Posts Tagged security

Drone Video Unencrypted

From Danger Room:

Four years after discovering that militants were tapping into drone video feeds, the U.S. military still hasn’t secured the transmissions of more than half of its fleet of Predator and Reaper drones, Danger Room has learned. The majority of the aircraft still broadcast their classified video streams “in the clear” — without encryption. With a minimal amount of equipment and know-how, militants can see what America’s drones see.

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Massad Ayoob on Answering the Door

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Scam Alerts

FBI: Internet Scam Alerts

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FBI: Smartphone Malware Safety Tips

Internet Crime Complaint Center (IC3) | Smartphone Malware Safety Tips

The IC3 has been made aware of various malware attacking Android operating systems for mobile devices. Some of the latest known versions of this type of malware are Loozfon and FinFisher. Loozfon is an information-stealing piece of malware. Criminals use different variants to lure the victims.

New E-Scams & Warnings: Smartphone Users Should be Aware of Malware Targeting Mobile Devices and Safety Measures to Help Avoid Compromises

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US Drones Susceptible to Hacking

From Wired’s Threat Watch:

The Government Accountability Office is warning Congress that its push for drones to become commonplace in U.S. airspace fails to take into account concerns surrounding privacy, security and even GPS jamming and spoofing.

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FBI Computer Scam Alert

IC3 Scam Alerts

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Computer Virus: Reveton Ransomware

Reveton Ransomware

A new Internet virus is holding computers hostage across the United States and beyond.
– FBI, This Week

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New Malware Goes After Financial Information

CNET reports on the new Gauss malware tool:

Gauss has unique characteristics relative to other malware. Kaspersky said it found Gauss following the discovery of Flame. The International Telecommunications Union has started an effort to identify emerging cyberthreats and mitigate them before they spread.

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Oppose HR 3523, the Cyber Intelligence Sharing and Protection Act of 2011

From the Electronic Frontier Foundation:

Congress is considering legislation that would give companies a free pass to monitor and collect communications, including huge amounts of personal data like your text messages and emails, and share that data with the government and anyone else. All a company has to do is claim its privacy violations were for “cybersecurity purposes.” Tell Congress that they can’t use vaguely-defined “cybersecurity threats” as a shortcut to bypassing the law.

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Smartphones Leak Encryption

Technology Review reports that an attacker my be able to pick up encryption keys from cellphones with a TV antenna:

The antenna was detecting radio signals “leaking” from the transistors on the chip inside the phone performing the encryption calculations. Transistors leak those signals when they are active, so the pattern of signals from a chip provides an eavesdropper a representation of the work the chip is doing. When Kenworthy tuned his equipment to look in the right place, a clear, regular pattern of peaks and troughs appeared on his computer screen. They could be seen to come in two varieties, large and small, directly corresponding to the string of digital 1s and 0s that make up the encryption key.

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Web Links Could Compromise Your Smartphone

Technology Review reports that if you have a smartphone that runs a version of Android, be careful about the links you click:

A chilling demonstration to a small, packed room at the RSA security conference today showed how clicking a single bad Web link while using a phone running Google’s Android operating system could give an attacker full remote control of your phone.

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U.S. and U.K. Counter Terror Expos

U.S. – Washington, D.C. May 16-17, 2012

www.counterterrorUS.com

U.K. – Olympia, London April 25-26, 2012

www.counterterrorexpo.com

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Counterterrorism & Security Education and Research Foundation

CTSERF is a not-for-profit organization dedicated to understanding all facets of terrorism.

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LAPD Bails on Google Apps Because of Security & Privacy Concerns

From: Cloudline

LAPDMicrosoft’s Office 365 isn’t the only cloud service losing high-profile customers to security and privacy concerns. Google got a dose of the same medicine on Wednesday, with the LA Timesreporting that the LAPD is now backing out of its contract with Google so it can stick with its on-premises Novell platform for e-mail.

The LAPD and the city attorney’s office ultimately decided, some two years after deciding to move their e-mail systems to the cloud in order to save costs, that no cloud computing solution is really compatible with the federal security guidelines that the departments are required to follow.

“It will be difficult for law enforcement to move to a cloud solution until the [security requirements] and cloud are more in line with each other,” LAPD’s CIO told the LA Times.

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Situational Awareness: How Everyday Citizens Can Help Make a Nation Safe

Situational Awareness: How Everyday Citizens Can Help Make a Nation Safe is republished with permission of STRATFOR.

By Scott Stewart

Last week’s Security Weekly discussed the important role that grassroots defenders practicing situational awareness play in defending against terrorist attacks by individuals and small cells, what we refer to as grassroots militants. Anyone who reads STRATFOR’s security and terrorism material for any length of time will notice that we frequently mention the importance of situational awareness. The reason we do so, quite simply, is that it works. Situational awareness is effective in allowing people to see potential threats before — and as — they develop. This allows potential victims to take proactive measures to avoid a perceived threat, and it enables them or other observers to alert authorities.

While threats can emanate from a number of very different sources, it is important to recognize that terrorist attacks — and other criminal acts, for that matter — do not materialize out of thin air. In fact, quite the opposite is true. Terrorists and other criminals follow a process when planning their actions, and this process has several distinct steps. The process has traditionally been referred to as the “terrorist attack cycle,” but if you look at the issue thoughtfully, it becomes apparent that the same steps apply to nearly all crimes. Of course, the steps in a complex crime like a kidnapping or car bombing are far more involved than the steps in a simple crime such as purse-snatching or shoplifting, where the steps can be completed quite rapidly. Nevertheless, the same general steps are usually followed.

People planning attacks are vulnerable to detection during various phases of this process, and observant people can often spot such attacks developing. Therefore, situational awareness serves as one of the key building blocks of effective personal security, and when practiced collectively, national security. Since situational awareness is so important, we thought it would be helpful to once again discuss the subject in detail and provide a guide that can help describe what situational awareness is and explain how it can be practiced at a relaxed, sustainable level. Read the rest of this entry »

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