IDGNS: What are the new threats that people aren't thinking about?

Drako: There has been a market change over the last five-to-six years, primarily due to Sarbanes-Oxley. It used to be that you actually trusted your employees. What's changed -- and which is really kind of morally and socially depressing -- is that now, the way the auditors approach the problem, the way Sarbanes-Oxley approaches the problem, is you actually put in systems assuming that you can't trust anyone. Everything has to be double-signoff or a double-check in the process of how you organize all of the financials of the company.

That is really the major shift, which has created a huge burden on how we operate any [publicly traded] organization.

Security chiefs see changes in identity theft

Mr. Bloom, as is his custom, leaps about, trying to overcome his incurable blandness.

I haven't seen this film, but this line was amusing.

Review of 'Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest'

Think of the cell as operating system, and engineers taking the place of traditional biologists in retooling stripped down components of cells (bio-bricks) in much the vein as in the late 70s when electrical engineers were working their way to the first personal computer by assembling circuit boards, hard drives, monitors, etc. It's not an accident that the phrase "bio-hackers" is in the conversation, as this new crowd has a lot in common with the computer engineers who were around the homebrew computer club of the '70s leading the development of the personal computer.

...

What is the path from here to general fabrication? Is that creating too much power in the hands of the individual to be able to create whatever they want that is physical. (Right now they can create any software they want, pretty much, and that has risks; some people estimate up to a trillion dollars a year is lost; lost in some way due to hackers and viruses and spam and whatnot). We have been greatly empowered computationally, without much discussion in advance of whether we should or shouldn't. There's been considerably more discussion in advance about whether we should do recombinant DNA or gene therapy or genetically modified organisms.

Generally I think he's right about this. One major exception that jumps to mind is cryptography. Maybe the name Louis Freeh rings a bell?

But CALEA simply permits the FBI to maintain court-approved access to digital communications and stored data. Another technical challenge called encryption then and now threatens to make court-authorized interception orders a nullity. Robust and commercially available encryption products are proliferating and no legal means has been provided to law enforcement to deal with this problem, as was done by Parliament in the United Kingdom. Terrorists have been able to exploit this huge vulnerability in our public safety matrix.

Neither the Patriot Act nor any other likely-to-be-enacted statute even attempts to close this gap. Resolving this issue is critical to homeland security.

You'll find the above online.

You may also remember CRISIS:

In an age of explosive worldwide growth of electronic data storage and communications, many vital national interests require the effective protection of information. When used in conjunction with other approaches to information security, cryptography is a very powerful tool for protecting information. Consequently, current U.S. policy should be changed to promote and encourage the widespread use of cryptography for the protection of the information interests of individuals, businesses, government agencies, and the nation as a whole, while respecting legitimate national needs of law enforcement and intelligence for... [ Read More (0.2k in body) ]

Constructive Biology | Edge

This is from last November but I hadn't seen it before now.

Recent years have witnessed many proposals for anonymous routing in overlay peer-to-peer networks. To provide both sender and receiver anonymity, the proposed protocols require the overlay nodes to have public-private key pairs, with the public keys known to everyone. In practice, however, key distribution and management are well-known difficult problems that have crippled any widespread deployment of anonymous routing. In this paper, we propose a novel protocol that uses a combination of information slicing and source routing to provide anonymous communication similar to Onion Routing but without a public key infrastructure.

Slicing the Onion: Anonymous Routing without PKI

North Korea's decision on Wednesday morning to test six to ten missiles demonstrates Pyongyang's assessment that the United States will not react decisively to its new show of force. Instead, Pyongyang sees these latest missile tests as an opportunity to demonstrate its perceived threat potential, which it presumes can be used at a later date to extract concessions from the United States and its allies.

North Korea's Missile Tests | PINR - Intelligence Brief

The T.F.G., the A.U., the A.L., I.G.A.D. and the U.N. are powerless to avert a confrontation. Discredited by its former support of the warlords, Washington has failed to provide leadership, allowing divisions within the T.F.G. and the regional organizations to neutralize their effectiveness. Increasingly dependent on Ethiopia, the T.F.G. will find it difficult to make the concessions necessary to satisfy the I.C.C. The rivalry between Ethiopia and Eritrea, and the tentativeness of Kenya and Uganda, eviscerate the A.U. and I.G.A.D. The A.L.-sponsored peace process is the only game in town, but the increasing polarization on the ground renders its success problematic.

The drift toward polarization is likely to continue until violent conflict erupts, one of the current key players retreats, or a player emerges from the sidelines with a fresh initiative. Given the prevalence of mutual uncertainties and suspicions, recent events in Somalia point toward further destabilization.

Somalia's Fluid Politics Move Toward Polarization | PINR

With the loss of training camps in Afghanistan, terrorists have turned to the Internet to find and train recruits. The story of one pioneer of this effort—the enigmatic “Irhabi 007” -- shows how

Pick up the magazine at your local news stand to read the full text.

Jihad 2.0 | The Atlantic

If you grow up in England, as I did, a few items of unquestioned wisdom are passed down to you from the preceding generation. Along with stories of a plucky island race with a glorious past and the benefits of drinking unbelievable quantities of milky tea, you will be told that England is blessed with its pleasant climate courtesy of the Gulf Stream, that huge current of warm water that flows northeast across the Atlantic from its source in the Gulf of Mexico. That the Gulf Stream is responsible for Europe's mild winters is widely known and accepted, but, as I will show, it is nothing more than the earth-science equivalent of an urban legend.

The Source of Europe's Mild Climate

While considering worst-case scenarios is important for the development of sound policy, taking action based only on worst-case thinking can introduce unforeseen dangers and costs. We argue that a better approach to managing risk involves an assessment of the full portfolio of risks – those reduced by the proposed intervention, as well as those increased. We argue that decision makers developing counterterrorism measures need mechanisms to ensure that sensible risk analysis precedes precautionary actions.

Paper By Jessica Stern and Jonathan B. Wiener

Precaution Against Terrorism

Scientists want to adopt a set of declarations to improve the security of research that uses DNA synthesis. A proponent discusses the whys and wherefores of this effort.

Keeping Synthetic Biology Away from Terrorists