twice-refried news

Germany officials launch legal action against Facebook

Fri, 09 Jul 2010 14:50:06 -0400

Germany officials launch legal action against Facebook:

German officials have launched legal proceedings against Facebook for accessing and saving the personal data of people who do not use the site.

Full Article (BBC News - news.bbc.co.uk)

Cause and effect in the War on Terror

Fri, 09 Jul 2010 12:19:50 -0400

Cause and effect in the War on Terror:

American discussions about what causes Terrorists to do what they do are typically conducted by ignoring the Terrorist’s explanation for why he does what he does. Yesterday, Faisal Shahzad pleaded guilty in a New York federal court to attempting to detonate a car bomb in Times Square, and this Pakistani-American Muslim explained why he transformed from a financial analyst living a law-abiding, middle-class American life into a Terrorist:

Full Article (Salon.com - salon.com)

US soldier linked to Iraq helicopter video leak charged

Fri, 09 Jul 2010 11:43:26 -0400

US soldier linked to Iraq helicopter video leak charged:

The US military has pressed criminal charges against a soldier suspected of leaking video of a US helicopter attack in Iraq to the website, WikiLeaks. Army Spc Bradley Manning is accused of transferring classified data on to his personal computer and transmitting it to an unauthorised third party.

Full Article (BBC News - news.bbc.co.uk)

Supreme Court Balks at Redrawing Patent Rules

Fri, 09 Jul 2010 11:42:17 -0400

Supreme Court Balks at Redrawing Patent Rules:

The Supreme Court on Monday struck down a patent for a method to hedge weather-related financial risk, but declined to make it more difficult to patent “business methods” or software. The unanimous court found the patent too “abstract,” but emphasized that its ruling was intended neither to narrow nor widen patent law. “It’s a pretty disappointing decision,” says Ciaran O’Riordan, executive director of the End Software Patents campaign. “The judgment rearranges the deck chairs a little bit, but does not make substantial changes to patent law. It’s a wasted opportunity. The positive side is they didn’t make things worse.”

Full Article (Threat Level - wired.com)

What's Apple Doing With Geolocation Data?

Fri, 09 Jul 2010 11:34:10 -0400

What's Apple Doing With Geolocation Data?:

Reps. Edward J. Markey and Joe Barton, co-chairmen of the House Bi-Partisan Privacy Caucus, have asked Apple for an explanation of recent changes in the company’s privacy policy. The congressmen are concerned over media reports that the changes suggest that Apple is collecting and sharing data containing the geographic locations of iPhone and iPad users. “Given the limited ability of Apple users to opt out of the revised policy and still be able to take advantage of the features of their Apple products, we are concerned about the impact the collection of such data could have on the privacy of Apple’s customers,” the lawmakers wrote in a letter sent Thursday to Apple chief executive Steve Jobs.

Full Article (DarkReading - darkreading.com)

Pirate Bay Hack Exposes User Booty

Fri, 09 Jul 2010 11:30:45 -0400

Pirate Bay Hack Exposes User Booty:

Security weaknesses in the hugely popular file-sharing Web site thepiratebay.org have exposed the user names, e-mail and Internet addresses of more than 4 million Pirate Bay users, according to information obtained by KrebsOnSecurity.com.

Full Article (Krebs on Security - krebsonsecurity.com)

New Blizzard Forum Policy Will Require Posters to Use Real Names

Fri, 09 Jul 2010 11:21:46 -0400

New Blizzard Forum Policy Will Require Posters to Use Real Names:

Gaming giant Blizzard announced yesterday that it would be making some major changes to its official discussion forums, including the forums for World of Warcraft, Diablo, and the upcoming Starcraft II. In the upcoming weeks and months, players who want to post to these boards will have to log in using Blizzard’s Real ID system, which will display their real full names next to every post they make. These changes will not be retroactive, meaning that the thousands of existing posts on the online discussion forums will not be affected. Parental controls will allow parents to prevent minors who have signed up for Real ID on the game from posting to the forums, if they so choose.

Full Article (EFF - eff.org)

White Hat Uses Foursquare Privacy Hole to Capture 875K Check-Ins

Fri, 09 Jul 2010 11:08:01 -0400

White Hat Uses Foursquare Privacy Hole to Capture 875K Check-Ins:

If you have checked in with Foursquare in San Francisco in the last three weeks, Jesper Andersen probably knows where and when — even if you’ve set your check-ins to be published to friends only. Andersen, a coder who recently built a service called Avoidr that helps you avoid social network “friends” you don’t really like, figured out that Foursquare had a privacy leak because of how it published user check-ins on web pages for each location.

Full Article (Threat Level - wired.com)

Gregory Evans admits plagiarism charges. (Audio source for this...

Wed, 30 Jun 2010 09:54:00 -0400

Gregory Evans admits plagiarism charges.

(Audio source for this mash-up from SHITcast - Episode 7 - LIGATT Edition!)

Anti-virus is a Poor Substitute for Common Sense

Fri, 25 Jun 2010 19:12:19 -0400

Anti-virus is a Poor Substitute for Common Sense:

A new study about the (in)efficacy of anti-virus software in detecting the latest malware threats is a much-needed reminder that staying safe online is more about using your head than finding the right mix or brand of security software. Last week, security software testing firm NSS Labs released the results of its latest controversial test of how the major anti-virus products fared in detecting malware pushed by malicious Web sites: Most of the products took an average of more than 45 hours — nearly two days — to detect the latest threats.

Full Article (Krebs on Security - krebsonsecurity.com)

Researcher 'Fingerprints' The Bad Guys Behind The Malware

Fri, 25 Jun 2010 17:43:26 -0400

Researcher 'Fingerprints' The Bad Guys Behind The Malware:

Malware writers actually leave behind a telling trail of clues that can help identify their native tongue, their geographic location, their ties to other attacks — and, in some cases, lead law enforcement to their true identities. A researcher at Black Hat USA next month plans to give away a homemade tool that helps organizations glean this type of intelligence about the actual attacker behind the malware.

Full Article (DarkReading - darkreading.com)

Remote Kill and Install on Google Android

Fri, 25 Jun 2010 13:20:11 -0400

Remote Kill and Install on Google Android:

In this post, I’ll talk about the REMOVE_ASSET and INSTALL_ASSET mechanisms that can be invoked by Google via Android’s GTalkService to not only remotely remove applications from an Android device but also remotely install new applications.

Full Article (Jon.Oberheide.org - jon.oberheide.org)

Location Services Raise Privacy Concerns

Mon, 21 Jun 2010 23:52:31 -0400

Location Services Raise Privacy Concerns:

Location-based services are becoming more common and the features they add to mobile devices can be useful and even fun. But they also bring concerns about privacy and safety. Several sites take a social networking approach such as Foursquare.com Gowalla.com and Yelp. All three offer options where a user shares their location with friends. For example on Foursquare one can “check in” at a favorite restaurant and voice an opinion about the food. But the downside is that everyone who reads the posting will know the user isn t home. On top of that some services such as Foursquare can be linked to Twitter feeds.

Full Article (International Business Times - ibtimes.com)

Apple collecting, sharing iPhone users' precise locations

Mon, 21 Jun 2010 23:02:22 -0400

Apple collecting, sharing iPhone users' precise locations:

Apple Inc. is now collecting the “precise ” “real-time geographic location” of its users iPhones iPads and computers. In an updated version of its privacy policy the company added a paragraph noting that once users agree Apple and unspecified “partners and licensees” may collect and store user location data. When users attempt to download apps or media from the iTunes store they are prompted to agree to the new terms and conditions. Until they agree they cannot download anything through the store.

Full Article (L.A. Times - latimes.com)

The strange and consequential case of Bradley Manning, Adrian Lamo and WikiLeaks

Mon, 21 Jun 2010 12:35:12 -0400

The strange and consequential case of Bradley Manning, Adrian Lamo and WikiLeaks:

On June 6, Kevin Poulsen and Kim Zetter of Wired reported that a 22-year-old U.S. Army Private in Iraq, Bradley Manning, had been detained after he “boasted” in an Internet chat — with convicted computer hacker Adrian Lamo — of leaking to WikiLeaks the now famous Apache Helicopter attack video, a yet-to-be-published video of a civilian-killing air attack in Afghanistan, and “hundreds of thousands of classified State Department records.” Lamo, who holds himself out as a “journalist” and told Manning he was one, acted instead as government informant, notifying federal authorities of what Manning allegedly told him, and then proceeded to question Manning for days as he met with federal agents, leading to Manning’s detention.

Full Article (Salon - salon.com)

Wikileaks: CIA studied why people steal secrets

Mon, 14 Jun 2010 19:13:07 -0400

Wikileaks: CIA studied why people steal secrets:

Officials and others pondering why U.S. Army intelligence analyst Bradley Manning allegedly leaked reams of classified documents to Wikileaks need look no further than a 20-year-old CIA study on moles. Project Slammer, now partially declassified, was based on extensive prison interviews with some 30 former military and intelligence personnel who had been convicted of spying for Russia, China and other hostile powers during the Cold War, from the lowest enlisted men to senior CIA officers like Aldrich Ames. It sought to answer why they had violated the trust their agencies had bestowed on them.

Full Article (SpyTalk - blog.washingtonpost.com)

[HOPE Conference] Speaker Under Threat By U.S. Authorities

Mon, 14 Jun 2010 18:01:00 -0400

[HOPE Conference] Speaker Under Threat By U.S. Authorities:

In a story that continues to get more interesting with each passing day, one of our keynote speakers for The Next HOPE is said to be in great danger of being apprehended or worse by the United States government after a source of sensitive information was arrested. Our keynote speaker, Julian Assange of Wikileaks, published a video back in April that showed U.S. troops firing on unarmed Reuters journalists in Baghdad, killing them and wounding a number of others. Attempts by Reuters to get this video through the Freedom of Information Act had failed. It was only after it was sent to Wikileaks that the truth came out and a major scandal followed.

Full Article (The Next Hope - thenexthope.com)

iPad 'vulnerability': A Reality Check

Mon, 14 Jun 2010 10:49:07 -0400

iPad 'vulnerability': A Reality Check:

I was asked by our PR team today whether that was a story on the recent iPad ‘vulnerability’ that is doing the rounds in both the tech and manstream media. The vulnerability was found by Goatse Security (great name guys) and is being pitched as ‘Apple’s worse security breach’. The situation has got massively out of hand, I recieved a number of emails from worried staff today and I’ve even read that the FBI are investigating ‘the cyberthreat posed by this exposure’. This is a classic example of security researchers using FUD to manipulate the media for publicity’s sake. The media is complicit as well, while what they are reporting is factually true, the apocolyptic impacts they are espousing are laughable. The reality is that the only story is that there isn’t really a story at all.

Full Article (Cloud Computing & Bad Behaviour - jimmyblacke.com)

Microsoft hides mystery Firefox extension in toolbar update

Mon, 14 Jun 2010 10:45:37 -0400

Microsoft hides mystery Firefox extension in toolbar update:

As part of its regular Patch Tuesday, Microsoft released an update for its various toolbars, and this update came with more than just documented fixes. The update also installs an add-on for Internet Explorer and an extension for Mozilla Firefox, both without the user’s permission. As you can see in the Windows Update screenshot above, Microsoft does not indicate that the update will install anything for either browser. It’s also not really clear what the installed extension actually does.

Full Article (Ars Technica - arstechnica)

SCOwned: no new trial, Novell can shut down IBM lawsuit

Mon, 14 Jun 2010 10:41:12 -0400

SCOwned: no new trial, Novell can shut down IBM lawsuit:

SCO was dealt yet another blow in court today when District Judge Ted Stewart rejected the company’s motion requesting a new trial or judgement of law. In a ruling issued today, Judge Stewart sided with a jury that issued a verdict against SCO in April, finding that Novell was the rightful owner of the UNIX SVRX copyrights. According to Judge Stewart, SCO failed to demonstrate that the jury’s verdict contradicted the evidence presented in the case.

Full Article (Ars Technica - arstechnica.com)