Snowden files reveal NSA plans to distribute malware via app stores

“The US National Security Agency (NSA) planned to use smartphone app stores to propogate malware that it would later use to eavesdrop on users.  That is the latest claim from the trove of secret documents released by NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden.  Over the course of several workshops held in Canada and Australia in late 2011 and early 2012, a joint Five Eyes tradecraft team tried to find ways to implant spyware on smartphones by intercepting the transmissions sent when downloading or updating apps, it adds.  The project was integrated with the NSA’s spying system, XKEYSCORE, which searches smartphone and other traffic as it traverses the internet.”

http://www.computing.co.uk/ctg/news/2409622/nsa-planned-to-use-google-and-samsung-app-stores-to-spread-eavesdropping-malware

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St. Louis Federal Reserve Suffers DNS Breach

“The St. Louis Federal Reserve today sent a message to those it serves alerting them that in late April 2015 attackers succeeded in hijacking the domain name servers for the institution. The attack redirected Web searches and queries for those seeking a variety of domains run by the government entity to a Web page set up by the attackers in an apparent bid by cybercrooks to hijack online communications of banks and other entities dealing with the regional Fed office. Requests for comment from the St. Louis Fed so far have gone unreturned.”

http://krebsonsecurity.com/2015/05/st-louis-federal-reserve-suffers-dns-breach/

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Did a hacker really make a plane go sideways?

“Roberts pointed to weaknesses in the security of systems on board the Boeing 737 he was flying on, including exploitable holes in the in-flight entertainment and avionics systems. Shortly after his arrival in Syracuse, N.Y., Roberts was escorted from a United flight and questioned for more than two hours by local FBI agents.  Computer equipment in his possession, including an Apple MacBook and iPad and portable storage devices, were seized by the FBI for forensic analysis, prompting the request for a search warrant.  For Roberts, the question is why the FBI is suddenly focused on years-old research that has long been part of the public record.”

http://www.csmonitor.com/World/Passcode/2015/0518/Did-a-hacker-really-make-a-plane-go-sideways

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Estonia’s 1st electronic residency card issued to UK journalist

“Estonia has become of the first country in the world to launch an electronic residency program, hoping that the innovative approach will persuade foreigners to invest and start businesses in the Baltic state.  The first virtual residency card was issued Monday to British journalist Edward Lucas, a senior editor at The Economist magazine, on Monday.  The card with an embedded microchip will allow Lucas to conduct business activity in Estonia while staying abroad. The e-residency program kicked off after the Estonian Development Fund and the former CEO of Skype, Sten Tamkivi, organized a contest for the best idea to bring foreign businesses to Estonia.”

http://rt.com/news/210775-estonia-electronic-residency-card/

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Datapp Sniffs Out Unencrypted Mobile Data

“The result was released this week with the public availability of Datapp, a Windows 7 program that acts as a Wi-Fi hotspot for a mobile device, monitors HTTP traffic, and returns information on which mobile data sent from a device is leaving unencrypted. The free app, once installed on a Windows machine, turns the PC or laptop into a hotspot. The user can then connect their mobile device to that hotspot and the app watches traffic and shows the user what’s going on with their traffic in a dashboard.  It will list apps that are sending in HTTP or HTTPS, reconstruct unencrypted images from TCP/IP packets, and show on a map any servers worldwide where the data is connecting.”

https://threatpost.com/datapp-sniffs-out-unencrypted-mobile-data/112743

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Smartphone & Laptop Searches: Know Your Rights

“There are a lot of reasons why you might not want an airport security agent to rifle through your computer.  When flying, we consent to put our laptops in separate x-ray bins for inspection. Likewise, depending on the routes we fly, we also consent to turn our phones and laptops on to prove they are genuine. But what about when the scrutiny our devices undergo reaches another level?  We’re going to explore what rights customs and TSA agents have to inspect your mobile devices and computers.”

http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/smartphone-laptop-searches-know-rights/

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Man arrested for refusing to give phone passcode to border agents

“Alain Philippon arrived at Halifax Stanfield International Airport in Canada and was stopped by border agents.  He had flown in from the Dominican Republic.  As the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation reports, the agents wanted access to his cell phone. Philippon refused to give them the passcode and was arrested.  A spokeswoman for the Canadian Border Services Agency confirmed me to that he has been ‘arrested under section 153.1 of the Customs Act for hindering.’  Was he hindering? Or was he, as he told CBC, merely protecting something he deemed personal?”

http://www.cnet.com/news/man-charged-for-refusing-to-give-up-phone-passcode-to-canadian-border-agents/

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CISA Security Bill: An F for Security But an A+ for Spying

“On Tuesday the bill’s authors released the full, updated text of the CISA legislation passed last week, and critics say the changes have done little to assuage their fears about wanton sharing of Americans’ private data. In fact, legal analysts say the changes actually widen the backdoor leading from private firms to intelligence agencies.  The bill, as worded, lets a private company share with the Department of Homeland Security any information construed as a cybersecurity threat ‘notwithstanding any other provision of law.’  And once the DHS obtains the information, it would automatically be shared with the NSA, the Department of Defense, and the Office of the Director of National Intelligence.”

http://www.wired.com/2015/03/cisa-security-bill-gets-f-security-spying/

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Uncle Sam Wants Your Keys, Says ‘Trust Me’

“The idea that a smartphone owner alone has control of his or her data is a ‘risk,’ according to Deputy AG Bitkower. That’s not the ‘standard American principle.’ The fact that someone can reach his position while holding such ludicrous views illustrates how far we’ve fallen since 1776. Fortunately, the enemies of freedom are getting nowhere fast. The tech industry is pointing out, correctly, that designing a back door into their systems would invite every hacker on Earth to look for the keys. Someone would find them. Furthermore, the fact that Snowden easily took millions of super-secret documents is prima facie proof that the NSA cannot protect its secrets.”

http://www.thedailybell.com/news-analysis/36237/Uncle-Sam-Wants-Your-Keys-Says-Trust-Me/

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Bloomberg outage causes financial havoc as UK forced to delay £3bn debt sale

“Financial markets were thrown into turmoil on Friday as the Bloomberg terminals used by hundreds of thousands of financial industry workers went offline in an unprecedented global outage.  The glitch put the Bank of England and European Central Bank on alert, and saw a £3bn auction of UK government debt postponed for hours.  Bloomberg, which prides itself on its resilience and accuracy, blamed the outage on a ‘combination of hardware and software failures in the network’ dismissing the suggestion of cyber-attacks, which have affected other media organisations in the last year.  However, the havoc may lead to questions about the financial community’s dependence on the system.”

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/newsbysector/mediatechnologyandtelecoms/digital-media/11544186/Finance-world-in-the-dark-as-Bloomberg-terminals-go-offline.html

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