Archive for the ‘Hacking – Hackers’ Category
June 11, 2018
The obvious became evident to me …
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Last week, we whined about nuisance phone calls and recommended that everybody let all unidentified calls go unanswered … with an opportunity to go to voicemail, of course.
No voicemail … not important or urgent … and probably a robot.
I forgot to mention that there’s an internet variant of the pesky robocalls….
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Everybody gets more email solicitations than they want, right?
So, how to stop them?
Easy answer: click the Federally required “unsubscribe” link.
Err, not so fast … might cause a problem bigger than an overflowing email box …
How so?
(more…)
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Posted in Hacked - Hackers, Hacking - Hackers, Internet security | Leave a Comment »
March 20, 2018
And, to boot, there’s some clear evidence of collusion.
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Loyal readers know that I’m not a big fan of Facebook.
I’m amazed by the amount of sensitive information that people post and, for most, the lack of interest (or sophistication) in protecting the privacy of that information.
So, I wasn’t surprised when yesterday’s “shocking” headlines started rolling about FB’s massive data breach.
By mid-day, the previous “no big news” climate shifted to near market hysteria
Why?
Bang … a Trump connection headlined in the NY Times:
In a nutshell, a data outfit called Cambridge Analytica “harvested” the personal information of more than 50 million Facebook users … and fed the information to Trump digital campaigners.
OK, data breaches are bad … it’s horrible to have your private info fall into the wrong hands (i.e. Trump’s)
Hmmm.
But, Trump and his supporters are all Neaderthals, right?
How did they do it … and where did they get the idea?
(more…)
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Posted in Facebook, Hacking - Hackers, Obama, Trump, President Donald J. | Leave a Comment »
January 26, 2018
A plausible “why” and a very interesting “how”.
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Note: We’re doing an amusement park case in class this week … .
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In a prior post Seriously, why not outsource TSA ops to Disney? , I gushed over the technology applications at Disney World … the Magic Bands than let me into my hotel room & the park, Fast-Passed me to the front of lines, and “personalized” my family’s experience with real-time greetings and photos.
I noted that I was digitally fingerprinted when I entered the park and asked if anybody could tell me why.
A couple of loyal readers clued me and provoked some digging.
Here’s what I learned …
(more…)
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Posted in Disney - Disney World, Fingerprinting digital devices, Hacking - Hackers | Leave a Comment »
November 15, 2017
A plausible “why” and a very interesting “how”.
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Note: We’ve been doing an amusement park case in my current course. So, we’re reprising a post from the archives.
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In a prior post Seriously, why not outsource TSA ops to Disney? , I gushed over the technology applications at Disney World … the Magic Bands than let me into my hotel room & the park, Fast-Passed me to the front of lines, and “personalized” my family’s experience with real-time greetings and photos.
I noted that I was digitally fingerprinted when I entered the park and asked if anybody could tell me why.
A couple of loyal readers clued me and provoked some digging.
Here’s what I learned …
(more…)
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Posted in Disney - Disney World, Fingerprinting digital devices, Hacking - Hackers | Leave a Comment »
August 16, 2017
How long does it take to hack a 16-character password?
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Last week, NIST ((the National Institute of Standards and Technology) issued new guidelines for password security.
After a review, NIST concluded that its former rules — passwords to include upper and lower case letters, numbers, special characters — made logins more complicated but didn’t materially improve online security.
Now, NIST is recommending using long, easy-to-remember phrases instead of relatively short strings of mixed letters, numbers and characters.
The rationale: the longer the string, the harder it is to crack.
For example some researchers concluded that it would only take 3 days to crack a password like “Tr0ub4dor&3” — but over 550 years to crack the password “CorrectHorseBatteryStaple”
Oh really?
The story reminded me of a prior HomaFiles post that reported on a hacking test.
Hackers were given 1 hour to crack more than 16,000 cryptographically hashed passwords.
Her are the (frightening) results …
(more…)
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Posted in Computer hints & tricks, Computers & PCs, Gotcha, Hacking - Hackers, Passwords | 1 Comment »
June 1, 2017
Some key points are being overlooked.
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Fueled by rumors and “secret intel assessment”, election-deniers are having a field day blaming Queen Hillary’s loss on the Russians and alleging that Trump is in Putin’s back pocket.
Beyond the hypocrisy of the Dems hissy fit over Trump’s refusal (in debate #3) to commit to accepting the election results if they seemed tainted (<= ironic, isn’t it?), the deniers seem to be overlooking a couple of key points.
(more…)
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Posted in 2016 Presidential Election, Clinton, Hillary, Cybersecurity - cybercrime, Hacking - Hackers, Trump, Donald | 2 Comments »
March 29, 2017
A plausible “why” and a very interesting “how”.
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In a prior post Seriously, why not outsource TSA ops to Disney? , I gushed over the technology applications at Disney World … the Magic Bands than let me into my hotel room & the park, Fast-Passed me to the front of lines, and “personalized” my family’s experience with real-time greetings and photos.
I noted that I was digitally fingerprinted when I entered the park and asked if anybody could tell me why.
A couple of loyal readers clued me and provoked some digging.
Here’s what I learned …
(more…)
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Posted in Disney - Disney World, Fingerprinting digital devices, Hacking - Hackers | Leave a Comment »
March 24, 2017
The obvious became evident to me …
==========
Everybody gets more email solicitations than they want, right?
So, how to stop them?
Easy answer: click the Federally required “unsubscribe” link.
Err, not so fast … might cause a problem bigger than an overflowing email box …
How so?
(more…)
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Posted in Hacked - Hackers, Hacking - Hackers, Internet security | Leave a Comment »
January 18, 2017
Her action might prompt re-opening of the Clinton server investigation.
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Departing AG Lynch lobbed a clock-winding-down grenade … unleashing the DOJ’s inspector general to review “broad allegations of misconduct involving FBI Director James B. Comey and how he handled the probe of Hillary Clinton’s email practices.”
Center stage are Comey’s July 5 non-sequiturial press conference (lots of evidence, but issue a stay-out-of-jail free card anyway), his re-opening of the case when classified emails were spotted on Anthony Weiner’s laptop and Comey’s last minute pronouncement for every to fuggitaboutit.
There are a couple of ways that Dem-loyal Lynch’s ploy might backfire.
First, beyond Comey, the IG said that he’ll be investigating “whether Peter Kadzik, the Justice Department’s assistant attorney general for legislative affairs, improperly disclosed non-public information to the Clinton campaign” and whether “FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe should have been recused from the case since his wife, Jill McCabe, ran for a Virginia Senate seat and took money from the political action committee of Virginia Gov. Terry McAuliffe, a fierce Clinton ally.”
Said differently, the IG is likely to find more influence peddling and tampering from the Clinton side than from the Trump side.
Second, while Lynch has narrow-scoped the investigation to exclude her not-so-secret tarmac meeting with Bill Clinton, an in-coming AG might broaden the scope to dig into the “event” that forced Lynch to punt the ball to Comey … setting the stage for his press conference and letters.
Her improprieties certainly contributed to the mess.
Third, and most important, while the IG said that he’s not going to relitigate the findings in the Clinton case, the IG review is likely to rip off some scabs at the FBI and prompt a re-look at the case.
And, there are a couple of plausible motivators for re-opening Clinton’s file …
(more…)
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Posted in Clinton, Hillary, Comey, James, DOJ - Dept of Justice, FBI, Hacking - Hackers | Leave a Comment »
January 10, 2017
More precisely, I should have said “flashback” to 2008.
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Lots of attention on the alleged Russian hacking of the DNC and Clinton campaign.
Less attention on the Intelligence Community’s assessment that the RNC was hacked, too.
More surprising, there have been no references by Intelligence Agencies or the MSM to China’s hacking of the 2008 Presidential campaigns.
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So, let’s take a stroll down memory lane …
(more…)
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Posted in Hacking - Hackers, McCain, John, Obama, presidential campaigns | 1 Comment »
January 9, 2017
Fortune cookie was the best part … and I’m hungry again.
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Over the weekend, we posted : Intel Report on Russian hacking … my take.
Now that the dust has settled, I’m getting that “where’s the beef feeling”?
Best I can do is:
Key points: Russians were more #NeverHillary than pro-Trump … no evidence that the election was impacted … none of the purloined emails were fakes or forgeries … Russians held back some of the juicier information-bombs to drop during Clinton’s expected presidency (and, they still have those morsels stockpiled).
click to view report
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My questions:
1) How were the sleuths able to able to find cyber-prints in this case but came up empty on the Clinton server (though the FBI reported that there was a high probability the enemy agents hacked that server, too)?
2) Wasn’t there any evidence of other foreign forces hacking into the same information bases, say the Chinese or North Koreans? Or, did our spies succumb to “fixation bias” (with a little “confirmation bias” thrown in) and only looked at a Russian connection? Maybe the problem is bigger and broader than reported.
By the way, what’s up with the Feds failing to haul in the suspect computers & servers and analyzing them for clues and evidence? Geez, on every episode of American Greed, the cops haul off the perp’s computer …
3) What info are the Russians holding in storage, waiting for an opportune time to cause some real havoc? Hmm. Maybe they have some of the classified material that was held safe (?) on Clinton’s and Weiner’s computers. Isn’t anybody worried about that?
Those are the questions that I’d like to see answered.
I’m not holding my breath …
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Though it was generally superficial and disappointing, I did ID one useful part of the report (seriously) …
(more…)
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Posted in Confidence levels, Hacking - Hackers, Intelligence Agencies, Probability - certainty, Russians - Putin | Leave a Comment »
January 7, 2017
Some interesting assertions … that raise some interesting questions.
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Here’s my take:
First, the non-classified report isn’t very compelling.
For openers, the 25-page report isn’t really 25 pages of report … it has a 3-page summary of a 5-page report … with 17 pages of filler on the front and back (the media “annex”).
Hope my students don’t get a whiff of that report-writing strategy.
And, the report contains mostly top-line assertions with virtually no new news or supporting data.
That’s understandable since the evidence is classified and can’t be revealed to us minions.
click to view report
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Despite the above, I stipulate that the Russians hacked the DNC and John Podesta’s emails … and fed the info to WikiLeaks and RT media.
Here’s my take on the key points (and the questions that the report leaves unanswered):
(more…)
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December 13, 2016
I’ve got an alternative scenario for you.
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Last week, focus shifted from fake news to Russian hacking intended to help Trump get elected.
There’s hand-wringing and outrage that the Russians might have tried to impact a U.S. election by revealing Hillary’s emails..
President Obama has ordered that an investigation be done and a report on his desk by the time he leaves office (i.e. right before President-elect Trump gets sworn in).
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Most recently, U.S. intelligence officials fingered the Russians but have conceded that (1) they are basing their views on deductive circumstantial reasoning and not conclusive evidence and (2) they are uncertain as to motive. Source
I’ve got an alternative deduced scenario for you. Let’s connect some dots on this one …
(more…)
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Posted in 2016 Presidential Election, DNC, Hacking - Hackers | 2 Comments »
August 4, 2016
First, how many of us have a 16-character password?
If the over-under is 1, I’m betting the under.
Still, let’s pretend that that your passwords are 16-characters long – a mix of capital and lower case letters, numbers and special characters.
Here’s how long it takes to crack it …
(more…)
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Posted in Computer hints & tricks, Computers & PCs, Gotcha, Hacking - Hackers, Passwords | 1 Comment »
July 28, 2016
I’ve got an alternative scenario for you.
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DNC operatives are trying to shift the conversation from the substance of the purloined DNC emails … to the hackers … blaming the Russians for being pro-Trump and releasing the emails to spoil Hillary’s campaign.
There’s hand-wringing and outrage that the Russians might be trying to impact a U.S. election.
Even President Obama has weighed in.
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But, U.S. intelligence officials have conceded that they are basing their views on deductive reasoning and not conclusive evidence. Source
I’ve got an alternative deduced scenario for you. Let’s connect some dots on this one …
(more…)
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March 30, 2016
In case you haven’t been paying attention …
The FBI snagged the government-owned cell phone that was being used by one of the San Bernardino killer-terrorists … but, couldn’t get at the data because of Apple’s security and encryption technology … which vaporizes the data if you enter a wrong password 10 times.
So, the FBI asked Apple to to provide a custom-cobbled hack to get at the data.
Apple said “no”, ostensibly to protect the privacy and security of its users.
So, the FBI sued Apple, and the case was working its way through the courts.
That is, until yesterday when the FBI withdrew its law suit.
Victory to Apple, right?
Not so fast.
Here’s why the FBI withdrew its law suit ….
(more…)
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Posted in Apple, Cell phones, FBI, Hacking - Hackers, Terrorism | 2 Comments »
August 3, 2015
Loyal readers know that I’m attentive to identity theft issues ever since I got nailed.
I tend to be a proponent of the identity theft services.
I buy mine through Costco (good place to save a few pennies, right?) … in part, because I’ve been suspicious of all the advertising done by industry leader LifeLock.
Turns out that the FTC was – and continues to be suspicious of LifeLock and its hyped up claims …
(more…)
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July 21, 2015
This may be bigger than the Feds having 20 or 30 million digital personnel files tapped by hackers.
Ashley Madison got hacked and over 37 million customer files have been taken hostage,
Just in case you’ve been living under a rock, Ashley Madison is a sleazy, Canadian based “online dating and social networking service” that “discretely” hooks up folks who are already in a relationship, i.e. married.
Some background:
The name of the site was created from two popular female names, “Ashley” and “Madison” … the site’s slogan “Life is short. Have an affair.”
The site has been around for about 15 years and gets about 125 million hits each month (pun intended).
Reportedly, 70% of the site’s members are guys … no surprise there.
That’s the back-story … now for the “so what?” …
(more…)
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Posted in Hacked - Hackers, Hacking - Hackers, Internet - Soc Networking, Online privacy, Online Security, Social marketing | Leave a Comment »
May 19, 2015
Hackers have figured out that anybody who is willing to shell out 5 bucks for a cup of coffee have money to burn.
So, shouldn’t be a big surprise that hackers are going right after Starbucks frequenters.
Here’s the scoop on the hack …
(more…)
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Posted in Hacking - Hackers, Starbucks | 1 Comment »
March 31, 2015
A couple of years ago I jumped on the bandwagon and e-filed my first ever tax return.
A couple of weeks later I was an identity theft victim.
Coincidence?
I can’t prove the connection … I also can’t shake the suspicion.
Now, crooks have a new online hack: filing online returns that claim other folks refunds.
I good friend just got burned on this specific new tax hack.
Here’s what’s going on …
(more…)
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February 11, 2015
A couple of years ago I jumped on the bandwagon and e-filed my first ever tax return.
A couple of weeks later I was an identity theft victim.
Coincidence?
I can’t prove the connection … I also can’t shake the suspicion.
Now, crooks have a new online hack: filing online returns that claim other folks refunds.
Here’s what’s going on …
(more…)
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Posted in E-file, Hacking - Hackers, Identity Fraud, Taxes | Leave a Comment »
January 15, 2015
You gotta start scratching your head a bit when the Dept. of Defense gets its Twitter account hacked and issues an internal directive to change social networking passwords.
Not obvious to me why the DOD even has a Twitter account, and laughably frightening that they didn’t already have a policy for frequent password changes.
The fiasco reminded me of a competition to see how long it would take uber-hackers to crack 15,000 15-character passwords
Let’s pretend that that your passwords are 16-characters long – a mix of capital and lower case letters, numbers and special characters.
Here’s how long it takes to crack them …
(more…)
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October 9, 2013
Couple data points converged for me …
First, loyal readers may remember that I was an identity theft victim.
Started a couple of weeks after my first e-filing of a tax return to the IRS.
Coincidence?
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Being sensitized to the ID theft issue, I noticed a couple of recent articles about “ripe pickings” …
(more…)
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Posted in Hacking - Hackers, Identity Fraud, ObamaCare | Leave a Comment »
June 3, 2013
First, how many of us have a 16-character password?
If the over-under is 1, I’m betting the under.
Still, let’s pretend that that your passwords are 16-characters long – a mix of capital and lower case letters, numbers and special characters.
Here’s how long it takes to crack it …
(more…)
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Posted in Computer hints & tricks, Computers & PCs, Gotcha, Hacking - Hackers, Passwords | 1 Comment »
The Homa Files 