Category Archives: Security

How Facebook Helps Repressive Regimes

Note the blog post and the warning by a student at Tufts:

The purpose of this blog post is not to help repressive regimes use Facebook better, but rather to warn activists about the risks they face when using Facebook. Granted, many activists already know about these risks, but those I’ve been in touch with over the past few weeks simply had no idea. So what follows is a brief account of how repressive regimes in North Africa have recently used Facebook to further their own ends. I also include some specific steps that activists might take to be safer” that said, I’m no expert and would very much welcome feedback so I can pass this on to colleagues.

He could have called it “how to keep your information private”…ah, but then again we’re talking about Facebook. Even if you are an expert in information security Facebook is a royal PITA if you want any kind of privacy.

As I mentioned in my RSA presentation, nobody wants to put their assets in a bank and then have to test it every day to see if it is still safe. That’s why I suggest the #4 recommendation to activists (quit Facebook and use more privacy-aware platforms) should be moved to #1.

Something about #3 bothers me but I can’t quite put my finger on it.

Create a new Facebook account with a false name, email address and no picture and minimize incriminating content. Yes, I realize this may get you shut down by Facebook but is that as bad as getting tortured?

Hey, it’s your choice; impersonate someone else or be tortured? Sounds like a false choice to me. You can be arrested even with a false name or for impersonation.

A Bulawayo man has become Zimbabwe’s first “Facebook arrest” over an innocent comment he posted on the social networking site on the 13th February. Vikas Mavhudzi of Old Magwegwe, is being charged with “subverting a constitutional government” after he posted a message on a Facebook page allegedly belonging to Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai.

Other recommendations would be to switch to encrypted P2P communication and to make use of encoded language. Maybe try predictable stealth also…

Orcas Hunt in Predictable Stealth Mode

Researchers say that Orcas can co-ordinate attacks without using normal communication channels.

“They go into stealth mode – completely silent,” said Dr Deecke [from the University of St Andrews in Scotland]. “This raises the question: how are they communicating?”

It seems that orcas can carry out complex, co-ordinated mammal-hunting trips without “talking to each other” at all.

[…]

Dr Deecke thinks that the orcas might “rehearse” their hunting routines, to learn the position of each group member.

“They tend to be very predictable,” he said. “I often know exactly where they are going to surface.”

Very predictable stealth mode? Funny. I assume he is trying to make a point with the contradiction in what he is describing.

Orca
Haha, missed again

Winning the Oil Endgame

Amory Lovins from 2005

Unexpectedly, whalers ran out of customers before they ran out of whales…the remnant whale populations were saved by technological innovators and profit maximizing capitalists.

He proposes two steps, both of which cost less than buying the petroleum they offset

  1. Retool transportation to be two or three-times more efficient (save more than 60% by 2025)
  2. Move to biofuel

We’ve done this before…1977-1985 when we last paid attention…oil imports from the Persian Gulf fell 87% and would have been gone if we had kept that up one more year.

NATO Article 5 and Cyber Attack

The US wants to cut its budget, but NATO is putting pressure on them to keep their commitments under Article 5.

Article 5 of the NATO treaty requires the Alliance to come to the aid of member-states if their territory comes under attack.

[…]

For the new NATO members, American troops continue to act as a hedge against what they see as Moscow’s unpredictable foreign policy.

“The nations that have been most concerned about the credibility of Article 5 are the Central Europeans,” Brzezinksi [former US Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Europe and NATO Policy] said. “People remember that Estonia had a cyber attack that originated in Russia, and which most believe was organized by the Russian government.”