I guess I have time for ...

... this one depressing, but highly informative, link ...


(H/T to MW)

No posting tonight!

It's the Ron Paul Nevada Caucus Kick-off Party at Green Valley Ranch ...

Hello and welcome to another InfoSecurity World tutorial. The intent of this article is to teach one how to encrypt sensitive files.[businessinsider.com]

Heavy emphasis on 'back up your drive before you start in case something goes wrong' ...

While many Girl Scouts hit the streets selling Thin Mints on Sunday, Troop 257 was putting past cookie sales' profits to use getting trained what to do if approached by someone who might pose a threat.[redlandsdailyfacts.com]

A GANG of hammer-wielding masked raiders were made to look like pussy cats when a top celebrity chef’s feisty Jack Russell terrier chased them off during an attempted burglary.[newstoday.co.uk]

It's a good thing, too, because they're subjects rather than citizens and not allowed proper defensive weapons ...

A TOTAL OF 2,787 weapons and 3,156 controlled drugs were smuggled into Irish prisons in the past 24 months.[thejournal.ie]

MoD insiders believe that, after an independence vote, ministers in London would be forced to strike a deal with Scottish leaders allowing the Navy to go on using Coulport, where missiles and warheads are stored, and Faslane, where the subs are based, until an alternative was ready.[thisisplymouth.co.uk]

You use passwords every day to access things like your phone, your email, and social networking. But are you really keeping yourself safe?[digitaltrends.com]

The University of Maryland stored sensitive personal and financial information of prospective students on publicly accessible servers, data that could make students easy prey to identity thieves, according to a recent audit.[washingtonexaminer.com]

Encryption keys on smartphones can be stolen via a technique using radio waves, says one of the world's foremost crypto experts, Paul Kocher, whose firm Cryptography Research will demonstrate the hacking stunt with several types of smartphones at the upcoming RSA Conference in San Francisco next month.[computerworld.co.nz]

Symantec is suggesting pcAnywhere users pull the plug on the remote access software.[sci-tech-today.com]

Scientists claim to have cloaked a three-dimensional object standing in free space, making it invisible from all angles.[theengineer.co.uk]

The security contractor for the Energy Department's Oak Ridge National Laboratory in Tennessee is investigating reports that one of its security guards was sleeping and had also been using an unauthorized cell phone while they were supposed to be guarding a sensitive nuclear facility with bomb-grade material.[pogoblog.typepad.com]

Do not, I repeat, DO NOT go to the ground if at all possible ...

Almost every day we read about some new data leak and, as a result, almost every IT company seeks new and better security solutions. One answer that makes a lot of sense to me is the self-encrypting drive (SED), a drive which contains the hardware itself so that all data written to it is encrypted.[pcmag.com]

India on Monday became the world's sixth country after the US, Russia, France, the UK and China to operate nuclear-powered submarines when the Russian Akula-II class submarine `K-152 Nerpa' was commissioned into Indian Navy as INS Chakra on a 10-year lease under a secretive almost $1-billion contract inked in 2004.[indiatimes.com]

Also:

The Russian Strategic Nuclear Force is to get two new missile submarines this year. They are the “Yury Dolgoruky” and the “Alexander  Nevsky”.[ruvr.ru]

A credit card shown at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas comes with its own keypad embedded on the front of the card. The goal is to make it extremely difficult for thieves to use the lost or stolen card, but it requires you to type in a unique security number every time you complete a transaction.[moneyville.ca]

This is interesting ...

LMS Defense, Inc., a defensive training firm thatprovides specialized counterterrorism training to U.S. military,law enforcement and private security professionals, announced todayplans to move its corporate headquarters to Twin Falls.[magicvalley.com]

Hackers, possibly from abroad, executed an attack on a Northwest rail company's computers that disrupted railway signals for two days in December, according to a government memo recapping outreach with the transportation sector during the emergency.[nextgov.com]

Dr Theodora Dallas, a 34-year old juror who researched a defendant on the internet and shared the information with fellow jurors during the trial, has been jailed for six months for contempt of court.[computerworlduk.com]

Authorities were certain that he posed little to no risk of bringing drugs or weapons across the border. What they didn't know was some of these special pass holders, including Andres, were being targeted by Mexican drug cartels, officials say.[cnn.com]

A prisoner charged with murder over a fatal shooting escaped after a "well-orchestrated armed ambush", Justice Secretary Kenneth Clarke said.[bbc.co.uk]

If you were packing for a trip and needed to take reams of documents with personal data, such as bank statements and medical bills, would you rather put them in a suitcase or a safe?[pcworld.com]

All of the customers were required to reset their passwords, but this isn't the first time, and certainly won't be the last, that a website gets breached. So, this is the perfect time to remind everyone on the importance of strong passwords. Whether you're joining a site or resetting a password, make sure you always consider the following eight steps.[businessinsider.com]

Airport security officers are to be monitored for exposure to dangerous levels of radiation from the controversial scanners which are used to screen passengers before flights.[dailymail.co.uk]

The National Security Agency's SELinux Project has announced the first release of SE Android, a security enhanced version of Google's Android operating system. SEAndroid is the name of both a project to identify, and find solutions for, critical gaps in Android security and of a reference implementation of a security enhanced Android.[h-online.com]

The new handheld and vehicular devices come with improved encryption as well as the ability to jump between frequencies, making it more difficult for an enemy to eavesdrop on conversations between field commanders, according to Col. Ronen Schneider, head of the IDF Army HQ’s C4I Division.[jpost.com]

In December, seven people died in an explosion in Yazd. On November 28, a bomb seems to have gone off in nuclear facilities in Isfahan. On November 12, 17 people were killed by an explosion near Tehran. On July 23, a scientist called Darioush Rezaeinejad was shot through the throat outside his daughter's kindergarten. On November 29, 2010, Majid Shahriari was killed in the same way as Roshan, with a bomb planted in his car. Fereydoun Abbasi-Davani was also attacked, but survived. On January 12, another motorcycle bomber killed Masoud Alimohammadi.[abc.net.au]

If the purpose of the action is to create terror, then the act is terrorism. If the purpose is action is to eliminate a utility and the terror is incidental, than it may just be an expedient methodology. The level of physicist that could legitimately aid in development of a nuke program is always in short supply and difficult to replace which makes them legitimate targets, and who knows how convoluted a plan has to be to be effective in this particular environment. It might be terrorism, but the fact that they're using explosives on these so-called 'civilians' and that there may be collateral casualties, in and of itself, certainly doesn't make the case that it is.

Weeks ahead of the nuclear security summit in Seoul, India has been dealt a blow on its famed nuclear reputation. In the first-ever index of security of nuclear materials, India almost brings out the rear - just above Iran, Pakistan and North Korea.[indiatimes.com]

NATO's ability to defend member nations against aggression by a conventional enemy force may be atrophying, Norway's Defense Minister said Jan. 13.[defensenews.com]

Johnny D. Guillen, known as the "Corta Nalgas" -- or "butt cutter" -- was captured Friday in Lima, according to Jair Quedas, system operator for Interpol Peru.[wbdj7.com]

I can't wait to hear this guy's explanation ...

Most Americans do not realize that the Obama administration is silently removing hundreds of troops away from the U.S.-Mexico border while the mainstream media focuses more on the Afghanistan withdrawal.[examiner.com]

Informed sources told The Hindu that the construction of a second Arihant-class nuclear submarine, to be named INS Aridaman, is moving fast at the Shipbuilding Centre (SBC) in Visakhapatnam. It is slated for launch by this year-end or in the first quarter of next year.[thehindu.com]

Among other things, an independent Scotland would require the UK government to find a new home for its Trident nuclear weapons system.[newstatesman.com]

Israel now has four Dolphin submarine bought from Germany, and two more are on order. Industry magazine Jane’s Defence Weekly reports the submarines are nuclear-armed.[euronews.net]

iTwin derives its name from the fact that you need two iTwin devices for it to work. When paired with one another, the devices allow users to share files over the Internet using Advanced Encryption Standard (AES) 256 bit encryption. Plug in one to a Mac or PC, assign it files and folders that you want to be accessible, and when the other device is plugged into a second Mac or PC, those folders and files can then be accessed by that machine.[macobserver.com]

Also:

At CES, Singapore-based ST Electronics was showing off a new security device that can be installed in nearly any notebook computer to protect its data from prying eyes—Digisafe DiskCrypt, a hard-disk enclosure that turns any 1.8-inch micro-SATA device into removable and fully encrypted storage. The enclosure, which is the size of a 2.5" drive, can be used as a drop-in replacement for existing drives.[arstechnica.com]

A new technology to be tried out in Edmonton aims to catch terrorists by testing transit tickets for explosives residue. That is, if the terrorists are honest enough to buy and validate their tickets. Those skipping fares aren't likely to get caught.[winnipegfreepress.com]

The 32 nations with materials that can fuel atom bombs are typically mum on security, which looks to the public like a closed world of barbed wire and armed guards. Behind the scenes, atomic insiders have long told horror stories of risky practices and security flaws that might let the crucial ingredients for nuclear weapons fall into the wrong hands.[nytimes.com]

Two decapitated bodies were found inside a burning SUV early Wednesday at the entrance to one of Mexico's most luxurious malls, feeding fears drug violence is infiltrating privileged realms previously thought safe.[abclocal.go.com]

Cool ...

Motion-sensored lights at a Dearborn Heights home did not stop two men from breaking into the home and stealing valuable items, including several guns.[clickondetroit.com]

That sort of lighting is more likely to work in situations where the house is selected at random and no advance work is done ...

Dropcam is handling the product from ground up. Not only have they come up with a stylish, unobtrusive and minimalist design, the setup process has also been simplified. To top it all, the unit now comes at a very reasonable price point of $149![anandtech.com]

The watchdogs at the Government Accountability Office this week issued a report that takes a look at what information, or guidance as they call it, is available to help government agencies and public sector companies bulk up their cybersecurity efforts.[computerworld.co.nz]

In fact, this is the same old story that we have heard again and again: users used the same basic, weak password for several sites and applications and were not made aware of the need for a strong password.[scmagazineuk.com]

The Cattles Group, which specializes in personal loans and debt recovery, admitted losing twobackup tapes containing information about 1.4 million customers.[techtarget.com]

Motorola announced today the Droid 4, a Google Android smartphone on Verizon that it says is ideal for road warriors who want to work like hell while they’re on the move.[zdnet.com]

Pics included

Here is an interesting slide-show about the Yek sub fire ...

Samsung Techwin America, a leader in consumer video monitoring and security products, today made home security even more accessible with the introduction of its Wi-Fi IP SmartCam™. With the ability to wirelessly connect to a home network, the camera gives homeowners the ability to place the device in any room and monitor activity remotely through their computer, smartphones or other mobile devices.[sacbee.com]

Read more here: http://www.sacbee.com/2012/01/08/4171975/home-security-and-surveillance.html#storylink=cpy

Gun transactions in Virginia totaled 321,166 last year, with a single-month record of 41,957 in December, according to the latest Virginia State Police figures of mandatory criminal-background checks of gun buyers.[timesdispatch.com]

This is impressive ...

NUCLEAR weapons have been based in a reluctant Scotland for half a century. Churches, trade unions, local authorities, protest groups, countless individuals, and the Scottish Parliament have called persistently for their removal and an end to the policy of nuclear deterrence. To no avail. London’s power of decision has remained absolute.[scotsman.com]

I found this more interesting from the implication that Scotland may be becoming independent than anything else ...

But wait, it gets even better. In addition to the use of the terms terrorism and terrorist, there is also the use of “terrorist” (i.e. the term in single or double quotation marks).[chinahearsay.com]

Interesting essay for the agitprop watchers out there ...

2011 was a wild ride for information security. The amount and scope of some breaches has been astounding. New targets and new vectors have been uncovered as well as reminding us of well-known weaknesses in some systems.[techrepublic.com]

Symantec is downplaying reports that hackers accessed the source code to its Endpoint Protection 11.0 and Antivirus 10.2 applications.[tgdaily.com]

The best way to protect yourself from an online financial scam is to diligently check your bank accounts. At least, until now. Israeli-based Security firm Trusteer has found an elaborate new computer virus that not only helps fraudsters steal money from bank accounts -- it also covers its tracks.[msnbc.msn.com]

A spokesperson for Quebec’s provincial police Thursday morning refused to confirm or deny a media report that investigators obtained access to a series of encrypted BlackBerry messages during their probe into the Mafia-style slaying of Salvatore Montagna.[montrealgazette.com]

Also:

BlackBerry messenger is “significantly less encrypted compared to the BlackBerry email that corporations are using,” Leif-Olof Wallin, an analyst at Gartner Inc., based in Sweden, recently told Bloomberg News. “Any kind of cryptographer should be able to crack it without the involvement of (parent company, Waterloo, Ont.-based Research in Motion)."[montrealgazette.com]

Federal prosecutors want a judge to order a Colorado woman to provide the password to decrypt her laptop, which the government seized with a search warrant.[wired.com]

 Also:

Can the government force you to give up your password in the course of an investigation against you?[abclocal.go.com]

India officially rejoined the nuclear submarine operators' club when the Russian manufacturers handed over to an Indian crew the Nerpa, in Russia's far east.[upi.com]

Few believe Tehran could keep the straits closed for long — perhaps no more than a handful of days — but that alone would still temporarily block shipment of a fifth of all traded global oil, sending prices rocketing and severely denting hopes of global economic recovery. But such action would swiftly trigger retaliation from the United States and others that could leave the Islamic republic militarily and economically crippled.[nationalpost.com]

A plan by Foley leaders to save money by having the city patrolled by a private security company has been blocked by the Peace Officers Standards Training Board on the advice of the Minnesota Attorney General’s Office, according to an announcement by the city Wednesday night.[sctimes.com]

Gov. Mitch Daniels says he's reversing recently announced restrictions on the number of people allowed into the Indiana Statehouse.[wthr.com]

As compared to:

One week after several council members were threatened, big security changes are being made at Richmond’s City Hall. [wtvr.com]

In a move that proves that Godzilla isn’t the only worldwide threat to emerge from Japan, the Japanese Defense Ministry has been working with Fujitsu since 2008 to develop a defensive, weaponized computer virus capable of tracing the path of a cyber attack to its source in order to shut it down, disabling every system it comes across along the way.[extremetech.com]

Pics included

Revealing photos of the nuclear powered submarine “Yekaterinburg” from before and during last week’s fire clearly indicate that the flames come from inside the torpedo-compartment.[barentsobserver.com]

In a technology called the “Wi-Fi Protected Setup” (WPS) initially intended by the wireless industry to ease the security features set-up of modern routers, a new tool has been discovered that could bypass its encryption effects and leave the users open to a wide array of attacks by exploiting the design itself.[inaudit.com]

With Indian security agencies being unable to intercept encrypted communications from BlackBerry, Google's Gmail, Nokia Pushmail and internet telephony provider Skype, among others, the telecom department has sought the expertise of US agencies - on both technical and regulatory fronts - on intercepting such messages in a readable format.[indiatimes.com]

The New Year is upon us, and you might be partaking in the tradition of making a resolution for the coming year. This year, why not make a resolution to protect your data privacy with one of the most powerful tools available? Commit to full disk encryption on each of your computers.[eff.org]

Make sure that you have backups and have test-driven your software before you do it for 'reals' though ...

In response to threats by Western countries to impose oil sanctions on Iran, the Iranian website Mashreq News, which is close to Iranian military circles, posted an article on December 15, 2011 outlining military measures that could be taken by Tehran to close the Strait of Hormuz should the regime choose to do so.[rightsidenews.com]

 Put me down for twenty on AEGIS and under ...?