security

Snowden reportedly has ‘blueprint’ on how NSA operates

"Snowden has 'literally thousands of documents' that constitute 'basically the instruction manual for how the NSA is built' that could aid in duplicating or evading NSA surveillance tactics, The Guardian's Glenn Greenwald told the news agency on Sunday. Greenwald said the NSA 'blueprints' don't represent a threat to U.S. national security, but could be embarrassing to the government. 'I think it would be harmful to the U.S. government, as they perceive their own interests, if the details of those programs were revealed,' Greenwald told the AP." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingSnowden reportedly has ‘blueprint’ on how NSA operates

CNN Broadcasts Zimmerman Social Security Number

"On Monday, CNN showed George Zimmerman’s Social Security number and other personal information live over the air, including address, date of birth, and phone number. Officer Doris Singleton was testifying when the prosecutors showed a narrative report including Zimmerman’s information. That immediately launched a round of tweets by Zimmerman haters celebrating knowledge of that information. CNN has now released a statement about showing Zimmerman’s personal information: 'Routinely the evidence is first given to the Court Clerk for redaction, and that didn’t happen in this instance.'" Continue reading →

Continue ReadingCNN Broadcasts Zimmerman Social Security Number

DEF CON hacker conference tells Feds not to attend

"One of the world’s largest hacker conferences, Def Con, requested that government employees do not attend this year’s annual conference, citing discomfort with federal officials in the wake of National Security Administration revelations. Traditionally, there has been a general acknowledgement that not all federal government employees who attend the Def Con conference do so openly, and a jovial 'Spot the Fed' competition has become commonplace at the Def Con conference. General Keith Alexander, the head of the NSA, spoke at last year’s Def Con conference and denied that the government had vast files of information, calling it 'absolute nonsense.'" Continue reading →

Continue ReadingDEF CON hacker conference tells Feds not to attend

IRS exposed Social Security numbers of tens of thousands of political donors

“The Internal Revenue Service inadvertently exposed the Social Security numbers of tens of thousands of individuals online who donated money to tax-exempt organizations involved in political activities.  There are thousands of 527 groups, which run the gamut of issues and … Continue reading →

Continue ReadingIRS exposed Social Security numbers of tens of thousands of political donors

Rogue Employee Fired for Turning Game Network Into Bitcoin Mining Colony

"In April, ESEA (the E-Sports Entertainment Association) admitted that its software — which serious Counter-Strike players use to play each other in anti-cheating modes — had been altered to secretly mine Bitcoins. At the time, ESEA blamed an unidentified staffer. Now, as the company faces a class action lawsuit, it says that employee has been axed. Class action lawyers are trying to help them out. So far the company has resolved 275 claims from customers who say they were damaged by the mining software, and the company is working to resolve another 15, Levine said. The Bitcoin-mining update may have been installed on as many as 14,000 computers." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingRogue Employee Fired for Turning Game Network Into Bitcoin Mining Colony

Kim Dotcom: All Megaupload servers ‘wiped out without warning in data massacre’

"Kim Dotcom has accused the US government and Leaseweb, one of the hosting providers of former file-sharing site Megaupload, of deleting millions of personal files 'without warning.' The information stored on the dormant servers – 'petabytes of pictures, backups, personal & business property' – was what Dotcom called evidence in the case US authorities launched against him in January 2012. Dotcom is wanted in the US on criminal charges for facilitating copyright fraud on a massive scale. 'This is the largest data massacre in the history of the Internet,' Dotcom wrote on Twitter." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingKim Dotcom: All Megaupload servers ‘wiped out without warning in data massacre’

‘Rookie mistake’ in Cryptocat chat app makes cracking a snap

"Developers of the Cryptocat application for encrypting communications of activists and journalists have apologized for a critical programming flaw that made it trivial for third parties to decipher group chats. The precise amount of time the vulnerability was active is in dispute, with Cryptocat developers putting it at seven months and a security researcher saying it was closer to 19 months. As a result, activists, journalists, or others who relied on Cryptocat to protect their group chats from government or industry snoops got little more protection than is typically available in standard chat programs." Continue reading →

Continue Reading‘Rookie mistake’ in Cryptocat chat app makes cracking a snap

The Whistleblower’s Guide to the Orwellian Galaxy: How to Leak to the Press

"It is, as one commenter noted, 'a dangerous time to be right when the government is wrong.' We now live in a world where public servants informing the public about government behavior or wrongdoing must practice the tradecraft of spies and drug dealers à la The Wire. Even the head of the CIA can’t email his mistress without being identified by the FBI. And privately collected data isn’t immune, either; highly sensitive metadata is particularly vulnerable thanks to the Third Party Doctrine. So how can one safely leak information to the press, let alone coordinate a Deep Throat-style meetup? Here’s a guide." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingThe Whistleblower’s Guide to the Orwellian Galaxy: How to Leak to the Press