Page 1 of 5 123 ... LastLast
Results 1 to 10 of 45

Thread: Zero Day - The New Number One Threat To Data Security

  1. #1
    Banned
    Join Date
    Jul 2001
    Posts
    1,100

    Exclamation Zero Day - The New Number One Threat To Data Security

    Zero Day - The New Number One Threat To Data Security

    Has anyone paid attention to the news lately? I remember the old days, when e-commerce was first hitting the web. I was working diligently with the FBI and Pentagon to develop ways to profile and track down the individual hacker and groups that were attacking site after site, breaching both individual privacy, and national security, interrupting e-commerce and destroying consumer confidence in online transactions, along with putting matters of national interest at risk.

    Those days are now long gone. No longer do I read about this hacker or that hacker, of massive breaches of consumer data, or of lack of consumer confidence in e-transactions. Do you know what I DO read about? The US Government.

    Installing secret rooms into cornerstone switching stations, splicing backbone fiber lines, monitoring internet traffic and telephone communications on a massive scale, data mining both public and private records on each and every one of us.

    The most significant threat to information security is no longer the hacker or cyber terrorist my friends, it's the government.

    Big Brother has not only been born, he has grown up and fully matured into the number one threat to our privacy, and data security.

    Trade secrets, personal communications and correspondents, all are already being monitored in real-time and standard methods of infrastructure security such as item level encryption and network wide VPN are no match. NOTHING you do to protect yourself matters, and no action taking place over digital communications is truly secure or private.

    The number one thing that system administrators need to do in this day and age, to truly secure their systems, is to get rid of the number one threat to each of our individual data infrastructures, the US Bush Administration and the Republican Controlled House and Senate.

    Confidence of those using information systems world wide is being threatened by them, and I suggest if powers are not put in place that respect the fundamental right to privacy, we are going to see a massive and rapid reversal of what has been achieved in the ways that we communicate as a global village.

    I hear US Senators like Trent Lott talking like hackers of days gone by, "If you have nothing to hide, what do you have to worry about?". Another way of saying "Information should be free". Indeed we as a global population do have things that we want to remain secret. Not to facilitate criminal intent, or to prevent public scrutiny, but simply because we as individuals and as a society at times naturally wish to guard the thoughts and expressions that we value most.

    Not only is the US Government seeking "total information awareness" of all that we say and do in the evolving digital realm, they also seek to censor communications that they deem inappropriate. The Republican controlled US Government has been proposing and enacting legislation that contains language like "indecency" and "obscenity", in effect criminalizing thoughts and ideas that they feel "inappropriate" for society.

    Along with big brother monitoring individual communications that take place world-wide, he seeks to imprison those that are communicating concepts that he arbitrarily deems unfit based on vague religious principals.

    In their zest to protect our inter-network communications, the US Government has become the very beast that it originally sought to vanquish.

  2. #2
    wow... I take back all my comments about you being worthless, good for nothing and only wanting to re-claim some of the glory you once had.

    Nice write up...

    There was a nice article I saw a couple weeks ago about how the U.S. gvt. said it is going to be illegal if a new bill is passed to use Skype and other communication mediums it can't track.

    If you want a none security book that falls right in line with this. A good read is Digital Fortress by Dan Brown

    I am still shocked over the scandal that is surrounding the willingful passing of telephone logs to the gvt.

    "Those the give up a little freedom for security deserve neither" -Benjamin Franklin

    edit:

    A really good movie that also falls into line with this is V for Vendetta. When governments no long fear their citizens and their citizens fear them. There is a big problem.

    Crow the reason there is an increased amount of cyber crime IMO is the same reason that when prohibition was in place the U.S. as a whole increased with crime. Tell someone not to do something and they do the exact opposite. Far too many constraints are being placed upon users

    For those interested in the article I am talking about...

    http://news.com.com/2061-10804_3-588...4130&subj=news

    edit2

    Galdron

    From my reading... THe companies willingly gave up the info without being requested. That is why the gvt. is fighting itself about it.

  3. #3
    Dissident 4dm1n brokencrow's Avatar
    Join Date
    Feb 2004
    Location
    Shawnee country
    Posts
    1,243
    ...I'm wondering...if the US Government has become the very beast, how come cyber-crime just gets worse and worse?
    “Everybody is ignorant, only on different subjects.” — Will Rogers

  4. #4
    T3h Ch3F
    Join Date
    Sep 2001
    Posts
    718
    Originally posted here by House929

    I am still shocked over the scandal that is surrounding the willingful passing of telephone logs to the gvt.

    I think you might be surprised at how unwilling the companies in question are, and how forceful the U.S. Gov. can be when "requesting" information.

    Good points made JP I worked on the original Onion Router program while I was in the Military, and the very things you mention were happening back then and that was the 90's, this is not a new problem. It is just now coming to (a more public) light.

    Freedom is their excuse, yet freedom of information is their biggest enemy.

    P:

    -Nic
    Get some good religion from Bad Religion.

  5. #5
    Blast From the Past
    Join Date
    Jan 2003
    Posts
    729
    JP has every right to reclame that glory because he deserves it. he knows what he is talking about.
    he started a popular site known as Antionline...

    He earned that Gold Dot.
    You earned your grey.
    work it harder, make it better, do it faster, makes us stronger

  6. #6
    AO Curmudgeon rcgreen's Avatar
    Join Date
    Nov 2001
    Posts
    2,716
    the number one threat to each of our individual data infrastructures, the US Bush Administration and the Republican Controlled House and Senate.
    In less that six months, the Democrats may have the congress.
    You've got two and a half years left of the Bush administration.
    Are you going to continue to talk this brave anti-government
    line when it's the other party abusing power, or is this strictly
    a partisan thing? Did you suddenly become a libertarian, or will
    go back to being pro-government as soon as your party
    wins?
    I came in to the world with nothing. I still have most of it.

  7. #7
    AFLAAACKKK!!
    Join Date
    Apr 2004
    Posts
    1,066
    I could be wrong, but I beleive this will only be temporary... I think most people have had enough of the Republicans and want a change... I'm a Republican, but I think it's about time for this administration to go and I don't think they will be missed.

    The question is, will the democrats be any different? Will they continue the current administrations hypocritical way of thinking... That is, they want our information but we can't have theirs...??
    I am the uber duck!!1
    Proxy Tools

  8. #8
    The Doctor Und3ertak3r's Avatar
    Join Date
    Apr 2002
    Posts
    2,744
    I beleive this will only be temporary... I think most people have had enough of the Republicans and want a change...
    we are talking polititions.. I think one political group is as bad as any other.. they use what their predicesors do for their own advantage.. oh and they rely on people forgetting.. the general public ar good for that... many people even forget how hot it was last summer.
    "Consumer technology now exceeds the average persons ability to comprehend how to use it..give up hope of them being able to understand how it works." - Me http://www.cybercrypt.co.nr

  9. #9
    Senior Member IKnowNot's Avatar
    Join Date
    Jan 2003
    Posts
    792
    Yes, I see this more as a political statement rather then a philosophical one as it should be.

    Bomb, President, jihad, muhammad.

    So now I've attracted their attention and they are watching, what freedom have I given up? They could track my IP, review my history here, etc., basically find me in a heartbeat.

    They will look at this thread and dismiss it, as they should.
    It is not the monitoring that is a problem, it is the people behind the monitoring and what they do with it; the possible abuses of that monitoring that are of concern. But isn't their response to technology ( monitoring ) due to previous abuses by others?

    Freedom is not absolute. If it were I could put a bullet in the head of anyone who disagreed with me, without reprisal, because I live in a free society and I am free. That is just not the case. Freedom, in a social world, has baggage that goes with it which includes responsibility, and responsibility for ones actions. ( Yes, ALL the politicians have to be taught this! )

    Remember, respect has to be earned. It can not be tagged on with a political affiliation.

    If you want to blame a political group, blame the Democrats: Gore invented the Internet, didn't he? The Republicans are only dealing with it.
    " And maddest of all, to see life as it is and not as it should be" --Miguel Cervantes

  10. #10
    Dead Man Walking
    Join Date
    Jan 2003
    Posts
    810
    Shouldn't this be in cosomos? Its not a security discusion. Its a politcal rant.

Posting Permissions

  • You may not post new threads
  • You may not post replies
  • You may not post attachments
  • You may not edit your posts
  •