“Caveat Emptor”- Facebook reading private text messages?! February 27, 2012
Posted by Chris Mark in InfoSec & Privacy, Laws and Leglslation.Tags: android, Chris Mark, cybersecurity, facebook, mark consulting group, markconsultinggroup.com, privacy, security
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UPDATE: According to Facebook, this story was incorrect. To ensure the accuracy of my own reporting, here is their statement taken from MSNBC: “The Sunday Times has done some creative conspiracy theorizing but the suggestion that we’re secretly reading people’s texts is ridiculous. Instead, the permission is clearly disclosed on the app page in the Android marketplace and is in anticipation of new features that enable users to integrate Facebook features with their texts. However, other than some very limited testing, we haven’t launched anything so we’re not using the permission. If we do, it will be obvious to users what’s happening. We’ll keep you posted on our progress.” (more…)
Traveling Naked (digitally) to avoid Cyberespionage February 25, 2012
Posted by Chris Mark in InfoSec & Privacy, Risk & Risk Management.Tags: Chris Mark, cyberespionage, cybersecurity, data security, mark consulting group, new york times, security
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There is a very good article written by Nichole Perlroth of the New York Times that discusses the dangers of cyberespionage. I have written this subject in this blog, as well. It is always interesting when you talk with people about cyberespionage and get the “brush off” or some comment about “james bond” and fantasy. Unfortunately, cyberespionage is very real, and very dangerous for companies. Intellectual property and trade secrets are in high demand for certain governments and competitors. As stated by top counterintelligence official, Joel F. Brenner: “If a company has significant intellectual property that the Chinese and Russians are interested in, and you go over there with mobile devices, your devices will get penetrated,” (more…)
London Conference on Somalia – “Talk, Talk, Talk” February 24, 2012
Posted by Chris Mark in Industry News, Uncategorized.Tags: Chris Mark, London Conference on Somalia, mark consulting group, Piracy & Maritime Security, security
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On February 23, 2012 the London Conference on Somalia was held. The conference brought together representatives from 40 different nations including US Secretary of State Hilary Clinton. The impetus for the conference was not solely piracy rather the idea that Somalia, as a failed state, may become the Worlds’ largest safe haven for Islamic extremists. As stated: “For two decades politicians in the West have too often dismissed the problems in Somalia as simply too difficult and too remote to deal with,” British Prime Minister David Cameron told the summit. “Engagement has been sporadic and half-hearted. That fatalism has failed Somalia. And it has failed the international community too.” While the nations came together to talk about the future of Somalia, it seemed to have a familiar ring harkening back to 1991-1994. “In many ways, I think I was more confident before the summit,” said researcher, and Somali specialist Anyimadu at Chatham House. “All this emphasis on security and talk of airstrikes — there’s a real risk we will simply repeat the mistakes of the past.”
Published Articles: – “Geopolitical Context of Piracy” February 24, 2012
Posted by Chris Mark in Industry News, Piracy & Maritime Security, Uncategorized.Tags: Dr. Heather Mark, geopolitical context of piracy, Maritime Security, markconsultinggroup.com, Piracy & Maritime Security, pirate as a rational actor, security
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UPDATE: The company that published the articles contacted Heather and has agreed to pull the articles off their website. This is good news and shows that the copany is interested in ensuring their readers get original work from the original author. In an interesting twist, the company representative stated that, when asked, the party who submitted the articles stated “unequivocally” that it was their work. Considering that the company pulled the articles, Heather has a PhD and background in defense, and political economy, and has published over 100 articles, scores of whitepapers, research briefs and other material as well as possessing the original whitepaper from which it was taken, I think the readers are savvy enough to know the actual author of the work. It certainly seems unlikely that a person who has never published a single article or other document would embark on something as complex as: “the Geopolitical Context of Piracy” for their first foray into writing.
Two years ago my wife, Dr. Heather Mark wrote a whitepaper on the Geopolitical Context of Piracy that has since been broken into its component sections and published verbatim as 4 different articles without any form of attribution to her. She was contacted by the organization that published the articles today to ask about her work and attribution. To assuage any concerns that it is indeed her sole work and not anybody else’s work here is a copy of the whitepaper. “Understanding Modern Piracy; Geopolitical and Regulatory Considerations”….the first section is titled: “Geopolitical Considerations”, the next section is titled: “Current Anti-Piracy Efforts”. Heather is a brilliant person and a tremendous righter writer (thanks to Heather’ brother Bill for pointing this out;). There are times that I certainly would like to “borrow” her work and claim it as my own. I would certainly appear smarter and more informed than I actually am. As professional writers (yup, we actually get paid to write;) it is disturbing when someone uses your work without attribution.
Kudos to the company for maintaining the integrity of its service and evaluating the content and writers.
GPS At Risk of Jamming… February 23, 2012
Posted by Chris Mark in InfoSec & Privacy, weapons and tactics.Tags: Chris Mark, GPS, jamming, mark consulting group, privacy, security
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There is a good article on Foxnews about the risk of the GPS network. Our GPS network is a series of satellites that are geosynchronous orbit about 12,000 above Earth. Basically your GPS receiver receives a time code from three or more satellites and calculates the position by simple triangulation. The civilian satellites are ‘open’ and require not authentication and have no encryption although the military GPS can use encryption. According to Todd Humphries of the University of Texas: “The civil GPS signal’s completely open and vulnerable to a spoofing attack, because they have no authentication and no encryption,” … “It’s almost trivial to mimic those signals to imitate them and fool a GPS receiver into tracking your signals instead of the authentic ones.” If you consider how prevalent GPS has become it could clearly be a target for terrorists or others with bad intentions. In doing some basic research I found a number of GPS jammers on sale over the Internet for between $100US and $500US. It should be noted that GPS jammers are illegal in the US.
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