Ineptitude – Page 69 – Public Intelligence Blog

300 Million Talons... — 300 Million Talons…

Stolen Facebook and Yahoo passwords dumped online

The database included details from many of the most popular social networks

More than two million stolen passwords used for sites such as Facebook, Google and Yahoo and other web services have been posted online.

The details had probably been uploaded by a criminal gang, security experts said.

It is suspected the data was taken from computers infected with malicious software that logged key presses.

It is not known how old the details are – but the experts warned that even out-dated information posed a risk.

“We don't know how many of these details still work,” said security researcher Graham Cluley. “But we know that 30-40% of people use the same passwords on different websites.

“That's certainly something people shouldn't do.”

Criminal botnet

The site containing the passwords was discovered by researchers working for security firm Trustwave.

In a blog post outlining its findings, the team said it believed the passwords had been harvested by a large botnet – dubbed Pony – that had scooped up information from thousands of infected computers worldwide.

Read full article.

2013/12/01

Stephen E. Arnold: Google Letting Us All Down?

Commerce, Corruption, Ineptitude, IO Impotency

Why Google is Letting People Down

Some people might say that Google abandons and starts projects on a whim. In the past, the search giant makes provided explanations for projects that could not be completed and promises they were unable to keep. But has the abandonment mentality and prideful hot hair stopped this habit? Marketing Land’s Danny Sullivan further explores this question in, “Google’s Broken Promises And Who’s Running The Search Engine?”

What promises has Google broken? Google Shopping was supposed to index prices of items across the Web, but it only displays results from paying vendors. Google once fought against shopping search engines that only included shopping results, but not the company claims that is the only way to get viable information.

Google also promised it would keep its searches banner free. Guess what they are doing now? Google stated that they are only conducting a US banner tests to allow advertisers to add images to relevant search queries.

Why Google is doing this may be that the company has had to adapt, but it goes against Google’s original philosophy:

“You’d think they caused some internal debate. Was there anyone at Google saying that if giant graphical units at the top of search results are useful to searchers, then maybe Google should be offering those for free, to ensure a consistent experience for those searchers? Was there anyone at Google saying that maybe a shift to paid inclusion was a bad move for shopping and other search products, because it opens up every search product to that possibility?”

Google is not sharing explanations with the public, however. In my opinion, the root of the problem is that no one is officially assigned to run search products. The company is instead focusing on other areas and neglecting its star. What is even worse is that the fuzzy management holds no one accountable for the broken promises. Google’s main search focus is making money and not providing accurate results.

Since Google is the biggest search player, what does this mean for other search components like SEO? Will paid results dwarf SEO? It also begs the question if SEO focuses on search? Money makes the world go around I guess.

Whitney Grace, December 01, 2013

Sponsored by ArnoldIT.com, developer of Augmentext

2013/11/292013/11/29

Chuck Spinney: Patrick Cockburn Interviews Muqtada al-Sadr on Iraq — Toxic Mix of Sectarianism, Incompetent and Corrupt Government, and Interference by US, UK, and Iran

02 Diplomacy, 03 Economy, 05 Iran, 07 Health, 08 Wild Cards, 09 Justice, 10 Security, 11 Society, Corruption, Cultural Intelligence, Government, Ineptitude, IO Deeds of War, Officers Call, Peace Intelligence

The United States bears a moral responsibility for the murderous state of affairs in Iraq, but contemporary American grand strategy has become a self-referencing mix of arrogance, narcissism, and exceptionalism; so it is not surprising that most Americans have dismissed Iraq their minds (as they are now dismissing Afghanistan). Below is an excellent reminder of the situation in Iraq.

Patrick Cockburn, one of the very best journalists now covering conflicts in the Arab World and Central Asia interviews Muqtada al-Sadr, one of the most influential Shia clerics in Iraq and leader of the Mehdi Army, a powerful Shia faction. Sadr is now a member of the Shia dominated Iraqi government, but he is becoming increasingly alienated from its leader, Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki. Al-Sadr argues that a toxic mix of (1) sectarianism, (2) governmental incompetence and corruption, and (3) external interference by the U.S. and U.K. and Iran is plunging Iraq into an ever-deepening state of chaos, with no light at the end of the tunnel. (Note: I inserted a few clarifying comments in red.)

Chuck Spinney

The Blaster

(h/t Antiwar.com)

“The near future of Iraq is dark”

Warning from Muqtada al-Sadr – the Shia cleric whose word is law to millions of his countrymen

BY PATRICK COCKBURN • NOVEMBER 29, 2013

http://www.unz.com/pcockburn/the-near-future-of-iraq-is-dark/

In a rare interview at his headquarters in Najaf, he tells Patrick Cockburn of his fears for a nation growing ever more divided on sectarian lines.

The future of Iraq as a united and independent country is endangered by sectarian Shia-Sunni hostility says Muqtada al-Sadr, the Shia religious leader whose Mehdi Army militia fought the US and British armies and who remains a powerful figure in Iraqi politics. He warns of the danger that[1] “the Iraqi people will disintegrate, [2] its government will disintegrate, and [3] it will be easy for external powers to control the country”.

In an interview with The Independent in the holy city of Najaf, 100 miles south-west of Baghdad – the first interview Mr Sadr has given face-to-face with a Western journalist for almost 10 years – he expressed pessimism about the immediate prospects for Iraq, saying: “The near future is dark.”

Continue reading “Chuck Spinney: Patrick Cockburn Interviews Muqtada al-Sadr on Iraq — Toxic Mix of Sectarianism, Incompetent and Corrupt Government, and Interference by US, UK, and Iran”

2013/11/29

Marcus Aurelius: Marine Corps Commandant “Re-Awakening” Garrison Standards — Deja Vu Post-VN

Corruption, Ineptitude, Military, Officers Call

The Army is talking about a similar program for similar reasons. Army senior leaders feel that 10+ years of operational experience has denied soldiers and leaders essential garrison experiences. Manufacturers of shoe polish, edge dressing, floor wax, floor buffers, and cleaning products, as well as barbers, should have enhanced economic prospects due to these perspicacious decisions.

Corps preparing PR blitz for commandant's garrison ‘reawakening' campaign

By Hope Hodge Seck Staff writer

Army Times, Nov. 27, 2013

The reawakening poster campaign for the United States Marine Corps.

The commandant’s campaign to “reawaken” the Marine Corps will be branded across the service via a promotional poster campaign set to debut soon.

Gen. Jim Amos has called for tighter standards and better behavior among Marines in garrison, appealing to those in leadership positions — especially the service’s noncommissioned officers — to “reawaken the soul of our Corps against an enemy emerging within our ranks.” The posters will be distributed to bases and air stations throughout the world, according to Marine administrative message 607/13, published Nov. 18.

A Marine source sent Marine Corps Times copies of two of the posters, which have been posted in garrison at Okinawa. One features a Marine wounded warrior with prosthetic legs built for running. He’s identified in a caption as Cpl. Anthony McDaniel, a survivor of an improvised explosive device. The caption indicates McDaniel participated in last year’s Marine Corps Trials hosted by the Wounded Warrior Regiment.

Another poster shows rows of Marines in desert combat gear, woodland camouflage, and dress blues looking into the distance.

Continue reading “Marcus Aurelius: Marine Corps Commandant “Re-Awakening” Garrison Standards — Deja Vu Post-VN”

2013/11/20

Marcus Aurelius: Acoustic Hackers Can Halt Fleet

Ineptitude, IO Impotency, IO Technologies, Military

US NAVY: Hackers ‘Jumping The Air Gap' Would ‘Disrupt The World Balance Of Power'

Geoffrey Ingersoll

Business Insider, Nov. 19, 2013, 2:54 PM

The next generation hackers may be taking to sound waves, and the Navy is understandably spooked.

Speaking at last week's Defense One conference, retired Capt. Mark Hagerott cited recent reports about sonic computer viruses as one way that hackers could “jump the air gap” and target systems that are not connected to the Internet.

“If you take a cybernetic view of what's happening [in the Navy], right now our approach is unplug it or don't use a thumb drive,” Hagerott said. But if hackers “are able to jump the air gap, we are talking about fleets coming to a stop.”

For a long time the thought was that an air gap (systems that are not connected to the Internet) rendered networks pretty much impenetrable.

Then the Stuxnet virus happened — an Iranian nuclear scientist with an infected thumb drive walked a virus through the air gap and unknowingly uploaded a destructive virus onto a network controlling nuclear centrifuges. This attack not only damaged Iran's nuclear facilities, but it also signaled the dawn of kinetic cyber attacks (the kind that cause physical damage) and the revealed the vulnerability of air gaps.

It's not just thumb drives though. Hagerott cited reporting by Arstechnica's Dan Goodin on a virus that supposedly transmitted via high-frequency sound waves.

Goodin called the malware “the advanced persistent threat equivalent of a Bigfoot sighting.”

Continue reading “Marcus Aurelius: Acoustic Hackers Can Halt Fleet”

2013/11/18

Rickard Falkvinge: NSA Asked GNU/Linux Founder to Subvert His Network with Covert Backdoors

Corruption, Government, Idiocy, Ineptitude, Military

NSA Asked Linus Torvalds To Install Backdoors Into GNU/Linux

Posted: 17 Nov 2013 04:59 AM PST

Infopolicy – Christian Engström: The NSA has asked Linus Torvalds to inject covert backdoors into the free and open operating system GNU/Linux. This was revealed in this week’s hearing on mass surveillance in the European Parliament. Chalk another one up of the United States NSA trying to make information technology less secure for everyone.

The father of Linus Torvalds, Nils Torvalds, is a Member of the European Parliament for Finland. This week, Nils Torvalds took part in the European Parliament’s hearing on the ongoing mass surveillance, and brought a revelation:

National_Security_Agency_headquarters,_Fort_Meade,_Maryland_public_domain_image
The United States security service NSA has contacted Linus Torvalds with a request to add backdoors into the free and open operating system GNU/Linux.

The entire inquiry is available here on YouTube (uploaded by Hax).

Continue reading “Rickard Falkvinge: NSA Asked GNU/Linux Founder to Subvert His Network with Covert Backdoors”

2013/11/162013/11/16

Berto Jongman: How the Sunni-Shia schism is dividing the world — while a retarded US Government spins its wheels and remains clueless….

Cultural Intelligence, Government, Ineptitude

How the Sunni-Shia schism is dividing the world

The unprecedented Saudi refusal to take up its Security Council seat is not just about Syria but a response to the Iranian threat

Robert Fisk

The Independent, 23 October 2013

The Muslim world’s historic – and deeply tragic – chasm between Sunni and Shia Islam is having worldwide repercussions. Syria’s civil war, America’s craven alliance with the Sunni Gulf autocracies, and Sunni (as well as Israeli) suspicions of Shia Iran are affecting even the work of the United Nations.

Saudi Arabia’s petulant refusal last week to take its place among non-voting members of the Security Council, an unprecedented step by any UN member, was intended to express the dictatorial monarchy’s displeasure with Washington’s refusal to bomb Syria after the use of chemical weapons in Damascus – but it also represented Saudi fears that Barack Obama might respond to Iranian overtures for better relations with the West.

The Saudi head of intelligence, Prince Bandar bin Sultan – a true buddy of President George W Bush during his 22 years as ambassador in Washington – has now rattled his tin drum to warn the Americans that Saudi Arabia will make a “major shift” in its relations with the US, not just because of its failure to attack Syria but for its inability to produce a fair Israeli-Palestinian peace settlement.

What this “major shift” might be – save for the usual Saudi hot air about its independence from US foreign policy – was a secret that the prince kept to himself.

Israel, of course, never loses an opportunity to publicise – quite accurately – how closely many of its Middle East policies now coincide with those of the wealthy potentates of the Arab Gulf.

Hatred of the Shia/Alawite Syrian regime, an unquenchable suspicion of Shia Iran’s nuclear plans and a general fear of Shia expansion is turning the unelected Sunni Arab monarchies into proxy allies of the Israeli state they have often sworn to destroy. Hardly, one imagines, the kind of notion that Prince Bandar wishes to publicise.

Continue reading “Berto Jongman: How the Sunni-Shia schism is dividing the world — while a retarded US Government spins its wheels and remains clueless….”

Category: Ineptitude

Eagle: Facebook & Yahoo Lose Millions of Passwords