The digital world, explained.

Jeb BooneJanuary 29, 2013 13:55

US Defense Department ramps up recruitment for cyber army

Responding to threats of cyber espionage and state sponsored cyber attack, US Cyber Command looks to expand its forces by 4000.

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Participants work at their laptops at the annual Chaos Computer Club (CCC) computer hackers' congress, called 29C3, on December 28, 2012 in Hamburg, Germany. The 29th Chaos Communication Congress (29C3) attracts hundreds of participants worldwide annually to engage in workshops and lectures discussing the role of technology in society and its future. (Patrick Lux/AFP/Getty Images)

In a major expansion of the US Defense Department’s Cyber Command, the Pentagon reportedly plans to recruit thousands of code crackers, online security professionals and even hackers to deploy the nation’s largest ever cyber army.

The command will recruit an additional 4,000 troops and civilians in the expansion of Cyber Command’s personnel to respond to the growing threat of cyber espionage, state-sponsored cyber-attacks and hacker collectives, The Washington Post reported.

“Given the malicious actors that are out there and the development of the technology, in my mind, there’s little doubt that some adversary is going to attempt a significant cyber-attack on the United States at some point,” William J. Lynn III, a former deputy defense secretary who helped fashion the Pentagon’s cyber security strategy, told The Post.

“The only question is whether we’re going to take the necessary steps like this one to deflect the impact of the attack in advance or… read about the steps we should have taken in some post-attack commission report,” he added.

Jeb BooneJanuary 24, 2013 17:22

Google defies law enforcement, demands warrants for user data

Defying dated US law, Google demands law enforcement demonstrate probable cause before turning over user data.

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California Gov. Jerry Brown (L) signs State Senate Bill 1298 as California State Sen. Alex Padilla (C) and Google co-founder Sergey Brin (R) look on at the Google headquarters on September 25, 2012 in Mountain View, California. California Gov. Jerry Brown signed State Senate Bill 1298 that allows driverless cars to operate on public roads for testing purposes. The bill also calls for the Department of Motor Vehicles to adopt regulations that govern licensing, bonding, testing and operation of the driverless vehicles before January 2015. (Justin Sullivan/AFP/Getty Images)

Google is now demanding that US law enforcement agencies present probable cause search warrants to access user data from Gmail and Google Drive accounts.

Jeb BooneJanuary 22, 2013 13:51

Kim Dotcom's Mega site launch mired in controversy and security concerns

Kim Dotcom's latest project, Mega, is struggling to maintain viability as the security community expresses concerns over the site's encryption tools.

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Megaupload founder Kim Dotcom at North Shore District Court on February 22, 2012 in Auckland, New Zealand. (Sandra Mu/AFP/Getty Images)

“The massive global PR around the #Mega launch is simply to[o] big to handle for our start-up. I apologize for poor service quality,” said Dotcom in a tweet.

Jeb BooneJanuary 18, 2013 13:40

Anonymous Mexico targets Defense Department in support of Zapatistas

Publicly aligning itself with the Chiapas-based Zapatista movement, embattled Anonymous Mexico defaced and temporarily brought down websites belonging to Mexico's Department of Defense on Thursday.

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(Screengrab/Screengrab)

Embattled Mexico-based hackers associated with the Anonymous collective hacked, defaced and launched DDoS (distributed denial of service) attacks against the website belonging to the Mexican Defense Department on Thursday.

Anonymous Mexico also claims to have hacked the ministry’s server, and says it will release the information taken from the network soon. The hail is said to include 60 gigabytes of data, including emails and credit card information.

The Defense Department, however, claimed that no internal networks or information had been affected or compromised during the site’s downtime.

As part of their defacement of the website, Anonymous Mexico posted a statement in support of the Zapatista Army of National Liberation (EZLN), based in the Mexican state of Chiapas.

The statement expressed the collective’s grievances with the Mexican army and their exploitation of the indigenous poor in the state of Chiapas.

Jeb BooneJanuary 15, 2013 13:00

Old Republic devs to segregate same gender relationships to one gay planet

As Bioware prepares to make Star Wars: The Old Republic free to play, adding same-gender relationships to the game is proving a difficult and controversial endeavor.

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A man dressed up as Princess Leia from the Star Wars movies arrives at the annual Mother City Queer Project Party, at Cape Town Stadium, on December 15, 2012, in Cape Town, South Africa. The party is aimed at gays and lesbians, and heterosexual people, who are sympathetic to homosexual issues, who all like to dress up for a costume ball. This year the theme of the party is Fairytale Fantasy. The MCQP is part of a week of gay and lesbian celebration, and activism, in the city. (Rodger Bosch /AFP/Getty Images)

Anyone in the know can tell you that Star Wars: The Old Republic (SWTOR) was one of the biggest massively multiplayer online (MMO) flops of the decade.

But is that about to change?

SWTOR is getting some new exposure after changing the game to a free-to-play model and allowing for same-sex relationships between characters in the game.

Bioware, the developers of SWTOR, are well known for their open-minded approach to sexuality in previous games like Dragon Age and Mass Effect. But same-gender relationships were conspicuously absent from SWTOR. Now the developers are having to allow for all characters to enter into same gender romances. That could take a lot of coding.

“I realize that we promised [same-gender relationships] to you guys and that many of you believed that this would be with a companion character. Unfortunately, this will take a lot more work than we realized at the time and it (like some other pieces of content we talked about earlier in the year) has been delayed as we focused on the changes required to take the game Free-to-Play,” wrote executive producer Jeff Hickman in post to a developers' blog.

Jeb BooneJanuary 11, 2013 18:35

CES 2013: 'Big Brother' gadgets trade privacy for data

Consumers are expected to volunteer more personal data to use the new gadgets unveiled at this year's Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas.

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Samsung Galaxy Camera at Samsung booth at the 2013 International CES at the Las Vegas Convention Center on January 10, 2013 in Las Vegas, Nevada. CES, the world's largest annual consumer technology trade show, runs from January 8-11 and is expected to feature 3,100 exhibitors showing off their latest products and services to about 150,000 attendees. (Joe Klamer/AFP/Getty Images)

As the 2013 Consumer Electronics Show comes to a close, one thing has become clear – more and more companies are expecting consumers to voluntarily give up their personal information while using the latest gadgets.

Jeb BooneJanuary 10, 2013 14:53

In defense of LGBT rights, Anonymous adopts "scorched earth policy" for Ugandan online infrastructure

More Ugandan government sites have fallen under cyber attack by LGBT rights advocates within the Anonymous collective in protest of the country's anti-homosexuality bill.

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A woman mourns at the funeral of murdered activist David Kato near Mataba, on January 28, 2011. Although the police claims it was most likely a petty crime, targeting Kato's money, many members of the gay and the human rights community hold the Ugandan government responsible for not battling the growing resentments against homosexuals in the Ugandan society. Homosexuality is illegal in many African countries and is punishable by a prison sentence. (Marc Hofer/AFP/Getty Images)

LGBT rights advocates within the hacker collectives Anonymous and GreySecurity (Gsec) have continued their campaign against Uganda’s anti-homosexuality bill as government sites and .ug domains have fallen victim to further online attacks.

The websites belonging to the Ugandan Petroleum Exploration and Production Department of the Ministry of Energy and Mineral Development and the Department of Agriculture came under attack by Anonymous on Sunday night, and the attacks have not abated.

The Ministry of Energy and Mineral Development’s website was defaced with the Anonymous logo and a message from the collective.

“Citizens and government of Uganda, take heed, Anonymous is calling,” read the message.

“If nobody else will take action and the government of Uganda refuses to see reason, Anonymous will adopt a scorched earth policy towards Uganda's network infrastructure. You should expect us, for we do not forgive and we will not forget.”

Jeb BooneJanuary 9, 2013 11:46

French students take Twitter to court over anti-Semitic tweets

French Students have sued Twitter, arguing in a Parisian court on Tuesday that the micro-blogging website must divulge the personal information of users tweeting anti-Semitic messages.

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The 'Twitter' logo is seen on a tablet screen on December 4, 2012 in Paris. (Lionel Bonaventure/AFP/Getty Images)

France’s largest Jewish student union is taking Twitter to court, demanding that the micro-blogging website divulge the personal information of French users posting anti-Semitic messages.

The French Union of Jewish Students argues that Twitter is providing a platform for hate speech by allowing anonymous users to post anti-Semitic tweets. An initial hearing in the case was held on Tuesday in Paris, with the court expected to make a ruling as early as Jan. 25.

"Today, the internet has become a forum of racist speech. People are free to say what they want with impunity and we need to stop that," Jonathan Hayou, of the student union, told Al-Jazeera.

Last October, the Twitter hashtag “#unbonjuif” (#agoodjew) began circulating as part of anti-Semetic statements like “#agoodjew is a dead Jew.” According to the Jewish Telegraphic Agency, the hashtag became the third most popular in France.

Jeb BooneJanuary 4, 2013 14:32

Head of piracy ring receives longest-ever prison term for file sharing

The head of the film piracy group IMAGiNE was sentenced to five years in prison on Thursday — the longest sentence ever handed to a convicted file sharer.

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A computer screen of Dirk Engling, spokesperson of the Chaos Computer Club, shows the file name (highlighted) of the Trojan spyware allegedly made by the German authorities in the CCC's offices in Berlin on October 12 , 2011. The computer club and German hacker organization claims to have cracked spying software allegedly used by German authorities. The Trojan horse has functions which go way beyond those allowed by German law. The news has sparked a wave of outrage among politicians and media commentators. (Odd Andersen/AFP/Getty Images)

Jeramiah Perkins, head of theatrical audio piracy ring IMAGiNE, has been sentenced to five years in prison, the longest sentence ever handed to a convicted file sharer in the US.

Perkins, 40, and his co-defendants pled guilty to conspiracy to commit copyright infringement earlier this year following their arrests in 2011.

On Thursday, Perkins was sentenced as the leader of the in-theater recording — or “cam” — ring, which the prosecution argued was the world’s most prolific piracy release group between 2009 and 2011, according to Wired.

"The conspirators informally identified themselves as the IMAGiNE Group and sought, among other things, to be the premier group to first release to the Internet copies of new motion pictures only showing in movie theaters," read the indictmentof Perkins and his co-defendents.

"It was further a part of the conspiracy to use computer software to digitally refine and to edit the video and audio portions of a motion picture and to combine or synchronize the two components into audiovisual movie files," the indictment also stated.

Jeb BooneJanuary 3, 2013 11:24

Standing against anti-homosexuality bill, hackers launch fresh attacks against Uganda

Anonymous has launched the second phase of OpUganda, an effort to pressure Uganda's government in protest of the country's anti-homosexuality legislation.

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A screengrab of the Ugandan Legal Society's webpage defaced by Anonymous as part of OpUganda (Screengrab/Screengrab)

Anonymous and GreySecurity (Gsec) have launched the second phase of OpUganda, a campaign designed to bring pressure on the Ugandan press and government in protest of the country’s anti-homosexuality legislation.

While there is no clear ideology or set of beliefs espoused by the amorphous and multifaceted hacker collective, some factions within Anonymous have taken a keen interest in the case of Uganda’s discriminatory legislation against LGBT people.

“HOMOSEXUALITY IS A FREEDOM. It is a choice every man or woman has. It is NOT something to be governed. It is NOT a sin. It is freedom,” read an OpUganda press release issued by the collective on Wednesday.

Several private sector websites in Uganda — including the Ugandan Legal Society, payuganda.com and television station NTV Uganda — have become the latest targets in the operation. The Ugandan Legal Society’s website remains defaced by Anonymous, while usernames, passwords and emails from NTV Uganda and payuganda.com have been dumped in several posts on pastebin.com.

And the operation doesn't stop there. As more private sector Ugandan websites are being hacked, hackers have pledged to attack major Ugandan government websites, as well.

"We are currently planning attacks for January we can confirm that 4 Ugandan government sites are top priority,” said Twitter account AnonTitan, which is closely linked with OpUganda.

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