Germany to Start Temporary Border Controls
September 13th, 2015Via: Guardian:
Germany is to reintroduce border controls and will exit temporarily from the Schengen system, the interior minister has said, after the country’s regions said they could no longer cope with the overwhelming number of refugees arriving from Austria.
Thomas de Maizière announced the measures after German officials said that record numbers of refugees, most of them from Syria, had stretched the system to breaking point.
Germany has also stopped all trains entering the country across its southern border with Austria, the principal conduit through which some 450,000 of refugees have arrived in Germany this year.
Honda Gets California Approval for Self-Driving Cars on Roads
September 13th, 2015Via: Reuters:
Honda Motor Co Ltd has received a permit from the state of California to drive its autonomous vehicles on public streets, joining companies ranging from Google Inc to Volkswagen AG in testing the fast-growing technology.
The California Department of Motor Vehicles on its website listed Honda as the most recent of 10 companies that had received the self-driving permits as of Friday.
Other companies already approved include Daimler AG’s Mercedes Benz, Tesla Motors Inc, Nissan Motor Co Ltd and BMW AG.
29% of Americans Could Imagine a Situation in Which They Would Support Military Coup in U.S.
September 13th, 2015Too late. It already happened back in November 1963.
Via: YouGov:
29% of Americans could imagine a situation in which they would support the military seizing control of the federal government, while 41% could not imagine such a situation.
Republicans (43%) are more than twice as likely as Democrats (20%) to say that they could conceive of a situation in which they would support a military coup in the United States. Independents tend to say that they could not (38%) rather than could (29%) imagine supporting a coup.
Cryptogon Readers Send Contributions in September
September 13th, 2015Thank you!
Blacklisted News $25
JR $7.50
SS $25
UR $50
AM $5
Pookie $75
Earnings for July and August
September 13th, 2015Thanks to everyone who helped keep Cryptogon going in July and August.
Earnings for July were $744.82. Earnings for August were $654.07.
It has been a while since we made the monthly goal of $1000, but thank goodness for solar power, which is saving us about NZ$275 per month on average.
July
Amazon $309.12
Amazon UK £7.97
Blacklisted News $25
Guadalajara Geopolitics $25
Pookie $75
JR $7.50
SS $25
DR $20
DS $50
AM $10
BH $25
KL $5
KH $15
RJ $5
DE $10
TG $5
Eileen $45
AD $5
GB AU$100
—
August
Amazon $307.07
Amazon UK £12.64
Blacklisted News $25
Pookie $75
SS $25
JR $7.50
AM $5
Certified Wild $100
RJ $5
DE $10
TG $5
Eileen $45
WK AU$10
AD $5
AM $5
GB $5
‘Australian IS Jihadist’ Is Actually a Jewish American Troll Named Joshua Ryne Goldberg
September 12th, 2015Via: Sydney Morning Herald:
A young Jewish American man has been charged with pretending to be an Australian-based Islamic State jihadist after a FBI joint investigation with the Australian Federal Police based on information provided by Fairfax Media.
Joshua Ryne Goldberg, a 20-year old living at his parents’ house in US state of Florida, is accused of posing online as “Australi Witness,” an IS supporter who publicly called for a series of attacks against individuals and events in western countries.
In recent days Australi Witness has claimed online that he is working with other jihadists to plan attacks in Australia and the United States. He distributed pictures of a bomb that he was working on with “2 lbs of explosives inside”.
Early on Friday, Australian time, Goldberg, who is non-Muslim and has no real-world links with extremism, was arrested at his home by Florida police for “distribution of information relating to explosives, destructive devices, and weapons of mass destruction”.
Online Security Braces for Quantum Revolution
September 11th, 2015Via: Nature:
It is an inevitability that cryptographers dread: the arrival of powerful quantum computers that can break the security of the Internet. Although these devices are thought to be a decade or more away, researchers are adamant that preparations must begin now.
Computer-security specialists are meeting in Germany this week to discuss quantum-resistant replacements for today’s cryptographic systems — the protocols used to scramble and protect private information as it traverses the web and other digital networks. Although today’s hackers can, and often do, steal private information by guessing passwords, impersonating authorized users or installing malicious software on computer networks, existing computers are unable to crack standard forms of encryption used to send sensitive data over the Internet.
But on the day that the first large quantum computer comes online, some widespread and crucial encryption methods will be rendered obsolete. Quantum computers exploit laws that govern subatomic particles, so they could easily defeat existing encryption methods.
…
Intelligence agencies have also taken notice. On 11 August, the US National Security Agency (NSA) revealed its intention to transition to quantum-resistant protocols when it released security recommendations to its vendors and clients. And in a memo posted on its website earlier this year, the Dutch General Intelligence and Security Service singled out a looming threat that adds even more urgency to the need for quantum-safe encryption. In a scenario it calls ‘intercept now, decrypt later’, a nefarious attacker could start intercepting and storing financial transactions, personal e-mails and other sensitive encrypted traffic and then unscramble it all once a quantum computer becomes available. “I wouldn’t be at all surprised if people are doing that,” says Jordan.
Britain: “An Oh-So-Civilised Mafia State”
September 11th, 2015Via: Guardian:
To an extent unknown since before the first world war, economic relations in this country are becoming set in stone. It is not just that the very rich no longer fall while the very poor no longer rise. It’s that the system itself is protected from risk. Through bailouts, quantitative easing and delays in interest-rate rises, speculative investment has been so well cushioned that – as the Guardian economics editor, Larry Elliott, puts it – financial markets are “one of the last bastions of socialism left on Earth”.
Microsoft Pushing Windows 10 Install Packages to Windows 7 and 8 Systems Without Asking Users
September 11th, 2015Via: Ars Technica:
You might be in the process of acquiring Windows 10—whether you want the free upgrade or not. Microsoft has confirmed that it is “helping upgradable devices get ready for Windows 10 by downloading the files they need” in the event that owners decide to migrate to the new OS, even if they have heretofore passed up on “reserving” their free upgrade from Windows 7 or 8.
The issue seems to revolve around the Microsoft update KB3035583, and as such it appears to only afflict individuals who have chosen to receive automatic updates. As far as we can tell, if you have automatic updates turned off, Windows 10 won’t be pre-loaded onto your PC.
According to The Inquirer, the situation was first reported by an anonymous reader who claimed to have discovered a hidden directory called $Windows.~BT on his computer, despite not opting in for a free upgrade to Windows 10. The directory weighed in at “3.5GB to 6GB,” according to the reader.
Lockpickers 3-D Print TSA Master Luggage Keys From Leaked Photos
September 10th, 2015Via: Wired:
The TSA is learning a basic lesson of physical security in the age of 3-D printing: If you have sensitive keys—say, a set of master keys that can open locks you’ve asked millions of Americans to use—don’t post pictures of them on the Internet.
A group of lock-picking and security enthusiasts drove that lesson home Wednesday by publishing a set of CAD files to Github that anyone can use to 3-D print a precisely measured set of the TSA’s master keys for its “approved” locks—the ones the agency can open with its own keys during airport inspections. Within hours, at least one 3-D printer owner had already downloaded the files, printed one of the master keys, and published a video proving that it opened his TSA-approved luggage lock.
Those photos first began making the rounds online last month, after the Washington Post unwittingly published (and then quickly deleted) a photo of the master keys in an article about the “secret life” of baggage in the hands of the TSA. It was too late. Now those photos have been used to derive exact cuts of the master keys so that anyone can reproduce them in minutes with a 3-D printer or a computer-controlled milling machine.
