Archive for the 'Covert Operations' Category
DROPOUTJEEP: How NSA Owns iPhones
December 30th, 2013It looks like they implemented Back Orifice for iOS. Anyway, *yawn*. So now we know the name of the tool. The first reference that I can find on Cryptogon for a U.S. government agency having this capability is: FBI Uses Mobile Phones for Audio Surveillance – Even When Phones Are Off. That’s from 2006. Via: […]
State Department Whistleblower Has Email Hacked, Deleted
December 30th, 2013Gmail? Really? Via: New York Post: The personal e-mail account of a State Department whistleblower was hacked, and four years worth of messages — some detailing alleged wrongdoing at the agency — were deleted, The Post has learned. The computer attack targeted the Gmail account of Diplomatic Security Service criminal investigator Richard Higbie, his lawyer, […]
NSA: Office of Tailored Access Operations
December 29th, 2013I always thought that this was called Special Collection Service. Maybe this TAO thing is Double Plus Special. Via: Spiegel: The NSA’s TAO hacking unit is considered to be the intelligence agency’s top secret weapon. It maintains its own covert network, infiltrates computers around the world and even intercepts shipping deliveries to plant back doors […]
Pentagon Spending Billions of Dollars on Accounting Boondoggles; Yes, Trillions Still Missing
December 23rd, 2013Black hole. Via: Reuters: With its efforts to build reliable accounting systems in disarray, the Pentagon isn’t likely to meet a congressionally mandated 2017 deadline to be audit-ready. All other federal agencies are audited annually, in accordance with a 1990 law, and with rare exceptions, they pass every year. The Pentagon alone has never been […]
Outrageous HSBC Settlement Proves the Drug War is a Joke
December 23rd, 2013Via: Rolling Stone: If you’ve ever been arrested on a drug charge, if you’ve ever spent even a day in jail for having a stem of marijuana in your pocket or “drug paraphernalia” in your gym bag, Assistant Attorney General and longtime Bill Clinton pal Lanny Breuer has a message for you: Bite me. Breuer […]
NSA Had Secret Contract with RSA
December 21st, 2013Via: Reuters: As a key part of a campaign to embed encryption software that it could crack into widely used computer products, the U.S. National Security Agency arranged a secret $10 million contract with RSA, one of the most influential firms in the computer security industry, Reuters has learned. Documents leaked by former NSA contractor […]
Saab Wins Brazil Jet Deal After NSA Spying Sours Boeing Bid
December 18th, 2013Via: Reuters: Brazil awarded a $4.5 billion contract to Saab AB on Wednesday to replace its aging fleet of fighter jets, a surprise coup for the Swedish company after news of U.S. spying on Brazilians helped derail Boeing’s chances for the deal. The contract, negotiated over the course of three presidencies, will supply Brazil’s air […]
The 6,000-Page Report on CIA Torture Has Now Been Suppressed for 1 Year
December 16th, 2013Via: The Atlantic: It cost $40 million to produce, documents serious wrongdoing, and doesn’t threaten national security. Team Obama won’t release it.
The Soviet Union’s $1 Billion ‘Psychotronic’ Arms Race with the U.S.
December 16th, 2013Via: Medium: During the Cold War, the US and the Soviet Union battled on many fronts to demonstrate their superior technical and scientific achievements. Some of these battles are well known and well documented, such as the race to put a human in space and then on the Moon. Others are much less well known. […]
IBM Sued for Cooperating with NSA Spy Program
December 16th, 2013IBM knows a thing or two about colluding with fascists: IBM and the Holocaust: The Strategic Alliance Between Nazi Germany and America’s Most Powerful Corporation by Edwin Black Via: Reuters: IBM Corp has been sued by a shareholder who accused it of concealing how its ties to what became a major U.S. spying scandal reduced […]
