http://www.chicagotribune.com/technology/chi-0610150241oct15,1,1992288.story?coll=chi-technology-hed
PERSON OF INTEREST: STEPHEN HAAG
`Weapons of identity destruction'
By Brendan McCarthy a Tribune staff reporter Published October 15, 2006
Dr. Stephen Haag spends upwards of 80 hours each week on his computer, mapping out terrorist attacks.
Haag, an expert in emerging technologies, believes the next attack on the U.S. will come not in the form of bombings or military movements, but from terrorists armed with computer keyboards, credit cards and Social Security numbers.
A calculated cyber identity strike could erase or manipulate the identities of millions of Americans, effectively closing the financial markets and crippling the economy. ATMs would fail, airports would shut down, banks would close--all transactions would cease, says Haag, 45, an associate dean at the Daniels College of Business at the University of Denver.
Earlier this year, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security simulated its own cyberterrorism attack within federal, state and local governments. The department found that the country's coordinated response needed to be refined and solidified, according to a report it released last month.
Haag, who has written dozens of books on technology, has been researching identity terrorism for more than a year. He is a paid consultant for various government agencies, including NASA, the Air Force and the EPA, and for private companies such as First Data Corp., an electronic payments processor.
He recently talked to the Tribune about identity terrorism. An edited transcript follows.
Winning friends, one song at a time... You would think someone would suggest checking ANYTHING you were giving to a customer – even the food!
http://www.newlaunches.com/archives/mcdonalds_gives_mp3_players_infected_with_spyware_as_prizes.php
McDonalds gives MP3 players infected with spyware as prizes
October 14, 2006 - 6:34 AM : Related Entries - Far East
If it is not lawsuits then there is virus infected MP3 players, the fast food giant is always in the news. It all started in August when McDonalds Japan in association with Coca Cola announced a contest, where a MP3 player was awarded upon sending the unique number on the Coke glass as a text message. In all 10,000 winners were announced and each got a Mac branded flash DAP preloaded with 10 tunes. However the MP3 players were infected with QQpass a very dangerous malware. So your PC is infected once you connect the DAP and it starts logging and transmitting username, passwords and other vital information. McDonalds Japan has apologized [Step one in Japan Bob] and set up a 24 hour helpline for those affected by the spyware loaded MP3 player.
Computer theft going wholesale?
http://allafrica.com/stories/200610030752.html
South Africa: Computer Theft Will Not Affect Exams - Gauteng Education
BuaNews (Tshwane) October 3, 2006 Posted to the web October 3, 2006 Thapelo Sakoana
The Gauteng Department of Education says the theft of more than 120 computers from its offices in Johannesburg last night, will not affect matric examinations due next week.
More than 20 armed robbers allegedly stole computers and other valuables estimated to be worth about R20 million from the department's offices on Commissioner Street.
Some election results can be predicted with near certainty. Problems with faulty machines is one of them.
http://politics.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=06/10/14/1641239&from=rss
Dutch Securing E-voting After Being Pwned
Posted by kdawson on Saturday October 14, @01:32PM from the wouldn't-it-be-nice dept. Security Politics
An anonymous reader writes, "After the Dutch we-don't-trust-voting-computers foundation demonstrated glaring security holes in Dutch voting computers last week, the Dutch government has ordered (Dutch) all software to be replaced, all hardware to be checked, unflashable firmware to be installed, and an iron seal to be placed on voting machines. A certification institute will double-check all measures, and on election day will cull random machines to check them for accuracy. The Dutch intelligence service AIVD has been approached to consult on the radio emissions issue. Furthermore, foreign observers will monitor the upcoming elections on November 22nd. But the action group is still not confident (Dutch) that all problems are solved."
US elections are controlled at the local level, so unfortunately such a nationwide fix would not be workable here.
You can't give terrorists that kind of information! We're the only ones who can do that!
http://yro.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=06/10/15/0017211&from=rss
911 Call Tracking Site Stirs Concern
Posted by kdawson on Saturday October 14, @08:41PM from the they-could-at-least-have-used-a-GIF dept. The Internet
Frosty Piss writes, "This story comes from the Seattle Post-Intellegencer. For the past year, John Eberly has operated Seattle911.com, a site that until this week took real-time feeds of 911 calls from the Seattle Fire Department and plotted them on Google Maps. But on learning of Eberly's site, officials cited 'security concerns' and altered the way they display 911 calls on their Web site, changing the format from text to graphical, preventing Eberly from acquiring the raw data. (Several programmers are quoted musing how trivial it would be to work around this evasion.) [“We don't know WHY we're doing it, you expect us to know HOW to do it? Bob] Fire officials worry that allowing others to display where fire crews are on an Internet map could make things easier if terrorists were planning an attack. That logic left Eberly and others scratching their heads, as the information continues to be publicly available on the Fire Department's site. 'We're not obligated to provide this information. It's something that we did for customer service in the first place,' a Fire Department spokesperson said. So is this public information? Should the data be available to the public in real time?"
The Seattle P-I story ends with a quote from Bruce Schneier: "The government is not saying, 'Hey, this data needs to be secret,' they are saying, 'This data needs to be inconvenient to get to.'"
Check this out. Proof anyone can become a podcasting star!
http://www.techtvforever.net/?p=1040
October 12th, 2006
Security Now 61: ISP Privacy
Hosts: Steve Gibson with Leo Laporte
First a review of three more zero day exploits in Windows XP, then a look at what your ISP knows about you and how to protect your privacy.
For 16kpbs versions, transcripts, and notes (including fixes), visit Steve's site: grc.com, also the home of the best disk maintenance and recovery utility ever written Spinrite 6.
Podcast: [ episode notes | download ]
[Good example of organizing your podcasts to make them customer friendly... http://www.grc.com/securitynow.htm ]
Sure it's what the CIA (NSA) is doing, but it's FUN!
http://digg.com/tech_news/Randomly_talk_with_people_via_webcam_their_webcam
Randomly talk with people via webcam. - their webcam
alen3K submitted by alen3K 11 hours 21 minutes ago (via http://serendipitouschat.com/ )
Remember the talk with random person website? How about seeing a random person live and talk with them. FUNNY and SHOCKING.
[From the comments: If you're bored or just a "newbie stalker" this is for you. ]
Attention students! I will catch you if you use this – it is where I generate my lectures!
http://digg.com/playable_web_games/Random_Essay_Generator
Random Essay Generator
purpl3hazze submitted by purpl3hazze 11 hours 16 minutes ago (via http://radioworldwide.gospelcom.net/essaygenerator/ )
Type in ANY subject, and you get a random essay every time.
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