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9/18/17: TECH TALK: HAUNTED BY DATA

Ron Patton | September 18, 2017

TECH TALK

HAUNTED BY DATA

MONOLOGUE WRITTEN BY CLYDE LEWIS

Back in March, a tidbit of information seemed to have escaped the mainstream narrative, or has fallen off the radar mostly because of the source, WikiLeaks.

We all know that WikiLeaks is a bad word, and we also know that hacking e-mails and Russian advertising collusion with Google and Facebook are now dominating the news cycle.

However, with the recent data breaches and technological data haunting, I think that we need to review just who might be doing all the breaching and how it becomes conveniently unknown who or what is behind it.

Back in March, we reported that WikiLeaks provided leaked documents that had detailed CIA tools for hacking into web servers, computers, smartphones and even TVs that can be turned into covert microphones.

WikiLeaks reported that the CIA Center for Cyber Intelligence lost control of the majority of its hacking arsenal, more than several hundred million lines of code that provide “the entire hacking capacity of the CIA.

So could all of the data breaches and hacks that we have been hearing about are actually being carried out by rogue blackhats that have worked for or still are working for the CIA?

Hackers cobble together networks of hacked computers to carry out nefarious tasks. Increasingly, these attacks are also targeting internet-connected devices we don’t always think of as computers, such as security cameras. The rule changes would let government investigators get one warrant to hack all the computers in a botnet and potentially try to disable it.

While that sounds like it could be a good thing, privacy advocates say it’s a bridge too far for the government to access victim’s computers without their consent or knowledge.

I know that I didn’t immediately address the giant data breach at the credit reporting agency, Equifax. The company reports that, from May through July, identity thieves stole the personal information, including social security numbers of 143 million US consumers. This has not only created an uproar with cyber security companies it has also raised the eyebrows of Conspiracy theorists who have always been reporting that there is something brewing where hackers will use weaponized artificial intelligence to bring down the country’s infrastructure.

Now Equifax is offering a meaningless peace offering. They are offering all those impacted one free year of credit monitoring. Equifax will automatically enroll each impacted individual into Equifax ID Patrol, normally priced at $16.95 per month with the premium service of $19.95 a month.

Now who would be stupid enough to sign up for free credit monitoring from Equifax? It is kind of like being offered plane tickets after you have survived a plane crash.

Consumers can check Equifax’s site EquifaxSecurity2017.com to see if they have been affected. Be warned: Consumer advocates say the system is confusing. The company has also said it will send direct mail notices to consumers whose credit card numbers or dispute information were compromised.

By agreeing to the terms and conditions for Equifax’s monitoring, you may be giving up key consumer rights.

In a statement, the National Consumer Law Center warned consumers of fine print in the agreement that requires them to settle disputes through arbitration, and bans them from participating in class-action lawsuits. There is already a class-action lawsuit in play, accusing Equifax of failing to adequately secure consumers’ information.

The fine print does give consumers the ability to opt out by notifying the company in writing within 30 days.

Many people won’t see the fine print and so they will more than likely sign up, not knowing they can’t participate in a class action suit against the company.

The fact is that the data exposed, including social security numbers, birthdays, and addresses, is some of the most valuable for hackers looking to commit identity fraud or unlock personal accounts. Combine that with the news that three Equifax executives sold millions of dollars worth of stock after the leak was revealed within the consumer credit reporting agency but before it went public and you’ve got a recipe for some compelling conspiracy talk. Most of it not theory – a lot of it is definitely a conspiracy – that appears to be a very convenient event to those who are haunted by data.

Equifax is one of the three major consumer credit reporting agencies in the United States. If identity thieves wanted to hit one place to grab all the data needed to do the most damage, they would go straight to one of the three major credit reporting agencies.

Criminals gained access to certain files in the company’s system from mid-May to July by exploiting a weak point in website software, according to an investigation by Equifax and security consultants. The company said that it discovered the intrusion on July 29 and has since found no evidence of unauthorized activity on its main consumer or commercial credit reporting databases.

In addition to the other material, hackers were also able to retrieve names, birth dates and addresses. Credit card numbers for 209,000 consumers were stolen, while documents with personal information used in disputes for 182,000 people were also taken.

Last year, identity thieves successfully made off with critical W-2 tax and salary data from an Equifax website. And earlier this year, thieves again stole W-2 tax data from an Equifax subsidiary, TALX, which provides online payroll, tax and human resources services to some of the nation’s largest corporations.

Using the data stolen from Equifax, identity thieves can impersonate people with lenders, creditors and service providers, who rely on personal identity information from Equifax to make financial decisions regarding potential customers.

Many people are looking into freezing their credit.

But if everybody in America suddenly started freezing their credit that would slow down economic activity dramatically. So needless to say, authorities are hoping that does not happen.

Lately, there have been too many data breaches all over the world and while the media is only left with information that points to some anonymous black hats — it appears that the obvious culprit is conveniently being ignored and that is the “state sponsored actor.”

Outdated computer systems pose quite a challenge to information officers and executives overseeing cybersecurity threats and the tangled, old systems allow state-sponsored actors access to their databases through gaps in the network and security.

While attributing these hacks remains a challenge, many companies and governments have improved their ability to find the perpetrators.

Russia and China tend to lead the way when it comes to nation-state sponsored cyberattacks. The efforts of the Chinese tend to be economically driven, taking advantage of network gaps and gaps in security to produce economic accelerants via the theft of intellectual property. China’s hacking framework is so broad and successful at targeting U.S. companies that the Department of Justice has called it a national security emergency.

In the mainstream media, the only time you will hear about China and Russia as “State sponsored actors” in cyber attacks is when it is politically convenient to do so. Whether it is Chinese currency manipulation or Russian collusion on Facebook, the media is right there scapegoating these countries to further their own conspiracy yarns. However, we must also consider what can be called false flag security breaches where alphabet agencies are looking for files and conveniently deleting them.

For example, on October 26th 2017, all available documents from all government entities are required by the Kennedy Assassination Records Collection Act of 1992 to be released including an entire volume of documents on Lee Harvey Oswald, known as “volume 5.”

The release in July of 3,810 CIA and FBI documents on the assassination by the Assassination Records Review Board threw up a number of revelations that JFK researchers have hungrily devoured and enthusiastically publicized. For instance, the mayor of Dallas at the time of Kennedy’s assassination, Earle Cabell, was a CIA asset in the 1950s, and his brother, Charles Cabell, a high-ranking CIA official until 1962.

The release in October has been highly-anticipated by those seeking answers. However, thanks to a deliberate fudging of records, or a conveniently timed clerical error, the entire volume may never see the light of day.

As late as 1977, the entire 7-volume collection of documents was intact, having been checked out by Russ Holmes in the Office of General Counsel and noted the 7-volume series was all together, not missing any volumes. But when the CIA was asked to turn over the volume of documents on Oswald, the alleged gunman in the assassination, it seems the agency stonewalled a bit.

The AARB eventually received the 7-volume set of documents on Oswald in 1998, but staffers quickly realized there was one volume conveniently missing – volume 5.

The CIA is saying that perhaps they combined volumes by accident or someone just up and has stolen the volume.

Once again, we see a very important file or vital information that is lost and the media and those involved are completely flummoxed over who could have done the stealing of data or the breaches of important personal data.

The CIA has its own investment capital firm called “In-Q-Tel,” and it’s been funding innovative tech firms for years. This is both good news and bad. One the one hand, it allows the CIA to invest in technologies they deem useful for the intelligence community; however, some of these technologies are a little creepy when it comes to personal space and privacy.

In-Q-Tel has the ability to reach deep into the pockets of the U.S. government’s Black Budget, which is pretty hefty given that the Washington Post reported that a staggering $52.6 billion was set aside for Black Budget operations in fiscal year 2013. If you’re unfamiliar with the Black Budget program, that’s not very surprising; the entire point of the program is to keep these funds and the programs within it, top secret.

Though these investments are much smaller than the total Black Budget spending, amounting from somewhere between $500K and $2 million per investment as per a 2005 story in Washington Post, they’re still strategic contributions made in hopes of using the technology in the future.

If you had to sum up the past couple of years’ worth of data breaches, few have caused more anger and outrage than those affecting the government. The narrative has overwhelmingly been that of Chinese state-sponsored operatives walking through poorly protected systems to get at some of our nation’s most sensitive data.

We’ve slept in well beyond the “wake-up call.”

Written by Ron Patton




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