GOV cyber workers are back Checking for hacks

Figuring out how to adjust the multimillion-dollar contracts
to upgrade and secure federal IT systems that have spent more than a month not checked.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/powerpost/paloma/the-cybersecurity-202/2019/01/28/the-cybersecurity-202-the-government-s-cyber-workers-are-back-in-action-first-task-checking-for-hacks/

By Joseph Marks The Washington Post January 28, 2019

Thousands of federal cyber workers are returning to their posts.

It will take them days or weeks to pore through security logs to assess how much damage the shutdown did to the security of government computer networks and the sensitive data they hold. The attacks did not abate because the government was closed: One cyber manager who worked without pay during the shutdown described an uptick in attacks on his agency — including phishing emails containing malware, attempts to reset employee passwords and attempts to trick users into downloading malicious software cloaked as a legitimate update.

Also on the docket: Figuring out how to adjust the multimillion-dollar contracts to upgrade and secure federal IT systems that have spent more than a month on ice.

[…]

"When they substitute their knowledge for ours, we grow angry because they have robbed us of our agency."

@weeklystandard @smarick
Trends in governing have eroded the beliefs, norms and processes by which we learn to be accommodating citizens in a pluralistic, deliberative democracy. By manufacturing rights that limit democratic decision-making, centralizing power in Washington far from citizens’ lives, and empowering unelected bureaucrats in federal regulatory agencies, we’ve obstructed Americans’ practice of self-government. From this perspective, it is no surprise that we are losing the disposition and skills for collegial, conciliatory collective action
https://www.weeklystandard.com/andy-smarick/the-conservative-supreme-court-could-remake-american-citizenship

The Panama Papers as a retaliatory move against Vladimir Putin’s Russia.

Graph depicts the flow of what investor Bill Browder recently testified to be money stolen from the Russian people themselves.
Based on hacking that exfiltratrated 2.6 terabytes of financial data, the Panama Papers was the largest leak in a string of such “journalistic” endeavors kicked off by the Russian military intelligence front Wikileaks.
When the Panama Papers hit the news in April 2016, it wasn’t well understood that Vladimir Putin may have been the main target
This round of Pulitzer Prize-winning journalism focused on a favorite of Russia’s.
https://web.archive.org/web/20180219001211/https://www.ericgarland.co/2017/08/01/panama-papers-putin-corruption/

Amnesty Demands Israel Revoke NSO's License After Haaretz Report on Firm's Negotiations With Saudis

Organization says cyber firm ‘out of control’ following revelation that it offered cyber-espionage system to Riyadh mere months before crown prince launched purge
Amnesty demands Israel revoke NSO’s license after Haaretz report on firm’s negotiations with Saudis
https://www.haaretz.com/israel-news/amnesty-demands-israel-revoke-nso-s-license-after-haaretz-report-on-cyber-firm-1.6695252
Snowden: Israeli Firm’s Spyware Was Used to Track Khashoggi
Former U.S. intel staffer claims one of the dissident’s contacts was bugged with NSO’s Pegasus spyware, blasts Israeli tech industry ■ In response, NSO denies selling its products
 

Khashoggi’s Friend Sues Israel’s NSO: Spyware That Hacked My Phone Had Major Role in Murder

Omar Abdulaziz files lawsuit in Israel after Haaretz investigation found that NSO negotiated with Saudi officials the sale of advanced cyber attack capabilities ■ Correspondence with Khashoggi reveals his plans to undermine MBS’ government

Johnson & Johnson, Pfizer, Merck & Co (MSD), and Abbott are cheating governments out taxes – millions.

According to a new report by Oxfam International it appears drug companies are stashing billions of dollars in profits offshore, and charging sky-high prices.

more https://actions.sumofus.org/a/big-pharma-stop-dodging-taxes

More information

Tim Cook to white supremacists: ‘You have no place on our platforms’

“At Apple, we believe technology needs to have a clear point of view. This is no time to get tied up in knots. We only have one message for those who seek to push hate, division, or violence: You have no place on our platforms. You have no home here. From the earliest days of iTunes to Apple Music today we have always prohibited music with a history of white supremacy. Why? Because it’s the right thing to do. And as we showed this year, we won’t give a platform to violent conspiracy theorists. Why? Because it’s the right things to do.”
https://www.theverge.com/2018/12/3/18124416/tim-cook-apple-infowars-white-supremacy-podcasts-platform-adl

DriveSavers claims it has a way to break into locked iPhones with 100 percent success

The company isn’t saying exactly how it’s able to do so

https://www.theverge.com/2018/11/27/18115176/drivesavers-locked-iphone-break-in-unlock
“Other companies offer a similar service only to law enforcement. DriveSavers is the first to offer a Passcode Lockout Data Recovery service to consumers. The DriveSavers service is not available for law enforcement and requires proof of ownership prior to unlocking a device.”
 
 

CRISPR Consequences 'He' has pushed humanity across a line that it can never uncross.

CRISPR Consequences

You can’t push the frontier of science if you leave all the ethicists behind.

 

He will probably turn up eventually, at which point he’ll likely need to submit to an investigation from China’s Ministry of Science and Technology.

The results of that investigation could shape the future of human gene editing — if China punishes He severely for his actions, it could deter other scientists from pursuing the “ask forgiveness, not permission” route with their own research. Leniency could have the opposite effect.

Regardless of how that investigation plays out, though, He has pushed humanity across a line that it can never uncross. We now live in a world in which the first people with CRISPR-modified genes have been born.

16th Century Troll warns you not to look

16th c artist  says “Leave this panel closed, otherwise you’ll be angry with me.”
And the label inside: “It’s not my fault because I warned you in advance!”
16thCentTroll

WHO GOT RICH OFF THE STUDENT DEBT CRISIS

Posted on September 28, 2016 by
America’s total student debt is worth more than Mexico’s entire GDP. Here’s how we got here:

Another conflict of interest at a Trump hotel?

https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2018/11/29/another-conflict-interest-trump-hotel/
The Debt Collection Forum is an annual trade show put on for the debt-collection industry, the sort of event that hosts seminars on topics like “Trump and the CFPB” and promises to deliver “actionable solutions.” In previous years, it has been held in places such as Nashville. In April 2019, the Debt Collection Forum will take place in Chicago — at the Trump International Hotel and Tower.
You read that right. A group of several hundred debt collectors, members of a widely loathed industry that is regulated by the federal government, is going to meet next April at a property belonging to the president of the United States.
It is an interesting choice of venue — and one that, once again, highlights our unsatisfactory laws when it comes to the issue of Trump’s personal business interests and how they potentially conflict with the office of the presidency.

Political Divide Defeated: Kentucky's coal People and liberal voters from western Massachusettse love each other instead.

WE NEED MORE MORE MORE OF THIS

Here and Now NPR
https://www.npr.org/podcasts/510051/here-x26-now

November 28, 2018: Hour 2

Through home visits, emails, Skype sessions and cultural events, a group of conservative voters from Kentucky’s coal country and a group of liberal voters from western Massachusetts have started a political dialogue in an attempt to bridge political divides. That and more, in hour two of Here & Now’s Nov. 28, 2018 full broadcast.