Here we go again. Again we learn the National Security Agency is spying on people without the peoples’ knowledge or consent. We just learn of another tool they’re using.
According to Speigel, an independent International news brand, the NSA monitors international spending through credit card and online banking transactions. According to while blower Eric Snowden, an operation launch called ‘Follow the Money’ went out in 2011. Over 180 million records of transactions were kept, 84 percent from credit cards. VISA customers were an especially huge target. One document says they wanted transactions from customers in the Middle East and Africa. They insists it’s not about targets.
I can actually see a little logic to this. Let’s fact it, there are a lot of scams going on, especially from nations like Nigeria. I’ve learned the hard way then I see a Nigerian transaction on Ebay, to run the other direction. So there’s a part of me that wants to believe there is good these actions, like fighting fraud. Then I remind myself about the spying on law abiding citizens in this country. I’m reminded about all the spying that they did on our European allies, and even on the UN. So I guess what I’m asking is: Is NSA spying ever appropriate?
When we found out the National Security Advisory was checking in on our smartphones and computers, without search warrants, our knowledge or our approval, many believed the NSA and computer and phone companies were in cahoots with each other. As we later learned, that wasn’t often the case. Now, another tech giant is taking on the issue.
Facebook founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg tackled the issue at a Tech Crunch conference. He insists he didn’t give the government access to servers. He claimed the NSA “…blew it on communicating the balance of what they were going for with this.” Facebook and Yahoo are filing a suit asking FISA’s blessing to publish more data on the government’s request for people’s information. But it doesn’t stop there. Next week, Zuckerberg goes to Washington and meet with Congress. Right to privacy issues and NSA privacy leaks are expected to be hot topics.
Nonetheless, I do find it suspect that Zuckerberg is only meeting with top Republicans, including John Boehner. Forgive my cynicism, but if he wanted to tackle the surveillance issue, shouldn’t he be meeting with both sides of the isle? Then I read about his other political contributions, and that makes me a little more suspect. I’m not suspect about his intentions about the NSA. I’m sure he’s doing this to protect his best interest and his users. He knows much of the public is sick and tired of this kind of spying. What if people stop using Facebook because of these NSA revelations? He can’t have that, can he? So business wise, I believe he’s sincere about taking on gov’t surveillance. But the cynic part comes in when I read about how he’s only meeting with top people from one party. Add that into the thousands he’s contributed to other politicians, and the millions Facebook has given to lobbyists. So what are Zuckerberg’s intentions: are they for us or for his own social/political intentions?
A team of British scientist are working on it. According to these physicists’, that’s where quantum cryptography?comes in.? You see, quantum cryptography is controlled by physics, not by math. Physics can’t be broken. If two people parties are in communication and a third party wants to break in, he’d have to solve a math problem to do so. But with quantum cryptography, there would be no problem to solve, so the third party couldn’t go hacking. It once took lots of serious hardware to accomplish this, but now, it looks like that is changing.
Imagine that. Imagine exchanging emails or text messages or making a purchase with a device. And an ID thief is on the other side trying to break in and get your financial information. With quantum cryptography, they can’t get in. I can’t guarantee this will stop all cyber security woes. But?while the cyber world is a blessing, it’s getting?increasingly dangerous. I’ve done stories myself?about nations hacking nations, and about the disturbing trend of sextortion. But if this quantum cryptography can at least decrease this threat, isn’t it worth taking a looking into?
Yesterday, the New York Times’ website was attacked. ?A group named Syrian Electronic Army, sympathizers of Syrian president Bashar Al-Assad, claimed responsibility.
The New York Times site went down around 3pm yesterday, and went down again around 6pm Eastern time. This isn’t the first time the Syrian Electronic Army struck. On Aug 15, they struck The Washington Post. Even today, the NYT started less than 100%. Some subscribers can access the site; other cannot. As of 8am, the Times tweeted people can go to news.nytco.com to get their news. I haven’t used this site, so I can’t verify that. But by 10am, the Syrian Electronic Army tweeted they were going to deliver an anti-war statement,?but?that their website was down.?They claimed it was worth it in the name of world peace.
Over the weekend, China’s Internet was attacked. Not only was it attacked, but government officials say it was the biggest denial-of-service hack in that nation’s history.
The only silver lightning is the timing the attack happened. It took place between 2am and 4am Sunday morning. The attack was aimed at a registry that allows ‘.cn’ sites. That’s kind of what ‘.com’ is to us in the US.?Thanks to?good?back up programs,?the outage only hit parts of websites for some users. In layman’s terms, it could have been a lot worse. By Monday morning, things online seemed to have gotten back to normal. According to Cloud Fare CEO Matthew Prince, there was a 32% drop in Chinese traffic and?domain use during this attack. Many experts believe the Chinese government have the power to carry out attacks, the believe the nation has little in defense against them.
It’s scary to believe one person can bring down much of a nation’s Web juice. It’s even scarier that a gov’t is good at starting attacks, but not very good at defending their own people against them. But I guess it could have been worse. But will it be next time? China is one of the fastest growing and most important economies in the world. If that can happen to them, what next? Are we in America just as venerable?
While the Internet and social media have been the source of many blessings, it can be the source of many curses, from cyber bullying to the NSA scandals. Now there’s another evil lurking.
It’s called sextortion. Hackers break into unsuspecting people’s computers and smartphones. Then they see and take pictures of all your intimate moments. Then they come and make demands…do what we want and give us what we want or we’ll post the pictures. Don’t think it can happen? Just ask Miss Teen USA Cassidy Wolf. Someone had slipped technology called RAT, Remote Administration Tool, and snapped pictures of her in her room. According to Ms. Wolf, the light wasn’t even on and she didn’t even know she was being filmed. The hacker threated to expose them if she didn’t give into his demands. The last time I checked, the FBI identified a suspect.
Unfortunately, Cassidy Wolf’s ordeal isn’t unique. Celebrities from Mila Kunis to Scarlett Johansson have been victimized. But you don’t have to be a celebrity to fall prey to this sickness. A Glendale, CA man got 350 women to show him naked pictures. Now what are we going to do about it? Cassidy Wolf is taking bold steps to address sextortion as part of her platform during her Miss Teen USA reign. She’s also educating other teens about these dangers. We can keep the sextortion story in the media and in the public eye. They more we do this the more we demand computer makers?and ?security companies to build better things to combat this gross invasion. We can also stay on our lawmakers and political leaders to pass laws against sextortion. There are people serving 10 year prison sentences for this perpetration. ?And we need to educate, educate and educate! The hackers and criminals are getting smarter. Shouldn’t we?
