It’s about time!!!

Talk about waking up to danger years after the war is already lost..

* US declares cybercrime a ‘national emergency’, threatens sanctions against hackers, online espionage

“Sanctions will hit cyber criminals where it hurts – in the pocket – says the White House.” Read more..

But.. better late than never.. right?

Wonder how/if that’ll affect relations with China.. or, since they own us, and manufacture all our goods, they’ll get a pass? (Since we know they’re major actors.)

(Sounds good, but good luck with that.)

Kinda related: No free pass for Google

• San Francisco Chronicle, 1 Apr 2015

“Google’s vaunted “Do no evil’’ credo is taking a beating. Leaked documents show that Federal Trade Commission investigators wanted to sue the search giant on antitrust charges, but the push melted away into modest changes after Google executives made numerous trips to the White House.” Read more..

Today’s quote: “Life is mostly froth and bubble,
Two things stand like stone.
Kindness in another’s trouble,
Courage in your own.” ~ Adam Lindsay Gordon

Copyright 2007-2015 © “Tech Paul” (Paul Eckstrom). All Rights Reserved.

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All we really have, in the end, are our stories.
Make yours great ones. Ones to be proud of.

Net Nuetrality, and other tidbits

Feels like Monday…

* The FCC’s Net neutrality plan is much worse than it looks

“Under the new proposal, ISPs will be slower to upgrade their networks and will find it easier to exploit customers on both ends.” Read more..

I hope you’re not surprised… * China accuses Cisco of supporting US cyberwar efforts

“China is attacking secret surveillance programs of the U.S. government with harsh words from its state-controlled press, accusing Cisco of helping the U.S. in cyber espionage.” Read more..

* IE8 zero-day vulnerability unpatched for months, possibly millions at risk

“An unpatched zero-day use-after-free remote code execution vulnerability affecting Internet Explorer 8 (IE8) was publicly disclosed on Wednesday by the Zero Day Initiative (ZDI) because it has been more than six months since the flaw was initially reported and Microsoft has yet to issue a fix.” Read more..

[Please understand, one shouldn’t get too sore at MS for this, as a better question is, “why is someone using an obsolete version?”] (Some might argue a better question is, “why is someone using Internet Explorer at all?)

Follow up: The eBay data compromise: What you need to know

“eBay has joined the elite list of companies that have lost members’ personal information. Learn how that affects you personally.” Read more..

Bah. That’s enough for today.

Today’s quotable quote: “If you don’t design your own life plan, chances are you’ll fall into someone else’s plan. And guess what they have planned for you? Not much.” ~ Jim Rohn

Copyright 2007-2014 © “Tech Paul” (Paul Eckstrom). All Rights Reserved.

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>> Folks, don’t miss an article! To get Tech – for Everyone articles delivered to your e-mail Inbox, click here, or to subscribe in your RSS reader, click here. <<

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All we really have, in the end, are our stories.
Make yours great ones. Ones to be proud of.
And please, never forget – one person can make a difference.
Find a way to make someone’s day today.
(Best advice I ever heard? Don’t sweat the small stuff.)

Wrapping up the week

(And a fun video, for balance)

Here are a few interesting headlines, for your consideration.

The ‘Nemanja’ POS malware is being used to steal payment cards in a worldwide campaign.

* ‘Nemanja’ POS malware compromises 1,500 devices, half a million payment cards, worldwide

“As many as half a million payment cards used in hotels, grocery stores and other business around the world – including in the U.S. – have been compromised by ‘Nemanja,’ a recently discovered piece of malware that has infected nearly 1,500 point-of-sale (POS) devices.” Read more..

* For sale: alleged dump of 145M eBay user records

“An alleged dump of eBay user records has been made available for purchase, a day after officials at the popular auction and shopping website made the announcement that a breach occurred sometime between late February and early March.” Read more..

Apparently, a copy of such a list is worth $700.

* HP To Eliminate Up To 16,000 More Positions

“The additional cutbacks come on top of the 34,000 positions that HP was eliminating in connection with a multiyear restructuring plan that was outlined in May 2012.” Read more..

.. so.. you want a career in tech?

* Surface Pro 3: The tablet that can replace your laptop

“Microsoft has had some problems framing the marketing for the Surface tablets, but “The tablet that can replace your laptop” tagline nails it.” Read more..

[Just one problem.. it’s not exactly true. {More true than with an iPad, tho.}]

* State-Owned Chinese Firms Hired Military Hackers for IT Services

“The DOJ’s historic indictment provides some rare insight into China’s cyber espionage operations.” Read more..

Saving the best for last department: How to lie, cheat and steal like Snapchat — all the way to the bank

“Two weeks ago the Federal Trade Commission announced a settlement agreement with Snapchat, formally acknowledging the app lied about user privacy and security, and took user data without consent.
The great thing about users is that you can do anything you want to them, and they can’t refuse. ¹

Snapchat collected the contents of user address books without their consent, and its privacy policy flat-out lied about collecting a user’s location information. Snapchat secretly collected the private user information and shared it with unknown parties. Snapchat promised users their photos disappeared “forever” — an impossible promise that exploits a populace not fully educated about mobile technology’s functions and implementations.” Read more..

Saddest part is (it sure seems to me), the people who use Snapchat couldn’t care less about such things.

¹ Anyone using, or thinking of switching to, a “subscription service” should think about that fact …

Today’s quote: “Be kind whenever possible. It is always possible.” ~ Tenzin Gyatso, 14th Dalai Lama

Copyright 2007-2014 © “Tech Paul” (Paul Eckstrom). All Rights Reserved.

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>> Folks, don’t miss an article! To get Tech – for Everyone articles delivered to your e-mail Inbox, click here, or to subscribe in your RSS reader, click here. <<

---

All we really have, in the end, are our stories.
Make yours great ones. Ones to be proud of.
And please, never forget – one person can make a difference.
Find a way to make someone’s day today.
(Best advice I ever heard? Don’t sweat the small stuff.)

The Most Important News You Didn’t Read About

Folks, this started happening in 2009, and you won’t know it unless you read certain InfoSec (ultra Geeky) blogs – today. 

Wonder what else of National Security Threat Level Red they’re not telling us? (Can’t p.o. the Chinese, man. They own our money (cuz we by cheap plastic crap from the Dollar Store/Wal Mart/etc.).)

* Chinese Hackers Steal Info from top secret U.S military data

“QinetiQ, a UK-based defense contractor suffers humiliation as intelligence officials confirmed that China was able to steal the U.S. classified documents and pertinent technological information all this because of QinetiQ’s faulty decision-making. QinetiQ North America (QQ) a world leading defense technology and security company providing satellites, drones and software services to the U.S …” Read more..

And for a more detailed report: Hackers Turned Defense Contractor QinetiQ Into Intelligence Playground For three years, digital thieves linked to China stole intellectual property and defense information from the U.K.-based firm.

“For more than three years, hackers linked to China thoroughly compromised U.K.-based QinetiQ, a firm that bills itself as “a world leading defense technology and security company,” to steal intellectual property and sensitive defense information, according to reports of the incident.” Read more..

I put two up there ‘cuz this is.. kinda huge. (Make no mistake: these “hackers” are a unit in the PLA.)

Can’t say nothing ’bout that Internet-thingy that might shake consumer confidence, either. A handful of folks (like, 15 – two dozen) are making too much money.

So forget I mentioned it. But remember, not everyone in the “world wide” plays nice.

Related: The Cyber-Dam Breaks: Sensitive Army database of U.S. dams compromised; Chinese hackers suspected

“The compromise of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers’ National Inventory of Dams (NID) is raising new concerns that China is preparing to conduct a future cyber attack against the national electrical power grid, including the growing percentage of electricity produced by hydroelectric dams.” Read more..

Unrelated: Beware of fake Facebook security page phishing scam

“Trend Micro has spotted a malware sample, TSPY_MINOCDO.A, which targets Facebook users. The malware redirects users to a spoofed page of the social network and claims to be part of the site security check feature, even showing the tagline “Security checks help keep Facebook trustworthy and free of spam”. Users eager to log into Facebook may fall victim to this ruse.” Read more...

Can’t say I didn’t warn ‘ya.

Today’s quote: “When Mozart was composing at the end of the eighteenth century, the city of Vienna was so quiet that fire alarms could be given verbally, by a shouting watchman mounted on top of St. Stefan’s Cathedral. In twentieth-century society, the noise level is such that it keeps knocking our bodies out of tune and out of their natural rhythms. This ever-increasing assault of sound upon our ears, minds, and bodies adds to the stress load of civilized beings trying to live in a highly complex environment.” ~ Steven Halpern

Copyright 2007-2013 © “Tech Paul” (Paul Eckstrom). All Rights Reserved.

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>> Folks, don’t miss an article! To get Tech – for Everyone articles delivered to your e-mail Inbox, click here, or to subscribe in your RSS reader, click here. <<

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All we really have, in the end, are our stories.
Make yours great ones. Ones to be proud of.