Does this offer the potential for new
information on the breaches we know about and perhaps a few new ones?
When and for how long was Nasdaq penetrated?
Hacker
pleads not guilty to stealing 160M credit cards
One of the five men accused of
perpetrating the largest hacking scheme ever prosecuted in the U.S.,
which culminated with the theft of more than 160 million credit card
numbers, pleaded not guilty on Monday, according to Reuters.
The charges levied against Dmitriy
Smilianets, 29, include conspiracy to commit wire fraud, wire fraud,
and unauthorized access to computers. If convicted, he could spend
the next 65 years in prison.
Smilianets is originally from Russia
but was extradited to the U.S. from the Netherlands last year.
… According to Reuters, Nasdaq
was also breached, but this information wasn't released until last
month when the feds accused
the group of five of carrying out the massive hacking scheme.
Prosecutors told Reuters the Nasdaq breach didn't include the stock
trading platform and that the hackers weren't able to get any money
from this specific breach.
The hacking group's
cyberattacks began in 2005 and lasted at least until the
summer of 2012, according to federal prosecutors.
For my Ethical Hackers: come up with
three more.
Change the Medium of Communication
To paraphrase Marshall
McLuhan, the medium is the type of warrant needed. Typically the
older the form of communication, the greater the legal protection it
has.
… Land-line phone conversations are
almost equally protected compared to letter mail, yet your phone
records are available to the government as well. Once you step up to
voice calls on a cell phone, the laws preventing the government from
listening in tend get more lax. Text messaging even more so again.
Because these cellular and WiFi communications fly through open air
space, courts
may find that there isn’t the reasonable expectation of privacy
that governments afford land-line conversations.
Check Your Apps
Possibly the easiest way to compromise
smartphone communications is to write an app that allows you access
to everything on the phone, and then get people to download it.
Encrypt the Communication
… Encryption takes something that
is meaningful to the average person and makes it gibberish that can
only be made meaningful again through a complex mathematical process.
… By encrypting the data that is
already on your phone, as in the article, How
To Encrypt Data on Your Smartphone and using the methods in this
article, you will have the closest thing to a spy phone that your
average citizen can have.
Oh, is that all?
Orin Kerr found the Administration’s
white paper on the legal analysis permitting bulk collection under
Section 215 “a somewhat frustrating read.”
Read his commentary on The
Volokh Conspiracy.
We need to train more “Big Data”
analysts...
How
Big Data Is Transforming Government
Turning
Optimism into Reality: How Big Data Is Transforming Government:
“The proliferation of Big Data has forced agencies to consider its
great potential to revolutionize federal operations. The
White House’s Big Data Initiative has invested $200 million in new
research and development projects to use Big Data, and the use of Big
Data in various agency activities ranging from performance tracking
to budgeting has begun to take hold. As a result, many agencies
are trying to train and/or hire a workforce to leverage Big Data,
but in the current budget climate, new hires and investing in
training courses is proving to be difficult or impossible. In
order to evaluate agency efforts to leverage Big Data and provide
insight on how agencies can best capitalize on the opportunities
provided by Big Data given the current budget climate, the Government
Business Council, with sponsorship from Booz Allen Hamilton,
undertook a comprehensive research project that surveyed federal
managers.”
(Related) It's George Orwell's FOIA?
UK
– Freedom of Information – the next generation
By Steve
Wood : “The evolution of the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA)
will reach a key milestone on 1st September, as the new open data
rights come into force. Changes to the law not only give new rights
to request data in a form that means it can be re-used, but also give
users the right to re-use that data, even
commercially. It is a welcome upgrade for FOIA. The
strong foundation we have in the current legislation is being
enhanced by additional rights. Put simply, the more usable the data,
the greater the potential to enhance accountability, transparency and
economic growth. The ICO (Independent Commissioner’sOffice) is
keen to play its part in the process. We’ve published new
guidance on the changes, as well as an at-a-glance list of what
public authorities can do to get ready for the changes. We’ve also
highlighted a couple of possible pitfalls in providing the
information. The changes are all about datasets, something defined
in the new legislation. Section
102 of the Protection of Freedoms Act 2012 has amended sections
11 and 19 of the Freedom of Information Act, giving new rights to
receive datasets in a form capable of re-use (e.g. CSV).
For the first time, the Act now gives users the right to re-use
datasets, under the terms of a specified licence – in most cases
likely to be the Open
Government Licence (OGL). The amendments also require public
authorities to publish any requested datasets as part of their
publication scheme, if appropriate. It is important
to note that the changes do not give new rights of access
– they are concerned with format and the ability to re-use
datasets, once the public authority has decided that no exemptions or
other provisions (e.g. costs, vexatious) in the legislation apply.
The new Freedom
of Information (Release of Datasets for Re-use) (Fees) Regulations
2013 have also been published today. These new regulations set
out how a public authority can charge for making a certain datasets
available for re-use – the costs they can recover and a reasonable
return on investment.”
I think they are deluding themselves if
they truly believe that this protects them from terrorists. I doubt
it even inconveniences
the bad guys...
Norwegian
government stops Apple's aerial mapping of capital
The Norwegian government has denied a
request from Apple to do a 3D mapping of the capital city of Oslo
because of security concerns, according to news reports Monday.
Apple applied for a license from the
government to fly over Oslo and take images, but Norway's National
Security Authority rejected the application because the mapping would
include military buildings, local newspaper Aftenposten
reported (translated by Google Translate).
The publication said the U.S. embassy
has actually stepped in to aid Apple, and Oslo's mayor also asked the
NSA to reconsider.
'cause biggest doesn't always mean
bestest..
43+
Alternatives to YouTube
Excellent educational content can be
found on YouTube. However, not
every teacher can access YouTube in his or her classroom. That's why
a few years ago I compiled a big list of alternatives to YouTube.
Over the years some of those sites have shut-down, started charging a
fee, or have switched into another market. So this evening I went
through and eliminated some sites from the list and added a few new
ones. My favorite five alternatives to YouTube are listed below.
You can see
the complete list here. If you have a suggestion for an
alternative to YouTube, please let me know.
Dilbert points out how NSA should have
asked for data...
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