The EFF has sent out a call to arms to help the protesters in Iran.
From the EFF:
As turmoil over the disputed election in Iran continues, many techs are trying to find ways to help Iranian citizens safely communicate and receive information despite the barriers being established by Iranian authorities. One tactic that even moderately tech-savvy Internet users can employ is to set up a Tor relay or a Tor bridge.
More sophisticated users can skip this paragraph, but for the rest, here’s the basic outline. Tor (an acronym of “The Onion Router”) is free and open source software that helps users remain anonymous on the Internet.
Read on for full article and lend your support.
Billy Hoffman has released some research. This time around he and a fellow researcher have found a way to create a darknet using browsers. Reminds me of a project called Peekabooty which, sadly, is no longer supported.
I’m looking forward to the Black Hat presentation this summer as I’m curious how this differs from the plethora of other options out there.
From Dark Reading:
A pair of researchers has discovered a way to use modern browsers to more easily build darknets — those underground, private Internet communities where users can share content and ideas securely and anonymously.
Billy Hoffman, manager for HP Security Labs at HP Software, and Matt Wood, senior security researcher in HP’s Web Security Research Group, will demonstrate a proof-of-concept for Veiled, a new type of darknet, at the Black Hat USA conference in Las Vegas next month. Darknets, themselves, are nothing new; networks like Tor, FreeNet, and Gnutella are well-established. The HP researchers say Veiled is the same idea, only much simpler: It doesn’t require any software to participate, just an HTML 5-based browser. “We’ve implemented a simple, new darknet in the browser,” Wood says. “There are no supporting [software] programs.”
Except the browsers…
Like I said, I’ll wait until Black Hat.
(Image from Darknetportal Flickr feed CC)
Australia’s government continues to emphasize that they have managed to take leave of their senses. The massive internet filtering project that they have underway to place a stranglehold on the web surfing habits of their populace will now include bit torrent. A big F U to their own citizens.
From News.com.au:
“Technology that filters peer-to-peer and BitTorrent traffic does exist and it is anticipated that the effectiveness of this will be tested in the live pilot trial,” Senator Conroy said.
Peer-to-peer file-sharing technology is the most common way for computer users to share video, picture and music files over the internet.
It was previously thought the Government’s filtering plan would be restricted to traffic on the “world wide web” – the channel through which users view websites like news.com.au.
Senator Conroy revealed the plan to trial peer-to-peer filtering technology in a reply to critical comments made on the Digital Economy Future Directions blog launched earlier this month.
This has the sickly scent of an steaming pile of…
Also, as a tangent to this story it appears that they filter list for Thailand has been leaked. It turns out that we here at Liquidmatrix Security Digest are not offensive to the Thai powers that be. Unlike the Chinese government.
Free speech gets another kick in the twig and berries in Russia. Journalists and bloggers there seem to have a bad habit of dying from sudden high velocity lead poisoning. One such vocal critic of Putin and company was shot dead on Sunday under questionable circumstances. Namely, while in police custody.
Interesting wording on the cause of his death.
On Reuters:
“While police officers were attempting to transfer M. Yevloyev to an interior ministry office, an incident occurred in which M. Yevloyev received a gunshot wound to the temple area,” the agency quoted the source as saying.
On AFP:
“Along the way, a shot was involuntarily fired from a policeman’s gun and the bullet hit Yevloyev’s head,” the source was quoted as saying.
OK, I have to wonder what the Russian words for “bullshit” and “murder” are at this point.
Sadly, I have $10 that says this case will never be resolved.
The NYPD has set off the community with a proposed plan to track vehicles with the use of a mesh of cameras. The entire idea is to drop a surveillance web across Manhattan. All of this under the guise of avoiding another terrorist attack. The ultimate “go to” excuse to strip away rights and spend money on blinking lights.
From The Guardian:
As well as placing cameras at all tunnels and bridges into Manhattan, the 36-page plan, called Operation Sentinel, calls for a security ring to be erected at Ground Zero and for a 50-mile buffer zone around the city within which mobile units would search for nuclear or “dirty” bombs.
The proposals are partly based on the so-called ring of steel erected around the City of London in the wake of IRA bombings in the 1990s. Though the 3,000 cameras that could be mounted as a result of the plans of the New York police pale in comparison with the multitude of cameras in operation on the UK’s roads and in public places, the proposals have provoked outrage in the United States, where the concept of video surveillance is relatively unfamiliar .
Folks in NYC might be pissed at this possibility. I would offer that this has been shown to be relatively ineffective in London where the “ring of steel” does little more than spot the occasional pan handler.
The New York “sentinel” video system will be set up to record license plates of all vehicles at every point into Manhattan. The data would be “kept on computer for a month”. Uh huh. If you are willing to swallow that nonsense I have some land in Florida I would be willing to sell ya.
For the full article read on.
So, if it wasn’t bad enough that there are 1 million plus folks on the “do not fly” list it appears that there is another list in the USA. The TSA (my buds) have managed to take the names of people who fly within the US without ID, which is legal, and compile a list. So, where have these names ended up? Funny you ask. They’ve been added to a database of folks who have violated security laws or have been questioned due to their behaviour.
WTF?
From USA Today:
The TSA began storing the information in late June, tracking many people who said they had forgotten their driver’s license or passport at home. The database has 16,500 records of such people and is open to law enforcement agencies, according to the TSA.
Asked about the program, TSA chief Kip Hawley told USA TODAY in an interview Tuesday that the information helps track potential terrorists who may be “probing the system” by trying to get though checkpoints at various airports.
OK, so let me get this straight this info is to “helps track potential terrorists”? Did anyone at the TSA miss the fact that it is perfectly legal for US citizens to travel without ID within the States? And the data will be stored in some cases for up to 15 years.
Don’t forget your wallet.
The states have been backing away from the REAL ID act as they get their heads around it. Louisiana is the latest to do so.
From KATC TV:
At least 10 states have passed laws rejecting the REAL ID Act, passed by Congress in 2005 and supported by President Bush as a nationwide identification system aimed at stopping terrorists, con artists and illegal immigrants. The measure would require states to enhance their identification system for driver licenses.
The Louisiana legislation, by Rep. Brett Geymann, blocks compliance with the federal law and orders the state Department of Public Safety “to report to the governor any attempt by agencies or agents of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security” who seek compliance. Geymann, R-Lake Charles, said he sponsored the measure after queries from individual constituents; but national opposition to REAL ID has come from activist groups with an array of political stances: social conservatives, the ACLU and libertarians.
OK, who’s next?
The Real ID program is proving to be a veritable sumo match of epic proportions. The calls are going out to kill it before it grows.
From the Baltimore Sun:
“No. Nope. No way.”
So exclaimed Democratic Gov. Brian Schweitzer of Montana when asked whether his state would participate in the federal Real ID program.
Frustration with this misguided, expensive and unworkable federal mandate also compelled another governor, Republican Mark Sanford of South Carolina, to call Real ID “the worst piece of legislation I have seen during the 15 years I have been engaged in the political process.” If Real ID has any friends in the states, they’re not speaking up.
This sentiment is now percolating through the halls of Congress. In recent hearings before the U.S. Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, senators from both sides of the aisle were blistering in their criticism of Real ID.
Read on.
Big брат is watching you. In a further attempt by the Russian government to turn the screws on the populace they are now mandating that all wireless APs, wireless devices, and the like, are registered with the government.
From Computer World AU:
Business travellers to Russia might want to keep their laptops and iPhones well-concealed – not from muggers, necessarily, but from the country’s recently formed regulatory super-agency, Rossvyazokhrankultura (short for the Russian Mass Media, Communications and Cultural Protection Service).
In the UK, Ofcom made deregulation one of its first priorities upon coming into existence, but the Russian equivalent is doing just the reverse, including an ominous-sounding policy of requiring registration for every Wi-Fi device and hotspot, according to a report this week from news agency Fontanka.
Rossvyazokhrankultura’s interpretation of current law holds that users must register any electronics that use the frequency involved in Wi-Fi communications, said Vladimir Karpov, the deputy director of the agency’s communications monitoring division, according to an English commentary provided by website The Other Russia.
Um, this has a rather chilling affect for any travelers heading to Russia. Not to mention end users in the country. I wonder how well this type of law is communicated to the people. Are folks in Russia aware of this interpretation by the Rossvyazokhrankultura?
Here’s another quote:
“Setting up a home Wi-Fi network or a hotspot would require what sounds like vast amounts of paperwork, akin to putting a cell tower,”
Damn. So are they planning to war drive looking for offenders? How is this going to play out for Russian wireless users?
Syria has tightened its grip on internet access in a bid to intimidate their citizenry.
From the Associated Press:
Syria is cracking down more on Internet use, imposing tighter monitoring of citizens who link to the Web, as well as jailing bloggers who criticize the government and blocking YouTube and other Web sites deemed harmful to state security.
The tighter hand is coming even as Syrian officials show off a press center with fast Internet access and wireless technology for journalists covering this weekend’s Arab League summit. The clampdown doesn’t appear to be tied to the summit.
In recent days, authorities extended restrictions on Web use by requiring owners of Internet cafes to keep detailed logs of their customers, apparently to make it easier to track down anyone deemed to be a threat.
The rules, conveyed orally by security agents, require Internet cafes to record a client’s full name, ID or passport number, the computer used and the amount of time spent on the device. The logs must be available to show to security agents upon demand.
And jailing bloggers that speak out. Damn that pesky freedom of expression. Old despots fear that which they cannot control.
