Google Maps and Privacy

I thought I've seen the best close-ups from Google Maps in the top 10 naked people on Google Earth, but this screenshot is spooky as the guy is even looking straight into the sky which makes it even more interesting catch. It proves ones thing, Google are capable of providing high-res satellite imagery, which they aren't on a mass scale for the time being. Shall we speculate on the possible reasons why is this guy looking above, remotely controlled aerial surveillance device, but what's the relation with Google Maps whatsoever? More at Google Blogoscoped, as well as in previous posts related to the topic.

Touching the Future of Productivity

Visualization in military brienfings and intelligence gathering has been a daily lifestyle of analysts for years, but combining visualization and touchscreens makes it the perfect combination to boost productivity. We're very near to entering the stage where VR will not only save lifes in a war zone, but also allow a skilled and hard to replace warrior to operate a device while enjoying his Coke back home. Great demonstration. Via Defensetech.

Go through related posts on visualization and its future impact on information security and intelligence as well.

Ballistic Missile Defense Engagement Points

Outstanding animation covering pretty much all of the current engagement points in case a missile is fired from anywhere across the world, total syncronization between air, land and naval force, and I must say the background music is excellent too.



In a previous post, Who Needs Nuclear Weapons Anymore? I provided my reflection on the overal shift of threats nowadays compared to the ones back in the Cold War days you may informative, as well as an essay I wrote back in 1998. Cryptome's Eyeballing of Missile Defense is also worth going through.

Vladuz's Ebay CAPTCHA Populator

Nice slideshow courtesy of eWeek providing various screenshots related to Vladuz's impersonation attacks on Ebay :

"And whether or not Vladuz is responsible for writing a tool to automatically skim eBay customers accounts and thus cause sharp spikes in bogus listings being taken down and relisted multiple times a day, he or she has the mythic reputation at this point to be credited as the cause."

Compared to diversifying its targets, permanently sticking to Ebay as the main target is already prompting the Web icon to put more efforts into tracking him down. Last year for instance, automated bots exploited Ebay's CAPTCHA and started self-recommending each other, but with Vladuz's Ebay CAPTCHA Populator, improving the quality of Ebay's authentication process should get a higher priority than tracking him down as another such tool will follow from someone else out there.

Photoshoping Your Reality

It's not just a stereotyped beauty model, advanced image editing tools and techniques can make you believe in, but they can also influence your understand of reality too as you can see in Wired's famous altered photos collection :

"A picture is worth a thousand words, and Photoshop and similar tools have made it easier than ever to make those words fib. But while computers enable easier and better photo manipulation, it is hardly a new phenomenon. Here is a sampling of some of the more famous altered photographs from the last century."

Here's a free service letting you fake photos. Here's another one as well as a variant of mine in relation to a previous post.

Shots from the Malicious Wild West - Sample Three

Keyloggers on demand, the so called zero day keyloggers ones created especially to be used in targeted attacks are something rather common these days. Among the many popular ones that remained in service and has been updated for over an year is The Rat! Keylogger. Here are some prices in virtual WMZ money concerning all of its versions :

The Rat! 7.0XP - 29 WMZ
The Rat! 6.0XP/6.1 - 22 WMZ
The Rat! 5.8XP - 15 WMZ
The Rat! 5.5XP - 13 WMZ
The Rat! 5.0XP - 9 WMZ
The Rat! 4.0XP - 8 WMZ
The Rat! 3.xx - 7 WMZ
The Rat! 2.xx - 6 WMZ

An automated translation of its features :

For the installation to the machines with the operating systems Windows xp, Windows 2000 and on their basis. Finale - apotheosis! Let us recall again, for which we love our rodent:
- the size of file- result is record small - 13 312 bytes in the nezapakovannom form (with the packing with use FSG, 6 793 bytes!).
- not it detektitsya as virus by antiviryami.
- it follows the buffer of exchange.
- the system of invisibility and circuit of fayervola.
- the fixation of pressure you klavish' in the password windows and the console.
- the sending of lairs on e-mail, with the support to autentifikatsii RFC - 2554.
- the encoding of dump.
- tuning the time of activation and time of stoppage
- removal in the time indicated without it is trace and reloading.

Digital fingerprints will follow as soon as I finish bruteforcing the password protected archives.