War on the Unexpected -- Schneier's dynamite essay on the War on Terror
Bruce Schneier has written a stunning essay on the War on Terror, explaining how it has devolved into a "War on the Unexpected" -- an arms-flapping hysterical world where every suspicion must be reported and investigated, and where every cop in the chain is encouraged to escalate every report. Governments are asking us to spy on our neighbors, to fink out the people on the plane with us, even asking meter-readers to snoop on our homes (!), but as Schneier says, "If you ask amateurs to act as front-line security personnel, you shouldn't be surprised when you get amateur security."
We need to do two things. The first is to stop urging people to report their fears. People have always come forward to tell the police when they see something genuinely suspicious, and should continue to do so. But encouraging people to raise an alarm every time they're spooked only squanders our security resources and makes no one safer.
We don't want people to never report anything. A store clerk's tip led to the unraveling of a plot to attack Fort Dix last May, and in March an alert Southern California woman foiled a kidnapping by calling the police about a suspicious man carting around a person-sized crate. But these incidents only reinforce the need to realistically asses, not automatically escalate, citizen tips. In criminal matters, law enforcement is experienced in separating legitimate tips from unsubstantiated fears, and allocating resources accordingly; we should expect no less from them when it comes to terrorism.
Equally important, politicians need to stop praising and promoting the officers who get it wrong. And everyone needs to stop castigating, and prosecuting, the victims just because they embarrassed the police by their innocence.
Causing a city-wide panic over blinking signs, a guy with a pellet gun, or stray backpacks, is not evidence of doing a good job: it's evidence of squandering police resources. Even worse, it causes its own form of terror, and encourages people to be even more alarmist in the future. We need to spend our resources on things that actually make us safer, not on chasing down and trumpeting every paranoid threat anyone can come up with.
(Thanks, Bruce!)
(Via Boing Boing.)
New OS X “Trojan” In the Wild
A new “trojan” has been identified by Intego that enables phishing attacks to take place against Mac users. But before you get too worried, let’s take a look at how it works.
- Go to a malicious site.
- Get prompted to install software.
- Choose to install it.
- Put in your admin password when it asks for it.
- Get pwned.
So basically a hostile, unknown website asks you to install software on your system with elevated privileges, and if you willfully go through the entire install process (including entering your administrator password) something bad will happen.
Scary.
In other news, if someone sends you an email that says to run sudo rm -rf / on the command line (and enter your admin password when it asks you to) — don’t do it. Interesting attack method — send someone malicious software and ask them to install it as administrator. The defense? Don’t install it.
Make no mistake — this is not the same kind of threat that we’ve faced in Windows over the years. That threat is very specifically the drive-by installation of software without the user knowing or having a chance to stop it.
Source via Dmiessler.com
In summary, this social-engineering-based attack requires a high level of interaction and it will have very little impact on the Mac user community.
Is It A Bird? Is It A Plane? No, It’s Google’s Share Price!
Google broke through $700 a share in trading today, closing at a record high of $707, just over 3 weeks since breaking through the $600 mark.
Google did have the benefit of a surging NASDAQ; the exchange favored by tech stocks closing up 42.41 pts or 1.51% after the Fed cut US interest rates by 25 basis points to 4.5%. A range of analysts including Goldman Sachs, Credit Suisse and others have raised their target price for GOOG stock to $800 and above.
It’s not all plain sailing ahead for Google. The US Federal Reserve wouldn’t be cutting interest rates if it thought the US economy was healthy and the Federal Open Market Committee said that although financial market turmoil linked to a US housing downturn had eased in part, “the pace of economic expansion will likely slow in the near term, partly reflecting the intensification of the housing correction,” which if applied to Google would see its revenue growth slow.
International markets also present a problem for Google, with a decline that wasn’t widely reported when Google announced its 3rd Quarter earnings result October 18. According to Google’s statement, if it hadn’t been for currency movements international revenue would have dropped $121 million in the 3rd quarter (presuming that USD has remained at the same level). It might have been a blip but it’s certainly something to watch given most of Google’s growth opportunities should be coming from outside its home country, given the relative maturity of the US internet market.
Crunch Network: CrunchBoard because it’s time for you to find a new Job2.0
(Via TechCrunch.)
Hey, Look Who's Now The 5th Biggest Company in the US
That's right: Google (GOOG). And trading at a not-preposterous 55-times trailing 12-month earnings, too.
Rank Company Market Cap (Bil) Ticker
1 Exxon Mobil $505 XOM
2 General Electric $415 GE
3 Microsoft $333 MSFT
4 AT&T $251 T
5 Google $217 GOOG
6 Procter & Gamble $215 PG
7 Bank of America $213 BAC
8 Citigroup $209 C
(Via Silicon Alley Insider.)
The Pirate Bay Developing New P2P Protocol to Replace BitTorrent [Yarrr]
The Pirate Bay's pretty busy these days, reviving dead sites and whatnot, but their latest scheme is even bigger: They're working on an entirely new P2P protocol designed to replace BitTorrent, since BitTorrent Inc. is no longer making additions to the source code entirely open, which TPB believes grants them too much influence. The new extension, .p2p, will be backward-compatible with .torrent, and designed from the start to limit the effectiveness of spammers and anti-piracy organizations (no word on how, exactly). On the flip side of the coin, The Pirate Bay's clout isn't exactly insignificant anymore, and spearheading development of a new protocol it intends to rule the P2P roost is only going to grant it more sway if it takes off. [TorrentFreak]
(Via Gizmodo.)
DNI cans former FEMA staffer.
Earlier today, ThinkProgress noted that former FEMA director of external affairs John “Pat” Philbin had resigned his position, only to be rewarded with a promotion. Today, Philbin was set to become the director of public affairs for Director of National Intelligence Mike McConnell. But the DNI’s office has since backed away from its offer, putting out a statement this afternoon that reads:
We can confirm that Mr. Philbin is not, nor is he scheduled to be, the director of public affairs for the Office of the Director of National Intelligence.
CNN reported that, as of this morning, the DNI’s office had said Philbin’s appointment was still going forward. Now, the DNI’s office has reconsidered in the wake of increasing anger about the hiring. Watch it:
(Via Think Progress.)