Apparently, someone told them that it
is possible for terrorists to be behind a hack.
"The
Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) is finally stepping up its game
when it comes to hackers. Maybe it was Anonymous that did it or
maybe it was statements from the US Secretary of Defense two weeks
ago, but either way, the
FBI is now hunting hackers 24/7."
I'm happy that the FBI no longer has an
investigation schedule when it comes to online crime, but I have to
think that I'm not the only one who assumed they were doing this
before.
[From the article:
The division’s main
focus is now cyber intrusions, working closely with the
Bureau’s Counterterrorism and Counterintelligence divisions. More
importantly, the FBI-led “National Cyber Investigative Joint Task
Force” (NCIJTF),
as it’s being called, will share information with partner
intelligence and law enforcement agencies, including the Departments
of Defense, Homeland Security, and the National Security Agency.
Not exactly the “prisoner's
dilemma” or is it?
Argument
recap: Sensitive to lawyers’ dilemma
The Supreme Court showed Monday that it
is genuinely troubled that the govenment, carrying on a sweeping
program of wiretaps seeking to track terrorism activity, may
be putting lawyers in a serious professional and ethical bind
as they represent individuals potentially caught up in that
eavesdropping. It was not immediately clear, though, whether that
worry was deep enough to lead the Court to give those attorneys a
right to sue to challenge the constitutionality of the global
surveillance that seems to be tracking Americans’ conversations,
too.
Although the government’s top lawyer
in the Court, Solicitor General Donald B. Verrilli, Jr., argued that
no one should be allowed in court to contest this program unless they
can show that the government’s potential overhearing of sensitive
legal conversations is close to a certainty, several of the Justices
seemed wary of making it that difficult to bring a challenge when it
is entirely likely that such monitoring has occurred, or will occur.
… The Solicitor General did not
appear to have scored a hit when he argued that, if lawyers were
cutting back on how they dealt with their clients, they were doing so
because of ethical restraints, not because of the government’s
surveillance. Justice Elena Kagan, in particuarly, seemed offended
by that point.
… Verrilli’s strongest point,
though, was that the Justices could trust a specialized federal
court, the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court, which operates
entirely in secrecy, to act as a sufficient check on excessive use of
foreign intelligence wiretapping. Justice Antonin Scalia, in
particular, was a strong defender of indulging in just that kind of
trust. If there are constitutional violations, Scalia said, that
court will ferret them out.
… And, Kennedy added, a lawyer who
was representing an individual who might be targeted as a potential
terrorist would actually “engage in malpractice” if that attorney
did not take steps to protect conversations with the client or with
the client’s family members from being monitored. Picking up on
Justice Kagan’s repeated comments about lawyers’ ethical
obligations to their clients, Kennedy appeared
tempted to conclude that lawyers had, in fact, already suffered
professional harm that might be sufficient to give them “standing”
to sue to challenge the program.
(Related) But everyone is doing it!
(We can, therefore we must!)
UK:
Kent Police investigated in private data scandal
October 29, 2012 by Dissent
Just because you have
the technology, it doesn’t mean you should use it.
Kent Police is
under investigation over claims it is storing personal information on
everyone arrested, even if no charges are brought.
The force is said
to be one of six in England and Wales that uses special software to
“interrogate” private mobile phones belonging to members of the
public.
Details harvested
can include calls and messages sent and received, internet activity,
photographs and personal memos.
Read more on Kent
and Sussex Courier.
Sometimes, I don't want to know that
“There's an App for that.” Note that it does take some
interesting programming to separate skin from cloth...
The
iPhone app that sucks out Facebook bikini pics
One should always appreciate those who
truly understand the human psyche.
One should also always appreciate
humanists who embrace the concept of honesty. They are so few.
Stunningly, there is now an iPhone app
that manages to do both. It's called, with all due subtlety,
Badabing.
A very similar reaction from my
Statistics students...
By Dissent,
October 29, 2012
Here’s a useful example of why my
eyes glaze over at times when trying to make sense of breach
statistics. Tim Smith of the Greenville News recently
reported:
South Carolina
state agencies and businesses over a three-year period reported
dozens of computer security breaches that potentially could affect at
least 410,000 people, a report obtained by GreenvilleOnline.com
shows.
Much of that,
according to a report by the state Department Consumer Affairs, came
from healthcare organizations last year, which reported breaches
affecting a possible 325,000 people.
The report does
not include the most recent fiscal year, or the database theft
earlier this year of almost 230,000 records from the Department of
Health and Human Services, said Juliana Harris, spokeswoman for the
agency.
So my first impression was that
healthcare sector clearly accounts for the greatest percentage of
records/individuals affected by reported breaches in South
Carolina for the past three years. But does it also represent the
largest percentage of breaches? So I read on:
Of the 56
disclosures, the healthcare industry, such as hospitals, submitted
nine notices affecting 340,000 residents. Government agencies
submitted six breaches affecting 35,000 residents; financial
organizations turned in 12 breach notices affecting almost 19,000
consumers; and other industries submitted 29 notices affecting about
17,000 residents, according to the data from Consumer Affairs.
Healthcare
organizations alone reported 325,000 people impacted from three
security breaches in 2011, according to the data.
Using the three-year timeframe, 9 out
of 56 = 16% of reported breaches were from the healthcare sector, a
statistic that is considerably higher than the 7% statistic reported
in Verizon’s
2012 breach report. Verizon, however, notes that their cases
from this sector may be under-represented as many healthcare sector
entities would not turn to Verizon to investigate a breach. SC’s
16% statistic is consistent, however, with the 15% all-time statistic
for the healthcare sector from DataLossDB.org.
For 2011, however, healthcare sector
breaches constituted 50% of all reported SC breaches (3 out of 6),
while for DataLossDB.org, healthcare sector breaches constituted 18%
of all 2011 breaches in that database. Frankly, I’m surprised
South Carolina only got six breach reports in 2011 considering it was
somewhat a “banner year” for breaches. Even though South
Carolina does not require reporting to the state for breaches
affecting fewer than 1,000, their report still seems surprisingly low
to me.
But as importantly, we
can’t really interpret SC’s statistics without knowing what
percent of all entities the healthcare sector represents in South
Carolina. If they represent 10% of all entities that
might have to report breaches, then the 16% might indicate unusual
trouble in the healthcare sector with respect to breaches. If, on
the other hand, they represent 25% of all entities, then a 16%
statistic reflects favorably on the sector.
Without additional
information or context, interpreting statistics is often a puzzlement
and is definitely not a task for the faint-hearted.
What seems clear, though, is that a lot
of South Carolina consumers had their personal and/or health
information compromised or put at risk over the past three years and
that healthcare entities that maintain huge databases may make
desirable targets for corrupt insiders or hackers. Verizon offers
some suggestions
for the healthcare sector. Their advice strikes me as sound.
And now if you’ll excuse me, I’m
going to go put a cool towel over my eyes and forehead until the urge
to make sense of statistics passes – for now, anyway.
Perspective It works, but you
shouldn't count on it working? Should we fix this?
FDNY
to NYC: Please don't tweet for help
With New York City inundated by
Hurricane
Sandy-driven storm surge, heavy winds, and emergencies throughout
town, the FDNY is pleading with people not to use Twitter to call for
help.
… It's not that the fire department
categorically won't respond to calls for assistance on Twitter,
however. It just doesn't want New Yorkers thinking they can depend
on the microblogging service for help from the FDNY.
If this actually surprises anyone, we
need to talk...
"A month before the
controversial 'six strikes' anti-piracy plan goes live in the U.S.,
the responsible Center of Copyright Information (CCI) is dealing with
a small crisis. As it turns out the RIAA failed to mention to its
partners that the 'impartial and independent' technology expert they
retained previously
lobbied for the music industry group. In a response to the
controversy, CCI is now considering whether it should hire another
expert to evaluate the anti-piracy monitoring technology."
Includes info on at least 3 UAV (drone)
systems...
October 29, 2012
2013
Army Weapon Systems Handbook
Via Steven Aftergood, Secrecy News:
"The U.S. Army has just published the 2013 edition of its annual
Weapon
Systems Handbook, which is filled with updated information on
dozens of weapon systems, the military contractors who produce them,
and the foreign countries that purchase them... An appendix provides
an informative breakdown of military industry contractors by weapon
system and by the state where the contractor is located."
(Related) We have lots of drones, but
the CIA isn't interested in killing a mere hurricane...
NASA
Preps Drone Hurricane Hunters, But Misses Sandy
Too cool to ignore!
Shakespeare: Globe to Globe
took place this summer and featured 37 plays being performed in 37
different languages in the rebuilt Shakespeare Globe theatre in
London,
England. Put on as a celebration of the impact that the
playwright has had around the world, live audiences watched
performers deliver famous lines in their mother tongues in the
playwright’s spiritual home.
Nothing quite compares to the emotion,
crowd and weather involved in watching a play performed in an open
theatre, but that doesn’t mean you can’t enjoy the theatre at
home. Luckily the whole season of unforgettable performances are
available for viewing via The Space,
a hub that provides free access to various artforms on the Internet
and mobile devices.
[Jump directly to the
plays: http://thespace.org/items/s00001ns
Free stuff for my Geeks?
"This election year,
CodeWeavers is repeating its 'Great American Lame Duck Presidential
Challenge' from 2008,
and will be giving
away free one-year subscriptions to Crossover Linux and Mac. 'On
Wednesday, Oct. 31, 2012, beginning at 00:00 Central Time (+6 GMT),
anyone visiting CodeWeavers’ Flock The Vote promotional web site
(flock.codeweavers.com)
will be able to download a free, fully functional copy of either
CrossOver Mac or CrossOver Linux. Each copy
comes complete with 12 months of support and product upgrades.
The offer will continue for 24 hours, from 00:00 to 23:59, Oct. 31,
2012. ... The company had recently launched its 'Flock the Vote'
challenge – a voter turnout initiative in which CodeWeavers
promised free software for 24 hours if 100,000 people pledged to vote
in the 2012 Presidential election.'"
Something for PowerPoint haters...
PowerPoint
Killer Prezi Launches New Interface
Prezi,
a popular alternative to Microsoft PowerPoint and other presentation
applications, launched a new version of its interface today.
… For those not familiar, Prezi
uses a map-like metaphor for creating presentations instead of a
slideshow metaphor. This makes it possible to create non-linear
presentations, or presentations that use spatial metaphors for
organizing ideas, like mind maps.
… The web version
of Prezi is free, but if you want the desktop version or
certain other features you’ll have to shell out for the Pro
account, which costs $159 a year. But even free users can use the
offline presentation viewers, so you never have to worry about shoddy
conference wifi when giving a presentation. You can also use it for
giving online presentations, bypassing the need to use WebEx.
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