CyberWar 2.0: China Is On The Offensive
May 5, 2008 (No Responses)
MANY MOONS ago I wrote an article about the first real (publicly at least) Cyberwar instance, that being the concerted electronic attacks on Estonia’s infrastructure. That was an interesting story in itself, but the key point is that it was a wake up call for the West, for NATO and for just about every country with an electronic infrastructure.
The message was clear - Cyberwar was a real threat, not just a clever term in some obscure science fiction novel or military think-tank paper.
Since then most governments have been rushing to shore up vulnerabilities and create cyber-defence agencies for both offensive and defensive options. China however seems to have been a busy little aggressor in this department.
However it turns out that Estonia was not really the first real Cyberwar because China has been on the offensive for over 18 months now. Read more
New Security Camera Can Basically Undress You
April 16, 2008 (5 Responses)
It used to be X-RAY Specs and Laser Vision, but actually technology has finally caught up with the sci-fi predictions. Enter the ThruVision T5000 Camera, a technological marvel that is being deployed in UK Airports to help in the fight against terrorism by essentially looking ‘through’ your clothing to see what you might be hiding underneath.
You read that right… the camera has the ability to basically undress you in real time and see what lurks beneath.
The camera is based on Terahertz radiation, commonly called T Rays. T Ray is a very high frequency radiation, more than a hundred times higher than micro-wave, T Rays easily permeate fabric, paper, wood, plastic and smoke with the exception of metal or water. This allows it to go through the clothes people are wearing and detect any weapons or even narcotics carried by the person. T Rays, unlike X Rays present no health risks for human beings.
The camera is also equipped with a normal video surveillance camera to allow security personnel compare images to determine what objects peaople are concealing. The camera is already in use in London’s Canary Wharf financial area and in London’s busy Piccadilly Circus, and of course the potential to roll it out to airports is obvious, although the range is limited enough currently at 25m.
I guess it won’t be long before we’re in a situation where these types of cameras are deployed all over the place.
Is Fortress Europe Inevitable?
February 14, 2008 (2 Responses)
IT’S TOUGH ENOUGH to keep track of the Eurocrats and their exploits at the best of times, and I must admit I’m as confused as hell about this latest Treaty Of Lisbon, not least of all because of the directed efforts of our so-called government to mislead the population about the treaty itself and, even worse, to try to slip it in under the blanket of confusion caused in the process. It’s just like the Treaty of Nice all over again.
I read an article in the Sunday Business Post over the weekend entitled “What Exactly Are We Reforming In This Treaty?” in which the journo tried to get a copy of the treaty in question in order to understand the issues and what exactly we - as a nation - are being asked to vote on later this year. What he discovered however is that there is a funky clause within this proposed treaty which refers to another treaty, called the “Treaty on the functioning of the European Union” which shall have precedence over the Lisbon Treaty… the only problem is this ‘other’ treaty doesn’t in fact exist. At least not yet. So basically the government can hide anything they want externally to the Lisbon Treaty, but still get us to vote on it… whatever ‘it’ in fact is. Does anyone out there actually know what the hell this treaty is really about?
This is just one more example of how we are being driven to a modern day Fortress Europe from all angles. Politcally its been happening for quite a while. Economically is how it all started and even legally it’s starting to come together, but the one that worries me the most is the military and defence angle. The whole idea of a common European Defence Force just scares the shit out of me when I think of the muppets in charge of it.
Worse still is news today that the latest idea from Fortress Europe central is proposing to implement a futuristic border defence and monitoring policy incorporating biometric checking (digital fingerprinting) at the border entry points, unmanned low-flying drones patrolling the lengths of the border itself, Satellites and sci-fi sensors placed at strategic locations to monitor movements and of course the inevitable massive databases and enforcement organisations that follow such a deployment of technology… all to keep undesirables out of Europe.
What’s next? Minefields? Big shark infested trenches? Basically they seem to want to create one big happy xenophobic federated entity, a massive private club that you can’t join unless you have the right credentials, a massive military force to back up their political views one big fuck-you border solution for the rest of the word to look at, but not over… any of this sounding familiar to you yet? Read more
Beware: Paypal Scam Doing The Rounds
December 5, 2007 (6 Responses)
I RECEIVED the following email in my inbox this morning, which I immediately reported to Paypal and had confirmed by them as a phishing attempt to gain access to my credentials and password/financial information. It’s doing the rounds at the mo apparently.
I sussed it for a phishing attempt more or less immediately, but it was cleverly disguised in fairness, using all the right logos, language… hell if it wasn’t for the dodgy domain in the link address contained within the email I might have fallen for it. Well not really, given that Paypal would never ask for the details this email does, but still I’m sure there are folks out there who may be taken in by this.
Therefore I am reproducing the entire email here, including links, so that as many people as possible can be alerted to this phishing attempt. Please feel free to link to or cut/paste from this article if it will help avoid someone getting caught by the fraudsters behind this.
Original email follows: Read more
Even Sniffer Dogs Aren’t Safe From Airport Security…
August 27, 2007 (2 Responses)
I’M SURE YOU HAVE seen sniffer dogs at work in Airports, right? Those madly excitable dogs going through all the luggage, sniffing out the drugs and the bad guys. It takes years to train these dogs, and certain breeds are better than others for the task.
See that photo on the left there? That’s a Belgian Malinois dog; a perfect breed for a sniffer dog. In fact, an elite Mexican Drug Squad have been using just such a breed for years in their crusade against the drug dealers and trafficers. Or rather, ‘had been using’ is probably more appropriate becaused Rex IV, a highly trained Belgian Malinois sheepdog with a string of drug hauls behind him, who was checked on to a flight from Mexico City this week with seven other police dogs bound for an operation in the northern state of Sinaloa, has been kidnapped.
Or is that dognapped?
Anyway - the thing that caught my attention about this story is that the bad guys simply dressed up in a uniform that made them look ‘official’, walked up to the counter in Airport Security and quite calmly explained that poor old Rex was not feeling very well and that they needed to replace him (a highly trained, decorated and adult Belgian Malinois) with another dog. Well, not quite a dog really… Read more
Bye Bye Plane, Hello Security Hysteria
July 15, 2007 (10 Responses)
PICTURE THE SCENE…
A mother and her 19 month old son have finally settled into their seats on a Continental Expressjet flight bound from Houston to Atlanta after an 11 hour delay in Bush Intercontinental Airport. The kid is understandably tired and cranky, so the mother directs his attention out the window to the activity going on around the aircraft as it boards passangers and gets ready to taxi for takeoff. His attention is particularly drawn to another plane parked a ways off.
Eventually their plane has boarded all passangers and the flight attendants begin their pre-flight safety briefing. As the plane begins to move off the boy, looking out the window, notices they are moving away from the other vehicles and planes in his view. He starts to wave at the receeding plane in his window and says “Bye Bye, Plane”, over and over again as they taxi away.
And as a result both mother and son were kicked off the flight.
This is not some crazy joke or made up urban myth. Oh no. This is an example of how paranoia and hysteria has become the norm for air travel in the USA and the worst thing is that the airline doesn’t even feel the need to apologise for this hysterical response to a child waving goodbye out a window.
The mother and son in this case are Kate Penland and her son, Garren. The trouble started when a flight attendant - upon finishing her pre-flight security briefing - came over and instructed the Kate to shut her son up. In fact the flight attendant is quoted as saying “‘OK, it’s not funny anymore. You need to shut your baby up”. Penland responded by telling the flight attendant that she expected her son to fall asleep shortly… and that’s when it all spiraled out of control into the hysteria that seems to have become the norm for air travel these days… Read more
A Cyberwar By Any Other Name…
June 16, 2007 (One Response)
LANGUAGE IS A WONDERFUL thing, but it’s also a convenient way to mask the truth sometimes. One man’s terrorist is another man’s freedom fighter yes? Are they prisoners of war or “Enemy Combatants” over there in Gitmo? When does Iraq become a civil war and not a police action? Actually when does a conflict become a war? The list is endless.
The use of language has always been a very powerful weapon in the politics of persuasion and the media generally laps it up and plays along because it’s all good press and sells newspapers and TV advertising slots. It’s a perfect symbiotic relationship between the media, the politicans and the consumers. The politicians invent the lie, the media propagates it and the public eat it up willingly and convince themselves that they are “informed” as a result.
So how informed are you about the cyberwar cyberterror information warfare denial of service issue which occurred in Estonia earlier this year? Did you realise it was the beginning of the end? Have you started building your electronic proof bunker yet?
In April Estonia’s government moved a Soviet-era war memorial commemorating an unknown Russian killed fighting the Germans. Not a big deal you would think, but you’d be wrong. Estonia broke away from the then Soviet Union back in 1991 and has been making it’s own decisions and carving it’s own future ever since then. This seemingly innocuous decision to move the statue sparked off riots in the country between the ethnic russian communities and those who couldn’t care less about the “old country”. To make matters worse in Moscow, President Vladimir Putin very publicly criticized Estonia and demonstrators blockaded the Estonian embassy.
And that’s about the point when things started to go all cyberpunk and weird and the cyberwar broke out… Read more
