FRESH NEWS
I.M.G
sâmbătă, 27 decembrie 2014
AirAsia Flight QZ8501 lost contact with air traffic control in Jakarta some 42 minutes after takeoff. The plane was flying from the Indonesian city of Surabaya and due to land in Singapore at 8:30am. The airline said the plane had requested a "deviation due to en route weather before communication with the aircraft was lost."
At the present time we unfortunately have no further information regarding the status of the passengers and crew members on board… At this time, search and rescue operations are in progress and AirAsia is cooperating fully and assisting the rescue service.
vineri, 26 decembrie 2014
joi, 25 decembrie 2014
Good to know:Fact: About 20% of all passwords are easily guessed. Example of bad passwords: password, 12345, qwerty, yourname, yourbirthday, etc.
1. The best way to prevent someone from getting your passwords, is to have a strong password to being with. The best passwords are 8+ characters long, contain at least 1 capital letter, and contain at least 1 number. This will make it almost impossible for your password to be bruteforced. What is Bruteforcing? Its when a hacker runs a program that trys every letter/number/symbol combination to guess your password. If you follow these tips for a stronger password, it will take years to bruteforce your password.
2. Security questions. The easiest way someone can gain access into your accounts, is to guess the answers to the security questions of your account. These are the questions you're asked when you first make an email account, like What was your first dogs name?. Make sure the security questions you choose have answers that aren't easily guessable. If you have a security question that asks Where did you meet your spouse? this is a bad question to choose. Anyone who browses your facebook or asks someone you know can get the answer to this. So make sure you choose questions NO ONE knows the answer to, or make the answers something only you would know.
3. Try not to use the same passwords for all of your accounts. Make your e-mail password different from your facebook password, and so on. If someone manages to get one of your passwords, they will have access to ALL your accounts if they use the same password.
1. The best way to prevent someone from getting your passwords, is to have a strong password to being with. The best passwords are 8+ characters long, contain at least 1 capital letter, and contain at least 1 number. This will make it almost impossible for your password to be bruteforced. What is Bruteforcing? Its when a hacker runs a program that trys every letter/number/symbol combination to guess your password. If you follow these tips for a stronger password, it will take years to bruteforce your password.
2. Security questions. The easiest way someone can gain access into your accounts, is to guess the answers to the security questions of your account. These are the questions you're asked when you first make an email account, like What was your first dogs name?. Make sure the security questions you choose have answers that aren't easily guessable. If you have a security question that asks Where did you meet your spouse? this is a bad question to choose. Anyone who browses your facebook or asks someone you know can get the answer to this. So make sure you choose questions NO ONE knows the answer to, or make the answers something only you would know.
3. Try not to use the same passwords for all of your accounts. Make your e-mail password different from your facebook password, and so on. If someone manages to get one of your passwords, they will have access to ALL your accounts if they use the same password.
One thing is very true about hackers that they are an expert in their domain and this is exactly what it meant in 1960’s, ‘expert programmer’, without associating any negative activity to it. In today’s world the word ‘hacker’ has a connotation of someone using illegal means using computers to achieve something criminal. In fact, it is very amusing that some of the god-fathers of computer technology started as a hacker and build an entire empire out of the lessons learned in their hacking days. Most famous of them all are the founders of the giant Apple Inc.: Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak.
In 1970’s, the two Steves designed and sold a device named as ‘Blue box’ which was a phone phreaking device. In those days, the telephone exchanges had operators who used to connect manually to form a route of the call. Later, they were automated and the automatic exchanges communicated with each other using a series of audible tones as signals to route calls. The blue box was designed to emulate these audio tones. The audio tones were played to the microphone of the phone and the exchanges deceivably conceive them as legitimate signals coming from each other enabling the hacker to decode all the signals and potentially giving him the capability to hack the calls and exchanges and even manipulating phone bills. Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak realized the commercial potential of their invention and started selling them.
Later, when they were nearly caught, they ditched their illegal invention and moved on to greener pastures and greater technological adventures. One wonders, how many of the technological giants today would have indulged in some form of such activity that would be called hacking and illegal. The same path that makes these hackers so skillful opens new doors for innovation. Wonder how many aspiring future Steve Jobs are jailed for hacking. Wonder if Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak would have been caught and jailed would we still had the marvelous company called Apple Inc. Imagine if iPod, iPhone and iPad would not have been invented, what would have been the current technological landscape.
In 1970’s, the two Steves designed and sold a device named as ‘Blue box’ which was a phone phreaking device. In those days, the telephone exchanges had operators who used to connect manually to form a route of the call. Later, they were automated and the automatic exchanges communicated with each other using a series of audible tones as signals to route calls. The blue box was designed to emulate these audio tones. The audio tones were played to the microphone of the phone and the exchanges deceivably conceive them as legitimate signals coming from each other enabling the hacker to decode all the signals and potentially giving him the capability to hack the calls and exchanges and even manipulating phone bills. Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak realized the commercial potential of their invention and started selling them.
Later, when they were nearly caught, they ditched their illegal invention and moved on to greener pastures and greater technological adventures. One wonders, how many of the technological giants today would have indulged in some form of such activity that would be called hacking and illegal. The same path that makes these hackers so skillful opens new doors for innovation. Wonder how many aspiring future Steve Jobs are jailed for hacking. Wonder if Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak would have been caught and jailed would we still had the marvelous company called Apple Inc. Imagine if iPod, iPhone and iPad would not have been invented, what would have been the current technological landscape.
miercuri, 24 decembrie 2014
How to Become a Qualified and Professional Ethical Hacker
From the last few years, there's been an increasing demand for ethical hackers (also known as white hat hackers) as they protect the systems and other devices from dangerous intrusions. Ethical hackers are technically skilled IT pros who have a strong desire to solve problems and prevent malicious hackers from causing damage to network systems.
You would be thinking "HOW TO BECOME AN ETHICAL HACKER"
To be a professional ethical hacker you require motivation, dedication, initiative, self-education and formal training in ethical hacking.
1
Know about the pros and cons ! There are basically 3 types of hackers, such as White Hat, Grey Hat and Black Hat hackers.
2
Seek out job opportunities for ethical hackers. There are many jobs available in government organizations, banks, financial institutions, military establishments and private companies which are also giving high salary to professionals!
3
Analyze the basic requirements to become an ethical hacker. Try to find out the areas in which you are weak and you need to work really hard.
4
Decide the area where you would prefer to work primarily with hardware or software. Never think of specializing in both the areas. Though knowledge of both is required but the decision will help you to know actually from where to begin. You must be know every function, every component of computer on which you will have to work on.
5
Evaluate your strengths and interests and gain some good programming knowledge such as C, or Java. These programming languages can be learned by taking formal programming courses and reading books. It will help you to read and write code. For everything , You should know the Basics!
6
Learn the UNIX operating system as it is regarded as the original operating system built by and for hackers xD. Also learn about Windows ,Mac OS and other OS.
7
Take a professional course. There are a variety of courses available for IT security professionals in "Ethical Hacking” or “Internet Security” which would help you to expand your knowledge in ethical hacking and choosing it as a profession.
8
Do experiments on your own to know the actual happening of a situation.
9
Start doing experiments with hardware and software to learn how to take control of the situations and how to prevent a computer from getting hacked.Always be Ethical :)
10
Read on your own to know what are the areas where you need to improve and what needs to be learned to refine your focus and improve your skills. Technology changes rapidly, and a good ethical hacker must be willing and eager to keep up with the new technological developments.
11
Get certified as it would help you to succeed in the vanguard of your profession. Its known as CEH!
12
Stay connected to the hacker communities on social websites like facebook or google plus+ by sharing technical information and ideas.
marți, 23 decembrie 2014
Dubai man has lost over Dh20,000 after his bank account was hacked as many as 60 times in a matter of a week
Filipino Rosauro Agustin, 44, has claimed that he has lost most of his savings to fraud transactions in the last week. He lost over Dh20,000 after his bank account was hacked as many as 60 times in a matter of a week last month. As per account records, all that money was withdrawn from different ATM locations in Vietnam, a country which Filipino claims he has never even visited.
Fraud Victim
He came to know about the withdrawals when he tried to withdraw money himself. He got an error saying that there was a lack of funds in his account when he tried to make a withdrawal from an ATM. Assuming it to be a system error, he tried to withdraw money from five different ATMs. When the ATM after ATM gave him the same message repeatedly, he felt that something was wrong.
“I received no SMS for any of the 60 withdrawals of roughly $100 each. I had no inkling till I realised there was not enough money in my account,” says Agustin who is from Manila and has no connection to Vietnam.
He immediately went home to check the balance in his account. He froze when he realized what had happened.
“I rushed home to check my account online and froze after what I saw. My account was left with just Dh1,200. I instantly knew something was wrong as my salary had been credited only two days back and I had also saved up for Christmas,” says Agustin, who earns around Dh8,000 as an accountant in a Dubai-based logistics firm. “I just couldn’t believe my eyes. There were 60 transactions I had no idea of,” recalls the distraught man who has been living in Dubai with his family since 2006.
Following is a statement Filipino made to the press:
The bank said they would get back to me within three weeks but in reality I am yet to hear from them and it’s almost going to be a month. Our Christmas plans have been ruined for no fault of mine as I have had to borrow money from friends to survive these difficult days. All this has caused me and my family immense stress and I don’t know how long it will be before I get back my hard-earned money, if at all.” XPRESS has a copy of Agustin’s bank statements that show these transactions were made in Vietnam, in places like Ho Chi Minh and Bình Phuoc province.
The bank has not given a statement till the time of writing of this article.
Filipino Rosauro Agustin, 44, has claimed that he has lost most of his savings to fraud transactions in the last week. He lost over Dh20,000 after his bank account was hacked as many as 60 times in a matter of a week last month. As per account records, all that money was withdrawn from different ATM locations in Vietnam, a country which Filipino claims he has never even visited.
Fraud Victim
He came to know about the withdrawals when he tried to withdraw money himself. He got an error saying that there was a lack of funds in his account when he tried to make a withdrawal from an ATM. Assuming it to be a system error, he tried to withdraw money from five different ATMs. When the ATM after ATM gave him the same message repeatedly, he felt that something was wrong.
“I received no SMS for any of the 60 withdrawals of roughly $100 each. I had no inkling till I realised there was not enough money in my account,” says Agustin who is from Manila and has no connection to Vietnam.
He immediately went home to check the balance in his account. He froze when he realized what had happened.
“I rushed home to check my account online and froze after what I saw. My account was left with just Dh1,200. I instantly knew something was wrong as my salary had been credited only two days back and I had also saved up for Christmas,” says Agustin, who earns around Dh8,000 as an accountant in a Dubai-based logistics firm. “I just couldn’t believe my eyes. There were 60 transactions I had no idea of,” recalls the distraught man who has been living in Dubai with his family since 2006.
Following is a statement Filipino made to the press:
The bank said they would get back to me within three weeks but in reality I am yet to hear from them and it’s almost going to be a month. Our Christmas plans have been ruined for no fault of mine as I have had to borrow money from friends to survive these difficult days. All this has caused me and my family immense stress and I don’t know how long it will be before I get back my hard-earned money, if at all.” XPRESS has a copy of Agustin’s bank statements that show these transactions were made in Vietnam, in places like Ho Chi Minh and Bình Phuoc province.
The bank has not given a statement till the time of writing of this article.
duminică, 21 decembrie 2014
sâmbătă, 20 decembrie 2014
This section will go over using proxies, which mask your IP address when on the web. This is useful for doing things you don't want to be traced to your IP address, or if you just want to hide your IP address from a certain website.
What is a proxy? Think of a proxy as a man in the middle for the internet. Normally when you open a website, your PC sends your IP address to the website, so that it may then send the webpage to your computer. With a proxy, your information is being sent to the proxy first, and then the proxy is pulling the website for you, then forwarding it to you. This way, on the websites end, they see the IP address of the proxy you used, and not yours.
Where to get a proxy? Proxies are all over the web, a quick google search will pull up a bunch. Below are some websites you can use to find proxy servers. Note that you may have to try multiple proxies before finding a working one.
www.allproxies.com www.stayinvisible.com www.proxymania.com www.hidemyass.com
How to use a proxy This tutorial will go over setting up a proxy in internet explorer, but it should be very similar for other browsers as well.
1. Find a proxy server you want to use. You will need the IP address and port of the server. 2. In internet explorer, click on internet options 3. Navigate to the connections tab and click on LAN settings 4. Check Use a proxy server for your LAN and enter in the proxy servers IP address and port 5. Click apply and you're done! Now when you navigate to a website, it will be through the proxy you entered. To stay 100% anon, make sure you use a proxy server that doesn't log IP addresses. These proxies will usually be advertised as being anonymous proxies.
What is a proxy? Think of a proxy as a man in the middle for the internet. Normally when you open a website, your PC sends your IP address to the website, so that it may then send the webpage to your computer. With a proxy, your information is being sent to the proxy first, and then the proxy is pulling the website for you, then forwarding it to you. This way, on the websites end, they see the IP address of the proxy you used, and not yours.
Where to get a proxy? Proxies are all over the web, a quick google search will pull up a bunch. Below are some websites you can use to find proxy servers. Note that you may have to try multiple proxies before finding a working one.
www.allproxies.com www.stayinvisible.com www.proxymania.com www.hidemyass.com
How to use a proxy This tutorial will go over setting up a proxy in internet explorer, but it should be very similar for other browsers as well.
1. Find a proxy server you want to use. You will need the IP address and port of the server. 2. In internet explorer, click on internet options 3. Navigate to the connections tab and click on LAN settings 4. Check Use a proxy server for your LAN and enter in the proxy servers IP address and port 5. Click apply and you're done! Now when you navigate to a website, it will be through the proxy you entered. To stay 100% anon, make sure you use a proxy server that doesn't log IP addresses. These proxies will usually be advertised as being anonymous proxies.
vineri, 19 decembrie 2014
Researchers discover a flaw that could let anyone listen to your cell calls by exploiting SS7 protocol
German researchers have identified serious vulnerabilities in cellphone communication systems that can allow an evil mind to listen to every word you say on a call. Unfortunately, this vulnerability exists in protocol used by every network provider across the globe. To add fuel to the fire, no encryption mechanism is available to safeguard any cyber criminal for exploiting it.
Signaling Systems
The researchers have said that they will reveal the flaws including its PoC in a hacker conference in Hamburg this month. The flaws have been detected in the Signaling Systems (SS7) protocol, which is used by network providers to route calls and text messages among one another. SS7 is the current iteration of the protocol in use. Experts have voiced their opinions that the SS protocol developed in the 1980’s is vulnerable to have many flaws like this, making billions of cell phone users vulnerable to exploits.
The flaws in question, are actually exploit the functionalities of the protocol which have been baked into SS7. These functionalities come into play when a cell phone user moves from a cell circle to another cell circle or is speeding down a highway/travelling on a interstate railway. The cell network is designed in such a way that it allows the users to remain connected while switching over from network to network or cell tower to cell tower.
It is during this switching over that the flaws arise letting a potential hacker with protocol skills to exploit the cell network and listen/record any calls and messages. There is also a probability of an attacker using these functions to carry out fraudulent activities. These flaws have persisted carrier’s push to upgrade to advanced 3G and 4G technologies, which are supposed to serve the purpose of securing communications, among others.
No matter if a particular carrier strengthens its services, they still need to use SS7 to communicate with other carriers. Thus, an attacker can access cell phone calls of an American citizen while sitting far away in China. “It’s like you secure the front door of the house, but the back door is wide open,” said Tobias Engel, one of the German researchers.
Flaw known to GSMA?
Engel, founder of Sternraute, and Karsten Nohl, chief scientist for Security Research Labs, separately discovered these security weaknesses as they studied SS7 networks in recent months, after The Washington Post reported the widespread marketing of surveillance systems that use SS7 networks to locate callers anywhere in the world. The Post reported that dozens of nations had bought such systems to track surveillance targets and that skilled hackers or criminals could do the same using functions built into SS7. The researchers have not found any evidence to suggest that these flaws have been marketed to government agencies, but there is a tendency of such vulnerabilities turning out to be long used weapons by security agencies the world over.
“Many of the big intelligence agencies probably have teams that do nothing but SS7 research and exploitation,” said Christopher Soghoian, principal technologist for the ACLU and an expert on surveillance technology. “They’ve likely sat on these things and quietly exploited them.” The GSMA, a global cellular industry group based in London, had responded to claims of vulnerabilities in the protocol before, however the group refused to comment on the findings of these researchers. It seems possible that these flaws have been known before and were swept under the carpet.
The Exploits
The researchers found 2 ways to eavesdrop on calls. The first involves the forwarding function of the protocol. This function is what lets us users to forward an incoming call from one cell phone to another. Hackers would redirect calls to themselves, for listening or recording, and then onward to the intended recipient of a call. Once that system was in place, the hackers could eavesdrop on all incoming and outgoing calls indefinitely, from anywhere in the world. The second technique requires the perpetrator to be in close proximity of its target. This technique involves antennae for recording all calls in the nearby communication spectrum. And in case the call is encrypted, the attacker could request the carrier a temporary encryption key to decrypt the call later. One network that operates in Germany, Vodafone, recently began blocking such requests after Nohl reported the problem to the company two weeks ago.
U.S. embassies and consulates in dozens of foreign cities, including Berlin, are outfitted with antennas for collecting cellular signals, according to reports by German magazine Der Spiegel, based on documents released by Snowden. Many cell phone conversations worldwide happen with either no encryption or weak encryption
Nohl on Wednesday demonstrated the ability to collect and decrypt a text message using the phone of a German senator, who cooperated in the experiment. But Nohl said the process could be automated to allow massive decryption of calls and texts collected across an entire city or a large section of a country, using multiple antennas. “It’s all automated, at the push of a button,” Nohl said. “It would strike me as a perfect spying capability, to record and decrypt pretty much any network… Any network we have tested, it works.”
Real World tests
The researchers have tested the vulnerabilities across many major carriers and have gotten positive results for them. Which is not good news for us consumers. In a statement, T-Mobile said: “T-Mobile remains vigilant in our work with other mobile operators, vendors and standards bodies to promote measures that can detect and prevent these attacks.” Although, there is one silver lining, many popular mobile messaging services such as iMessage and WhatsApp use end-to-end encryption mechanisms which conveniently sidestep these vulnerabilities. Looks like our teenagers have been more secure than country presidents.
Snowden Leaks affect on Germany
This issue of communication privacy is very sensitive in the researcher’s native country of Germany. After the furore caused by Snowden and the alleged tapping an German Chancellor’s personal cell phone, Germans have begun taking privacy very seriously. This is expected to make them scrutinize security mechanisms all the more, especially since these two flaws are not the only ones found in the protocol.
Nohl and Engel also have discovered new ways to track the locations of cell phone users through SS7. The Post story, in August, reported that several companies were offering governments worldwide the ability to find virtually any cell phone user, virtually anywhere in the world, by learning the location of their cell phones through an SS7 function called an “Any Time Interrogation” query. Network carriers have begun blocking such requests since the story first broke. But these researchers have uncovered more than one ways to attack a user. “I doubt we are the first ones in the world who realize how open the SS7 network is,” Engel said.
The researchers also found that it was possible to use SS7 to learn the phone numbers of people whose cellular signals are collected using surveillance devices. The calls transmit a temporary identification number which, by sending SS7 queries, can lead to the discovery of the phone number. That allows location tracking within a certain area, such as near government buildings. “After all the NSA and Snowden things we’ve heard, I guess nobody believes it’s possible to have a truly private conversation on a mobile phone,” he said. “When I really need a confidential conversation, I use a fixed-line” phone.
We will have to wait till the Hamburg Hacker Conference to know the PoC and what action the GSMA takes on this serious issue.
German researchers have identified serious vulnerabilities in cellphone communication systems that can allow an evil mind to listen to every word you say on a call. Unfortunately, this vulnerability exists in protocol used by every network provider across the globe. To add fuel to the fire, no encryption mechanism is available to safeguard any cyber criminal for exploiting it.
Signaling Systems
The researchers have said that they will reveal the flaws including its PoC in a hacker conference in Hamburg this month. The flaws have been detected in the Signaling Systems (SS7) protocol, which is used by network providers to route calls and text messages among one another. SS7 is the current iteration of the protocol in use. Experts have voiced their opinions that the SS protocol developed in the 1980’s is vulnerable to have many flaws like this, making billions of cell phone users vulnerable to exploits.
The flaws in question, are actually exploit the functionalities of the protocol which have been baked into SS7. These functionalities come into play when a cell phone user moves from a cell circle to another cell circle or is speeding down a highway/travelling on a interstate railway. The cell network is designed in such a way that it allows the users to remain connected while switching over from network to network or cell tower to cell tower.
It is during this switching over that the flaws arise letting a potential hacker with protocol skills to exploit the cell network and listen/record any calls and messages. There is also a probability of an attacker using these functions to carry out fraudulent activities. These flaws have persisted carrier’s push to upgrade to advanced 3G and 4G technologies, which are supposed to serve the purpose of securing communications, among others.
No matter if a particular carrier strengthens its services, they still need to use SS7 to communicate with other carriers. Thus, an attacker can access cell phone calls of an American citizen while sitting far away in China. “It’s like you secure the front door of the house, but the back door is wide open,” said Tobias Engel, one of the German researchers.
Flaw known to GSMA?
Engel, founder of Sternraute, and Karsten Nohl, chief scientist for Security Research Labs, separately discovered these security weaknesses as they studied SS7 networks in recent months, after The Washington Post reported the widespread marketing of surveillance systems that use SS7 networks to locate callers anywhere in the world. The Post reported that dozens of nations had bought such systems to track surveillance targets and that skilled hackers or criminals could do the same using functions built into SS7. The researchers have not found any evidence to suggest that these flaws have been marketed to government agencies, but there is a tendency of such vulnerabilities turning out to be long used weapons by security agencies the world over.
“Many of the big intelligence agencies probably have teams that do nothing but SS7 research and exploitation,” said Christopher Soghoian, principal technologist for the ACLU and an expert on surveillance technology. “They’ve likely sat on these things and quietly exploited them.” The GSMA, a global cellular industry group based in London, had responded to claims of vulnerabilities in the protocol before, however the group refused to comment on the findings of these researchers. It seems possible that these flaws have been known before and were swept under the carpet.
The Exploits
The researchers found 2 ways to eavesdrop on calls. The first involves the forwarding function of the protocol. This function is what lets us users to forward an incoming call from one cell phone to another. Hackers would redirect calls to themselves, for listening or recording, and then onward to the intended recipient of a call. Once that system was in place, the hackers could eavesdrop on all incoming and outgoing calls indefinitely, from anywhere in the world. The second technique requires the perpetrator to be in close proximity of its target. This technique involves antennae for recording all calls in the nearby communication spectrum. And in case the call is encrypted, the attacker could request the carrier a temporary encryption key to decrypt the call later. One network that operates in Germany, Vodafone, recently began blocking such requests after Nohl reported the problem to the company two weeks ago.
U.S. embassies and consulates in dozens of foreign cities, including Berlin, are outfitted with antennas for collecting cellular signals, according to reports by German magazine Der Spiegel, based on documents released by Snowden. Many cell phone conversations worldwide happen with either no encryption or weak encryption
Nohl on Wednesday demonstrated the ability to collect and decrypt a text message using the phone of a German senator, who cooperated in the experiment. But Nohl said the process could be automated to allow massive decryption of calls and texts collected across an entire city or a large section of a country, using multiple antennas. “It’s all automated, at the push of a button,” Nohl said. “It would strike me as a perfect spying capability, to record and decrypt pretty much any network… Any network we have tested, it works.”
Real World tests
The researchers have tested the vulnerabilities across many major carriers and have gotten positive results for them. Which is not good news for us consumers. In a statement, T-Mobile said: “T-Mobile remains vigilant in our work with other mobile operators, vendors and standards bodies to promote measures that can detect and prevent these attacks.” Although, there is one silver lining, many popular mobile messaging services such as iMessage and WhatsApp use end-to-end encryption mechanisms which conveniently sidestep these vulnerabilities. Looks like our teenagers have been more secure than country presidents.
Snowden Leaks affect on Germany
This issue of communication privacy is very sensitive in the researcher’s native country of Germany. After the furore caused by Snowden and the alleged tapping an German Chancellor’s personal cell phone, Germans have begun taking privacy very seriously. This is expected to make them scrutinize security mechanisms all the more, especially since these two flaws are not the only ones found in the protocol.
Nohl and Engel also have discovered new ways to track the locations of cell phone users through SS7. The Post story, in August, reported that several companies were offering governments worldwide the ability to find virtually any cell phone user, virtually anywhere in the world, by learning the location of their cell phones through an SS7 function called an “Any Time Interrogation” query. Network carriers have begun blocking such requests since the story first broke. But these researchers have uncovered more than one ways to attack a user. “I doubt we are the first ones in the world who realize how open the SS7 network is,” Engel said.
The researchers also found that it was possible to use SS7 to learn the phone numbers of people whose cellular signals are collected using surveillance devices. The calls transmit a temporary identification number which, by sending SS7 queries, can lead to the discovery of the phone number. That allows location tracking within a certain area, such as near government buildings. “After all the NSA and Snowden things we’ve heard, I guess nobody believes it’s possible to have a truly private conversation on a mobile phone,” he said. “When I really need a confidential conversation, I use a fixed-line” phone.
We will have to wait till the Hamburg Hacker Conference to know the PoC and what action the GSMA takes on this serious issue.
Accessing the Deep Web
Information:
The "Deep Web" is a vast collection of websites not accessible on the Internet through a normal browser or search engine. It mainly consists of all the illegal things that aren't allowed on the Internet. These include: drug dealer directories/pharmacy, black market trades, hackers, hitmen, pedophiles, etc. It is important you browse the Deep Web with firewalls on, and your webcam disconnected. Be wary of/don't download any files. The Deep Web is unlike any other website on the accessible Internet. Use extreme caution!
Tutorial how-to:
1. Download the Tor Browser Bundle for your OS (Android users can use Orbot)
2. Extract the archive to your computer
3. In the archive: (Windows: Start Tor Browser; Mac: TorBrowser.app; Linux: execute the 'start-tor-browser' script) Do NOT run Tor as root!
4. TorBrowser will automatically open up
5. You can now visit websites with the .onion extension. Refer to the 'Deep Web Links' file (scroll down further)
6. Use extreme caution!!
Advanced: To remain as anonymous as possible:
1. Choose a proxy to use with Tor. It is best to contact WhatTheServer and ask them to set you up with a SSH Tunnel
2. Setup your proxy as explained
3. Start the Tor Browser bundle
4. Click on the onion icon on the left side of the address bar
5. Setup your proxy instead of Tor proxy
6. Do not do anything outside of theTor Browser, or you will lose your anonymity
Refer to: https://www.torproject.org/download/download to help yourself remain anonymous
Deep Web Links:
https://www.dropbox.com/s/9v1mv255745u7jy/deep_web_links.txt
Download Tor:
https://www.torproject.org/download/download-easy.html.en
Tor Website:
https://www.torproject.org/
Information:
The "Deep Web" is a vast collection of websites not accessible on the Internet through a normal browser or search engine. It mainly consists of all the illegal things that aren't allowed on the Internet. These include: drug dealer directories/pharmacy, black market trades, hackers, hitmen, pedophiles, etc. It is important you browse the Deep Web with firewalls on, and your webcam disconnected. Be wary of/don't download any files. The Deep Web is unlike any other website on the accessible Internet. Use extreme caution!
Tutorial how-to:
1. Download the Tor Browser Bundle for your OS (Android users can use Orbot)
2. Extract the archive to your computer
3. In the archive: (Windows: Start Tor Browser; Mac: TorBrowser.app; Linux: execute the 'start-tor-browser' script) Do NOT run Tor as root!
4. TorBrowser will automatically open up
5. You can now visit websites with the .onion extension. Refer to the 'Deep Web Links' file (scroll down further)
6. Use extreme caution!!
Advanced: To remain as anonymous as possible:
1. Choose a proxy to use with Tor. It is best to contact WhatTheServer and ask them to set you up with a SSH Tunnel
2. Setup your proxy as explained
3. Start the Tor Browser bundle
4. Click on the onion icon on the left side of the address bar
5. Setup your proxy instead of Tor proxy
6. Do not do anything outside of theTor Browser, or you will lose your anonymity
Refer to: https://www.torproject.org/download/download to help yourself remain anonymous
Deep Web Links:
https://www.dropbox.com/s/9v1mv255745u7jy/deep_web_links.txt
Download Tor:
https://www.torproject.org/download/download-easy.html.en
Tor Website:
https://www.torproject.org/
miercuri, 17 decembrie 2014
Microsoft had launched a preview version of real-time translator for skype calls. “We’ve invested in speech recognition, automatic translation and machine learning technologies for more than a decade, and now they’re emerging as important components in this more personal computing era,” Microsoft corporate VP Gurdeep Pall wrote in a blog.
Redmond had firstly unveiled the system at a conference in may and announced that the beta version will be released later in this year. Now this service is available for people who had signed up for the preview program. At present it supports forty messaging languages and two spoken languages. The were english and spanish. As of now we were told that it has only two languages to give the machine learning algorithms the capability to identify the various human speeches. But later ultimately their aim is to auto translate as many languages as they can.
Skype translator works on windowns 8.1 or preview versions of Windows 10. Generally it works by translating a spanish into english to the english speaker and vice versa. It translates in the real time. It supports english and german and also includes german in the preview version.
The above video shows the two groups of primary school students where one is english speaking and other one is spanish speaking group. This app lets the audio of english students converted to spanish for the spanish students and converts the spanish into english for the english students. it is to expected a lots of usage in schools,colleges,offices etc. This even has combined with bing translator to increase its efficiency.
“Our machine learning models account for these pauses,” the Skype team explained. “In the preview you will see how some of these fillers are removed, and how some are not – we hope to improve our capabilities through user feedback.”
If you are interested to use the preview version of the app then you need to invite which you can request from the skype official site. Using registration code STVER4230 may help you get an invite a little quicker.
Redmond had firstly unveiled the system at a conference in may and announced that the beta version will be released later in this year. Now this service is available for people who had signed up for the preview program. At present it supports forty messaging languages and two spoken languages. The were english and spanish. As of now we were told that it has only two languages to give the machine learning algorithms the capability to identify the various human speeches. But later ultimately their aim is to auto translate as many languages as they can.
Skype translator works on windowns 8.1 or preview versions of Windows 10. Generally it works by translating a spanish into english to the english speaker and vice versa. It translates in the real time. It supports english and german and also includes german in the preview version.
The above video shows the two groups of primary school students where one is english speaking and other one is spanish speaking group. This app lets the audio of english students converted to spanish for the spanish students and converts the spanish into english for the english students. it is to expected a lots of usage in schools,colleges,offices etc. This even has combined with bing translator to increase its efficiency.
“Our machine learning models account for these pauses,” the Skype team explained. “In the preview you will see how some of these fillers are removed, and how some are not – we hope to improve our capabilities through user feedback.”
If you are interested to use the preview version of the app then you need to invite which you can request from the skype official site. Using registration code STVER4230 may help you get an invite a little quicker.
luni, 15 decembrie 2014
The universal hand signal for talking on the phone is generally the index finger pointing toward the ear and the last toward the mouth, with the middle and ring fingers folded. Though we know most cellphones (and even home phones) don’t abide by this design anymore, one artist has adapted a glove-like phone that requires the user to hold that motion to use it. Using recycled electronic parts and custom-made circuits, Milwaukee-based artist Brian Cera developed the Glove One design as a wearable mobile communication device. In Cera’s mind, using a cellphone sacrifices the hand to hold it — so why not wear the phone so you can keep both hands usable? Maybe he’s never heard of Bluetooth ear pieces. But it would be quite cool to have such a phone for a change. Bryan Cera, a Master’s student at the Peck School of the Arts in Milwaukee, crafted Glove One, a glove-like contraption that doubles as a phone. The “wearable mobile communication device” is also art; Bryan says it represents the sacrifices we might make for social media and technology.
Glove One is a perfect example of the lengths we’re willing to go to stay plugged-in. Cera says his glove is not meant to be used by everyone on the planet, rather makes a statement that the creation represents a future where smartphones have become an actual part of our bodies, and our hands become a vestigial limb replaced by a handset. It sounds very Star Trek-like, but according to Cera, It presents a futile and fragile technology with which to augment ourselves. A cell phone which, in order to use, one must sacrifice their hand. It is both the literalization of Sherry Turkle’s notion of technology as a “phantom limb”, in how we augment ourselves as well as a celebration of the freedom we seek in our devices. All of the One Glove’s parts are 3D printed, and the SIM card slots into the glowing center of the gadget. Each joint on the fingers hosts a button to represent the different keys on a normal phone, and holding a button on the pinkie finger switches it on. Simply dial the number you wish to call on your fingers (the glove will read back the number you pressed), and it will place your call
Facebook is expanding the internal user profiles that underpin its targeted advertising system, for the first time including personal information based on activities that did not occur within the boundaries of its social network.
While Facebook has long maintained internal profiles of users based on the comments they make and the posts that they “like” within its social network, the company will now flesh out those profiles with information based on some of the external websites and mobile apps its members use, a move that could further inflame concerns about how it treats personal privacy.
The enhanced profiles will allow marketers to deliver more relevant ads, Facebook said in a blog post announcing the change on Thursday. If a Facebook user researches a new television on an external website or inside of a mobile app, their profile might now indicate an interest in televisions and in electronics, making it easier for advertisers pitching electronic devices to reach that user on Facebook.
Facebook already has access to much of this information through tools that it uses to measure the performance of its ads as well as through “plug-ins” that integrate Facebook features on third-party websites, but the company has not until now incorporated the data into its users’ ad targeting profiles.To quell potential privacy concerns, Facebook will for the first time give users the ability to review and edit their internal advertising profiles. By clicking on a button alongside Facebook ads, a user can see all the “interests” on their record, remove unwanted categories and add any desired categories.
Facebook said it will also provide a link to an industry website that will allow users to not have their activities on websites tracked, as well as a link to the appropriate controls within their smartphones to eliminate mobile app tracking.The new ad capabilities come as Facebook strives to ramp up its advertising revenue amid competition from Google while addressing persistent concerns about personal privacy on the world’s No.1 social network.
In April, chief executive officer Mark Zuckerberg announced new features that lets users limit how much personal information they share with third-party mobile apps.
Facebook, Google and other online companies have faced increasing scrutiny and enforcement from privacy regulators as consumers entrust ever-increasing amounts of information about their personal lives to web services.
In 2012, Facebook settled privacy charges with the US Federal Trade Commission that it had deceived consumers and forced them to share more personal information than they intended. Under the settlement, Facebook is required to get user consent for certain changes to its privacy settings and is subject to 20 years of independent audits.
While Facebook has long maintained internal profiles of users based on the comments they make and the posts that they “like” within its social network, the company will now flesh out those profiles with information based on some of the external websites and mobile apps its members use, a move that could further inflame concerns about how it treats personal privacy.
The enhanced profiles will allow marketers to deliver more relevant ads, Facebook said in a blog post announcing the change on Thursday. If a Facebook user researches a new television on an external website or inside of a mobile app, their profile might now indicate an interest in televisions and in electronics, making it easier for advertisers pitching electronic devices to reach that user on Facebook.
Facebook already has access to much of this information through tools that it uses to measure the performance of its ads as well as through “plug-ins” that integrate Facebook features on third-party websites, but the company has not until now incorporated the data into its users’ ad targeting profiles.To quell potential privacy concerns, Facebook will for the first time give users the ability to review and edit their internal advertising profiles. By clicking on a button alongside Facebook ads, a user can see all the “interests” on their record, remove unwanted categories and add any desired categories.
Facebook said it will also provide a link to an industry website that will allow users to not have their activities on websites tracked, as well as a link to the appropriate controls within their smartphones to eliminate mobile app tracking.The new ad capabilities come as Facebook strives to ramp up its advertising revenue amid competition from Google while addressing persistent concerns about personal privacy on the world’s No.1 social network.
In April, chief executive officer Mark Zuckerberg announced new features that lets users limit how much personal information they share with third-party mobile apps.
Facebook, Google and other online companies have faced increasing scrutiny and enforcement from privacy regulators as consumers entrust ever-increasing amounts of information about their personal lives to web services.
In 2012, Facebook settled privacy charges with the US Federal Trade Commission that it had deceived consumers and forced them to share more personal information than they intended. Under the settlement, Facebook is required to get user consent for certain changes to its privacy settings and is subject to 20 years of independent audits.
miercuri, 10 decembrie 2014
Microsoft Corp expects to have its new Windows 10 operating system on the market by autumn 2015, slightly later than previous comments had suggested.
Chief Operating Officer Kevin Turner told Japanese news service Nikkei on Wednesday that the new system would be released "early next fall."
Microsoft has not publicly set a firm timetable for the release of Windows 10, but only last week suggested the possibility of an earlier release.
"By next late summer and early fall we'll be able to bring out this particular OS (operating system). That's the current plan of record," Turner told the Credit Suisse Technology Conference last Thursday.
An autumn release would put Windows 10 on track for launch three years after Windows 8, which got a mixed reception as it confused many traditional PC users with a design more suited to tablets.
Microsoft unveiled the name Windows 10 in late September, saying the jump in numbers from 8 to 10 marked a leap as it looks to unify the way people work on tablets, phones and traditional computers.
An early test version of Windows 10 - which blends the traditional look and much-loved start menu with newer features - has been available for download from Microsoft's website for more than two months.
Windows is still a core part of Microsoft's business and dominates the desktop computing market with 1.5 billion users. But the growth of smartphones and tablets means Windows now runs on only about 14 percent of computing devices worldwide, according to tech research firm Gartner.
Chief Operating Officer Kevin Turner told Japanese news service Nikkei on Wednesday that the new system would be released "early next fall."
Microsoft has not publicly set a firm timetable for the release of Windows 10, but only last week suggested the possibility of an earlier release.
"By next late summer and early fall we'll be able to bring out this particular OS (operating system). That's the current plan of record," Turner told the Credit Suisse Technology Conference last Thursday.
An autumn release would put Windows 10 on track for launch three years after Windows 8, which got a mixed reception as it confused many traditional PC users with a design more suited to tablets.
Microsoft unveiled the name Windows 10 in late September, saying the jump in numbers from 8 to 10 marked a leap as it looks to unify the way people work on tablets, phones and traditional computers.
An early test version of Windows 10 - which blends the traditional look and much-loved start menu with newer features - has been available for download from Microsoft's website for more than two months.
Windows is still a core part of Microsoft's business and dominates the desktop computing market with 1.5 billion users. But the growth of smartphones and tablets means Windows now runs on only about 14 percent of computing devices worldwide, according to tech research firm Gartner.
Snowden Exposes MonsterMind, NSA Program Fighting Back Against Cyber Attacks Without Human Input
Hacking News News Tech
August 15, 2014
No Comments
noor
Edward Snowden is not done talking about the NSA and the way the intelligence agency oversteps its boundaries and plays a control game that can have dire consequences.
In a special interview for WIRED magazine, the whistleblower reveals that the NSA has developed a scary project called “MonsterMind” which can respond to cyberattacks from other countries without agents even intervening in any way.
The system works by automating the process of hunting for the beginning of a foreign cyberattacks. The NSA’s software is always on the lookout for traffic patterns indicating known or suspected attacks, and when one is detected, MonsterMind blocks it from entering the country.
While this type of security system isn’t exactly new, NSA’s tool also has the ability to fight back against the attack, without any human getting involved in the process, which is, of course, the tricky part.
The project is great from the point of view of national security, but Snowden points out that there is a huge risk of causing some international friction for no good reason, effectively giving birth to yet another set of diplomatic issues for the United States.
And that’s because this type of attacks can be spoofed. “You could have someone sitting in China, for example, making it appear that one of these attacks is originating in Russia. And then we end up shooting back at a Russian hospital. What happens next,” Snowden asks.
What’s more, the whistleblower views MonsterMind as the ultimate threat to privacy because in order for the NSA to fight against threats, it first needs to get access to all private communications coming in from overseas to people in the United States.
“The argument is that the only way we can identify these malicious traffic flows and respond to them is if we’re analyzing all traffic flows. And if we’re analyzing all traffic flows, that means we have to be intercepting all traffic flows. That means violating the Fourth Amendment, seizing private communications without a warrant, without probable cause or even a suspicion of wrongdoing. For everyone, all the time,” Snowden says, painting the scary picture where privacy means nothing to the NSA.
Even though this revelation is perfectly new and MonsterMind has never been discussed before, the news of NSA’s way of sacrificing citizens’ privacy whether there was a real threat or not is not at all surprising, at least not after more than a year of revelations.
Hacking News News Tech
August 15, 2014
No Comments
noor
Edward Snowden is not done talking about the NSA and the way the intelligence agency oversteps its boundaries and plays a control game that can have dire consequences.
In a special interview for WIRED magazine, the whistleblower reveals that the NSA has developed a scary project called “MonsterMind” which can respond to cyberattacks from other countries without agents even intervening in any way.
The system works by automating the process of hunting for the beginning of a foreign cyberattacks. The NSA’s software is always on the lookout for traffic patterns indicating known or suspected attacks, and when one is detected, MonsterMind blocks it from entering the country.
While this type of security system isn’t exactly new, NSA’s tool also has the ability to fight back against the attack, without any human getting involved in the process, which is, of course, the tricky part.
The project is great from the point of view of national security, but Snowden points out that there is a huge risk of causing some international friction for no good reason, effectively giving birth to yet another set of diplomatic issues for the United States.
And that’s because this type of attacks can be spoofed. “You could have someone sitting in China, for example, making it appear that one of these attacks is originating in Russia. And then we end up shooting back at a Russian hospital. What happens next,” Snowden asks.
What’s more, the whistleblower views MonsterMind as the ultimate threat to privacy because in order for the NSA to fight against threats, it first needs to get access to all private communications coming in from overseas to people in the United States.
“The argument is that the only way we can identify these malicious traffic flows and respond to them is if we’re analyzing all traffic flows. And if we’re analyzing all traffic flows, that means we have to be intercepting all traffic flows. That means violating the Fourth Amendment, seizing private communications without a warrant, without probable cause or even a suspicion of wrongdoing. For everyone, all the time,” Snowden says, painting the scary picture where privacy means nothing to the NSA.
Even though this revelation is perfectly new and MonsterMind has never been discussed before, the news of NSA’s way of sacrificing citizens’ privacy whether there was a real threat or not is not at all surprising, at least not after more than a year of revelations.
According to TOI (Times of India) Cyber security has alerted about the infectious Trojan virus which attacks Android-based smart phone users. This virus is named as “AndroidSmssend” and it can acquire as many as four aliases to hoodwink the user and perpetrate its destructive activities on a personal Android enabled phone.
Android/SmsSend is a premium service abuser family malware that arrives bundled with legitimate Android applications and infects Android based smartphones.
“Once infected, it sends text messages (typically with a link to itself or a different threat) to a specific number, typically to numbers on the contact list and is also capable to send SMS to premium rate numbers,” the Computer Emergency Response Team of India (CERT-In) said in its latest advisory to Android phone users in the country.
The virus is so notorious, the agency said, that it “steals contacts and pictures, tracks the location, steals passwords, illegally accesses text messages, crashes a complete system, steals personal banking information when logged in, installs other sort of spyware and disables firewall and anti-virus program to defend itself.”
The agency has suggested some counter-measures in this regard.
“Do not download and install applications from untrusted sources, install applications downloaded from reputed application market only, run a full system scan on device with mobile security solution or mobile anti-virus solution, check for the permissions required by an application before installing, exercise caution while visiting trusted/untrusted sites for clicking links, install Android updates and patches and use device encryption or encrypting external SD card feature available with most of the android OS (operating system),” it said.
And also, avoid using unsecured, unknown Wi-Fi networks and make a practice of taking regular backup of the Android device, the advisory said.
Android/SmsSend is a premium service abuser family malware that arrives bundled with legitimate Android applications and infects Android based smartphones.
“Once infected, it sends text messages (typically with a link to itself or a different threat) to a specific number, typically to numbers on the contact list and is also capable to send SMS to premium rate numbers,” the Computer Emergency Response Team of India (CERT-In) said in its latest advisory to Android phone users in the country.
The virus is so notorious, the agency said, that it “steals contacts and pictures, tracks the location, steals passwords, illegally accesses text messages, crashes a complete system, steals personal banking information when logged in, installs other sort of spyware and disables firewall and anti-virus program to defend itself.”
The agency has suggested some counter-measures in this regard.
“Do not download and install applications from untrusted sources, install applications downloaded from reputed application market only, run a full system scan on device with mobile security solution or mobile anti-virus solution, check for the permissions required by an application before installing, exercise caution while visiting trusted/untrusted sites for clicking links, install Android updates and patches and use device encryption or encrypting external SD card feature available with most of the android OS (operating system),” it said.
And also, avoid using unsecured, unknown Wi-Fi networks and make a practice of taking regular backup of the Android device, the advisory said.
marți, 9 decembrie 2014
Senate report finds CIA torture produced ‘fabricated’ intel and thwarted no plots
Yahoo News 7 hrs ago
Michael Isikoff
After days of brutal interrogations, in which he was slammed against walls, slapped in the gut, and repeatedly waterboarded — “near drownings” that caused him to vomit — 9/11 architect Khalid Sheikh Mohammed told his CIA interrogators he was “ready to talk.”
The story he told in March 2003: He had sent an al-Qaida operative to Montana to recruit African-Americans for terrorist attacks inside the U.S. The alarming new claim sent FBI agents scrambling to find evidence of the plot, but they came up with nothing.
And for good reason: KSM later admitted he had fabricated the story — that because he was being subjected to such rough measures, he “simply told his interrogators what he thought they wanted to hear,” according to an internal agency cable quoted in the mammoth Senate Intelligence Committee report released on Tuesday by the panel’s chair, Sen. Dianne Feinstein.
The invented Montana plot is only one example of multiple wild-goose chases and other false leads that were produced by the CIA’s use of “enhanced interrogation techniques” — what President Barack Obama himself has labeled “torture” — in the years after 9/11, according to the 489-page Senate report.
“The methods in question ... regularly resulted in fabricated information,” the report states in its key findings. And the CIA itself at times was hoodwinked: “During the brutal interrogations, the CIA was often unaware the information was fabricated, leading CIA officers or contractors to falsely conclude that they were acquiring unique or actionable intelligence when they were not.”
For years, the CIA has said its resort to aggressive interrogations had “saved lives” — an assertion that was repeated today by six former top CIA officials in a joint op-ed published in the Wall Street Journal.
Noting the panicked atmosphere in the country after 9/11, with intelligence reports pouring in about a “second wave” of attacks and nuclear weapons supposedly being smuggled into the streets of New York City (“It felt like the classic ‘ticking time bomb’ scenario — every single day”), the former officials — including ex-directors George Tenet, Porter Goss and Michael Hayden — wrote that their approval of “enhanced interrogation techniques” had “led to the disruptions of terrorist plots and prevented mass casualty attacks, saving American and Allied lives.”
But the Senate report paints a very different picture: of a chaotic, poorly run program that was far more brutal than was previously known and whose details were concealed from some of the most senior members of the U.S. government.
U.S. ambassadors in some of the countries where CIA black sites were built were never told about what was taking place on their own turf. Then FBI Director Robert Mueller was denied access when he tried to get his own agents to question KSM.
Among those also initially kept out of the loop: Secretary of State Colin Powell. “The WH (White House) is extremely concerned that (Secretary) Powell would blow his stack if he were to be briefed on what's been going on,” a CIA lawyer wrote in July 2003.
Many of the techniques laid out in the report have been publicly known for years — forced nudity, sleep deprivation, dietary and temperature manipulation, wall slamming and, of course, waterboarding, a practice dating back to the Spanish Inquisition in which subjects are strapped down and doused with water to simulate the experience of drowning.
But the committee uncovered new details about how these techniques were actually applied in practice.
The first “high-value detainee” taken to a black-site prison was waterboarded so many times that he lost consciousness at one point and “became completely unresponsive, with bubbles rising through his open, full mouth.”
At least five detainees in CIA custody experienced disturbing hallucinations during prolonged sleep deprivation — which in some cases went on for up to 180 hours. A CIA prison in Afghanistan (known as the Salt Pit but referred to as COBALT in the report) was described in CIA cables as a “dungeon” where hooded prisoners were kept in complete darkness and shackled in isolated cells with loud noise or music — and only a bucket to use for human waste. One of the detainees died from hypothermia after being left naked from the waist down.
But the report’s most controversial — and intensely disputed — finding is that the CIA program produced often unreliable intelligence and that agency officials repeatedly misrepresented its value to top policymakers inside the Bush White House, Congress and the American public. One of the high-value detainees who were supposedly providing vital intelligence, an Indonesian terrorist known as Hambali, later recanted most of what he had told his interrogators. Hambali “said he merely gave answers that were similar to what was being asked and inferred the interrogator or de-briefer wanted,” according to a CIA cable cited in the report.
Another supposed CIA success was the interrogation of Abd al-Rahim Nashiri, the suspected bomber of the USS Cole, who was waterboarded and had an electric drill threateningly waved by his skull by a guard. He was credited by the agency with coughing up intelligence about plots against foreign ships in the Persian Gulf. In fact, the committee found from internal cables that Nashiri had already provided that information to another country’s interrogators while he was in foreign custody.
The committee report examined 20 “case studies” in which agency officials had claimed they had thwarted plots or rounded up suspects based on aggressive interrogations. These assertions, the panel found, were “inaccurate and contradicted by the CIA’s own records.” For instance, the trail that led to the capture of KSM in Pakistan began not with the harsh tactics of the CIA but rather with FBI agents who used traditional “rapport building” techniques to get information from Abu Zubaydah before the rough stuff began. So too did the information that led to the arrest of Jose Padilla on charges that he had been dispatched to set off a nuclear “dirty bomb” inside the U.S. — another frightening claim the CIA made to justify its program and which some of the agency’s own officials soon concluded were wildly inflated, if not false.
“We’ll never be able to successfully expunge Padilla and the ‘dirty bomb’ plot from the lore of disruption,” one senior CIA official wrote in an October 2005 cable. “Even KSM says Padilla had a screw loose.”
Still, the CIA is standing its ground on one of the most contentious issues of the post-9/11 era. “It remains CIA’s position that detainees in the detention and interrogation program, including those subjected to EITs (enhanced interrogation techniques) did provide valuable and unique intelligence,” a CIA spokesman said on Tuesday.
Why then did the committee find differently? According to the agency, the Senate probe reached its conclusion “by working backwards from the known outcome in each example to show how it might have been achieved without the intelligence derived from interrogations involving EITs.” Added the spokesman: “That’s like doing a crossword puzzle on Tuesday with Wednesday’s answers key.”
Yahoo News 7 hrs ago
Michael Isikoff
After days of brutal interrogations, in which he was slammed against walls, slapped in the gut, and repeatedly waterboarded — “near drownings” that caused him to vomit — 9/11 architect Khalid Sheikh Mohammed told his CIA interrogators he was “ready to talk.”
The story he told in March 2003: He had sent an al-Qaida operative to Montana to recruit African-Americans for terrorist attacks inside the U.S. The alarming new claim sent FBI agents scrambling to find evidence of the plot, but they came up with nothing.
And for good reason: KSM later admitted he had fabricated the story — that because he was being subjected to such rough measures, he “simply told his interrogators what he thought they wanted to hear,” according to an internal agency cable quoted in the mammoth Senate Intelligence Committee report released on Tuesday by the panel’s chair, Sen. Dianne Feinstein.
The invented Montana plot is only one example of multiple wild-goose chases and other false leads that were produced by the CIA’s use of “enhanced interrogation techniques” — what President Barack Obama himself has labeled “torture” — in the years after 9/11, according to the 489-page Senate report.
“The methods in question ... regularly resulted in fabricated information,” the report states in its key findings. And the CIA itself at times was hoodwinked: “During the brutal interrogations, the CIA was often unaware the information was fabricated, leading CIA officers or contractors to falsely conclude that they were acquiring unique or actionable intelligence when they were not.”
For years, the CIA has said its resort to aggressive interrogations had “saved lives” — an assertion that was repeated today by six former top CIA officials in a joint op-ed published in the Wall Street Journal.
Noting the panicked atmosphere in the country after 9/11, with intelligence reports pouring in about a “second wave” of attacks and nuclear weapons supposedly being smuggled into the streets of New York City (“It felt like the classic ‘ticking time bomb’ scenario — every single day”), the former officials — including ex-directors George Tenet, Porter Goss and Michael Hayden — wrote that their approval of “enhanced interrogation techniques” had “led to the disruptions of terrorist plots and prevented mass casualty attacks, saving American and Allied lives.”
But the Senate report paints a very different picture: of a chaotic, poorly run program that was far more brutal than was previously known and whose details were concealed from some of the most senior members of the U.S. government.
U.S. ambassadors in some of the countries where CIA black sites were built were never told about what was taking place on their own turf. Then FBI Director Robert Mueller was denied access when he tried to get his own agents to question KSM.
Among those also initially kept out of the loop: Secretary of State Colin Powell. “The WH (White House) is extremely concerned that (Secretary) Powell would blow his stack if he were to be briefed on what's been going on,” a CIA lawyer wrote in July 2003.
Many of the techniques laid out in the report have been publicly known for years — forced nudity, sleep deprivation, dietary and temperature manipulation, wall slamming and, of course, waterboarding, a practice dating back to the Spanish Inquisition in which subjects are strapped down and doused with water to simulate the experience of drowning.
But the committee uncovered new details about how these techniques were actually applied in practice.
The first “high-value detainee” taken to a black-site prison was waterboarded so many times that he lost consciousness at one point and “became completely unresponsive, with bubbles rising through his open, full mouth.”
At least five detainees in CIA custody experienced disturbing hallucinations during prolonged sleep deprivation — which in some cases went on for up to 180 hours. A CIA prison in Afghanistan (known as the Salt Pit but referred to as COBALT in the report) was described in CIA cables as a “dungeon” where hooded prisoners were kept in complete darkness and shackled in isolated cells with loud noise or music — and only a bucket to use for human waste. One of the detainees died from hypothermia after being left naked from the waist down.
But the report’s most controversial — and intensely disputed — finding is that the CIA program produced often unreliable intelligence and that agency officials repeatedly misrepresented its value to top policymakers inside the Bush White House, Congress and the American public. One of the high-value detainees who were supposedly providing vital intelligence, an Indonesian terrorist known as Hambali, later recanted most of what he had told his interrogators. Hambali “said he merely gave answers that were similar to what was being asked and inferred the interrogator or de-briefer wanted,” according to a CIA cable cited in the report.
Another supposed CIA success was the interrogation of Abd al-Rahim Nashiri, the suspected bomber of the USS Cole, who was waterboarded and had an electric drill threateningly waved by his skull by a guard. He was credited by the agency with coughing up intelligence about plots against foreign ships in the Persian Gulf. In fact, the committee found from internal cables that Nashiri had already provided that information to another country’s interrogators while he was in foreign custody.
The committee report examined 20 “case studies” in which agency officials had claimed they had thwarted plots or rounded up suspects based on aggressive interrogations. These assertions, the panel found, were “inaccurate and contradicted by the CIA’s own records.” For instance, the trail that led to the capture of KSM in Pakistan began not with the harsh tactics of the CIA but rather with FBI agents who used traditional “rapport building” techniques to get information from Abu Zubaydah before the rough stuff began. So too did the information that led to the arrest of Jose Padilla on charges that he had been dispatched to set off a nuclear “dirty bomb” inside the U.S. — another frightening claim the CIA made to justify its program and which some of the agency’s own officials soon concluded were wildly inflated, if not false.
“We’ll never be able to successfully expunge Padilla and the ‘dirty bomb’ plot from the lore of disruption,” one senior CIA official wrote in an October 2005 cable. “Even KSM says Padilla had a screw loose.”
Still, the CIA is standing its ground on one of the most contentious issues of the post-9/11 era. “It remains CIA’s position that detainees in the detention and interrogation program, including those subjected to EITs (enhanced interrogation techniques) did provide valuable and unique intelligence,” a CIA spokesman said on Tuesday.
Why then did the committee find differently? According to the agency, the Senate probe reached its conclusion “by working backwards from the known outcome in each example to show how it might have been achieved without the intelligence derived from interrogations involving EITs.” Added the spokesman: “That’s like doing a crossword puzzle on Tuesday with Wednesday’s answers key.”
duminică, 7 decembrie 2014
sâmbătă, 6 decembrie 2014
Emails to the movie studio’s employees threatening them and their families is the latest bad of news for Sony Pictures since a cyber attack last week exposed sensitive documents.
Last week’s cyber attack on Sony Pictures Entertainment turned scarier on Friday when the hackers responsible reportedly threatened company employees and their families.
Someone claiming to represent the hacker group Guardians of Peace sent emails to Sony Pictures employees in which they promised to bring about the “collapse” of the company. The message, sent by the self-described “head of GOP,” asked that employees join the hackers in denouncing Sony Pictures or suffer severe consequences.
“If you don’t,” the message said, “not only you but your family will be in danger.”
Variety, which obtained the email, also reported that Sony Pictures ( SNE 0.18% ) , after
becoming aware of the message, told employees to turn off their mobile devices. There is no word on the number of employees who received the message.
“We understand that some of our employees have received an email claiming to be from GOP,” a Sony spokesman told Fortune in a statement. “We are aware of the situation and are working with law enforcement,”
In total, the e-mail is four paragraphs long, contains bad grammar, and goes on to attack Sony Pictures while promising further unspecified action. It’s unclear how many Sony employees received the message.
“[W]hat we have done so far is only a small part of our further plan,” the email said. “It’s your false [sic] if you if you think this crisis will be over after some time. All hope will leave you and Sony Pictures will collapse,” the e-mail reads.
The Federal Bureau of Investigation is also investigating the matter. In a statement to the Los Angeles Times, the FBI said it was aware of the threatening e-mails and that it will continue to investigate the cyber attack.
Little is known about Guardians of Peace, which the email’s author described as “a worldwide organization.” The group took responsibility for last week’s cyber attack, involved leaking numerous sensitive company documents and causing Sony Pictures to shut down its computer system. Among the documents released was salary information for thousands of Sony Pictures employees as well as documents containing thousands of passwords to company computers, social media accounts and even financial accounts.
Reports surfaced earlier this week that Sony Pictures was set to blame the government of North Korea for backing the cyber attack, but the country has denied any involvement. Kim Jong Un previously called Sony Pictures’ upcoming release of the film The Interview — a comedy that depicts an assassination attempt on the North Korean leader — “an act of war.”
Last week’s cyber attack on Sony Pictures Entertainment turned scarier on Friday when the hackers responsible reportedly threatened company employees and their families.
Someone claiming to represent the hacker group Guardians of Peace sent emails to Sony Pictures employees in which they promised to bring about the “collapse” of the company. The message, sent by the self-described “head of GOP,” asked that employees join the hackers in denouncing Sony Pictures or suffer severe consequences.
“If you don’t,” the message said, “not only you but your family will be in danger.”
Variety, which obtained the email, also reported that Sony Pictures ( SNE 0.18% ) , after
becoming aware of the message, told employees to turn off their mobile devices. There is no word on the number of employees who received the message.
“We understand that some of our employees have received an email claiming to be from GOP,” a Sony spokesman told Fortune in a statement. “We are aware of the situation and are working with law enforcement,”
In total, the e-mail is four paragraphs long, contains bad grammar, and goes on to attack Sony Pictures while promising further unspecified action. It’s unclear how many Sony employees received the message.
“[W]hat we have done so far is only a small part of our further plan,” the email said. “It’s your false [sic] if you if you think this crisis will be over after some time. All hope will leave you and Sony Pictures will collapse,” the e-mail reads.
The Federal Bureau of Investigation is also investigating the matter. In a statement to the Los Angeles Times, the FBI said it was aware of the threatening e-mails and that it will continue to investigate the cyber attack.
Little is known about Guardians of Peace, which the email’s author described as “a worldwide organization.” The group took responsibility for last week’s cyber attack, involved leaking numerous sensitive company documents and causing Sony Pictures to shut down its computer system. Among the documents released was salary information for thousands of Sony Pictures employees as well as documents containing thousands of passwords to company computers, social media accounts and even financial accounts.
Reports surfaced earlier this week that Sony Pictures was set to blame the government of North Korea for backing the cyber attack, but the country has denied any involvement. Kim Jong Un previously called Sony Pictures’ upcoming release of the film The Interview — a comedy that depicts an assassination attempt on the North Korean leader — “an act of war.”
vineri, 5 decembrie 2014
Women in Europe may be better educated or work harder than men, but they are paid substantially less, according to the International Labour Organization.
The gender pay gap in Europe ranges from about 100 euros (£79) to 700 euros per month, the ILO report suggested.
In the UK, women earn about 28% less than men on average, the UN body found.
In all the countries studied around the world, a proportion of the pay gap is unexplained, implying discrimination, it said.
"The actual gap varies from about 4% to 36% across all of the 38 countries we looked at," ILO economist Kristen Sobeck told the BBC World Service.
Discrimination?
In Europe in 2010, the bottom-earning 10% of women workers earned about 100 euros per month less than the bottom 10% of men.
And the top 10% of high-earning women earned close to 700 euros per month less than the top 10% of men.
The ILO looked at education, experience, seniority, work sector, location and work intensity. It found that in about half of the countries studied around the world women had a stronger or better combination of those characteristics, yet were paid substantially less than men.
"For example, in the case of Sweden, what we see is that the overall gap is about 4%, but when you look at the characteristics of women and what they would be paid otherwise, the gap would turn the other way, and women would actually earn about 12% more than men," Ms Sobeck said.
In the UK, about one-third of the pay gap can be explained by men having attributes such as more experience or more seniority, but there is still "a huge gap" that Ms Sobeck said could be due to discrimination.
The ILO recommended a number of ways to overcome the difference in pay between men and women, including wage policies and equality legislation.
Asian growth
China's fast rising wages lifted Asia's incomes above of the global average
The ILO's Global Wage Report also suggested the Asia-Pacific region outperformed the rest of the world when it came to wage growth.
Annual average incomes rose 6% in the region, compared to a global average growth of 2% in 2013.
But despite the big gains, wages in many countries in the region were still much lower than in developed economies.
Even though wages in Asia have risen almost two-and-a-half fold since the beginning of the century, the report said "one-third of the region's workers remain unable to lift themselves and their families above the international poverty threshold of $2 per day".
The impact of the global financial crisis on wage growth can also still be seen in the region.
The current wage growth trend of about 6% is still below growth rates of more than 7% in the pre-crisis years of 2006 and 2007.
But, that mirrored wage growth in much of the developed world with workers in rich economies such as the UK, Italy and Japan earning less than they did in 2007.
Asia's mixed bag
The region's growth in wages was also driven by China, which saw wages rise 9%, while income growth elsewhere was "much more modest".
For example, wage growth in East Asia was 7.1% last year thanks to China, compared with 5.3% in South-east Asia and 2.4% in South Asia, which includes the region's third largest economy, India.
There also continues to be a vast difference in earnings across the region.
On the lower end, workers in Nepal earned $73 (£47) a month, $119 in Pakistan, and $121 in Cambodia.
That compares to $3,694 in Singapore, $3,320 in Japan and $613 in China, according to the ILO.
The gender pay gap in Europe ranges from about 100 euros (£79) to 700 euros per month, the ILO report suggested.
In the UK, women earn about 28% less than men on average, the UN body found.
In all the countries studied around the world, a proportion of the pay gap is unexplained, implying discrimination, it said.
"The actual gap varies from about 4% to 36% across all of the 38 countries we looked at," ILO economist Kristen Sobeck told the BBC World Service.
Discrimination?
In Europe in 2010, the bottom-earning 10% of women workers earned about 100 euros per month less than the bottom 10% of men.
And the top 10% of high-earning women earned close to 700 euros per month less than the top 10% of men.
The ILO looked at education, experience, seniority, work sector, location and work intensity. It found that in about half of the countries studied around the world women had a stronger or better combination of those characteristics, yet were paid substantially less than men.
"For example, in the case of Sweden, what we see is that the overall gap is about 4%, but when you look at the characteristics of women and what they would be paid otherwise, the gap would turn the other way, and women would actually earn about 12% more than men," Ms Sobeck said.
In the UK, about one-third of the pay gap can be explained by men having attributes such as more experience or more seniority, but there is still "a huge gap" that Ms Sobeck said could be due to discrimination.
The ILO recommended a number of ways to overcome the difference in pay between men and women, including wage policies and equality legislation.
Asian growth
China's fast rising wages lifted Asia's incomes above of the global average
The ILO's Global Wage Report also suggested the Asia-Pacific region outperformed the rest of the world when it came to wage growth.
Annual average incomes rose 6% in the region, compared to a global average growth of 2% in 2013.
But despite the big gains, wages in many countries in the region were still much lower than in developed economies.
Even though wages in Asia have risen almost two-and-a-half fold since the beginning of the century, the report said "one-third of the region's workers remain unable to lift themselves and their families above the international poverty threshold of $2 per day".
The impact of the global financial crisis on wage growth can also still be seen in the region.
The current wage growth trend of about 6% is still below growth rates of more than 7% in the pre-crisis years of 2006 and 2007.
But, that mirrored wage growth in much of the developed world with workers in rich economies such as the UK, Italy and Japan earning less than they did in 2007.
Asia's mixed bag
The region's growth in wages was also driven by China, which saw wages rise 9%, while income growth elsewhere was "much more modest".
For example, wage growth in East Asia was 7.1% last year thanks to China, compared with 5.3% in South-east Asia and 2.4% in South Asia, which includes the region's third largest economy, India.
There also continues to be a vast difference in earnings across the region.
On the lower end, workers in Nepal earned $73 (£47) a month, $119 in Pakistan, and $121 in Cambodia.
That compares to $3,694 in Singapore, $3,320 in Japan and $613 in China, according to the ILO.
joi, 4 decembrie 2014
People in the Philippines are braced for the arrival of Typhoon Hagupit, expected to hit land on Saturday.
Hagupit, which is building strength over the Pacific, is slowly bearing down on the region devastated by Typhoon Haiyan a year ago.
Hagupit has gusts of up to 170km/h (105mph) and is expected to be a category 4 storm by Saturday.
Thousands of people, many still living in temporary shelters, have been told to go to evacuation centres.
Haiyan, known in the Philippines as Yolanda, was the most powerful typhoon ever recorded over land.
It tore though the central Philippines in November 2013, leaving more than 7,000 dead or missing.
Local people have been stocking up on supplies ahead of the storm's arrival
Hagupit is not expected to be a powerful as Haiyan, but could bring storm surges up to one storey high.
The vice-mayor of Tacloban, the city which was worst hit by Haiyan, said the authorities were enforcing evacuation orders.
"We have no more excuse, we have gone through Yolanda, and to lose that many lives, it's beyond our conscience already," Jerry Yaokasin told reporters on Wednesday.
But he told AFP news agency: "Our problem is, we don't have enough evacuation centres."
Meteorologists say there is a chance Hagupit could veer north towards Japan and miss the Philippines altogether, but officials said they were preparing for a worst case scenario.
Helen Buena, an employee at a supermarket in Tacloban, told AFP people were stocking up on supplies.
"It's not raining yet but people are panic buying after hearing about the typhoon warnings on television and radio," she said.
Hagupit, which is building strength over the Pacific, is slowly bearing down on the region devastated by Typhoon Haiyan a year ago.
Hagupit has gusts of up to 170km/h (105mph) and is expected to be a category 4 storm by Saturday.
Thousands of people, many still living in temporary shelters, have been told to go to evacuation centres.
Haiyan, known in the Philippines as Yolanda, was the most powerful typhoon ever recorded over land.
It tore though the central Philippines in November 2013, leaving more than 7,000 dead or missing.
Local people have been stocking up on supplies ahead of the storm's arrival
Hagupit is not expected to be a powerful as Haiyan, but could bring storm surges up to one storey high.
The vice-mayor of Tacloban, the city which was worst hit by Haiyan, said the authorities were enforcing evacuation orders.
"We have no more excuse, we have gone through Yolanda, and to lose that many lives, it's beyond our conscience already," Jerry Yaokasin told reporters on Wednesday.
But he told AFP news agency: "Our problem is, we don't have enough evacuation centres."
Meteorologists say there is a chance Hagupit could veer north towards Japan and miss the Philippines altogether, but officials said they were preparing for a worst case scenario.
Helen Buena, an employee at a supermarket in Tacloban, told AFP people were stocking up on supplies.
"It's not raining yet but people are panic buying after hearing about the typhoon warnings on television and radio," she said.
miercuri, 3 decembrie 2014
Rear Adm John Kirby said the US, which has conducted its own air strikes in Iraq, was not co-ordinating with Iran.
A senior Iranian military official also dismissed talk of co-operation.
Representatives of the US-led international coalition against IS are gathering at Nato headquarters in Brussels for a summit.
The talks chaired by US Secretary of State John Kerry will discuss military strategy as well as ways to stem the flow of foreign fighters joining IS and how to counter its propaganda, officials told AFP news agency.
The ministers meeting will discuss ways to send "counter-messages" to de-legitimise IS, which has been adept at using social media to promote its cause, an unnamed senior US state department official told AFP.
"As we are able to de-legitimise [IS], we are able to turn populations against [IS], reduce their recruiting basis," he added.
'Nothing changed'
The US has said it would be inappropriate for Iran to join the coalition, even though the two long-time adversaries face a common enemy in IS.
A jet filmed over Iraq by Qatari-based broadcaster al-Jazeera has been identified by Jane's Defence Weekly as an Iranian Phantom.
Rear Adm Kirby's comments followed reports that American-made F4 Phantom jets from the Iranian air force had been targeting IS positions in the eastern Iraqi province of Diyala.
There had been reports of Iranian air strikes in Diyala province, where Iraqi forces have been battling IS
"We have indications that they did indeed fly air strikes with F-4 Phantoms in the past several days," he said.
It was up to Iraq to oversee and co-ordinate flights by different countries in its airspace, he added.
"We are flying missions over Iraq, we co-ordinate with the Iraqi government as we conduct those," he said. "It's up to the Iraqi government to deconflict that airspace."
"Nothing has changed about our policy of not co-ordinating military activity with the Iranians."
'No place for US'
The Deputy Chief of Staff of Iran's Armed Forces Brig-Gen Massoud Jazayeri also denied collaboration.
He said Iran considered the US responsible for Iraq's "unrest and problems", adding that the US would "definitely not have a place in the future of that country".
Shia Muslim-ruled Iran has close ties to Iraq's Shia-led government, which struggled to counter IS militants as they seized swathes of territory in eastern Syria and northern and western Iraq.
Military analysts said earlier this year that Iran was supplying Iraq with Soviet-built Sukhoi Su-25 attack jets to help in the fight against IS.
Shia militias trained and funded by Iran have also been sent to Iraq to support Kurdish fighters battling IS militants.
Since the Islamic revolution in 1979, the US and Iran have had a fraught relationship.
Washington severed ties the following year after Iranian students occupied the US embassy in Tehran and took 52 Americans hostage. They were freed in 1981.
luni, 1 decembrie 2014
At least five new movies from Sony Pictures are being devoured on copyright-infringing file-sharing hubs online in the wake of the hack attack that hobbled the studio earlier in the week.
Copies of DVD screeners of four unreleased Sony movies including the upcoming “Annie” are getting some unwelcome early exposure, but nothing compared with the frenzy enveloping “Fury,” the war pic still in theaters that bowed last month.
“Fury” has been downloaded by over 888,000 unique IP addresses since showing up on peer-to-peer networks on Nov. 27, according to piracy-tracking firm Excipio. That’s high enough to be the second most-downloaded movie currently being pirated, and it’s not out of movie theaters yet.
Another big Sony movie, “Annie,” is also being pirated, this one three weeks ahead of its own wide release. Other Sony movies being downloaded include “Mr. Turner,” “Still Alice” and “To Write Love on Her Arms.”
“The theft of Sony Pictures Entertainment content is a criminal matter, and we are working closely with law enforcement to address it,” a Sony spokeswoman said in a statement to Variety.
A source with knowledge of the circumstances surrounding the hacking earlier this week divulged that the multi-title leak is likely related to the hacking. Many of the leaked copies are watermarked.
In the attack on the studio’s corporate systems Nov. 24, an image of a skeleton appeared on company computers with a message that said, “Hacked by #GOP,” with the group behind it calling itself “Guardians of Peace.” The message threatened to release “secrets and top secrets” of the company. Currently being investigated is a connection between upcoming Sony movie “The Interview,” and North Korea.
Sony’s outbreak marks the biggest piracy incident since July, when Lionsgate saw “Expendables 3″ pop up online three weeks before its theatrical release. Police arrested two men in London earlier this week in connection with the stolen file.
While “Fury” has emerged as a hot ticket in file-sharing circles, the other Sony titles aren’t seeing as much sampling. “Annie” has been downloaded by over 184,000 unique IP addresses. Studio is hopeful “Annie” won’t be pirated as much because family films aren’t subject to as much illegal downloading as titles that skew more toward young males.
“Still Alice,” “Mr. Turner” and “To Write Love on Her Arms” are seeing only modest piracy activity, all below 100,000 unique IP addresses since Nov. 27.
[UPDATE, Nov. 30, 11 a.m. Pacific: “Fury” now has been downloaded via piracy sites more than 1.2 million times, while “Annie” has topped 206,000 downloads by unique IP addresses, according to Excipio. Downloads of “Still Alice” stood at 103,832, followed by “Mr. Turner” at 63,379 and “To Write Love on Her Arms” at 19,946.]
Copies of DVD screeners of four unreleased Sony movies including the upcoming “Annie” are getting some unwelcome early exposure, but nothing compared with the frenzy enveloping “Fury,” the war pic still in theaters that bowed last month.
“Fury” has been downloaded by over 888,000 unique IP addresses since showing up on peer-to-peer networks on Nov. 27, according to piracy-tracking firm Excipio. That’s high enough to be the second most-downloaded movie currently being pirated, and it’s not out of movie theaters yet.
Another big Sony movie, “Annie,” is also being pirated, this one three weeks ahead of its own wide release. Other Sony movies being downloaded include “Mr. Turner,” “Still Alice” and “To Write Love on Her Arms.”
“The theft of Sony Pictures Entertainment content is a criminal matter, and we are working closely with law enforcement to address it,” a Sony spokeswoman said in a statement to Variety.
A source with knowledge of the circumstances surrounding the hacking earlier this week divulged that the multi-title leak is likely related to the hacking. Many of the leaked copies are watermarked.
In the attack on the studio’s corporate systems Nov. 24, an image of a skeleton appeared on company computers with a message that said, “Hacked by #GOP,” with the group behind it calling itself “Guardians of Peace.” The message threatened to release “secrets and top secrets” of the company. Currently being investigated is a connection between upcoming Sony movie “The Interview,” and North Korea.
Sony’s outbreak marks the biggest piracy incident since July, when Lionsgate saw “Expendables 3″ pop up online three weeks before its theatrical release. Police arrested two men in London earlier this week in connection with the stolen file.
While “Fury” has emerged as a hot ticket in file-sharing circles, the other Sony titles aren’t seeing as much sampling. “Annie” has been downloaded by over 184,000 unique IP addresses. Studio is hopeful “Annie” won’t be pirated as much because family films aren’t subject to as much illegal downloading as titles that skew more toward young males.
“Still Alice,” “Mr. Turner” and “To Write Love on Her Arms” are seeing only modest piracy activity, all below 100,000 unique IP addresses since Nov. 27.
[UPDATE, Nov. 30, 11 a.m. Pacific: “Fury” now has been downloaded via piracy sites more than 1.2 million times, while “Annie” has topped 206,000 downloads by unique IP addresses, according to Excipio. Downloads of “Still Alice” stood at 103,832, followed by “Mr. Turner” at 63,379 and “To Write Love on Her Arms” at 19,946.]
Sony Pictures Entertainment has been targeted by computer hackers in an attack which reports say forced it shut down its systems on Monday.
A skull appeared on computer screens along with a message threatening to release data "secrets" if undisclosed demands were not met, reports said.
The message showed "#GOP" indicating a group called Guardians of Peace was behind the attack.
Sony has issued a statement saying the firm is investigating the "IT matter".
The tech firm has reportedly shut down its computer network as a precaution and advised employees that resolving the situation could take anywhere from one day to three weeks.
Meanwhile, an anonymous user on the Reddit news website posted an image allegedly from a Sony computer screen, which said "Warning: We've already warned you, and this is just the beginning… We have obtained all your internal data including secrets and top secrets".
Sony under attack
News of the online attack comes just months after Sony's Playstation network was forced offline by a cyber attack in August.
Wee Teck Loo, head of consumer electronics research at Euromonitor said any negative news for Sony just "piles" pressure on the company that has been struggling financially in both its TV and mobile business.
"Three years ago, the hack on PlayStation network was massive, expensive and absolutely embarrassing. This time round, I don't believe that there will be massive damage, save for Sony's ego, even if the hack is real," Mr Loo said.
Charles Lim, senior industry analyst at ICT, Frost & Sullivan Asia Pacific, however, said the attack has put into question what "multi-layers of prevention" Sony has to detect and handle such risks.
"In this breach, GOP claimed to have accessed private keys, source codes, password files and even their production schedule and notes, and that will raise questions," Mr Lim said.
High profile companies like Sony can be targeted and hacked every day, according to Naveen Menon, partner at consulting firm AT Kearney.
In its latest research, the firm said that experts estimate that at least 25% of all companies have already suffered financial loss through some form of cyber attack.
Analysis: Richard Taylor, BBC North America Technology Correspondent
Sony is understandably keen to downplay this latest hacking threat. "We are investigating the matter" is the kind of benign language more commonly used for routine technological issues, not chilling messages threatening to unleash reams of data to the world.
The demands are opaque so it is unclear how damage could be wrought should Sony fail to resolve the situation before the deadline. Sony Pictures has at least reclaimed its compromised Twitter accounts.
Nevertheless, this internal corporate attack does not yet appear to be of the magnitude of previous public breaches that Sony has suffered.
But the fact that hackers have again apparently infiltrated Sony's systems will do nothing to restore public faith that the Japanese technology giant has its security affairs in order.
And it is somewhat ironic that Sony has only just dismissed the allegation made by hackers that they had succeeded in breaching the Playstation network earlier this year. This latest attack cannot be so easily dismissed.
A skull appeared on computer screens along with a message threatening to release data "secrets" if undisclosed demands were not met, reports said.
The message showed "#GOP" indicating a group called Guardians of Peace was behind the attack.
Sony has issued a statement saying the firm is investigating the "IT matter".
The tech firm has reportedly shut down its computer network as a precaution and advised employees that resolving the situation could take anywhere from one day to three weeks.
Meanwhile, an anonymous user on the Reddit news website posted an image allegedly from a Sony computer screen, which said "Warning: We've already warned you, and this is just the beginning… We have obtained all your internal data including secrets and top secrets".
Sony under attack
News of the online attack comes just months after Sony's Playstation network was forced offline by a cyber attack in August.
Wee Teck Loo, head of consumer electronics research at Euromonitor said any negative news for Sony just "piles" pressure on the company that has been struggling financially in both its TV and mobile business.
"Three years ago, the hack on PlayStation network was massive, expensive and absolutely embarrassing. This time round, I don't believe that there will be massive damage, save for Sony's ego, even if the hack is real," Mr Loo said.
Charles Lim, senior industry analyst at ICT, Frost & Sullivan Asia Pacific, however, said the attack has put into question what "multi-layers of prevention" Sony has to detect and handle such risks.
"In this breach, GOP claimed to have accessed private keys, source codes, password files and even their production schedule and notes, and that will raise questions," Mr Lim said.
High profile companies like Sony can be targeted and hacked every day, according to Naveen Menon, partner at consulting firm AT Kearney.
In its latest research, the firm said that experts estimate that at least 25% of all companies have already suffered financial loss through some form of cyber attack.
Analysis: Richard Taylor, BBC North America Technology Correspondent
Sony is understandably keen to downplay this latest hacking threat. "We are investigating the matter" is the kind of benign language more commonly used for routine technological issues, not chilling messages threatening to unleash reams of data to the world.
The demands are opaque so it is unclear how damage could be wrought should Sony fail to resolve the situation before the deadline. Sony Pictures has at least reclaimed its compromised Twitter accounts.
Nevertheless, this internal corporate attack does not yet appear to be of the magnitude of previous public breaches that Sony has suffered.
But the fact that hackers have again apparently infiltrated Sony's systems will do nothing to restore public faith that the Japanese technology giant has its security affairs in order.
And it is somewhat ironic that Sony has only just dismissed the allegation made by hackers that they had succeeded in breaching the Playstation network earlier this year. This latest attack cannot be so easily dismissed.
The Federal Bureau of Investigation has confirmed it is investigating a hack into Sony Pictures Entertainment's network last week.
The hack took down the firm's email systems and paralysed its network.
A group called Guardians of Peace took credit for the attack, flashing the message "hacked by #GOP" on screens.
The FBI said that "the targeting of public and private sector computer networks remains a significant threat.''
Previously, Sony has said the firm was investigating the "IT matter".
The hack took down the firm's email systems and paralysed its network.
A group called Guardians of Peace took credit for the attack, flashing the message "hacked by #GOP" on screens.
The FBI said that "the targeting of public and private sector computer networks remains a significant threat.''
Previously, Sony has said the firm was investigating the "IT matter".
miercuri, 27 august 2014
Armata ucraneană a anunţat miercuri că o coloană de blindate ruseşti înainta în partea de sud-est a Ucrainei, unde s-a deschis un nou front luni. "Avem informaţii cu privire la înaintarea unei coloane alcătuite din 100 de vehicule, inclusiv tancuri, blindate, lansatoare multiple de rachete de tip Grad pe drumul către Starobeşeve-Telmanove".
"Avem informaţii cu privire la înaintarea unei coloane alcătuite din 100 de vehicule, inclusiv tancuri, blindate, lansatoare multiple de rachete de tip Grad pe drumul către Starobeşeve-Telmanove", a precizat centrul de presă al Statului Major al operaţiunii ucrainene în estul ţării, într-un comunicat.
Această coloană "marcată cu un triunghi sau un cerc alb" se îndreaptă către localitatea Telmanove, situată al aproximativ 20 de kilometri de frontiera rusă şi la aproximativ 80 de kilometri sud de Doneţk, un bastion al rebelilor proruşi.
Telmanove se află la aproximativ 40 de kilometri nord de Novoazovsk, unde autorităţile ucrainene au afirmat că au oprit altă coloană de blindate ruseşti. Forţele armate ucrainene şi separatişti proruşi erau implicate marţi în tiruri de artilerie, iar cu o zi înainte în lupte terestre.
Rebelii proruşi au anunţat luni lansarea unei contraofensive la sudul bastionului lor de la Doneţk, aparent într-o tentativă de a prinde armata ucraineană într-un cleşte.
Potrivit armatei ucrainene, altă coloană, alcătuită din şase lansatoare de rachete de tip Grad şi camioane cu combatanţi la bord a efectuat o incursiune de pe teritoriul Rusiei în localitatea Dibrovka, situată la 110 kilometri est de Doneţk.
"Avem informaţii cu privire la înaintarea unei coloane alcătuite din 100 de vehicule, inclusiv tancuri, blindate, lansatoare multiple de rachete de tip Grad pe drumul către Starobeşeve-Telmanove", a precizat centrul de presă al Statului Major al operaţiunii ucrainene în estul ţării, într-un comunicat.
Această coloană "marcată cu un triunghi sau un cerc alb" se îndreaptă către localitatea Telmanove, situată al aproximativ 20 de kilometri de frontiera rusă şi la aproximativ 80 de kilometri sud de Doneţk, un bastion al rebelilor proruşi.
Telmanove se află la aproximativ 40 de kilometri nord de Novoazovsk, unde autorităţile ucrainene au afirmat că au oprit altă coloană de blindate ruseşti. Forţele armate ucrainene şi separatişti proruşi erau implicate marţi în tiruri de artilerie, iar cu o zi înainte în lupte terestre.
Rebelii proruşi au anunţat luni lansarea unei contraofensive la sudul bastionului lor de la Doneţk, aparent într-o tentativă de a prinde armata ucraineană într-un cleşte.
Potrivit armatei ucrainene, altă coloană, alcătuită din şase lansatoare de rachete de tip Grad şi camioane cu combatanţi la bord a efectuat o incursiune de pe teritoriul Rusiei în localitatea Dibrovka, situată la 110 kilometri est de Doneţk.
miercuri, 11 iunie 2014
Rebelii jihadişti sunniţi au preluat miercuri controlul asupra unui alt oraş din Irak, avansând către capitala Bagdad într-o ofensivă fulgerătoare, obligând Consiliul de Securitate să se reunească, joi, şi Washingtonul să ia în considerare atacuri aeriene, relatează AFP.
Acest avans al combatanţilor din cadrul organizaţiei Statul Islamic în Irak şi Levant (SIIL) în faţa forţelor guvernamentale în derută şi a unei puteri şiite neputincioase, a determinat aproximativ jumătate de milion de locuitori să fugă.
Purtătorul de cuvânt al SIIL, Abu Mohamed al-Adnani, le-a cerut insurgenţilor să se îndrepte către Bagdad şi l-a criticat pe premierul irakian Nuri al-Maliki pentru "incompentenţa" sa, într-o înregistrate audio datată miercuri şi tradusă de reţeaua americană de supraveghere a site-urilor islamiste SITE.
De marţi, combatanţii islamişti - excluşi din reţeaua Al-Qaida deoarece erau consideraţi prea radicali - au preluat controlul asupra nordului ţării, asupra celui de-al doilea oraş ca mărime din Irak, Mosul, a provinciei Ninive din care face parte aceste şi a unor sectoare din două provincii apropiate, Kirkuk şi Salaheddine, cu majoritate sunnită. Miercuri, ei controlau Tikrit, oraş situat la nord de Bagdad şi avansau către capitală. Ei au încercat, fără succes însă, să preia controlul oraşului Samarra, situat la circa 100 de kilometri de Bagdad, potrivit martorilor oculari.
SIIL a luat ostatici 49 de turci la consulatul Turciei din Mosul, printre care şi consulul şi membri ai forţelor speciale, precum şi 31 de şoferi de camion turci din această provincie.
Consiliul de Securitate al Naţiunilor Unite se va reuni cu uşile închise începând cu ora 11.30 (18.30 ora României) pentru a discuta despre situaţia din Irak. Trimisul special al ONU în Irak, Nikolai Mladenov, va interveni prin videoconferinţă.
Secretarul general al ONU, Ban Ki-moon, a lansat un apel la solidaritate internaţională cu Irakul.
El a cerut, de asemenea, eliberarea imediată şi fără condiţii a circa 50 de cetăţeni turci luaţi ostatici la consulatul din Mosul.
Ministrul turc al Afacerilor Externe, Ahmet Davutoglu, a ameninţat SIIL cu "represaliile cele mai severe" dacă le va face cel mai mic rău.
Iranul şiit dar şi Statele Unite au sprijinit Guvernul lui Nuri al-Maliki în faţa "terorismului".
"Statele Unite vor susţine liderii irakieni în timp ce realizează unitatea naţională necesară pentru a câştiga lupta împotriva SIIL", a afirmat purtătorul de cuvânt al Casei Albe, Jay Carney, într-un comunicat.
- Fără militari americani trimişi în Irak
Irakul a declarat oficial Statelor Unite că este deschis ideii unor atacuri aeriene americane pentru a stăvili ofensiva jihadistă, a afirmat miercuri pentru AFP un oficial american, confirmând o informaţie apărută în Wall Street Journal.
Administraţia preşedintelui Obama are în vedere mai multe opţiuni pentru a ajuta Bagdadul, eventual prin intermediul unor atacuri efectuate cu avioane fără pilot, potrivit accestui oficial care s-a exprimat sub acoperirea anonimatului.
Diplomaţia americană s-a apărat că a fost luată prin surprindere, afirmând că şi-a exprimat de mai multe luni "îngrijorările" cu privire la "ameninţarea teroristă" pe care o presupune SIIL pentru întreaga regiune.
În consecinţă, Washingtonul "este pregătit" să vină în ajutorul Bagdadului în faţa "agresiunii" SIIL, a declarat purtătoarea de cuvânt a Departamentului de Stat, Jennifer Psaki, anunţând o "creştere a asistenţei" americane.
Dar în niciun caz Statele Unite "nu intenţionează" să trimită trupe la sol în Irak, potrivit lui Psaki, după retragerea lor la 31 decembrie 2011, la încheierea unui angajament militar masiv american timp de opt ani.
În 2011, Bagdadul şi Washingtonul nu au reuşit să ajungă la un acord privind menţinerea unui contingent american în Irak şi mulţi s-au alarmat atunci de o eventuală intensificare a violenţelor după plecarea americanilor.
Washington a cheltuit ulterior zeci de miliarde de dolari pentru a forma şi echipa forţe armate irakiene, aceleaşi care, în mod evident, au fugit din faţa jihadiştilor.
- Reuniune a Parlamentului joi
SIIL care vrea să instaureze un stat islamic, a avertizat că "nu va opri seria de invazii binecuvântate". Grupul controlează deja sectoare din provincia occidentală Al-Anbar de la frontiera cu Siria. Acuzat de abuzuri în Siria, acesta deţine sectoare vaste în provincia petrolieră Deir Ezzor (nord-est), generând temeri privind o unire teritorială cu nord-vestul irakian.
Simbolic, grupul a difuzat miercuri pe Internet fotografii cu jihadişti care creează o rută între Siria şi Irak aplatizând cu un buldozer un zid de nisip.
Neputincios şi subminat de clivaje confesionale, Guvernul irakian a cerut Parlamentului, care se va reuni joi, să declare "stare de urgenţă".
Dar în faţa avansului din nord al combatanţilor jihadişti antrenaţi, militarii şi poliţiştii au demonstrat o rezistenţă redusă, guvernatorul privinciei Ninive, Athil al-Nujaifi, acuzând comandanţii militari că au abandonat câmpul de bătălie.
Potrivit Organizaţiei Internaţionale pentru Migraţie (OIM), "peste 500.000 de persoane s-au mutat în interiorul şi în jurul Mosul", care numără în mod obişnuit două milioane de locuitori.
La 50 de kilometri de Mosul, cozi interminabile de bărbaţi, femei şi copii aşteaptă la un baraj kurd să obţină permis de sejur pentru a trece în Kurdistanul autonom.
Ajunsă cu familia sa, Zahra Sherif, în vârstă de 39 de ani, explică faptul că a "părăsit oraşul de teama unor masacre dacă armata lansează un asalt asupra acestuia".
În Mosul, combatanţii îmbrăcaţi în uniforme militare sau în ţinută neagră, cu feţele acoperite, sunt poziţionaţi în apropiere de bănci, administraţii publice şi sediul Consiliului provincial, potrivit martorilor oculari.
Potrivit experţilor, SIIL este format în mare parte în Irak din foşti oficiali şi membri obişnuiţi ai serviciilor de securitate ale lui Saddam Hussein care s-au alăturat rebelilor după invazia americană din 2003.
Acest avans al combatanţilor din cadrul organizaţiei Statul Islamic în Irak şi Levant (SIIL) în faţa forţelor guvernamentale în derută şi a unei puteri şiite neputincioase, a determinat aproximativ jumătate de milion de locuitori să fugă.
Purtătorul de cuvânt al SIIL, Abu Mohamed al-Adnani, le-a cerut insurgenţilor să se îndrepte către Bagdad şi l-a criticat pe premierul irakian Nuri al-Maliki pentru "incompentenţa" sa, într-o înregistrate audio datată miercuri şi tradusă de reţeaua americană de supraveghere a site-urilor islamiste SITE.
De marţi, combatanţii islamişti - excluşi din reţeaua Al-Qaida deoarece erau consideraţi prea radicali - au preluat controlul asupra nordului ţării, asupra celui de-al doilea oraş ca mărime din Irak, Mosul, a provinciei Ninive din care face parte aceste şi a unor sectoare din două provincii apropiate, Kirkuk şi Salaheddine, cu majoritate sunnită. Miercuri, ei controlau Tikrit, oraş situat la nord de Bagdad şi avansau către capitală. Ei au încercat, fără succes însă, să preia controlul oraşului Samarra, situat la circa 100 de kilometri de Bagdad, potrivit martorilor oculari.
SIIL a luat ostatici 49 de turci la consulatul Turciei din Mosul, printre care şi consulul şi membri ai forţelor speciale, precum şi 31 de şoferi de camion turci din această provincie.
Consiliul de Securitate al Naţiunilor Unite se va reuni cu uşile închise începând cu ora 11.30 (18.30 ora României) pentru a discuta despre situaţia din Irak. Trimisul special al ONU în Irak, Nikolai Mladenov, va interveni prin videoconferinţă.
Secretarul general al ONU, Ban Ki-moon, a lansat un apel la solidaritate internaţională cu Irakul.
El a cerut, de asemenea, eliberarea imediată şi fără condiţii a circa 50 de cetăţeni turci luaţi ostatici la consulatul din Mosul.
Ministrul turc al Afacerilor Externe, Ahmet Davutoglu, a ameninţat SIIL cu "represaliile cele mai severe" dacă le va face cel mai mic rău.
Iranul şiit dar şi Statele Unite au sprijinit Guvernul lui Nuri al-Maliki în faţa "terorismului".
"Statele Unite vor susţine liderii irakieni în timp ce realizează unitatea naţională necesară pentru a câştiga lupta împotriva SIIL", a afirmat purtătorul de cuvânt al Casei Albe, Jay Carney, într-un comunicat.
- Fără militari americani trimişi în Irak
Irakul a declarat oficial Statelor Unite că este deschis ideii unor atacuri aeriene americane pentru a stăvili ofensiva jihadistă, a afirmat miercuri pentru AFP un oficial american, confirmând o informaţie apărută în Wall Street Journal.
Administraţia preşedintelui Obama are în vedere mai multe opţiuni pentru a ajuta Bagdadul, eventual prin intermediul unor atacuri efectuate cu avioane fără pilot, potrivit accestui oficial care s-a exprimat sub acoperirea anonimatului.
Diplomaţia americană s-a apărat că a fost luată prin surprindere, afirmând că şi-a exprimat de mai multe luni "îngrijorările" cu privire la "ameninţarea teroristă" pe care o presupune SIIL pentru întreaga regiune.
În consecinţă, Washingtonul "este pregătit" să vină în ajutorul Bagdadului în faţa "agresiunii" SIIL, a declarat purtătoarea de cuvânt a Departamentului de Stat, Jennifer Psaki, anunţând o "creştere a asistenţei" americane.
Dar în niciun caz Statele Unite "nu intenţionează" să trimită trupe la sol în Irak, potrivit lui Psaki, după retragerea lor la 31 decembrie 2011, la încheierea unui angajament militar masiv american timp de opt ani.
În 2011, Bagdadul şi Washingtonul nu au reuşit să ajungă la un acord privind menţinerea unui contingent american în Irak şi mulţi s-au alarmat atunci de o eventuală intensificare a violenţelor după plecarea americanilor.
Washington a cheltuit ulterior zeci de miliarde de dolari pentru a forma şi echipa forţe armate irakiene, aceleaşi care, în mod evident, au fugit din faţa jihadiştilor.
- Reuniune a Parlamentului joi
SIIL care vrea să instaureze un stat islamic, a avertizat că "nu va opri seria de invazii binecuvântate". Grupul controlează deja sectoare din provincia occidentală Al-Anbar de la frontiera cu Siria. Acuzat de abuzuri în Siria, acesta deţine sectoare vaste în provincia petrolieră Deir Ezzor (nord-est), generând temeri privind o unire teritorială cu nord-vestul irakian.
Simbolic, grupul a difuzat miercuri pe Internet fotografii cu jihadişti care creează o rută între Siria şi Irak aplatizând cu un buldozer un zid de nisip.
Neputincios şi subminat de clivaje confesionale, Guvernul irakian a cerut Parlamentului, care se va reuni joi, să declare "stare de urgenţă".
Dar în faţa avansului din nord al combatanţilor jihadişti antrenaţi, militarii şi poliţiştii au demonstrat o rezistenţă redusă, guvernatorul privinciei Ninive, Athil al-Nujaifi, acuzând comandanţii militari că au abandonat câmpul de bătălie.
Potrivit Organizaţiei Internaţionale pentru Migraţie (OIM), "peste 500.000 de persoane s-au mutat în interiorul şi în jurul Mosul", care numără în mod obişnuit două milioane de locuitori.
La 50 de kilometri de Mosul, cozi interminabile de bărbaţi, femei şi copii aşteaptă la un baraj kurd să obţină permis de sejur pentru a trece în Kurdistanul autonom.
Ajunsă cu familia sa, Zahra Sherif, în vârstă de 39 de ani, explică faptul că a "părăsit oraşul de teama unor masacre dacă armata lansează un asalt asupra acestuia".
În Mosul, combatanţii îmbrăcaţi în uniforme militare sau în ţinută neagră, cu feţele acoperite, sunt poziţionaţi în apropiere de bănci, administraţii publice şi sediul Consiliului provincial, potrivit martorilor oculari.
Potrivit experţilor, SIIL este format în mare parte în Irak din foşti oficiali şi membri obişnuiţi ai serviciilor de securitate ale lui Saddam Hussein care s-au alăturat rebelilor după invazia americană din 2003.
sâmbătă, 19 aprilie 2014
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vineri, 18 aprilie 2014
Un raport realizat de „Centrul pentru Integritate Publică” din SUA (Center for Public Integrity – CPI) arată că George Bush şi şapte înalţi oficiali din administraţia sa au făcut în perioada 11 septembrie 2001 – martie 2003, 935 de declaraţii false, referitoare la terorism şi războiul din Irak.
Concluzia „Centrului pentru Integritate publică” este că „la cinci ani după invadarea Irakului, examinarea acestor date arată că declaraţiile fac parte dintr-o campanie orchestrată în scopul deturnării opiniei publice. Administraţia Bush a dus naţiunea în război pe baza unor false premise. Informaţiile false au fost propagate în mod metodic şi au culminat cu acţiunea militară împotriva Irakului din 19 martie 2003.”
În cadrul unor discursuri, conferinţe de presă sau interviuri, preşedintele Bush şi alţi înalţi funcţionari au afirmat în mod fals că Irakul deţine arme de distrugere în masă sau că încearcă să le obţină şi că are legături cu gruparea teroristă Al-Qaeda. „Astăzi este în afara oricărei discuţii că Irakul nu a avut şi nu are niciun fel de arme de distrugere în masă şi că nu a avut legături cu Al-Qaeda,” arată autorii studiului, Charles Lewis şi Mark Reading-Smith.
„Numai preşedintele Bush a făcut 259 de declaraţii false privind armele de distrugere în masă şi 28 privind legăturile dintre Al-Qaeda şi Irak”, continuă ei. Ceilalţi şapte înalţi funcţionari ale căror declaraţii false au fost luate în calcul sunt:
- Colin Powell, la acea vreme secretar de stat. El se situează pe locul doi după Bush, cu 254 de declaraţii false,
- Donald Rumsfeld, la acea vreme secretar al apărării şi Ari Fleischer, secretar purtător de cuvânt al Casei Albe, fiecare cu 109 declaraţii false,
- Paul Wolfowitz la acea vreme vice-secretar al apărării,
- Condoleezza Rice, la acea vreme consilier pe probleme de siguranţă naţională,
- Dick Cheney, la acea vreme vicepreşedinte al SUA,
- Scott McClellan, secretar purtător de cuvânt al Casei Albe.
Pe site-ul Centrului pentru Integritate publică (http://projects.publicintegrity.org/WarCard/) poate fi consultată o bază de date cu toate aceste declaraţii. Iată câteva exemple relevante:
Pe 26 august 2002 într-o adresă către Convenţia Veteranilor de Război, Cheney declara: „Nu există nicio îndoială că Sadam Hussein deţine arme de distrugere în masă. Nu există nicio îndoială că a adunat aceste arme pentru a le utiliza împotriva noastră, a prietenilor şi aliaţilor noştri.” Un oficial CIA i-a spus mai târziu ziaristului Ron Suskind, sub protecţia anonimatului, că prima reacţia a CIA când a auzit aceste declaraţii a fost: „De unde o mai fi scos-o şi pe asta?”, întrucât ei nu aveau date în acest sens.
La sfârşitul lunii septembrie 2002, Bush a declarat în discursul său săptămânal ţinut naţiunii: „Regimul irakian posedă arme biologice şi chimice şi construieşte dispozitive pentru a fabrica şi mai multe. Conform guvernului britanic, regimul irakian are capacitatea de a realiza atacuri chimice şi biologice în mai puţin de 45 de minute de când ordinul este emis. Acest regim face cercetări pentru a obţine bomba atomică şi, cu materialele pe care le deţine, o poate fabrica într-un an.” La câteva zile de la aceste declaraţii, informaţii similare au fost propagate de un raport intitulat „Estimările serviciiilor secrete naţionale despre armele irakiene de distrugere în masă”, o analiză care nu a fost niciodată făcută în realitate, ci s-a bazat doar pe declaraţiile false ale înalţilor oficiali americani.
În iulie 2002, Donald Rumsfeld a răspuns unor reporteri care îl întrebau dacă Irakul are legături cu teroriştii Al-Qaeda cu următoarele cuvinte: „În mod sigur”. În realitate, un raport realizat de Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA) şi confirmat de fostul director al CIA, Charles Tenet, arată că nu exista în acel moment „nicio dovadă care să demonstreze cooperarea guvernului irakian cu Al-Qaeda”.
Pe 29 mai 2003, preşedintele Bush declara într-un interviu acordat unei televiziuni poloneze: „Am găsit arme de distrugere în masă. Am găsit laboratoare biologice.” Bush ştia foarte bine că toate acestea nu sunt adevărate, arată jurnalistul Bob Woodward. Cu câteva zile înainte să facă această declaraţie, primise raportul echipei de experţi care analizase cele două laboratoare descoperite în Irak. Acesta arată că laboratoarele nu erau destinate producerii de arme biologice, ci produceau hidrogen pentru baloane meteorologice.
Pe 28 ianuarie 2003, în discursul anual către poporul amercian, Bush afirma: „Guvernul britanic a aflat că Saddam Hussein a cumpărat cantităţi importante de uraniu din Africa. Surse din serviciile secrete m-au informat că el este pe punctul de a cumpăra tuburi de aluminiu de mare rezistenţă, care se fololsesc la fabricarea armelor nucleare.”
Pe 5 februarie 2003, într-o adresă către Consiliul de securitate al SUA, Colin Powel scria: „Ceea ce vă oferim noi sunt fapte şi concluzii bazate pe dovezi solide, furnizate de serviciile secrete.”
Analizând distribuţia în timp a acestor declaraţii false, se observă că ele au crescut considerabil ca frecvenţă în luna august 2002, când Congresul trebuia să dezbată intrarea în război cu Irakul şi începând cu ianuarie 2003, până înainte de invazie.
„Aceste false declaraţii au avut un efect cumulativ”, mai arată raportul CPI, „care a fost amplificat de mii de ziare şi posturi radio şi TV. Impactul a fost enorm, iar vasta acoperire mediatică a generat un zid impenetrabil, exact în lunile critice care au precedat invadarea Irakului. Unii ziarişti şi chiar câteva organizaţii de profil au recunoscut în cele din urmă că în lunile care au precedat războiul au avut un comportament supus şi lipsit de critică. În ciuda acestor „mea culpa”, acoperirea mediatică atotcuprinzătoare a dat o validare fără precedent falselor declaraţii ale administraţiei Bush.”
Pentru a justifica intenţia SUA de a porni un război împotriva Iranului se folosesc diferite trucuri mediatice. Unele sunt cunoscute din cadrul propagandei similare dinaintea invadării Irakului, dar sunt şi elemente noi. Astfel, mass-media internaţională a difuzat până la saturaţie o aşa-zisă “declaraţie” a preşedintelului Iranului, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, care ar fi spus că “Israelul trebuie măturat de pe hartă”.
Jurnalistul independent Arash Norouzi a dezvăluit însă faptul şocant că această afirmaţie categorică, interpretată drept o ameninţare pentru “pacea mondială” şi un bun pretext de război, nu reprezintă ceea ce a spus de fapt preşedintele Iranului! Dezvăluirile lui Norouzi – publicate pe Internet, inclusiv în versiune video – au atras o audienţă relativ mare, dar nu se compară cu efectul propagandei mediatice.
Practic, preşedintele Iranului s-a exprimat nu o singură dată împotriva atacurilor la adresa lumii musulmane. Occidentul confundă mult prea des – din cauza ignoranţei sau a propagandei – terorismul cu islamismul. În declaraţiile sale din 2006, care au produs atâta vâlvă, Ahmadinejad şi-a exprimat dorinţa ca regimul care este la putere acum la Ierusalim să dispară, aşa cum a dispărut şi Uniunea Sovietică.
În situaţia instabilă din punct de vedere politic din Orientul Mijlociu şi datorită implicaţiilor mondiale ale unui potenţial conflict, ar trebui ca atât presa, cât şi oamenii politici, să dea dovadă de prudenţă şi să nu se pripească în prezentarea ştirilor sau în interpretarea declaraţiilor. Este binecunoscut la ora actuală faptul că înainte de declanşarea războiului din Irak, autorităţile SUA au făcut declaraţii publice false, invocând un raport inexistent despre armele nucleare ale lui Saddam Hussein.
În dezvăluirile pe care le face, jurnalistul independent Arash Norouzi arată că declaraţia care a fost mediatizată este eronată. Preşedintele iranian NU a spus nicidecum că “Israelul trebuie măturat de pe hartă”. El s-a exprimat împotriva regimului aflat la putere la Ierusalim – şi un regim nu poate fi “măturat de pe hartă”. Totuşi, se pare că greşeala iniţială de traducere aparţine Serviciului de Presă al Republicii Iraniene. Ministerul Afacerilor Externe din Iran a corectat cu promptitudine declaraţia şi a revenit cu comunicate de presă pe acest subiect, dar toate rectificările ulterioare au fost ignorate.
Mai mult chiar, preşedintele Iranului a adresat şi o scrisoare deschisă preşedintelui american George Bush. Scrisoarea pledează pentru pace şi respect reciproc, inclusiv respectarea drepturilor omului şi demască faptul că afirmaţiile agresive mediatizate în presa internaţională nu îi aparţin preşedintelui iranian. Această scrisoare deschisă a fost ignorată de mass-media.
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