Josh Wieder wrote in to Cryptome describing that while examining documents contain in WikiLeaks full Stratfor email dump he has so far identified 18 pieces of malware embedded in documents and WikiLeaks has taken no actions to warn potential views of the hazards these documents might present. Weider notes particularly that Adobe PDF, Microsoft Word, and Microsoft Excel documents have been found with embedded malware in the dump. These of course are all file formats which should be quarantined any time the are encountered in the wild and not opened in their intended runtimes without thorough examination. One particularly interesting tidbit is that according to Weider's initial analysis, it appears that the first infected files were introduced to Stratfor's email system through their Chief executive's wife as early as 2003.
Karpeles Facing Charges in Japan?
Mark Karpeles the CEO of the infamously defunct Mt. Gox is facing charges on fraud based on a
report released this week. An anonymous translation of the report can be seen below: Continue reading
Cecil the Lion is a Pretext for Expanding Extraterritoriality of US Law
Recent social media uproar over a dentist's alleged killing of an African Lion referred to by persons as Cecil, in honor of Cecil Rhodes. Cecil was killed outside of the sanctuary within which his typical range was in Zimbabwe, a country which was also once named for Cecil Rhodes. The story was picked up by the social media outrage machine and amplified by mainstream media organs. Continue reading
Kentucky Man Defends Home From Drone, Faces Charges
William Merideth of Hillview, Kentucky faces charges in the first degree of criminal mischief and wanton endangerment for shooting down a nuisance drone (archived) which was loitering within the bounds of his yard's privacy fence. His neighbors had complained to Merideth about the drone before it breeched the boundaries of Merideth's yard. Neighbor's complaints allowed Merideth the time to retrieve a shotgun which he used to responsibly ground the drone consciously avoiding discharge of his weapon over roads and neighboring properties. Continue reading
After Petition Obama Still Wants to Try Snowden for Espionage
Two years after Barack Obama's Whitehouse closed a petition requesting Edward Snowden receive a pardon for generally making the world a better place, the Obama administration has finally issued a response. Deferring to Lisa Monaco Obama's adviser for matters concerning Homeland Security and Counterterrorism the response alleges that the Obama administration had undertaken some anomalous reforms though Snowden did not whistle blow on United States surveillance overreach until well into Obama's second term as the United States chief executive. Monaco also reiterated the Obama administration's intent to subject Snowden to prosecution under the Espionage Act. What more could a person really have expected though from an executive administration that serves as gardeners cultivating terrorists.
Gawker Media Shutters National Security Blog Less Than 4 Months In
William Arkin announced that he is leaving Gawker Media. This comes as a part of the turmoil facing Gawker Media following their now retracted article on David Geithner, the brother of former Obama treasury secretary Timothy Geithner. In his letter Arkin criticizes Gawker for making the world a worse place and marks the Geithner story's retraction as signifying the end of a long internal fight at the company which is being decided in favor of a "kinder" Gawker Media. A new kinder Gawker Media that refocuses on Celebrity and "Public Figures" and doesn't want Arkin's writing on the internals of the American National Security state. Continue reading
Holographic Performance Shut Off by Police
Hammond, Indiana police shut down a remote holographic being broadcast at a local hip hop festival by rapper Chief Keef who was performing at a secure Los Angeles sound stage. The show dubbed Craze Fest was being held as a charity event in a public park to raise funds for the family of Keef's late friend Marvin Carr and a 13 month old child who was killed by a vehicle fleeing the scene of Carr's slaying. Continue reading
Bitcoin Mining Difficulty Continues To Grow
The Bitcoin mining difficulty continues to hit its stride with today's change seeing the difficulty rise to an all time high of 52,278,304,846. This represents an increase of 2.35% over July 11th's difficulty of 51,076,366,303.
Welsh Silk Road 2.0 Dealer Receives Two Year Prison Sentence
The BBC reports (archive) a Welsh man who plead guilty to charges of possession and supply of Class A and B drugs back in June of this year has been sentenced to a term of two years prison.
Cei William Owens, better known as JohnnyAlpha to his customers was arrested in November of 2014 as part of a joint operation between the FBI, ICE, Europol and Eurojust which resulted in the shut down of the Silk Road 2.0 and arrest of its operator Blake Benthall. Continue reading
Ministry of Games Begins Hosting Eulora Dependencies
Eulora's publisher Ministry of Games has now begun mirroring source packages for Eulora's dependencies Cal3D and Crystal Space on their downloads page. This comes after a week of downtime on SourceForge. An beneficial side effect is that this move removes the requirement to use SVN to acquire the right version of Eulora's dependencies in order to install the game.