Archive for the 'Covert Operations' Category
Are Your Devices Hardwired For Betrayal?
March 2nd, 2015Via: EFF: How Do We Fix It? Hardware manufacturers must take steps to address this problem before more firmware disasters comes to pass. In the past, hardware manufacturers have been more worried about physical and side-channel attacks. Manufacturers therefore focused mainly on making their hardware and firmware opaque and tamper-proof in hopes that, if no […]
Russian Opposition Politician Boris Nemtsov Shot Dead in Moscow
February 27th, 2015Putin will “personally” investigate. Via: Guardian: Prominent Russian opposition politician Boris Nemtsov has been shot dead in Moscow. Nemtsov, a former deputy prime minister and a sharp critic of the Russian president, Vladimir Putin, was reportedly shot four times in the chest by a killer in a passing car. The killing took place in the […]
‘Jihadi John’ from West London
February 26th, 2015Via: Reuters: The “Jihadi John” killer who has featured in several Islamic State beheading videos is Mohammed Emwazi, a Briton from a middle class family who grew up in London and graduated from college with a degree in computer programming, the Washington Post newspaper said.
Komodia’s Founder, “Was Once a Programmer in Israel’s IDF’s Intelligence Core”
February 24th, 2015It’s for the children. Via: Forbes: In a brief email conversation with Barak Weichselbaum, Komodia’s founder who was once a programmer in Israel’s IDF’s Intelligence Core, he said the company was not hiding behind DDoS claims and that the attack was real. … Why is Komodia now getting so much attention anyway? Because its hugely […]
Plea Deals Rather Than Talking About StingRay
February 23rd, 2015Via: Washington Post: McKenzie’s case is emblematic of the growing, but hidden, use by local law enforcement of a sophisticated surveillance technology borrowed from the national security world. It shows how a gag order imposed by the FBI — on grounds that discussing the device’s operation would compromise its effectiveness — has left judges, the […]
Why Does Apple Include Government Certificate Authorities on the Mac?
February 23rd, 2015Via: Zit Seng’s Blog: The Certificate Authorities are usually trustworthy. Usually. Except, when you look into the list Certificate Authorities trusted by the Mac. There are the usual big name Certificate Authorities like Verisign, GeoTrust, Symantec and Thawte. But how about these ones: Subject: C=US, O=U.S. Government, OU=FPKI, CN=Federal Common Policy CA Subject: C=US, O=U.S. […]
The Great SIM Heist
February 19th, 2015Via: First Look: AMERICAN AND BRITISH spies hacked into the internal computer network of the largest manufacturer of SIM cards in the world, stealing encryption keys used to protect the privacy of cellphone communications across the globe, according to top-secret documents provided to The Intercept by National Security Agency whistleblower Edward Snowden. The hack was […]
“The Equation Group”: NSA Has Been Able to Exploit Most Hard Drive Firmware for Years, Wiping Drives Does Nothing
February 17th, 2015Via: Kaspersky (.pdf): 10. What is the most sophisticated thing about the EQUATION group? Although the implementation of their malware systems is incredibly complex, surpassing even Regin in sophistication, there is one aspect of the EQUATION group’s attack technologies that exceeds anything we have ever seen before. This is the ability to infect the hard […]
Judge Rules for NSA in Warrantless Search Case
February 11th, 2015Via: Reuters: A U.S. judge on Tuesday ruled in favor of the National Security Agency in a lawsuit challenging the interception of Internet communications without a warrant, according to a court filing. U.S. District Judge Jeffrey White in Oakland, California wrote the plaintiffs failed to establish legal standing to pursue a claim that the government […]
Litvinenko Post-Mortem: “The Most Dangerous Ever Undertaken in the Western World”
January 28th, 2015Via: BBC: The post-mortem examination of poisoned Russian dissident Alexander Litvinenko was probably “the most dangerous ever undertaken in the Western world”, a pathologist has said. Dr Nathaniel Cary told the inquiry into Mr Litvinenko’s death that his body was “very hazardous” and had to be transferred to a secure site for tests. Mr Litvinenko […]
