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Posts Tagged security
Obama Administration Sued By ACLU Over NSA Spying
From New York Times:
The lawsuit could set up an eventual Supreme Court test. It could also focus attention on this disclosure amid the larger heap of top secret surveillance matters revealed by Edward J. Snowden, the former N.S.A. contractor who came forward Sunday to say he was their source.
Keeping The NSA Out of Your Life
The Washington Post has a list of some things you can do to increase your security and make it harder for the government to keep tabs on you.
If recentreports are to be believed, the National Security Agency has broad powers to capture private information about Americans. They know who we’re calling, they have access to our Gmail messages and AOL Instant Messenger chats, and it’s a safe bet that they have other interception capabilities that haven’t been publicly disclosed. Indeed, most mainstream communications technologies are vulnerable to government eavesdropping.
Here is an explanation of TOR, software that allows anonymous browsing on the internet:
Homeland Security Harassing Civil Pilots
Posted by Brian in News, Threat Watch on 31/May/2013 08:10
The Atlantic reports on the two accounts of Gabriel Silverstein and Larry Gaines:
The whole episode lasted about 2 hours. Â While the officers who questioned me were not overtly or personally threatening, the situation was intimidating and threatening. Â I was never told details of the “profile”, so I don’t know how to prevent this from happening again, aside from talking to federal employees at all times while flying. Â I am concerned that DEA and DHS now have files on me. Â This distresses me GREATLY. Â I am equally concerned that my plane’s tail number is now suspicious in the eyes of law enforcement.
Every day thousands of illegal immigrants flood over the border and Muslim terrorists plot bombings in Boston, but the DHS and Border Patrol have to harass civilian pilots. It is amazing how far the government will go, to not actually do their job.
Anonymity Impossible?
Posted by Brian in Law, News, Threat Watch on 16/May/2013 08:00
MIT asks the question in an article about how much information individuals create about themselves.
Much of this data is invisible to people and seems impersonal. But it’s not. What modern data science is finding is that nearly any type of data can be used, much like a fingerprint, to identify the person who created it: your choice of movies on Netflix, the location signals emitted by your cell phone, even your pattern of walking as recorded by a surveillance camera. In effect, the more data there is, the less any of it can be said to be private, since the richness of that data makes pinpointing people “algorithmically possible,†says Princeton University computer scientist Arvind Narayanan.
Gun Locks Are Worthless
This video is from DEFCON a conference about technology and security. In this particular video the speaker demonstrates how most gun locks and safes are worthless. WARNING this video has foul language.
Technology vs Security
Posted by Brian in Opinion, Threat Watch on 19/Mar/2013 08:22
From Wired:
Because the damage attackers can cause becomes greater as technology becomes more powerful. Guns become more harmful, explosions become bigger, malware becomes more pernicious … and so on. A single attacker, or small group of attackers, can cause more destruction than ever before.
As the destructive power of individual actors and fringe groups increases, so do the calls for — and society’s acceptance of — increased security.
Fire: The Overlooked Threat
Posted by Brian in Opinion, Threat Watch on 5/Mar/2013 08:30
“Fire: The Overlooked Threat is republished with permission of Stratfor.”
By Scott Stewart
Vice President of Analysis
People sometimes obsess over the potential threat posed by terrorist attacks that use things such as chemical weapons, electromagnetic pulses or dirty bombs. Yet they tend to discount the less exciting but very real threat posed by fire, even though fire kills thousands of people every year. The World Health Organization estimates that 195,000 people die each year from fire, while according to the Global Terrorism Database an average of 7,258 people die annually from terrorism, and that includes deaths in conflict zones such as Afghanistan and Iraq.
There are also instances in which fire is used as a weapon in a terrorist attack. U.S. Ambassador Christopher Stevens and embassy communications officer Sean Smith, the two diplomats killed in the attack on the U.S. office in Benghazi on Sept. 11, 2012, did not die from gunfire or even rocket-propelled grenade strikes but from smoke inhalation. This fact was not lost on the U.S. Department of State Accountability Review Board that investigated the Benghazi attack. In an interview published by Reuters on Feb. 24, former Ambassador Thomas Pickering, the head of the Accountability Review Board, said more attention should be paid to the threat fire poses to diplomatic posts.  Read the rest of this entry »
Soft Targets Back in Focus
Posted by Brian in News, Threat Watch on 18/Feb/2013 08:08
“Soft Targets Back in Focus is republished with permission of Stratfor.”
By Scott Stewart
Vice President of Analysis
From time to time, I will sit down to write a series of analyses on a particular topic, such as the fundamentals of terrorism series last February. Other times, unrelated events in different parts of the world are tied together by analytical threads, naturally becoming a series. This is what has happened with the last three weekly security analyses — a common analytical narrative has risen to connect them.
First, we discussed how the Jan. 16 attack against the Tigantourine natural gas facility near Ain Amenas, Algeria, would result in increased security at energy facilities in the region. Second, we discussed foreign interventions in Libya and Syria and how they have regional or even global consequences that can persist for years. Finally, last week we discussed how the robust, layered security at the U.S. Embassy in Ankara served to thwart a suicide bombing.
Together, these topics spotlight the heightened and persistent terrorist threat in North Africa as well as Turkey and the Levant. They also demonstrate that militants in those regions will be able to acquire weapons with ease. But perhaps the most important lesson from them is that as diplomatic missions are withdrawn or downsized and as security is increased at embassies and energy facilities, the threat is going to once again shift toward softer targets. Read the rest of this entry »
When Security Measures Work
Posted by Brian in Opinion, Threat Watch on 9/Feb/2013 08:03
“When Security Measures Work is republished with permission of Stratfor.”
By Scott Stewart
Vice President of Analysis
On Feb. 1, a Turkish national named Ecevit Sanli walked up to the side entrance of the U.S. Embassy in Ankara like many others had done that day. Dressed inconspicuously, he waved a manila envelope at the man inside the guard booth as he approached the entrance. The security guard had no reason to distrust the man approaching the checkpoint; the entrance is used to screen packages, and perhaps the guard assumed Sanli was dropping off a document or was a visa applicant at the wrong entrance. What the guard did not know, perhaps, is that Sanli was a person of interest to the Turkish police, who suspected that he was plotting an attack.
The guard opened the door of the access control building — the outermost door of the embassy compound — to speak to Sanli, who took one step inside before detonating the explosive device that was strapped to his body. The explosion killed Sanli and the security guard, seriously wounded a journalist who was visiting the embassy and left two other local guards who were manning the entrance with minor injuries.
The embassy’s local security personnel, as designed, bore the brunt of the attack. They are hired and trained to prevent threats from penetrating the embassy’s perimeter. The low casualty count of the Feb. 1 attack is a testament to the training and professionalism of the local guards and the robust, layered security measures in place at the embassy — factors for which those responsible for the attack apparently did not sufficiently plan. Read the rest of this entry »
Whole Disk Encryption At Risk
Posted by Brian in News, Threat Watch on 22/Jan/2013 08:15
Avoiding the Wars That Never End
“Avoiding the Wars That Never End is republished with permission of Stratfor.”
By George Friedman
Founder and Chief Executive Officer
Last week, U.S. President Barack Obama announced that the United States would transfer the primary responsibility for combat operations in Afghanistan to the Afghan military in the coming months, a major step toward the withdrawal of U.S. forces. Also last week, France began an intervention in Mali designed to block jihadists from taking control of the country and creating a base of operations in France’s former African colonies.
The two events are linked in a way that transcends the issue of Islamist insurgency and points to a larger geopolitical shift. The United States is not just drawing down its combat commitments; it is moving away from the view that it has the primary responsibility for trying to manage the world on behalf of itself, the Europeans and its other allies. Instead, that burden is shifting to those who have immediate interests involved. Read the rest of this entry »
Steganography
Posted by Brian in News, Threat Watch on 16/Jan/2013 08:44
Article from SOFREP about how terrorist organizations are hiding and transmitting information:
In the digital world the most common form of steganography is embedding information in media files. Media files are rather large, so a little data padding isn’t as noticeable. They are also created with layers of information, which allows the embedding of other data into a layer, and keeps it obscured behind preceding layers – kind of like slipping a tiny, extra piece of cheese into a dagwood sandwich.
Bill To Increase Protection for Embassies and Consulates
Posted by Brian in Law, News, Threat Watch on 1/Dec/2012 08:13
From Military Times:
The Senate voted Wednesday to authorize a 1,000 person increase in the size of the Marine Corps to provide additional protections for U.S. embassies and consulates, a direct response to the Sept. 11 attack on the a diplomatic facility in Benghazi, Libya, which resulted in the death of a U.S. ambassador and three other Americans.
Israel Cyber Security Summit
From Defense Update:
Since the creation of cyberspace and the internet Israeli security experts and scientists have positioned the country at the forefront of cyber defense, developing everything from the basic building blocks of network security, data encryption and information protection to integrated system providing monitoring, simulation and rapid response in the event of cyber attacks. The Israeli government has recently established a national cyber center, with the goals to coordinate the research, development, legislation and preparedness among the academy, private and public sector, to enhance the protection and minimize vulnerability of the country’s commercial, industrial and public sector to hacking, cyber crime and cyber attacks.
TSA Procedures Need to Be Remade from Scratch
Posted by Brian in Opinion, Threat Watch on 13/Nov/2012 08:39
From RAND:
It is time for a new approach to meeting America’s next-generation aviation security needs, one that dodges the influence of politics and bureaucracies and relies instead on the resources and objectivity of independent researchers operating from a clean slate. This would enable the government to confront the need for cost-risk trades that agencies and Congress find so difficult to acknowledge and present to the public.