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Kaspersky Lab Has Been Working With The Rooshins. Feds Upset.
by Razer 12 Jul '17

12 Jul '17

> A recent AP story notes that senior U.S. intelligence officials do not > recommend Kaspersky's anti-virus products. Attempting to rebut the > concern, Eugene Kaspersky has offered to allow the inspection of the > source code of his anti-virus products. For reasons that Herb Lin > ably outlines, that offer is inadequate to establish the lack of > Russian government influence. But extrinsic evidence of that > influence is scarce on the ground -- leaving Kaspersky with a > signficiant degree of plausible deniability. > > All of which makes this news report from Bloomberg especially > interesting. Here is the the nut graf: > >> While the U.S. government hasn’t disclosed any evidence of the ties, >> internal company emails obtained by Bloomberg Businessweek show that >> Kaspersky Lab has maintained a much closer working relationship with >> Russia’s main intelligence agency, the FSB, than it has publicly >> admitted. It has developed security technology at the spy agency’s >> behest and worked on joint projects the CEO knew would be >> embarrassing if made public > . > > On a day when email evidence seems to be all the rage, this story > should not get lost in the shuffle. > > [UPDATE: Kaspersky has now published a response. Here is the link.] LawFare, with links: https://lawfareblog.com/kaspersky-lab-has-been-working-russian-intelligence

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Bloomberg article on ethereum trader
by John Newman 12 Jul '17

12 Jul '17

Apparently, "0x00A651D43B6e209F5Ada45A35F92EFC0De3A5184 couldn't be reached for further comment." Heh :P https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2017-07-10/secret-millions-for-0x00… Secret New Billionaires Cash in With Cryptocurrencies An unknown cryptocurrency trader turned $55 million of paper wealth into $283 million in just over a month. The only clue about this person or persons, beyond a virtual wallet with the identification code 0x00A651D43B6e209F5Ada45A35F92EFC0De3A5184, surfaced on a June 11 Instagram posting, in Bahasa, in which he or she (or they) (or somebody posing as them) boasted about the 413 percent profit accumulated earlier this year from ether, the digital money of the Ethereum blockchain. [IMG] Read more: Inside the Bold Attempt to Reverse a $55 Million Digital Heist "I get many private messages asking how much ether I have," the post read, alongside photos that purported to be the hardware powering a mining operation but looked lifted from another website. "One of the cool things about Ethereum is that all wallets around the world are transparent and open for everyone to see. And this is my wallet's savings." Hidden identities are a popular feature of the twilight world of virtual money. Now that the total value of cryptocurrency, such as bitcoin and ether, soared June 6 to more than $100 billion, approaching the market value of McDonald's Corp., concerned regulators say it might be time to link wallet IDs with actual humans. Nom de Guerre Secrecy persists from the days, earlier this decade, when Ross Ulbricht, going by the nom de guerre Dread Pirate Roberts, used bitcoin to launder money and traffic in narcotics, activities for which he started serving a life term at the Metropolitan Correctional Center in New York. That's not to say that 0x00A651D43B6e209F5Ada45A35F92EFC0De3A5184 or any other entities are doing anything illegal. But opacity may be worsening jagged price movements. The value of ether, for example, rose from about $8 a unit at the start of the year to crest at $400 in June before settling around $250 today. A lack of transparency could also be stifling the mainstreaming of online money, according to draft legislation issued by the European Parliament in March. "The credibility of virtual currencies will not rise if they are used for criminal purposes," the draft said. "In this context, anonymity will become more a hindrance than an asset for virtual currencies" and their potential future popularity. Pseudonymity has always been a big part of the market's allure. Upending traditional ways of doing business was the lodestar for Ethereum's inventor, 23-year-old Vitalik Buterin. He released his software in 2015, not long after dropping out of Canada's University of Waterloo. Financial Privacy "One of its more important features is that you don't have identities tied to this," said Spencer Bogart, head of research at venture firm Blockchain Capital. "This financial privacy is an important characteristic." Exclusive insights on technology around the world. Get Fully Charged, from Bloomberg Technology. _____________________ Sign Up Ether, the second-most-popular cryptocurrency after bitcoin, is used to pay for applications or programs that run on the Ethereum blockchain, a secured list of transactions that can be shared. That allows for the use of "smart contracts," or pieces of computer code that make the terms of such agreements operate automatically. The blockchain has the potential to reshape business and finance by enabling immediate settlements of activities such as bank transfers and securities trades. JPMorgan Chase & Co., BP Plc, Microsoft Corp. and ING Groep NV are among those experimenting with it. The current value of all the ether held, $23 billion, means dozens of electronic wallets have accrued nine-figure positions. Many of them could be held by individuals, according to a Bloomberg analysis. Individuals can hold multiple wallets. Crypto-Billionaire Likely candidates to be crypto-billionaires include hedge fund manager Michael Novogratz, Joseph Lubin, founder of ConsenSys, a blockchain production studio that works on Ethereum, and Ethereum creator Buterin. Novogratz, a former executive at Fortress Investment Group and Goldman Sachs Group Inc., has a long way to go, but he's been a consistent booster. He said last month that he has 10 percent of his net worth invested in virtual money. That's a stake worth at least $90 million, given a net worth calculated at $925 million, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index. Novogratz declined to comment. Cryptocurrencies could become a $5 trillion industry, but they need to develop sound business principles to satisfy regulators and lend legitimacy, Novogratz said June 27 at a fintech conference in New York. Lubin, the former chief operating officer for Ethereum Switzerland GmbH, which developed the software, could hold hundreds of millions of dollars worth of ether, several investors said. The Canadian entrepreneur didn't respond to requests for comment on his holdings. "The long-range vision is moving the fundamental transactional elements of our society from analog, friction-filled systems to natively digital frictionless systems," Lubin told Bloomberg Radio June 21. Buterin said in a Reddit post last month his ether holdings equal what would amount to about $117 million today, according to calculations by Bloomberg. Like bitcoin, ether is struggling to overcome a reputation sullied by cyberattacks and technology bottlenecks. A flash crash last month saw the price of the cryptocurrency tumble to just 10 cents before rebounding to about $300. "A lot of lessons will be learned," said Peter Denious, head of global venture capital at Aberdeen Asset Management in Stamford, Connecticut. "A lot of money will be lost before a lot of money can be made." 0x00A651D43B6e209F5Ada45A35F92EFC0De3A5184 couldn't be reached for further comment.

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Re: Russia's "eye-watering" military toys
by Steven Schear 11 Jul '17

11 Jul '17

With advancing commercial tech, open hardware and software, the practicality of effective, open, smart weapon and dual-use becomes eminently more likely. Warrant Canary creator On Jul 7, 2017 7:40 PM, "Steve Kinney" <admin(a)pilobilus.net> wrote: On 07/07/2017 09:52 PM, juan wrote: >>> On a related note, I see that the japanese are 'partners' or >>> forcibibly buy that kind of stuff. I assume that any weapon >>> that americunts sell is fully backdoored so I kinda wonder >>> what kind of retard can buy stuff from them...Well, the japanese and >>> many other seem to be just that kind of retard. >> <I know, I know, stating the obvious dept.> > Are you? One obvious thing here is that what the russians > produce is also backdoored. Another obvious thing is that you > can trust the russians as much as you can trust americunts. I would not be so sure. In the case of weapons earmarked for U.S. use, I would bet heavily that there are no (deliberately installed) back doors in their C&C systems: Our military leaders may be passionately ignorant and profoundly neurotic, that they are not actually stupid. Lockout functions that take significant time and effort to defeat (when enabled) I take for granted, even though for decades the unlock code for all U.S. nuclear warhead firing circuits was a string of zeros. In the case of weapons eligible for export, I would only be a /little/ less confident that back doors are not included: One wants one's allies' weapons to work as advertised, and the blowback from discovered back doors would be very costly. As is done with proprietary trade secret operating systems etc., these back doors would be called "bugs" or "design flaws" when discovered, and this hard to disprove canard would be widely accepted as fact. But when (not if) back doors weapons systems are discovered, that would be Bad For Business: Quality really counts when defending the interests of one's own billionaires from the servants of hostile overseas billionaires. The consequences of back doors discovered /and/ exploited could include personal reprisals against parties considered responsible and major realignments of global power dynamics.

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Russia's "eye-watering" military toys
by Zenaan Harkness 11 Jul '17

11 Jul '17

http://journal-neo.org/2015/11/16/do-we-really-want-a-new-world-war-with-ru… Enjoyable read. Reminds me of that immortal line in the Putin documentary where the Russian navy chief points at a radar screen saying something like 'look at that, I've never seen [a destroyer class battleship] do this figure-8 move before' as the USS Donald Cook first enters then hightails out of Crimean waters. International military sparring at its best :) Z

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[RUS] TFW the winning finally stops - Putin discoveres he can't make a deal with Trump
by Zenaan Harkness 11 Jul '17

11 Jul '17

So sad ... http://theduran.com/video-shows-difference-putins-reactions-obama-vs-trump/

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The "energy grid hack" is back
by Razer 10 Jul '17

10 Jul '17

RollCall: > Congress Unnerved by Energy Grid Hack > > For months, Sen. Maria Cantwell has been warning in letters to the > Trump administration and colleagues that Congress needs to do more to > keep the nation's energy supply safe from cyberattacks. Now it appears > she has a widespread attack to bolster her admonitions. > > Reports from Bloomberg and The New York Times last week indicated that > Russian-backed hacking groups may be responsible for recent targeted > cyberattacks to nuclear power plants and grid operation system > manufacturers, threatening the electric grid and the economy it supports. > > While the FBI and Department of Homeland Security say... (blah blah) > > http://www.rollcall.com/news/policy/energy-grid-hack-gets-focuses-congress > Which Energy Grid hack? The one in Burlington Vt that never happened at all on a laptop that wasn't even capable of being connected to the grid, containing malware that was 'in the wild' for years? These people are spoon feeding everyone bullshit, and everyone's eating it. Because the typical US-ejumicated idiot simply can't admit to themselves they got the absolute perfect representation of an American citizen for president. Donald Trump. So like every other world problem... PUTIN! RUSSIA! COMMIES! Note that Russia hasn't been a communist nation for decades now, and their only real threat to the US is competition for the extractive resources that make America's Five-Planet Lifestyle possible. Therein lies the 'problem' with "Russia". My nightmare is the US and Russia will call off their bullshit-in-the-best-year "Cold War", a global game of good cop/bad cop played on the 3rd world countries, and collude to rape the Earth's resources with China as the slave shop nation manufacturing products with those looted resources for the select few who can still afford it. Watch Syria. It's future partition is the testing ground for US/Russian expeditionary collaboration. Rr

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Re: [Cryptography] Trump wants to collaborate with the Russians to secure U.S. elections
by grarpamp 10 Jul '17

10 Jul '17

On Sun, Jul 9, 2017 at 6:29 PM, Ron Garret <ron(a)flownet.com> wrote: > https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/884016887692234753 > > "Putin & I discussed forming an impenetrable Cyber Security unit so that election hacking, & many other negative things, will be guarded..and safe." "Putin & I" <<< rulers "discussed forming" <<< secretly conspired behind closed doors "impenetrable"... <<< on brutality, and fiction "election hacking"... <<< because simple paper audit trails already just work "Security unit"... <<< involving gestapo "Many other negative things"... <<< neverending weasel words... "will be guarded..and safe"... <<< classic injection of fear and saviour "Many"... including pointless overclassification, and whatever the governments and cronies are doing in secret against you to levy more control and power. Be wary who you allow to cyber / sec / crypto what from you, why, and how. Most cases, especially govt ones, are more appropriately handled with abject openness if not outright eradication. > https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-fix/wp/2017/07/09/trump-suggested-a…

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WBAI 99.5FM NYC Pacifica Credico Live on Fly [re: Binney and Brown WBAI Interview]
by grarpamp 10 Jul '17

10 Jul '17

On Mon, Jul 10, 2017 at 11:26 AM, Razer <g2s(a)riseup.net> wrote: >> Randy Credico speaks with Senior CIA Analyst William Binney and NYC >> Journalist, Hactivist Barrett Brown on a Live on the Fly July 4th Special. > > https://www.wbai.org/articles.php?article=3470 The series is pretty good. Did a few with Assange. Stuff was posted here under similar subject a while back, search: wbai https://www.wbai.org/archive.php search "Randy Credico- Live On The Fly" archive: quickly as the old ones seem to disappear offline Topic: Wikileaks https://nuarchive.wbai.org/mp3/wbai_170606_170002randyCrelof.mp3

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Mexican Mass Disappearance (Iguala 2014) Investigators Targeted by NSO (Israeli) Spyware
by Razer 10 Jul '17

10 Jul '17

McClatchy: > > Investigators say targets of high-tech spying in Mexico included an > international group of experts sent to the country by the > Inter-American Human Rights Commission. > > The spyware previously was directed at journalists, activists and > opposition politicians in Mexico. But targeting foreign experts > operating under the aegis of an international body marks an escalation > of the scandal. > > A report released Monday by the internet watchdog group Citizen Lab > found that someone sent emails with links to the spyware to the > International Group of Independent Experts. Those experts had been > critical of the government's investigation into the 2014 disappearance > of 43 students from a rural teachers college in Guerrero state. > > The Israeli-made spyware is sold exclusively to governments. The > Mexican government bought it, but it's not clear who used it. > > http://www.mcclatchydc.com/news/politics-government/national-politics/artic… Details @CitizenLab: https://citizenlab.org/2017/07/mexico-disappearances-nso/

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Binney and Brown WBAI Interview
by Razer 10 Jul '17

10 Jul '17

> Randy Credico speaks with Senior CIA Analyst William Binney and NYC > Journalist, Hactivist Barrett Brown on a Live on the Fly July 4th Special. https://www.wbai.org/articles.php?article=3470

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