Category Archives: Uncategorized

Uncategorized

HOW APPLE AND AMAZON SECURITY FLAWS LED TO MY EPIC HACKING

In the space of one hour, my entire digital life was destroyed. First my Google account was taken over, then deleted. Next my Twitter account was compromised, and used as a platform to broadcast racist and homophobic messages. And worst of all, my AppleID account was broken into, and my hackers used it to remotely erase all of the data on my iPhone, iPad, and MacBook.

In many ways, this was all my fault. My accounts were daisy-chained together. Getting into Amazon let my hackers get into my Apple ID account, which helped them get into Gmail, which gave them access to Twitter. Had I used two-factor authentication for my Google account, it’s possible that none of this would have happened, because their ultimate goal was always to take over my Twitter account and wreak havoc. Lulz.

Had I been regularly backing up the data on my MacBook, I wouldn’t have had to worry about losing more than a year’s worth of photos, covering the entire lifespan of my daughter, or documents and e-mails that I had stored in no other location.

Those security lapses are my fault, and I deeply, deeply regret them.

But what happened to me exposes vital security flaws in several customer service systems, most notably Apple’s and Amazon’s. Apple tech support gave the hackers access to my iCloud account. Amazon tech support gave them the ability to see a piece of information — a partial credit card number — that Apple used to release information. In short, the very four digits that Amazon considers unimportant enough to display in the clear on the web are precisely the same ones that Apple considers secure enough to perform identity verification. The disconnect exposes flaws in data management policies endemic to the entire technology industry, and points to a looming nightmare as we enter the era of cloud computing and connected devices.

This isn’t just my problem. Since Friday, Aug. 3, when hackers broke into my accounts, I’ve heard from other users who were compromised in the same way, at least one of whom was targeted by the same group.

‬The very four digits that Amazon considers unimportant enough to display in the clear on the Web are precisely the same ones that Apple considers secure enough to perform identity verification.‪
‬Moreover, if your computers aren’t already cloud-connected devices, they will be soon. Apple is working hard to get all of its customers to use iCloud. Google’s entire operating system is cloud-based. And Windows 8, the most cloud-centric operating system yet, will hit desktops by the tens of millions in the coming year. My experience leads me to believe that cloud-based systems need fundamentally different security measures. Password-based security mechanisms — which can be cracked, reset, and socially engineered — no longer suffice in the era of cloud computing.

A MUST READ: DON’T USE THE CLOUD

Opinion, Uncategorized

WAS THE HOLOCAUST A HOLOHOAX? 15 YEAR OLD GIRL GETS AN A

Jazzy
A 15-year-old girl from Southern California who attends a public high school tells the story of how she recently became aware of questions concerning the holocaust. After hearing the establishment’s version of the ‘shoah’ in her history class for weeks along with persistent rumors that Obamacare included provisions for microchipping all Americans, she was very upset at all the frightening and traumatizing details. But then she had an encounter which led her to question what she had been taught, and decided to conduct her own investigation.

Upon completion of her research, she decided to submit a report for a school project in an elective class she was taking for extra credit. She titled it ‘Holohoax,’ and got an A on the report! Unfortunately for the regime, the widely accepted version of the ‘holocaust’ which has been passed down for generations and constantly promoted through Hollywood propaganda films is not enough to brainwash the youth, who are increasingly thinking for themselves, outside the box.

Here is Jazzy’s report as well as a brief video introduction.
READ COMPLETE REPORT !

Uncategorized

WOULD CANADIANS LET THIS GO DOWN ? INTERNATIONAL NEWS IS STUNNED !

The Acting IRS Commissioner, Steven Miller – who sat before a House Ways and Means hearing on Friday and answered “I don’t know” to virtually every question – is departing on schedule in June. The current head of the tax-exempt organizations department is retiring gracefully, without any hint of shame or punishment… after only one week on the job.

And his predecessor, Sarah Hall Ingram – the woman who was actually in charge of that fabulously corrupt department during years of abuse?
Why, she got promoted.

She’s going to be in charge of ObamaCare enforcement now.

Uncategorized

CREATING THE NEWS SPIN AND SHAPING THE WORLD… YOU GO GIRL !

don_ennis-300x180

Top ABC News producer Don Ennis walked into his Manhattan office on Friday in a “little black dress” and a brunette bobbed wig and announced to colleagues that from now on, he would like to be known as Dawn.

The 49-year-old father of three said he’s splitting from his wife of 17 years to become a woman, or Dawn Stacey Ennis, as she is now known on her governmental records.

“Today I begin anew,” she wrote on her Facebook timeline, where she debuted a flirty new profile picture.

via
Read the TRUE AGENDA…
In the film business a P&A Budget (Prints and adds) is what brings public awareness that makes or breaks a film investment. The best advertising is the FREE NEWS AGENCIES, like the one in this article. Because the News “SPIN” is so very powerful. So now we find out their has been a hidden agenda all along.
Amazing, simply amazing.

Uncategorized

FBI SECRETLY SPYING ON GOOGLE USERS, COMPANY REVEALS

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The FBI used National Security Letters — a form of surveillance that privacy watchdogs call “frightening and invasive” — to surreptitiously seek information on Google users, the web giant has just revealed.

Google’s disclosure is “an unprecedented win for transparency,” privacy experts said Wednesday. But it’s just one small step forward. “Serious concerns and questions remain about the use of NSLs,” the Electronic Frontier Foundation’s Dan Auerbach and Eva Galperin wrote. For one thing, the agency issued 16,511 National Security Letters in 2011, the last year for which data was available. But Google was gagged from saying just how many letters it received — leaving key questions unanswered. “The terrorists apparently would win if Google told you the exact number of times the Federal Bureau of Investigation invoked a secret process to extract data about the media giant’s customers,” Wired’s David Kravets wrote. He described the FBIs use of NSLs as a way of “secretly spying” on Googles customers.National Security Letters are a means for the FBI to obtain information on people from telecommunications companies, authorized by the Electronic Communications Privacy Act ECPA and expanded under the Patriot Act.

It lets the agency seek information on a subscriber to a wire or electronic communications service, although not things like the content of their emails or search queries, Google said.And thanks to secrecy constraints built into NSLs, companies that receive them usually aren’t even allowed to acknowledge the request for information. Citing such extreme secrecy, privacy experts have decried the use of these letters in the past.“Of all the dangerous government surveillance powers that were expanded by the USA PATRIOT Act, the National Security Letter NSL power … is one of the most frightening and invasive,” the EFF wrote. “These letters … allow the FBI to secretly demand data about ordinary American citizens private communications and Internet activity without any meaningful oversight or prior judicial review.”

Thanks to negotiations with the government, Google finally opened the smallest chink in the armor, allowing the search giant to reveal the fact that it had received these requests for data, as well as some general information about them.

“Visit our page on user data requests in the U.S. and you’ll see, in broad strokes, how many NSLs for user data Google receives, as well as the number of accounts in question,” Richard Salgado, Google’s legal director of law enforcement and information security, wrote in a Tuesday blog post.A new table posted to Google’s Transparency Report site outlines the details; it tabulates how many requests for information the company has received over each of the past four years: some undisclosed number between 0 and 999.

With those NSLs, the FBI sought information on somewhere between 1,000 and 1,999 users/accounts.“People don’t always use our services for good, and it’s important that law enforcement be able to investigate illegal activity,” Salgado wrote.

No other technology company presently disclose such basic information about government requests, experts noted.

more at FBI secretly spying on Google users, company reveals | Fox News.

Uncategorized

History of Luxembourg

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Luxembourg began as a hill top fortress in the AD600’s. As you can imagine it has always been a hugely strategic location, between France and Germany. Throughout European history the different countries have spent a lot of time fighting each other (from 1500 until 1800 the big European nations were at war over 50% of the time) and Luxembourg was often in the centre of all this. So Luxembourg became one of the most heavily fortified and blood stained lands in Europe.

Luxembourg has changed hands many times over the years; it has been under the rule of France, Germany, Austria, Spain and Prussia. When the Austrian’s had it, they gave it as a gift to the King of the Netherlands as well as making it a Royal Duchy. This enabled Luxembourg to build it’s own political institutions, so in 1867 it was recognised as a politically independent state. Due to it’s strategic importance it was officially declared to be neutral – so as not to cause problems between France and Germany (they have not always been as friendly as the now appear!) This neutrality was broken when Germany invaded in the first world war, and again in the second WW. Their neutrality meant Luxembourg had no army, so the German’s walked straight into Luxembourg and took it over. The bloody and infamous Battle of the Bulge was fought on Luxembourg soil. After the second world war Luxembourg relinquished neutrality and joined NATO. It was also one of the founding states of the EU.

Today it is a centre of business and banking (Paypal is one of the business’s to be registered there). It has the greatest concentration of banks within the EU, as well as many holding companies – it is a tax haven.

It is also home to some of the following EU institutions:

The Commission of the European Community, including the Statistical Office (EUROSTAT) and the Publications Office,

The Court of Justice of the European Communities

The general Secretariat of the European Parliament,

The European Investment Bank,

The European Court of Auditors.

The Official Publications Office

The Nuclear Safety Administration,

The Directorate-General of ‘Credits and Investments’

 

Uncategorized

History of Venice

Venice was founded by refugees fleeing the Germanic tribe, the Lombards, after they invaded Italy in 568 AD. The refugees came from the town of Aquileia, traditionally believed to have been founded by St. Mark. At that time the Christian Byzantine empire spread across that area of Italy, and the islands that make up Venice were part of a defensive agreement between the Byzantine’s and the Lombard’s, and came under Byzantine control. However, as the Byzantine empire’s grip of power in the west loosened, the early Venetians found themselves largely independent. Through their skills as merchants they grew in power and wealth, and by 726 they elected their first Doge (like a Duke). The first Doge, failed in his attempt to become independent from the Byzantines.

Through time the Venetian’s ruthless diplomacy and ability to play one power against another eventually secured her independence; and Venice’s excellent location between the powers of western Europe and the east gave her the opportunity to grow increasingly wealthy via trade, and became a popular navigational route to the eastern countries from Europe.

In the early 9th century, Venice needed to improve her status, and in the Christian Middle Ages, that required a patron saint and relics. Since Venice was founded by the refugees of Aquileia they adopted St. Mark as their Saint. Legend has it that two Venetian merchants stole St. Mark’s body from a tomb in Alexandria and brought his remains back to the Basilica in Venice. Throughout the city there are depictions of winged lions, symbols of St. Mark.

In the 11th century the power of the Norman invasion in Europe threatened the Byzantines in Italy. The Venetians agreed to help the Byzantines against the Normans. In return for their help the Byzantines allowed the Venetians to trade freely with them, and not pay the same duties and customs as other nations. The start of the Crusades began to open up trading routes with the east, which Venice was uniquely placed to exploit.

However, by the 12 century the pride and wealth of the Venetians bred hostility in Constantinople (the centre of the Byzantine empire). As a result the Byzantines made new trade deals with Pisa and Genoa and they began to tax Venetian traders. Hostility between the old allies grew.

With internal power struggles in the Byzantine empire and the Fourth Crusade looming, Venice had a chance of revenge. The Catholic Church looked for financial support in the launching of a new crusade- this time against wealthily Egypt and Cairo. The Venetians offered their military support and use of their naval power and infrastructure; in return for half of any lands conquered and 85,000 silver marks. The church agreed and the fleet was due to depart June 1202. However, the Venetian diplomats immediately brokered a deal with the Sultan in Egypt, assuring him the fleet would never reach his shores, and the Doge negotiated with the deposed Byzantine emperor.

When the day of departure arrived, the church was unable to pay the full amount of money, so the Venetians offered a compromise. They would accept part payment, if the army would help them deal with a small dispute they had with the King of Hungary. This was agreed and the fleet set sail for the city of Zara, which they laid siege to and conquered. By this time it was nearly winter, so the fleet camped at Zara for the season. In the meantime, the deposed emperor of the Byzantines agreed to pay the remainder of the 85,000 silver marks to regain his throne in Constantinople. So the fleet headed off to Constantinople, where they laid siege and defeated the city. However, the emperor was unable to pay so the Venetians looted the city of her treasures in retaliation. Many of the finest treasures of Venice today, were those stolen from Constantinople.

Throughout the 15th and 16th century, Venice continued to grow in power and wealth through her trade and maritime dominance. However, tensions grew between Venice and the Papal states of Italy; as well as with France and Spain. Ceaseless war began to take its toll on the power and wealth of the republic. The Vatican believed Venice and France were the greatest threat to the power of the Papal states in central Italy. Consequently the Pope began a ruthless plan to usurp Venetian power. The political turmoil that ensued resulted in the long decline of Venice as a place of political significance, and in 1866, became part of the newly independent Kingdom of Italy.

Today, Venice’s place as a center for the arts continues; a place of pleasure and decadence, famous for it’s masked balls and the world’s first opera house and plays a major role on the world stage as a center for film, and tourism as one of the world’s most beautiful cities.

 

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