Innocence Lost....

Sometime back we lost our innocence. 

When wikileaks leaked Manning’s files worms crawled out affecting the pride of country leaders across the world. Egos were punctured because the cables sent by US embassy minions to their masters were judgmental in nature and revealed “private” foibles and conversations. This has been followed up by Snowden’s snowfall which is more damaging for the US Government and business than for any other government.

Over the past few months, every day we are stripped layer by layer by the revelations of the NSA’s prowess for invisibile intrusion. We thought the TSA guys were having fun seeing us in whole body scanners and sharing the pics, but it turns out that the NSA has been having more fun. Move over Guantanamo Bay that was just a small set of prisoners who could be stripped, chained or flogged – here they have the world at our fingertips, and no one looking over their shoulders.

First one learned that there was access to emails and internet conversations, the next layer included voice conversations, then came location data, followed by the revelation that IT majors like FB, Google. Microsoft, et al are participating in the program. Alongwith these businesses, some governments also howled in only to retract when the next revelation exposed their participation and remuneration. It was another shocker that told everyone about the possiblity of backdoors in commonly used software and hardware. The world started thinking about seeking safety under cover of encryption and proxy technologies only to learn that these have been seduced long ago – in other words encryption technologies have a backdoor.

So, is there anything which is safe? Maybe we have to go back to living in caves to save ourselves from this intrusion, because it seems that the only thing Uncle Sam cannot do is shove a finger up your 455. But, maybe the time is not too far off too what with the Internet of Things promising particle transportation and more!

Yes our innocence is lost – the new innocence is that “we do not look inside, we only search patterns”. The new innocence is that you are just a lump of flesh which eats, breathes, shits and screws and that’s it – simply put you are an animal and no more. Of course, this is so if you are not the most powerful man on earth, a.k.a. Mr President. Liberty, freedom, privacy and such rights are good to discuss but not to be expected in the face of secret laws and powers available with the intelligence organizations.  

In any case, even if you are Mr P there is no gurantee that someone did not dip into your smart phone or that of your wife or children. There is no way you would know, just like the world did not know until it started snowing. Quite possibly Mr Snowden carried some stuff on you and that is the major cause of the big manhunt that has been launched.

Today, every government wants their own NSA with enough powers to run every sort of surveillance on their citizens. What will be done with the data is anyone’s guess – maybe it will help run genocides and progroms more effectively. Or get to play ghetto-ghetto by segregating people based on caste, color, religion etc. At the cost of development, Governments are spending billions on technology selling the dream of nirvana that follows thorugh an e-governance portal or a new registration card, and it does not matter whether you can read or write, or whether you have had a square meal in a day.

Innocence lost forever, welcome to the new order Kalyug is now the C-Yug  where C=corruption, chamchagiri, cronyism, chutiyapanti, conmanship, carpetbaggers, cybercrime, computers and any other C which you can define negatively.

So what is happening is that we are all without clothes, having been stripped, layer by layer and naked for NSA eyes.

I wonder – are we a number or a name in the NSA records? Is this numeric, alpha-numeric, with or without capitalization. Or is it a continuation of the numbers given in Auschwitz and Dachau .. that may be apporpriate. Will we soon start hearing ‘arbeit macht frei’ or will it be embedded into our flesh at birth. Are we going to see Mr President in a new role as the oracle from Minority Report?

Mommy is that what Big Brother’s look like.

Wooooohhh !

120 countries building cyber-war capacity

*_McAfee report: Cyberespionage to be a top 2008 national security threat_*

By Jim Carr
03 December 2007

http://www.securecomputing.net.au/news/98544,mcafee-report-cyberespionage-to-be-a-top-2008-national-security-threat.aspx <http://www.securecomputing.net.au/news/98544,mcafee-report-cyberespionage-to-be-a-top-2008-national-security-threat.aspx>

A rise in international cyberspying will pose the most significant threat to the national security of the United States in 2008, according to a report from anti-virus vendor McAfee.

The company said that governments and "allied groups" will turn to cyberspying and cyberattacks against targets such as electricity grids, air-traffic control systems, financial markets and government networks - all critical infrastructure that, if compromised, could affect the country's national security, according to the report.

McAfee's annual "Virtual Criminology Report," which looks at global cybersecurity trends, was conducted in conjunction with NATO, the FBI, the Serious Organised Crime Agency (SOCA), an independent organisation formed by the United Kingdom's Home Office, and security experts from non-profit organizations and universities.

"Cybercrime is now a global issue," Jeff Green, senior vice president of McAfee Avert Labs and product development, said in a prepared statement. "It has evolved significantly and is no longer just a threat to industry and individuals but increasingly to national security. We're seeing emerging threats from increasingly sophisticated groups attacking organizations around
the world. Technology is only part of the solution, and over the next five years, we will start to see international governments take action."

Tim Jemal, senior vice president of government relations for the Cyber Security Industry Alliance (CSIA), cited this year's attack on Estonian interests as an example of governments being targeted by malicious hacker groups.


Cyberthreats to the United States pose a growing risk to national security, that's true," he said. "When a technology-savvy county like Estonia was recently crippled by botnet attack from Russian sources, it's a clear indication that cyberspace is being used by some criminal sources to
destabilize countries, and the United States is definitely a target."

Other trends include increasing threats to online financial services and the emergence of a complex and sophisticated market for malware, according to the report, which noted that 120 countries "now use the internet for web-espionage operations," with many of the cyberattacks originating from China.

While Jemal wouldn't comment on McAfee's estimate of 120 countries involved in web-based espionage, he said many were using the internet in other malicious activities.

"Twenty-five nations, including China, are engaged in cyberwarfare programs," he said. "They use cyberspace as a weapon against another country."

The report also indicates that cyberattacks have become "more sophisticated, progressing from initial curiosity probes to well-funded, well-organised operations designed." These operations, designed to slip under the radar of government defenses, increasingly encompass political, military, economic and technical espionage, according to the report.

Cybercriminals are also developing new attack methods. These include "vishing," or phishing via Voice over IP phone networks, and "phreaking," hacking into telephone networks to make long-distance phone calls.