Security as Theatre
Those security announcements keep on coming. Do they do any good? As far as security is concerned the answer is nothing. As a way of oppressing us and getting us to tolerate harassment by government snoops the answer is yes. Fred explains all.

Security Outfits
Private outfits tend to come in for abuse especially if they are called Blackwater. They can be good, bad or indifferent. Do they come cheap? I seriously doubt it.

Skype Security
Use your computer as a phone with Skype. Is it secure? It does have encryption. It might be implemented properly. It must be to work properly. Some one has an insider's view.

41 Million Card Numbers Stolen [ 7 August 2008 ]
QUOTE
Federal prosecutors have charged 11 people with stealing more than 41 million credit and debit card numbers, cracking what officials said on Tuesday appeared to be the largest hacking and identity theft ring ever exposed. The thieves focused on major national retail chains like OfficeMax, Barnes & Noble, BJ’s Wholesale Club, the Sports Authority and T. J. Maxx — the discount clothes retailer that first suggested the existence of the ring early last year, when it said its systems had been breached by hackers.

Underscoring the multinational, collaborative aspect of organized crime today, three of the defendants are United States citizens, one is from Estonia, three are from Ukraine, two are from China and one is from Belarus. The name and whereabouts of the final defendant are unknown.....

“These guys were obviously sophisticated and organized,” said Toby Weiss, chief executive of Application Security, a database security firm. “In this economy, we can’t have people afraid to spend.”.
UNQUOTE
Governments tell us that our data is secure and they want more. Believe them if you want. They might even believe it themselves.

 

High-Quality Cryptography - You Need It As Well    [ 26 February 2008 ]
QUOTE
....  our power-hungry federal government likes to unaccountably violate the 4th Amendment by intercepting citizens' and non-citizens' electronic communications......... The solution is wide deployment of high-quality encryption that is sufficiently difficult to crack that, with a limited budget, "our" government has to make practical choices regarding whose communications really merit the effort [ They should be doing it anyway - Editor ]. After all, it would be extremely embarrassing if a successful terrorist attack took out a vital national asset because the Department of Homeland Security was too busy decrypting my grocery list.

To be effective at protecting our privacy, then, the encryption must both be high-quality and widely used, even for matters that aren't especially important. 
QUOTE
More is better - the more people use it the safer we are. Her Majesty's Government is our enemy; a sad reality but true. But good encryption is free. It works on Windows. Get it from GPG4Win

Lock it or lose it.

Encryption still good except when the computer sleeps  [ 26 February 2008 ]
QUOTE
A team of security researchers have demonstrated that common disk encryption technologies that are intended to keep data on computers safe from theft can be bypassed if an attacker gets a hold of the computer while it is sleeping or waiting for a password prompt.

The attack shows that the products like Microsoft's BitLocker and Apple's FileVault -- as well as PGP's Whole Disk Encryption product -- aren't as secure as many think they are. (See previous post with full explanation and video).....
In fact, this correspondent admits to having habitually left an encrypted laptop running in sleep mode in the past. That security sin shall not be repeated.
UNQUOTE
Security means assessing the risks and making the moves. This one means turn your machine off when you are not using it. Easy peasy.

PGP Encryption Beats Criminal Investigators [ 10 February 2008 ]
QUOTE
BURLINGTON, Vt. (AP) When Sebastien Boucher stopped at the U.S.-Canadian border, agents who inspected his laptop said they found files containing child pornography [ but they lied - Editor ].......... Now Boucher is caught in a cyber-age quandary: The government wants him to give up the password, but doing so could violate his Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination by revealing the contents of the files.
UNQUOTE
Whether it will beat Secret Squirrel, the NSA, GCHQ et cetera is another issue. The answer is classified TOP SECRET or higher.

Al-Qaeda to explode 30 jetliners and trains in Europe on Christmas eve   [ 14 November 2006  ]
QUOTE
Al-Qaeda may apparently be working on another grand terrorist act, this time for Europe. According to reports received from Western intelligence services, al-Qaeda's terrorists prepare to explode 30 planes and trains across Europe on Christmas time
UNQUOTE
Do we take these twerps seriously? They lied to us last time about liquid explosives being taken onto aircraft. Of course Blair is murdering Arabs but he has armed thugs protecting him from them and honest men. We just get to pay in blood and gold.

Airport Security - Blair Lied [ 14 November 2006  ]
Remember the major airport security nausea a while ago. Islamics were going to make their own explosives in the air using innocuous liquids. It was a lie concocted by Her Majesty's Government that cost millions. Every chemist knows it is a lie but the main stream media didn't bother to tell us the truth. They are part of the problem too. See  We are being lied to big time, MI6, Liquid Bombing and Blatant Lies,  Raw Story, US pushed MI5 into airport terror swoop or Airport Security - Blair Lied for more and better details.  Here is another lie brewing up.

US prepares for killer prayer bead WMD attack [ 4 November 2006 ]
QUOTE
Did you know you can buy a WMD on eBay? It's true. Right here. Those are rosary peas, seeds of the Crab's Eye weed, which is commonplace in Florida and known as ratti in India. It also contains the protein abrin, which is more toxic than ricin, another similar enzyme.... [ Now we have ]  the US-led war on terror, a war in which the incompetent concoct terror scenarios about weapons of mass destruction, scenarios which toss common sense and critical-thinking out the window.
UNQUOTE
Remember the major airport security nausea a while ago. Islamics were going to make their own explosives in the air using innocuous liquids. It was a lie concocted by Her Majesty's Government that cost millions. Every chemist knows it is a lie but the main stream media didn't bother to tell us the truth. They are part of the problem too. See  We are being lied to big time, MI6, Liquid Bombing and Blatant Lies,  Raw Story, US pushed MI5 into airport terror swoop or Airport Security - Blair Lied for more and better details.  Here is another lie brewing up.

MI6, Liquid Bombing and Blatant Lies  [ 3 October 2006 ]
QUOTE
Happening upon retired Lieutenant-Colonel Nigel Wylde’s debunking of the August liquid-bomb Brothers Grimm story, posted on the Raw Story site, it immediately becomes obvious why the corporate media did not pick up the story.

Wylde, a former senior British Army Intelligence Officer, knows what he is talking about, as he was awarded the Queen’s Gallantry Medal for his command of the Belfast Explosive Ordnance Disposal Unit in 1974.
UNQUOTE
So does any one with more than a slight knowledge of chemistry. There is collusion between Secret Squirrel and Islamics too. See  US pushed MI5 into airport terror swoop and Airport Security - Blair Lied for more and better details.
Never believe anything in politics until it has been officially denied.
Source - Otto von Bismarck who was in politics for real.

US pushed MI5 into airport terror swoop  [ 1 October 2006 ]
They were going to stick the villain in one of their illegal prisons. This would be why MI5 lied to us about the liquid explosives. It is a blatant lie which any half way  competent chemist will be able to confirm. Hundreds of thousands were inconvenienced big time. Who cares? See Airport Security - Blair Lied for more and better details.

Blair Government Concocts Terror Threat - Scares British People Into Silence  [ 27 September 2006 ]
Some of them anyway. Most of us just ignore the swine and try to get on with our own lives. While they lie to us about making explosive from liquids carried onto aircraft Israelis have been murdering hundreds and thousands in Beirut but they are only foreigners.

Airport Security - Blair Lied [ 27 August 2006 ]
Airports had a major security alert. Hundreds of thousands were held up and given major hassle and it was all based on a lie. At all events the excuse used was a lie, a deliberate lie and Blair knew it. Making explosive from innocuous looking liquids sounds plausible - if you are not a chemist. It is possible - if you are a chemist but not in an aircraft loo. Making TATP involves mixing the right chemicals at LOW temperature and waiting hours with first class ventilation. That means it is impossible in the current case.

Given that Blair and Bush lied we can wonder why. The security mobs have their agendas. So do politicians and feeding  us  lies is a way of terrorizing us and increasing their power. See State of Fear on the point.

 Political corruption is wide ranging and Blair's mob are setting records. They are also destroying the laws that protect us against a corrupt,  malicious state.

It does not follow that the Islamics taken prisoner are not guilty as Hell. England is full of bad tempered rogues in silly hats. Blair imports them as  matter of policy. Then Blair annoys them  by sending the British Army to kill Islamics in Iraq as a way of stealing oil for Israel. What is the pay off for England? Not a lot. Having an unscrupulous liar as Prime Minister is bad news. Even his own detest him and they know him better than us.
PS Did your wonderful local newspaper bother to tell you the truth about this one? Did the BBC, and the rest of the main stream media? You might think it worth writing to them to ask what the game is.

National ID Cards [ 15 April 2005 ]
Are a terrible idea. Bruce Schneier explains why. But tyrants love them. BTW, two men on the 9/11 Job had valid American driving licences. Does national ID  work? See the next article.

Ring Smuggled 1,000 People [ 15 April 2005 ]
This little outfit is only one of several that have been caught moving people into Europe and America. Russian crooks are doing it. It is where the money is. Moving bodies, weapons and drugs is free trading but the security is the problem with it. Some of them are known to be terrorists.  Do Labour want to stop it? They have swallowed the Western Guilt theory that the left likes so no chance.

Errors & omissions, broken links, cock ups, over-emphasis, malice [ real or imaginary ] or whatever; if you find any I am open to comment.

Email me at Mike Emery. All financial contributions are cheerfully accepted. If you want to keep it private, use my PGP key.  Home

Updated  on Friday, 08 August 2008 22:46:07