- cypherpunks - lists.cpunks.org

Lois Lerner's conveeeeeeeeeeniently-lost emails.
by jim bell 17 Aug '14

17 Aug '14

Note: I wonder what kind of email system would be: 1. Used by the Federal Government. 2. NOT be regularly backed-up. 3. Would lose up to two (2) years of emails in a crash. Jim Bell [article follows] http://news.yahoo.com/lawmakers-fume-over-lost-emails-irs-probe-080830845--… WASHINGTON (AP) — Congressional investigators are fuming over revelations that the Internal Revenue Service has lost a trove of emails to and from a central figure in the agency's tea party controversy. The IRS said Lois Lerner's computer crashed in 2011, wiping out an untold number of emails that were being sought by congressional investigators. The investigators want to see all of Lerner's emails from 2009 to 2013 as part of their probe into the way agents handled applications for tax-exempt status by tea party and other conservative groups. Lerner headed the IRS division that processes applications for tax-exempt status. The IRS acknowledged last year that agents had improperly scrutinized applications by some conservative groups. "Do they really expect the American people to believe that, after having withheld these emails for a year, they're just now realizing the most critical time period is missing?" said Rep. Darrell Issa, R-Calif., chairman of the House Oversight Committee. "If there wasn't nefarious conduct that went much higher than Lois Lerner in the IRS targeting scandal, why are they playing these games?" The Oversight Committee is one of three congressional committees investigating the IRS over its handling of tea party applications from 2010 to 2012. The Justice Department and the IRS inspector general are also investigating. Congressional investigators have shown that IRS officials in Washington were closely involved in the handling of tea party applications, many of which languished for more than a year without action. But so far, they have not publicly produced evidence that anyone outside the agency directed the targeting or even knew about it. If anyone in the Obama administration outside the agency was involved, investigators were hoping for clues in Lerner's emails. "The fact that I am just learning about this, over a year into the investigation, is completely unacceptable and now calls into question the credibility of the IRS' response to congressional inquiries," said Rep. Dave Camp, R-Mich., chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee. "There needs to be an immediate investigation and forensic audit by Department of Justice as well as the inspector general." The IRS said technicians went to great lengths trying to recover data from Lerner's computer in 2011. In emails provided by the IRS, technicians said they sent the computer to a forensic lab run by the agency's criminal investigations unit. But to no avail. The IRS was able to generate 24,000 Lerner emails from the 2009 to 2011 because Lerner had copied in other IRS employees. The agency said it pieced together the emails from the computers of 82 other IRS employees. But an untold number are gone. Camp's office said the missing emails are mainly ones to and from people outside the IRS, "such as the White House, Treasury, Department of Justice, FEC, or Democrat offices." Anti-tax advocate Grover Norquist called the episode "the worst attempt to blame technology in service of a cover-up since the infamous 18-minute gap" in former President Richard Nixon's Watergate tapes. The IRS said in a statement that more than 250 IRS employees have been working to assist congressional investigations, spending nearly $10 million to produce more than 750,000 documents. Overall, the IRS said it is producing a total of 67,000 emails to and from Lerner, covering the period from 2009 to 2013. "The IRS is committed to working with Congress," the IRS said in a statement. "The IRS has remained focused on being thorough and responding as quickly as possible to the wide-ranging requests from Congress while taking steps to protect underlying taxpayer information." Sen. Orrin Hatch of Utah, the top Republican on the Senate Finance Committee, called Friday's disclosure "an outrageous impediment" to the committee's investigation. "Even more egregious is the fact we are learning about this a full year after our initial request to provide the committee with any and all documents relating to our investigation," Hatch said. Lerner has emerged as a key figure in the tea party probe. In May 2013, she was the first IRS official to publicly acknowledge that agents had improperly scrutinized applications. About two weeks later, Lerner was subpoenaed to testify at a congressional hearing. But after making a brief statement in which she said she had done nothing wrong, Lerner refused to answer questions, invoking her constitutional right against self-incrimination. The IRS placed Lerner on administrative leave shortly after the congressional hearing. She retired last fall. In May, the House voted to hold Lerner in contempt of Congress. Her case has been turned over to the U.S. attorney for the District of Columbia.

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fun games against skilled adversaries [was: shipment interdiction [was: BadBIOS forensics]]
by coderman 17 Aug '14

17 Aug '14

On 8/16/14, bluelotus(a)openmailbox.org <bluelotus(a)openmailbox.org> wrote: > Bryan Starbuck, I apologize for the delay in anwering your question. > Your suggestion of keeping profiles is excellent. You are probably > familiar with nonprofits being surveilled, harassed and hacked by former > NSA trained hackers. > ... > Before the above article was written, I wrote a discussion thread on > this. Readers are reluctant to concede that abusers hire private > investigators who hire hackers. the "security industry" as oriented toward the consumer public is focused on broad threats and general risks. the specialized particulars of targeted exploitation for whatever reason are the realm of nation state espionage, law enforcement technical surveillance, and high power corporate conflicts. individuals facing advanced attackers are left with nearly no avenues of reputable relief. the vagaries of how anyone might encounter "advanced attackers" are as myriad and expansive as the history of human kind itself. jilted lover, bruised ego, psychotic obsession, voyueristic thrills, the list goes well beyond the common corporate investigations and government espionage hijinx... > In these high tech times,private investigators hire black hat hackers > who are adept at picking locks, gaining physical access to computers and > external hard drives and disassemblying, implanting and infecting > computers. i find it amusing that the largest repository of black hats and malicious tech is employed by the United States Government itself. at least those tax dollars are some of the most effective put to use? ;) > My case is atypical. It was not the defendant's law firm that hired > private investigators. The defendant himself hired private investigators > who hired hackers. Who he hired are top notch professionals. The type > that law firms would hire and refer to other law firms and defendants. > The defendant acted on very good referrals. it is slow going digging into your gear; will report in a few weeks. as mentioned before, due to interdiction of shipment i don't expect much of interest. but never say never... best regards, dokermange; doing mah best to poke bears and burn vulns P.S. if you would like to participate in a weaponized-sploits-for-free program with coderman please provide a cell phone number and physical address in united states for delivery of honey tokens to trigger tips. not responsible for damaged or turned-malicious hardware in your vacinity or possession. special restrictions may apply. LIMITED TIME ONLY! #YOLO #RENDITIONCON #WTFBBQ

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Fwd: [liberationtech] New Citizen Lab report
by coderman 17 Aug '14

17 Aug '14

---------- Forwarded message ---------- From: r.deibert(a)utoronto.ca Date: Fri, 15 Aug 2014 16:44:28 -0400 Subject: [liberationtech] New Citizen Lab report Dear LibTech I am pleased to announce a new Citizen Lab report published today, authored by Morgan Marquis-Boire and entitled "Schrodinger?s Cat Video and the Death of Clear-Text." The key findings are outlined below: ? Commercial network injection appliances are actively targeting Google?s YouTube and Microsoft?s Live services in order to install surveillance implants on targets across the globe. ? Documents indicate that a prototype for targeted surveillance network injection appliances sold to the governments of Oman and Turkmenistan was designed by CloudShield Technologies, a US Department of Defense contractor. ? This report reveals never before seen documentation on the operation of Network Injection appliances from both Hacking Team and FinFisher and provides source code for an early prototype of FinFisher?s FinFly ISP product. A link to the full report is here: https://citizenlab.org/2014/08/cat-video-and-the-death-of-clear-text/ The Washington Post has extensive coverage on the report, which can be found here: http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/the-switch/wp/2014/08/15/how-your-cat-v… Morgan Marquis-Boire has written an oped at The Intercept: https://firstlook.org/theintercept/2014/08/15/cat-video-hack/ Relatedly, my "Open Letter" on behalf of the Citizen Lab to Hacking Team was published last week: https://citizenlab.org/2014/08/open-letter-hacking-team/ Cheers Ron

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Re: Re: [cryptography] Question About Best Practices for Personal File Encryption
by stef 16 Aug '14

16 Aug '14

On Sat, Aug 16, 2014 at 06:26:28PM -0500, Mark Thomas wrote: > Am I on the right track? If so does anyone know of a helpful guide to get started with OpenSSL on the command line besides the man pages? last time i checked openssl does no authenticated encryption on the command line. -- otr fp: https://www.ctrlc.hu/~stef/otr.txt

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Re: shipment interdiction [was: BadBIOS forensics]
by coderman 16 Aug '14

16 Aug '14

On Sat, Jul 19, 2014 at 5:20 PM, Bryan Starbuck <bryan(a)thestarbucks.com> wrote: > I like buying a computer in a surprise visit to an apple store or a store > that sells windows computers. agreed; on site ad-hoc cash purchases the best procurement technique. not infallible by any means, but at least avoids some known problems like this amusing scenario. (shipments from the Seattle Amazon warehouse to Kansas before delivery to Oregon was also funny.) repeat for emphasis: - keep chain of custody of sensitive hardware at all times - never procure or ship through mail. at one point, priority same day air would get a pass, but even this no longer suitable. best regards,

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Interdiction of MIPS tablet
by bluelotus＠openmailbox.org 16 Aug '14

16 Aug '14

Last week, I purchased a MIPS tablet on ebay and a rooted Nooks Tablet with CyanogenMod. Nooks was shipped priority mail and arrived yesterday. Nooks tablet: http://www.ebay.com/itm/291214398900?_trksid=p2059210.m2749.l2649&ssPageNam… tracking info: https://tools.usps.com/go/TrackConfirmAction?qtc_tLabels1=94055096999391405… MIPS tablet was shipped FedEx Smart Post. It was interdicted and being returned to shipper: MIPS tablet: http://www.ebay.com/itm/201145886170?_trksid=p2059210.m2749.l2649&ssPageNam… tracking info: https://www.fedex.com/fedextrack/html/index.html?tracknumbers=9797927122850… "Delivery exception" "Returning package to shipper. Incorrect address, unable to deliver - Returning package to shipper - Please contact shipper/merchant for details" I purchased a Nooks tablet solely because its OMAP4 CPU has mask ROM. http://www.reddit.com/r/Android/comments/2d8lni/mask_rom_prevents_bios_root… I purchased a MIPS tablet hoping BadBIOS doesn't infect MIPS and because MIPS hardware assisted virtualization is not as developed as ARM's Trustzone and Mobicore. I don't trust HAV. I wish local retailers sold them so I could have purchased them in person. I ordered a T5 Torx screwdriver to remove the screws in the Nook so I can air gap it. If the screws are glued, I will promptly sell or donate it. Another item that was apparently interdicted is media card reader. http://www.ebay.com/itm/281206663913?_trksid=p2059210.m2749.l2649&ssPageNam… I purchased it on 8/8/2014. Yet, post office does not give tracking information: https://tools.usps.com/go/TrackConfirmAction?qtc_tLabels1=92748999964015553… Hackers have repeatedly stolen my media card readers, opened up and broken my media card readers and broke the write protection switch on three Digital Intelligence media card write blockers. They attempt to force me to use flashdrives. They haven't broken the write protection switch on my Kanguru flashblu write blocker. For some reason, flashdrives are easier to flash firmware or infect than micro SD cards.

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Interdiction of MIPS tablet
by bluelotus＠openmailbox.org 16 Aug '14

16 Aug '14

Thanks for the compliment. Sorry your tech packages have been interdicted. http://www.reddit.com/r/badBIOS/comments/2bfgxi/updated_definition_of_air_g… http://www.reddit.com/r/badBIOS/comments/24diso/photos_of_piezo_electric_tw… My only witty thread: http://www.reddit.com/r/badBIOS/comments/2d6dp5/diy_how_to_destroy_bios_chi… On 08/15/2014 6:24 pm, Sam Gordon wrote: > Could you go into more detail by what you mean by air-gapping? The > removal of wireless equipment, destruction of ports, etc -- or > something entirely different? > > I find your posts interesting, and have experienced re-routed tech > packages myself. > > Thanks, > Sam

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Some History
by Ryan Carboni 14 Aug '14

14 Aug '14

http://www.yak.net/surfpunk/issues/0105 >The FBI and the Justice Department say the initiative would > >not expand their power, but would ensure access to the type of > >communications they have been entitled to tap for years. > > > This is totally bogus. > > The FBI has never had the right to watch computer programs > execute. Now that computer programs are being written as > distributed systems, what was originally written to be an > internal subroutine call can look like a message over the > phone system. > > The FBI never had the right to bug corporate conference rooms. > Now that companies are using videoconferencing, a private > corporate conference could look like a phone call. > > Etc. > > This needs to be fought. > > - Carl > > >

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Ukraine passed the bill about sanctions in first reading, it give power to close media, websites, and more
by Anton Nesterov 14 Aug '14

14 Aug '14

It includes many types of sanctions, but most interesting is that ones: 9) the prohibition or restriction of the retransmission of television and radio channels; 10) the prohibition to use radio frequency resource of Ukraine; 11) the restriction or termination of the media or other information activities, including those in the Internet; 12) the restriction or prohibition of production or distribution of printed materials and other information materials; 24) the prohibition of political parties, movements and other civil society associations and foundations; So if that bill will be passed, National Security and Defense Council can ban any foreign media, website, foundation, movement, printed material, etc. without court. http://osvita.mediasapiens.ua/material/33612 news report (in Ukrainian) http://w1.c1.rada.gov.ua/pls/zweb2/webproc4_1?pf3511=51915 text (in Ukrainian)

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Shipment Interdiction
by bluelotus＠openmailbox.org 14 Aug '14

14 Aug '14

The package was not interdicted to Sarasota, Florida. It was interdicted from Sarasota, Florida. Three times! Where is it now? I purchased a Toshiba Portege R205 from an Ebay seller. I needed an ultraportable laptop pre2008 as explained in: http://www.reddit.com/r/privacy/comments/2cu80z/former_m15_officer_and_whis… I commuted 11 hours to Sarasota, Florida to personally pick up the laptop. Prior computers I purchased from Ebay and retailers were indicted, implanted and infected. See http://www.reddit.com/r/techsupport/comments/2a24sh/removing_bulldozer_impl… That night, I disassembled, air gapped, reassembled my laptop. I glued four screws on the back to attempt to prevent it from being disassembled and implanted. That night, hackers broke into my hotel room while I was sleeping. They drilled out the glued screws, implanted, physically damaged the keyboard and infected. On Saturday, July 19, 2014, I dropped off my Toshiba, along with an interdicted and tampered Fedora CD, infected flashdrive and an infected raspberry pi to a FedEx authorized reseller in downtown Sarasota. FedEx's policy is not to notify the shipper and the recipient of the redirection. I asked Michael how recipients are allowed to change the address without the consent or knowledge of the shipper. I explained that when I was the recipient and wanted to change the address, FedEx instructed me to ask the shipper to change the address. Michael explained that I had not placed restrictions on my account to prevent the shipping address from being redirected. Michael instructed me to ask the Revenue Department to do so. I asked an employee for the number of the Revenue Department. Employee refused to look up the number and misrepresented the Revenue Department did not have a direct phone number. Instead, the employee transferred me. The Revenue Department employee did not know their direct phone number. I hung up. I called back 800-463-3339 and again asked for the Revenue Department's telephone number. I was finally given 800-622-1147. I asked an employee in the Revenue Department to transfer me to a supervisor. However, I was transferred to Bobby in Customers Relations. I asked Bobby to transfer me to a supervisor in the Revenue Department. Bobby misrepresented that she is a supervisor in the Revenue Department. I asked Bobbie for her contact information in the event that I needed to contact her again. Bobbie misrepresented her contact information is BRIFTOC. Bobby failed to give her ID number. I asked Bobby why I was not offered restriction options when I set up my account. Nor was I notified of restrictions options there after until today. Bobby did not give an answer. I asked Bobby to place restrictions on my account prohibiting redirecting the shipping address without my knowledge and consent. I asked Bobby to escalate my complaint. Bobby wanted me to write a letter to FedEx. There is no point spending the time and money on my prepaid phone to call Fedex, if I have to write a letter, print it out and mail it. I insisted Bobby write up a complaint. Bobby did not give me a case number. I asked Bobby to email or fax the complaint to me. Bobby said she could not email or fax. Interdiction #2: Michael informed me that morning the package was being returned to me because the recipient had not picked it up at the FedEx location in Beaverton, Oregon. The hackers' timing was perfect. Since I am being hacked in real time, the hackers knew that I logged into my FedEx account. FedEx holds packages for pick up for five business days. Yet, FedEx held the package much longer. All of a sudden, FedEx is returning it to shipper. I had departed Sarasota, FL. Returning it to Sarasota, FL would have placed the package at risk. FedEx should notify shippers and recipients before packages are being returned to shipper. Michael promised to have the package delivered to the initial address. Michael left a voicemail confirming that the package was being redirected to the initial address. Interdiction #3: I did not know Coderman's phone number so I gave my phone number on the ground shipping label. On August 5, 2014, I received an automated voicemail that the package will be delivered tomorrow, that a signature is required and a recommendation to chose the option hold for pick up. I had not requested a signature. Nor did the tracking information display that a signature was required. A signature requirement can be used as an alibi to return a package to the shipper if the recipient is not home and does not make arrangements to sign for the package. I tried to reach Bobby but Carolyn ID 921550 did not even try to transfer me to Bobby. Customer Relations' direct telephone number should be given to customers. Supervisors should be able to give out extension numbers. Instead Carolyn transferred me to a female employee in El Paso. It took her a while to read the notes on my account to find out who Bobby is. Bobby had left for the day. I asked to speak to a supervisor. She told me supervisors left for the day. I asked what the supervisors' hours are. She refused to tell me. She told me a signature was not required. Interdiction #4: She informed me the package was being returned to FedEx Office in Beaverton, Oregon. Again, I asked to speak to a supervisor. She transferred me to Carlos ID 892831. Carlos confirmed that signature was not required and that package was being returned to FedEx Office in Beaverton, Oregon. Carlos could not explain why the package was redirected again to FedEx Office. I asked how the redirections were being requested. Carlos explained the recipient went on FedEx's website. I argued that the recipient had not requested redirections. Carlos argued no one else would know the tracking number and recipient's contact information. I requested an investigation on the identity of the person performing the redirections. I asked Carlos how the shipment was again redirected without my knowledge or consent. I explained to Carlos that Bobby had placed restrictions on my account prohibiting redirection. Carlos explained that Bobby does not place restrictions on accounts. That Bobby could only forward my request for restrictions. I should never have been transferred to Bobby. when I argued with Bobby that she was not the appropriate employee to be transferred to, Bobby should have transferred me to an employee who can place restrictions. I complained to Carlos that shippers and recipients should be notified when shipments are redirected. The next day, August 6, 2014, I received email notification that the package was delivered to FedEx Office in Beaverton, OR. I asked to speak to Bobbie, Michael and Carlos. They were not available. An employee told me the package was delivered to the initial address. Was it? I emailed Coderman several times and am waiting for his reply. FedEx should have a fax number or an email address to forward complaints to. Instead, FedEx merely offers an online form to fill out. The form has a size restriction. I could not copy and paste this complaint into its form. On August 6, 2014, I mailed a complaint requesting FedEx to email or fax their investigation, confirmation that restrictions has been placed on my account and to waive the shipping fee. To date, FedEx has not responded.

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