cybersecurity
Cracking the cyber world: NSA, hackers, and the complicated ways that digital information can threaten our personal lives, politics and national security.
How Cyber Security Has Changed in the Last 10 Years
The world has changed drastically over the past ten years. Even the last two years have shown us so much change, not all of it for the better. When it comes to technology, ten years may as well be a hundred, for it changes so rapidly.
By Andrew Obuchowski3 years ago in The Swamp
Hacker
A hacker is a person skilled in information technology who uses their technical knowledge to achieve a goal or overcome an obstacle, within a computerized system by non-standard means. Though the term hacker has become associated in popular culture with a security hacker – someone who utilizes their technical know-how of bugs or exploits to break into computer systems and access data which would otherwise be unavailable to them – hacking can also be utilized by legitimate figures in legal situations. For example, law enforcement agencies sometimes use hacking techniques in order to collect evidence on criminals and other malicious actors. This could include using anonymity tools (such as a VPN, or the dark web) to mask their identities online, posing as criminals themselves.[1][2] Likewise, covert world agencies can employ hacking techniques in the legal conduct of their work. Oppositely, hacking and cyber-attacks are used extra- and illegally by law enforcement and security agencies (conducting warrantless activities), and employed by State actors as a weapon of both legal and illegal warfare.Definitions
By Rebecca Maria4 years ago in The Swamp
How To Tell If Your Company Needs To Boost Its Security Measures
We all collectively know that the most valuable asset to any company is the information that we possess. Not only that, but how data flows through the company has to have the most up-to-date security possible. Security is an absolute necessity in the world of technology information. Here are a couple of signs that your company needs to boost its security measures.
By Louis Barani4 years ago in The Swamp
Information Warfare is a Cybersecurity Thing. Duh!
Duh! That’s what we say when something should be obvious. It turns out, information warfare is at the heart of cybersecurity. But the cybersecurity community and I missed it. This Computer Weekly article from Dec. 23, 2020 brought it into focus. And the US Capitol fiasco on Jan. 6, 2021 vaulted information warfare to the top of the priority list. We need a solution and root cause analysis. Fast.
By Greg Scott5 years ago in The Swamp
We should follow Sweden in combatting foreign interference in our democratic proceedings.
Since the Cold War, it has become notably evident that Russian interference over democratic proceedings has increased. During my course in Government & Politics A-Level, I have taken a particular interest in the argument over whether there is a democratic deficit within the European Union. A key idea for this, would be that as Russia has increasingly interfered within democratic elections of European states, how is it possible to unify the European Union when elections themselves are not fully democratic? Such a question pushed me forward to read more about this topic, where I became fascinated by Russian espionage attempts to undermine democratic proceedings. I consider this to be one of the leading global issues we have, and this has become exacerbated by the fact that it is a threat that is continuously increasing. However, I believe that recent tactics used by Sweden should act as an example to ensure a comprehensive approach to combatting foreign interference in democracy.
By Ewan Wilson5 years ago in The Swamp
Security Nightmare: US Lawmakers May Force Companies To Create Backdoors In Software/Hardware...
It's so strange how both parties seem to magically come together for the worst things. But apparently nothing unites a usually broken system more than when they need to vote on going to war, or to step on the right of citizens with bills like the Patriot Act, and now, the 'EARN IT Act', which has been officially submitted by Senators Lindsey Graham (R) and Richard Blumenthal (D).
By Ross Davis5 years ago in The Swamp
Johnny’s Data Diving Part 1: New York Firm Law360 Leaks Israeli Intelligence’s Personal Data
I was searching for potential sex offenders when I stumbled across an interesting data leak. An accounts executive for a New York legal advisory firm, Law360, had opened up her hard drive by not being more careful with which folders she was sharing, a common problem in the modern digital world. I began downloading the various Law360 contracts and other personal data and putting them in secure folders. Of late, I have my eyes peeled for any companies who fail in their legal duty to protect their customers and employees personal data and a legal firm responsible for the leaking was irresistibly ironic. This would be the 2nd large company who I had compromised in a matter of days. These are the types of companies where the lower paid employees would be fired for leaking data, but where the higher paid executives and managers live by different rules.
By Johnny Vedmore6 years ago in The Swamp
The Internet Is a Lie
Welcome to the Age of Misinformation. In the days leading up the United Kingdom’s 2016 vote on Brexit, it became increasingly clear to British authorities that a foreign national had interfered with the referendum through a tactical social media attack. The foreign national, using social media data gathered from a third party statistics company, had spread misinformation about the vote using automated social media accounts (bots). The foreign country wanted to advance its own interest by dividing the United Kingdom amongst political lines while also advancing policies that softened British policy towards the foreign actor. If this at all sounds familiar, it is. The same thing happened in the 2016 United States election. The same country, Russia, perpetrated the act of interference. And yet Russia does not deserve 100% of the blame.
By Matthew Williams7 years ago in The Swamp
The Myth of Election Meddling
The trail of successful internet hacking, although not always the Russian kind, is pre-election 2016. The following example is only one of the many and goes back to 2012: The British hacker Gary McKinnon hacked the US Pentagon, but only because he was searching for evidence of UFO investigations. Most hackers with the skills would probably have given themselves a huge permanent paycheck! Instead, someone was recently busted because he manipulated McDonald's Monopoly game. Besides the big screen TV, he gave himself a lifetime supply of Big Mac's. To make matters worse, he was a police officer. I mean, our people have gotten pretty good at spotting hacking activity. It would be better if these guys hadn't been able to get through at all... UFO's and Big Mac's??
By Lady Sunday8 years ago in The Swamp
Big Brother Is Watching You
First of all, government surveillance should be stopped. People have to fight for their rights to be free. According to the Pew Research Center, where Americans were asked about surveillance, national security and privacy, 74% said that there is no need to sacrifice liberties for the sake of safety, while ten years ago the number of people against government invasion was 60%. After Edward Snowden revelations in 2013, the debates against surveillance heated up all over the world. One of the main victories is that U.S government let the Patriot Act expire. “Ending the mass surveillance of private phone calls under the Patriot Act is a historic victory for the rights of every citizen. The United Nations declared mass surveillance an unambiguous violation of human rights” (“Edward Snowden: The World Says No to Surveillance”, 2015). According to the interview given by Mr.Snowden to HBO channel, the mass surveillance has started after terrorist attack in 2001 in New York, however it yet haven’t stopped any single terrorist attack in U.S and the major reason of surveillance nowadays is political stability. Especially in nondemocratic and authoritarian systems. Snowden leaks also impact on American views about anti-terrorism policies. It cannot be justification anymore, 37% of Americans think policies have not gone far enough to adequately protect them, but have gone too far in restricting the average person’s civil liberties (“ Terrorism Worries Little Changed, 2015 ”).
By Tursynai Alikhanova8 years ago in The Swamp
Neutrality or Neutrali-tarianism?
The Problem The conversation about Net Neutrality seems like a simple one: Proponents say that without it, Internet Service Providers (ISPs) will run amok and adopt unfair practices to keep ahead of their competitors. This would be a horrible miscarriage of justice… if we only had a single ISP for the geographical region. It could even be used to stifle freedom of speech…except that new networks also have deep pockets and they keep a keen eye on their viewership. In fact, it should be a problem by now. The internet providers have had decades to institute these practices that proponents of formalized Net Neutrality. So, if there were a profit in it, wouldn’t they steer things in a way that benefits them?
By Mickey Finn9 years ago in The Swamp
