German court limits cyber spying
,----[ Quote ]
| Germany's highest court has restricted the right of the security services to
| spy on the computers of suspected criminals and terrorists.
`----
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/7266543.stm
Okay, so the police can still crack its way into Microsoft Windows from the
back doors, but it just has more /legal/ limits (not practical limits). And
there's this implication:
Privacy Trumps Copyright in EU?
,----[ Quote ]
| Now let's watch this ripple through the European Union until it reaches that
| nice Mr Brown and his plans to get heavy with ISPs over alleged copyright
| infringements on their networks....
`----
http://opendotdotdot.blogspot.com/2008/02/privacy-trumps-copyright-in-eu.html
They might want to have a walk in the park on Windows PCs to check for
copyrights infringement.
Recent:
RIAA boss: Move copyright filtering from ISPs to users’ PCs
,----[ Quote ]
| The issue of encryption "would have to be faced," Sherman admitted after
| talking about the wonders of filtering. "One could have a filter on the end
| user's computer that would actually eliminate any benefit from encryption
| because if you want to hear [the music], you would need to decrypt it, and at
| that point the filter would work."
`----
http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20080207-riaa-boss-spyware-could-solve-the-encryption-problem.html
Related:
Microsoft wireless keyboards crypto cracked
,----[ Quote ]
| Bluetooth is increasingly becoming the de-facto standard for wireless
| communication in peripheral devices and is reckoned to be secure. But some
| manufacturers such as Logitech and Microsoft rely on 27 MHz radio technology
| which, it transpires, is anything but secure.
`----
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2007/12/03/wireless_keyboard_crypto_cracked/
Cryptome: NSA has access to Windows Mobile smartphones
,----[ Quote ]
| First time in history Cryptome.org has released information about the
| characteristics of NSA’s network surveillance.
`----
http://blogs.securiteam.com/index.php/archives/1028
Microsoft confirms that XP contains random number generator bug
,----[ Quote ]
| As recently as last Friday, Microsoft hedged in answering questions about
| whether XP and Vista could be attacked in the same way, saying only that
| later versions of Windows "contain various changes and enhancements to the
| random number generator."
`----
http://www.computerworld.com/action/article.do?command=viewArticleBasic&articleId=9048438&intsrc=hm_list
House passes Restore Act with no telecom immunity provision
,----[ Quote ]
| The House of Representatives has passed the Restore Act, which facilitates
| broad surveillance of foreign terror groups while restoring the Foreign
| Intelligence Surveillance Act Court's oversight of communications between
| foreign and domestic surveillance targets. The Restore Act controversially
| does not include a provision granting telecom companies retroactive legal
| immunity for their involvement in the NSA wiretap program.
`----
http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20071116-house-passes-restore-act-with-no-telecom-immunity-provision.html
,----[ Quote ]
| "Is this a good idea or not? For the first time, the giant software maker
| is acknowledging the help of the secretive agency, better known for
| eavesdropping on foreign officials and, more recently, U.S. citizens as
| part of the Bush..."
`----
http://www.schneier.com/blog/archives/2007/01/nsa_helps_micro_1.html
Microsoft could be teaching police to hack Vista
,----[ Quote ]
| Microsoft may begin training the police in ways to break the
| encryption built into its forthcoming Vista operating system.
`----
http://www.vnunet.com/vnunet/news/2150555/microsoft-teaching-police-hack
UK holds Microsoft security talks
,----[ Quote ]
| "UK officials are talking to Microsoft over fears the new version of
| Windows could make it harder for police to read suspects' computer files."
`----
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/4713018.stm
Microsoft patents the mother of all adware systems
,----[ Quote ]
| The adware framework would leave almost no data untouched in its quest to
| sell you stuff. It would inspect "user document files, user e-mail files,
| user music files, downloaded podcasts, computer settings, computer status
| messages (e.g., a low memory status or low printer ink)," and more. How could
| we have been so blind as to not see the marketing value in computer status
| messages?
`----
http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20070717-microsoft-patents-the-mother-of-all-adware-systems.html
Why proprietary code is bad for security
,----[ Quote ]
| Tho Skype is using an encrypted protocol, it’s still their own, non-disclosed
| code and property. So we don’t know what it contains.
|
| [...]
|
| It’s time to stop accepting that we are the bad guys, and to stop consuming
| things we just don’t understand (and cannot, because they are proprietary,
| closed-source systems).
|
| Say no to companies, or even governments who treat you like this. Start using
| open sourced products and protocols wherever you can. Even if you could
| still never understand the code used in these systems, there are still lots
| of people who can, and who will examine it. The magic word here is “peer
| review” - your friend or buddy or neighbour may be able to understand all
| that, and to help. No, not with Skype or Windows or any black box from Cisco.
`----
http://wolfgang.lonien.de/?p=394
FBI ducks questions about its remotely installed spyware
,----[ Quote ]
| There are plenty of unanswered questions about the FBI spyware that, as we
| reported earlier this week, can be delivered over the Internet and implanted
| in a suspect's computer remotely.
`----
http://news.com.com/8301-10784_3-9747666-7.html
United States Government Online Watchdogs? Part of the war on terror?
,----[ Quote
| Is there anyone in the abandonia community with a US based connection who is
| experiencing this watchdog behavior? Are any foreign Vista users experiencing
| similar attacks from their own countries ministries and governing agencies?"
`----
http://www.whitedust.net/news/3984/United_States_Government_Online_Watchdogs?_Part_of_the_war_on_terror?.../
Back doors in Windows XP...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KGlNTEQ0RzM
Mother of all spyware...
http://news.softpedia.com/news/Forget-about-the-WGA-20-Windows-Vista-Features-and-Services-Harvest-User-Data-for-Microsoft-58752.shtml
Police eats your CPU cycles and disk space...
,----[ Quote ]
| Vista—Microsoft’s latest operating system—may prove to be most
| appropriately named, especially for those seeking evidence of how a
| computer was used.
`----
http://www.abanet.org/journal/ereport/jy13tkjasn.html
Will Microsoft Put The Colonel in the Kernel?
,----[ Quote ]
| "The kernel meets The Colonel in a just-published Microsoft patent
| application for an Advertising Services Architecture, which delivers targeted
| advertising as 'part of the OS.'
`----
http://slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=07/07/14/043200
Austria OKs terror snooping Trojan plan
,----[ Quote ]
| Austria has become one of the first countries to officially sanction the use
| of Trojan Horse malware as a tactic for monitoring the PCs of suspected
| terrorists and criminals.
|
| [...]
|
| Would-be terrorists need only use Ubuntu Linux to avoid the ploy. And even if
| they stuck with Windows their anti-virus software might detect the malware.
| Anti-virus firms that accede to law enforcement demands to turn a blind eye
| to state-sanctioned malware risk undermining trust in their software, as
| similar experience in the US has shown.
`----
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2007/10/23/teutonic_trojan/
Schäuble renews calls for surreptitious online searches of PCs
,----[ Quote ]
| In his speech towards the end of the national conference of the Junge Union,
| the youth organization of the ruling conservative Christian Democratic Union
| (CDU), in Berlin the Federal Minister of the Interior Wolfgang Schäuble has
| again come out in favor of allowing authorities to search private PCs
| secretly online and of deploying the German Armed Forces in Germany in the
| event of an emergency.
`----
http://www.heise.de/english/newsticker/news/97755/from/rss09
Encrypted E-Mail Company Hushmail Spills to Feds
,----[ Quote ]
| Hushmail, a longtime provider of encrypted web-based email, markets itself by
| saying that "not even a Hushmail employee with access to our servers can read
| your encrypted e-mail, since each message is uniquely encoded before it
| leaves your computer."
|
| But it turns out that statement seems not to apply to individuals targeted by
| government agencies that are able to convince a Canadian court to serve a
| court order on the company.
`----
http://blog.wired.com/27bstroke6/2007/11/encrypted-e-mai.html
No email privacy rights under Constitution, US gov claims
,----[ Quote ]
| This appears to be more than a mere argument in support of the
| constitutionality of a Congressional email privacy and access scheme. It
| represents what may be the fundamental governmental position on
| Constitutional email and electronic privacy - that there isn't any. What is
| important in this case is not the ultimate resolution of that narrow issue,
| but the position that the United States government is taking on the entire
| issue of electronic privacy. That position, if accepted, may mean that the
| government can read anybody's email at any time without a warrant.
`----
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2007/11/04/4th-amendment_email_privacy/
Can FOSS save your privacy?
,----[ Quote ]
| Well, the Bush regime has already claimed "we don't need no steenkin
| warrant" to listen to your phone calls, see what websites you visit,
| scan your emails, and now, with the revelation of a new
| "signing statement", it?s even claiming the authority to read your
| physical mail. When the government becomes the biggest threat to
| your privacy, you better take advantage of the legion of privacy
| advocates creating FOSS to help you retain what little bit of privacy
| you can still have.
|
| [...]
|
| However, just because your privacy is being threatened doesn't mean
| you have to accept it. There is a growing array of FOSS being
| developed to provide us with the ability to control our privacy.
| It's about time we all start using it.
`----
http://www.freesoftwaremagazine.com/blogs/can_foss_save_your_privacy
Polippix: The Political Linux Distribution of Denmark
,----[ Quote ]
| From what I have been able to determine, PROSA, the Association of
| Computer Professionals, is the group responsible for its development
| and distribution. Their feelings on how privacy is being affected in
| the country of Denmark are rather obvious, and it looks as if they
| are not going to take these concerns lying down.
`----
http://www.madpenguin.org/cms/?m=show&id=7822
Microsoft exec calls XP hack 'frightening'
,----[ Quote ]
| "You can download attack tools from the Internet, and even script kiddies can
| use this one," said Mick.
|
| Mick found the IP address of his own computer by using the XP Wireless
| Network Connection Status dialog box. He deduced the IP address of Andy's
| computer by typing different numerically adjacent addresses in that IP range
| into the attack tool, then scanning the addresses to see if they belonged to
| a vulnerable machine.
|
| Using a different attack tool, he produced a security report detailing the
| vulnerabilities found on the system. Mick decided to exploit one of them.
| Using the attack tool, Mick built a piece of malware in MS-DOS, giving it a
| payload that would exploit the flaw within a couple of minutes.
`----
http://news.zdnet.com/2100-1009_22-6218238.html
Duh! Windows Encryption Hacked Via Random Number Generator
,----[ Quote ]
| GeneralMount Carmel, Haifa – A group of researchers headed by Dr. Benny
| Pinkas from the Department of Computer Science at the University of Haifa
| succeeded in finding a security vulnerability in Microsoft's "Windows 2000"
| operating system. The significance of the loophole: emails, passwords, credit
| card numbers, if they were typed into the computer, and actually all
| correspondence that emanated from a computer using "Windows 2000" is
| susceptible to tracking. "This is not a theoretical discovery. Anyone who
| exploits this security loophole can definitely access this information on
| other computers," remarked Dr. Pinkas.
|
| Editors Note: I believe this "loophole" is part of the Patriot Act, it is
| designed for foreign governments. Seriously, if you care about security,
| privacy, data, trojans, spyware, etc., one does not run Windows, you run
| Linux.
`----
http://www.linuxelectrons.com/news/general/14365/duh-windows-encryption-hacked-via-random-number-generator
"Trusted" Computing
,----[ Quote ]
| Do you imagine that any US Linux distributor would say no to the
| US government if they were requested (politely, of course) to add
| a back-door to the binary Linux images shipped as part of their
| products ? Who amongst us actually uses the source code so helpfully
| given to us on the extra CDs to compile our own version ? With
| Windows of course there are already so many back-doors known and
| unknown that the US government might not have even bothered to
| ask Microsoft, they may have just found their own, ready to
| exploit at will. What about Intel or AMD and the microcode on
| the processor itself ?
`----
http://tuxdeluxe.org/node/164
,----[ Quote ]
| In relation to the issue of sharing technical API and protocol
| information used throughout Microsoft products, which the
| states were seeking, Allchin alleged that releasing this
| information would increase the security risk to consumers.
|
| "It is no exaggeration to say that the national security is
| also implicated by the efforts of hackers to break into
| computing networks. Computers, including many running Windows
| operating systems, are used throughout the United States
| Department of Defense and by the armed forces of the United
| States in Afghanistan and elsewhere."
`----
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jim_Allchin
How NSA access was built into Windows
,----[ Quote ]
| A careless mistake by Microsoft programmers has revealed that
| special access codes prepared by the US National Security Agency
| have been secretly built into Windows.
|
| [...]
|
| The first discovery of the new NSA access system was made two years
| ago by British researcher Dr Nicko van Someren. But it was only a
| few weeks ago when a second researcher rediscovered the access
| system. With it, he found the evidence linking it to NSA.
`----
http://www.heise.de/tp/r4/artikel/5/5263/1.html
NSA Builds Security Access Into Windows
,----[ Quote ]
| A careless mistake by Microsoft programmers has shown that special access
| codes for use by the U.S. National Security Agency (NSA) have been secretly
| built into all versions of the Windows operating system.
`----
http://www.techweb.com/wire/story/TWB19990903S0014
|
|
