Odd and Ends
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Israeli hackers have claimed credit for downing websites run by the Saudi Stock Exchange (Tadawul) and the Abu Dhabi Securities Exchange (ADX). The digital operation was apparently conducted in retaliation for the hacking of two prominent Israeli sites on Monday: the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange (TASE) and El Al (Israel Airlines). The hackers - who called themselves "IDF-Team" - also warned that if attacks against Israeli sites continued, they would "move to the next stage and paralyze websites for a period of two weeks to a month." As the Israeli daily Ha'aretz notes, another pro-Israel hacker known as "Hannibal" has published a list of 30,000 e-mail addresses and Facebook passwords purportedly belonging to residents residing in a number of Middle Eastern countries.
Saudi and Abu Dhabi stock exchanges downed in cyber attack | TG Daily
Bulgarian Dirty Bombs | The VICE Guide to Travel | VICE
Shane Smith and Eddy Moretti shop for dirty bombs in the Bulgarian black market. After you see the relative ease with which they were able to meet a real, in the flesh, black market arms dealer, you’ll be stocking up on gas masks and radiation sickness pills. We know we are.
For the past three years, a highly encrypted computer worm called Conficker has been spreading rapidly around the world. As many as 12 million computers have been infected with the self-updating worm, a type of malware that can get inside computers and operate without their permission. "What Conficker does is penetrate the core of the [operating system] of the computer and essentially turn over control of your computer to a remote controller," writer Mark Bowden tells Fresh Air 's Terry Gross.
The 'Worm' That Could Bring Down The Internet : NPR
BBC News - Finland 'finds Patriot missiles' on China-bound ship
The Thor Liberty is docked in Kotka Dock workers became suspicious after finding explosives poorly stored on open pallets, and the missiles were then found in containers marked "fireworks". The managing director of the ship's owner, Thorco Shipping, expressed surprise. Thomas Mikkelsen told AFP news agency from Denmark that he was unaware of the matter.
Spies Fail to Escape Spyware in Bazaar for Cyber Arms - Bloomberg
The intelligence operative sits in a leather club chair, laptop open, one floor below the Hilton Kuala Lumpur ’s convention rooms, scanning the airwaves for spies. In the salons above him, merchants of electronic interception demonstrate their gear to government agents who have descended on the Malaysian capital in early December for the Wiretapper’s Ball, as this surveillance industry trade show is called. Enlarge image Enlarge image
Sarah Boesveld Nov 25, 2011 – 11:35 PM ET | Last Updated: Nov 25, 2011 11:45 PM ET Arrests of secret agents. A bizarre assassination plot. A fatal explosion at a missile base with an outcome quite convenient for a nation’s sworn enemy. The dramatic tales of espionage and covert action have flowed fast from Iran in recent weeks. They include pilotless drones controlled by a foreign power buzzing overhead, computer viruses planted to wreak havoc on volatile materials, and mysterious deaths with no one to blame.
Arab Spring revs up global spy game | News | National Post
Rare Photographs Show Ground Zero of the Drone War | Danger Room | Wired.com
The epicenter of global terrorism, and the CIA's highly classified drone war against extremist groups, is a black hole on the map -- a region of Pakistan off limits to outsiders, and especially Westerners. It’s an area so dangerous that even the Pakistani military avoids it. The CIA may have launched 70 drone strikes in tribal Pakistan in 2011 alone. But Americans, like the rest of the world, have no idea what the area looks like, or who lives there. One resident of North Waziristan wants to expose the conflict. Noor Behram has spent years photographing the aftermath of drone strikes, often at personal risk.
The FBI disclosed this weekend that data gathered by Carrier IQ software is used by it for "law enforcement purposes", but refused to give details of how it has done so. Responding to a Freedom of Information Act request filed by Muckrock , the FBI said that it held relevant records but that their release could interfere with pending or prospective law enforcement proceedings. The request asked for "manuals, documents or other written guidance used to access or analyze data gathered by programs developed or deployed by Carrier IQ." Muckrock's Michael Morisy says he plans to appeal the FBI's decision: "What is still unclear is whether the FBI used Carrier IQ's software in its own investigations, whether it is currently investigating Carrier IQ, or whether it is some combination of both."
FBI says Carrier IQ files used for "law enforcement purposes" - Boing Boing
Earlier this year, blurry pictures were released by the French magazine Air & Cosmos of a previously unknown stealth drone taken at Kandahar in Afghanistan. The photos, snapped in 2007, prompted a wave of speculation about the classified aircraft. That speculation grew even more intense this week , when a blog belonging to the French newspaper Libération released an even better photograph . But while the new picture may answers some questions, it also creates a heap of new mysteries. Chief among them: Why use such a fancy, stealthy aircraft in Afghanistan?