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Sophisticated ‘state-sponsored’ spying tool targeted govts, infrastructure for years — RT News

November 24, 2014

Sophisticated ‘state-sponsored’ spying tool targeted govts, infrastructure for years — RT News.

A sophisticated malware dubbed Regin has been used to spy on governments, infrastructure operators and other high-profile targets, security company Symantec has revealed. It also targeted private individuals and businesses, particularly in Russia.

A back door-type Trojan displays a “degree of technical competence rarely seen,” Symantec said in a press release. The complexity of the virus enabled the intruder to create a framework for mass surveillance. Targets include private companies, government entities and research think tanks. Attacks on telecoms companies were allegedly carried out to gain access to calls being routed through their infrastructure.

The company believes that the Trojan was likely developed by a nation state as it took months, if not years to develop such a piece of software and cover up its tracks. Analyzing its further capabilities the company has drawn a conclusion that Regin could be one of the main cyber espionage tools used by the implicated nation state.

Almost a third of the confirmed infections were discovered in Russia with a further 24 percent in Saudi Arabia. Mexico, Ireland, India, Afghanistan, Iran, Belgium, Austria and Pakistan are also on the list.

…click on the above link to read the rest of the article…

This Crisis Was Foreseeable … Thousands of Years Ago Washington’s Blog

November 19, 2014

This Crisis Was Foreseeable … Thousands of Years Ago Washington’s Blog.

Economists, Military Strategists and Others Warned Us … Long Ago

We’ve known for 5,000 years that mass spying on one’s own people is always aimed at grabbing power and crushing dissent, not protecting us from bad guys.

We’ve known for 4,000 years that debts need to be periodically written down, or the entire economy will collapse. And see this.

We’ve known for 2,500 years that prolonged war bankrupts an economy.

We’ve known for 2,000 years that wars are based on lies.

We’ve known for 1,900 years that runaway inequality destroys societies.

We’ve known for thousands of years that debasing currencies leads to economic collapse.

…click on the above link to read the rest of the article…

The Digital Hunt for Duqu, a Dangerous and Cunning U.S.-Israeli Spy Virus – The Intercept

November 13, 2014

The Digital Hunt for Duqu, a Dangerous and Cunning U.S.-Israeli Spy Virus – The Intercept.

Boldizsár Bencsáth took a bite from his sandwich and stared at his computer screen. The software he was trying to install on his machine was taking forever to load, and he still had a dozen things to do before the Fall 2011 semester began at the Budapest University of Technology and Economics, where he taught computer science. Despite the long to-do list, however, he was feeling happy and relaxed. It was the first day of September and was one of those perfect, late-summer afternoons when the warm air and clear skies made you forget that cold autumn weather was lurking around the corner.

Bencsáth, known to his friends as Boldi, was sitting at his desk in the university’s Laboratory of Cryptography and System Security, a.k.a. CrySyS Lab, when the telephone interrupted his lunch. It was Jóska Bartos, CEO of a company for which the lab sometimes did consulting work (“Jóska Bartos” is a pseudonym).

“Boldi, do you have time to do something for us?” Bartos asked.

“Is this related to what we talked about before?” Bencsáth said, referring to a previous discussion they’d had about testing new services the company planned to offer customers.

…click on the above link to read the rest of the article…

Brazil builds its own fiber optic network to avoid the NSA

November 12, 2014

Brazil builds its own fiber optic network to avoid the NSA.

This past week Brazil announced that it will be building a 3,500-mile fiber-optic cable to Portugal in order to avoid the grip of the NSA.

What’s more, they announced that not a penny of the $185 million expected to be spent on the project will go to American firms, simply because they don’t want to take any chances that the US government will tap the system.

It’s incredible how far now individuals, corporations, and even governments are willing to go to protect themselves from the government of the Land of the Free.

The German government, especially upset by the discovery of US spying within its borders, has come up with a range of unique methods to block out prying ears.

…click on the above link to read the rest of the article…

The German BND and American NSA Cooperate More Closely than Thought – SPIEGEL ONLINE

November 12, 2014

The German BND and American NSA Cooperate More Closely than Thought – SPIEGEL ONLINE.

Three months before Edward Snowden shocked the world with his revelations, members of NSA’s “Special Source Operations department” sat down for a weekly meeting at their headquarters in the US state of Maryland. The group, considered internally to be particularly efficient, has several tasks, one of which is overseeing the intelligence agency’s delicate relationship with large telecommunications firms. It is the department that Snowden referred to as the “crown jewels” of the NSA.

At this particular meeting, one significant slip-up was on the meeting agenda. On March 14, 2013, an SSO member had reported a potentially damaging incident. “Commercial consortium personnel” had apparently discovered the program “Wharpdrive,” for which SSO had tapped a fiber-optic cable. “Witting partner personnel have removed the evidence,” he explained further, “and a plausible cover story was provided.” According to an internal NSA document to which SPIEGEL has access, a team was quietly put together to to reinstall the program.

The NSA, apparently, did not perform the highly sensitive operation on its own. All signs indicate that the agency had help from Germany’s Bundesnachrichtendienst (BND), the country’s foreign intelligence agency. The code name Wharpdrive appears in a paper drafted in preparation for a BND delegation’s visit to NSA headquarters in Fort Meade, and which instructs NSA leaders to “thank the BND for their assistance with the trilateral program.” It also makes clear that the German agency plays a leadership role in the Wharpdrive program, with the NSA providing only technical assistance.

…click on the above link to read the rest of the article…

The Internet of Spy-Things |

November 4, 2014

The Internet of Spy-Things |.

Your Hi-Tech Gadget is Watching You …

A friend pointed us to a recent articlepublished by the Brennan Center for Justice that discusses the transformation of household gadgets into spying devices. The author bought a new TV, and after reading the 46 pages of “privacy policy” in the manual, is apparently apprehensive about turning it on. Actually, “privacy policy” seems a misnomer. It would be more accurate to rename it “spying policy”.

An excerpt from the article:

I just bought a new TV. The old one had a good run, but after the volume got stuck on 63, I decided it was time to replace it. I am now the owner of a new “smart” TV, which promises to deliver streaming multimedia content, games, apps, social media, and Internet browsing. Oh, and TV too. The only problem is that I’m now afraid to use it. You would be too — if you read through the 46-page privacy policy.

The amount of data this thing collects is staggering. It logs where, when, how, and for how long you use the TV. It sets tracking cookies and beacons designed to detect “when you have viewed particular content or a particular email message.” It records “the apps you use, the websites you visit, and how you interact with content.” It ignores “do-not-track” requests as a considered matter of policy.

…click on the above link to read the rest of the article…

Canada, At War For 13 Years, Shocked That ‘A Terrorist’ Attacked Its Soldiers – The Intercept

October 22, 2014

Canada, At War For 13 Years, Shocked That ‘A Terrorist’ Attacked Its Soldiers – The Intercept.

Featured photo - Canada, At War For 13 Years, Shocked That ‘A Terrorist’ Attacked Its Soldiers

(updated below – Update II)

TORONTO – In Quebec on Monday, two Canadian soldiers were hit by a car driven by Martin Couture-Rouleau, a 25-year-old Canadian who, as The Globe and Mail reported, “converted to Islam recently and called himself Ahmad Rouleau.” One of the soldiers died, as did Couture-Rouleau when he was shot by police upon apprehension after allegedly brandishing a large knife. Police speculated that the incident was deliberate, alleging the driver waited for two hours before hitting the soldiers, one of whom was wearing a uniform. The incident took place in the parking lot of a shopping mall 30 miles southeast of Montreal, “a few kilometres from the Collège militaire royal de Saint-Jean, the military academy operated by the Department of National Defence.”

The right-wing Canadian government wasted no time in seizing on the incident to promote its fear-mongering agenda over terrorism, which includes pending legislation to vest its intelligence agency, CSIS, with more spying and secrecy powers in the name of fighting ISIS. A government spokesperson asserted “clear indications” that the driver “had become radicalized.”

…click on the above link to read the rest of the article…

Core Secrets: NSA Saboteurs in China and Germany – The Intercept

October 18, 2014

Core Secrets: NSA Saboteurs in China and Germany – The Intercept.

Featured photo - Core Secrets: NSA Saboteurs in China and Germany

The National Security Agency has had agents in China, Germany, and South Korea working on programs that use “physical subversion” to infiltrate and compromise networks and devices, according to documents obtained by The Intercept.

The documents, leaked by NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden, also indicate that the agency has used “under cover” operatives to gain access to sensitive data and systems in the global communications industry, and that these secret agents may have even dealt with American firms. The documents describe a range of clandestine field activities that are among the agency’s “core secrets” when it comes to computer network attacks, details of which are apparently shared with only a small number of officials outside the NSA.

…click on the above link for the rest of the article…

FBI To America: “Let Us Spy On You” | Zero Hedge

October 17, 2014

FBI To America: “Let Us Spy On You” | Zero Hedge.

“If you like your phone secretly spied on, you can keep it,” appears to be the message from the FBI, as Bloomberg reports, FBI Director James Comey said yesterday that companies like Apple and Google should be required to build surveillance capabilities into their products to help law enforcement with their probes. Technology has become “the tool of choice” for terrorists and other dangerous criminals, Comey fears(and so Americans should willingly give up their privacy?) “we are struggling to keep up with changing technology and maintain our ability to actually collect communications we are authorized to collect.” Concluding with his M.A.D. “it’s for your own good” propaganda, Comey warned “if the challenges of real time data interception threatened to leave us in the dark, encryption threatens to lead us all to a very dark place.”

…click on link above for more…

 

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