Chris Soghoian has another interesting piece on his CNET blog.
Wow, I’m certainly glad that I’ve not had the displeasure of police interrogation. But, to think of one in some countries around the world makes the blood run cold. One such example is apparently, Turkey.
From CNET:
The 2005 theft of tens of million credit card numbers from an unsecured wireless network run by TJ Maxx stores has lead to over 150 million dollars in damages for the company. The two gentlemen behind the heist sold the pilfered credit card information to others online. Eventually, the stolen cards reached Maksym Yastremskiy, a Ukrainian citizen, and, according to media reports, a “major figure in the international sale of stolen credit card information.”
Mr Yastremskiy was later arrested in 2007, while on vacation in Turkey. The US government has formally requested that Yastremskiy be extradited, and has charged him with a number of crimes including aggravated identity theft.
Now, comments alleged to have been made by Howard Cox, a US Department of Justice official, shed some light on the possible means in which the Turkish police extracted the password for his encryption software.
Cox quipped about leaving a stubborn suspect alone with Turkish police for a week as a way to get them to voluntarily reveal their password
Volun…damn. OK, the tongue and cheek imagery of a black and white film gives way to this image.
Guilty or not, this is not the right way to do things.
Interpol will be proposing the roll out a facial recognition database.
From The Register:
Interpol chiefs will propose the use of automated facial-recognition technology at borders to flag up internationally wanted suspects, according to reports.
The UK already has airport gates equipped with such technology, intended to remove the need for a human border guard to check that a passenger’s face matches the one recorded in his or her passport. According to the Guardian, Interpol database chief Mark Branchflower believes that his organisation should set up a database of facial-recognition records to operate alongside its existing photo, fingerprint and DNA files.
Interpol member nations would have the option of uploading face records of wanted suspects in the same way they already do other biometrics data, and would be able to check an individual’s headshot against the Interpol files as with the other metrics.
I’m wondering about the veracity of a program such as this. Time and again we have seen roll outs similar to this that have consistently failed. Will this be different? This will be one to watch.
Nothing like a few good ole mugshots to amuse in the interim.
OPEN UP, WE HAVE A WARRANT! But, we’re not sure where the laptop that has it is at the moment. You haven’t happened to have seen some laptops around here have you? Say, 418 of them or so? Oh, and if you happen to know where some of our firearms are as well? We’re kinda missing 76 guns.
WTF?
From CNN:
Of the 76 missing weapons, 35 were stolen from agents’ homes, hotel rooms or vehicles, the report said. Some of the others were left in public places or lost in shipping — or their losses were still unexplained.
Two of the stolen guns were used to commit crimes, the report said. One was used to shoot through the window of a residence, and the other was recovered from suspects arrested on burglary charges.
The inspector general determined that 53 percent of the weapon losses were the result of employees’ carelessness or failure to follow ATF policies.
Of the 418 laptops, 50 were reported stolen.
The report said that in most cases, it was not clear whether the missing laptops contained sensitive or classified information. Seven did; 13 did not.
It’s even more disturbing that of the laptops that aren’t accounted for they don’t have an idea what was on most of them. So, of the 418 there were 50 reported as stolen. Leaving 368 laptops in the wind. Laptops that may or may not have sensitive data on them. Apparently none of them used encryption. The first person that tries the spin “but, they had passwords” will get such a smack.
Wow.
So, bearing that in mind. If we can help build you a better asset management policy/system for the ATF can we get one of those neat hats?
Nah, screw that. We’ll take cash.
Tags: ATF Missing Laptops, ATF, ATF Missing Guns, ATF Laptops
The Policing Central e-Crime Unit (PCEU) is apparently full steam ahead but, the author of this next article points out one minor detail.
Where’s the funding?
From Silicon dot com:
Funding for PCEU has been slow to arrive, with the government still not committing to its £1.3m start-up costs, despite expectation that the money would be in place months ago.
It comes after Home Office minister Vernon Coaker told a House of Lords science and technology committee that the National Fraud Reporting Centre (NFRC) could take the lead on co-ordinating e-crime investigations nationwide.
But McMurdie said the government’s vision for the NFRC does not undermine the need for the PCEU.
She said: “It is moving towards addressing the problem. The more intelligence we have on cyber crime and the more opportunities there are to report it, the better we will be able to put resources in the most appropriate place.
Read on.
