Archive for the 'Social Engineering' Category
Protests in Iran
February 14th, 2011The U.S. State Department is openly stirring the pot: The US State Department has begun sending Twitter messages to Iranians in Farsi, alluding to the “historic role” social media have played in mass protests against Iran’s 2009 disputed presidential polls. The Twitter feeds in the Iranian language began Sunday as US officials accused Iran of […]
Google Offers Two-Factor Authentication
February 10th, 2011I see this development as a sort of confidence trick, where Google is trying to get people to put more of their eggs into fewer baskets (that Google controls, of course). Two-factor authentication schemes offer strong security against unauthorized account access by miscreants, no doubt about it, but never forget that Google is God on […]
Egypt: Mubarak May Step Down Today
February 10th, 2011Update: Mubarak Refuses to Step Down Al Jazeera Reuters: Unrest in Egypt —End Update— Update: Military Coup Via: CNN: President Hosni Mubarak is expected to announce Thursday night that he is yielding power to the nation’s military, a senior Egyptian government official told CNN. He said the process — which included dialogue between the government […]
Forgive Me iPhone, For I Have Sinned
February 9th, 2011Via: CBS: A new app for devices like the iPhone and iPad aims to take the intimidation factor out of Confession for Catholics — and the Church is giving it the thumbs-up. Forgive Me iPhone, For I Have SinnedYou’ll still have to tell a priest your sins in person, but “Confession: A Roman Catholic App” […]
FCC: Presidential Emergency Alerts to be Tested
February 8th, 2011Via: Federal News Radio: Everybody has heard the national Emergency Alert System (EAS). Those familiar “duck calls” that reassure listeners “THIS is a test…this is ONLY a test…” The FCC is planning an upgrade to the tests by including presidential announcements in the system. Lisa Fowlkes, deputy chief of the Public Safety and Homeland Security […]
Britain: Court Bans Man with Low IQ from Having Sex
February 6th, 2011My default setting is that the state should have nothing to do with what consenting adults do in their bedrooms. In the case below, however, “Alan” has an IQ of 48 and lives in government housing. What should the role of the state be in a situation like this? Via: Telegraph: A man with a […]
Russia to Adopt Universal ID Card in 2012
January 29th, 2011It’s somewhat funny that articles like this mock conspiracy theorists and then go on to report that what some of us have been saying for years is now actually occurring. Via: Singularity Hub: For all those conspiracy theorists out there, 2012 just got a little more ominous. As required by legislation passed this last summer, […]
Syria Further Restricting Internet Use; Preventing Operation of Various Social Networking Applications
January 29th, 2011In Syria, Internet freedom ranges from bad to worse, so this definitely isn’t a surprise. Via: Reuters: Syrian authorities have banned programmes that allow access to Facebook Chat from cellphones, tightening already severe restrictions on the Internet in the wake of the unrest in Tunisia, users said on Wednesday. Nimbuzz and eBuddy, two programmes that […]
The Pathology of Facebook and Twitter
January 23rd, 2011Via: Guardian: The way in which people frantically communicate online via Twitter, Facebook and instant messaging can be seen as a form of modern madness, according to a leading American sociologist. “A behaviour that has become typical may still express the problems that once caused us to see it as pathological,” MIT professor Sherry Turkle […]
FAA Warns of Ongoing GPS Issues in Southeastern U.S. Due to Defense Department ‘Tests’
January 21st, 2011Interestingly (instinctively?), Cryptogon readers have been buying Finding Your Way Without Map or Compass by Harold Gatty for years. This one gets a tick in the Social Engineering box because of how the machine gets people to internalize and rely on whiz bang technology that can then be withdrawn with the flip of a switch. […]
