Category Archives: Privacy / Data Protection

May 21 2012

U.S. European Command, NATO Boost Cyber Defenses

Preparing a good defense to deter cyber attacks ranks among his top concerns, Navy Adm. James G. Stavridis, the commander of U.S. European Command, told the Pentagon Channel and American Forces Press Service.

“In many ways, cyber is the threat I worry about most going forward over the long-term,” said Stavridis, who also serves as NATO Supreme Allied Commander Europe. “And the reason is, the potential for damage to our fundamental, societal way of life … compared to our level of preparation.”

“In the world of cyber, we are on the beach at Kitty Hawk, [N.C.],” Stavridis said, referring to the Wright Brothers’ famous first flight that heralded the birth of aviation. “We are just at the beginning.”

But he insisted that the United States and its friends and partners dealing with cyber threats don’t have the luxury of time the aviation industry enjoyed as it was being advanced.

“We don’t have 100 years in cyber,” he said. “We are so vulnerable. We have to take steps today to bring order to the chaotic world of cyber. And I think that is going to be not only a security challenge, but also a societal challenge.”

More:
http://www.defpro.com/news/details/35583/?SID=e1895d3b7b1b55161ee73aa84fb8d69a

And:

Chicago NATO Summit: declaration on defence capabilities

We are putting in place a new, leaner and more effective command structure.

We have made steady progress in developing a number of capabilities we identified in Lisbon as critical to the successful conduct of our operations, including: improving our defences against cyber attacks; extending NATO’s air command and control system; and augmenting our capabilities in Afghanistan for exchanging intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance data and countering improvised explosive devices.

In the light of this progress, we have confidently set ourselves the goal of NATO Forces 2020: modern, tightly connected forces equipped, trained, exercised and commanded so that they can operate together and with partners in any environment”

http://www.avionews.com/index.php?corpo=see_news_home.php&news_id=1140935&pagina_chiamante=index.php

May 20 2012

Kaspersky says cyber-attacks could “take us back to the pre-electric era”

Eugene Kaspersky has reiterated his long-standing support for Internet IDs, and called for all SCADA systems to be redesigned around a secure operating system, to protect critical infrastructure from cyber-attack.

SCADA is so vulnerable, Kaspersky told the AusCERT audience: “It’s not possible to protect. Stuxnet told us that modern systems are not protected at all. SCADA could be very easy victims – the result of an attack could be like Stuxnet but everywhere.”

He said his company’s research suggests that malware costs the world economy $US100 billion each year, and noted other vendors estimates of the total trillion-dollar cybercrime industry mean that, “because of cybercrime, we have the equivalent of two or three Japanese tsunamis a year” of economic damage.

People “need to understand the danger of cyber-weapons and of cyber-war to ruin national infrastructure. Transportation, power-grids, power plants … it would take us back to the pre-electric era.”

More:
http://www.cso.com.au/article/424988/auscert_2012_kaspersky_says_cyber-attacks_could_take_us_back_pre-electric_era_/

May 19 2012

Facial detection technology to output stats on bar attendance

The cameras, which are mounted above the door of their client bars, scan patrons’ faces as they enter and exit the bar. The company’s software then immediately determines whether the person is male or female, and counts how many of each are in the bar, divides that by the known capacity of the bar, and then outputs something like: “Crowd: >90% full | Women: 58% | Men: 42%.”

http://arstechnica.com/business/2012/05/scenetap-poised-to-creep-out-san-francisco-bar-patrons/

May 17 2012

Cyber security: U.S. mulls blocking China Mobile license

Concerned about cyber security and possible spying, U.S. officials are considering denying China Mobile’s license for providing international information service in the United States.

Officials from the FBI, the Department of Homeland Security, and the Justice Department’s national security division are concerned that the license would allow China Mobile to build physical infrastructure in the American territory, as well as to monitor and route Internet traffic. This would pose a potential threat to government information and the intellectual properties of American companies, according to an unidentified source.

“The U.S. Internet and telecommunication market has always been tough on Chinese companies, and the government’s only explanation is security,” said Yang Haifeng, Chief Editor of Communication World Weekly. “As Chinese companies expand business overseas, some American counterparts are struggling. Blocking the Chinese companies is not only protectionism, but also a political move.”

Much more:
http://www.zdnet.com/blog/china/cyber-security-us-mulls-blocking-china-mobile-license/412

May 11 2012

British cyber-cops have arrested a third suspected member of the infamous TeaMp0isoN hacker crew

The unnamed 17-year-old was cuffed in Newcastle on suspicion of breaking the Computer Misuse Act. Detectives seized computer equipment for forensic analysis, and quizzed the youngster on Wednesday at a nearby cop shop. Met Police said enquiries are ongoing and no charges have been brought.

The suspect, who is believed to use the online nickname ‘MLT’, is allegedly a member of and spokesperson for TeaMp0isoN (‘TeamPoison’) – a group which has claimed responsibility for more than 1,400 offences including denial of service and network intrusions where personal and private information has been illegally extracted from victims in the UK and around the world.

More:
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2012/05/11/third_teamp0ison_hack_suspect_arrest/

May 11 2012

The Year Of The Ecosystems: My own private Internet: .secure TLD floated as bad-guy-free zone

A venture with $9 million in backing wants to establish a locked-down domain

Anonymity and the Internet’s free-wheeling ways have been great for free speech and innovation, but they also open the door to impostors and website operators with poor security hygiene. With plans by the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers to vastly expand the availability of top-level domains, security advocates have an opportunity to build the type of global network they’ve long dreamed of.

“This is our opportunity to make our mark and do something to improve the security of the Internet permanently while it’s still a bit malleable,” Stamos told Ars. “We have a chance to create a neighborhood on the Internet where security is required, and users know that. We have the ability since we’re starting from scratch to have a floor.”

http://arstechnica.com/security/2012/05/my-own-private-internet-secure-tld-floated-as-bad-guy-free-zone/

May 9 2012

Queens Speech Confirms Expansion of UK CCDP Internet Snooping Law

As expected the UK government has used today’s Queens Speech (State Opening of Parliament) to outline the revival of a £2bn plan to expand the reach of existing ISP based internet snooping laws (data retention) to log a much bigger slice of your online activity (e.g. Skype and Facebook access); regardless of whether or not you ever committed a crime.

It’s critical to point out that the current Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act 2000 (RIPA) and EU Data Retention Directive already requires ISPs to maintain a log of your internet website and email accesses (times, dates and IP addresses [sender / recipient]) for 12 months, which is only accessible via an interception warrant. But this does NOT include the actual content of your communication.

The Queen Said:

“My government intends to bring forward measures to maintain the ability of the law enforcement and intelligence agencies to access vital communications data under strict safeguards to protect the public, subject to scrutiny of draft clauses.”

More:
http://www.ispreview.co.uk/index.php/2012/05/queens-speech-confirms-expansion-of-uk-ccdp-internet-snooping-law.html

May 8 2012

Netherlands Following In Footsteps Of Chile. Now Second Country In The World To Have Implemented Net Neutrality Legislation

Will Brussels follow suit? Or will economic interests prevail?

Providers (cable operators included) will no longer be allowed to charge more or separately for (for example) VOIP services such as Skype and services such as WhatsApp (or block or throttle them for that matter).

The new law also contains restrictions related to the use of cookies and other tracking technologies which aim to collect information about internet users.

There’s one peculiar exception coming up after several religious political parties complained about this law: the law will be amended to allow for “filtering on the basis of ideology” but only when specific conditions apply. It is as of yet unclear what exactly this will mean in practice.

The law leaves room for measures taken as a result of court orders and jurisprudence. One such example is blocking or filtering of websites.

Dutch language news articles:

http://www.nu.nl/internet/2806228/eerste-kamer-stemt-netneutraliteit.html

http://www.volkskrant.nl/vk/nl/2694/Internet-Media/article/detail/3252571/2012/05/08/Eerste-Kamer-neemt-Telecomwet-aan-netneutraliteit-gewaarborgd.dhtml

May 8 2012

Dutch Government, Facebook, Hyves….Nobody Wants To Disclose User Data Requests By Law Enforcement Anymore

Even Google seems to have stopped reporting those requests:
http://www.google.com/transparencyreport/governmentrequests/

In The Netherlands members of parliament representing The Green political party have tried to convince relevant government officials to disclose just how many times enforcement authorities ask social networks to hand over personal details of suspects or to intercept related data.

No government official wants to answer that question and even social networks such as Hyves and Facebook keep their mouths shut about the issue.

To make matters worse, enforcement authorities are not following up on their duty to notify users of social networks that data about them has been requested, nor are authorities keeping records about their efforts to inform suspects.

Social network Hyves told news website Nu.nl that they won’t inform their users as they feel that that is the responsibility of the Dutch Public Prosecutor’s Office.

Dutch language news article:
http://www.nu.nl/internet/2805991/sociale-media-zwijgen-aftappen.html

May 7 2012

ABN AMRO Bank Now Second Dutch Bank To Block Debit Card Use In Foreign Countries By Default

Similar measures have decreased skimming levels in neighbouring country Belgium by 95%

Dutch language news article:
http://webwereld.nl/nieuws/110418/ook-abn-amro-komt-met-pinpasblokkade-buiten-eu.html

Previously:

RABO Bank To Block Dutch Debit Cards In Foreign Countries By Default To Prevent Skimming
http://vrritti.com/2012/05/05/rabo-bank-to-block-dutch-debit-cards-in-foreign-countries-by-default-to-prevent-skimming/

May 7 2012

DocTrackr: file tracking “for paranoid people by paranoid people”

The process works something like this: your boss has an important document he or she wants to share with you and the rest of your team. Your boss uploads the document to DocTrackr, and sends each of you an invite over e-mail to view the file. Using what Cazalot calls “cryptography applied to document management,” Microsoft Word or Adobe Reader checks with DocTrackr’s authentication server to confirm whether access is allowed.

And the type of access can vary too. Your boss might decide that no one should be able to print the file, or that the file should be read-only, and inaccessible offline. These permissions can be applied to everyone on your team, or just certain people. Or, if your boss has a new version of the document to distribute, access to the old file can be revoked. Meanwhile, the number of users who access the file, and for how long, are tracked and measured using a series of graphs online.

The genius here is that authentication is handled by security mechanisms already built into Microsoft Office and Adobe Reader, saving Cazalot from having to “reinvent the wheel.” Instead, DocTrackr provides a simple, unified front-end interface to manage these permissions online—something a business would have previously had to handle itself.

More:
http://arstechnica.com/getting-it-done/2012/05/doctrackr-file-tracking-for-paranoid-people-by-paranoid-people.ars

May 7 2012

Leave only footprints: how Google’s ethical ignorance gets it in trouble

Milner’s prior awareness of the privacy and legal issues in lifting data from open WiFi networks implicates him, in one sense: he created tools to do something that was, at best, an ethically gray area for the community out of which he came. But he did first raise questions and seek out advice from his superiors; when it was not forthcoming, he apparently decided to forge ahead. His decision to raise the issue at least partly exonerates him from Google’s initial suggestion that he acted alone and failed to make his superiors aware of what he was doing.

Much more:
http://arstechnica.com/gadgets/news/2012/05/googles-street-view-engineer-knew-data-collection-was-questionable.ars

Previously:

Google engineer in Street View probe identifies as a Palo Alto hacker Marius Milner
http://vrritti.com/2012/05/02/google-engineer-in-street-view-probe-identifies-as-a-palo-alto-hacker-marius-milner/

May 6 2012

The global hacktivst group known as Anonymous claims to have brought down the CIA and Interpol websites on Sunday

­The attack is attributed to @AnonsTurkey, with the group using the twitter handle to say they are “hacking the world to save the planet”.

Earlier this year, Anomymous launched an offensive against government and private sites in protest against the content industry.

Just last month, Brazilian hacktivist Havittaja claimed responsibility for a DDoS attack on the websites of the US Department of Justice and the CIA. Other Anonymous hacktivists later joined their “Brazilian brother” and brought down two MI6 websites.

The CIA website was also downed by Anonymous on two occasions before that, in February 2012 and back in June 2011.

More:
http://rt.com/news/anonymous-cia-interpol-down-702/

May 2 2012

European privacy police say Google “duped” them over Street View

May have been “duped” by a multitude of data gobblers to whom money is the only truth

In light of the recent FCC report on Google outlining the fact that the company had deliberately captured people’s WiFi payload data with its roaming Street View cars, European privacy regulators now say that they feel misled by Google.

“Well, deceived is a big word—maybe somewhat duped,” wrote Ulrich Kühn, a spokesperson for the Hamburg data protection authority, in an e-mail to Ars. The Hamburg DPA has led the investigation in Germany, since Google’s German corporate headquarters are located there.

“Google always admitted just as much as they were forced to by hard evidence,” Kühn added. (Google did not immediately respond to our request for comment.)

More:
http://arstechnica.com/business/news/2012/05/european-privacy-police-say-google-duped-them-over-street-view.ars

May 2 2012

Google engineer in Street View probe identifies as a Palo Alto hacker Marius Milner

Follow the money hackers

The engineer responsible for writing the code that led to tons of personal and private data being collected from the Google’s Street View cars is found out and called a “GOD in the wireless community.”

Marius Milner is his name and the Times reported that his LinkedIn profile occupation was listed as “hacker” and under the social network’s specialties category his entry said, “I know more than I want to about Wi-Fi.” As of this writing, his LinkedIn profile no longer has these listings but does confirm that he has worked for Google since 2003.

Milner, who lives in Palo Alto, Calif., declined to answer the Times’ questions and referred all questions to his lawyer, Martha Boersch, who also declined to comment.

More:
http://news.cnet.com/8301-1023_3-57425675-93/google-engineer-in-street-view-probe-identifies-as-a-hacker/