False Sense Of Security

Should insider trading be legal? Insiders say yes

"Perhaps the folks at hedge fund SAP Capital Advisors, who have recently pleaded guilty to insider-trading charges, should have run for Congress. Last week, the Securities and Exchange Commission served the firm with a criminal indictment and continues pressing civil charges against its founder Steven Cohen. The agency hasn’t done much about accounting fraud, or other shenanigans that lead to the 2008 financial crisis, but insider trading remains a priority. Over the past three years, the SEC boasts of filing 168 insider trading cases, more than any three-year period in the agency’s history." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingShould insider trading be legal? Insiders say yes

Exposing high-security flaws with 3D Printing

"MIT students David Lawrence and Eric Van Albert showed how 3D printing could allow anyone to replicate a Schlage key for their high-security Primus locks used in Government offices, medical and detention centres. The Primus lock and key system are tightly controlled by Schlage and bear the words 'Do not duplicate' across the top. They are considered to be one of the hardest locks to pick in the world. With the use of a normal 2D scanner, their code – the software deciphers the code on each key - and the use of a 3D printing service like Shapeways the pair have managed to duplicate working Primus lock keys." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingExposing high-security flaws with 3D Printing

8 Cities Where 911 Systems Recently Failed

"A watchdog agency has launched an official investigation into the system, which cost $88 million and has only been operational since May. In July, the New York Post reported that the system had crashed at least nine times in a single week. It's also drawn blame for leaving a crash victim unaided on a highway for almost two hours, and marooning a paramedic with a dead body. Made by a company called Intergraph Government Solutions—whose board is well stocked with former security officials from the George W. Bush administration—the software will soon be coming to Boston, which plans to spend $15 million on its contract." Continue reading →

Continue Reading8 Cities Where 911 Systems Recently Failed

FBI allowed informants to commit 5,600 crimes in one year

"The FBI gave its informants permission to break the law at least 5,658 times in a single year. Agents authorized 15 crimes a day, on average, including everything from buying and selling illegal drugs to bribing government officials and plotting robberies. FBI officials have said in the past that permitting their informants — who are often criminals themselves — to break the law is an indispensable, if sometimes distasteful, part of investigating criminal organizations. USA TODAY asked the FBI for all of the reports it had prepared since 2006, but FBI officials said they could locate only one, which they released after redacting nearly all of the details." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingFBI allowed informants to commit 5,600 crimes in one year

Thousands now using online gun sales to avoid background checks: report

"Online gun sales have become a haven for buyers looking to avoid background checks, leading gun safety advocates concerned they are becoming more of a problem than sales at private gun shows, according to a new report by a progressive think tank. Among the advertisements for more than 15,000 guns on the sales site Armslist, in 10 states where lawmakers voted against bills that would have required background checks for private gun sales were nearly 2,000 listings by people looking to buy their firearms privately. 'Nobody’s monitoring this,' Hatalsky told the Post. 'Nobody has any ability to stop these people who are looking for private sellers.'" Continue reading →

Continue ReadingThousands now using online gun sales to avoid background checks: report

Irish man facing U.S. extradition for hosting largest child porn network on the planet

"If extradited to the US, Marques faces four charges relating to images hosted on the Freedom Hosting network, including images of the torture and rape of children. He could be sentenced to 30 years in prison. Freedom Hosting hosted sites on the The Onion Router (Tor) network, which anonymises and encrypts traffic, masking the identity of users. Users on the Tor sub-Reddit were suspicious about the news, dissecting the details of the vulnerability and pointing to a previous case where the FBI had taken over and maintained a site hosting child abuse material for two weeks in order to identify users." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingIrish man facing U.S. extradition for hosting largest child porn network on the planet

California governor Jerry Brown intervenes to delay threatened BART strike

"Brown’s letter said he took the action 'because the strike will significantly disrupt public transportation services and will endanger the public’s health, safety, and welfare.' San Francisco area residents had been bracing for a strike even as 11th-hour talks continued, with some sleeping at friends’ and relatives’ homes to be closer to jobs and making alternative travel arrangements. The unions gave a 72-hour notice on Thursday night of a possible strike by 2,400 workers on a rail system that carries 400,000 passengers a day and serves as a critical link in the San Francisco area’s transportation system." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingCalifornia governor Jerry Brown intervenes to delay threatened BART strike

Pennsylvania police chief suspended over profanity-laced, anti-liberal gun videos

"The Pennsylvania police chief who made a profanity-laced videos while firing machine guns and ranting about liberals has been suspended without pay for 30 days. After a 55-minute executive session, the Gilberton Borough Council voted 5-1 on Wednesday to suspend Chief Mark Kessler for using 'borough property for non-borough purposes without prior borough permission' by using machine guns and other weapons in his YouTube videos. Kessler had donated the weapons to the borough earlier in the year. In online videos, Kessler had used profanity to berate 'libtards' and suggested an armed rebellion against the government." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingPennsylvania police chief suspended over profanity-laced, anti-liberal gun videos

Watch: How GPS spoofing can take control of drones and ships

"A University of Texas researcher who has hacked the navigational systems of drones and ships told PBS on Friday that anyone with his software could do the same. Humphrey’s and and his graduate students used a technique called 'GPS spoofing,' in which false GPS signals are broadcast that trick a vehicle’s GPS receiver. The researchers first used the technique to commandeer an aerial drone. More recently, they commandeered a ship. Milton Clary of Overlook Systems Technologies told PBS that spoofing attacks posed a huge threat." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingWatch: How GPS spoofing can take control of drones and ships

Half Of Tor Sites Compromised, Including Tormail

"The founder of Freedom Hosting has been arrested in Ireland and is awaiting extradition to USA. In a crackdown that FBI claims to be about hunting down pedophiles, half of the onion sites in the TOR network has been compromised, including the e-mail counterpart of TOR deep web, TORmail. This is undoubtedly a big blow to the TOR community, Crypto Anarchists, and more generally, to Internet anonymity. All of this happening during DEFCON. If you happen to use and account name and or password combinations that you have re used in the TOR deep web, change them NOW." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingHalf Of Tor Sites Compromised, Including Tormail