WWIII - eWars

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

I was quite surprised when studying Boyd’s modern art of war, his discourse on winning and losing, that even in his time long before data mining and data brokers took such dominance in our electronic world he developed the art of war to cover the Internet Electronic Frontier. The only issue I was able to detect, limited and inexperienced view, was his tendency to couple such electronic wars to the more conventional maneuver type of warfare. In my humble opinion, the future eWars well be totally and completely electronic while repercussions will be felt in the physical world.

In my humble opinion we are already at war with the dark-web, i.e., the more nefarious efforts of those who would remove us from our hard earned income through spam, phishing and other electronic predatory efforts. They are already crossing over from pure electronic warfare to one that hits in the physical world as well.

Yet, that ain’t all folks because the efforts of those who would and desire to free us from the bonds of our physical economic and governmental trappings would create an electronic world that is just as susceptible to the faults of man and human greed. In lieu of those who have control of the economic world trough the trappings of wall street would become the eWall Street thieves, those who control the code. 

Things like bitcoin and other such efforts while commendable and seemingly beneficial even spread throughout the code by dispersed coopted coding efforts still puts that power in the few in lieu of the many because not everyone can be coders or experts in such electronic worlds. The masses will still be subjected to and controlled by the whims of the governing eBody of the internet, the one we see and use and the dark web seen and used by others. 

As we continue to be connected and become totally dependent on those electronic worlds the old world may disappear and lose its control on humans but only to the effect that the power structure will shift and barely change. It will be the code and the coders who will now rule and dictate and you can bet your bottom bitcoin those powers will be used in pretty much the same way the old power structure use their power base to control and profit, etc.

If I had to bet against a military electronic driven fense in eWars vs. the Coders my bet would be on the coders because the most talented of the talented are the very people leading the change in the dark world of coding, that secret society that is there and slowly taking over the Internet Foundation Economy that is growing by leaps and bounds under the false belief that when said and done will allow the masses control and removing the yoke of governments. 

Boyd does have a great plan and modern art of war called the discourse but to truly win this one you have to change human needs and human flaws that seem to take us back again and again into the same old yoke but with a different collar to disguise the same obstacle and flaws that nature and evolution may never be able to shake and change. It is our nature and it is how it will be yet with different leaders, same of sheep following and with seemingly different yet the same old human crap that has haunted societies for centuries, since the dawn of man. 

Bibliography (Click the link)

ATM Self-Defense

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

With more and more banks resorting to technology to do bank business, i.e., not only teller’s becoming just another teller machine in the bank but fees when you do use a human teller along with other fees to make MORE money by banks, it has created an industry of what one reporter is calling “Deep Insert Skimmer w/Hidden Camera” scams.

You can read about that HERE

So, as stated in the article, there are some things you can do to thwart those skimmers such as first and foremost take defensive actions against the hidden camera’s. When you push in and remove your card you often just punch in the pin numbers but in reality you should use one hand to cover up the pad before you enter the pin. Take a look at the machine you are using, the article talks about the false overhead panel for the hidden camera so obscure the pad as best you can to hide your entry from a many angles as possible. Also, move in close like I do so your head and upper body obscures the pad not just from the above hidden camera but any camera that may be located in proximity to the machine that could capture your entering your pin.

Now, as to a general self-defense methodology use the above as well as the following:

• Keep your wits about you when you’re at the ATM, and avoid dodgy-looking and standalone cash machines in low-lit areas, if possible. 
• Stick to ATMs that are physically installed in a bank. 
• Be especially vigilant when withdrawing cash on the weekends; thieves tend to install skimming devices on a weekend — when they know the bank won’t be open again for more than 24 hours.
• Covering the PIN pad with your hand defeats the hidden camera from capturing your PIN — and hidden cameras are used on the vast majority of compromised machines (see the above paragraph for a reminder on obscuring the pin pad, etc.)

Remember, relying on technology to provide you the security and peace of mind against such trickery is just not good. You need to remember that the best security you can depend on is, “Yourself,” and that means reading articles like, “KrebonSecurity,” and my blog because the best security you can achieve is knowledge and understanding along with a concerted effort to live and work that security model. Every single new technological security method, model and code is only as good as the human programmer(s) who create it and since humans are inherently flawed so are the programs and software and hardware they create. Humans also are very clever and creative so once a new technological security program, etc., is released there are about twenty times more creative people out there finding ways to crack that very software. 

For us humans who are diligent in our security our greatest strength is our due diligence and continuous effort to learn and understand and implement while our greatest weakness is our social conditioning that leaves us susceptible to social engineering so - ‘Be careful out there!’

Bibliography (Click the link)

Addendum:

The previous article has a link to a more comprehensive one about skimmers and you should note that this is just not bank machines but also other card reading devices to include a portable one some waitresses will use for your credit cards, i.e., read the magnetic strip and then write down the three digit security code on the back. Read Article HERE

Simple but effective security precaution of covering his hand when entering his 4-digit code. The last few minutes of the following video show how to cover the pad with your hand to enter your pin: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JbDdsUh_sTg

It’s a good idea to visit only ATMs that are in well-lit and public areas, and to be aware of your surroundings as you approach the cash machine. If you visit a cash machine that looks strange, tampered with, or out of place, then try to find another ATM.

ClickBait

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

I thought I had heard a lot of things on the Internet being an IT guy but not until I read an article in the news today where someone mentioned the term, “Click-bait.” I wondered if that were something created to sensationalize the article but I found it defined when doing a search.

Click-bait is content (on the internet), especially a sensational or provocative form, that has a purpose of attracting your attention and to draw you and others toward particularly gifted web pages, i.e., the kind of gifts that keep on taking while you sit there clueless and dumbfounded trying to figure out what you missed and why you are not reaping benefits you may have thought you would get. 

I quote, “Clickbait is a pejorative term describing web content that is aimed at generating online advertising revenue, especially at the expense of quality or accuracy, relying on sensationalist headlines or eye-catching thumbnail pictures to attract click-throughs and to encourage forwarding of the material over online social networks. Clickbait headlines typically (eye-catching headlines that include exaggerations of news events, scandal-mongering, or sensationalism) aim to exploit the "curiosity gap", providing just enough information to make the reader curious, but not enough to satisfy their curiosity without clicking through to the linked content.”

When I see or hear of this I think on the old show, “Madmen,” that infers that those who create the hooks tend to make them so enticing and so that they trigger certain parts of our brains that we find it very difficult to see them for what they are and to avoid them. 

We have come to instinctively click our mouses when your hindbrain, our monkey/lizard brains, perceive outside our conscious mind something like clickbait we have already clicked the link - toooooo laaaatttteeee!

The only way to combat this type of baiting is to teach ourselves a bit of click-discipline. We must remove our hands from the mouse when we enter a web site, analyze the page and all its content both obvious and hidden in surreptitious links and then decide, like counting to ten before clicking, whether to go somewhere or ignore or leave the site. 

Bibliography (Click the link)

Don't take the bait!!!!

Click for larger, readable view.

Personal Internet Survival Actions

Steps you, as a user of networked devices like your computer, cell phone, iPads, etc., can take to reduce your exposure to criminal activity up to 85%. 

• Application White List: allow only specifically authorized programs to run on your systems.
• Block all unknown executable files and install routines.
• Patch, patch and patch all devices automatically on a daily basis minimum.
• Patch/update your Operating Systems automatically on a daily basis.
• Restrict admin privileges on all your devices and spend your time as a basic user while emailing, surfing and shopping, etc.
• Login as admin only you install new software or make system changes. 

• Update frequently.
• Make passwords long and complex.
• Download from only known official sites. 
• Use admin accounts with care.
• Turn off your systems when you are not using them.
• Encrypt your digital life. 
• Protect your data both in storage and in transit across the web, encrypt.
• Use common sense with all your e-mail. 
• Don’t use USB from sources other than yourself.
• Back up data frequently.
• Cover up your camera features on your computers and other networked devices.
• Sensitive browsing, i.e., do sensitive things like banking and shopping on computers that belong to you and avoid using wifi hotspots or unencrypted wifi at your home or work.
• Think, before sharing on social media and networks. Think, before sharing on social media and networks. Think, before sharing on social media and networks.
• Use the OS built in firewall. 

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. 

Surviving the Internet of Things

The list is partial and will grow but this is a good start. It will only come about when humans/users begin to realize, through eduction and understanding, the threat and grave losses all of us incur and will incur if we don’t take corrective actions very, very soon. 

• Insist on secure software.
• Require damages for non-compliance for secure software.
• Reduce/Remove unsolicited data source storage and collection.
• Secure those data sources with same damages for non-compliance.
• Kill the password.
• Encrypt code and apps by default and apply same damages for non-compliance.
• Educate the users.
• Required layered security involving technology and humans/users, apply damages for non-compliance.
• Make cyber-security a lawful requirement with damages for non-compliance on all Internet Access, etc.
• Make cyber-security a human-centered designed oriented thinking. 
• Build more robust, responsive, and flexible defense methods for the internet, code, apps, programs, etc.
• Practice good cyber hygiene by practicing safe tech, i.e., ways to teach, train and practice by users with reminders about practicing good computer skills.
• Users take stewardship over their networks and devices, take personal responsibility and apply monetary fines when they fail.
• Provide the public with proven methods of cyber hygiene to protect themselves.
• Perform proactive network monitoring to detect infections and outbreaks of malware, etc. and apply damagers for non-compliance, etc.
• Provide global incident responses by experts as required and coordinate globally efforts to isolate sources of criminal activity by Crime, inc. and the uVerse hacking predators then levy high monetary damages for failure to comply. 
• Develop rapid-response systems for new dangers like a bioterrorism creating new biological viruses, etc. and apply monetary fines for non-compliance at levels commensurate to the business/systems funding, etc.
• Create a worthwhile incentive program and competition for global security at a level at least commensurate to that of the criminal world. 

Return often to see additions to this list, mark it with a bookmark in your browser. 

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. 

So Little Effort

It used to be a predator had to assess their targets and would need to weigh the odds of whether they would have success or whether they would be caught.

All you had to do is use appropriate awareness, adequate knowledge and project an aura of competency, etc., that you are not an easy target and the predator would move on to easier pickings.

In our modern tech-crime era none of this applies. The ePredators just don't consider or care about the human equation, coding cannot see, hear, touch of FEEL the human conditions. There is no need to “other a target” because they already see thier efforts as a coding exercise and challenge and the humans behind those challenges in coding just don’t even exist in their minds. 

You can be a person of great skill, ability and experience in self-defense in our physical world and yet in the uVerse those traits mean nothing. The only challenge they face are getting caught and that is slim to none, in other words the rewards literally dwarf the chances of getting caught, prosecuted and jailed. 

It takes very, very little effort on a ePredator to build the code and make their move. They don’t even consider whether the protection is adequate or strong because it comes down to a matter of a few milliseconds of effort, in the code running that is no effort although it does require bandwidth and computing power, to a few seconds. 

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. 

Eagleman, David. “The Brain: The Story of You.” Pantheon Books. New York. 2015