Multiple vs. Singular Security Models

In a recent article one of the ads presented said, “Control the Chaos with a Single Security Solution.” Wow, that made me drop my bagel and choke on the drink of coffee I was partaking in when I saw the ad. 

It is a bit like the model the military started to take on when I was still the physical security person at a military installation, centralize their leadership into two “single” locations, one on the East Coast and one on the West Coast. I remember thinking about the art of war where to achieve a quick and decisive victory you cut the head off the chicken. In other words, put all your eggs in the East and/or West basket then let the enemy simply blow that leadership to hell and back. 

In the technological world a single source of security is convenient and easy but then the predators of the uVerse no longer have to spread out the attack to cover a variety of security models, they just focus o the one you just paid good money for - whalla, single point shopping for Crime, inc. What could be better.

It comes down to advertising to our laziness and comfort zone, to find just one way to supposedly have a “single” secure protection like that firewall and anti-virus program on your computer you think and “FEEL” is protecting your Internet presence. Guess what, according to some sources that firewall and AV barely protect us from about 5% or so of threats out there racing around our Internet searching, seeking and destroying our protections leaving us exposed and vulnerable. 

In a truly secure environment be it in the physical world, the inner brain world and the Internet electronic world, you need to have multiple layers of security to achieve some semblance of protection and safety and security. 

In the physical security world in which I worked you had to analyze and asses the threats you face and the value of loss toward your business, etc., to create a layered security that would not protect but rather make the effort to breach the security long and ardarous leaving the nefarious folks trying to break in wanting to move on to easier targets. Yes, I said not protect but slow the effort down because in truth there is not absolute protective security model, there is only creating a long delay to either redirect the thief’s efforts or to delay them enough that the models detection and alarms would give responders time to - respond effectively. 

Putting all my physical security into one central solution is foolishness nonsense. In my more high secure needs I had alarms, CCTV’s, Fencing, Human Security patrols (armed and authorized deadly force), human access controls, etc. to cause a great enough delay in attempts to circumvent so that armed security could respond, apprehend, detain and lock up criminals who attempted to gain access. 

Heck, even authorized access by employees had security layers beginning with background investigations, personal and professional references checks, legal investigations as to criminal records and activities then a dual badge system with entrapment areas for both human and vehicles, a badge verification and exchange by armed security and so on just to get to work. 

So, layered multiple security measures along with knowing who is maintaining and enforcing those security measures and an access control system to ensure that nefarious types are not allowed in. Yet, we will pay good money to have this unknown and completely strange human controlled SINGLE security solution to first, have the connection and social belief that will protect you as if you were family or a valued tribal member; second, who will exercise every possible way to protect you as if they were protecting themselves; third, whose agenda is not about money or company profit or board member profit margins, etc., and make you their sole reason for existence. 

So, we are going to pay strangers, complete and utter strangers who are selling a product for profit and strangers whose sole purpose is to sell the product at any costs maintaining profits, etc. regardless. Just send me five thousand dollars and I will personally guarantee it will remain safe and protected until you ask for it back. Now, just wait and see if you ever get that money back. 

It has been proven time and again that a single software program, like one very famous operating system, will protect you computer and data yet time and again the hackers of the world demonstrate, in short time (literally hours and minutes), that the so called secure OS can and is vulnerable and easily hacked. 

Isn’t that a single security source?

We want things simple, we want an easy solution and we don’t want to have to exert any real effort to achieve our security. We want others to do it for us yet we don’t want those others to have a close social and familia type relationship. We don’t want the effort and especially the responsibility, but we do want a disinterested and detached group of others to provide us protection and for little to nothing. 

We have to get real, we have to accept our responsibility and we have to take the actions necessary to achieve a layered security model and guess what, that begins with each and every one of us as individuals. We have to take responsibility for our actions as to what we do and how we do it or they are just going to clean us out and leave us broke and destitute. You cannot make others protect us with laws for those laws will simply make them angry and resentful, do you think they will go the distance for you - a complete and total stranger? 

Take a close look at what you do and how you do it using all those wonderful devices that make life so easy, because it is easy that gets us in trouble every single time. 

Nuff said … pull your head out of the sand and get layered!

Bibliography (Click the link)

p.s. there is a reason why software development needs a group to program over just one person; one person and even a group of persons cannot adequately program security all by themselves. 

Multiple vs. Singular Security Models

In a recent article one of the ads presented said, “Control the Chaos with a Single Security Solution.” Wow, that made me drop my bagel and choke on the drink of coffee I was partaking in when I saw the ad. 

It is a bit like the model the military started to take on when I was still the physical security person at a military installation, centralize their leadership into two “single” locations, one on the East Coast and one on the West Coast. I remember thinking about the art of war where to achieve a quick and decisive victory you cut the head off the chicken. In other words, put all your eggs in the East and/or West basket then let the enemy simply blow that leadership to hell and back. 

In the technological world a single source of security is convenient and easy but then the predators of the uVerse no longer have to spread out the attack to cover a variety of security models, they just focus o the one you just paid good money for - whalla, single point shopping for Crime, inc. What could be better.

It comes down to advertising to our laziness and comfort zone, to find just one way to supposedly have a “single” secure protection like that firewall and anti-virus program on your computer you think and “FEEL” is protecting your Internet presence. Guess what, according to some sources that firewall and AV barely protect us from about 5% or so of threats out there racing around our Internet searching, seeking and destroying our protections leaving us exposed and vulnerable. 

In a truly secure environment be it in the physical world, the inner brain world and the Internet electronic world, you need to have multiple layers of security to achieve some semblance of protection and safety and security. 

In the physical security world in which I worked you had to analyze and asses the threats you face and the value of loss toward your business, etc., to create a layered security that would not protect but rather make the effort to breach the security long and ardarous leaving the nefarious folks trying to break in wanting to move on to easier targets. Yes, I said not protect but slow the effort down because in truth there is not absolute protective security model, there is only creating a long delay to either redirect the thief’s efforts or to delay them enough that the models detection and alarms would give responders time to - respond effectively. 

Putting all my physical security into one central solution is foolishness nonsense. In my more high secure needs I had alarms, CCTV’s, Fencing, Human Security patrols (armed and authorized deadly force), human access controls, etc. to cause a great enough delay in attempts to circumvent so that armed security could respond, apprehend, detain and lock up criminals who attempted to gain access. 

Heck, even authorized access by employees had security layers beginning with background investigations, personal and professional references checks, legal investigations as to criminal records and activities then a dual badge system with entrapment areas for both human and vehicles, a badge verification and exchange by armed security and so on just to get to work. 

So, layered multiple security measures along with knowing who is maintaining and enforcing those security measures and an access control system to ensure that nefarious types are not allowed in. Yet, we will pay good money to have this unknown and completely strange human controlled SINGLE security solution to first, have the connection and social belief that will protect you as if you were family or a valued tribal member; second, who will exercise every possible way to protect you as if they were protecting themselves; third, whose agenda is not about money or company profit or board member profit margins, etc., and make you their sole reason for existence. 

So, we are going to pay strangers, complete and utter strangers who are selling a product for profit and strangers whose sole purpose is to sell the product at any costs maintaining profits, etc. regardless. Just send me five thousand dollars and I will personally guarantee it will remain safe and protected until you ask for it back. Now, just wait and see if you ever get that money back. 

It has been proven time and again that a single software program, like one very famous operating system, will protect you computer and data yet time and again the hackers of the world demonstrate, in short time (literally hours and minutes), that the so called secure OS can and is vulnerable and easily hacked. 

Isn’t that a single security source?

We want things simple, we want an easy solution and we don’t want to have to exert any real effort to achieve our security. We want others to do it for us yet we don’t want those others to have a close social and familia type relationship. We don’t want the effort and especially the responsibility, but we do want a disinterested and detached group of others to provide us protection and for little to nothing. 

We have to get real, we have to accept our responsibility and we have to take the actions necessary to achieve a layered security model and guess what, that begins with each and every one of us as individuals. We have to take responsibility for our actions as to what we do and how we do it or they are just going to clean us out and leave us broke and destitute. You cannot make others protect us with laws for those laws will simply make them angry and resentful, do you think they will go the distance for you - a complete and total stranger? 

Take a close look at what you do and how you do it using all those wonderful devices that make life so easy, because it is easy that gets us in trouble every single time. 

Nuff said … pull your head out of the sand and get layered!

Bibliography (Click the link)

Goodman, Marc. “Future Crimes: Everything is Connected, Everyone is Vulnerable and What We Can Do About It.” Doubleday. New York. 24 February 2015. 

p.s. there is a reason why software development needs a group to program over just one person; one person and even a group of persons cannot adequately program security all by themselves. 

Focus on the Real Threat

It seems the professionals are being misdirected toward things that are not all that critical to our security on the Internet/uVerse. It is not truly about the legal system although the legal system needs to get a grip on what they are asking. It’s about keeping the real threat out of our personal and financial businesses. The threat from the proverbial uVerse’s Crime, inc., that is where we need to focus our efforts in regard to iSD.

I’m not saying we can’t take a proactive posture toward terrorism and terrorists but in the overall scheme of things those guys, so far, are not as big a threat as the predator criminals building a huge billion dollar business using technology to fleece the masses of their identities and monies. Consider this, failing to protects everyone from the threat and repercussions of using technology to commit terrorism is huge, they make end of the world movies out of this stuff and it is closer to reality than you think. 

To those who hack, steal and cause mayhem using technology, remember there is a finite amount of money you can steal and if you go to far the whole system collapses and then your accumulated money and effort will also hit the wall. 

http://www.mercurynews.com/crime-courts/ci_29703908/apple-and-google-devices-have-been-target-fed.html

Bibliography (Click the link)

Goodman, Marc. “Future Crimes: Everything is Connected, Everyone is Vulnerable and What We Can Do About It.” Doubleday. New York. 24 February 2015.

The Dangers of the uVerse

Today, in an article it brought things home to this danger. A medical corporation is brought down by hostage takers of the electronic uVerse. I put this link out here to inform the dangers and this type of thing occurs more frequently that we all believe ....

Heath System turns away Patients …

A Thread: Are We Truly Safe

Can we truly be safe and can we ever go back to being safe?

The short answer is, "No!"

The very moment we plugged in to the eVerse, even back in those very early days, we all created a thread, even a very slight thread, we established a way and means for the very adept and clever to connect and pull that very thread.

The only question that remains then is, "Can we establish a security posture to reduce our exposure to be relatively safe?"

The short answer is, "No!"

The same goes here as well, once you put yourself out there it resides somewhere, everywhere, on the Internet and it is open to others for your entire life. You can still protect yourself by taking on a proactive state of security that will, at the very least, reduce your exposure significantly and reduce your possible exposure to criminal activity to a smaller footprint. Sorry, I wish there were some way to extract all the personal and financial date on yourself along with closing the doors to nefarious activities but the entire Internet Industry is based almost exclusively on your opening that door and exposing yourself to every single person, be they good guys or black hats or from Crime, inc.

All I can say is this, “The gate is open, the world is exposed, you are standing pretty much naked and with all you value sitting at your bare feet for all to see and all to access and all to take because your hands and feet and mouth are pretty much bound tightly by things like ToS’s, data mining by data brokers and so on, etc., etc., …

uVerse: Shields Up!

What is the uVerse, it is the uNder Verse where the dark web exists. It lies under our Internet making up the dark black space that lies under the light we see on the screens we use. The uVerse is like the black of Interstellar space. Our Internet is tantamount to the very Universe in which we live on Earth. The vastness of the uVerse is unimaginable and hidden from the masses where only a few are aware of its existence. Its existence is coming to light but it takes time and time is not on our side simply because, “Moore’s Law,” governs both the Internet and the uVerse or, “iVerse vs. uVerse.”

Individual Users may want to assume iSD iPSec status for all there experiences in the iVerse and well as the Dark-Verse. iPSec is “Internet Personal Security” model under the heading of iSD or Internet Self-Defense. 

Click for larger view.

Encryption Wars

The Vision of Marc Goodman - Future Cyber-crimes

The Dark Web

Click for Full View!

ToR Alternates

Blog Article/Post Caveat (Read First Please: Click the Link)

I spoke of ToR in other articles as a system that protects the user so they can browse anonymously. Tor has come under attack itself due to some recent security issues and possible compromises. This seems logical since it is apparently used by the dark-verse criminal element. It would be beneficial to them to create loopholes in the system so they can bypass security while putting in backdoors so they can continue to gather data beneficial to their businesses. 

Note: I am making a lot of assumptions and presenting theories that may or may not be true, check and double verify for yourself - one of my recommended security measures for the individual. 

The following is an article that promotes best alternative to Tor browsing in a safe, somewhat, and secure way - anonymously. I am not aware as to just how secure that is but if the cyber-elements of questionable abilities in the dark-verse use it to run their less legal businesses and remain safe and secure from legal and governmental forces it has to be better than most other products “SOLD” to us unsuspecting and gullible soles surfing the iVerse, the “Known Internet Universe.” 

Caution: When seeking such avenues to secure yourself against the more nefarious cyber-criminals of the dark-verse you still have to vet out the software you use simply because, like all software, the coders own it and it can be subverted to allow certain activities that may still expose you. Use caution whenever venturing out into the iVerse of Coder Control. 

Alternate TOR browse-to-browse anonymity

Bibliography (Click the link)

Goodman, Marc. “Future Crimes: Everything is Connected, Everyone is Vulnerable and What We Can Do About It.” Doubleday. New York. 24 February 2015. 

FaceBook Disabled

Blog Article/Post Caveat (Read First Please: Click the Link)

I just disabled my FB account and feel sad and sorry the step doesn’t actually remove all the data especially the data’s connectivity and residence in other forms of data-collections, etc. It is too bad our Internet systems are collection grounds for both data-brokerage as well as cyber-criminal use and abuse. It is a shame that activities of the average individual cannot be protected as well as that of cyber-criminals, cyber-terrorists and terrorism, criminal activities and so on. 

Those who followed me on FaceBook (friended and followed) will have to remember to seek out my articles on the blogs. I don’t for one instance assume that blogs are any safer but taking the action to NOT allow CONNECTIONS to other media sources like FB and Twitter as examples means I can continue with caution writing my articles. Like my recommendations in this blog, it may not remove the danger but it might just reduce the probability making my victimization less definite. 

I know that what I put out there via social media is not actually all that personal, I have managed to keep the more personal sides at a very minimum, i.e., in all probability anything out there actually of a personal nature was accidental but who really knows. Regardless, in the last day or so I came to experience something I felt was less likely, my Apple iMac actually froze up, locked completely as if a Windows machine and that made me anxious. I gravitate toward a feeling that if I had not participated in such social media the probability might not have existed let along exposed me to such events. 

In a nutshell, I don’t do twitter or other socially driven media and I did FaceBook only as a means to express theories, ideas, and information on my favorite life subject of karate and martial arts and self-defense but still, it was publishing a comment on that media that led to the freeze and hard boot of an Apple system, something I thought might not happen for a longer span of time. It is and was inevitable but still ….

So, no more Facebook and a more restricted participation in such things until someone somewhere is able to create a safety net like they use, called Tor, in the dark underworld residing below our Internet. 

Bibliography (Click the link)

Goodman, Marc. “Future Crimes: Everything is Connected, Everyone is Vulnerable and What We Can Do About It.” Doubleday. New York. 24 February 2015. 

Reduction to Exposure

Blog Article/Post Caveat (Read First Please: Click the Link)

This is the best anyone can hope for in iSD. Taking actions that will result in your understanding of the threats involved and those actions you take, personally, to mitigate the exposure you will experience. You will experience exposure no matter what you do. The only real way to avoid and succumb is to go back in time before the true Internet began and never, ever, engage in any type of electronic access to the Internet. We all know that it ain’t gonna happen but you can reduce your exposure by the actions you take. 

Example, I am in the IT business and I work with coders all the time as a release management staff member who releases instances of Enterprise applications to QA testing environments then on to the actual production environments. I have a pretty good understanding of how things work and saying that means nothing because I didn’t truly, fully and completely understand what it is we face daily until I read Marc Goodman’s book, Future Crimes. At one time I thought I was secure and safe but in recent months I have found that as long as I continue to use certain products or sites my security and safety is in a critical exposure state. Just yesterday, on an Apple iMac with the latest OS X and updates found my system completely frozen. It seems even the Apple products are succumbing to the cyber-world of predatory actions.

It took me two hard boots to get my system running again and if I were still on a Windows system I suspect, like the last time I got hacked on a Windows XP box, I would be reinstalling a clean OS to remove the offending malware, etc. I got lucky this time and I use a lot of the recommendations as to exposure and actions I recommend. 

As I continue to study and learn about this hidden Internet it comes to mind that there really is a matrix out there and although it is hidden from us, most of us, it still has dangerous effects on us and how Internet experiences. Add in the cloud based models everyone seems to be gravitating towards to save money, those make our exposure even more dangerous especially when individuals and organizations click “Accept” on those ToS’s. 

In self-defense, the one I normally write about involving social and asocial violence that involves human physical contact, I talk/write about awareness and there are many types of such awarenesses so too is there types of awarenesses in iSD or Internet Safety, Security and Protection. There is only one way to achieve that knowledge and understanding and that is to seek it out, study it, understand it and then take what appropriate actions you personally deem necessary to protect yourself. 

As I have stated in other articles your physical self may not be exposed to the dangers of a predatory process and/or resource attack but you psychological side is exposed to predatory process/resource attacks in the iVerse. 

Oh, in a recent article I posted that the dark-verse hidden from us mentioned herein does have the most excellent security model implemented that makes the efforts of our law enforcement communities almost worthless and yet we, the people under attack, don’t have the same security model to protect ourselves because as Mr. Goodman presents, the firewalls and antivirus software, etc. businesses provide barely stop 5% of what is out there attacking us. 

Just some more to think about, remember at every click and every page visited you are exposed and if you have not been compromised count your blessing for it is just a matter of time. Think about the current socially driven media type products, those are the mainstay of cyber-criminal activities and where you are most likely to get hit. Even if not directly, the amount of data we provide every single second of every single day is accumulated to make a personality and data-bank at levels never before known to mankind and even to that written in fiction. Now that is something to consider and why reducing exposure is an important strategy.

Bibliography (Click the link)

Goodman, Marc. “Future Crimes: Everything is Connected, Everyone is Vulnerable and What We Can Do About It.” Doubleday. New York. 24 February 2015. 

Tor - Secured Protection

Blog Article/Post Caveat (Read First Please: Click the Link)

In the most recently read chapter of the book by Marc Goodman, “Passport to the Dark Web,” it has become apparent the a piece of software was developed that would hold a person and/or organization’s data in a protected state. The software was and is available for free but since its inception has been taken over by cyber-criminals and makes it most difficult for anyone to break it and take its data.

You have to read the book to get the full picture but herein lies my concern and belief, if they can do that and remain free from authorities and prosecution and terrorists can make it work for them then, “Why oh Why is it so hard for our industry to provide us legal and law abiding citizens that type of protection?”

If the criminal, “Empire,” can and does protect itself from legal attacks why can’t we legally abiding citizens and companies develop and implement such protection against those same criminal empire cyber-crooks?

Bibliography:

Goodman, Marc. “Future Crimes: Everything is Connected, Everyone is Vulnerable and What We Can Do About It.” Doubleday. New York. 24 February 2015. 

iSD Tactics-Strategies

1. Solid, individual site, password of complexity, disciplined, strategy: Create passwords of high security length and complexity for each and every site you connect to …
2. On-Off  discipline: Create the habit of doing a daily first logon and a daily log-off, i.e., at least when you go to sleep and when you wake the next day. 
3. Limited Release: Be conscious of the dangers when releasing personal data and especially any data no matter how remote that would allow access to such personal data as banking, etc. 
4. Site Connectivity: Keep each site you access separate and individual, don’t allow connectivity between sites and don’t share site security across each site, i.e., avoid single sign-on connectivity. 
5. Frequent Updates: don’t use auto update except to set it for daily, always go in at first login and run update; always go in before last logout to run update again. 
6. Beware of Everyone: Doesn’t matter if friend or foe, make sure you check, verify, validate and observe before taking any actions such as responding and clicking emails, etc. Be aware of the sites you visit and sites to which you receive recommendations to visit - they all, no matter how relevant to your life, are potentially and surreptitiously a danger. Assume before clicking that the danger is real and how you can validate before clicking its safety to you, your data and your life. In the iVerse, everyone is to be suspected and everything you do and receive and encounter is to be suspected at a higher level as well. Look at this one as a, “Count to ten before clicking,” tactic and strategy.
7. Reality Check: remember that any thing and everything electronic is exposed to spoofing. Consider it necessary to make sure you can still do things with your fingers, i.e., like the old days when you had to learn math, addition-multiplication, etc. tables and how to figure things mathmatically in your head. You have to still make use of your head, i.e., as example, using that paper map in lieu of the GPS because those signals as well as others can be spoofed too.
8. Invest in two distinct and separate systems: Use one exclusively, if you insist on using the Internet for such personal things, for handling specific personal things such as banking and storing personal information, etc. Connect the sensitive safe system to the internet, manually by pluggin and unplugging the network cable when working and when not. Use the other susceptible system with no personal information or data to surf the web, visit web sites and download apps and programs for testing to ensure safe and secure. Never, ever and under any circumstances do you use, display or process personal information and data on anything other than this secured system. Not on your cell phones, iPads or other system that is portable.
9. No-wireless Connectivity: Do not use remote free wireless connections for anything other than simple web searches to find things then move elsewhere to actually make clicks and decisions and only after thoughtful validating informed decisions on proceeding. Save all the personal data and information processing for that secure home system that is separate from other connections and with its own unique passwords, etc. No emails, no social media and nothing that would expose you as to personal information.       
10. NO GPS: Turn off all your GPS systems regardless. Make sure your mobile devices have no information of a personal nature including any emails, accounts, etc. Use free emails and change them often along with passwords and use those only for social interactions and keep it simple and personal information free. Use GPS jammers in your automobile when you cannot disconnect or disarm the GPS provided in many new vehicles today. Use maps or research journeys, travels and vacations so you can use paper maps from AAA to navigate to your destinations. Use free computers stations with guest accounts to search out restaurants, etc. when on vacation.           
11. Screen Reality Checks: Make sure any information derived from views on computer screens are validated by some other source, i.e., call information and get a phone number to call and verify data viewed on screens. Screen data is hackable and you need to verify and validate data from those sources. Do NOT trust what you see, seek validation from other reliable sources including calling directly “ON A LAN LINE” if possible because you can be spoofed on cell phones and wireless devices as well.           
12. Password Storage: Never use one password as previously stated, use one unique for each login then store those unique and complex passwords in a non-electronic form, i.e., a card or paper hidden on your person not easily found even in a body search. Electronic password protection apps or programs are also weak in security and subject to hacking making for security breaches.          
13. No external drives, i.e., CD’s, DVD’s or Thumb: Make sure you don’t use such devices on your secure personal security computer and workstation because it is easy to insert a thumb drive and have it automatically drop malware, etc. onto the hard drive breaching your security and transferring all your personal and financial data to data brokers, hackers and other nefarious individuals.              
14. Feedback Forms: Avoid them like the plague, simply delete them without viewing, etc. Don’t hover over links and don’t click them. If you wish to provide feedback from a seller, etc., then manually go to an open computer, log in to the site by manually entering in the URL and then find the feedback form and make a feedback comment, etc. 
15. “FREE” Apps: just say no to free apps because free is not, “FREE!” If you just have to have that free app then make sure you read the, “ENTIRE ToS.” Why, because that free app is going to have code that will scrape and extract your data and send it off to what ever data broker has an agreement with the developer or app provider.         
16. In Screen We Trust: remember, everything we perceive through all the forms of electronic information is subject to being nabbed, changed and redisplayed according to the whims of those who code the code.       
17. Touch ID: avoid it like the plague, the promotions to use this feature in our iVerse is just a ad selling effort telling you that the unique feature of human fingerprints, no one set alike, is simply a way to manipulate you into thinking and feeling more secure by using it yet what you are actually depending on is the underlying software code that runs and records our fingerprints. That code is flawed and means when you have malware, keyloggers, etc. implanted via malicious efforts of criminal elements it is now able to send your fingerprints to the underworld of nefarious folks bent on taking advantage, etc.  
18. Password Security Apps: great apps, I used one for a long time and then I realized that screens belong to the coders and even with its encryption once you open the app to view the passwords the screen can have its data recorded by a snapshot jpg and then transmitted to nefarious characters. My recommendation, go back in time and write them down and store them in your wallet. If you lost the wallet you have time to get the passwords changed unless …
19. Code the Written Passwords:  when you write them down, use a code for the application or web site, etc., so even if lost it would make if difficult thus not worth their time to figure them out (Oh, but they could enter it into a computer then write a sub-routine to use it along with your personal information stolen from your wallet to find the account but that takes time, time to change them all)      
20. Tor Substitutes: there are substitutes available that will allow you to anonymously access the iVerse but not the dark-verse that Tor tends to work over. Buyer or Downloader Beware is critical for those instances are also open source and vulnerable to any coder who joins and contributes to the code.       
21. Beware the Download: Regardless of the source it is always a good idea to approach each instance with caution as even the most reliable product is about code and even the most proprietary sources still are subject to being exposed to the coder’s universe and therefore subjected to compromise.            
22. Encryption: make sure your efforts in the iVerse is encrypted. HTTPS is ok but not infallible. Even the storage of information on your computer or other device should be secured through adequate encryption methods. Encrypt your backup; encrypt your cloud account; encrypt files on your various computer devices; use a variety of secure locations; make regular backups; encrypt your passwords and passphrases; DO NOT USE 4 numeric pin to secure anything; keep all software up to date; use multi-signature to protect against theft and have a backup lan for your peers and family.   
23. Reputation: do business only with people and organizations you know and trust, or who have an established reputation.    
24. When in Doubt: be prepared for problems and consult with expert authorities such as security, etc., before making any downloads or click that mouse button, etc.      
25. Logging: WARNING, your IP address can and often is logged. You should consider hiding your device’s IP address and secure you WiFi signal with a strong encryption/password/passphrase, etc.      
26. CAUTION: use deliberate caution when upgrading or installing security fixes and DO NOT ASSUME notifications are anything other than spoofing attempts. Like other notifications, i.e., IRS, etc., they will not use pop-ups or warnings within your browser to notify or warn you, most software has automated methods to check and notify about upgrades and security fixes and patches. Assume anything else including email and/or text message notifications as false spoof oriented high jacking attempts.    
27. eCurrency Models and Products: remember, it is your money and how you use such services is critical to safeguarding your funds. As a start point of information review, read and understand the knowledge provided by the leading, at this time, currency system - BITCOIN but do so with caution.
28. Follow and adhere to "Surviving the Internet of Things" and "Personal Internet Survival Actions."      

More to come, wait for it, check back often!

Touch ID: Fingerprints

Blog Article/Post Caveat (Read First Please: Click the Link)

The cell phones now allow you easy access, faster access, by encoding your fingerprints in their, “Touch ID” systems. With the inherent security flaws of cell phones that is tantamount to giving your fingerprints to the data brokers at minimum while also providing them to the criminal elements in the cyber-world. All it takes is one app that is free while it installs things like malware and key loggers, etc. but this time it takes the code that actually recognizes your fingerprint. 

Fingerprints are the mainstay of criminal investigations of the legal communities and I can imagine the uses this would provide the criminal elements of the iVerse. Guess what, there is a huge push to have all access through security measures to use fingerprint ID software. It is one of those selling points that your fingerprint being such a unique feature of the human body, literally no two alike, that it means superior security but the weak link here is how they create the software to first extract your fingerprint, store it electronically and then use it with recognition software to gain a pass through what ever security you are using where ever you are using it. Well, all that software is built on code, i.e., the one’s and zero’s of computer code and code itself is flawed and full of holes that can bypass this so-called fingerprint security measures.

Think about that and when you use this one single sign-on security process you are depending not on the fingerprint but the code that runs it all. It isn’t about fingerprints, it is about the code. Code comes from humans and humans are fallible to the extreme because that is what makes us human and makes us vulnerable - to the extreme. 

Bibliography (Click the link)

In Screen We Trust

Fear the Code - Fear the Coders

Click for a larger view, if you dare :-|

iSD and the Borg Evolution

Click for a better viewing.

A New Fundamental Principle (The Borg Principle)

Blog Article/Post Caveat (Read First Please: Click the Link)

This is a, “Work in Progress,” but it occurred to me when bringing together materials for my new blog, “iSD,” that in the world of self-defense it is critical to our abilities to protect ourselves from an old yet new threat, the predatory virtual adversary. 

It came to mind simply because until the last decade most karate and martial arts self-defense teachings focused on technique based models then suddenly the whole world of self-defense, a decade ago, became known, i.e., the adrenal stress-conditioned reality of violence, the need to avoid, escape and evade over the more physical, the articulation to first responders to remain within the law and legal system of self-defense-defense, the ramifications of applying violence for self-defense, and then the ramifications of what comes after legally, emotionally and economically, etc. It was this thought that said to me, what about the virtual predator? 

When we teach self-defense through the physical disciplines such as karate and martial arts we think of the dangers and damage from actual hands-on humans, i.e., we think of, “The Fight.” Like all the other aspects of self-defense we tended to either ignore them or simply didn’t know of them because they were not exciting, dangerous or gratifying like the early teachings of karate and self-defense with all the trophies, the drills, the self-defense scenarios, etc. that allowed us to go hands-on. 

iSD is not exciting and because it does not involve human violent interactions and tends to come from sources we cannot readily see, hear or feel we tend to ignore them unless we are the unlucky one to be attacked. 

In iSD there is no sneaking up behind us, surprising us with a blow to the back of the head or behind the ear, the sudden loss of balance and structure and the instant freeze of our minds where we end up in the hospital emergency room. When iSD is needed we experience most often nothing until some other type of signal reaches our brains and tells us something is amiss, there is something wrong and often you don’t know what at the moment.

In an iSD attack you will not be approached physically from any direction, you will be approached swiftly, silently and with deadly intent outside your perception of any wrong happening. You won’t become unbalanced physically, you won’t lose your physical structure and you won’t be surprised by a physical damaging attack for the attack happened completely and utterly outside your physical and mental awareness. 

A predatory virtual attack is not about you and your personal physical health, safety and security. It is about all those electronic attachments and connections you walked into without even a smidgeon of knowledge and understanding to what you just don’t know that you don’t know that gets you and it is about your virtual self such as your identity and your virtual economic self such as your bank accounts or your actual mental safety, security and health. 

In the physical world you often have signs of impending danger and possible conflict and violence but rarely do you have these signs when a predatory virtual attack is on. It is not personal as with a physical predatory attack but it is personal as it attacks your virtual personal self, the one you knowingly and voluntarily put out there in the iVerse open and accessible to everyone be they, “White Hats” or “Black Hats” or “Virtual Predators.” 

Where we have like parallels knowledge in self-defense is from seeking and acquiring, “Knowledge,” so that you can understand the dangers of a virtual predatory attack and you can achieve some semblance of safety and security. 

Unlike physical self-defense you cannot find safety in any type of environment by avoidance unless you turn off your electronic devices and stop connecting to the iVerse itself. Unlike physical self-defense there is not actual environment you can live, work or play in that is not subject to attack from virtual predators. 

In our physical world where we live, work and play can be controlled by ourselves to remove dangers of both social and asocial attacks. In our physical world where we live, work and play you have those warning signs and can escape and evade an attacker and you can defend yourself before the real damage is done. In a sense through education and understanding you can develop a security model that can avoid conflict and violence at higher levels outside the more social acceptable types for your entire life.

In the iVerse, the virtual world, in which we now live you can go no where on this planet and find safety from attack or possible attack. You cannot see the predators that surround you like you can in the physical world, they are not human breathing flesh but one’s-n-zero’s that don’t sleep, don’t ever stop and never ever slow down and they are in your face twenty-four hours a day, every day and they are eternal. 

The types of damage you will encounter and have to endure is not personal, there are no emotions involved and it is a clinical like emotional empty and of a nature that is not prejudiced in any way, it is not a human thing but humans end up victimized. 

The dangers are real and in many cases can lead to a mind-fuck so intense and dangerous that it can actually lead to human grave harm and death. They can kill you both literally and virtually. Like true reality non-virtual violence it has repercussions that reach as far and even further than those encountered when physically attacked. In some sense it is actually more dangerous and more damaging then if a predatory simply attacked you physically and put you in the hospital for the virtual repercussions regardless of your status in the legal system and to the law because it last decades and it has the good chance of never being resolved. 

When I step out my front door I am self-assured to my personal safety and even if a danger is presented I am self-confident of my ability to handle it starting with avoidance to escape and evasion but when I turn my cell phone and computer on in the morning the danger is present and more dangerous, the danger is constant, continuous and truly diligent in its goals with barely any security to impede let alone stop it. Even in my home, with my physical security model and my personal training and expertise I can feel safe but when my devices are on, there is virtually, no pun intended, no real confidence of safety or security except in the most minor ways. 

I liken our virtual vulnerability to the old show, “Star Trek TNG,” where when encountering the, “Borg,” they hear, “We are the borg, resistance is futile.” In our virtual modern world today the borg are out there but in this case they don’t provide warnings, they are absorbing our lives and data silently, swiftly and with deadly intent and resistance is definitely futile in our present security state and posture regardless of the so-called effort of the virtual security industry. You won’t see the borg cube, you won’t get a screen communications of a borg hive leader, and the borg leader of the hive will not be giving you even a hint by saying, “We are the borg, resistance is futile.” In our case, “We are the coders, resistance is futile or We are the data brokers, resistance is futile,” etc. 

Bibliography (Click the link)

The Outer Limits and the Twilight Zone - Who Would Have Known

Blog Article/Post Caveat (Read First Please: Click the Link)

In the late fifties and early sixties there existed two shows that would tell us of the future, a future that is as real and as awe inspiring - yet, of such danger - as these shows would have us believe. It goes to show that fiction can be as stranger or stranger than reality. As you watch the opening scences of one of those shows substitute the words, see the parens, and tell me it isn’t spooky. 

"There is nothing wrong with your television (cell phone or computer or iPad or <fill in the blank>) set. Do not attempt to adjust the picture (code). We are controlling transmission (the code and therefore the presented controlled perceptions of your mind). If we wish to make it louder (change data for mind altering agendas), we will bring up the volume (change the code). If we wish to make it softer, we will tune it to a whisper (change the code). We will control the horizontal (the data). We will control the vertical (the content of the data). We can roll the image (change what you get and see and hear), make it flutter. We can change the focus to a soft blur or sharpen it to crystal clarity (present commercials and ads according to your data). For the next hour (millennium), sit quietly and we will control all that you see and hear (we control the code; we control the data). We repeat: there is nothing wrong with your television set (you, we control your mind by what we code and put in your face). You are about to participate in a great adventure (of our choosing, we are going to control and sensor your perceptions and then beliefs). You are about to experience the awe and mystery which reaches from the inner mind to — The Outer Limits.” Opening narration, The Control Voice, 1960s 

You're traveling through another dimension, a dimension not only of sight and sound but of mind. A journey into a wondrous land whose boundaries are that of imagination. That's the signpost up ahead—your next stop, the Twilight Zone!

You’re about to embark on a journey, a journey that is in another dimension, a dimension of not just sight and sound but of the mind. A journey int a wondrous gratifying wonder whose boundaries are set only by the code. That is the signpost up ahead - the ToS - your next stop, the Virtual Universe of the Internet! Who writes to code, controls the iVerse!

Bibliography (Click the link)

Matrix - Reality or ...

Click for Larger View!