Monthly Archives: July 2016

FBI failed to tell hundreds that they were on an ISIS kill list

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“Between March 2 and the end of May, hacked ISIS accounts exposed eight kill lists.  They included the names and addresses of 70 plus military personnel or family members, 56 New Jersey state police officers, 36 Minnesota state police officers, 11 county board members in Tennessee, 50 federal employees, and dozens of New York residents.  In Texas, just two of the 24 people contacted whose names were on the hit lists were aware of the threat against them.  When Circa asked the local police forces if they knew anything about their residents on the hit list, they too admitted that they had been left in the dark.”

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3664319/FBI-failed-tell-hundreds-Americans-ISIS-kill-list-discovering-15-000-U-S-citizens-potential-targets.html

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State Dept. reduced security to accommodate Clinton’s private server

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“State Department staffers wrestled for weeks in December 2010 over a serious technical problem that affected emails from then-Secretary Hillary Clinton’s home email server, causing them to temporarily disable security features on the government’s own systems, according to emails released Wednesday.  The emails, reviewed by The Associated Press, show that State Department technical staff disabled software on their systems intended to block phishing emails that could deliver dangerous viruses. They were trying urgently to resolve delivery problems with emails sent from Clinton’s private server.”

http://bigstory.ap.org/article/7006105d422740f0b4b8675c90f9a154/emails-key-security-features-disabled-clintons-server

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Resist mass cracking by US law enforcement

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“Law enforcement could request warrants allowing mass cracking of thousands of computers at once. The Supreme Court, which oversees the Rules, submitted the changes to the US Congress in April. This is an unprecedented, broad government cracking authorization, and it is dangerous to the privacy and security of all Internet users. The changes to Rule 41 target Internet users who take steps to protect their online privacy — this could discourage use of privacy tools, and even weaken their effectiveness by exploiting vulnerabilities in such tools rather than helping to fix them.”

https://www.fsf.org/blogs/community/protect-your-privacy-resist-mass-cracking-by-us-law-enforcement

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After being hacked again, IRS shuts down e-File PIN service

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“The United States Internal Revenue Service (IRS) has announced the abolition of its PIN tool due to the platform being hacked.  Under the now abolished electronic filing PIN tool (e-File PIN), people dealing with the IRS were able to use a PIN number to access services on IRS.gov or by toll-free phone call.  The agency cited ‘additional questionable activity’ as the impetus for the change.  According to Sophos, 800 cases of identity thefts were identified earlier this year causing the PIN system to be partially suspended in March, although at the time the IRS told taxpayers who already had a PIN to continue using the service to file their tax returns as they normally would.”

http://siliconangle.com/blog/2016/06/27/after-being-targeted-successfully-by-hackers-again-irs-shuts-down-e-file-pin-service/

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Botnet formed of 25,000 malware-riddled surveillance cameras

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“The unusual 25,000-strong botnet was apparently spotted by US security outfit Sucuri when it investigated an online assault against an ordinary jewelry store.  The shop’s website was flooded offline after drowning in 35,000 junk HTTP requests per second. When Sucuri attempted to thwart the network tsunami, the botnet stepped up its output and dumped more than 50,000 HTTP requests per second on the store’s website.  When the security biz dug into the source of the duff packets, it found they were all coming from internet-connected CCTV cameras – devices that had been remotely hijacked by miscreants to attack other systems.”

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2016/06/28/25000_compromised_cctv_cameras/

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Thieves using laptops to hack into and steal cars

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“Houston police told the WSJ that this method may have been used in the theft of four other late-model Wranglers and Cherokees in the city.  Security researchers have been able to take over cars remotely because automakers don’t always do a good job at limiting how car systems interact with wireless communications.  What’s more, even cars that aren’t internet-enabled can be taken over via third-party devices that introduce connectivity, such as through the diagnostics port.  Remote exploits have included taking over a 2014 Jeep Cherokee, controlling the car’s brakes, accelerator, steering and more by wireless connection”

https://nakedsecurity.sophos.com/2016/07/08/thieves-using-laptops-to-hack-into-and-steal-cars/

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Chatbot lawyer overturns 160,000 parking tickets in London, NYC

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“Dubbed as ‘the world’s first robot lawyer’ by its 19-year-old creator, London-born second-year Stanford University student Joshua Browder, DoNotPay helps users contest parking tickets in an easy to use chat-like interface.  The program first works out whether an appeal is possible through a series of simple questions, such as were there clearly visible parking signs, and then guides users through the appeals process.  The results speak for themselves. In the 21 months since the free service was launched in London and now New York, Browder says DoNotPay has taken on 250,000 cases and won 160,000, giving it a success rate of 64% appealing over $4m of parking tickets.”

https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2016/jun/28/chatbot-ai-lawyer-donotpay-parking-tickets-london-new-york

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Majority of Dutch also want referendum on EU membership

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“The majority of Dutch people want a referendum on whether or not the Netherlands should stay part of the European Union, like the Brits are doing later this week. In a poll by EenVandaag among 27 thousand people, 54 percent voted for a so-called Nexit referendum.  Should there be a referendum, the EU-opponents will only barely not have a majority – 48 percent think currently think that the Netherlands should leave the EU. 45 percent are for EU membership.  PVV voters are the biggest EU-opponents, with 94 percent being for a Nexit. 50Plus voters come in second place with 63 percent for and SP in third with 58 percent.”

http://www.nltimes.nl/2016/06/21/majority-dutch-also-want-referendum-eu-membership/

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ECB corporate debt buys unexpectedly high in first full week

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“The European Central Bank bought 1.9 billion euros worth of corporate bonds in its first full week of purchases, at the upper end of market expectations, signalling a strong start to its latest measure designed to revive inflation.  Unveiled in March as part of a 1.74 trillion euro asset-buying plan, the ECB started buying investment grade, non-bank corporate bonds on June 8. It hopes that lowering corporate borrowing costs will induce companies to invest, boosting inflation and economic growth.  Sources with direct knowledge had earlier said the ECB was hoping to lure new issuers to the market and would buy 5 billion to 10 billion euros worth of corporate debt per month if new debt sales ramped up.”

http://www.reuters.com/article/ecb-qe-idUSF9N18B01A

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German court rules that ECB’s 2012 bond-buying plan is legal

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“The country’s highest court ruled that the ECB’s 2012 bond-buying plan called Outright Monetary Transactions (OMT) is legal under the German constitution.  OMT – though never actually used – was part of ECB’s President Mario Draghi’s landmark promise to do ‘whatever it takes’ to save the battered euro at the height of the crisis in 2012.  The promise of OMT was that the ECB could, if necessary, buy up unlimited amounts of government bonds from debt-stricken countries that had pledged reforms such as Italy, Spain and Portugal.  Critics charged that the ECB is essentially printing money and lavishing it on states, leaving taxpayers with the risk of one day having to foot the bill.”

https://www.enca.com/money/german-court-rules-in-favour-of-ecb-crisis-fighting-tool

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