US Navy joins NSA in US intelligence snafus

First some low-level contract worker walks off with all of the NSA's top secret classified documents. Now the US Navy Vice Admiral who is the Navy's top intelligence officer, and the US Navy’s director of intelligence operations, were both placed on leave Friday, November 8, and their access to classified material was suspended, the Navy said in a statement. "Both admirals are being investigated for their ties to a Singapore-based defense contractor, Glenn Defense Marine Asia, whose chief executive was arrested in September on charges that he bribed other Navy officers into giving him classified or privileged information in exchange for prostitutes and cash." Two admirals face probe in Navy bribery scheme - The Washington Post.

You have to hand it to the US government and the Commander in Chief, when it comes to security and intelligence, they really run a tight ship! And these are the clowns and idiots who are keeping us safe? LOL!  Intelligence, Security, Prostitutes, Cash -- see a disconnect here? This reminds one of the US Secret Service whose whoring around finally caught up with them in Colombia.

And if you wonder why neither China nor Russia showed any interest in obtaining Snowden's documents, it's most likely both China and Russia already had everything Snowden had, long before he ever downloaded anything onto a thumbdrive. Whether somebody inside the NSA gave it to them (for prostitutes and cash?) or they used a backdoor or credentials, I'll leave for others to investigate. But remember, this is the same national security and intelligence apparatus that couldn't stop the Boston bombers (even after being given advance warning by Russia) nor make a facial ID after the suspects were caught on security cameras! And the Great Leader is a guy who, through his now National Security Advisor, tried to tell us that Benghazi was the result of a YouTube video. God help us.

Tweet    Follow @johnmpoole

Snowden, NSA, Security, Safeguards, Forensic Investigators Clueless

NSA stands for National Security Agency? Is this a joke or what? And now the leaks from NSA are about the NSA's lack of security --

Edward Snowden's digital maneuvers still stumping U.S. government - CBS News: "The government's forensic investigation is wrestling with Snowden's apparent ability to defeat safeguards established to monitor and deter people looking at information without proper permission, said the officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity because they weren't authorized to discuss the sensitive developments publicly."

As I've said before-- LOL -- you can't make this stuff up!

Tweet    Follow @johnmpoole

NSA security "creepiness"

NSA and the creepiness of bureaucratic security creep--

N.S.A. Latest: The Secret History of Domestic Surveillance : The New Yorker: "In retrospect, what’s most notable about the order President Bush signed are the restrictions it contained. Originally, it lasted for just thirty days, and was limited to online communications in which at least one of the communicants was located outside the United States. Moreover, it was explicitly based on “the President’s determination that after the 11 September 2001 terrorist attacks in the United States, an extraordinary emergency existed for national defense purposes.” Over time, though, the “extraordinary emergency” was deemed a permanent state of affairs, and the scope of the authorization was broadened until, eventually, it came to include even the collection of data from communications between American citizens located inside the United States."

Tweet    Follow @johnmpoole

Washington Destroying America in order to "protect America"--don't you feel safe?

Anonymous leaks more NSA-related docs as Obama defends PRISM | ZDNet

NSA spying scandal fallout: Expect big impact in Europe and elsewhere (Updated) — Tech News and Analysis

Dianne Feinstein on NSA: ‘It’s called protecting America’ - Tim Mak and Burgess Everett - POLITICO.com (you can read all about it in the above and elsewhere).

I'm not going to waste much time on this--it's the boiling frog story--unless stopped, eventually the US will be a complete police state with no privacy, no constitutional rights--Osama Bin Laden predicted this and counted it as his "victory."  So thank you Washington--George W. Bush, Barack H. Obama, Congress and the Courts (including the "secret" FISA court)--for destroying the America we love and the Constitution it was founded upon.

The real security risk in all of this is that though Washington believes they are "protecting America," we are probably more unsafe than ever because of idiocy like this. It is obvious the US security agencies are awash in data--so much data that they can't make heads or tails out of it. They are wasting a lot of man-hours, and money, chasing dead-ends. They are pretty much clueless--as evidenced by the case of the Boston bombers (they had their names, IDs, photos, and had even been "tipped off" by Russia) and yet, they couldn't even do a photo-match ID (it took days to figure who the guys caught on the private security cameras were). Brilliant! Then the "authorities" (what an oxymoron) shut down Boston, brought in tanks, swat teams, and other "toys" provided by "Homeland Security" [sic], and other agencies, invaded a bunch of people's homes without probable cause, and were still unable to find a wounded, bleeding suspect last known to be "on foot." Finally, they gave up, called off the "lock-down," and within minutes thereafter, a guy walking his dog finds the suspect in his backyard! So much for all the "gear," wasted man-hours and taxpayer money, and the useless expensive "toys" provided by DHS.

So rest assured. Somewhere in the bowels of a governmental agency database resides all the data of your communications. And like a needle in a haystack, there might even be a few pieces of data from amateurs like the Boston bombers. As for real terrorists--you know, guys who might detonate a nuclear weapon, etc.,--they won't be using Verizon et al. Don't you feel safe?

Tweet    Follow @johnmpoole

Apple and Amazon Security Led to Epic Hacking

The old adage, "be careful who you do business with" still holds true--

How Apple and Amazon Security Flaws Led to My Epic Hacking | Gadget Lab | Wired.com: "As of Monday, both of these exploits used by the hackers were still functioning. Wired was able to duplicate them. Apple says its internal tech support processes weren’t followed, and this is how my account was compromised. However, this contradicts what AppleCare told me twice that weekend. If that is, in fact, the case — that I was the victim of Apple not following its own internal processes — then the problem is widespread."

It makes no difference how "careful" you are with your personal information and security, if those you've entrusted with that information release it to others without your consent.

Tweet    Follow @johnmpoole

5 Tips To Toughen Passwords

Heard several tech people say they "closed their Linked-In accounts" after passwords were reported stolen--typical comment--"I never used or needed my Linked-In account anyway." But if you have an account at Linked-In or elsewhere requiring secure passwords, I pass along the following:

7 Tips To Toughen Passwords - Security - End user/client security - Informationweek -- of the Seven Tips, here are the top five IMHO:

Use separate and unique passwords for each site
Use non alpha characters such as ?!$% in the password
Use Uncommon Patterns
Do Not Use Biographical Details
Use Longer Passwords

Be safe, be secure!

 Tweet   Follow @johnmpoole

Living in an Age of Digital Espionage

Traveling to China or Russia? Better go lean and light--leave your cellphone and laptop at home and instead bring “loaner” devices, which you erase before you leave and wipe clean the minute you return. Disable Bluetooth and Wi-Fi, never let your phone out of sight and, in meetings, not only turn off the phone but also remove the battery (the microphone could be turned on remotely). Connect to the Internet only through an encrypted, password-protected channel, and copy and paste passwords from a USB thumb drive (never type in a password directly).

Electronic Security a Worry in an Age of Digital Espionage - NYTimes.com: . . . What might have once sounded like the behavior of a paranoid is now standard operating procedure for officials at American government agencies, research groups and companies that do business in China and Russia — like Google, the State Department and the Internet security giant McAfee. Digital espionage in these countries, security experts say, is a real and growing threat — whether in pursuit of confidential government information or corporate trade secrets. “If a company has significant intellectual property that the Chinese and Russians are interested in, and you go over there with mobile devices, your devices will get penetrated,” said Joel F. Brenner, formerly the top counterintelligence official in the office of the director of national intelligence.". . . . "The implication, said Jacob Olcott, a cybersecurity expert at Good Harbor Consulting, was that devices brought into China were hacked. “Everybody knows that if you are doing business in China, in the 21st century, you don’t bring anything with you. That’s ‘Business 101’ — at least it should be.” Neither the Chinese nor Russian embassies in Washington responded to several requests for comment. . . . " (emphasis added)