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Snowden case: How low-level insider could steal from NSA
June 11, 2013 | Comment on this post
By Byron Acohido and Pete Eisler, USA TODAY
Edward Snowden’s ability to extract sensitive data from the NSA, working as a low-level contract consultant, comes as no surprise to the security community.
Security experts say Snowden, a Booz Allen Hamilton network analyst based in Hawaii, had the technical savvy to take full advantage of two major security challenges all organizations face: managing privileged accounts and keeping PCs, databases …more
Google challenges U.S. gag order in NSA flap
June 18, 2013 | 1 Comment
Taking yet another step in its struggle to distance itself from the National Security Administration’s controversial PRISM data mining program, Google this afternoon asked the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court to relax gag orders over data requests it makes.
Claudia Rast, a privacy attorney at Butzel Long, says the move may gain the search giant public relations benefits. But FISA is not likely to amend the standing gag order, she says.
The legal filing cites the First Amendment’s guarantee of free speech. …more
Texting spammers correlate phone users to local banks
June 17, 2013 | Comment on this post
(EDITOR’S NOTE: This is the inaugural CyberTruth column, which explores trends and breaking news in the cybersecurity field.)
SEATTLE – If you use an Internet-connected smartphone, touch tablet, e-reader, notebook, laptop or desktop computer you ought to care …more
Little thumb drives pose big security threat
June 15, 2013 | 1 Comment
(Editor’s note: Whistleblower Edward Snowden finagled access to sensitive data about phone and Internet data mining programs at the NSA and reportedly snuck the data out of the agency using thumb drives. In this guest essay, Dave Jevans, founder of Marble Security and current chairman of the Anti-Phishing Working Group, outlines how the little thumb drive has become a security threat.)
By Dave Jevans
USB thumb drives, or flash drives, are back in the news as a security threat. …more
Orwellian surveillance helps deter crime
June 13, 2013 | 1 Comment
(Editor’s note: Surveillance cameras in public settings played a key role in nabbing suspects in the Boston Marathon bombings. In this guest post, Vladimir Eremeev, CEO of Ivideon, supplier of cloud surveillance systems, supplies an overview.)
By Vladimir Eremeev
Video surveillance has become an extension of society, reaching far beyond the days of parking garage security cameras and well into the open streets of major cities
The video surveillance system of today is a remarkably fast-growing industry with an estimated …more
Why Google is able to flatly deny knowledge of Prism
June 12, 2013 | 1 Comment
Google is in a mad scramble to distance itself from the National Security Administration’s controversial Prism data mining program.
So are Microsoft, Yahoo, Facebook, Apple, AOL, Skype (now part of Microsoft) and Paltalk — the other tech companies mentioned in PowerPoint slides depicting the Prism program, slides that were leaked by whistleblower Edward Snowden.
A lot is at stake. The tech giants are all hustling to swell profits derived …more
The risk vs. reward of Gen Y workers
June 12, 2013 | 1 Comment
(Editors note: The escapades of Edward Snowden, the low-level contract analyst turned whistleblower who outed the National Security Agency’s PRISM data mining program, underscores the havoc that can be wreaked by any dispirited employee. In this guest essay, Andrew Avanessian, vice president of global services at Avecto, a supplier of privileged accounts management systems, examines this exposure.)
Though IT departments continue to concentrate their resources on external threats, there is a new attack vector that is emanating from …more
Could Edward Snowden really shut down the NSA?
June 11, 2013 | 2 Comments
There is some skepticism in the security community about all of Edward Snowden’s claims.
Snowden — the low-level contract analyst turned whistleblower who outed the National Security Agency’s PRISM data mining program – makes a lot of claims in his 12 minute video interview with The Guardian.
As a Booz Allen Hamilton network analyst based in Hawaii, Snowden clearly had the technical savvy to take full advantage of known ways for anyone inside the network of a large organization …more