technology

IRS Now Has a Tool to Spy On Bitcoin Users

"The Internal Revenue Service has purchased specialist software to track those using bitcoin, according to a contract obtained by The Daily Beast. The document highlights how law enforcement isn’t only concerned with criminals accumulating bitcoin from selling drugs or hacking targets, but also those who use the currency to hide wealth or avoid paying taxes. The IRS has claimed that only 802 people declared bitcoin losses or profits in 2015; clearly fewer than the actual number of people trading the cryptocurrency—especially as more investors dip into the world of cryptocurrencies, and the value of bitcoin punches past the $4,000 mark."

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More staged police body cams lead to 43 more dropped Baltimore cases

"The first two videos involved either the planting of drugs or the recreation of a drug crime scene. Those videos prompted Baltimore Police Department Commissioner Kevin Davis to order officers not to stage body cam footage. The authorities did not publicly release the latest video. Nor did they identify the suspects or the officers connected to the video."

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DOJ Demands 1.3 Million IP Addresses Of Visitors To Antifa Website

"In what is shaping up to be a contentious battle over privacy rights and free speech, the Department of Justice has formally requested that web hosting firm ‘DreamHost’ turn over 1.3 million IP addresses and other information to ‘unmask‘ visitors to the anti-Trump Antifa website ‘disruptj20.org,’ as part of the investigation into crimes committed on and around January 20 by protesters. DreamHost has challenged the request, claiming the scope of data requested violates the first and fourth amendments because it is too broad."

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Ex-NSA Personnel Show DNC ‘Hack’ Was Actually a Leak and Inside Job

"The Nation‘s Patrick Lawrence wrote a lengthy review of the findings made by various computer experts formerly with the NSA. Published this week, the left-wing magazine’s report notes two bases for their conclusion: (1) hard science shows that a remote hack of the DNC servers resulting in the breach that actually occurred would have been technologically impossible; (2) forensic review of the initial Guccifer 2.0 documents proves that they are poorly-disguised cut-and-paste jobs–forgeries–intended to finger Russia." Continue reading →

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Broadcom chip bug opened 1 billion phones to a Wi-Fi-hopping worm attack

"It fills the airwaves with probes that request connections to nearby computing devices. When the specially devised requests reach a device using the BCM43xx family of Wi-Fi chipsets, the attack rewrites the firmware that controls the chip. The compromised chip then sends the same malicious packets to other vulnerable devices, setting off a potential chain reaction." Continue reading →

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Medical Devices Are the Next Security Nightmare

"There's a need to protect patients, so that attackers can't hack an insulin pump to administer a fatal dose. And vulnerable medical devices also connect to a huge array of sensors and monitors, making them potential entry points to larger hospital networks. That in turn could mean the theft of sensitive medical records, or a devastating ransomware attack that holds vital systems hostage until administrators pay up." Continue reading →

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Government ‘Cyber Troops’ Manipulate Facebook, Twitter: Oxford Study

"Researchers found 29 countries using social media to shape opinion domestically or with foreign audiences. The tactics are deployed by authoritarian regimes, but also democratically-elected governments, the authors said." Continue reading →

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CIA Chief: WikiLeaks Plotting To ‘Take Down America’

"Pompeo argued that the US needs to use the Espionage Act much more in going after leakers who aren’t actually foreign spies. President Trump had a positive attitude toward WikiLeaks during last year’s campaign, declaring 'I love WikiLeaks.'" Continue reading →

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