Archive for Politics
Author: Dave Lewis
January 23, 2008 at 7:24 am · Filed under Biometrics, Politics
The plan to roll out a national ID card for Brits has found itself moved off onto the back burner. The plan which was originally set to roll out in 2010 will now find daylight in 2012 instead according to leaked documents.
From BBC:
The Tories say the ID card scheme is “in the intensive care ward” but the government said the plan had always been to introduce them “incrementally”.
The timetable for ID cards to start being given to UK citizens over 16 has already slipped and the first ones are not expected to start being issued until next year.
From January 2010 everyone getting a passport will have to get an identity card as well, according to existing plans.
The entire idea behind this plan was to curb illegal immigration. But, that will be of little help as it will only be a short amount of time before the crads can be duped.
Home Office documents leaked to the Conservatives set out an illustrated timeline for introducing biometric ID cards.
Biometric ID…hmmm. I know I have seen this movie somewhere before.
Article Link
Tags: British National ID, Biometrics, Biometric Cards, ID Cards
Author: Dave Lewis
January 22, 2008 at 8:40 am · Filed under Dumbass, Email, Politics
From the Washington Post this morning I read this headline “White House Has No Comprehensive E-Mail Archive”.
WTF?
From the Washington Post:
For years, the Bush administration has relied on an inadequate archiving system for storing the millions of e-mails sent through White House servers, despite court orders and statutes requiring the preservation of such records, according to documents and technical experts.
So, what you’re telling me is that my Mom has a better email archival process than the White House? Cheebus.
President Bush’s White House early on scrapped a custom archiving system that the Clinton administration had adopted under a federal court order. From 2001 to 2003, the Bush White House also recorded over computer backup tapes that provided a last line of defense for preserving e-mails, even though a similar practice landed the Clinton administration in legal trouble.
It’s amazing how the Bush White House seems to feel that the law doesn’t apply to them. So, thousands of emails have been “lost” that could land a lot of people in a court room? How convenient. I do find amusement that the OMB is now “looking” into data security. And then this passage:
In the presidential offices, for example, not a single e-mail was archived on Dec. 17, 20 or 21 in 2003 — the week after the capture of Saddam Hussein. According to the study summary that the committee released, e-mails were not archived for Vice President Cheney’s office on four days in early October 2003, coinciding with the start of a Justice Department probe into the leak of a CIA officer’s identity, which later led to criminal charges against Cheney’s chief of staff.
I’m at a loss.
Article Link
Author: Dave Lewis
January 17, 2008 at 12:35 pm · Filed under Military, Politics
OK, that’s enough of that. US Defence Secretary Robert Gates is setting a world record in the 1600m back pedal race today. He needs to work off all those calories after jamming his foot in his mouth.
From CBC:
Gates held a news conference a day after his interview with the Los Angeles Times caused an uproar among NATO countries fighting in Afghanistan. Pentagon officials said they held the news conference earlier in the day to meet European news deadlines.
Gates is quoted as saying NATO forces in southern Afghanistan do not know how to properly combat a guerrilla insurgency, and that could be contributing to rising violence in the country.
Speaking Thursday at the Pentagon, Gates said his criticism was aimed at the entire alliance, including the United States.
Where is your brain Gates? There have been 3926 US soldiers killed in Iraq (at last count) and Canada has suffered 78 casualties in Afghanistan to say nothing of the casualties that were suffered by other countries. It is extremely disappointing to hear Gates shooting his mouth off about what a bad job they are doing when you read numbers like that. Each one of those fallen men and women were someone’s kid, someone’s parent, a brother, a sister. It is a sign of disrespect that he would deride their efforts. Whether you agree with the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan is immaterial to this point. If there is a lack of training on the part of the soldiers you don’t air it in a public forum such as the media. You fix it. These fallen soldiers deserve better than that. More importantly, so do the living.
When asked if he made any phone calls to soothe potential ruffled feathers, Gates said he had “reached out to” Canadian Defence Minister Peter MacKay.
“They had suffered a loss the day before and I wanted to make sure they understood we have respect for their contribution and how much of an effect they are having,” he said.
Too late Bob. Since seppuku is not in vogue at the moment, I would ask that you provide a written apology.
Article Link
Tags: Robert Gates, Canadian Forces, US Military
Author: Dave Lewis
January 11, 2008 at 7:56 am · Filed under Politics, Privacy
The controversial Real ID plan that would have the states all come into alignment with identification has been extended. The Bush admin will apparently make it known today that there is a 5 year extension for deployment.
From Washington Post:
DHS revised its ID plan after states and civil libertarians criticized draft regulations, issued last March and setting a 2013 deadline, as unworkable and threatening to Americans’ privacy by creating a de facto national ID for 245 million U.S. drivers. Seventeen states have passed legislation opposing or opting out of the program.
The 2005 law authorizing Real ID set a May 2008 deadline for its implementation. The delay will allow state motor vehicle departments to avoid a surge of applications and instead to phase in more secure licenses as motorists reach their scheduled license renewal dates, sources said.
The change will lower the projected $14.6 billion state cost of the program to no more than $3.9 billion, officials said.
Article Link
Tags: Secure ID, Real ID, DHS
Author: Dave Lewis
January 4, 2008 at 11:27 am · Filed under Education, Politics
Well, the Iowa caucuses are over and Barack Obama and Mike Huckabee came out on top. Obama led with a right hook and Huckabee brought the fat bass line. As a Canadian I can’t help but to watch American politics unfold. No matter who gets in to the White House the affect will be felt here. This year is different. This year I look at the candidates that are vying for the top spot and I realized something. The vast majority of them are, by and large, good choices. Obama, Clinton and Edwards in the Democratic camp and Huckabee, McCain and captain hair gel Romney on the Republican side. And the best part is that there was a large turnout in Iowa. I hope this continues. Whether you happen to like the dynamic and eloquent speaking style of Obama or the campy nice guy that Huckabee embodies you have to join the fray.
Why? Well, look at the last eight years of the alleged current presidency. This is what can happen if folks don’t turn out and vote for their candidate. The US is a democracy and folks have to do their part to ensure that it continues on strong. No matter who you support you have to vote. Be it in your caucuses or in the election in the fall. You have to stand up and be counted.
The security of the US and by extension the world stand to greatly benefit. Simply by virtue of the fact that the candidates that are in the race have a brain in their heads. Their experience might vary but, that can be offset by strong staffers. As a result the future leader of the US will have a good chance to improve the lot of their citizenry and security on the global stage.
More after the jump »
Author: Dave Lewis
December 27, 2007 at 8:32 am · Filed under Physical Security, Politics, Terrorism
Just got word that former Pakistani PM Benazir Bhutto was killed at a rally this morning. She was apparently shot in the neck by an assailant. The attacker was allegedly wearing a suicide vest. Details are sketchy right now.
More to follow.
[UPDATE] 8:24 am Reuters is reporting that she has been been gravely injured but, is in fact still alive.
From Reuters:
Pakistani opposition leader Benazir Bhutto was seriously wounded in an attack after a rally in the city of Rawalpindi, her husband said.
“I was informed that she is badly injured,” Asif Ali Zardari told Ary-One television from Dubai.
CONFIRMED: 8:32 am She has died. A tragic moment in history. Yet again the democratic process has been derailed by fanatics and madmen. Was this a terrorist group or a political assassination by rivals? Only time will tell.
References:
BBC News
CNN
Washington Post
ABC News
CBC News
[UPDATE] OK, after having watched 24 hours (not literally) of CNN’s “breaking news” on this story I’m struck by something. Have we seen this before? Shortly after the attack Pervez Musharraf was saying that it was a terrorist attack. OK, so that would be anyone’s first guess. But, consider the source. He has a lot to gain by having Bhutto leave the playing field as it were. Before you start crying conspiracy nut read this on CNN.
The source of the claim was apparently Italian news agency, Adnkronos International (AKI), which said that al Qaeda Afghanistan commander and spokesman Mustafa Abu Al-Yazid had telephoned the agency to make the claim.
“We terminated the most precious American asset which vowed to defeat [the] mujahadeen,” AKI quoted Al-Yazid as saying.
According to AKI, al Qaeda No. 2 Ayman al-Zawahiri set the wheels in motion for the assassination in October.
One Islamist Web site repeated the claim, but that Web site is not considered a reliable source for Islamist messages by experts in the field.
The DHS official said the claim was “an unconfirmed open source claim of responsibility” and the bulletin was sent out at about 6 p.m. to state and local law enforcement agencies.
Hmm, the other sites aren’t chiming in. This is a group that is more than happy to take credit for bloodshed and mayhem yet, they are strangely quiet even as Bhutto is being laid to rest.
*cough* JFK *cough*
I’m just saying.
Tags: Benazir Bhutto, Bhutto, Pakistan Prime Minister, Assassination
Author: Dave Lewis
December 6, 2007 at 7:52 am · Filed under Politics, Spam/Phishing
So, who exactly is Ron Paul and why was spam touting him flying around the internet? Well, this presidential candidate was apparently inadvertently getting a helping hand from a Ukrainian based botnet to get the word out.
No, he isn’t a botmaster.
From InfoWorld:
“It probably wasn’t even set up by a Ron Paul supporter,” he said. “This whole system has been around since 2004. This [spam] somehow just landed in this underground spam economy.”
When spam first surfaced, trumpeting Paul as the winner of a recent Republican presidential debate, the fact that it was being sent via illegally infected machines raised eyebrows. The spam messages have never been directly linked to the Ron Paul campaign, which has denied any involvement in the incident.
The Texas congressman is considered a long-shot contender for the Republican presidential nomination, but he has a strong Internet presence. His videos are popular on YouTube, and Ron Paul fundraisers recently were able to raise more than $4 million in a 24-hour period.
Stewart published an analysis of the botnet on Tuesday, connecting it to an Eastern European spammer known as “spm,” whose company, Elphisoft, sends unsolicited e-mail using a network of about 3,000 infected “botnet” PCs. Stewart believes that spm, and many of the people involved in his operation, are located in the Ukraine.
The botnet server used to manage the Ron Paul spam was located in the United States and shut down in mid-November, giving researchers a chance to examine the software on the machine, Stewart explained.
Article Link
Tags: Ron Paul, Ron Paul Spam, Spammers, Botnet
Author: Dave Lewis
November 28, 2007 at 7:22 pm · Filed under Legal Aspects, Politics, Spy Game
Cue the evil laughter and wringing of hands. The Bush White House has been ordered to produce documents related to the domestic spy scandal. A judge in San Francisco has stipulated that they must produce these docs by this Friday (Nov 30).
From CNET:
U.S. District Judge Susan Illston in San Francisco gave the Office of the Director of National Intelligence until November 30 (Friday) to turn over documents relating to conversations it had with Congress and telecommunications carriers about how to rewrite wiretapping laws.
The Electronic Frontier Foundation had filed this case to seek faster processing of a Freedom of Information Act request it filed, which could help buttress its ongoing lawsuit against AT&T. There are approximately 250 pages of unclassified material and 65 pages of classified material, which would be redacted, that the administration has identified but said could not be turned over until December 31.
Note that Illston’s order doesn’t deal with the NSA’s wiretapping program itself (how it works, what companies are involved, whether there really is a secret room at AT&T’s 611 Folsom Street location). Instead the documents relate only to conversations and communications about retroactive immunity for companies like AT&T that are accused of violating the law.
It will be interesting to see if this information is actually produced. I have a dollar that says they have “trouble” locating the information. Much in the same vein of the missing emails.
Just a hunch.
Article Link
Tags: Domestics Spying, Bush White House Disclosure, White House Spy Docs
Author: Dave Lewis
November 9, 2007 at 8:58 pm · Filed under Politics, Security Mgmt
On Tuesday this week the White House asked for $154 million in new money to help in the fight against the computer nega-verse.
From FCW:
It has been rumored that White House officials may announce a new cybersecurity initiative, but it is unclear whether this is it or just a piece of it.
In the request, the administration asked for $115 million to enhance DHS’ ability to deploy the Einstein program through the U.S. Computer Emergency Readiness Team. Einstein monitors about 13 participating agencies’ network gateways for traffic patterns that indicate the presence of computer worms or other unwanted traffic. By collecting traffic information summaries at agency gateways, Einstein gives US-CERT analysts and participating agencies a big-picture view of bad activity on federal networks.
“They know monitoring works and they want more monitoring,” said Alan Paller, director of research at the Sans Institute. “The money will be used to get out more monitoring more quickly and do more analysis of the data. That is useful and necessary because what they discovered is the federal perimeter is broken. One of few ways to find bad guys in [the] perimeter is a more intent analysis of traffic coming out of the computers.”
No word on whether or not Jack Bauer will receive a new “socket” into the US CERT network.
Article Link
Tags: Security Spending, Cyber Security Spending, Federal Computer Security
Author: Dave Lewis
November 1, 2007 at 8:11 am · Filed under Politics, Spy Game
The never ending pissing match between China and Taiwan has a new chapter. The Chinese government is looking for a purported Taiwanese spy who managed to hack into sensitive gov systems.
From International Herald Tribune:
The government-run Global Times said Tuesday that Lee Fang-rong, said to be an agent of Taiwan military intelligence, planted “Trojan” programs in computer systems belonging to unnamed economic, military and diplomatic institutions to steal classified information.
A trojan program gives a user remote access to the contents of his target’s computer.
The Global Times attributed its information to an unidentified official in a “related” Chinese department. It did not identify the department but the implication was that it was part of the Chinese intelligence apparatus.
The newspaper said that Lee was in Taiwan, but that he had previously been in Moscow, where he might have carried out the hacking.
Taiwan and China have been giving each other the evil eye now since 1949 and there really seems to be zero chance that they will ever play nice with each other.
Article Link
Tags: China Vs Taiwan, Taiwan Hacker Spy, Lee Fang-rong, Taiwan Hacker
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