Let's not forget who promoted the Clipper Chip - Al Gore. [image: Inline image 1]
NSA Headquarters,Langly VA "The official who concocted the Clipper Chip scheme had a vision where private citizens could use encryption. But the NSA, though its built-in backdoor chip, would be able to access the information when it needed to. The official called his vision “Nirvana.” The NSA is still envisioning Nirvana, this time a system with huge haystacks accessed only when national security is at stake. But many people believe the very creation of those government-owned haystacks is a privacy violation, and possibly unconstitutional." 'I Spent Two Hours Talking With the NSA’s Bigwigs. Here’s What Has Them Mad' http://www.wired.com/threatlevel/2014/01/nsa-surveillance/ On Sun, Jan 12, 2014 at 8:17 AM, Richard Williams <pundits...@gmail.com>wrote: > Cyber Security > > One of the last computer courses I took when I was employed r the > community college was a course in cyber security. If I was young and had > some ambition, this is the field I would get into. I already know a little > bit about computer security because I worked as a system analyst for a few > years at the college. > > Information Technology Security - ITSY 1342 > > However it's kind of a lonely life working in security - you are usually > stuck in a room in the basement of a building with two or three other nerds > dressed in T-shirts and jeans because of the heat; no windows to look out > of and the noise coming from the server room can be a real problem to get > used to. No guests are allowed into the server room! > > can also be a drag if you get stuck working for a short, fat, bald-headed > guy that smokes a cigar. Fortunately we had a great gal from India to work > for, but I think I knew more about IT than she did. I liked it much better > managing the faculty computer lab and interacting with the teachers. Go > figure. > > [image: Inline image 1] > > IT department and faculty and student computer labs located on the 7th > floor > > "For years, U.S. merchants and banks have balked at adopting a > well-established system that uses credit and debit cards that store > information on computer chips. The technology, ubiquitous in Europe, Canada > and elsewhere, makes it harder for thieves to misuse data compared with > cards that store data only on magnetic stripes." > > Read more: > > > 'Target payment card data theft highlights lagging U.S. security' > http://www.reuters.com/target-security-lagging<http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/12/22/us-target-security-lagging-idUSBRE9BL06X20131222> > > > On Sat, Jan 11, 2014 at 8:05 AM, Richard Williams <pundits...@gmail.com>wrote: > >> Data Center - Target >> >> [image: Inline image 1] >> >> NSA Utah data center - take note of how many cars you can see parked here >> - 3-4. Go figure. >> >> So, the target (no pun intended) was Target Stores. The hack is nearly >> three times larger than first reported. This sounds tome like a middle-man >> job to me. Target doesn't maintain their own data (pronounced day-ta) >> center - most large companies depend on cloud services like Rackspace to >> collect and store their data. >> >> So, the data at the point-of-sale goes to the data center which could be >> located anywhere. No large corporation that I know of stores their own >> data. It looks like somebody got into the data center and planted a >> collection program at the root level of the blade server. In order to do >> that you'd probably have to gain physical entry to the data center. This >> would be a lot easier to do if you worked either for the data center on >> premises or could get access for a few hours or even days. It probably >> takes twelve people in three shifts to run a large data center at the >> physical location. >> >> I'd say this caper would involve at least three people on the ground >> inside the data center: one have the key; one to carry the laptop and >> cable; and one that knows the password. I'd say that all three were caught >> on video cameras, unless the insider hacker knew how to disable the >> security system. It took Edward Snowden less than a few months to download >> tons of data once he was inside or connected to the data center at Langley, >> VA. >> >> If you read the mainstream media you'd think someone broke into a target >> store down on Main or at a local mall and stole some credit card numbers. >> It's much bigger than that - all your data is stored somewhere, at some >> data center somewhere. Hackers are probably looking at everyone's Obamacare >> data as I hit the send button on my computer. You've got to assume that all >> your individual cloud data is available to someone right now. If you don't >> want to share your data with anyone your only recourse is for you to get >> off the cloud. Now, how are you going to do that? Post your answer here - >> thanks. >> >> "The revelations about Target's data breach continue to get worse, with >> the retailer now estimating that at least 70 million customers have been >> impacted, almost twice as many as the 40 million it had earlier disclosed. >> And it may turn out even more people were affected." >> >> Read the full story: >> >> 'Target says data breach bigger than previously thought' >> http://www.cbsnews.com/news/target-data-breach/<http://www.cbsnews.com/news/target-warns-data-breach-impacted-70-million-people/> >> >> Workd cited: >> >> Data Centers - The Cloud: >> https://groups.yahoo.com/FairfieldLife/368898<https://groups.yahoo.com/neo/groups/FairfieldLife/conversations/messages/368898> >> >> >> On Thu, Jan 2, 2014 at 1:51 PM, Richard Williams <pundits...@gmail.com>wrote: >> >>> Internet Alley >>> >>> [image: Inline image 1] >>> >>> "In recent years, the influx of technology companies into Northern >>> Virginia has brought many new office buildings and hotels to the landscape. >>> The rapid growth of Tysons Corner (in comparison to other locations near >>> the Capital Beltway) has been the topic of numerous studies. This is a >>> visionary look at Tysons Corner as the driving force of the nation's >>> technological economy." >>> >>> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tysons_Corner,_Virginia >>> >>> "Much of the world's Internet management and governance takes place in a >>> corridor extending west from Washington, DC, through northern Virginia >>> toward Washington Dulles International Airport. Much of the United States' >>> military planning and analysis takes place here as well. At the center of >>> that corridor is Tysons Corner--an unincorporated suburban crossroads once >>> dominated by dairy farms and gravel pits. >>> >>> Today, the government contractors and high- tech firms--companies like >>> DynCorp, CACI, Verisign, and SAIC--that now populate this corridor have >>> created an "Internet Alley" off the Washington Beltway. In From Tysons >>> Corner to Internet Alley, Paul Ceruzzi examines this compact area of >>> intense commercial development and describes its transformation into one of >>> the most dynamic and prosperous regions in the country. Ceruzzi explains >>> how a concentration of military contractors carrying out weapons analysis, >>> systems engineering, operations research, and telecommunications combined >>> with suburban growth patterns to drive the region's development. >>> >>> The dot-com bubble's burst was offset here, he points out, by the >>> government's growing national security-related need for information >>> technology. Ceruzzi looks in detail at the nature of the work carried out >>> by these government contractors and how it can be considered truly >>> innovative in terms of both technology and management. Today in Tysons >>> Corner, clusters of sleek new office buildings housing high-technology >>> companies stand out against the suburban landscape, and the upscale Tysons >>> Galleria Mall is neighbor to a government-owned radio tower marked by a >>> sign warning visitors not to photograph or sketch it. >>> >>> Ceruzzi finds that a variety of perennially relevant issues intersect >>> here, making it both a literal and figurative crossroads: federal support >>> of scientific research, the shift of government activities to private >>> contractors, local politics of land use, and the postwar movement from >>> central cities to suburbs. Paul E. Ceruzzi is Curator of the National Air >>> and Space Museum, Smithsonian Institution, Washington DC. He is the author >>> of A History of Modern Computing (second edition, MIT Press, 2003) and >>> other books, and coeditor of The Internet and American Business (MIT Press, >>> 2008)." >>> >>> Read more: >>> >>> "Internet Alley: High Technology in Tysons Corner, 1945-2005' >>> by Paul E. Ceruzzi >>> The MIT Press, 2011 >>> >>> >>> On Tue, Dec 31, 2013 at 8:38 AM, Richard Williams >>> <pundits...@gmail.com>wrote: >>> >>>> Data Centers - The Cloud >>>> >>>> [image: Inline image 1] >>>> >>>> Data centers adhere to the same rules as any electronic secret black >>>> box - the first rule of any data center is : "Don't talk about the data >>>> centers." This is typical hush-hush and can also carry over to people's >>>> mental ideas of other types the internet infrastructure such as networks, >>>> exchange points, the web, cables and "the cloud." Very few people know >>>> where their data is stored - sure you have a hard drive on your computer or >>>> a flash drive where you store your data, or even a few blue ethernet >>>> cables lying around the house. >>>> >>>> But, other locations are mysterious - for example, your online mail, >>>> bank information or your Amazon account. So, where is the data? In Oregon >>>> or Alaska? Where is the data center and what makes a data center work? If >>>> it's not really in the cloud, where is it? And, how many copies of your >>>> data are out there, stored out there, somewhere in the back of beyond. >>>> According to Blum, there is a physical infrastructure. >>>> >>>> "So why all the secrecy about data centers? A data center if the >>>> storehouse of information, the closest the internet has to a physical >>>> vault. Exchange points are merely transient places, where information >>>> passes through (and fast!). But in data centers it's relatively static, and >>>> physically contained in equipment that needs to be protected, and which >>>> itself has enormous value. Yet more often the secrecy isn't because of >>>> concerns over privacy or theft, but competition. Knowing how big a data >>>> center is, how much power it uses, and precisely what's inside is the kind >>>> of proprietary information technology companies are eager to keep under >>>> wraps." >>>> >>>> Work cited: >>>> >>>> 'Tubes: A Journey to the Center of the Internet' >>>> by Andrew Blum >>>> Ecco, 2012 >>>> p. 238 >>>> >>>> Other links of interest: >>>> >>>> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Data_center >>>> >>>> Performance Cloud Servers: >>>> http://www.rackspace.com/ >>>> >>>> >>>> On Mon, Dec 30, 2013 at 7:56 AM, Richard Williams <pundits...@gmail.com >>>> > wrote: >>>> >>>>> Tubes: A Journey to the Center of the Internet >>>>> >>>>> Tubes, by Andrew Blum, looks behind the scenes of our digital lives at >>>>> he physical heart of the internet itself. These tubes are the real places >>>>> on the map: their sounds and smells, their storied past, their physical >>>>> details, and the people who live there. Sharing tales of his on-the-ground >>>>> reporting, along with lucid explanations about how the role of technology >>>>> in our lives. >>>>> >>>>> Excerpt: >>>>> >>>>> "According to TeleGeography, the most heavily trafficked international >>>>> Internet route is between New York and London, as if the cities were the >>>>> two ends of the Internet's brightest tube of light. For the Internet, as >>>>> for so much else, London is the hinge between east and west, the place >>>>> where the networks reaching across the Atlantic link up with those >>>>> extending from Europe, from Africa and India. A bit from Mumbai to Chicago >>>>> will go through London and then New York, as will one from Madrid to Sao >>>>> Paulo and Lagos to Dallas. >>>>> >>>>> The cities' enjoined gravity pulls in the light, as it pulls in so >>>>> much else. But despite that, the Internet's physical manifestation in the >>>>> two cities is completely different. I had started out with the assumption >>>>> that London is the old world and New York the new. But with the Internet, >>>>> the opposite turned out to be true. If in Amsterdam the Internet was >>>>> hidden >>>>> away in low industrial buildings on the cities' ragged edges, and in New >>>>> York it colonized art deco palaces, in London it formed a single, >>>>> concentrated, self-contained district - an office "estate," in the British >>>>> term - just east of Canary Wharf and the City, known formally as East >>>>> India >>>>> Quay but by network engineers, and most else, as just "Docklands." It was >>>>> a >>>>> massive agglomeration, an entire Internet neighborhood. I wondered what >>>>> was >>>>> at its heart. And how far into its center I could go." >>>>> >>>>> 'Tubes: A Journey to the Center of the Internet' >>>>> by Andrew Blum >>>>> Ecco, 2012 >>>>> >>>>> >>>>> On Sun, Dec 29, 2013 at 7:08 PM, Richard Williams < >>>>> pundits...@gmail.com> wrote: >>>>> >>>>>> It's almost breath taking in it's scope! >>>>>> >>>>>> Imagine the BIOS of your computer hacked by the feds BEFORE it even >>>>>> reaches the stockroom of your local computer store. The BIOS - that's >>>>>> where >>>>>> you want to be if you are a spy agency. Forget tracing your calls; forget >>>>>> meta data warehousing; forget call monitoring; forget putting duck tape >>>>>> over laptop web cam. If they already have BIOS implants in your DELL or >>>>>> HP >>>>>> or whatever brand computer, you are doomed and the game is already over. >>>>>> >>>>>> Here is a simple test: Power up your laptop and leave it on; then >>>>>> exit the room for a few minutes. When you come back, check to see if your >>>>>> weather location is local or Arlington, VA. >>>>>> >>>>>> And, you think you can trick them by simply removing the battery in >>>>>> your cell phone? What if you own one that doesn't have a removable >>>>>> battery? >>>>>> Why do you think they are doing away with cell phones with removable >>>>>> batteries? >>>>>> >>>>>> "The ANT division does not just manufacture surveillance hardware. It >>>>>> also develops software for special tasks. The ANT developers have a clear >>>>>> preference for planting their malicious code in so-called BIOS, software >>>>>> located on a computer’s motherboard that is the first thing to load when >>>>>> a >>>>>> computer is turned on." >>>>>> >>>>>> Read more: >>>>>> >>>>>> NSA reportedly intercepting laptops purchased online to install spy >>>>>> malware' >>>>>> >>>>>> http://www.theverge.com/2013/12/29/5253226/nsa-cia-fbi-laptop-usb-plant-spy >>>>>> >>>>>> >>>>>> On Thu, Dec 26, 2013 at 8:02 AM, Richard Williams < >>>>>> pundits...@gmail.com> wrote: >>>>>> >>>>>>> Arrest him and book him! >>>>>>> >>>>>>> You are fired for lying to the American people. Clear out your desk >>>>>>> and leave the building! Officer, arrest this man and book him for serial >>>>>>> lying. Bailiff, put this man in chains and take him for the perp >>>>>>> walk,immediately! Mr. Biden, get on the phone with that Snowden fellow >>>>>>> and >>>>>>> get his pardon ready,NOW! Do it! >>>>>>> >>>>>>> It's not easy to pick the year's most transparent lie from the >>>>>>> self-styled “most transparent administration in history.” There are so >>>>>>> many >>>>>>> to choose from—such a richness of embarrassment. >>>>>>> >>>>>>> For my money, the biggest presidential lie of the year came on June >>>>>>> 7, the week after former National Security Agency contractor Edward >>>>>>> Snowden >>>>>>> revealed the agency's secret collection of call records data on >>>>>>> millions of >>>>>>> Americans. “I welcome this debate,” Obama proclaimed—even as his >>>>>>> administration was hunting down the whistleblower who started it and >>>>>>> preparing to hit him with 30 years of Espionage Act charges." >>>>>>> >>>>>>> Read more: >>>>>>> >>>>>>> 'Obama's Epic Fib About the NSA' >>>>>>> http://reason.com/archives/2013/12/24/obamas-epic-fibs-about-the-nsa >>>>>>> >>>>>>> >>>>>>> On Fri, Oct 18, 2013 at 7:55 AM, Richard Williams < >>>>>>> pundits...@gmail.com> wrote: >>>>>>> >>>>>>>> The ObamaCare disaster is not just a management failure, it's a >>>>>>>> firing incident. Where I used to work, a system failure this large >>>>>>>> would be >>>>>>>> a cause for instant dismissal: >>>>>>>> >>>>>>>> *"Clean off your desk and get out, you're fired! Officer, escort >>>>>>>> this person off the premises. And, don't you ever come back! You'll >>>>>>>> never >>>>>>>> work in this town again. You fuckin' idiot!"* >>>>>>>> >>>>>>>> [image: Inline image 1] >>>>>>>> >>>>>>>> 'In Defense of Kathleen Sebelius' >>>>>>>> http://online.wsj.com/news/articles/<http://online.wsj.com/news/articles/SB10001424052702303680404579141473117316190> >>>>>>>> >>>>>>> >>>>>>> >>>>>> >>>>> >>>> >>> >> >
