

[From the article:

"We don't see any (privacy) issues because ALPR for our purposes is no different than a police officer sitting in a car with a computer and running the licence number that drives by him," says Elias. "The only difference here is the computer is running it automatically for you." [..and therein lies the debate. Would there be less concern if they hired workers (at minimum wage) to do the same thing? Bob]



Not sure you trust that site asking for your email address? (This type of site would be great for gathering information on people “with something to hide.”)

http://www.killerstartups.com/Web20/Anonymboxcom---Temporary-Anonymous-Email/

Anonymbox.com - Temporary Anonymous Email

Anonymbox.com is a site where users can set up an anonymous email address that will exist for 12 hours. Anonymbox.com give you the two options of receiving a temporary email address or choosing your own temporary email address. Once you have set up your email address you can receive and send emails for 12 hours just like it was your own email address. If you have important information that needs to stay private, Anonymbox.com can give you that security and privacy. No one will know who the owner of the temporary email is. You can surf the web anonymously, take surveys, protect yourself from spam, and express yourself on blogs and forums without worrying about getting judged. Your temporary email address is for free and spam free so blog any and feel confident and secure that your privacy is being protected when you use Anonymbox.com.

http://www.anonymbox.com/



Tools & Techniques: How to steal passwords. (I'd be a bit more subtle – something like “DIA Courtesy Net”)

http://www.cnet.com/8301-13554_1-9941355-33.html?part=rss&subj=news&tag=2547-1_3-0-5

Free public WiFi

Posted by Michael Horowitz May 11, 2008 5:14 PM PDT

I recently found myself in an airport terminal with a laptop and time to kill. Not knowing what the WiFi options were, I let Windows XP search for available wireless networks. As you can see below, one of the networks was called "Free Public WiFi". If this happens to you, don't connect to a network like this.



Perhaps the start of a new 'Sports League?' (“Good evening hackers! Welcome to Friday night Hacks, sponsored by Gillette Blue Blades!”)

http://tech.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=08/05/11/120216&from=rss

NSA Takes On West Point In Security Exercise

Posted by Soulskill on Sunday May 11, @09:00AM from the with-friends-like-these dept.

Wired is running a story about a recent security exercise in which the NSA attacked networks set up by various US military academies. The Army's network scored the highest, put together using Linux and FreeBSD by cadets at West Point. Quoting:

"Even with a solid network design and passable software choices, there was an element of intuitiveness required to defend against the NSA, especially once it became clear the agency was using minor, and perhaps somewhat obvious, attacks to screen for sneakier, more serious ones. 'One of the challenges was when they see a scan, deciding if this is it, or if it's a cover,' says [instructor Eric] Dean. Spotting 'cover' attacks meant thinking like the NSA -- something Dean says the cadets did quite well. 'I was surprised at their creativity.' Legal limitations were a surprising obstacle to a realistic exercise. Ideally, the teams would be allowed to attack other schools' networks while also defending their own. But only the NSA, with its arsenal of waivers, loopholes, special authorizations (and heaven knows what else) is allowed to take down a U.S. network."



Worth listening to...

http://www.mattcutts.com/blog/what-google-knows-about-spam/

What Google Knows About Spam

May 11, 2008 @ 10:14 pm ·

If you didn’t attend Web 2.0, you can watch my ten-minute keynote about “What Google Knows About Spam” (and several other keynotes) on blip.tv. I’ll embed the keynote below as well.



Worth paying attention to?

http://www.infoworld.com/article/08/05/12/20FE-web-app-development-tease_1.html?source=rss&url=http://www.infoworld.com/article/08/05/12/20FE-web-app-development-tease_1.html

Rich Web development: Is the browser doomed?

The Web is evolving into a full-fledged app-delivery platform, calling into question the browser's ability to fulfill the needs of today's rich Internet apps

By Neil McAllister May 12, 2008

... The Web has become the preferred platform for enterprise application delivery, to say nothing of online entertainment and social software. In response, new kinds of online experiences have begun to emerge, challenging old notions of what it means to browse the Web.

[ For an in-depth look at rich Web frameworks, see our reviews of Adobe AIR, Microsoft Silverlight, Curl, WaveMaker Visual Ajax, open source AJAX toolkits, and other rich Web development tools. ]

"The browser is terrific for transient experiences … things that a user might do once in a while, or for a short amount of time," says Ed Rowe, director of AIR engineering at Adobe. A frequently accessed service like Twitter, on the other hand, cries out for a lightweight client. AIR allows the same developers to build both.

But AIR is only one branch in the Web's ongoing evolution. Already, Google, NetSuite, Salesforce.com, Zoho, and others are using Web tools and infrastructure to deliver full-fledged enterprise software, defying the limitations of today's browsers. As the static Web gives way to RIAs (rich Internet applications), client software must continue to adapt and evolve; and in some cases, this could very well mean stepping beyond the traditional browser altogether.



Inside the mind of analysts...

http://www.bespacific.com/mt/archives/018309.html

May 10, 2008

CIA - Psychology of Intelligence Analysis

Psychology of Intelligence Analysis, Richards J. Heuer, Jr. (21 pages, PDF, dated 1999 and updated 3-16-2007)

[The link is bad. Try: https://www.cia.gov/library/center-for-the-study-of-intelligence/csi-publications/books-and-monographs/psychology-of-intelligence-analysis/index.html



Useful stuff, often

http://www.bespacific.com/mt/archives/018318.html

May 11, 2008

New on LLRX.com



Economics: This is the best (simple) illustration of this I've seen

http://digg.com/tech_news/The_Cost_of_Living_on_the_Edge

The Cost of Living on the Edge

wired.com — Chart showing price and market penetration of consumer electronics over the past 50 years.

http://www.wired.com/images/article/magazine/test2007/st_infoporn_f.jpg



Suppose we find one. Wow! (Note that no one if looking for the next Mozart..)

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/uk/science/article3908385.ece

Stephen Hawking in hunt for Africa's hidden talent

Jonathan Leake, Science Editor May 11, 2008

... Some of the world’s leading high-tech entrepreneurs and scientists have backed the £75m plan to create Africa’s first postgraduate centres for advanced maths and physics, after the British government declined to provide funding.

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