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Obama Cautions Kids against Social Networking

Pulkit Chandna — Wed, 09 Sep 2009 20:13:43 -0500

Ninth graders at Wakefield High School in Arlington, Virginia, were greeted by some social networking advice from President Obama on Tuesday. He advised them to not let their guard down on social networking sites such as Facebook, for the ghosts of their gay abandon could come back to haunt them later.

“I want everybody here to be careful about what you post on Facebook,” Obama told a group of 40 ninth graders. “Because in the YouTube age, whatever you do, it will be pulled up again later somewhere in your life. And when you’re young, you make mistakes and you do some stupid stuff. ”

Recent studies have shown that an increasing number of hiring managers closely examine the social networking profiles of job candidates. So, a bit of caution on the part of these kids will at least ensure that they don’t remain unemployed because of social networking gaffes.

Image Credit: PrezBaby

Proposed Cybersecurity Bill Would Give the President Unprecedented Control Over the Internet

Justin Kerr — Sun, 30 Aug 2009 15:46:40 -0500

Back in April we reported on new legislation which, if passed, would give the president the authority to take control of the Internet. Over four months later it appears that not only has this bill continued to be worked on, but it is now closer to fruition than ever before. Revisions to the legislation made by the office of Sen. Jay Rockefeller, a West Virginia Democrat, remains “vague” according to Larry Clinton, president of the Internet Security Alliance. “It is unclear what authority Sen. Rockefeller thinks is necessary over the private sector. Unless this is clarified, we cannot properly analyze, let alone support the bill.

The legislation which is now up to 55 pages in length isn’t all controversial, in fact the only section that is being hotly debated at the moment is Section 201. In this section the President is permitted to “direct the nations response to the cyber threat” if necessary for “the national defense and security.” This would allow the White House to engage in “periodic mapping” of private networks that are determined to be critical, and those companies will “share” requested information with the federal government. In plain English, this simply means that if your company is deemed “critical”, regulations determine who you can hire, what information you can disclose, and under what conditions the government can take control over your companies computers or network.

“The language has changed but it doesn’t contain any real additional limits,” according to the Electronic Frontier Foundation. “It simply switches the more direct and obvious language they had originally to the more ambiguous version. The designation of what is a critical infrastructure system or network as far as I can tell has no specific process”.

CNET’s Declan McCullagh spoke with White House deputy communications director Jena Longo who issued the following written statement:

“The president of the United States has always had the constitutional authority, and duty, to protect the American people and direct the national response to any emergency that threatens the security and safety of the United States. The Rockefeller-Snowe Cybersecurity bill makes it clear that the president's authority includes securing our national cyber infrastructure from attack. The section of the bill that addresses this issue, applies specifically to the national response to a severe attack or natural disaster. This particular legislative language is based on longstanding statutory authorities for wartime use of communications networks. To be very clear, the Rockefeller-Snowe bill will not empower a "government shutdown or takeover of the Internet" and any suggestion otherwise is misleading and false. The purpose of this language is to clarify how the president directs the public-private response to a crisis, secure our economy and safeguard our financial networks, protect the American people, their privacy and civil liberties, and coordinate the government's response”.

Do you think this is a serous threat? Or do legislators need to stop watching late night re-runs of Die Hard?

Obama Set to Announce New Head Cybersecurity Position

Paul Lilly — Mon, 01 Jun 2009 09:09:58 -0500

President Obama on Friday announced plans to develop a cybersecurity office in the White House to combat against cyber threats. As part of the that plan, the President said he would himself name a "cyber czar" to head up the operation.

"A lot of the things that were discussed [Friday] morning have been said before, but it is a very big deal when the President says them," said President Larry Clinton of the Internet Security Alliance.

Citing a recent survey, President Obama said that cyber crime has cost Americans more than $8 billion over the past years, with the worldwide cost of stolen intellectual property estimated to be in the vicinity of $1 trillion. He also talked about hackers gaining access to campaign computers when he was running for President.

"It's not clear this cyber threat is one of hte most serious economic and national security challenges we face as a nation," Obama said. "We're not as prepared as we should be, as a government or as a country."

You can view the 16 minute video of what President Obama had to say right here.

Obama Picks the New CTO

Justin Kerr — Sun, 19 Apr 2009 12:17:56 -0500

We have spent a lot of time speculating about who would be the US’s first CTO. Heck, even Intel’s CTO has chimed in on the issue. But when all the smoke cleared, Obama had chosen Aneesh Chopra, currently Virginia’s secretary of technology to fill the new and very high profile national position. Working side by side with chief information officer, Vivek Kundra, Chopra will be responsible for setting technology policy within government, and help to find ways to improve security while lowering costs.

Vivek Kundra was widely speculated to be a strong contender for the position, but so were several other Silicon Valley hopefuls. The announcement of Chopra as CTO puts to rest months of speculation, and will allow him to get down to business. As always, critics of the decision are lining up, but for the most part many respected industry leaders are coming out in favor of Obama’s decision.

According to Gary Shapiro, president and CEO of the Consumer Electronics Association, “He is an excellent selection”. “He served proficiently in Virginia as Secretary of Technology and also has a strong background in the private sector advising the health care industry on technology management issues," he said in a statement. "He will bring to the position real world technology and public policy experience."

Does this mean Obama is going to hand over the Internet off switch? What do you think of the new CTO?

(Image Credit Teleworkexchange.com)

Proposed Bill Gives Obama the Power to Shut Down the Internet

Justin Kerr — Sat, 11 Apr 2009 12:53:16 -0500

New legislation proposed on April 1st will give a whole new meaning to geeks who like to joke that the President has his finger on the button. If the proposed legislation comes to pass, the president will have the ability to shut down public and private networks, including internet traffic should the need arise. This power is part of a new cybersecurity emergency plan that is designed to help protect the US against attack, but also gives the government unprecedented control over our networks.

The critics of this bill however are lining up, and are voicing their concerns over how this power could be abused. According to Leslie Harris of the Center for Democracy and Technology, “This is pretty sweeping legislation. Seems the President could turn off the Internet completely or tell someone like Verizon to limit or block certain traffic. There is a lot to worry about in this bill.”

Since the bill is still in its early stages, it is unclear what amendments will be made, or if it will even be passed at all. West Virginia Democratic Senitor John Rockefeller made it clear to the media that this is the first draft of the proposal, and that they will be in close contact with internet-centric companies who obviously have a lot more at stake here than the average user.

Obama may soon have the power to nuke the real world, and World of Warcraft. Are you comfortable with this?

Obama Campaigns in Taiwan, as a PC

Paul Lilly — Mon, 06 Apr 2009 13:32:54 -0500

Obama may have sold the idea of hope and change to the American populace, but can his name sell a low-power PC? Little known Taiwanese company Seed seems to think so, who was spotted selling what it's calling the 'Obama PC,' otherwise known as a nettop, and a pretty basic one at that.

Built around the mini-ITX form factor, the Obama PC comes configured with an Intel Atom 230 processor nestled into Intel's 945GC chipset, 2GB of memory, a 500GB hard drive, DVD burner, four rear-mounted USB 2.0 ports, two PS/2 ports, a parallel port, a serial port, a D-sub connector, and a 10/100Mb Ethernet port. It also adds another two USB 2.0 ports on the front, a 3.5-inch drive bay, and an internal PCI expansion slot.

The presidential PC sells for NT$7,999, which converts to about $242 in U.S. currency. No word on whether or not Seed plans to import a version for sale in the U.S. If it does, look for Biden-branded peripherals to accompany it.

Image Credit: Fudzilla

Hackers Adulterate Google Video Search Results with Malware

Pulkit Chandna — Tue, 03 Feb 2009 08:07:46 -0600

After Obama’s website, black hats have now managed to sow the seeds of deceit in Google video search results. Security firm Trend Micro has discovered that that about 400,000 queries trigger Google Video search results that “have a single redirection point, and one that eventually leads to malware download and execution.” The black hats have been able to manipulate search results to their advantage using simple SEO techniques. For this purpose, they have reserved several domains and populated them with keywords.

According to Trend Micro, the malware executable, dubbed WORM_AQPLAY.A, proliferates using removable and network drives. The malware executable is disguised as an Adobe Flash installer. The malware only prompts the user to download the malicious Flash installer when he reaches one of the malefic video websites being run by the black hats.

Image Credit: Googlified

Online Scammers Using Obama's Site to Spread Trojan

Pulkit Chandna — Tue, 27 Jan 2009 08:53:23 -0600

Online scammers have contrived an ingenuous way to ride Obama’s rampant wave of popularity. According to Websense Security Labs, certain unscrupulous elements have registered several accounts on my.barackobama.com, the social network on Obama’s website that affords all standard social networking features to users, including personal profiles, groups and blogs.

The charlatans created various accounts on the website and planted a hideous Youtube image with the message, “click here to see movie.” Users who click on the image mistaking it for a Youtube video are redirected instead to a website, which resembles Youtube, but appears to be fraught with pornographic content.

However, when a user proceeds to view one of the videos the website asks the user to download a missing video codec. In its stead is downloaded a Trojan. Further proof of Obama's widespread popularity.

Image Credit: Websense Security Labs