Privacy

Japanese Air Force One’s Menu List

September 10, 2014 — Leave a comment

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This is embarrassing. This is potentially extremely dangerous. This is a warning. Well, choose which one of these descriptions is the most suitable one for the following. The flight schedule of the Japanese Air Force One has been hacked. You do not have to be a rocket scientist to know what it means.

How about the US Air Force One, for a change? What a nice thing for the terrorist to have. What a strong motivation for the hackers to obtain such data. When it comes to this you are free to name your price. Sky is the limit, literally. Who or what is next? How about the government’s officials?

This is disturbing, at least to say. If you recall, almost one half of the South Korea population was hacked. We mean, the personal data about the dozens of millions of people. But, that is the same thing. Nowadays, you can hack the entire country, just like that. You can offer it in the black market.

Our brave new digital world is definitely a scary place. So, we need some cyber samurais to save the day in Japan as soon as possible. Otherwise, who knows where their Air Force One may land. Maybe, in China or North Korea. There are no untouchables for hackers. This is the lesson we need to learn here.

The Hungry Nude Games

September 10, 2014 — Leave a comment

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Nothing will be the same. We know. We will never be safe. We fear. Yet, there is always something good, which can be found more or less in something bad. It is a sad thing that we needed some nice looking nude bodies to raise our awareness about the ugly truth about IT security.

Do not you just love one of the most famous NSA sayings. It goes something like this. If you do not have nothing to hide, there is nothing to fear about. When we apply this one to our iCloud trouble we get something like this. If you do not take nude photos, you do not have to worry about the unwanted exposure.

Or, do not be a celebrity and make nude photos as much as you like. Our dear celebrities can invest some of their money in top security solutions. Of all people they can certainly afford it. Some cyber bodyguards will be more than welcomed in this situation. We live in the digital world. Right?

Yes, we already have an idea. Celebrity IT Security at your services. Protecting your nakedness with our top cyber watchdogs. We can even make a movie. Hollywood cyber detectives. For us it is funny. For our celebrities it is definitely tragic. Enjoy while it lasts. The photos. You got that one right. Right?

The NSAnet

September 6, 2014 — Leave a comment

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DO you work in some of the government agencies such as the DEA or the FBI? Do you know what is the ICREACH? OK. Time for some explaining. This is one more of the Snowden’s lessons about the NSA. The ICREACH stands for the Intelligence Community Reach. What in the world is that?

Well, let us put it in this way. This is the NSA Internet, or to be even more precise a specific form of a social networks for secret agents. As soon as you access this network you get an immediate overview of literally billions and billions of extremely sensitive data. How convenient it is indeed. Impressed?

Or, stressed? So, the next time you want to experience the full scale privacy breach, use the NSA’s ICREACH. Nevertheless, the things are a little bit serious in this matter. Therefore, we will leave poems for some other occasion. If other agencies can access the NSA forbidden data kingdom, how about hackers?

Although, the NSA has locked the door and made the key copies for the limited number of users, who can guarantee us that there is no skilled locksmith with dishonest intentions on his mind. Someone, for example, who is listening this story first hand from the most famous whistleblower in history. You know who is that, don’t you?

Who Will Guard The Guardians?

September 2, 2014 — Leave a comment

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Here is the story. Here is the trouble. One of the top ranking US government officials in charge of the cyber security is arrested. OK. Can you leave with that? Can you accept this fact? As soon as you hear the very reason, you will definitely make up your mind about this one, that is for sure.

This cyber guardian faces some very serious criminal charges directly associated with the most recent case of child pornography. When you hear something like this, it simply leaves an extremely bitter taste in your mouth. It comes without saying that he was using his skills for something unspeakable.

So, what are we supposed to do? To whom can we really believe? Is it necessary to thoroughly scan all IT security experts at key decision making positions? We are heart broken, at least to say. And, we know what to ask. This case has to serve as an example. All circumstances are to be included.

This guy has to get an extra penalty. One regular for the crime itself, and something in addition, because he was supposed to protect us, and not abuse his position in the unthinkable way. We need IT guardians of impeccable professional and personal ethic. There is no other way to ensure top protection.

Spying On A Spy?

August 30, 2014 — Leave a comment

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So, what do you think about this picture? This a nice looking Greenpeace and a bunch of other similar organizations and activists balloon, which is floating over the NSA’s data facilities in Bluffdale, Utah. Why? Well, to draw our attention with the simple sign: The NSA – Illegal Spying Bellow.

How can they do such a thing? Is it illegal? The NSA can call a couple of fighter jets to blow it away from the sky. Yet, here it flies, making itself to be an outstanding object for making fantastic pictures. Can this one change something or is it going to end up its purpose in annoying the NSA guys?

Well, this is hard to say for certain. The main thing is that we are talking and thinking about what the NSA is doing to and with us. And, hopefully something good will come out of it. So, this can easily turn out to be a balloon of hope. However, we should hold our horses with this one and be realistic.

It takes more than one balloon to teach some discipline the guys in the black suits from the NSA. And yet, there is a strong hope that the public pressure can be strong enough to really turn the tide one day. Until then, we will launch balloons, write letters, make movies, and something new you come up with.

Hackers With The Government’s IDs

August 27, 2014 — Leave a comment

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When the government gets its fingers in the hacking field in most of the cases you end up with the cyber terrorism. Yes, we are not exaggerating and that is the right word for it. When you examine the latest statistical data about the most serious cyber attacks, you simply have no other choice then to jump to certain conclusions.

The absolute majority of all cyber attacks in the northern and western Europe comes from Russia. On the other hand, the USA is the favorite destination for the hackers from China. Are these statistics merely a coincidence or a reflection of our seriously compromised political relationships?

For the certain types of hacker’s attacks a very serious IT infrastructure and flawless organization is an absolute must. Are we supposed to believe that our governments have nothing to do with these, and they are completely unaware of what is going on in the cyberspace? We are not that naive.

The hackers with the government IDs and the state’s blessing are our everyday’s reality, like it or not. We sure hope we will not be lost in the unprecedented hypocrisy where we condemn while stimulating at the same time the same type of cyber crime and attacks.

FinSpy Don’t Cry For IOS

August 24, 2014 — Leave a comment

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The busy little bees from the Gamma Group has come up with an intriguing report. They have used something called the FinSpy to test the malware resistance strength of Android, IOS, BlackBerry, and some older versions of Windows Phone. The results? Well, they are both interesting and controversial.

It seems that the FinSpy was able to do its dirty work on all of these except the IOS. To be honest, even iPhone could not resist the true force of its malware dark side. However, this malware was able to penetrate iPhone’s only when it was in a so-called jailbreak mode. Intriguing enough, isn’t it?

On the other side, we do not want you to get the wrong impression that with an iPhone is nothing to worry about. The SpyFin is the legitimate cyber weapon used by the government agencies. Every iPhone has an open secret backdoor, which is more than enough to keep you restless about your privacy.

Our word of advice is, do not trust to results published by numerous surveys. Do not even trust your own smartphone. As a matter of fact, you should follow the golden NSA rule. If you have nothing to hide, then you have nothing to worry about. It’s really that simple. For your own good, do not be stubborn about this one. Will you?

You Can Hide, But You’ll Be Recognized

August 21, 2014 — Leave a comment

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Do you recall how the updated FBI facial recognition technology was under the tremendous pressure and criticism as being extremely expensive and insufficiently efficient? It was even compared to the one used by Facebook. The most popular social network in the world apparently much bigger database in this matter.

For what is worth, the FBI was able to close the 15 years old case, thanks to this facial recognition technology. One notorious child abuser was caught in Nepal against all odds. This amazing story really makes you think seriously about the potential implications of the latest technologies.

On the other hand, we just got one more confirmation of an old and simple IT security rule. There are no bad technologies or apps, only good or bad people who use them this way or another. This is definitely something worth remembering and repeating as many times as possible.

Just imagine what we could do, if we were to use available apps and technologies for some other things rather than spying and advertising. Would not that be something to wish for? Until then, these kinds of events will be treated as lonely and positive incidents. Unfortunately.

The Whistleblower On A Magazine Cover

August 20, 2014 — Leave a comment

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When you see Edward Snowden how firmly he holds the US flag close to his heart on the latest Wired Magazine cover, then you think or say or feel what exactly? For the US citizens and government this is an obvious case of bitter joke or inappropriate sense of humor. For the rest of us he will be a symbol.

Or, maybe a tragic figure who used a time machine to get to us from the ancient Greece. One thing is more than certain in this case. There are no chances for this one to become a win-win situation for him. We are very likely to witness a loose-and-then-loose-again situation for Edward Snowden.

Was it worth it? All these troubles and all this pain. This is a question only he knows an answer to. We have been awakened from a fake dream of flawless IT security and privacy, and there is no way back. The similar thing happened to Neo in The Matrix. Edward did not even ask us to choose between the red and blue pill.

He made a choice in our name. Eventually, he will also suffer consequences in our name. We will make a movie about him. Create a foundation with an annual reward carrying his name. What is there for him personally? Does he wish for a time machine while he reads the Wired Magazine at the Moscow airport?

The Operation Creative

August 15, 2014 — Leave a comment

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The UK Police’s Intellectual Property Crime Unit or shorter the PIPCU has recently sent more than 100 letters to the owners of illegal websites demanding two things. The first option is to ensure that their sites are fully legit. The second option is to kindly remove their domain from the Web.

We are not quite sure what was the main idea for the busy little police bees when they come up with a name for this operation. It is called the Operation Creative. How appropriate, indeed. The main goal of this action is to challenge the pirate websites. So, what happened with the results?

According to the available information obtained from the Freedom Of Information the TorrentFreak has found out the following. The police in this action has requested that 75 pirate websites face suspension. However, only 5 of them actually accepted this kind of an unpleasant recommendation.

So, what is the moral of this story? Either it is a good thing to run a piracy website or the police has to change something about its approach. Otherwise, there is no much joy and success in sending the warning letters, is it? Or, maybe they should change the name of their operation.