Yet another breach of sensitive, unencrypted data is making news in the United Kingdom. This time the breach puts Royal Air Force staff at serious risk of being targeted for blackmail by foreign intelligence services or others.
The breach involves audio recordings with high-ranking air force officers who were being interviewed in-depth for a security clearance. In the interviews, the officers disclosed information about extra-marital affairs, drug abuse, visits to prostitutes, medical conditions, criminal convictions and debt histories — information the military needed to determine their security risk.
The recordings were stored on three unencrypted hard drives that disappeared last year.
I think it's a shame that Asus would pull something like this. I'm sure that some big execs at Asus are getting paid big bonuses for their join ad campaign with Microsoft. (Read: Asus execs sell souls to sleep with the devil.)
Microsoft is doing what they do best: Spreading Fear, Uncertainty, and Doubt about anything that is not their own software. I think it's sad that so many of us can't stand using windows, but don't bother trying to use anything else.
You know, I'm not a fan of these titles implying absolute power. A czar is like an emperor. Do we really want to give any one person absolute power over anything at all? No, and I'm fairly certain that anyone with that title in our government "Car Czar," "Internet Czar," etc., probably doesn't actually have absolute power. But at the same time, I bet there's a lot of power laying around for him to abuse.
The adviser will have the most comprehensive mandate granted to such an official to date and will probably be a member of the National Security Council but will report to the national security adviser as well as the senior White House economic adviser, said the sources, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because the deliberations are not final. The announcement will coincide with the long-anticipated release of a 40-page report that evaluates the government's cybersecurity initiatives and policies. The report is intended to outline a "strategic vision" and the range of issues the new adviser must handle, but it will not delve into details, administration officials told reporters last month.
Cynics are expecting the appointee to be a lawyer for the RIAA.
That brings new meaning to "being bugged," doesn't it?
In less than a century, computers will be making substantial progress on ... the overriding problem of war and peace. -- James Slagle