Archive for the 'Covert Operations' Category
CIA Pays AT&T $10 Million Per Year for Access to Call Data
November 8th, 2013Via: New York Times: The C.I.A. is paying AT&T more than $10 million a year to assist with overseas counterterrorism investigations by exploiting the company’s vast database of phone records, which includes Americans’ international calls, according to government officials. The cooperation is conducted under a voluntary contract, not under subpoenas or court orders compelling the […]
Snowden Pulled Off NSA Document Heist—Using Oldest Trick in the Book?
November 8th, 2013Two-step verification? Via: Reuters: Former U.S. National Security Agency contractor Edward Snowden used login credentials and passwords provided unwittingly by colleagues at a spy base in Hawaii to access some of the classified material he leaked to the media, sources said. A handful of agency employees who gave their login details to Snowden were identified, […]
iPads Banned from Cabinet Meetings Over Surveillance Fears
November 6th, 2013Oh yeah, China, Russia, Iran and Pakistan. *wink* In other news: NSA Can Access Data on All Smartphones Via: Telegraph: The securities services fear foreign intelligence agencies have developed the ability to turn mobile devices such as phones and tablets into bugs without the owner’s knowledge, allowing them to eavesdrop on confidential meetings. iPads were […]
Son of Blackbird: SR-72, Mach 6 Reconnaissance and Strike Drone
November 2nd, 2013I wonder if everyone in the U.S. will be on food stamps by the time this thing takes to the air: Food banks across the country, stretched thin in the aftermath of the recession, are bracing for more people coming through their doors in the wake of cuts to the federal food stamp program. Food […]
The One About BadBIOS
November 1st, 2013I’d make sure to consider skeptical views on this BadBIOS story: Either it is an extremely limited piece of BIOS malware or it is occurring at the OS and escaping detection through previously unknown methods. Half the claims made regarding what it does (disabling registry editing, etc.) are so far from reasonable and possible with […]
Slow and Steady Progress Toward Lethal Autonomous Robots
October 31st, 2013This piece is a good summary of what’s happening in the field of military robotics. I’m pretty sure that all of the systems here have been covered separately on Cryptogon. Via: Vocativ: There are important differences between drones, landmines, and “killer robots” — the more serious term being “fully autonomous weapon,” or “lethal autonomous weapon” […]
SSL Added and Removed Here! :)
October 30th, 2013And if they rely on SSL, well, that’s ok for buying a book online, but no tinfoiler in his right mind would bet his life on SSL. —The Ugly Truth About Online Anonymity What’s the difference between Paranoid Conspiracy Theorist and I told You So? About six years. Via: Washington Post: The National Security Agency […]
Savile’s Convicted Pedophile BBC Driver Found Dead on Day of Trial for Sex Crimes
October 29th, 2013Via: Daily Mail: A former BBC driver found dead in an apparent suicide ahead of his child sex abuse trial has ‘cheated’ his victim of justice, a leading lawyer has today said. The body of David Smith, 67, chauffeur to disgraced DJ Jimmy Savile and other celebrities during the 1980s, was found at his south-east […]
NSA Intercepts Millions of Telephone Calls… In France
October 21st, 2013Via: AFP: France and Mexico have angrily demanded prompt explanations from the United States following “shocking” new spying allegations leaked by former US security contractor Edward Snowden. The reports published in French daily Le Monde and German weekly Der Spiegel reveal that the US National Security Agency secretly monitored tens of millions of phone calls […]
Bitcoin As a Law Enforcement/Natsec Honeypot?
October 16th, 2013Via: Easy Questions Are Boring: Paranoia appears to be the order of the day, given what we know about the NSA and GCHQ thanks to Edward Snowden. Absent from the stories so far is any mention of Bitcoin. I find this odd – Bitcoin is the most cypherpunky of all crypto technologies, after all. I […]
