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DOJ code-breaking project found unencrypted on the internet
Encryption is the key to our digital privacy. It keeps eavesdroppers from reading your private conversations and checking out which sites you're visiting. It's important enough that iOS and Android will encrypt your entire device just in case it falls into the wrong hands.
NSA will stop illegally collecting American emails
The National Security Agency has enjoyed relatively broad authority to monitor communications among suspected terrorists and their associates, even when those people happen to be American citizens and even without a warrant. However, The New York Times reports the NSA is stopping one of its most controversial practices: the collection of Americans' international emails and text messages that mention a foreigner under surveillance.
Microsoft says it already patched 'Shadow Brokers' NSA leaks
Yesterday, the mysterious "Shadow Brokers" posted some hacking tools for Windows that were allegedly stolen from the NSA. All of them were at least a few years old, but exploited flaws in several versions of the operating system to move across networks and infect systems. early Saturday morning, Microsoft has responded with a blog post, saying it has evaluated all of the exploits listed. Its response to the release is surprisingly simple: most of them have already been fixed.
Shadow Brokers release also suggests NSA spied on bank transactions
Besides a cache of potentially damaging zero-day exploits against many versions of Windows, another element of today's Shadow Brokers release is a folder titled SWIFT. Inside, it has documents listing the internal structure at EastNets, a Dubai-based bank and anti-money laundering organization. Banks use the SWIFT messaging system to transfer trillions of dollars every day, and if the documents released are accurate, it appears the NSA wanted access to monitor transfers between banks in the Middle East.
'Shadow Brokers' dump of NSA tools includes new Windows exploits (updated)
Earlier this year "The Shadow Brokers" -- an entity claiming to have stolen hacking tools from the NSA then offering them for sale -- seemed to pack up shop, but the group has continued on. Today, it made a new post that contained a number of working exploits for Windows machines running everything from XP up to at least Windows 8. As far as Windows 10, it appears that the stolen data is from 2013 and predates the latest OS. As such, it isn't immediately apparent if it's vulnerable, but early results indicate at least some of the tools aren't working on it. Update (4/15): Microsoft responded early Saturday morning, saying that for the seven flaws leaked that affect supported systems -- they've all already been patched. Of course, the story gets a bit more interesting from there, since it appears that four of them were only patched just last month, suggesting someone informed the company about the security issues before TSB could leak them.
'Shadow Brokers' give away more NSA hacking tools
The elusive Shadow Brokers didn't have much luck selling the NSA's hacking tools, so they're giving more of the software away -- to everyone. In a Medium post, the mysterious team supplied the password for an encrypted file containing many of the Equation Group surveillance tools swiped back in 2016. Supposedly, the group posted the content in "protest" at President Trump turning his back on the people who voted for him. The leaked data appears to check out, according to researchers, but some of it is a couple of decades old and focused on platforms like Linux.
Senators ask for info on Trump's smartphone use
When he isn't addressing matters of national security amongst diners at his Mar-a-Lago resort, Donald Trump is reportedly using an unsecured Android phone for official communications. That's of great concern for more than a few reasons and two prominent Democrat lawmakers want the Department of Defense to address why it's happening.
Court indicts contractor who stole NSA's hacking tools
A federal grand jury has indicted former NSA contractor Harold Thomas Martin for what could be the biggest theft of classified materials in the US. According to Reuters, the indictment alleges that Martin has been stealing from NSA, CIA and other intelligence agencies for 20 years as a private contractor with top security clearance. When he was arrested in October 2016, he was working for Booz Allen Hamilton Holding Corp, the same consulting firm that Edward Snowden worked for when he leaked top secret files to the press in 2013. The event forced the company to hire former FBI Director Robert Mueller to audit its security and personnel.
A whole new low in government trust
Our country changed so quickly in the past week that it feels like the pod doors have been sealed shut and an antigravity switch flipped inside our borders. From the outside, it probably looks like a snowglobe scene of hell. The Doomsday Clock advanced, "thanks to Trump," and it's now only two and a half minutes to nuclear midnight, while The Economist's Democracy Index downgraded the US from "full democracy" to "flawed."
Obama's legacy: The most tech-savvy president
When Barack Obama moved into the White House on January 20th, 2009, the federal government was in the digital dark ages. Even as late as 2011, he was complaining that the White House was 30 years behind. Among other things, Obama was the first president to carry a BlackBerry, and even so, it wasn't until 2016 that the leader of the free world was finally able to trade in his aging RIM device for a modern smartphone. And, as the president was quick to point out in an interview with Jimmy Fallon, the unnamed phone is so locked down, it's like one of those "play phones" you'd give to a 3-year-old. Despite these hurdles, Obama made it one of his priorities to modernize the federal government on everything from telecommunications policy to White House IT. He tackled infrastructure, STEM education, net neutrality and climate change in serious and substantive ways. Of course, the president's efforts weren't always a rousing success, and on issues involving privacy, spying and drone usage, he faces lingering criticism from both ends of the political spectrum. But, love him or hate him, for better or worse, when it comes to science and technology, Barack Obama has had a bigger impact than almost any president in history.
Russia will let Edward Snowden stay for another three years
Less than 24 hours after President Obama commuted the majority of Chelsea Manning's 35-year sentence, the Russian government has updated its position on whistleblower Edward Snowden. Local authorities have confirmed that Snowden has been granted another three-year extension to his residency permit, which was first granted in 2013, allowing him to stay in the country until 2020.
'Guccifer 2.0' DNC leaker returns, as 'Shadow Brokers' exit
Throughout the presidential campaign last year, a hacker calling themselves "Guccifer 2.0" leaked DNC documents, before going dark just before the actual election. Now, after being tagged as a front for Russian government-directed hacking, the identity has returned, writing in much clearer English and taunting US intelligence. In a blog post, Guccifer 2.0 claims again to have no connection to Russia, and refutes assertions made by the DHS and FBI to the contrary.
Obama expands the NSA's ability to share data with other agencies
The National Security Agency is now able to share raw surveillance data with all 16 of the United States government's intelligence groups, including the Central Intelligence Agency, Federal Bureau of Investigation, Department of Homeland Security and Drug Enforcement Administration. These agencies are able to submit requests for raw data pertaining to specific cases, and the NSA will approve or deny each request based on its legitimacy and whether granting access would put large amounts of private citizens' information at risk. Previously, the NSA would filter information for specific requests, eliminating the identities of innocent people and erasing irrelevant personal data. That's not the case any longer.
Unverified report says Russia has dirt on Trump (updated)
In a new political development, the US intelligence community reportedly briefed the White House that Russian spies hacked not just the DNC, but the Republican party, too. Not only that, US intelligence told both President Obama and President-elect Trump that an unverified report has been circulating with claims that Russia may have compromising personal or financial information about Donald Trump, according to CNN.
US intelligence releases report linking Russia to election hacks
As promised, the US intelligence community has released the public version of its report connecting the Russian government to election-oriented hacks... and it isn't pulling any punches. The findings directly accuse Russian President Vladimir Putin of ordering an "influence campaign" to destabilize the American vote, with hacks as a major component. The authoritarian leader wanted to both "undermine public faith" in the democratic process and "denigrate" Hillary Clinton to make sure that Russia's preferred candidate, Donald Trump, took office. Many of the unclassified details will seem familiar, but the US notes that its conclusions are drawn from both intelligence collected by the CIA, FBI and NSA as well as knowledge about both the Kremlin and the organizations it props up.
Snowden document suggests NSA could have proof of Russian hack
The FBI, CIA and President Barack Obama all agree that Russia hacked the DNC and asserted its will on the US presidential election -- but the winner of that contest isn't so sure. "It could be somebody else." Donald Trump told reporters over New Years. "Hacking is a hard thing to prove." Except, as it turns out, US intelligence has a pretty good track record of tracing security breaches back to the Kremlin. According to a new document leaked by Edward Snowden, the NSA has successfully traced a hack back to Russian intelligence at least once before.
The year of Yahoo's undoing
It's not often that we're able to quantify the crappiness of a particular year, but Yahoo's 2016 was so tragic that it ended with a hefty, widely publicized price tag: $1 billion. That's the size of the discount that Verizon requested on its purchase of Yahoo, just three months after the $4.83 billion acquisition went public. That deal (and the discount) is still in the works, and it's expected to close early next year, but Verizon clearly feels it has the upper hand in negotiations. And, after Yahoo's year of hacking disclosures, government spying and security issues, it's easy to see why.
Congress claims Snowden has been in contact with Russian intelligence
Edward Snowden, the NSA contractor who released a trove of confidential documents detailing the massive scope of US surveillance programs, has been accused by Congress of giving information to Russian intelligence agencies. A new report from the US House of Representatives Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence (HPSCI) claims that Snowden "has had, and continues to have, contact with Russian intelligence services" since seeking asylum in Russia in 2013. The 33-page report, which was just declassified today, contains a section called "foreign influence" in which the deputy chairman of the Russian parliament's defense and security committee claims that "Snowden did share intelligence" with the Russian government.
Watch Twitter's CEO interview Edward Snowden at 12PM ET
The world's most famous whistleblower, Edward Snowden, will be interviewed by Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey in less than an hour. Those of you who are interested in watching can do so live via the Pardon Snowden Twitter account, and you can also participate by submitting your own questions using the hashtag #AskSnowden. There are no details on what the conversation will be about, but chances are we'll hear something related to Russia "hacking" the US Presidential election and other things of that nature. Tune in at 12:05PM ET.
ICYMI: Birds the magical flying machines
try{document.getElementById("aol-cms-player-1").style.display="none";}catch(e){}Today on In Case You Missed It: There are three main theories of flight and it turns out, Stanford has poked holes in them by simply training a mini parrot to wear tiny safety goggles, then fly through a laser sheet. The video is more adorable than you could probably imagine so feel free to get your fix here. Meanwhile, NASA's new jet engine could make waves in both increased fuel efficiency and plane design since it relies on slower-moving air currents. The Arctic Sea Ice video is here, but the must-watch in this scenario is the Weather Channel take-down of Breitbart News. The video of the lawn picture maker is here. As always, please share any interesting tech or science videos you find by using the #ICYMI hashtag on Twitter for @mskerryd.