Recent news stories have brought the term “metadata” to general public awareness. These developments often mention the privacy issues and spying concerns regarding US security and the NSA (National Security Agency). Leaked documents indicated that the NSA has been collecting vast amounts of information on almost every communication and network activity in and outside of the country. For those getting computer repairs Los Angeles experts can explain that these communications include phone calls, emails, and text messages. As a whole, this data is classified as metadata. What is metadata, and what use is it?
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The datastream carries your metadata into the ether.[/caption]Read more
Brit Who Hacked US Gov’t Fights His Extradition
December 15 2009, a picture was taken of Janis Sharp, Gary McKinnon's mother, along with the Liberal Democrat leader, Nick Clegg outside the Home Office in Westminster. The two were there to protest against the extradition of McKinnon to the US on charges of computer fraud. Eight years earlier, McKinnon had hacked into Pentagon and Nasa networks repeatedly using the name "Solo." [caption id="attachment_2309" align="aligncenter" width="640"]
picture via The Daily Record[/caption] McKinnon sufferes from Asperger's Syndrome and was living with his girlfriend in 2001 in a flat in north London. He was suffering through a bout of depression being without a regular job, and he spent most of his time alone in a room on his computer. Upon... --
.. picture via The Daily Record[/caption] McKinnon sufferes from Asperger's Syndrome and was living with his girlfriend in 2001 in a flat in north London. He was suffering through a bout of depression being without a regular job, and he spent most of his time alone in a room on his computer. Upon... --Newborn Blood Samples Held Without Authority
The Texas Department of State Health Services routinely collected blood samples from newborns to screen for a variety of health conditions, before throwing the samples out. But beginning in 2002, the DSHS contracted Texas A&M University to store blood samples for potential use in medical research. These accumulated at rate of 800,000 per year. The DSHS did not obtain permission from parents, who sued the DSHS, which settled in November 2009. Now the Tribune reveals that wasn't the end of the matter. As it turns out, between 2003 and 2007, the DSHS also gave 800 anonymized blood samples to the Armed Forces DNA Identification Laboratory to help create a national mitochondrial DNA database.... --House Passes Cybersecurity Bill
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The United States Capitol Building[/caption] The House passed a new cybersecurity bill with an overwhelming majority vote. The Cybersecurity Enhancement Act, H.R. 4061 has a number of interesting provisions. Representative Michael Arcuri, a Democrat of New York who sponsored the bill called cybersecurity the 'Manhattan Project of our generation' and estimated the US needs 500 to 1,000 more 'cyber warriors' every year in order to keep up with potential enemies. The new bill 'authorizes one single entity, the director of the National Institute of Standards and Technology, to represent the government in negotiations over international standards and orders the White House office of technology to convene a cybersecurity university-industry... --
.. The United States Capitol Building[/caption] The House passed a new cybersecurity bill with an overwhelming majority vote. The Cybersecurity Enhancement Act, H.R. 4061 has a number of interesting provisions. Representative Michael Arcuri, a Democrat of New York who sponsored the bill called cybersecurity the 'Manhattan Project of our generation' and estimated the US needs 500 to 1,000 more 'cyber warriors' every year in order to keep up with potential enemies. The new bill 'authorizes one single entity, the director of the National Institute of Standards and Technology, to represent the government in negotiations over international standards and orders the White House office of technology to convene a cybersecurity university-industry... --Court Orders Served via Twitter
The High Court in the UK has granted permission for an injunction to be served via the social-networking site Twitter. The order to be served is against an anonymous Twitter user who posts to the site using the same name as a right-wing political blogger named Donal Blaney. The order demands that the anonymous Twitter user reveal their identity as well as no longer posing as Donal Blaney, who blogs at a site called Blaney's Blarney.This is all on the grounds that posting as someone else breaches copyright laws. Mr Blaney turned to Twitter to serve the injunction after realizing how lengthy the process of contacting Twitter headquarters in California and asking them to remedy the matter would be. Luckily for Blaney, UK law states that an injunction can be served in person... --
..Hacker Expected to Pay For His Crime
Apparently the US, having not taken reasonable steps to protect its security, is now McKinnon, a hacker, to pick up the bill. A professor of security at the London School of Economics, Richard Sommer, said that damage assessments of computer security breaches should always consider "whether the victims have taken reasonable steps to limit the damage". McKinnon used Remotely Anywhere to hack US military computers in search of UFO secrets. The 42-year-old is facing extradition after being accused of hacking into 97 US computers and thus causing $700,000 in damages. Sommer said hackers should not be held accountable for the "consequential loss" resulting from their intrusion into systems unprotected by "preventative measures for reasonably foreseeable hazards". But security experts in the US say McKinnon should defnitely be liable for the full $700,000 of security... --
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