‘You've got to ask yourself one question. Do I feel lucky? Well, do ya, punk?’
The story seems made for TV.
A law enforcement agency’s data system is hacked by a cyber criminal who holds the sensitive information for ransom until certain demands are met.
Except in recent developments at the Dickson County Sheriff’s Office, that scenario is all too real. The alleged criminal, who used the name “Nimrod Gruber,” extorted $572 from the county by locking up sensitive data with “ransomware” known nationally as “CryptoWall.”
“Our computer system was attacked from an outside source,” said Sheriff Jeff Bledsoe to county commissioners last week.
In recent days, sheriff’s office staff was listening to Dickson radio station WDKN’s online radio stream, according to Bledsoe, when the “ransomware” infected the department’s report management system.
When “cryptowall“ struck, staff were notified by on-screen messages they had a certain amount of time to pay or the data would not be unlocked. The software company used by department was contacted and verified the malicious software as “cryptowall.”
“Cryptowall works by encrypting files on any attached storage devices with a high-level encryption scheme,” Bledsoe said. “Typically backups are made with storage devices, so in many cases backup data is also vulnerable.
“Although a substantial portion of the data encrypted on the report management server was able to be restored from backups, there were still approximately 72,000 files affected on the host computer, which introduced the malware to the network and the report management system and the attached drives,” the sheriff added.
Bledsoe said the department contacted both the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation and the Federal Bureau of Investigation. He said those agencies advised that the cryptowall extortioners usually released the files when the money is paid.
“My first response is we are not going to be held hostage. We are not going to pay a fee to get our records back,” Bledsoe said. “But once it was determined which records were involved and that they were crucial to victims of crimes in this county, and to the operations of the sheriff’s office and the citizens of this county…I had no choice but to authorize to pay this.”
The sensitive data included “documents vital to our ongoing investigations, booking documents, records, records of issued equipment, documents related to current and past prosecutions and other non-replaceable documents,” Bledsoe said.
“Basically, when we were first hit with this, I wanted to know if we had our security measures in place to prevent it. We did,” the sheriff said. “Everything was backed up accordingly.”
Bledsoe said he didn’t know why the ransomers chose $572.
“I am thankful that is all they asked for,” he said.
The money was paid by a sheriff’s office staff member through Western Union and was reimbursed personally by Bledsoe. The commission approved reimbursing the sheriff for the money last week.
Bledsoe said the department is now looking at measures to put in place to prevent an attack from happening again.
‘Ransomware’
Kenneth Forte, WDKN president and general manager, said a representative with the third-party company used for its streaming service assured him it was not from the site. Diego Baeza, of Securenet Systems, said cryptowall and other such “ransomware” penetrate computers through the user’s web browser.
A TBI spokesperson did not know of other state law enforcement agencies that had been struck by cryptowall. However, the Durham, N.H. police department was infected in June and that department chose not to pay the ransom.
Luke Vincent, the town’s information technology director, told The Herald that the files were “more administrative files” and not “critical” police records.
“We knew we were never going to pay that ransom,” Vincent said. “We were able to restore all the files...so there was never a thought of paying the ransom in that case.”
However, the town of Durham did spend nearly $3,000 for an outside contractor to help with the files “cleanup afterward.”
A report published in February by the Dell SecureWorks Counter Threat Unit said cryptowall first became well known in the spring but was identified as early as November last year. The Dell researchers state that cryptowall is the the “largest and most destructive ransomware threat on the Internet as of this publication, and they expect this threat to continue growing.”
The report further states: “The ransom has frequently fluctuated at the whim of the...operators, and no exact pattern has been established that determines which victims receive a particular ransom value. Ransoms ranging from $200 to $2,000 have been demanded at various times by CryptoWall's operators. The larger ransoms are typically reserved for victims who do not pay within the allotted time (usually 4 to 7 days). In one case, a victim paid $10,000 for the release of their files.”
Everything in this story is actually, honestly true.
Onion Inc., owner of the satirical news site the Onion and the entertainment site the A.V. Club, has hired a financial adviser for a possible sale, according to people with knowledge of the matter.
The company, which calls itself “America’s Finest News Source,” is working with the investment bank GCA Savvian, said the people, who asked not to be identified because the deliberations are private.
Steve Hannah, chief executive officer of Onion, confirmed the hiring of a financial adviser in a memo to his staff obtained by Bloomberg. He said the adviser has been handling inbound inquiries for both investment partners and potential buyers of Onion.
“We have had follow-up conversations with numerous parties in recent months,” Hannah wrote. “Our advisors will continue to have those conversations and, hopefully, they will lead to the right outcome.”
Onion can use its brand to capitalize on money flowing into Web media from traditional outlets. Funny or Die, the comedy website co-founded by Will Ferrell, recently hired Moelis & Co. (MC) to advise on strategic options. In May, Walt Disney Co. paid $500 million for Maker Studios, while Vice Media Inc. raised $500 million in September selling 10 percent stakes to Technology Crossover Ventures and A+E Networks.
Founded as a magazine by a pair of students at the University of Wisconsin at Madison in 1988, the Onion is now published only online, with several websites and YouTube channels that blend written satire with humorous videos. David Schafer, a fund manager, bought the company in 2003.
The Onion moved into online publishing and video as advertisers did the same. The company stopped printing its flagship weekly magazine last year and expanded into video production several years ago, founding a daily Web broadcast called Onion News Network and then a companion sports show.
“We didn’t do anything brilliant, we saw it coming,” Hannah said in an interview with Bloomberg Television last year. “Print was beginning to decline. We got ahead of the game and decided to go all digital all the time.”
The Onion turned its original news shows into a TV show for IFC, and also produced “Onion SportsDome” for Comedy Central. Both shows have been canceled.
Google’s YouTube offered the company an additional outlet. The Onion’s channel, home to spirited movie reviews and a parody of reality TV called “Sex House,” has 766,455 subscribers. Onion also operates channels for the A.V. Club and Clickhole, a subsidiary site that satirizes websites like BuzzFeed and UpWorthy.
The company relocated its editorial operations to Chicago from New York two years ago.
HT Weaselzippers
It is a sad twist of political irony with serious consequences for students. The only school in Wisconsin currently named for President Barack Obama rates quite dismally on a state report card designed to measure school success.
President Obama himself, according to the latest statewide survey by the Marquette University Law School, has an approval rating of only 41.4% in the state.
The Barack Obama School of Career and Technical Education is part of Milwaukee Public Schools. It is located on North Sherman Boulevard in Milwaukee and during the 2012 presidential election the school served as a polling location.
According to data from the state Department of Public Instruction, for the 2013-2014 academic year the school, listed as Obama Elementary, scored 39.4 out of 100. On a grading scale, that means Obama Elementary is well below failing. Only 14 schools faired worse on the state report card.
[Ynet] Sterile tent produced by Israeli company SYS Technologies has already been ordered by Guinea, as WHO scrambles to deal with deadly epidemic.
The number of people who have been infected with Ebola in the current outbreak of the disease now exceeds 10,000 in eight different countries, and approximately 50 percent have already died from the virus.
The Israelis are now stepping in to help contain the spread of the deadly epidemic; and special inflatable isolation tents manufactured by Israeli company SYS Technologies, which specializes in the development of clean-air systems and mobile operating theaters, have been installed recently in Guinea.
The inflatable tents have also been purchased for the treatment of Ebola patients by other countries on the continent, where the World Health Organization has yet to find a way to halt the spread of the epidemic.
"There is currently no effective treatment for Ebola, so the principal weapon against it is to isolate the patients so that others aren't infected," says entrepreneur Yossi Yonah, who is marketing the Israeli solution. "Our units are far more readily available than other mobile structures, and they are hermetically sealed and protect the surroundings from the patients."
Delivery time from the company's factory in Or Akiva currently stands at two weeks, during which the units are manufactured in accordance with the client's specifications, using sub-contractors, too, and then flown to Africa, deployed and inflated. The units use a positive pressure technology to create an absolute clear and isolated environment and maintain the structure. The company has also developed an incubator-like stretcher for the safe transfer of patients to the isolation tents.
Aside from Guinea, the company has also received orders from other African countries, and is currently in talks with additional ones where cases of the disease have been found or that are readying for possible outbreaks. Entities in Israel, the Israel Airports Authority among them, have also expressed interest in the systems.
#4
----"we do things like that---and everybody hates us. What are we doing wrong?"
g(r)omgoru --- Some people respond well to kindness, but some people see kindness as weakness. With them, you have to use a different approach.
It's a sign of insanity to keep doing the same thing and expecting different results.
The more you appease people who hate you, the more they clamor for your destruction. They figure the only conceivable reason you would be kind is that you are too weak to kick them.
[ARABNEWS] Prosecutors have filed 485 cases of corruption across the country involving embezzlement of funds in the public and private sectors.
Legal experts said that the convicts should either return the embezzled funds or have their properties attached with courts having full authority to dispose them of.
The National Anti-Corruption Commission's (Nazaha) role in embezzlement cases are limited to uncovering the destination of the stolen money and conducting the necessary investigations.
Cases needing detailed investigations are referred to the Bureau of Investigation and Public Prosecution (BIP) which in turn probes the employee. The company which has hired the employee then files a lawsuit to retrieve the stolen money with the judges issuing a deed forcing him to return the money in installments following his release from prison. If the embezzlement has taken place in a government body, the BIP takes over the investigations and files a public lawsuit against the employee with the Board of Grievances.
In this case, the ministry is responsible for dealing with the lawsuit to ensure the retrieval of the funds.
Posted by: Fred ||
11/14/2014 00:00 ||
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#1
We could follow their lead. In fact, I think it should be a competition - kind of a corruption olympics with medals to the countries who file the most casess.
For a map, click here. You can enlarge the map, if you open it separately.
By Chris Covert
Rantburg.com
NATO commander General Philip Breedlove said Wednesday that a total of eight Russian combat battalions have been deployed to the Russian Ukrainian border, totaling 6,400 troops, according to English, Ukrainian and Russian language news reports.
The Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) reported last Sunday that a large column of Russian military equipment had been reported on the H-21 highway near Zuhres, which according to the report is 41 kilometers east of Donetsk city. The column was said to contain 122mm towed artillery pieces. The OSCE report said a total of 12 artillery pieces were in the column, essentially making the column an artillery battalion.
The day before, November 9th, OSCE observers reported a total of 40 military vehicles, including tanks traveling along highway N21 near Makeyvka, h25 kilometers northeast of Donetsk city.
The newest reports of rebel troop movements coincide with reports from the Donbas rebels that the Ukrainian military is preparing an offensive, although the date of launch is unclear. It should be noted that the Donbas rebels have been predicting a Ukrainian offensive since the start of the ceasefire on September 5th.
Ukrainian forces have been reported being deployed in sensitive locations in western Donetsk and northern Lugansk, reportedly in response to rebel troop movements and deployments. The Ukrainian armored column reported last week moving southeast toward Schastye -- a Ukrainian held town -- is a Ukrainian quick reaction force deployed in support of Ukrainian forces dug in at Schastye, according to Russian military blogger and analyst Boris Rozhin.
Schastye is part of a bridgehead on the Northern Donetsk River that Ukrainian forces hold and have held since late August. It has been the subject of repeated -- and failed -- attempts by Donbas rebel forces to eject Ukrainian forces. The fear among rebel commanders is that Schastye is being held by the Ukrainians as a possible jumping off point for a renewed offensive.
OSCE observers also have been reporting truck movements from Russia to Lugansk, where trucks entering Lugansk were emptied, then returning with cargoes of coal and coffins. An OSCE observer on the Ukrainian-Russian border at a single checkpoint near Gukovo also reported a count of 665 men in military uniform crossing both ways since September 19th, the start of the last protocol of the Minsk Ceasefire agreement.
Adding to tensions was Ukrainian Defense Minister Colonel General Stepan Poltorak saying that Ukrainian forces "must prepare for battle", according to the Russian language korrespondent.net news outlet The admonition is considered to be a general warning, not specific to any incident on the ground.
Artillery Fire in Donetsk
Sporadic artillery fire took place most of the day in Donetsk city, according to a news account posted by Vesti-Ukr.com news outlet.
Most of the strikes hit in two areas in Kuibyshev and Kievskiy district. Artillery strikes also were reported in Leninsky district as well. Artillery strikes in the Petrovskiy district damaged a large number of gas pipelines, cutting off 100 residences.
According to reports, rebel artillery fire directed at Ukrainian forces in Peski and Avdeyevka continued Wednesday. Those missions are intended to loosen the Ukrainian forces' grip on the Donetsk airport, which has been an ongoing problem for Donbas rebels. Peski and Avdeyevka are both marshaling points for Ukrainian forces supporting the Ukrainian forces at the airport.
According to Russian military analysts, an attempt over the last two days to encircle Ukrainian forces at Avdeyevka failed, but artillery fire from Donbas rebels, mostly light mortar fire from 82mm mortars continues.
Artillery Fire in Northern Lugansk
An OSCE observer team reportedly heard artillery fire near Stanytsia Luganska, which is 25 kilometers northeast of Lugansk, according to data supplied at the OSCE news website.
In Kolijadivka (46 kilometers north of Lugansk), the OSCE "heard outgoing and incoming artillery fire, including several rounds of BM-21 (122mm rocket artillery launcher), from the south". Locals reported to the team that "the shelling was taking place in Schastye and Stanytsia Luganska."
Chris Covert writes about foreign military issues for Rantburg.com. He can be reached at grurkka@gmail.com. You can read past articles about the 2014 war in southeastern Ukraina by clicking here.
#1
IMO Putin is securing the various "land bridge(s)" + other corridors to Russia's Crimea Milbases.
Darth Vald sees the Crimea + Black Sea Region as a combined Russian, US-EU MilPol linchpin = blocking force, etc. agz the Hard Boyz + any future Nuclear Caliphate.
> Iff Russia has to act unilaterally, so be it.
> Iff Russia has to "trick" the slow-acting/realizing, lethargic Politicos of the US + NATO-EU to fortify the Black Sea + bordering East Euro-States, so be it.
* FYI DEFENCE.PK/FORUMS > [World Affairs Journal = Michael J. Totten] RUSSIAN PROVOCATIONS INCREASE AGZ NATO. RUSSIA [intentionally] PRESSURING POLAND TO SEE HOW NATO WOULD RESPOND.
---------------
Personally, I'm more interested in seeing how MERKELIAN OR POST-MERKEL GERMANY responds + reacts, i.e. is able to formally or actively reenter the Geopol arena as a Major = Global Power.
The prosecutor for the Kharkov, Ukraina region, Yuri Danil'chenko, said Wednesday that his office knows the identity of suspects -- and the motive -- in the November 9th bomb at a bar which wounded eight, according to a report in korrespondent.net
The bombing at Stena Cafe has been classified as an act of terrorism by Ukrainian officials, one that the owner of the bar, Mikail Ozerov said at the time was directed against relief efforts in support of Ukrainian military and civilians affected by the war in southeastern Ukraina. Stena cafe was used as a collection point for relief efforts.
A total of eight unidentified individuals were wounded in the attack, two of whom are still listed in serious condition with burns over 90 percent of their bodies.
According to the report, plastic explosive was used in the bomb, but no information has been released as to a possible source of the explosive.
Kharkov does have an active pro Russian separatist guerrilla group, but as of this posting no one has claimed responsibility for the attack.
Chris Covert writes about foreign military issues for Rantburg.com. He can be reached at grurkka@gmail.com
[CNBC] Standard & Poor's assigned a junk rating to Twitter's debt on Thursday, saying the company had a "fair" risk profile.
S&P's unsolicited rating of "BB-" is three notches below investment grade. The company sold $1.8 billion worth of convertible notes in September.
S&P holds a "stable" outlook on the social media firm as it expects it "to experience very strong growth and not encounter a significant increase in competitive pressure," the ratings agency said in a note.
Twitter shares closed down nearly 5.9 percent Thursday. Twitter's 1 percent Sept. 15, 2021 convertible note was last trading at 90.4272, down 0.8 percent from Wednesday's close.
"We could raise the rating if Twitter broadens its revenue sources through international expansion and new product launches, maintains its market position, continues to improve its profitability, and achieves positive and sustained discretionary cash flow in excess of $100 million in 2016," the note said.
Posted by: Fred ||
11/14/2014 00:00 ||
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#1
Mr. Wife made his first tweet last night, and then posted it to Facebook. Trailing daughter #1, who has her own devoted following, coached him through it. This suggests Twitter will soon go the way of Facebook -- very populated, but mostly not by the cool kids. Your call, dear Reader, on whether this is a good thing.
I didn't know that one, Besoeker. But given that he can't share much about his work, and how simple our personal lives are, I'm not sure what he'll have to broadcast. This was a retweet of a photo shared by the president of the University of Cincinnati, who is an enthusiastic tweeter.
#6
Simple is good, very good in fact. My simple mind finds great comfort in the simple life. The mysteries of the universe, higher math, and modern technology confound me. I'm better off dealing with Moslow's bottom two or three rungs. Every man must understand his limitations.
#7
I tweeted one time as I recall. I pretty much have given up on Facebook as the result of realizing that much of what gets posted on my FB site is posted by someone else--often their leanings are not mine. The constant monitoring of your "likes," etc. for whatever nefarious purposes is intrusive. However, I can think of a couple of positive aspects to FB. It is good for communicating with family as long as the postings are fairly innocuous and not particularly personal. FB and Twitter are not the best ways to communicate personal info with those who you care about. I do know of people who advertise their niche businesses on FB.
#8
The best news sourcing is with Twitter. The finest intel minds are there.
Facebook is more social networkey whereas twitter is more newsy. It's a good tool.
#9
I've never twitted, but I've seen the records of some excellent conversations between scientists discussing some recent development. Chat would have worked as well, I suppose.
Posted by: James ||
11/14/2014 18:47 Comments ||
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[DAWN] RAWALPINDI: A man was tossed in the clink Drop the rosco, Muggsy, or you're one with the ages! on the charge of raping and killing a minor girl.
The victim, a Prep class student and daughter of a police constable, left her house at Pirwadhai to buy sweets from a nearby shop on Tuesday afternoon and disappeared. Police said the arrested man allegedly raped the girl and then strangled her to death.
Later, he stuffed the body in a sack and was about to dispose it of at 1am in the Pirwadhai graveyard when people of the area caught him.
"They spotted him while carrying a blood-stained sack and moving suspiciously," said the police. The people stopped him and called the police who untied the sack and found the body of the missing girl.
Police investigating officer Malik Mumtaz told Dawn that the accused, a butcher by profession, lived in the same area in a rented room. He trapped the girl by offering her a pack of chips.
The accused has confessed to sexually assaulting the girl and later killing her, said the police.
The body was shifted to the Holy Family Hospital for a postmortem examination. Hospital sources said the girl was sexually assaulted before being strangled.
Posted by: Fred ||
11/14/2014 00:01 ||
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[Washington Post] In his latest bid to ease the suffering of the poor -- and upend the expectations of the papacy -- Pope Francis plans to build showers for the homeless under the sweeping white colonnade of St. Peter's Square.
Three showers are to be built into refurbished public restrooms provided for Catholic pilgrims along the marble columns leading into the historic basilica, which was completed in 1626.
The Vatican's deputy front man, the Rev. Ciro Benedettini, said Thursday (Nov. 13) that the project was a joint initiative of the pope and Archbishop Konrad Krajewski, the papal almoner who distributes charity on the pope's behalf. Construction is due to begin next week (Nov. 17).
Posted by: Fred ||
11/14/2014 00:00 ||
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#3
Shunning the perfunctory Friday afternoon command awards and retirement ceremony can be statement, as well as a long lasting source of personal pride. Of course LTC Downey could elect the formal monthly retirement ceremony on Summerall Field at Fort Myer. Fox News media coverage might be permissible, unless The Ceremonies and Special Events Office at Myer somehow become aware of LTC Downey's circumstances.
I recommend a quiet, low-key shunning and an afternoon movie and dinner in Old Towne with the spouse.
#4
MILITARY "UNIONS", where a Nation-State may potens not be able to go to war, unilaterally or collectively, for any reason widout the consent of same, is roughly consistent wid the Anti-US OWG-NWO + Globalist agendum.
SUCH A NATION-STATE WOULD BY DEFINITION BE INHERENTLY ISOLATIONIST, EXTREMIST-CONSERVATIVE, + PERENNIALLY ON THE STRATEGIC + LOCAL
"DEFENSIVE".
Even iff directly attacked doemstically + wid massive Mil, Civie casualties, Govt-Military policy would likely be to only push the Attacking Forces or Enemy back across the border widout going any further, hence to allow the Attacker or Enemy to strike at his leisure.
LEFTISTS-SOCIALISTS, LEFTIST-GLOBALISTS, + ALIGNED WOULD LOVE IT.
A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.
Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing
the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.
Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence
over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has
dominated Mexico for six years.
Rantburg was assembled from recycled algorithms in the United States of America. No
trees were destroyed in the production of this weblog. We did hurt some, though. Sorry.
Everything in this story is actually, honestly true. 
