Saturday, July 30, 2016

As my Computer Security students start running for elective office, they will look back at this and laugh.  The FBI is looking into speculation by the media?  If the Democrats thought they were being hacked, why not call someone in law enforcement? 
Computer Systems Used by Clinton Campaign Are Said to Be Hacked, Apparently by Russians
Computer systems used by Hillary Clinton’s presidential campaign were hacked in an attack that appears to have come from Russia’s intelligence services, a federal law enforcement official said on Friday.
   Mrs. Clinton’s campaign said in a statement that intruders had gained access to an analytics program used by the campaign and maintained by the national committee, but it said that it did not believe that the campaign’s own internal computer systems had been compromised.
   The F.B.I. said on Friday that it was examining reports of “cyberintrusions involving multiple political entities” but did not identify the targets of the attacks. [See below.  Bob]
   American intelligence agencies have told the White House they have “high confidence” that the Russian government was behind the theft of emails and documents from the Democratic National Committee.  But it is unclear whether the break-in was fairly routine espionage or part of an effort to manipulate the election.
   In a statement, the F.B.I. said that it “is aware of media reporting on cyberintrusions involving multiple political entities, and is working to determine the accuracy, nature and scope of these matters.”

(Related) Turnabout is fair play?  A guide Russia could follow to influence an election? 
British Spies Used a URL Shortener to Honeypot Arab Spring Dissidents
A shadowy unit of the British intelligence agency GCHQ tried to influence online activists during the 2009 Iranian presidential election protests and the 2011 democratic uprisings largely known as the Arab Spring, as new evidence gathered from documents leaked by Edward Snowden shows.
The GCHQ’s special unit, known as the Joint Threat Research Intelligence Group or JTRIG, was first revealed in 2014, when leaked top secret documents showed it tried to infiltrate and manipulate—using “dirty trick” tactics such as honeypots—online communities including those of Anonymous hacktivists, among others.


Bruce raises an interesting question.
The Security of Our Election Systems
   If the intelligence community has indeed ascertained that Russia is to blame, our government needs to decide what to do in response.  This is difficult because the attacks are politically partisan, but it is essential.  If foreign governments learn that they can influence our elections with impunity, this opens the door for future manipulations, both document thefts and dumps like this one that we see and more subtle manipulations that we don't see.


Didn’t see the truck or thought it was a bridge? 
Tesla is reportedly considering 2 theories to explain ‘Autopilot’ crash
   Tesla is considering whether the radar and camera input for the vehicle’s automatic emergency braking system failed to detect the truck trailer or the automatic braking system’s radar may have detected the trailer but discounted this input as part of a design to “tune out” structures such as bridges to avoid triggering false braking, the source said.


The pendulum swings back or never moved in the first place?
From the no-surprise dept., this press release on an opinion by the FTC finding totally in their own favor:
Commission Finds LabMD Liable for Unfair Data Security Practices
Stating Company Failed to Protect Consumers’ Sensitive Medical and Personal Information
The Federal Trade Commission today announced the issuance of an Opinion and Final Order reversing an Administrative Law Judge (ALJ) Initial Decision that had dismissed FTC charges against medical testing laboratory LabMD, Inc.  In reversing the ALJ ruling, the Commission concludes that LabMD’s data security practices were unreasonable and constitute an unfair act or practice that violated Section 5 of the Federal Trade Commission Act.
   In response to the opinion, LabMD CEO Michael Daugherty issued the following statement:
Their own judge tossed all their evidence and now they waste taxpayer dollars to go to an Article III court relying on hearsay.  I am so relieved to be away from their dirty, biased system and into an Article III court.  Shame on every Commissioner.  They have, without remorse, made a mockery of legal ethics, regulatory boundaries and HHS.  Yet in their magical thinking they carry forward and I can’t wait.  Villainy wears many masks, none more dangerous than the mask of virtue.


Perspective.  I’m interested in how this will play out.
Broadband internet access will become a legal right under new EU telecoms rules
The European Commission is setting itself up for a fight with national governments by forcing them to pay for guaranteed internet access across the EU and comply with new rules on radio spectrum sales, according to an an internal document obtained by EurActiv.com.
Broadband internet access will be legally guaranteed under changes to EU universal services rules, while services that are currently guaranteed, like public payphones, will be taken out of the new law.  National governments won’t be happy with the change because the Commission wants them to pay for guaranteed internet – instead of private telecoms companies.
   National governments are expected to put up a fight about the funds the Commission wants them to front for affordable broadband.  “Given its wide societal and economic benefits universal service should be financed through general budget and not through sectorial funding,” the document reads.
Telecoms operators will be relieved that they won’t have to pay to build broadband networks in rural areas where they might not already exist.


Eventually, a valuable resource?
Scholarpedia – peer reviewed open access encyclopedia
by Sabrina I. Pacifici on Jul 29, 2016
Scholarpedia is a peer-reviewed open-access encyclopedia written and maintained by scholarly experts from around the world.  Scholarpedia is inspired by Wikipedia and aims to complement it by providing in-depth scholarly treatments of academic topics.


I’ve got my students designing an App.  This might be a help or a distraction.  Note that it did not start as a website.  The preferred platform in India is the smartphone, right? 
B-Town rejoices over Bollywood's dedicated app, Flickbay!
Gossip magazines and entertainment birdies now might have a run for their money as an app providing information purely about Bollywood films, celebrities and latest happenings of B-Town is finally here.
'Flickbay' is one of a kind app that lets you know about the latest happenings in Bollywood in just a click.


Clearly not what we teach in the Agile Programming class.


Saturday funnies.
Hack Education Weekly News
   Via NPR: “Clinton’s Free-Tuition Promise: What Would It Cost? How Would It Work?”  [What is it worth?  Bob] 
   Via Politico: Stolen “emails from the Democratic National Committee show DNC Deputy Communications Director Eric Walker telling his colleagues to avoid mentioning the Common Core in a video.  It ‘is a political third rail that we should not be touching at all. Get rid of it.’”
   Melania Trump’s website has been scrubbed from the Internet – it now redirects to the Trump real estate business page – following questions that she’d lied on the website about having a college degree.
   “Pop star tells fans to send their Twitter passwords, but it might be illegal,” says Ars Technica.  Illegal or not, this is such a dumb idea.  “#HackedByJohnson entices young fans so he can post cute messages in their name.”

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