7/14 defcon: murdoch's watergate, military meltdown & more

hacking scandal could be murdoch's watergate*

video: rupert murdoch's son could be prosecuted by US*
video: murdoch papers could have hacked US phones as well*
update: news corp uk newspaper ceo brooks resigns*
washington post website jobs section hacked*
anonymous hacks monsanto computers; posts employee info*
hackers claim they exposed booz allen hamilton data*
'military meltdown monday' - 90k military usernames, hashes released*
how digital detectives deciphered stuxnet, the most menacing malware in history*
stuxnet timeline shows correlation among events*
wi-fi–hacking neighbor from hell sentenced to 18yrs*
smart meters deconstructed*
zuckerberg & google elite hit google+ privacy button*
google turning us into forgetful morons*
cbs faked 4th of july fireworks display*

google+ leading to 'creepy' omnipresence online?

from pcworld: Google+'s creepy integration everwhere may extend your online identity when you surf, and its social Circles can be very useful and flexible. But it remains to be seen how Google's foray into social networking will lead to a stable version of identity online like what Executive Chairman Eric Schmidt talked up at a recent event. After all, the identity you can build on Google+ right now is almost identical to the one you can build on Facebook -- the same profile, pictures and status updates. The main difference right now is the friends you can add to your Circles, due to the problems Google's been having with letting people into the system, which Schmidt cites as Google+'s biggest hiccup. Given all the hatred for Facebook over privacy and security snafus, it seems to me the issue on the Internet is not just lack of identity, but lack of control over your personal persona online. At the recent event, Schmidt shared some of his thoughts on the newly launched Google+. He implied that the Google+ system is designed for building identity -- the real issue of the Internet. As Tech Crunch reports, Schmidt said Google tried to build a system that you could use for relationships over time. "Circles is particularly well-suited to the contact list you have in your phone," he was quoted as saying. Schmidt is right about one thing. We don't need another Facebook, and online social interaction could definitely use more authenticity. Schmidt said more products are planned for Google+. Let's hope they include strong privacy controls and actually useful applications, lest Google+ turns into just another social obligation.

6/23 defcon: strategies, taxes & trident tribunal

executive orders give pentagon new cyberwar guidelines*
officials 'expected to announce the entire strategy soon'*
ex-dhs chief warns of cyberwar with hackers*
cyber attacks grow more severe, frequent, say it practitioners*
bitcoin prices plummet on hacked exchange*
malware bitcoin theft a false flag on revolutionary currency?*
states look to internet taxes to close budget gaps*
righthaven loss: judge rules reposting entire article is fair use*
fbi seizes web servers, knocking sites offline*
$74m scareware ring raided in 'operation trident tribunal'*
winklevoss twins end appeal of facebook settlement*
google breaks billion-visitor barrier*
video: at new nyc hotel, a robot handles the luggage*

one in four US hackers 'is an fbi informer'

from guardian: The underground world of computer hackers has been so thoroughly infiltrated in the US by the FBI and secret service that it is now riddled with paranoia and mistrust, with an estimated one in four hackers secretly informing on their peers, a Guardian investigation has established. Cyber policing units have had such success in forcing online criminals to co-operate with their investigations through the threat of long prison sentences that they have managed to create an army of informants deep inside the hacking community.

In some cases, popular illegal forums used by cyber criminals as marketplaces for stolen identities and credit card numbers have been run by hacker turncoats acting as FBI moles. In others, undercover FBI agents posing as "carders" – hackers specialising in ID theft – have themselves taken over the management of crime forums, using the intelligence gathered to put dozens of people behind bars.

So ubiquitous has the FBI informant network become that Eric Corley, who publishes the hacker quarterly, 2600, has estimated that 25% of hackers in the US may have been recruited by the federal authorities to be their eyes and ears. "Owing to the harsh penalties involved and the relative inexperience with the law that many hackers have, they are rather susceptible to intimidation," Corley told the Guardian.

"It makes for very tense relationships," said John Young, who runs Cryptome, a website depository for secret documents along the lines of WikiLeaks. "There are dozens and dozens of hackers who have been shopped by people they thought they trusted."

related defcon updates:
hackers attack fbi partner website; atlanta infraguard exposed*
pbs website hacked with fake news*
video: did hackers deface fox news building in nyc?*
after cyberattack targeted lockheed martin -
second defense contractor l-3 'actively targeted' with rsa securid hacks*
gmail hack targeted white house*
cyber attacks can count as act of war*
writer urges internet junkies to 'switch off' and think*
video: sony loses $3.2b after playstation network hacked*
hackers attack another sony network, post data*
'world of warcraft' blamed for divorce as men 'prefer them to their wives'*
un report declares internet access a human right*
oregon senator wyden freezes second internet censorship bill*
facebook quietly switches on facial recognition tech by default*
apple patent will cripple devices when in proximity of 'a concert or a classified facility'*
how could so many crooks have managed to scam the national security agency?*

dhs to gain 'autonomy' under obama cybersecurity plan

dhs merges with dod/nsa under obama's cyber threat plan
from kurt nimmo: Obama has proposed legislation that will give the Department of Homeland Security more “autonomy” in its effort to protect civilian computer networks from ostensible cyber attack, according to Information Week. White House officials testified Monday before the Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs about the comprehensive plan presented by the administration two weeks ago to create legislation to protect critical infrastructure and networks. It will merge operations with the Pentagon.

“One key aspect of the plan is to put the DHS’s mission to protect U.S. federal civilian networks on par with the DOD’s mission to protect U.S. military networks, giving the DHS more autonomy to act against cyberthreats on behalf of the government than before,” writes Elizabeth Montalbano for the technology publication.

DHS has also sought to merge the effort with the NSA and various civilian operations.

Last October, the Obama administration adopted new procedures for using the Defense Department’s vast array of cyberwarfare capabilities in case of an attack on vital computer networks inside the United States, “delicately navigating historic rules that restrict military action on American soil,” according to the New York Times.

According to the Times, a team of military networking experts would be assigned to the operations center at the Homeland Security Department. The new approach will begin with a Department of Homeland Security team deploying to Fort Meade, Maryland, home to both the National Security Agency, which specializes in electronic espionage, and the military’s new Cyber Command.

At the time, government officials said the new rules contain “a rapid response to a cyberthreat while balancing concerns that civil liberties might be at risk should the military take over such domestic operations,” in other words the government announced effort to protect against the hyped threat of cyber terrorism would require a sacrifice of liberty.

The DHS plan announced on Monday will give “the DHS – recognizing our similar role to DOD with regard to federal civilian networks – similar authority with regard to personnel so we can bring them on board rapidly,” Philip R. Reitinger, deputy undersecretary for the DHS National Protection and Programs Directorate, told Congress.

The plan also gives DHS “much clearer authority and responsibility to work in a voluntary way” with the private sector, something it already has been doing, Reitinger added.

In 2009, Pentagon spokesman Bryan Whitman sidestepped answering if the Pentagon’s cyber command would be capable of offensive operations as well as protecting the Department of Defense. “This command is going to focus on the protection and operation of DoD’s networks,” he said. “This command is going to do what is necessary to be able to do that.”

In 2006, a Pentagon document entitled the Information Operation Roadmap was released to the public after a Freedom of Information Request by the National Security Archive at George Washington University. It states that the Pentagon has developed a “robust offensive suite of capabilities to include full-range electronic and computer network attack… We Must Fight the Net.”

related updates:
facebook & google join forces to oppose privacy bill*
18 places censored by google maps:
from aberdeen proving grounds in maryland to... north korea*
nsa collects as much data as is stored in the entire library of congress every 6hrs?*
video: nsa whistleblower tom drake talks espionage act, 9/11 & intel with '60 minutes'*

5/12 defcon: secret service, globalhell, expendables

cyberwarfare rules included in defense bill*
white house to unveil cyber security proposal*
US secret service takes to twitter*
after approving nbc buyout, fcc commish becomes comcast lobbyist;
fcc chairman applauds colleague departing to become fcc lobbyist*
obama meets with giffords, husband (and his identical astro-twin) in florida*
giffords aims to return for shuttle launch*
veteran of 90’s cyber gang 'globalhell' charged in swatting conspiracy*
find out if you're a target in biggest US bittorrent lawsuit ever*
comcast says they're not blocking pirate bay -
problem appears to be impacting several isp's*
broadband leads to drug abuse, say US boffins*
under look and key: pc iris scanner security device set to go on the market in months*

updates: google's blogger finally limps back into action after over 20+hrs of downtime (the media monarchy kingdom has recovered, but others are apparently not so lucky...)*
playstation network hack launched from amazon ec2*
dropbox lied to users about data security, complaint to ftc alleges*
netflix: metered broadband a pure cash grab -
company not pulling punches in per byte debate*
mo mercy for gary mckinnon: as obama prepares for uk visit, holder insists US will not bend on extradition*
vigilant guard '11: responders train for cyber attack on madison power grid*
video: california students jam out with musical robots*

leuren moret reveals google shocker!

You need wonder no further whether Orwell's vision came true! Leuren Moret, radiation expert, will drop a brick on your head!On Jeff Rense's program, Moret informs Microsoft, Google, Facebook social networking sites, Ebay, all have roots in military intelligence. Microsoft software insures backdoors into computers. Larry Page and Sergey Brin, Google founders, park their private jet at a NASA facility. Perhaps, most shocking, Moret reveals Google is doing DNA surveys from space! Whew! The Human Genome Project is just one means along with computing, medicine and the police state to establish a totalitarian scientific oligarchy with a depop agenda. If you still aren't convinced, Moret relates depleted uranium particles stick to DNA and mitochondria, which provides the body's energy! Moret credits Bertrand Russell with these ideas of control and believes sterilization is in most people's future,"...wild reproduction is no longer an option," according to Moret's recap of Russell's message! There's still more with human beings as electric transmitters with control integrated into the HAARP system! It's a can't miss program!

as smartphone scandal grows, tech firms run for cover

while they reap windfall profits...
from antifascist calling: Recent revelations that Apple's iPhone and iPad, Google's Android and Microsoft's Windows Phone 7 operating systems collect, store and transmit records of users' physical locations to central databases--secretly, and without consent--have ignited a firestorm over Americans' privacy rights in an age of hypersurveillance.

And with a lawsuit filed last week in U.S. District Court in Florida by two iPhone users, The Register reports, Apple guru Steve Jobs was forced to respond to complaints after the firm's usual tactic--deafening silence--failed to assuage customer's anxieties.

The lawsuit alleges that "irreparable injury has resulted and continues to result from Apple's unauthorized tracking of millions of Americans," plaintiffs Vikram Ajjampur and William Devito averred. They are requesting their case be granted class-action status, a move likely to send shudders along the silicon spine of the secretive Cupertino high-tech powerhouse.

In response to the outcry, The Wall Street Journal reported that Apple "is scaling back how much information its iPhones store about where they have been and said it will stop collecting such data when consumers request it, as the company tries to quell concerns it was tracking iPhone owners."

But as journalists Yukari Iwatani Kane and Jennifer Valentino-Devries point out, "a week of silence on the growing controversy, raised new questions and criticism about its data-handling practices."

related video: assange calls facebook 'most appalling spy machine' ever

google shuttering google video: download now!

from washington post: If you happen to still have anything still up on Google Video that you want to keep, you’d better move quickly. The clock is ticking. After April 29, the site will stop hosting videos; after May 13, the content will be gone forever. The company has added a “Download” button to videos to let people save the content they want from the site. Users are being encouraged to repost their videos to YouTube, which Google bought in 2006.

Google Video has had a long, drawn-out death: the site stopped allowing uploads in 2009, but still hosts millions of videos. When it comes to video, YouTube is clearly Google’s priority. The video site has recently gone on a acquisition tear of its own, gathering companies focused on improving video quality and producing original content. YouTube also launched a live channel to showcase streaming content earlier this month.

The first report about Google’s decision to close the site came from CenterNetworks.
For those who do still have stuff up on Google Video, getting it back seems to be a pretty easy process, according to a letter that went out to Google Video users. Just go to the video’s status page and hit the download button. After you’re done, a message telling you the video’s been downloaded will appear next to the ”Download Video” link.

Archive Team, which describes itself as “loose collectives of rogue archivists, programmers, writers and loudmouths,” is trying to save all of Google Video’s content, particularly the longer videos that just won't fit within YouTube’s 15-minute time limit. The group has been allocated 100TB of space for the videos on archive.org.

Archive Team was also a huge part of the effort to save the content from GeoCities, one of the most popular web-hosting sites from the 90s, which Yahoo closed in 2009. Were you still using Google Video? Or had you forgotten all about it?

4/7 defcon: comets, condé, attacks, accidents

elenin may produce greatest meteor showers in history*
nasa admits all previous warming trends caused by sun?*
google making app that would identify people's faces*
is google online piracy public enemy #1?*
to boost innovation, facebook opens server designs; prineville, oregon data center 38% more energy-efficient & 24% cheaper to build*
epsilon breach a treasure trove for phishing attacks*
studio suing bittorrent pirates does not own the movie, records show*
'anonymous' attacks sony to protest ps3 hacker lawsuit*
condé nast got hooked in $8m spear-phishing scam*
georgian woman cuts off web access to whole of armenia*
'the onion' digitizes archives, area man stoked*

video update: US to use facebook, twitter to issue terror alerts*

3/10 defcon: supermoon, double sun, mirage men

extreme 'supermoon' to take place next week*
mystery of two suns in chinese sky leaves scientists puzzled*
does the sun have jupiter-sized companion star in far reaches of solar system?*
persistent evidence of a jovian mass solar companion in the oort cloud*
'mirage men' book on paranoia, technology, psyops & ufo's*
giffords plans to attend husband's space shuttle launch*
US probes 'anonymous' hacker threat over wikileaks soldier*
manning's father condemns treatment of imprisoned son*
zuckerberg's dog, 'beast', gets facebook page*
google is america's british east india company*
video: new robot has incredibly realistic facial expressions*

google collected part of kids' social security numbers for art contest

from business insider: Google asked parents to enter the last four digits of their children's Social Security Numbers, as well as their city of birth and age, as a condition to enter a Google-sponsored art contest. As movie director Bob Bowdon points out on the Huffington Post, Google could easily have guessed the remainder of the numbers from the other information they collected. This data could be extremely valuable to marketers. Some of the people who tipped Bowdon off about the story sent an email to the FTC on February 17 wondering if it was even legal to solicit kids' Social Security Numbers. The next day, Google updated its consent form, removing the space for the SSNs. There's no evidence that Google actually did anything with the information, but it's certainly a weird set of data to collect for a kids' contest. Google has come under fire several times for having a seemingly cavalier attitude toward privacy, and this doesn't help matters.

2/17 defcon: cyber-coup, backdoor & track more

cyber-attack hits canadian government computers*
report: egypt shut down net with big switch, not phone calls*
voice of america uses social media to aid foreign dissent*
surveillance footage & code clues indicate stuxnet hit iran*
cia head panetta warns of possible cyber-pearl harbor*
lynn urges partnership against cyber threat*
dod talks up plans to deploy cybercommandos 3.0*
video: hillary announces expanded US cyber-coup campaign*
US intelligence officials concerned about cyber attack*
'kill switch' internet bill alarms privacy experts*
cyberwar issues likely to be addressed only after a catastrophe*
fema loses official lesson reports on katrina, floods, fires*
feds seize 18 more domains in piracy crackdown*
fbi to announce significant new wiretap push:
backdoors galore in everything from skype to bittorrent*
online 'do not track' bill introduced in congress*
internet searches beginning to be used as evidence in trials*
obama/holder case against assange dribbles away*
jobs, schmidt & zuckerberg meet with obama in san francisco*
reminder: facebook & google are cia fronts*

2/10 defcon: harsh sentences, trojan horse, hotfile

hackers hit nasdaq computers*
hypnosis by lcd becoming increasingly rampant*
pole shift threatens to cause weather chaos*
child porn prosecutions & harsh sentences rising dramatically*
fcc net neutrality is a regulatory 'trojan horse,' eff says*
motion picture association sues hotfile.com for direct copyright infringement & theft 'on a staggering scale'*
twitter valued at $10b as google, facebook & the social network sharks circle; will they be the latest sellout?*

dhs seizes more domains; this time for linking to copyrighted material

from eric blair: Apparently the Department of Homeland Security is now authorized to rewrite and enforce copyright infringement laws. In a stunning precedent, the recent round of domain seizures to shut down websites that allowed illegal streaming of the Super Bowl, also included a few other websites that were seized simply for linking to infringing content. Mike Masnick of TechDirt, who received and published a DHS seizure affidavit, had this to say in a must-read article:

...the affidavit itself is chock full of legal and technical errors, compounded by assertions-as-facts that seem to have little basis in reality... The biggest problem is that Homeland Security seems to suggest — without a hint of doubt — that merely linking to infringing content is criminal copyright infringement.

Additionally, this type of precedent would seem to massively change the Internet as we know it. What’s next, seizing websites that link to those affiliate sites, like Facebook, Google, or Twitter? Well, that’s the exact question Masnick investigated in his follow-up article, "Homeland Security Tries & Fails To Explain Why Seized Domains Are Different From Google"...

Despite the DHS’s obvious distortion of the law, we are rapidly approaching a day where information can no longer flow freely on the Internet. We better wake up and share these stories with everyone we know, because tyranny is fast approaching. These words written above belong to nobody but the open-source, free Internet. Share and re-post at will.

flashback: govt seizes domains alleged to infringe copyright

1/27 defcon: congress, connections & 'the company'

s3480: 'protecting cyberspace as a national asset act of 2010' - bill to give president right to shutdown net back in congress*
doj seeks to have all web surfing tracked*
mozilla proposes 'do not track' addition to firefox*
google comes under fire for 'secret' relationship with nsa*
apple hires a military grade security chief*
zuckerberg's facebook page hacked*
social networks under attack as tide of cyber-scepticism sweeps US; they don't connect people – they isolate them*
report: US can't link manning to assange*
police arrest five over 'anonymous' wikileaks attacks*
video: tarpley on wikileaks & assange -
limited hangouts in the service of 'the company'?*

update: internet down in egypt ahead of protests*

1/20 defcon: firms, foes & ipo's

goldman sachs won't let americans buy facebook shares*
google's eric schmidt passes ceo reins to larry page*
apple's jobs takes another medical leave,
raising questions about firm's future*
ellsberg: with wikileaks, google & facebook must take a stand*
trapster.com warns 10m users of password theft*
q&a: threat of cyberwar is 'over-hyped'*
dancho danchev, bulgarian security researcher & cybercrime foe, goes missing*

when computers keep watch

computers that see you & keep watch over you
from nytimes: Hundreds of correctional officers from prisons across America descended last spring on a shuttered penitentiary in West Virginia for annual training exercises. Some officers played the role of prisoners, acting like gang members and stirring up trouble, including a mock riot. The latest in prison gear got a workout — body armor, shields, riot helmets, smoke bombs, gas masks. And, at this year’s drill, computers that could see the action. Perched above the prison yard, five cameras tracked the play-acting prisoners, and artificial-intelligence software analyzed the images to recognize faces, gestures and patterns of group behavior... "It was just too sensitive, and we didn’t want to go there," said Eric E. Schmidt, the chief executive of Google. "You want to avoid enabling stalker behavior."

2010: the year the internet went to war

from threat level: It was a year without parallel. Threat Level’s bread-and-butter themes of censorship, hacking, security, privacy, copyright and cyberwar were all represented in tug-of-war struggles with unprecedented outcomes.

Google defeated China’s censors, but caved to corporate censorship in the United States. The largest computer-crime case ever prosecuted ended in the nation’s longest prison term. A small-time Xbox modder who advertised his services online beat the federal rap. And a mysterious computer virus called Stuxnet finally put proof to decades of warnings that malware will eventually be used to kinetic effect in the real world.

A myriad of court decisions seemed to be a boon for online rights, while others clearly were a step backward. The year 2010 saw the rise of the newspaper copyright troll, and judges pushed back on absurd jury verdicts for music file sharing and outdated electronic spying rules.

And a secret-spilling website flirting with insolvency and dissolution suddenly burst onto the world stage. WikiLeaks was without a doubt the biggest 2010 development in Threat Level’s world.

related: cyber-warfare centre coming, germany says

12/2 defcon: fingerprints, arsenic & oxygen

feds warrantlessly tracking credit cards in real time*
google admits street view trespassing, hit with crippling $1 fine*
race is on to 'fingerprint' phones & pc's*
xbox-modding case dismissed mid-trial*
who'll win the battle for control of web?*
most popular yahoo search in 2010 was 'bp oil spill'; first time for a news story*
nasa created buzz with 'e.t.' tease*
nasa finds new arsenic-fed life form*
oxygen detected on saturn's moon rhea*
ufo's welcome in hooper, colorado*