As technology advances in our society, those sci-fi movies that everybody thought were outlandish and far-fetched will start being seen as harbingers. After reading this article, watch a few minutes of the movie “Minority Report”. “Psychic Technology” is nothing more now than an advanced algorithm. -SF FRESNO, Calif. — While officers raced to a recent…
Category: Communications
Surveillance is the Business Model of the Internet
The Internet of Things That Talk About You Behind Your Back SilverPush is an Indian startup that’s trying to figure out all the different computing devices you own. It embeds inaudible sounds into the webpages you read and the television commercials you watch. Software secretly embedded in your computers, tablets, and smartphones pick up the…
Historical Study: The Jolt of Electricity that Forever Altered Warfare
On Jan. 6, 1838, a current ran along two miles of wire, forever changing how we wage war. In the wake of the Civil War, there were many legacies left by Abraham Lincoln’s presidency, with the abolition of slavery and the foundation of a national American identity at the front of most people’s lists. But…
Cold War Files: A ‘Texas Tower’ Veteran Reflects on Cold War History
KINGSLEY, Mich. — Each time Victor Rioux sits in a church pew he takes a minute to say a special prayer. He honors the 28 men who died during the Cold War when Texas Tower No. 4 collapsed amid a fierce winter storm. “I never forget those guys,” Rioux said from his Kingsley farm house….
Cyber-Espionage: The Biggest Dangers are the Ones You Will Never Know About
For years, I slept fitfully after a “friend” told me that it wasn’t the noisy mosquitos buzzing in my ears at night that were a problem. Instead, it was the female mosquitos that made no noise at all but laid eggs in your ears at night. That image wrecked my sleep until the Internet helped…
China’s Military Intelligence System is Changing
As American families dined on turkey and stuffing, China’s Central Military Commission (CMC) was hard at work in Beijing hammering out military reforms. These reforms were then announced to the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) by President Xi Jinping, who also serves as the CMC chairman. The proposed organizational changes may make this round of reform…
Merry Christmas America! Congress secretly Slips CISA into Budget Bill
Update 12/18/2015 12pm: The House and Senate have now passed the omnibus bill, including the new version of CISA. Privacy advocates were aghast in October when the Senate passed the Cybersecurity Information Sharing Act by a vote of 74 to 21, leaving intact portions of the law they say make it more amenable…
Iran: A Rising Cyber-Power?
“A Brown Water Navy” Through a series of attacks over the last three years, Iran has revealed a limited offensive cyber capability but a willingness to use it to meet its geopolitical goals. In testimony calling out Iran for attacks on Sands Casinos, Director of National Intelligence James Clapper put Iranian cyber capability in the…
Computer Security: Email Hygiene Tips
Anti-phishing and Email Hygiene Journalists and newsrooms are increasingly the victims of hacking and malware, and often hackers target them through their email. Virtually every “sophisticated” hack of an individual reporter or entire newsroom starts with a relatively simple attack: phishing and spear phishing. Phishing is a social-engineering attack where an adversary crafts an email…
Where Americans Can Be Tracked Without A Warrant
Since the Paris attacks, there is a growing concern by DHS and the FBI that ISIS are able to communicate via “Dark Comms” or communications that are so highly encrypted they cannot tracked or monitored, common sense would tell you that authorities are going to start casting the “Surveillance” net wider to compensate, meaning more…