Archive for the 'Surveillance' Category
Newly Released Snowden Documents Related to New Zealand
March 4th, 2015We know more of the operational names and technical details than in past years, but Hager let the world know this was happening back in 1996: Secret Power. Via: New Zealand Herald: New Zealand is “selling out” its close relations with the Pacific nations to be close with the United States, author Nicky Hager has […]
‘FREAK’ Flaw Undermined Security for Apple and Google Users for Over a Decade
March 3rd, 2015Via: Washington Post: Technology companies are scrambling to fix a major security flaw that for more than a decade left users of Apple and Google devices vulnerable to hacking when they visited millions of supposedly secure Web sites, including Whitehouse.gov, NSA.gov and FBI.gov. The flaw resulted from a former U.S. government policy that forbade the […]
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 […]
Unauthorized Drone Activity Over Paris
February 25th, 2015Via: BBC: Drones have appeared over landmarks in central Paris for the second night running and police are no closer to knowing who is operating them. There were five sightings between 23:00 on Tuesday and 02:00 (01:00 GMT) on Wednesday, French media report. Up to three drones were seen near the Invalides military museum, Place […]
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. […]
U.S. to Begin Widespread Sales of Killer Drones to Allies
February 22nd, 2015Via: Washington Post: The Obama administration will permit the widespread export of armed drones for the first time, a step toward providing allied nations with weapons that have become a cornerstone of U.S. counterterrorism strategy but whose remotely controlled power to kill is intensely controversial. The new policy, announced Tuesday after a long internal review, […]
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 […]
