20% of cyber attacks OK?

20% of cyber attacks OK?

NSA say 80% of cyber attacks could be prevented.

( Which means the 20% professional hackers could get through, G )

If network administrators simply instituted proper configuration policies and conducted good network monitoring, about 80 percent of commonly known cyber attacks could be prevented, a Senate committee heard Tuesday.

The remark was made by Richard Schaeffer, the NSA’s information assurance director, who added that simply adhering to already known best practices would sufficiently raise the security bar so that attackers would have to take more risks to breach a network, “thereby raising [their] risk of detection.”
( Risk of detection of the attack, not who or where they are located, G )

Larry Clinton, president of the Internet Security Alliance, told senators that public apathy and ignorance played as much a role in the current state of cyber security as the unwillingness of corporate entities to take responsibility for securing the public’s data.

“Many consumers have a false sense of security due to their belief that most of the financial impact resulting from the loss of personal data will be fully covered by corporate entities like the banks,” he said. “In fact, much of these losses are transferred back to consumers in the form of higher interest rates and consumer fees.” ( Criminal penalties would wake them up, ID theft happens every 8 min., G )

A 2009 Price Waterhouse Cooper study on global information security found that 47 percent of companies are reducing or deferring their information security budgets, despite the growing dangers of cyber incursions.

Philip Reitinger, director of the National Cyber Security Center at the Department of Homeland Security, said that end users also need to be made aware of the simple things they can do to protect themselves — such as keeping software and anti-virus up to date. ( BS They need malware sweepers, rootkit detectors and Micro Soft to allow illegal OS to update security also, which will cut down on botnets.G )

One panelist, Larry Wortzel a retired army intelligence officer, made the case for the NSA to take the lead on the government’s cyber security initiatives, despite the agency’s public stance that it has no interest in assuming the position.

“If, in fact, the NSA has technical capabilities beyond those of the providers, why should you be relying on the providers in areas where the NSA actually has greater capability?” he asked.

Why should the NSA only be invited into a provider’s network in certain situations when the NSA might be in a better position than the provider to know when it’s under attack? And how can the relationship between providers and the NSA be anything but ongoing and continuous when cyberattacks are unremitting?, he added. ( NSA would have to disclose how they penetrate networks, and that would cut down on their capabilities. Not NSA's job, contrary to their mandate. G )

SOURCE:

G

Tactical Internet Systems analyst

.

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THE CYBER THREAT TODAY

Comments in Caps By Gerald:

THE CYBER THREAT TODAY Major Attacks on the Rise
10/17/08
One case in point: We joined our international partners yesterday in announcing a major takedown of a transnational criminal network that was buying and selling stolen financial information through an online forum known as “Dark Market.” Cyber crooks scared G “The business of the United States is done on the Internet,” said Henry, a veteran cyber crime investigator. And the information that flows electronically 24/7 is increasingly the target of not only identity thieves and scammers, but organized crime groups, terrorists, and overseas governments. “There are a number of countries who have an interest in stealing information from the United States,” Henry said, explaining that as many as two dozen nations have taken an “aggressive interest” in penetrating our networks. In the past year, he added, “the malicious activity has become much more prevalent.” Malicious activity could come in the form of attacks that deny access to websites, that compromise sensitive information, or that introduce “botnets” that spread viruses and covertly co-opt computers to carry out data theft. “There are a number of countries who have an interest in stealing information from the United States,” Henry said, explaining that as many as two dozen nations have taken an “aggressive interest” in penetrating our networks. New groups of hackers—virtual gangs—are a growing threat as well, banding together to pool their expertise and carry out coordinated cyber attacks. Henry pointed out that in years gone by, if a gang wanted to rob a bank, it needed crooks with various skills—safe cracker, get-away driver, look-out, etc. That’s essentially what we’re seeing in the cyber world today, only these virtual gang members have never met in the physical world. “There are organized groups that are very successful,” Henry said. The 3 Ps. To address the rising threat, the Cyber Division has a threefold strategic plan—“Prioritize, Proactive, Partnerships.” By prioritizing our efforts, we can go after the most critical threats. Being proactive means adopting the same time-tested investigative techniques that have been so successful in our physical crime investigations—the use of informants, electronic surveillance, and placement of undercover agents to penetrate and dismantle virtual criminal operations. SIGH: THEY ARE USING INVESTIGATIVE TECHNIQUES THEY DEVELOPED IN THE 19TH CENTURY, TO FIGHT A CRIMINAL PARADIGM DEVELOPED IN THE 21ST CENTURY. AND HAVE A BACKLOG OF 2 MILLION COMPLAINTS.G. The third “P”—partnerships—means building even stronger relationships with law enforcement agencies worldwide. He said we’ve worked with such countries as Great Britain, Canada, Russia, and Turkey to swap best practices and techniques. We’ve also sent agents to Romania to work with law enforcement there, leading to nearly 100 arrests in cyber crime cases representing “tens of millions of dollars” in losses, Henry said. And the Internet Crime Complaint Center, or IC3—a partnership between the FBI and the National White Collar Crime Center—continues to assist state and local law enforcement in fighting cyber crime. Since its establishment in 2000, IC3 has received more than a million complaints. In the last couple of years, there’s been an “uptick” in the number of reports, according to Henry. Lately, they’re coming in at the rate of nearly 20,000 per month. AND RECOVERY RATE FOR THE 20,000 COMPLAINTS A MONTH IS CLOSE TO ZERO, VICTIMS GET ZIP, NO SEIZURE OF MONEY OR ASSETS.G. THE FBI HAS NOT RECRUITED THE ADVANCED, CUTTING EDGE HACKER THEY NEED BECAUSE THEY FEEL THEY CAN'T CONTROL THEM. ALL FBI AGENTS STILL DO NOT HAVE A COMPUTER. THEY DO USE BLACKBERRYS NOW, A GENIUS MOVE THAT ALLOWS THE FBI TO REACT ALMOST INSTANTIOULSY TO EMERGENCYS. AND THEY ARE SETTING UP COMPUTER CENTERS MANNED BY SOME GENIUS HARD WORKING AND DEDICATED PEOPLE. BUT THE FBI LIKE THE MILITARY VIEW THE INTERNET AS A SECURITY RISK AND ARE STILL UNCOMFORTABLE WITH THE WWW. THE FBI IS NOT APPLYING ADVANCED INTERNET SURVEILLANCE OR INTERDICTION METHODS. USA RESPONSE TO CYBER WAR HAS BEEN ONE OF STATIC DEFENSES. USA HAS NO OFFENSIVE CAPABILITY. USA HAS NO UNIFIED PARADIGM FOR THE WAR ON CYBER CRIME OR CYBER TERRORISM. IN FACT THE USA IS OVER WELMED BUY THE INFLUX OF CYBER CRIMINALS, AND HACKING METHODS, AND NEW CYBER TECHNIQUES. USA IS BEING BUTCHERED PIECE MEAL BY CYBER CRIME, CREDIT CARD THEFT, ID THEFT, PHISHING INFO, AND ADVANCED HACKING METHODS. THE FBI SAYS THERE ARE MILLIONS OF COMPLAINTS ON RECORD ABOUT CYBER CRIME. USA IS VIRTUALLY DEFENSLESS AGAINST THE RUSSIAN BUSINESS NET OR THE MILLIONS OF BOTS THE CHINESE HAVE. CYBER CRIME AND TERRORISM ARE ON THE SAME VECTOR AND IN TIME WILL JOIN TOGETHER. THE ENTIRE WWW IS AT RISK, OF BEING SHUT DOWN FOR MONTHS BY MILLIONS OF BOT NETS. THE TECHNOLOGY IS AVAILABLE TO TURN THIS AROUND, AND ALLOW THE USA TO DOMINATE THE WWW LIKE THE AIRFORCE DOMINATES THE AIR, ANY WHERE, ANY PLACE ANY TIME. IF ANOTHER AIRFORCE IS ATTACKED BY THE US AIRFORCE THEY RUN OR DIE. IN CYBER SPACE THE USA IS ONE OF THE JUICYEST TARGETS, AND ONE OF THE WEAKEST PLAYERS. THE FBI HAVE NO CYBER SIDEARMS. THE AIRFORCE STARTED A CYBER FORCE JUST TO DROP IT. AND NORAD HAS MUMBLED SOMETHING ABOUT CYBER SPACE BUT HAVE ISSUED NO MISSION STATEMENT. USA IS NOT A FORCE TO BE FEARED ON THE INTERNET. USA IS AN EASY TARGET. THE WHITE HATS THE FBI IS PARTERENING WITH ARE NOT CUTTING EDGE, ARE NOT HACKERS, THEY ARE A REACTIONARY FORCE. USA HAS BEEN BEHIND THE CURVE ON INTERNET CRIME FOR 10 YEARS, THEY HAVE NEVER GOT OUT IN FRONT OF IT. THE TATICS OF THE RBN AND HACKERS CAN BE TURNED AGAINST THEM. NO ONE IS THINKING OUTSIDE THE BOX, NO ONE HAS A EFFECTIVE PARADIGM, THE TOOLS NEEDED TO STOP THIS CRIMINAL AND TERRORIST FORCE ARE THERE. THE INTERNET IS NOT ONLY A VECTOR FOR ATTACK ON USA, BUT ALSO AMERICAS WEAPON AND MOST POWERFUL TOOL. USA HAS THE TOOLS TO DOMINATE THE WWW, STOP BOT ATTACKS IN THEIR TRACKS. PART OF THE NEEDED PARADIGM IS TO MOVE INTO THE CYBER AGE. TO REMOTELY SEARCH COMPUTERS IN SECRET, AND TRACK PERPS IN THEIR TRAVELS ACCROSS THE INTERNET. READ THEIR EMAILS AND IM. TO TRACK AND INFILTRATE ANY ONE IN THE WORLD FROM ANY PLACE IN THE WORLD. YOU DON'T NEED AGENTS ON THE GROUND. THEIR HARD DRIVES CAN BE ERASED OR EVEN CRASHED. THERE ARE SO MANY OPTIONS THAT ARE NOT BEING USED, AND WEAKNESSES OF CYBER CRIMINALS NOT BEING EXPLOITED. DRAINING THEIR BANK ACCOUNTS, PUBLISHING THEIR MESSAGES, EXPOSING THEIR NAMES. CREATING CYBER BATTALIONS, FORCES OF THOUSANDS OF CYBER TRAINED TROOPERS. USA IS MIA IN THE CRIMINAL CYBER WAR. WE HAVE TRACKED CYBER CRIMINALS TO THEIR LAIRS. GOTTEN THEM ARRESTED, PROVIDED THE EVIDENCE, ONLY TO HAVE THEM BAILED OUT AND BACK AT CYBER CRIME THE NEXT DAY, WE SAW THEM AT WORK ON THE INTERNET CAFE SECURITY CAMS, AND OUR CLIENTS GOT ZERO RECOVERY. THE RATES FOR INFECTION AND MALWARE AND TAKE OVER OF COMPUTERS IS AT AN ALL TIME HIGH, AND OUR SECURITY, ANTI-VIRUS, FIREWALLS, SWEEPERS, BLACK LISTS AND ROOTKIT HUNTERS ARE AT AN ALL TIME INEFFECTIVENESS. THE CYBER CRIMINALS ARE WINNING THE CRIMINAL WAR. AND THE TERRORIST KNOW THIS. FORCASTING THE CURRENT PARADIGM INTO THE FUTURE DOES NOT BODE WELL FOR THE USA. USA'S WEAKNESS IS VISABLE, IN A DOMAIN USA INVENTED. WHAT WILL IT TAKE TO MOVITATE USA INTO EFFECTIVE ACTION? USA NEEDS A Manhattan Project FOR THE INTERNET. GERALD Tactical Internet Systems analyst .

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COUNTERPOINT:

The FBI on Friday boasted that its two-year long undercover operation against users of the crime forumDarkMarket netted 56 arrests worldwide and prevented $70 million in economic losses, publicly acknowledging the sting for the first time.

"In today's world of rapidly expanding technology, where cybercrimes are perpetrated instantly from anywhere in the world, law enforcement needs to be flexible and creative in our efforts to target these criminals," said FBI Cyber Division Assistant Director Shawn Henry in a statement. "By joining forces with our international law enforcement counterparts, we have been, and will continue to be, successful in arresting those individuals and dismantling these forums."

British police say they've arrested five DarkMarket users in recent days, and 11 since the sting began in late 2006. The other arrests have been in Turkey, Germany and the United States, according to the FBI. Spokesman Brian Hale said the feds won't be going into more detail. "We have released all the information in that release that we're publicly going to discuss at this point in time," said Hale.

DarkMarket allowed buyers and sellers of stolen identities and credit card data to meet and do business in an entrepreneurial, peer-reviewed environment. It had 2,500 users at its peak, according to the FBI. 

Documents uncovered by a German radio network on Monday first revealed that DarkMarket had been secretly run by an FBI cybercrime agent for the last two years, until its voluntary shutdown earlier this month. The leader of the site, know online as Master Splynter, was in fact FBI cybercrime agent J. Keith Mularski, part of an elite seven-agent cybercrime unit based at the National Cyber Forensics Training Alliance in Pittsburgh. 

SOURCE:

G

Cyber crooks scared G...OUR POST ON THIS FROM OCT 14, 08

.

Cyber Security Awareness Month, nah...

Comments by Gerald: ( in caps for ease of reading )

Cyber Security Awareness Month

Today marks the beginning of National Cyber Security Awareness Month, which is a good opportunity to remind our readers of the importance of protecting yourselves and your businesses against the growing threat of cyber attacks.

Worldwide, cyber attacks are increasing in sophistication and frequency every day. We have seen stories in the news recently of countries engaging outright in cyber warfare. Over the summer, authorities also uncovered the largest case of identity theft in U.S history, involving the theft of more than 40 million credit card numbers stolen from the computer systems of several major U.S. retailers. ( I EXPECT THE RUSSIANS ARE BEHIND THIS, ONE OR TWO STEPS REMOVED, AND USING THE RBN, RUSSIAN BUSINESS NETWORK, THE FBS, IS THE MAFIA WITH A GOVERNEMNT INTEL ARM.G ) These acts have very real consequences for ordinary Americans, as any victim of identity theft can attest.

( THE BANKING SYSTEM AND CREDIT CARD COMPANIES AND CREDIT REPORTING AGENCYS HAVE THE TOOLS TO STOP ID THEFT, BIT THEY ALL MAKE A PROFIT OFF ID THEFT.G. )

We take the threat of cyber attacks seriously at the Department. Working with other agencies, we have embarked on a major effort across the government to protect federal systems and networks. This includes reducing the number of external access points to our systems and improving our intrusion detection capabilities. We’ve established a new National Cyber Security Center to improve coordination and information sharing. We are expanding our 24-hour watch and warning system – the U.S. Computer Emergency Readiness Team – and hiring new cyber professionals. And we’re taking steps to prevent compromised computer products and electronics from entering the global supply chain and reaching our country.

( THEY HAVE NO SUCESSFUL PARADIGM TO STOP A WORLD WIDE BOT ATTACK, THE TOOLS ARE THERE, BUT THE LEADERSHIP IS MISSING, AND THEY ARE THINKING ONLY INSIDE THE BOX. G )

But the reality is we can’t meet these challenges by ourselves. We don’t own the Internet or our nation’s IT or communications infrastructure. Most of our nation’s cyber assets are in private sector hands. Protecting them will require a new level of partnership with businesses and companies of all sizes, as well as individual citizens.

( USA HAS THE CAPABILITY TO OWN THE WWW LIKE THE AIR FORCE OWNS THE AIR, ANYTIME, ANYWHERE THEY WANT, THE TOOLS ARE THERE. THEY ARE MISSING AN EFFECTIVE PARADIGM, G.)

What can you do to help? Start by making sure you are practicing good cyber security in your home or office. This means ensuring your antivirus software is properly functioning and up-to-date. Change your computer passwords regularly, and when you do, make sure you don’t write them down or leave them near your computer where someone can easily exploit them. Don’t open suspicious e-mail or visit suspicious websites. And make sure you know exactly what you’re downloading.

( NOTICE NO MENTION OF MALWARE SWEEPERS OR ROOTKIT & BOT TESTERS, THEY ARE AT LEAST A GENERATION BEHIND THE rbn, G.)

These are all common-sense recommendations, but unfortunately too many Americans fail to take even these basic steps. I hope over the next month you’ll do your part to increase our nation’s cyber defenses from the ground up and help us mitigate the impact of a major cyber attack. The alternative could be a very serious disruption of a vital part of our society and our nation’s economy. Like other areas of homeland security, the time to prepare is now.

( ANYBODY NOT RUNNING PROPER SECURITY SHULD BE BANNED FORM THE WWW BY THEIR]

ISP, THEY ARE ENABLING BOT FARMS WITH POOR SECURITY. G)

Michael Chertoff

THE CYBER CROOKS ARE A GENERATION AHEAD OF THE COMMERICAL INTERNET SECURITY COMPANIES. AND THE TERRORIST PARADIGM AND THE CYBER CROOKS PARADIGM ARE CONVERGING, AND USA LACKS THE LEADERSHIP TO STOP THEM, THE TOOLS ARE THERE,

THE CAPABILITY IS THERE, THERE IS A PARADIGM TO COPE WITH THIS AND EVERYONE SEEMS TO BE LOOKING IN THE WRONG DIRECTION. G )

LOOKING THE WRONG WAY. g

Paradigm Intel portends another disaster in the credit card industry eqaual to the current bailout disaster, based on the paradigm that allowed the theft of the 40 million stolen credit cards.

The technology and the paradigm are there to leapfrog the bot farms,
to derail them mid cyber attack.

Gerald
Tactical Internet Systems analyst

Gerald

.

problem

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Infected PC's rampant

There are more infected computers on the WWW now than at any other time in its short history.
I've seen quotes from professionals that your Chances are 6 of 10 are infected with something.
Your chances of being infected are better than 50% , yes Yes YOU.

NONSENSE, I HAVE A FIREWALL, ANTI-VIRUS, MALWARE SWEEPER...

I rember the first time I heard of a virus, and searched until I found one to play with.
Back then I could lock down everything and just watch it try and do things.

Back then all vectors were known.
Then came along the anti-virus companys, and again I felt secure, even used more than one just to be safe, and then firewalls, something very exotic felt most secure and safe.

AT ONE TIME YOU COULD SURF THE INTERNET WITHOUT A FIREWALL OR ANTI-VIRUS. IF YOU DO NOW YOUR AN IDIOT.

Then came spy ware, rootkits and SLQ injection.

There are rootkits that can't be detected. ( Whoever gets to root first. )

Most of the computer security companies have become frauds, with names like " total security"
and other misnomers.

Now you need Firewalls, anti-virus, anti-spyware sweepers and SLQ protection black lists.
And they can still walk thru all of that.

But I don't want you to believe me, but I do want you to think.

SLQ injection gets into the top sites, and infects them, so your security views them as
trusted sites and allows them to do things that circumvent security because you don't expect
Google or yahoo to infect you, your PC automatically uses lower security settings for trusted sites.

Security Epidemic: SLQ INJECTION

SQL Injecting Malicious Doorways to Serve Malware
Yet Another Massive SQL Injection Spotted in the Wild
Malware Domains Used in the SQL Injection Attacks
SQL Injection Through Search Engines Reconnaissance
Google Hacking for Vulnerabilities
Fast-Fluxing SQL injection attacks executed from the Asprox botnet
Sony PlayStation's site SQL injected, redirecting to rogue security software
Redmond Magazine Successfully SQL Injected by Chinese Hacktivists

THERE IS NO SAFETY WHEN SURFING THE INTERNET.
The security vendors can't keep up with the threat, vectors or methods.
And you Mac users, don't smile your risk may be equal to the PCs.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

How much malware is your antivirus solution detecting? A million, ten million, even "worse", less than a million? Does it really matter? No, it doesn't. What's marketable can also be irrelevant if you are to consider that today's malware is no longer coded, but generated efficiently and obfuscated on the fly. Sophos's recent statistics :

"It is estimated that the total number of unique malware samples in existence now exceeds 11 million, with Sophos currently receiving approximately 20,000 new samples of suspicious software every single day - one every four seconds."................

Given the speed in which malware authors are lauching a DDoS attack against AV vendors by crunching out dozens of malware variants parts of a single family, their actions could start directly driving the data storage market, and if they continue maintaining the same rhythm, soon you'll be partitioning a separate GB for the signatures files.

http://ddanchev.blogspot.com/

http://snipurl.com/383ki


xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Credit cards numbers are considered a commodity on the criminal net, because they are so easy
to get, I was offered 400 American express cards, and contacted their security offices in Chicago and NY and they were not interested.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

"Prices charged by cybercriminals selling hacked bank and credit card details have fallen sharply as the volume of data on offer has soared, forcing them to look elsewhere to boost profit margins, a new report says. Researchers for Finjan, a Web security firm, said the high volumes traded had led to bank and credit card information becoming "commoditized" - account details with PIN codes that once fetched $100 or more each might now go for $10 or $20. In its latest quarterly survey of Web trends, the California-based company said cybercrime had evolved into "a major shadow economy ruled by business rules and logic that closely mimics the legitimate business world."

http://ddanchev.blogspot.com/2008/07/are-stolen-credit-card-details-getting.html

http://snipurl.com/383r1

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

MS is years behind the automated hackers.

Legit Websites Heavily Compromised
July 30, 2008
By Richard Adhikari

Instead of putting up their own Websites, malicious hackers are now focusing their efforts on corrupting legitimate sites. A survey released today, and conducted between January and June by Websense, found that hackers compromised 50 percent more legitimate Websites during this period than between July and December 2007.

According to the study by messaging and data protection vendor Websense, more than 75 percent of Websites containing malicious code are legitimate sites that have been infected. The survey found that 60 of the 100 most popular Websites either hosted, or were involved in, malicious activity between January and June 2008.

http://www.esecurityplanet.com/trends/article.php/3762141

http://snipurl.com/383bk

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

30 seconds, infected.
, shockwave-flash@http://www.youtube.com/v/iD0wdzQb8XY&hl=en&fs=1" href="http://www.youtube.com/v/iD0wdzQb8XY&hl=en&fs=1" id="">

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx




Drive by, just visit = infection

, shockwave-flash@http://www.youtube.com/v/aVkyUqU6xtE&hl=en&fs=1" href="http://www.youtube.com/v/aVkyUqU6xtE&hl=en&fs=1" id="">

SORRY IF VID DOES NOT WORK GOOGLES YOUTUBE HANDING OUT BAD CODE,
POSTED CODE TWICE, WORKED FOR A DAY THEN IT QUIT WORKING.


xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

My scanners pick up 20 or 30 major sites a day handing out malware.G

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

How much does it cost to send 1 million spam emails these days? According to a random spamming service, $100 excluding the discounts based on the speed of sending desired, namely 10-20 per second or 20-30 per second. Let's dissect the service, and emphasize on its key differentiation factors, as well as the customerization offered in the form of a dedicated server if the customer would like to send billions of emails :

http://ddanchev.blogspot.com/

http://snipurl.com/383ki

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

The point behind this is there could be an Agamemnon hidding behind this.

In the past we have seen Internet cable cut in the Seas, bot taking out a country on the net,
October 22 2002 Nine of the internet's 13 "root DNS" servers are disabled in a massive attack by a bot herder advertising his services, and done by mistake.

The emergency planning done by even the Government has NO contingency for a total outage of the WWW for long periods of time. NONE.

A massive DOS attack on the Internet nodes could be a step up from WMD.

As a CEO what do you do if the WWW goes down for a couple of months?

Messy from all the updates but worth the read:
Our CYBERWARS's "Pearl Harbour" Report.

Gerald
What can you do, don't use a credit card on the Internet, use debit cards, they can only steal what you have in the account, no credit.
If the Internet went down for a month say, how would that effect you, do some planning.
Cell phones would be out, CB's would be in an in great demand. Cable TV out, shortwave radios
IN. Give it some thought, Don't believe me Just THINK, Plan.

XXXXXXXXXXXXX

While it will have taken 27 years to reach 1 billion PCs, Forrester says it will take only five years to reach the next billion. The analyst firm attributes this boom to lower prices and growing demand as the world population becomes "technology-aware."

The Brazil, Russia, India and China market will account for more than 775 million new PCs by 2015.

SOURCE:

.Dancho Danchev July's Threatscape, worth the read!
.

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• Spyware Adware Bastards

Feds wrong paradigm.

Top Spook: Facebookers, Gamers May Be Unfit to Spy.

By Noah Shachtman EmailJune 12, 2008 | 11:16:00 AM
.....................
The Office of the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI) -- which, in theory, oversees all of the country's intelligence services -- is looking to launch a series of research studies into "cyber-behavior." Because what wannabe spooks do on-line should play "an important part" in the "process for granting security clearances for personnel working in national security positions." Suspect activities include "social network usage," "compulsive internet use," "distribution of pirated materials," and "on-line contact with foreign nationals."

The first step is to get a "better understanding" of "which specific cyber-behaviors are normative, acceptable, or favorable as well as identifying those that may be associated with risky or problematic cyber behavior within the workplace."

...................................................


Areas of potential interest include, but are not limited to: social network usage; disclosure of information in computer-mediated activities; extent of on-line contact with foreign nationals; cyber behavior that suggests an unwillingness to abide by rules; compulsive internet use; involvement in computer groups (especially those allied to stigmatized practices); providing false information within computer-mediated communications about oneself or others; procurement and distribution of pirated materials; engaging in deviant cyber-behaviors with the intention of causing harm to others including "hacking" and sabotage.

SOURCE:

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

If Wired has this right, it is an example of the Paradigm prevalent across the board in Federal
agencys and an example of why al Qaeda is setting the Internet Paradigm that is eating US militarys lucnch on the Internet, recruiting, funding, hacking, C2, etc.

Blocking someones security clearance for file sharing is like telling someone they can't become Police officers because they J-walk.
( I never file share for security reasons, but file sharing is almost a right of passage for adolescents. )

"Areas of potential interest include, but are not limited to: social network usage; disclosure of information in computer-mediated activities; extent of on-line contact with foreign nationals; cyber behavior that suggests an unwillingness to abide by rules;"

I hope Wired has this part wrong, but it sounds like these activities pre-employment show a disposition towards an unwillingness to abide by the rules.

This thinking precludes the type of personalities best suited to WWW Intelligence work.

On my staff of "cyber warriors" they must follow rules we set down. Or we bounce them.

But I want out of the box thinkers, troops that can easily bond with strangers, huge social networks, connected, and the more foreign contacts the better.

Defining hacking as deviant cyber-behavior, is an acknowledgment of the fear the Feds feel towards the Internet. The Feds don't rule the WWW and want to cut all risks.
And an acknowledgment they fear they can't control a hacker.

This is equalivant to the Revolutionary war Military refusing anyone who has hunted with a long distance rifle, and classifying this type of hunting as "deviant hunting-behavior".

Criminal sanctions preclude us from hacking, but hackers , espically your own ar not to be feared. One must take certian security precautions. The computer you deal with hackers from
can't have classified info on it, print it , then rescan ot into classified computers, they have not found a way to transmit a virus by paper yet.

In order to attract the best talent to the WWW war effort, and the Air Force now says the WWW qualifies as a domain, ( and is on the FAST track for WWW dominance ) the Government needs to be embracing hackers, and learning to control them. Bust the violators, and shelter and nurture the hackers willing to come across from the dark side.

I wonder what would have happened in the Revolutionary WAR if anyone who had fired a Kentucky long rifile was disqualified from serving? For "deviant hunting-behavior".

Gerald
Anthropologist

The Chinese Government has access to a pool of 11,000 Chinese civilian hackers.
Chinese hackers responsible for '88 per cent of attacks'
BCS, UK -Jun 3, 2008
News stories: 1,118 for chinese hackers.

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Security:hyper endemic Epidemic:

Malware on legit sites poses most risk to users
Published: 2008-06-09

The greatest risk of exposure to malicious code on the Web comes, not from fraudulent sites, but legitimate Web pages that have been compromised to include malicious programs, according to a study published last week by Web security firm ScanSafe.


The study, which compared more than 10 billion Web requests from May 2007 and May 2008, found that two-thirds of malicious software, or malware, comes from legitimate sites. While the company saw a 220 percent increase in Web-based malware in a year, software attacks launched from legitimate sites raced ahead, increasing more than 400 percent.

"The compromise techniques being used now allow hackers to quickly 'colonize' thousands of legitimate sites, from big brand name sites like Wal-Mart, to smaller but equally legitimate sites," Mary Landesman, senior security researcher at ScanSafe, said in a statement.

The study is the latest report to find that hackers have moved toward using legitimate sites as a point from which to infect unsuspecting Web visitors. A number of attacks on vulnerabilities Web-site databases and administration tools has allowed attackers to litter legitimate sites with malicious code. In January, Web security firm Websense announced that, for the first time, compromised legitimate sites accounted for 51 percent of all online points of infection.

Browser makers have responded to the danger by incorporating anti-malware features into their software.

The ScanSafe study also found that backdoor and password-stealing software had jumped more than 850 percent in the last year.

If you have tips or insights on this topic, please contact SecurityFocus.

http://www.securityfocus.com/brief/751?ref=rss

http://snipurl.com/2es56

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

My response:

Your article:
"Malware on legit sites poses most risk to users"

HI I'm an anthropologist and run an anti-terrorist blog and 100 cyber troopers.

In my research I have been calling this hyper endemic Epidemic:


I have been warning about this Security Epidemic.
There is only ONE security Vendor/program addressing it.
Private Sector Foot-Dragging has allowed millions and millions of infections.

SLQ injection epidemic, coupled with Exploiting Flash Zero Day Vulnerability and fast flus hosting.
SLQ gives hackers access to your PC on infected "trusted" sites, trusted sites have lowered security
levels. This is the most advanced successful sophisticated massive attack I have ever seen.

This is a new NEW VECTOR EXPLOIT.( bots for everyone? )
coming from a trusted site, " it " can walk thru all current security programs and Vista isn't even a constraint, nor are MACs. Coming from a trusted site there are many vectors to infect your PC/MAC. I HAVE SEEN EVIDENCE OF ROOTKITS ALSO.

I hope my note results in a effective response by the private sector vendors.

Our tracking capabilities indicate the Military are at risk also.

http://warintel.blogspot.com/2008/06/we-told-you-so.html
Please see both warnings posted on my page #1 and 2.

Gerald
Internet Anthropologist
ad Magnum

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Our cyber recon teams have been protected since March.
HAUTE SECURE

G

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Chinese Whaling, Where the CEO is the Whale

Whaling, Where the CEO is the Whale.

Arguh ther be Whalers huntin fer the CEO's hide and gut$.

They be using a tax court Email fer the bait and
Spear him hard n fast, if he takes the bait.

Chuming with:
Notice of Deficiency
Fake VeriSign certificates.

Spears be:
certificate for a root CA (certificate authority)

The active.php page attempts to install an ActiveX control. The ActiveX control comes packaged as a Microsoft CAB file. The CAB file is signed with a certificate fraudulently using the name Adobe Systems Incorporated, issued by the CA represented by the bogus VeriSign certificate.

Rhifrem Trojan, also known as Fireming,

klog: keylogger data



Who be these Whaling pirates?
221.195.42.67, a virtual hosting server in IP address space administered by China Network Communications Group in Beijing. DNS for the domain was provided by "4everdns" nameservers in Beijing and Shanghai.

If you be lampooned be contacting yer legal Maties not GreenPeace.

We be Shanghai-ing info from here.

Captian Gerald
With eye patch in place.

Rumint China
.

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Knock , knock, no body home....

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