Collaborate Disseminate
Hundreds of contractors reportedly were hired to transcribe Messenger voice chats in order to test the accuracy of an AI algorithm — raising questions about what Facebook does with the data. Continue reading Facebook Records User Audio, Sparking Privacy Questions
LAS VEGAS – Supply-chain attacks have nabbed headlines lately thanks to high-profile incidents like the Wipro news last April, where attackers were able to compromise the staffing agency’s network and pivot to their customers. That incident point… Continue reading Black Hat 2019: Addressing Supply-Chain Risk Starts with People, Microsoft Says
Apple Watch and HomePod have the highest rate of inadvertent recordings, a whistleblower says. Continue reading Listening in: Humans hear the private info Siri accidentally records
Humans are listening to our recordings – some made by mistake – to improve speech recognition. But they’re not as anonymous as Google says. Continue reading Hey, Google, why are your contractors listening to me?
ServiceTitan, a startup out of Glendale, Calif. that has built a software platform for home services businesses — in areas like air conditioning, plumbing and electrical repairs — to manage their work, has raised $165 million in what it claims is the “largest software raise in Southern California history.” (That distinction might be specifically for […] Continue reading ServiceTitan raises $165M for its home services software, now valued at $1.65B
A former U.S. defense contractor who spent nearly two decades mishandling classified information while working inside the NSA and other American intelligence agencies has agreed to plead guilty to a felony charge of illegal retention of national security information, the government says in newly filed court documents. Ex-NSA contractor Harold T. Martin could face up to 10 years in prison in addition to a $250,000 fine for the single felony charge. His guilty plea is just one part of an expansive case involving a 20-count indictment handed down in February 2017. The government did not specify whether the guilty plea is part of a plea deal. Investigators found last year that Martin had removed a staggering amount of sensitive material — including documents, removable media and computer files about internal NSA policy and cyber-operations — from various classified environments. More than 50 terabytes of material, some marked “Top Secret,” were recovered as part […]
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A former U.S. defense contractor who spent nearly two decades mishandling classified information while working inside the NSA and other American intelligence agencies has agreed to plead guilty to a felony charge of illegal retention of national security information, the government says in newly filed court documents. Ex-NSA contractor Harold T. Martin could face up to 10 years in prison in addition to a $250,000 fine for the single felony charge. His guilty plea is just one part of an expansive case involving a 20-count indictment handed down in February 2017. The government did not specify whether the guilty plea is part of a plea deal. Investigators found last year that Martin had removed a staggering amount of sensitive material — including documents, removable media and computer files about internal NSA policy and cyber-operations — from various classified environments. More than 50 terabytes of material, some marked “Top Secret,” were recovered as part […]
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A mercenary hacker group has been linked to a newly disclosed 2013 breach at Microsoft in which the attackers accessed a highly sensitive internal database that held information about software flaws in company products, according to Reuters and prior research conducted by a cohort of cybersecurity experts. The latest revelations about Microsoft are all the more concerning because the hacker group responsible, dubbed by security researchers as “Wild Neutron,” “ButterFly” or “Zero Wing,” have become virtually untraceable since September 2015. Although experts say that Wild Neutron likely remains active, recent evidence of their exploits is lacking. “It’s kind of scary to think we haven’t even seen them in a while,” said Brian Bartholomew, a senior security researcher with Kaspersky Lab. “They just sort of fell off the radar … that could be due to a significant change in tactics or tools or just a lull in activity … It’s anyone’s guess.” […]
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With President Donald Trump’s move to elevate U.S. Cyber Command to a unified combatant command, the Fort Meade-based outfit is on track for additional funding dollars and a bump in acquisition authorities, which experts believe will translate into the development of new programs and therefore a cadre of opportunities for private defense contractors. It’s not so much that Cyber Command has been poorly funded in the past, explained Michael Sulmeyer, a former senior U.S. defense official during the Obama administration, but rather that the Combatant Command designation and continued maturation of the organization will position it with an “equal seat at the table” to vie for future funding dollars and pursue innovative technologies. “I think it’s interesting that Trump’s statement mentioned funding, because I am not aware of any budgetary shortfalls faced by the cyber mission. Cyber Command will continue to receive the resources it needs,” said Sulmeyer. “The Defense […]
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Continue reading Trump’s decision to elevate Cyber Command will be a boon for defense contractors
Some things really, really shouldn’t be turned into IoT devices – including vending machines Continue reading CIA contractors fired for stealing from hacked IoT snack machines