Careto: Complex Malware Has Been Targeting High Intelligence Value Individuals Since 2007
February 12th, 2014Via: Vice:
A surprisingly sophisticated malware named Careto has been infecting computers globally since at least 2007, a new report from security firm Kaspersky revealed today. While the virus, also known as The Mask, appears to have originated in a Spanish-speaking country—careto, a Spanish slang term for an ugly face, was found in the code—it’s so complex that it’s not clear the average hacker could have built it.
According to Kaspersky’s report, Careto is definitely aimed at power brokers—government and diplomatic targets, private companies (especially in the energy sector), research institutions, private equity firms, and activists—and 380 victims with over 1000 IP addresses in 31 countries have been found so far.
Aside from its targets, the truly notable thing about the virus is how flexible it is. The researchers write that it “includes an extremely sophisticated malware, a rootkit, a bootkit, 32- and 64-bit Windows versions, Mac OS X and Linux versions and possibly versions for Android and iPad/iPhone (Apple iOS).” Once a system is infected, Careto can access network traffic, log keystrokes, record Skype conversations, and hunt around for files—most notably PGP keys.
As you might expect based on the targets, finding sensitive data appears to be Careto’s specialty, “including encryption keys, VPN configurations, SSH keys and RDP files,” the report states. “There are also several extensions being monitored that we have not been able to identify and could be related to custom military/government-level encryption tools.”
More: Kaspersky (.pdf)
That Chemical Subway Ditched? Yep, It’s Everywhere
February 12th, 2014Via: CNBC:
This week, Subway found out customers don’t like eating a chemical found in yoga mats, shoe rubber and synthetic leather.
After one blogger’s petition against azodicarbonamide generated widespread uproar, the sandwich chain announced plans to remove the ingredient from its bread. Currently, its 9-grain wheat, Italian white and sourdough breads contain it.
“We are already in the process of removing azodicarbonamide as part of our bread improvement efforts despite the fact that it is a USDA and FDA approved ingredient. The complete conversion to have this product out of the bread will be done soon,” Subway told CNBC in an email.
…
Although the product is approved for use in the U.S. as a dough conditioner and flour bleaching agent up to a certain limit, Europe and Australia have banned it as a food additive, writes Vani Hari, who drafted the petition and runs the site FoodBabe.com. Hari noted that her site’s traffic has doubled since she began the petition. To date, it’s drawn more than 75,000 signatures.
According to restaurant websites, here is a list of some products that contain it as an ingredient:
McDonald’s: regular bun, bakery style bun, bagel and English muffin, Big Mac bun and sesame seed bun.
Burger King: specialty buns, artisan-style bun, sesame seed bun, croissant, English muffin, home-style Caesar croutons and French toast sticks.
Wendy’s: bagel, premium toasted bun, sandwich bun and panini bread
Arby’s: croissant, French toast sticks, harvest wheat bun, honey wheat bread, marble rye bread, mini bun, onion bread and sesame seed bun
Jack in the Box: bakery style bun, jumbo bun, croissant, grilled sourdough bread and regular bun
Chick-fil-A: chargrilled chicken sandwich, chicken salad sandwich, and chargrilled chicken club sandwich
Retired Lawyer Killed After Package Sent to Home Explodes
February 12th, 2014Via: CNN:
Bewildered residents in rural Tennessee are grappling with fear and confusion as they try to understand why someone would send a bomb in the mail to their neighbor.
Retired lawyer John Setzer, 74, died Monday after “an unknown package exploded,” the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation said.
His wife, 72-year-old Marion Setzer, was seriously injured and airlifted to Vanderbilt University Medical Center.
A barrage of federal, state and local authorities descended on the neighborhood near Lebanon, Tennessee, about 30 miles east of Nashville. The FBI, U.S. postal inspectors, the Department of Homeland Security and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives are also investigating.
So far, they haven’t publicly disclosed a motive. Those who knew the couple well are astonished.
Black Man in Jasper, Texas Found With Cut Throat And Missing Ear—Ruled ‘Accidental Overdose’
February 12th, 2014Via: DailyKos:
Alfred Wright was a 28-year-old physical therapist, a “man of great faith,” and father of three sons. He grew up in Jasper, Texas along with four siblings, and a father who was both the town’s pastor and gym teacher. Friends described him as ambitious, clean-living, hard-working, fun-loving, brilliant and a wonderful father.
He went missing for 18 days. He was found by volunteers and his father, stripped down to his shorts and one sock, with his throat cleanly slit and one ear missing. His front teeth were broken and missing.
The police recorded the cause of death as “accidental drug overdose.”
Case closed, according to Jasper cops.
Research Credit: ottilie
Eerie Parallels: Chart of Dow Jones Industrial Average 1928-1929 vs. Today
February 12th, 2014Queue your Twilight Zone mood music…
Via: CBS:
There are eerie parallels between the stock market’s recent behavior and how it behaved right before the 1929 crash.
That at least is the conclusion reached by a frightening chart that has been making the rounds on Wall Street. The chart superimposes the market’s recent performance on top of a plot of its gyrations in 1928 and 1929.
The picture isn’t pretty. And it’s not as easy as you might think to wriggle out from underneath the bearish significance of this chart.
DARPA’s Experimental Spaceplane XS-1
February 12th, 2014Via: space.com:
The United States military is making progress toward developing a new unmanned space plane, which it aims to begin flight-testing in 2017.
The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) plans to award the first design contracts for the vehicle project — known as Experimental Spaceplane, or XS-1— in May or thereabouts, officials said. Current schedules call for the vessel to get off the ground for the first time in late 2017 and make an orbital test flight the following year.
DARPA has high expectations for the XS-1 program, which it hopes can eventually launch 3,000- to 5,000-lb (1,361 to 2,268 kilograms) payloads to orbit for less than $5 million per flight — and to do it at least 10 times per year.
Woman Added to No-Fly List Because FBI Agent Checked Wrong Boxes on Form
February 11th, 2014Ten years of legal battles later…
Via: Wired:
The government contested a former Stanford University student’s assertion that she was wrongly placed on a no-fly list for seven years in court despite knowing an FBI official put her on the list by mistake because he checked the “wrong boxes” on a form, a federal judge wrote today.
The agent, Kevin Kelley, based in San Jose, misunderstood the directions on the form and “erroneously nominated” Rahinah Ibrahim to the list in 2004, the judge wrote.
“He checked the wrong boxes, filling out the form exactly the opposite way from the instructions on the form,” U.S. District Judge William Alsup wrote (.pdf) today.
The decision makes Ibrahim, 48, the first person to successfully challenge placement on a government watch list.
Much of the federal court trial, in which the woman sought only to clear her name, was conducted in secret after U.S. officials repeatedly invoked the state secrets privilege and sought to have the case dismissed.
Attorneys working pro bono spent as much as $300,000 litigating the case and $3.8 million in attorney’s fees.
The judge issued a brief ruling last month declaring that the Malaysian woman was a victim of a bureaucratic “mistake.”
Foxconn Working With Google on Robotics
February 11th, 2014Via: Wall Street Journal:
People familiar with the matter told The Wall Street Journal that Foxconn has been working with former Android executive Andy Rubin since last year to carry out the U.S. company’s vision for robotics.
To speed up robot deployment at its own factories, Foxconn Chairman Terry Gou met with Rubin in Taipei recently and they discussed new robotic technologies, they said.
At the meeting, Gou expressed excitement over new automation technologies demonstrated by Rubin, they said. Rubin also asked Gou to help integrate a technology company that Google is acquiring as Foxconn’s strength lies in mechanical engineering.
Google set up a new robotics group and acquired eight robotics companies last year, including Boston Dynamics, an engineering company that has designed mobile research robots for the Pentagon. The New York Times first reported Google’s robotics efforts and the acquisitions in December.
The report also said the targets of Google’s new robotics team are in manufacturing — such as electronics assembly, which is now largely manual — and competing with companies like Amazon in retailing.
The cooperation comes as Foxconn has been striving to accelerate automation efforts at its factories amid challenges of rising labor costs and workplace disputes in China, where it has more than a million workers. Foxconn’s chairman has reiterated his ambitions to build factories with robots in recent years as the company seeks to transform itself into a high-tech manufacturer focusing on high-margin, capital-intensive products such as automobile and medical equipment.
Google to Run and Renovate U.S. Government Airfield
February 11th, 2014Via: AP:
The U.S. government has picked a Google subsidiary to run and renovate a federal airfield that is frequently used for the personal flights of the Internet company’s billionaire executives.
The decision announced Monday clears the way for Google’s Planetary Ventures LLC to take over management of the 1,000-acre Moffett Federal Airfield, a former U.S. Navy based 4 miles from Google’s Mountain View, Calif., headquarters. The airfield, which was built in the 1930s, has been managed by NASA’s Ames Research Center for the past 23 years.
Financial terms of the new arrangement still must be worked out among Google, NASA and the General Services Administration.
We Track ‘Em, You Whack ‘Em
February 11th, 2014Via: First Look:
The National Security Agency is using complex analysis of electronic surveillance, rather than human intelligence, as the primary method to locate targets for lethal drone strikes – an unreliable tactic that results in the deaths of innocent or unidentified people.
According to a former drone operator for the military’s Joint Special Operations Command (JSOC) who also worked with the NSA, the agency often identifies targets based on controversial metadata analysis and cell-phone tracking technologies. Rather than confirming a target’s identity with operatives or informants on the ground, the CIA or the U.S. military then orders a strike based on the activity and location of the mobile phone a person is believed to be using.
Related: NSA Can Track Mobile Phones That Are Turned Off
