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Posts Tagged ‘security’

State photo-ID databases become troves for police

Posted in criminal justice system, government, military, tagged , , , , , , , on June 17, 2013 | 1 Comment »


State photo-ID databases become troves for police

–The most widely used systems were honed on the battlefields of Afghanistan and Iraq as soldiers sought to identify insurgents. 16 Jun 2013 The faces of more than 120 million people are in searchable photo databases that state officials assembled to prevent driver’s-license fraud but that increasingly are used by police to identify suspects, accomplices and even innocent bystanders in a wide range of criminal investigations. The facial databases have grown rapidly in recent years and generally operate with few legal safeguards beyond the requirement that searches are conducted for “law enforcement purposes.” Amid rising concern about the National Security Agency’s high-tech surveillance aimed at foreigners, it is these state-level facial-recognition programs that more typically involve American citizens.

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Ft. Knox on heightened security alert following fatal shooting –

Posted in criminal justice system, economics, tagged , , , , , , , on April 4, 2013 | Leave a Comment »


Ft. Knox on heightened security alert following fatal shooting –

The post was placed on a full 100 percent lockdown at 5:50 p.m., but is currently under a heightened security alert. 03 Apr 2013 Fort Knox is on a heightened security alert following a fatal shooting on post. According to Fort Knox PAO Kyle Hodges, Fort Knox police were alerted to a shooting in the parking lot outside of the Human Resource Command headquarters at 5:40 p.m. Wednesday. A press release from Hodges confirmed the victim was an Army civilian employee of the United States Army Human Resources Command. “Special Agents from the U.S. Army Criminal Investigation Command are investigating a personal incident and not a random act of violence,” said Chris Grey, spokesperson for the independent Army investigative agency.

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Google experimenting with USB ‘keys’ to access accounts in bid to kill off passwords

Posted in technology, tagged , , , , , , , on January 20, 2013 | 2 Comments »


USB flash drive

USB flash drive (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Since passwords have become an increasing problem for many, Google could be set to replace them entirely and is experimenting with USB keys, mobile phones and even jewellery that can act as a physical “key” to give users access to their account.

The search giant’s security bosses are set to publish their findings next month and say they could soon be commonplace

The Yubikey, which is believed to have been tested by Google, can automatically log users onto all their accounts without ever asking for a password by placing it into a Google laptop.

The tiny key can be used in any machine with a USB drive, and acts as a physical “key” to unlock the user’s account.

It can automatically log users in to all of their accounts, and even into their favourite websites, without ever asking for a password.

MORE HERE

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Facebook blocks Press TV advertisements

Posted in media, technology, tagged , , , , , , , on September 26, 2012 | Leave a Comment »


Facebook has blocked Press TV’s advertisements on the social networking website, saying that the Iranian news network is located in a region which is “not eligible to use this feature.”

Facebook’s risk management department informed Press TV in an email that the social networking website’s security systems had shut down the payments functionality on Press TV’s account.

Press TV has more than 140,000 Facebook fans and its alternative channel has had one of the fastest-growing Facebook accounts in recent years, which is the result of the rapid rise in the number of Press TV viewers.

The Iranian channel argues that Facebook’s decision to block Press TV’s advertisements contradicts the social networking site’s claims that it provides a platform for free speech.

Facebook disabled the account of Iran’s Press TV in July due to what they called technical problems. The account was reactivated after three days.

more here

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Thoughtcrime is Real

Posted in criminal justice system, law, tagged , , , , , , , , on August 6, 2012 | Leave a Comment »


I am careful what I say on Twitter especially, and the internet in general.

The sad reality is that the internet is not the place for expressing views that you do not want the wider public — including law enforcement and intelligence agencies — to know you hold.

We already know that the National Security Agency will soon capture all communications — phone calls, search histories, web history, e-mails, passwords, etc — in their Utah data centre.

In Britain, a dangerous precedent is being set.

CONTINUED HERE

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Yahoo Password Breach Is Worse Than Originally Thought

Posted in technology, tagged , , , , , , , on July 16, 2012 | Leave a Comment »


We brought you news this morning that Yahoo Voices was hacked and over 450,000 usernames and passwords were leaked onto the Internet. The initial report stated that most of passwords came from Yahoo or Gmail email addresses. After analyzing the dump, a security company have found it to be worse than initially thought.

Security company Rapid7 provided a break down of all the email addresses that were part of the Yahoo breach. Here’s the full list with the number of addresses for each service:

CONTINUED HERE

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Researcher: CIA, NSA may have infiltrated Microsoft to write malware

Posted in government, law, technology, tagged , , , , , , , on July 10, 2012 | Leave a Comment »


English: M in blue square (similar to seen on )

English: M in blue square (similar to seen on ) (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

A leading security researcher has suggested Microsoft’s core Windows and application development programming teams have been infiltrated by covert programmer/operatives from U.S. intelligence agencies.

If it were true it would be another exciting twist to the stories of international espionage, sabotage and murder that surround Stuxnet, Duqu and Flame, the most successful cyberwar weapons deployed so far, with the possible exception of Windows itself.

Nevertheless, according to Mikko Hypponen, chief research officer of antivirus and security software vendor F-Secure, the scenario that would make it simplest for programmers employed by U.S. intelligence agencies to create the Stuxnet, Duqu and Flame viruses and compromise Microsoft protocols to the extent they could disguise downloads to Flame as patches through Windows Update is that Microsoft has been infiltrated by members of the U.S. intelligence community.

CONTINUED HERE

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Nuclear Plants Raise Alerts in Sweden

Posted in government, science, tagged , , , , , , , on June 22, 2012 | Leave a Comment »


21 Jun 2012 Sweden’s three nuclear-power plants raised their security-alert level Thursday, a day after explosives were found on a forklift truck at the Ringhals nuclear-power plant. Suspicious material about the size of a fist was found by personnel carrying out normal security checks with a sniffer dog, and police sent a sample of the material by helicopter to a crime laboratory, which confirmed that it was explosive. Police are investigating the case as suspected sabotage, said Ingmar Nilja, a spokesman for the police in the district of Halland, adding that he has no information as to whether the plant’s nuclear reactors were targeted.

LINK: Nuclear Plants Raise Alerts in Sweden

 

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Why Antivirus Companies Like Mine Failed to Catch Flame and Stuxnet

Posted in technology, tagged , , , , , , , on June 18, 2012 | Leave a Comment »


English: A candidate icon for Portal:Computer ...

English: A candidate icon for Portal:Computer security (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

A couple of days ago, I received an e-mail from Iran. It was sent by an analyst from the Iranian Computer Emergency Response Team, and it was informing me about a piece of malware their team had found infecting a variety of Iranian computers. This turned out to be Flame: the malware that has now been front-page news worldwide.

When we went digging through our archive for related samples of malware, we were surprised to find that we already had samples of Flame, dating back to 2010 and 2011, that we were unaware we possessed. They had come through automated reporting mechanisms, but had never been flagged by the system as something we should examine closely. Researchers at other antivirus firms have found evidence that they received samples of the malware even earlier than this, indicating that the malware was older than 2010.

CONTINUED HERE

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Cashless Society: India Implements First Biometric ID Program for All of Its 1.2 Billion Residents

Posted in economics, government, law, tagged , , , , , , , on January 13, 2012 | Leave a Comment »


‘Over the past few months, I have written several articles dealing with the coming cashless society and the developing technological control grid. I also have written about the surge of government attempts to gain access to and force the use of biometric data for the purposes of identification, tracking, tracing, and surveillance.

Unfortunately, the reactions I receive from the general public are almost always the same. While some recognize the danger, most simply deny that governments have the capability or even the desire to create a system in which the population is constantly monitored by virtue of their most private and even biological information. Others, either gripped by apathy or ignorance, cannot believe that the gadgets given to them from the massive tech corporations are designed for anything other than their entertainment and enjoyment.

However, current events in India should serve not just as a warning, but also as a foreshadowing of the events to come in the Western world, specifically the United States.’

Read more: Cashless Society: India Implements First Biometric ID Program for All of Its 1.2 Billion Residents

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US: Atlanta Increases Surveillance of City

Posted in criminal justice system, government, law, technology, tagged , , , , , , , on September 22, 2011 | Leave a Comment »


A closed-circuit television camera in a tree, ...

Image via Wikipedia

Plans to put Atlanta’s public spaces under camera surveillance will move forward this week with the opening of a state-of-the-art video monitoring center.

Whether it’s good that Atlanta is joining other big cities in the video surveillance race depends on your comfort level with being watched more often by police.

CONTINUED HERE

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9/11: A Hot Case in an Igloo

Posted in 9-11, government, history, law, media, science, tagged , , , , , , , on August 16, 2011 | Leave a Comment »


The Anatomy of a Still-Open Hot Case

 

iglooA cold case is any criminal investigation by a law enforcement agency that has not been solved, and has been closed from further regular investigation. First, before anything else, and certainly before becoming a ‘cold case,’ a case must be ‘investigated.’ By investigated I mean a real investigation involving real investigative techniques and an investigative process performed by real investigators. If after real investigations by real investigators the case remains unsolved, then the case can be justifiably put aside as a cold case.

 

On the other hand, by this very same definition, a criminal ‘hot case’ that has not gone through a proper investigation by real investigators remains a ‘hot case.’ Whether that hot case is shoved into a cold case file or not does not make it technically a ‘coldcase.’ The never-investigated mass murder on September 11, 2001, a case never assigned to real and independent investigators, with many witnesses never-interviewed, with many suspects never-pursued, with many questions left unanswered, and with many leads never-followed, remains a ‘hot case.’ The self-serving classifications and redactions, the many cover ups, and the burial of the case and related files in government-created massive igloos, do not make 9/11 a cold case.

CONTINUED HERE

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Facebook Quietly Switches on Facial Recognition Tech by Default

Posted in government, law, technology, tagged , , , , , , , on June 8, 2011 | Leave a Comment »


‘Facebook has rolled out its facial recognition technology to countries outside of the US, but has switched the feature on by default without telling its users first.

UK-based security expert Graham Cluely noted earlier today that Facebook had slotted the tech into the social network.

The Mark Zuckerberg-run company started using its facial recognition software in December last year for its Stateside users in a move to automatically provide tags for the photos uploaded by Facebook users.’

Read more: Facebook Quietly Switches on Facial Recognition Tech by Default

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Millions of card details at risk after PlayStation security lapse

Posted in law, media, technology, tagged , , , , , , , on April 27, 2011 | Leave a Comment »


Playstation Network

Sony has warned about 70 million users of its PlayStation consoles that it believes their personal details have been stolen by a hacker who forced the company to shut down its global gaming network last week.

The Japanese firm made the admission last night – six days after the attack forced it to close down the PlayStation Network, which allows gamers to play online against each other. The breach, which is thought to have compromised passwords, billing and email addresses as well as other personal data, has prompted fears that many young people could be particularly vulnerable.

CONTINUED HERE

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TSA security looks at people who complain about… TSA security

Posted in government, law, military, tagged , , , , , , , on April 18, 2011 | 1 Comment »


X-ray machines and metal detectors are used to...

Image via Wikipedia

15 Apr 2011 Arrogant complaining about airport security is one indicator Transportation Security Administration officers consider when looking for possible criminals and terrorists, CNN has learned exclusively. And, when combined with other behavioral indicators, it could result in a traveler facing additional scrutiny. CNN has obtained a list of roughly 70 “behavioral indicators” that TSA behavior detection officers use to identify potentially “high risk” passengers at the nation’s airports.

LINK: TSA security looks at people who complain about… TSA security

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