// September 14th, 2017 // No Comments » // Politics and legal
The memo was dated September 8, 2017 and was leaked to the press four days later. Below is the memo in its entirety.
// July 10th, 2017 // No Comments » // Internet
Net Neutrality, the principle that Internet operations should be free of government and big business control, is the fundamental precursor to free speech. On July 12, websites, Internet users, and hackers across the country will sound the alarm about the federal government’s newly invigorated attack on net neutrality.
// November 30th, 2016 // No Comments » // Hacking and Security
The new Rule 41 dictate is going to be law and it’s a doozy, both mind-boggling (for its stupidity) and stomach-churning (for its stupidity) at the same time. Effectively, what the law does is allow any judge, anywhere (including Podunk, Texas), to grant a warrant for electronic surveillance of any US citizen. If you thought […]
// November 16th, 2015 // No Comments » // Hacking and Security
It’s a draft title Task Order Request for Cyberspace Operations Support Services in support of United States Cyber Command (USCYBERCOM). Oh, brother. That means the U.S. has bungled their cybersecurity so badly they’re now willing to outsource, and trust, this critical national security task to an outside contractor. Even a partner outside of the U.S. […]
// January 23rd, 2015 // No Comments » // Hacking and Security
Imagine a cybercrime has occurred. 200 gigabytes of data have been stolen and posted on a remote site. The remote site is public, easily accessible to all. An experienced journalist (Barrett Brown) reports the location of the stolen data.
// October 3rd, 2013 // No Comments » // Politics and legal
So how does the rest of the world see the United States government shutdown? From the outside, do we appear to be a bunch of buffoons too intent on losing face at the expense of productive legislative discussion? Is the shutdown feared as a threat to the world economy or as a precursor to the […]
// October 2nd, 2013 // No Comments » // Astronomy and Space News
How sad. Here is NASA’s primary home page after the United States government shutdown on October 1, 2013. It reads: “Due to the lapse in federal government funding, this website is not available.”
// July 31st, 2013 // No Comments » // Hacking and Security, Politics and legal
Access to complete phone records of all Americans is only the tip of the iceberg. Details from whistleblower Edward Snowden recently revealed that a top-secret NSA program named “XKeyscore” allows National Security Agency analysts to search (with no prior authorization) through vast databases containing content of emails, online chats, social networking sessions, web content searches, […]
// June 1st, 2013 // No Comments » // Hacking and Security
Via a Freedom of Information request, the Department of Homeland Security has released a list of keywords and phrases it uses to monitor social networking sites and online media for signs of terrorist or other threats against the U.S. According to the released documents, these words are used to search for comments that “reflect adversely” […]
// January 21st, 2013 // No Comments » // Hacking and Security
The Operation Red October espionage campaign was exposed on Monday (1/14/13) by Russian anti-virus software maker Kaspersky Lab. The Red October network was found to target hundreds of diplomatic, governmental, and scientific organizations in at least 39 countries, including the Russian Federation (the most frequent target), Iran, Kazakhstan, Azerbaijan, Belgium, India, Afghanistan, Armenia, Turkmenistan, and […]
// November 21st, 2012 // No Comments » // Hacking and Security
In May 2012, the French government suffered two major cyberattacks, one of which required a complete rebuild of their network and hardware systems to repair. The attacks occurred between the day of the French Presidential election and the day incoming President François Hollande took office on May 15th. The sophistication of the attacks led authorities […]
// October 18th, 2012 // No Comments » // Hacking and Security
According to security experts, the electronic voting process is ripe for attack in 2012. Nation-state attacks have increased, voter databases are increasingly interconnected, and electronic voting systems are plagued with vulnerabilities creating a situation where the 2012 election process is a prime target for a hacker attack.
