Tech News - Time To Reclaim our Privacy Edition

We will rue the day we voluntarily gave up our privacy to tech devices. And that day already happened. The rue is coming... 

Google Home + Chromecast = hackers discover exact physical location of IOT (Internet of Things). Threat Post:

Google Home and Chromecast devices allow attackers to uncover the precise physical locations of the connected gadgets thanks to two common internet of things issues present in both.
[.]
...an attacker can use DNS rebinding to carry out an attack. This is a technique where JavaScript in a malicious web page is used to communicate with or gain control of a victim router or other target device that uses a default password and web-based administration.

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Geek: MS helping ICE.

...there’s one piece of Microsoft news we’ve been sad to see not get a ton reporting, news that’s not quite new but disturbingly relevant again. In case you didn’t know, Microsoft is supporting ICE[.]

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Beta News: MicroSoft backtracks; distancing itself from ICE collaboration.

...people took to social media to call out Microsoft, making references to the child separation policy; shortly afterwards, the ICE reference was deleted. Now it is back[.]

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Technocracy: DHS is quietly building a database that includes facial recognition, DNA and relationships:

In late May, EFF filed comments criticizing DHS’s plans to collect, store, and share biometric and biographic records it receives from external agencies and to exempt this information from the federal Privacy Act. 

I ask: just how much more personal information do you want DHS to have on you? DHS is out of control.  Biometric Update:

The database will include multiple biometrics, including face images and DNA data, as well as “data from questionable sources, and highly personal data on innocent people." 

Please, please, please - get involved with the EFF.
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MIT Tech Review: It's time to REIGN IN THE DATA BARONS!
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Gizmodo: Alexa in your hotel room.

[You] forget your toothbrush [while on vacation]. [Don't call the front desk, tell Alexa].  Amazon’s new Alexa for Hospitality service, which puts an Echo device in your hotel room, might let you avoid the conversation altogether, and let you bring a bit of your always-on, always-listening, always-spying smart home with you. So don’t do anything stupid.

Yeah - calling the front desk for a toothbrush, or going to the nearest retail store and buying a new tooth brush -- well, it's just such a laborious task for some people. 
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Information Week - Quantum computing needs to be on your radar now:

Quantum computing will bring wonderful advances to our lives, BUT - - - it will also be used for incredibly nefarious purposes.
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Tech News World: Hacking Academia.
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Recall Vault 7 ?  Bleeping Computer:  Ex-CIA Employee Charged with Leak of Classified CIA Vault 7 Hacking Tools 

The Department of Justice has announced new charges against former CIA software engineer Joshua Schulte for allegedly leaking classified CIA documents, software projects, and hacking utilities called Vault 7 to WikiLeaks. Schulte was charged on August 24, 2017 with possession of child pornography, but was also believed to be the source of the embarrassing leak of CIA documents.

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Who OWNS BIG MEDIA?  Recode has a wonderful diagram explaining it all.
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Yep...the  refrain coming is, "Well, everyone else got that 'mark' on their forehead or hand, so why not me?"

Vault 7: Wikileaks shows Comrades at CIA can Access Macs and iPhones

Image located at www.monomakhos.com

The CIA has tools for hacking Macs and iPhones.

What's particularly interesting about the documents is that they appear to show that the CIA had the ability to exploit Apple hardware and software a full decade ago.

Not all of the hacks revealed in Dark Matter are quite so old, however. The user guide for Sonic Screwdriver, for instance, was updated as recently as November 2012. It shows how a Thunderbolt or USB port can be used to infect and access a MacBook Pro or MacBook Air, right up to mid-2012 models.

Of course, this doesn't surprise you, does it? Every country seems to be ridiculously more paranoid about their own population than those of other countries, including their enemies.

Screwdriver and Screwdriver

Ars Technia has a wonderful article on the Sonic Screwdriver. (And no, we're not talking about the adult beverage containing Swarovski Alizé Vodka).

The following juicy bit from Tech News World, is simply diabolically clever:

The CIA's Embedded Development Branch developed malware that could persist even if the targeted computer were reformatted and its OS were reinstalled, according to data WikiLeaks exposed.

Recall the brouhaha over the so-called unlocked San Bernardino shooters' iPhone between Apple and the government?

Let me state this: that iPhone of the San Bernardino shooter was cracked so fast and so efficiently it would have made your head spin.

The fight between Apple CEO Tim "The Pinhead" Cook and the government was a dog and pony show. Apple didn't want their customers knowing their phones weren't secure and do you really think the government is going to let any company have such a degree of encryption that it can't be hacked? I have a nice shiny bridge in San Fran to sell you if you believe the above.

(The "Pinhead" reference to Cook is exactly that, btw - I think he's a pinhead who is a spot-light whore. And a poor CEO, but that's another story.)

"1984"  is taking it's sweet time in arriving. But with as quickly as technology is progressing  - ("...modem...modem..." anyone even remember them?) - we're nearing a generation of people who have no idea what a modem is/was.  "1984" is catching up to us, so quickly, that both the legality issues and privacy issues lag behind technological growth and advancement.

The Singularity is here. Welcome to 1984. Welcome to Big Brother.

If you have any questions, please direct them to The Ministry of Truth.

Additional  Reading on this subject at: 

C/NET: CIA Tools

Wired: How CIA can hack MACS

Heavy: Factory Fresh CIA Bugged Cell Phones