Infosecurity.US

Orwellian Huxleyism

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Telephony Denial of Service, The Slowness

 

Fascinating piece on a now, oft-overlooked attack vector: Telephony.

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Glass, Android

via

 

Stein Kryptos Solution, De-Classified

 

via Wired's Kim Zetter,  comes this well-crafted piece targeting the 1998 solution of Kryptos, by the United States Central Intelligence Agency Senior Analyst David Stein, and his subsequently published documentation (via George Washington University's National Security Archive) thereto.

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Fake Science, Inclined Plane

via the inimitable scientific monkeyshines of Fake Science.

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What Every DBA Should Know...

About Data Security, that is... Another superb write-up at DarkReading, by the erudite Adrian Lane, Chief Technology Officer and Analyst at Securosis, focusing on Database Administrators in the data security space. Today's MustRead.

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MAC OS X, Mare Leo

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Pater Potest Esse Nisi Unum

             image via PhoneBoy, aka Dameon Welch-Abernathy 

Superb screed, via ArsTechnica's Jon Brodkin, and illustrated by PhoneBoy (also known as Dameon Welch-Abernathy - the information security auteur responsible for the highly respected podcast PhoneyBoy Speaks), targeting the latest pronouncements from PayPal. This time, the oft-predicted, yet ultimately elusive Death-of-Passwords. Today's MustRead.

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Joy of Tech™, OMG NSA!!

via the comic genius of @Nitrozac and @Snaggy at The Joy of Tech™

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Automatic Writing via NarrativeScience, The In-Q-Tel Investment

Well crafted, and fascinating screed, via All Things Digitals' Peter Kafka, in which, the highly skilled Kafka details, in a workman-like fashion, the recent investment in Narrative Science, and the company's robotic writers, by In-Q-Tel.

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XKCD, Reports

via the indisputable logic of Randall Munroe at XKCD.

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ICANN, How To Report DDoS

via ICANN's Dave Piscitello, comes this interesting How-To, targeting reporting of Distributed Denial of Service Attack.

Excerpt - 'At an operational level, you, your hosting provider or ISP should gather as much information related to the attack as possible. The Operations Security Trust Forum recommends collecting the following kinds information:

1. Provide as much time information as possible: identify the start of attack, end of attack, whether the attacks are repeated, and whether there are observable patterns or cycles to the attacks.
2. Share any insights or suspicions you have regarding the nature of the attack. Does it appear to correlate with a geo-political event? Did you receive threatening correspondence prior to or during the attack and if so, what was the nature of the threat?
3. Provide detailed traffic information including: type of traffic (ICMP, DNS, TCP, UDP, application), source and targeted IP addresses and port numbers, packet rate, packet size, and bandwidth consumed by the attack traffic.
4. Describe any unique traffic or packet characteristics you observe. Is the attack targeting a particular virtual host or domain? What have you observed from application protocol headers? Have you observed any unusual patterns of flag settings in underlying protocols (TCP, UDP, ICMP, IP)?
5. Identify any changes you observe in the attack over time (i.e., to packet sizes, rates, unique IPs seen per epoch, protocols, etc.). These may be indications that the attacker is reacting to mitigation efforts you or others have implemented.
6. Provide your assessment of the impact; for example, explain whether you are managing the attack using mitigations and assistance, or that your services or performance is {moderately, severely} affected, or that your services have been disrupted entirely'.

- via ICANN's Dave Piscitello

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Vulcan

 

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Internet - Never Forgets

'Archive is a documentary focused on the future of long-term digital storage, the history of the Internet and attempts to preserve its contents on a massive scale.  Part one features Brewster Kahle, founder of the Internet Archive and his colleagues Robert Miller, director of books, and Alexis Rossi, director of web collections. On a mission to create universal access to all knowledge, the Internet Archive’s staff have built the world's largest online library, offering 10 petabytes of archived websites, books, movies, music, and television broadcasts. Directed by Jonathan Minard, with cinematography by John Behrens, Alexander Porter, and Fearghal O'dea.' - via Deepspeed Media

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Every iPhone Screen, Ever Sold, Aggregated

via StupidCalculations

 

Password Tattoo, Dr. Dugan Style

via ArsTechnica's Casey Johnston comes the tale of a potentially painful password methodology [if permanent, rather than temporary] for gaining entry to your various, and sundry computational activities on our beloved interweb. None other than the Password Tattoo. Presented by Regina Dugan, Ph.D., [formerly, the Director of DARPA] currently the Senior Vice President of the Advanced Technology and Projects division at Motorola Mobility. Astonishing, in the implications, and fascinating in the execution, thereof...

 

 

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XKCD, Doors of Durin

via the irrefutable logic of the erudite Randall Munroe at XKCD.

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Cry Havoc, Bitwise

via Wired's Danger Room scrivener-for-all-seasons Noah Shachtman, comes an outstanding write-up illustrating how potentially easy computationally based warfare is to prosecute. Courtesy of Plan X at DARPA's I2O.

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71 Years

 

'This week, the Navy will commemorate the 71st anniversary of the Battle of Midway. The battle, which took place June 4 to 7, 1942, changed the course of the war in the Pacific and highlighted naval aviation’s vast capabilities.' - via Navy Live's Jason Kelly

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XKCD, Sticks and Stones

via the indisputable logic of the erudite Randall Munroe at XKCD.

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SCADA Chronicles, Reddy Kilowatt Attacked

Whilst not surprising nor a revelation, news, via  Computerworld's Jeremy Kirk, of increased  electronic vectored attacks on US-based power utilities and their attendant Industrial Control System [ICS] compute infrastructures is troubling. Global control system attacks, [specifically perpetrated against the State of Israel] targeting water systems, have also surfaced...

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XKCD, Cells

via the irrefutable logic of the indomitable Randall Munroe at XKCD.

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Mobile Telephony, Survival Infographic

Joy of Tech™, GIF vs. JIF

via the comic genius of @Nitrozac and @Snaggy at The Joy of Tech™

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On The Intersection of Warfare and Espionage, In the Electronic Realm

via Jarno Limnéll at the compendius information security blog InfosecIsalnd, comes an fascinating  take on the intersection of so-called, 'cyber-espionage' and 'cyber-warfare' genres, of what, is apparently, mankind's favorite pastime - War.

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Journeyman, Surveilled

 

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XKCD, Insight

via the indisputable logic of the erudite Randall Munroe at XKCD.

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Internet of Things + Surveillance, Schneier's Take

 

Yet another erudite thought piece on surveillance activities, with the focus on the so-called Internet of Things, via the cogitation of Bruce Schneier. Outstanding.

'Ephemeral conversation is over. Wholesale surveillance is the norm. Maintaining privacy from these powerful entities is basically impossible, and any illusion of privacy we maintain is based either on ignorance or on our unwillingness to accept what's really going on'. -  Bruce Schneier, Chief Security Technology Officer [CSTO] BT

 

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Physical Security, Tornadoes

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Markham Nolan, 'Separate Fact and Fiction Online'

 

Interesting advice, targeting the search for factual information on our beloved interwebs...

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Oracle Alchemist, Genesis

via the on-target Oracle technical erudition of Steve Karam of Oracle Alchemist.

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