It’s good to be the king.
Chinese
Intelligence Agencies Are Doctoring the Country's Vulnerability
Database
Chinese intelligence agencies are doctoring the
Chinese National Vulnerabilities Database (CNNVD) to hide security
flaws that government hackers might have an interest in, according to
a report
released on Friday by US threat intelligence firm Recorded Future.
… "CNNVD’s manipulation of its
vulnerability publication data ultimately reveals more than it
conceals," the Recorded Future team says.
"First, the selective backdating of
vulnerability publication for the outliers is essentially a tacit
confirmation from CNNVD of their vulnerability evaluation program and
the operational use of some delayed vulnerabilities.
"Second, while many think of the MSS
(Ministry of State Security) as primarily a foreign intelligence
service, it also has a large, and arguably more important, domestic
intelligence mandate."
Are similar phones available to non-criminals on
the open market? I’d venture a ‘yes’ on that.
Feds Bust
CEO Allegedly Selling Custom BlackBerry Phones to Sinaloa Drug Cartel
For years, a slew
of shadowy companies have sold so-called encrypted phones, custom
BlackBerry or Android devices that sometimes have the camera and
microphone removed and only send secure messages through private
networks. Several of those firms allegedly
cater primarily for criminal organizations.
Now, the FBI has arrested the owner of one of the
most established companies, Phantom Secure, as part of a complex law
enforcement operation, according to court records and sources
familiar with the matter.
… A complaint
filed in the Southern District of California on Thursday charges
Vincent Ramos, the founder and CEO of Canada-based Phantom, with
racketeering conspiracy to conduct enterprise affairs, as well as
conspiracy to distribute narcotics, and aiding and abetting.
Authorities arrested Ramos on Thursday, according to the court
docket. Crucially, the complaint alleges that Ramos and Phantom were
not simply incidental to a crime, like Apple might be when a criminal
uses an iPhone, but that the company was specifically created to
facilitate criminal activity.
… In addition to removing the microphone and
camera from BlackBerry devices, Phantom also takes out GPS
navigation, internet browsing, and normal messenger services, the
complaint reads. Phantom then installs Pretty Good Privacy (PGP)
software to send encrypted messages, and routes these messages
through overseas servers, the complaint alleges. The complaint
points to Hong Kong and Panama as countries “believed by PHANTOM
SECURE to be uncooperative with law enforcement.” Phantom can also
remotely wipe devices in the event they are seized by authorities.
… Law enforcement agencies have cracked down
on other encrypted phone companies allegedly catering to organised
crime over the past few years. In 2016, Dutch investigators arrested
the owner of Ennetcom, whose customers allegedly include hitmen,
drug traffickers, and other serious criminals. And then in 2017,
Dutch authorities also
busted PGP Sure, which also allegedly catered to organized crime.
Perspective. If the government says “NO!”
ignore them?
Stealth
startup launches four unauthorized rogue satellites into orbit
The Indian-built
PSLV-C40, which launched in January, had 31
satellites onboard. It carried a lot of cool stuff into orbit,
including the Arkyd-6 satellite which could lead to asteroid mining,
as well as the first commercial satellite for Finland.
It also carried an unauthorized payload: four tiny
satellites from a stealth startup called Swarm
Technologies, which didn’t have permission
from the Federal Communications Commission (FCC). The nearly
undetectable satellites could pose a hazard to the thousands of other
orbiting spacecraft, the agency said.
… Realizing that their tiny satellites would
raise red flags at the agency, the company installed GPS responders
and covered the satellites in radar-reflecting material to make them
easier to track.
The FCC disagreed, however, and rejected Swarm’s
application for its satellite launch in December, citing safety
concerns.
Perspective. For my Data Management Students.
The History
of Digital Content (Infographic)
2.5 quintillion bytes of digital data are created
every day -- that’s equivalent to the storage capacity of 36
million iPads.
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