Israel Accused of “Mini Cloud” Surveillance

The Lebanese Army, after a tip from Hezbullah militants, believes a spy device found near Beirut is Israeli

The Lebanese Army said Wednesday it had uncovered two Israeli spy installations in mountainous areas near Beirut and the Bekaa Valley — one on Sannine mountain and another on Barouk mountain.

How did they know it was from Israel?

The photos released Thursday show a device bearing the words “mini cloud” in Hebrew, along with the name of the manufacturer – “Beam Systems Israel Ltd.” – in English.

Oh, did it also have a business card taped on the outside? Seriously, though, if someone were to take the trouble of making a covert network listening device with extended range and battery life, why would they leave obvious signs of origin? It would be one thing to catch Israel in the act of spying, by altering the device and monitoring its outbound or uplink connections. Pointing to a label on a rock in the desert seems incredibly low-tech and offers little more than a clue.

OSHA and USFS review Avalung accident

Reported in the Summit County Citizens Voice

Wolf Creek ski patrol director Scott Kay was wearing an Avalung breathing device when he was killed by a soft snow avalanche on Nov. 22, but was not able to deploy the Avalung before he was buried, according to a technical report posted by the Colorado Avalanche Information Center. According to the CAIC report, the mouthpiece was still secured in the shoulder pack of the harness when Kay was uncovered by rescue workers.

[…]

OSHA officials and the U.S. Forest Service are conducting separate reviews of the accident. John Healy, area director for the federal agency, said there’s no official timeline for the investigation, but that it must be completed within six months. According to Healy, there are no specific federal safety regulations relating to avalanche control work.

Instead, OSHA will use accepted industry standards and best practices as the yardstick to determine whether Kay was unnecessarily exposed to risk under the agency’s “general duty” clause.

US Ranks 25th for Internet

Experts like Hans Rosling say intelligent things about measuring progress and security by looking at education and health, but there are many days when I feel like progress should be measured by Internet access. The latest study shows the U.S. ranks 25th in the world for Internet connection speed

nearly half of all U.S. residents’ Internet connections fall below the U.S. Federal Communications Commission’s minimum definition of broadband, at 4 megabits per second download

Well, at least they have education and health going for them…oh, uh, wait a minute.

Someone should turn the study into a comparison of defensive capability for cyberwar. That might turn things around in a hurry.

LOIC Exposes Attackers

Just in case there was any confusion about this, the DDoS tool recommended by the so-called “Anonymous” group does not hide the source of attack — it is a simple load test application that includes its host IP address in outgoing packets.

The tool is called LOIC (Low Orbit Ion Cannon); a java version just released is called JLOIC. The LOIC FAQ tells users to lie when caught.

Q: What if I get caught and arrested?

A: You probably won’t. It’s recommended that attack with over 9000 other anons while attacking alone pretty much means doing nothing. If you are a complete idiot and LOIC a small server alone, there is a chance of getting arrested. No one will bother let alone have the resources to deal with DDoS attacks that happens every minute around the world. Then theres always the botnet excuse. Just say your pc was infected by a botnet and you have since ran antivirus programs and what not to try to get rid of it. Or just say you have NFI what a DDoS is at all.

PROTIP: If you do get arrested ALWAYS deny it, Explain it was botnet, Say you have dynamic IP and that they have the wrong guy. Also, epic lolz will be achieved because you are a fag. DDOS ONLY IN GROUPS.

Denial. That’s what they consider a “protip”. The FAQ makes it obvious that LOIC offers zero protection or means to attack anonymously.

Traffic from LOIC is easily traced to the attacker in its standard configuration. There is no need for a dump of network traffic to see this; it’s right there in the documentation.

The odds of arrest are increased by several factors, regardless of working in large groups. The prosecution claim from Holland gives a good example. Announcing online that you use LOIC to attack a prosecutor’s office, and others should too, is a good way to not only get caught but arrested and charged.