turbowebguy.com turbo web guy

December 27th 2011.

For the sake of convenience, I went to Food 4 Less tonight. I hardly go there. I prefer Vons, I've been going there for years, know the people that work there, etc., so I went to Food 4 Less. I felt like getting a Smirnoff Ice ($2.99) walked around with it, went back, got a can of Bud Ice, went back, decided to get a bottle of Bud Ice (32 oz) and get a 3 liter bottle of Arrowhead water. All the while, I noticed one employee looking at me funny. I passed him twice, obviously I thought okay, maybe he saw me with beer in my hand then not, but so what, I go to the register, same employee invites me to go to aisle over, then when he grabs my first item, looks at me and asks, "Where is that bottle of Smirnoff you had?" Okay, I knew where this was going. "I put it down on the box over there,  I didn't want it." He looks where I point, "Okay, I didn't see that." Then I realize the security rent a cop is right behind me, I move back, now I'm mad. "So you are accusing me of stealing?" Checker replies, "Well, I just had to pop the question!" I said, "No you didn't, do you ask people about every item they change their mind about? No." Then I said, "You know what, I don't want shit from here. I'm never coming back to this store again." He smiled at me! I left. He says as I'm going out, "Have a nice night!" All smart ass like, I said real loud, "Nope!" and exited.

There are certain things we will never be rid of.

I'm all for building a better mouse trap, just not when I'm the mouse and it'll end up killing me.

Google does a fair share of improving things, but there is always a downside with great technology. First, Google has made a fortune (Fortune 92 to be precise) in by doing what they do best, collecting information, then providing you with a quick reasonable way to reach it. Also known as "data mining". If there was a mine, they'd be hammering away and finding all the data they humanly can (literally, humanly that is).

The latest creation by Bill Gates, a better recycling bin. But something smells funny. Here's an excerpt from the LA Times:

Okay. I was going to write on Facebook and its privacy dangers again, but then they had their own media frenzy, it cooled off, then Sony Playstation's network got hacked, then Rupert Murdoch (NewsCorp/CNN/FoxNews/Huffington Post/Wall Street Journal/The Sun, UK and too many more to mention) got caught ripping off voicemails, people end up dead, then today, the Taliban, who was trying to improve their numbers by using Facebook, Twitter, the web, got hacked. Okay, I chuckled at that.

Look at the web and the way it's going. Who's to blame, really?

Hugh Jackman as Wolverine in X-Men III said: "A good offense is a good defense, or is it the other way around?"

I work on the web, yeah, hackers that exploit servers, connections, etc., to commit crimes aka cybercrimes, should not be doing what they're doing. But what defines or constitutes a cybercrime? Who's to say? Where is it written?

After I took years of college courses, I decided to try pre-law, paralegal studies, etc., one thing I remember clearly they beat into our brains in paralegal courses was that the law has to be clearly defined and written so "anybody" a "laymen" if you will (person that lays bricks) can understand what they are being charged, accused of, accused of not doing, negligence, etc.

It is the duty of everyone to know what these things are.

So, obviously, I know that if I try to penetrate (the other side of this, people that help prevent this are called "pen testers" btw) somebody's system, to transfer data, money, something that isn't mine, to cash in as mine, yeah, that's wrong.

What if somebody inadvertantley gets into somebody's FTP site because somebody didn't restrict public access (which happens all the time, there are plenty of viewable directories on the web that I could, if I wanted to go, go in, download files, see what's cookin'), and somebody finds it, that doesn't mean they intended to "break the close" (old english legal expression for when a door is closed, somebody opens it with an intent to enter, that becomes "breaking" the "close").

See? So that has to be clearly defined. Okay. Who defines it?

We have the FBI, CIA, NSA, ATF, INS, Homeland Security, Military, Military Contractors, Federal Laws, State Laws, International Laws, Geneva Convention, Google (little joke there, ahem). Where is our internet DMV? Who has jurisdiction?

Okay, now I will quote a source on this, check this out:

"The DOD recognizes that it cannot secure networks on its own. The department is working to build more cooperation across agencies, particularly with the Department of Homeland Security, and with industry to beef up the nation’s cyberdefenses." http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0711/59035.html#ixzz1S9Pxn2RS

So, they can't control it, they can't stop it, so there are co-coordinating what they're doing because they dont' know what they're doing? Doesn't it sound like that? What if somebody screws up when I login, some guy in the DOD to cover his uh, job, says it was a hack attempt by Joe Smith, then he gets gassed, shotgun barrel to his face by some rejects gone military contractor that wants blood and they're getting paid to do it? We already know the Patriot Act is still engraved in people's heads, they believe it persists and exists, just sounds bad.

Finally, anybody out there ever hear of phone scrambling? They do it to look "cool" in big budget Hollywood movies all the time. From "In the Line of Fire" with Clint Eastwood and John Malvovich to Mel Gibson in "Ransom", it's where somebody makes it very difficult to trace the source of a call by rapidly bouncing it from one phone center station or phone computer to another, etc., the same concept is used in Spyware and Adware.

Usually a spyware creator will design several program to look like legitimate ones, the biggest one prompt you with a "WARNING! You have an infected computer!" Blah blah blah, install our software now and we will clean your computer! Installation required. You do it or have done it. This is designed to steal information from your computer AND OR...AND OR... let somebody else channel through your computer to do dirty work on the web.

Okay, I'll kill the spyware, download Spybot Search and Destroy from www.download.com problem solved, or I have Norton Antivirus, Windows Defender, etc.

It may work, it may not, but cyber criminals utilize these things (Spyware and Adware) to get access to your internet based computer to transact dirty deeds. There are plenty of ways for them to do (or even bounce to a couple more computers) when the time comes.

Result? Who's to say somebody won't kick in your door because you inadvertently installed or had Spyware on your computer from 2008 you never got cleaned off?

They can take MILITARY ACTION???

This should concern people. I know the USA is having a budget crisis, but nobody is speaking up about the dangers of new allowed offensive defensive tactics powered by DOD geeks.

America's got talent. Look at Google and Facebook. Let's start with Google.

UPDATE: 7-20-2011 Google+ is now the top free app in apple app store

If you don't know what phone scrambling is, RFID chips (R.adio F.requency I.d.entification), 3of9 ID systems, 128-BIT SSL encryption vs 256-bit encryption, cell phone phreaking is, what hacking is or how often it actually happens, that the Federal Bureau of Investigations largest division is now Cybercrime, you should definitely keep reading.

Okay, so you've heard of a bar code, right?

I have a Blackberry mobile phone with AT&T. About a month ago, I occasionally starting receiving text messages (SMS, short messaging service) on my phone from an unknown number, it wasn't a phone number, but a SMS text number (usually 5-6 digits long).

Thinking it might be real, maybe somebody from long ago trying to contact me, I replied, and after a few more texts, I realized it was some web cam scam. I reported the number to the FCC and FBI for electronic communication abuse (and informed the sender), but have still received the texts and then the same started coming in from other SMS numbers!

I have a friend that when we watch movies, we point out what's absurd in the movies, usually we reply with, "Hey, it's just a movie." but I work with encryption daily in my line of work, and it ANNOYs me when somebody comes across an encrypted drive for example, the movie "Clear and Present Danger" with Harrison Ford was on, Tom Clancy's book based movie, and there is a scene--where a CIA hacker tries to combine and reverse birthdates to break into an encrypted drive, okay, possible...but, in the movie "Runaway Jury" with John Cusack and Gene Hackman, Cusack knows Hackmen's men found an encrypted drive of theirs and says, "It'll take them 1-2 hours for them to crack" we don't have much time. Really? They must be using some cheap software (maybe the same written for the Sony Playstation?). Another movie, "Live Free or Die Hard (Die hard 4)" with Bruce Willis, Silent Bob (from Jay and Silent Bob) plays Warlock "the basement hacker" where he has a "command center" with a wireless keyboard, has his own power supply (even though phones are down his still work? huh? the switch board doesn't have power and you do? okay, maybe solar powered). Then later, the login process the kid hacker had to use to get in where the computer mainframes were, was so beautiful, complex, but without explaining it, it just looks impossible, were we supposed to be impressed?

Funny thing to add in here, I went to Staples, had a client that needed a new router for their internet at the office, they didn't want wireless, guy at Staples told me there wasn't a non-wireless router anymore, I insisted, found a tag on the shelf, I know there are, some people refuse to go wireless, he went and looked, found it hadn't been restocked. He brings it to me, on the box, for real, says, "Web Safe Router" and it's cable only, to wireless WEP passwords and such! Hilarious! The industry is obviously aware too, they know a wireless router isn't one hundred percent fool-proof!!! Here's the link to the product itself