The Last Watchdog

on Internet security by Byron Acohido

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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

Category: Top Stories

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

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