Monthly Archives: September 2013

‘Follow the Money’: NSA Spies on International Payments, Banking, Cards

"The National Security Agency (NSA) widely monitors international payments, banking and credit card transactions. The spying is conducted by a branch called 'Follow the Money' (FTM). The collected information then flows into the NSA's own financial databank, called 'Tracfin,' which in 2011 contained 180 million records. Some 84 percent of the data is from credit card transactions. Further NSA documents from 2010 show that the NSA also targets the transactions of customers of large credit card companies like VISA for surveillance. The NSA's Tracfin data bank also contained data from SWIFT, a network used by thousands of banks to send transaction information securely." Continue reading →

Continue Reading‘Follow the Money’: NSA Spies on International Payments, Banking, Cards

Apple: iPhone Fingerprint Reader Means Government Business

"In October 2012, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement - ICE, announced a major iPhone win for a high security government agency. The contract was for iPhone services sourced through various carriers with a total award value of $2.1 million, covering 17,676 users. I expect to see more and more government iPhone contracts, especially if the new phone launch focuses on security. In February of this year Apple landed a major contract with the New Zealand police, for an estimated $159M over the next 10 years. The contract provides 6,000 users with an iPhone, and 3,900 with an iPad as well. The TSA in May 2012 also released a contract for purchasing up to 1,000 handheld Apple devices." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingApple: iPhone Fingerprint Reader Means Government Business

Bruce Schneier: iPhone Fingerprint Authentication

"Fingerprint readers have a long history of vulnerabilities as well. Some are better than others. The simplest ones just check the ridges of a finger; some of those can be fooled with a good photocopy. Others check for pores as well. The better ones verify pulse, or finger temperature. Fooling them with rubber fingers is harder, but often possible. [..] Apple's move is likely to bring fingerprint readers into the mainstream. But all applications are not equal. It's fine if your fingers unlock your phone. It's a different matter entirely if your fingerprint is used to authenticate your iCloud account. The centralized database required for that application would create an enormous security risk." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingBruce Schneier: iPhone Fingerprint Authentication

Huge Solar Drone Could Fly, Conduct Surveillance For Five Years

"A solar-powered high-altitude drone made by Titan Aerospace is intended to be able to remain in flight for about five years. When manufactured, it would have 3,000 solar panels producing about 7 kW of electricity and would be above the clouds, so it would be exposed to sunlight constantly during daylight hours. One is scheduled for completion next year. The point of having such a plane would be to keep a payload in flight long-term, presumably in a manner similar to communications satellites. They could be used for surveillance applications such as environmental monitoring, fire monitoring and disaster response, among other things." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingHuge Solar Drone Could Fly, Conduct Surveillance For Five Years

Alan Grayson unloads on “warmongering” and “hubris”

"I have the benefit of knowing what the U.S. military plans are. Members on both sides are extremely well-informed about this. Most of us have been to multiple briefings, in some cases classified briefings. It’s not that people need more information, you know, we’ve got plenty. And what we’re seeing is an extremely risky and fruitless undertaking. I have the sense that the Administration is suffering from some degree of hubris. They claim to know the future reactions of the Syrians, the Russians, the Iranians, Hezbollah. They claim to be able to micromanage this 'unbelievably small' attack. In a way it’s reminiscent of Johnson choosing bombing targets in Vietnam. We all know how that ended up." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingAlan Grayson unloads on “warmongering” and “hubris”

Students say they will continue protesting ‘war criminal’ David Petraeus

"Students at the City University of New York have said they will continue protesting against David Petraeus and pledged to 'make his time in New York a living hell' after a video emerged showing the former general being hounded as he left the university on Monday. Petraeus, who served as commanding general in Iraq, overseeing all coalition forces in the country, is teaching a course titled 'Are We On the Threshold of the North American Decade?' Hunter College professor Sandor John, who helped organise the protest, told CNN that 'a lot of our students are from countries that have been targeted by the United States'. He added: 'We don’t want someone like him on campus.'" Continue reading →

Continue ReadingStudents say they will continue protesting ‘war criminal’ David Petraeus

A Day of Infamy for Michigan ~ Gov Snyder Signs Medicaid Expansion into Law

One picture is worth a thousand words…   SIDEBAR: Fourteen Senators lead by Sen. Patrick Colbeck vote NO to give the bill immediate effect therefore the bill goes not become operative until April 2014, missing the Jan 1, 2014 when ObamaCare goes into effect. Michigan Constitution: § 27 Laws, effective date. Sec. 27. No act …

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Continue ReadingA Day of Infamy for Michigan ~ Gov Snyder Signs Medicaid Expansion into Law

South Korean troops kill man trying to swim North

"South Korean troops shot dead a man trying to swim across a border river into North Korea on Monday after he ignored repeated warnings to turn back, the defence ministry said. The spokesman said Nam was believed to have been trying to defect to the North, and had jumped into the river with a flotation device to help him get across. Hours before the shooting, hundreds of South Korean factory supervisors drove across a nearby border crossing into North Korea after both sides agreed to reopen a joint industrial zone shut down in April." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingSouth Korean troops kill man trying to swim North

Gunman dead after killing 4 at heavily secured Washington Naval Yard

"A heavily armed gunman opened fire at the Navy Yard in southeast Washington, D.C., Monday morning killing four people and shooting as many as 12, a senior Naval official told NBC News. Washington police swat teams cornered at least one of the shooters, who they said was carrying an AR-15, double barrel shotgun, and a handgun in the Naval Sea Systems Command Headquarters building. At least one officer had been shot in both legs at the Naval Sea Systems Command Headquarters, NBC News reported. The building has heavy security and requires a government I.D. to enter." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingGunman dead after killing 4 at heavily secured Washington Naval Yard

U.S. was ‘hair’s breadth’ from detonating nuclear bomb over North Carolina

"Days after the inauguration of John F. Kennedy in 1961, the American military came within a 'hair’s breadth' of detonating a nuclear explosion over North Carolina. A pair of Mark 29 hydrogen bombs — each of which was 250 times more powerful than the bomb that leveled Hiroshima — were accidentally deployed when the B-52 hauling them went into an uncontrolled spin. One of them fell to the ground unarmed, but the failsafe mechanisms in the other underwent a cascade of failure. Had the bomb exploded, the lethal fallout would have spread across the Eastern Seaboard, blanketing New York and Washington D.C." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingU.S. was ‘hair’s breadth’ from detonating nuclear bomb over North Carolina