Low-Intensity Conflict: Cyber, Iran’s Next Move
Iran’s next move could be one of low-intensity conflict that could have a big impact on our cyber infrastructures The level of angst and concern of a hot-war between Iran and the United States has largely been quelled, as time has put space between the flashpoint incidents that caused the ... Read More
First Amendment Fight: Twitter Threat Ends in Conviction
First amendment rights in the United States only go so far. Shout “fire” in a crowded room for thrills or threaten to kill someone and you will find yourself on the wrong side of the First Amendment interpretation of what constitutes free speech. Joseph Cecil Vandevere was indicted, then convicted ... Read More
Saudi Arabia Pays Twitter Insiders $300K for Account Info
In the world of espionage, the nation-state is always looking for insiders with access to desired information, and the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia is no different than any other country. The difference between Saudi Arabia and many other countries is how it uses inside information to monitor their citizenry. Free ... Read More
FTC Holds Companies Accountable for Online Lead Generators
The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) dropped the $30 million hammer on Career Education Corporation (CEC) for using leads obtained from dubious and illegal website operators to engage with prospects with the hope of having the prospect enroll in CEC’s post-secondary schools. This is one of the first cases in which ... Read More
Service Members Targeted in Identity Fraud Scheme
Five individuals were indicted for the reprehensible crime of defrauding U.S. military veterans and current service members of their benefits. The five accused of the fraud are identified as Robert Wayne Boling Jr., Fredrick Brown and Trorice Crawford, all U.S. citizens; Allan Albert Kerr, an Australian citizen; and Jongmin Seok, ... Read More
Former Google-Waymo Engineer Levandowski Charged With IP Theft
Some 18 months after Uber cleared the air with Waymo (an Alphabet/Google company) via a civil settlement then worth $245 million in Uber stock, the U.S. Department of Justice (DoJ) unsealed a federal grand jury indictment of Anthony Levandowski, the individual central to the entire intellectual property (IP) theft of ... Read More
Commerce Bureau Pegs More National Security Risks
The Department of Commerce’s U.S. Bureau of Industry and Commerce (BIC) has added 17 organizations from 11 countries to its “entity list,” citing national security concerns. Presence on the list means the organization or enterprise is presumed to be acting counter to the national security interests of the United States ... Read More
Chinese Accounts Punted Off Twitter, Facebook for Dissing Hong Kong
Influence operations are not limited to Russia, as evidenced by the Chinese efforts to cast the Hong Kong protests as tantamount to the equivalent of a terrorist-backed activity. On Aug. 19, Twitter and Facebook both took to their blogs and revealed how they were attempting to clean up their own ... Read More
FBI Orders Up Social Media Monitoring Tool
In an interesting turn of events—and no doubt tangentially connected—the FBI and the White House are contemporaneously calling for the monitoring of social networks to detect mass shooting- and terrorist-related threats. Let’s look at the FBI’s proposal. The FBI has issued a Request for Proposal (RFP) for a “Social Media ... Read More
Hong Kong Violence Instigated by Jason Bourne
A message was sent to Washington via China Daily July 25, when Beijing warned about bringing Taiwan and Hong Kong into the greater U.S.-China trade discussions. Then the fun started. The social network Twitter saw numerous allegations levied against individuals present at the Hong Kong demonstrations that the protesters were ... Read More
