US Presidential Election - Time for a Real Investigation

US Presidential Election - Time for a Real Investigation

https://crimeshop.org/2016/12/12/us-presidential-election-time-for-a-real-investigation/

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U.S. Department of Justice - Resorting to veiled threats...against the Kremlin?

U.S. Department of Justice - Resorting to veiled threats...against the Kremlin?

Instead of resort to preventative measures

In light of the recent political hacks here in the U.S. today, 9/14/16, the Justice Department dropped a couple of hints that they do in fact, plan to hold Russia accountable for what is suspected to be a broad hacking campaign that has targeted U.S. political organizations and election databases.

Assistant Attorney General John Carlin said “You’ve seen us use it time and again, the message is clear: You are not safe because you are doing it under another nation’s flag. We can figure out who did it ... and when we do, we’re committed to holding people accountable.”

True enough, we have seen it and heard it, over and over again. What we are more interested in seeing are preventative measures. Something along the lines of being proactive rather than reactive.  

Both Attorney General Loretta Lynch and Assistant Attorney General John Carlin fell short of actually coming right out and saying they in fact knew that Russia was behind the recent hacks in today’s announcement.

Attorney General Loretta Lynch had this to say: “Whether you are a rogue hacker or a uniformed soldier, the shadowy corners of the internet will not provide respite for long. The light of our efforts is bright, the reach of our resolve is long. There literally is no hiding place.”

Yet, whomever these hackers are, they have still managed to be hiding, they are unnamed, they have no face for us to look upon, we don’t even really know where they reside, for all we know, the hacks could have all been inside jobs.

Information and access can both be bought and sold for a fairly reasonable price these days...

Assistant Attorney General John Carlin named Russia as one of the 4 main actors that have been involved in supporting hackers targeting the U.S., the other 3 are North Korea, Iran and China.

While it’s true that the U.S. has taken action against hackers with regards to hacks against Sony Pictures, financial institutions and U.S. companies. The action taken so far was against North Korea, Iran and China, nothing for Russia.

Russia has been suspected of the Democratic Party hacks, as well as for hacks into election systems in both Arizona and Illinois. The word on the street is, they did it in an effort to disrupt the November elections.

Forbes reported that Edward Snowden suspected Russia as being behind the leak over at the NSA last month, something I am personally convinced is part of an inside job, rather than Russia kicking down the air-gapped network doors of the NSA.

Right now Russia is also being accused of hacking the medical records of Olympic Athletes...

President Obama has not acknowledged that he believes Russia is behind the hacks either. At least not publicly.

In Fact, so far most Government officials have hesitated at pointing the blame to Russia and Russia has denied any involvement in the recent hacks.

All save for...

Senator John McCain-R Arizona who today subtly suggested that “Russia is conducting cyber-attacks to undermine American interests at every turn.”

It’s one thing to have irrefutable evidence against someone, it’s an entirely different thing to blame someone for something you cannot prove they did.

It’s unforgivable to place blame on a very public level…When you lack THE EVIDENCE to support that!

What’s that thing we tell all criminals in this country...oh help me out here, isn’t it something along the lines of, being innocent until proven guilty…

Don’t we also allow for defendants to ask for and receive a change of venue if they feel they will not get a fair trial where they were charged because so much media attention was placed on the case that they feel the public, their jury would not give them a fair shot?

Way to practice that public persecution thing here, we are publicly persecuting another country who the U.S. Government hasn’t proven did anything.

I keep seeing headlines suggesting what the U.S. might do should they discover Russia was behind the recent hacks.

What I am not seeing is what the U.S. plans to do if they learn that Russia in fact, had absolutely nothing to do with the recent hacks?

It matters not right now who is behind the hacks as far as the public is concerned, what matters is that our Government is taking steps to prevent future hacks while at the same time investigates what did happen without and this is important, casting blame on another country.

For a country that wants to be a world leader, be seen and known as a world leader, this blame game is not the move a progressive, forward thinking world leading country, would make.

Whether or not someone is hacking for the Russian Government, or it’s a lone hacker if it were me, I’d hold off on blaming anyone outright until I did have irrefutable proof.

While we are all focused on who did it, we are failing to see and realize these hacks clearly illustrate our inability as a nation to prevent cyber attacks.

These hacks illustrate our weakness when it comes to the cyber world.

Because of that, I wouldn’t want to risk rocking the boat without having proof to back up my accusations because until anyone can prove anything...we are still pretty vulnerable to yet another hack and/or cyber attack.  

From a still unknown and unnamed hacker or group of hackers.

Cristal M Clark

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Hacking the NSA is so easy a child could do it...from the inside.

NSA hack an inside Job

or is the Russian Government using hackers to breach everything

A newly published article today accuses Russian hackers of breaching the Olympic drug testing agency…

Many assumed that Russia was behind the hack of the DNC.

Headlines last Friday suggest that Russia has hacked The Donald’s campaign.

Everyone assumes that Russia is behind the hack of the NSA and Edward Snowden has reportedly issued a statement that indicates Russia was most likely responsible for the hack at the NSA.

What the hell haven’t they hacked? Wait, they have not hacked Starbuck’s making it so that I have a lifetime supply of coffee.

It could have been Russia who by the way denies any involvement in these hacks.

What was the loot in the NSA hack?

Well as it so happens the hack exposed cyber-weapons intel. That intel reveals just how the NSA hacks suspects and enemies and further details a tracking code that just so happens to reveal the fingerprints of the NSA's malicious software.

So we really have to wonder what Russia might have to gain if they are truly behind the hack of the NSA? I mean the DNC might have been a just for fun type of thing if Russia was behind it, but what about the NSA? Does Russia feel the NSA had at one time infiltrated them and downloaded some type of malicious software?

To fully understand that, you need to get to know The Equation Group and TAO, two branches of the NSA.

Kaspersky labs describes The Equation Group as “one of the most sophisticated cyber attack groups in the world.” The Equation Group according to Kaspersky labs has operated alongside Stuxnet and Flame.

TAO identifies, monitors and has a nasty little habit of infiltrating and gathering intelligence on computer systems used by foreign entities to the US.

Anyone who has seen the Stuxnet documentary knows that it is widely believed that Stuxnet was created jointly by the US and Israel.

Which makes total sense because Israel is reportedly 15 years ahead of everyone else in terms of Cyber-Defense and Security.

Russia however, was one of the named 42 countries that the Equation Group infiltrated over the course of its 14 year project creating backdoors to foreign Government networks.

Not only did the Equation Group create backdoors, they also seemed to enjoy intercepting hardware from IT companies, globally.

It’s also worth mentioning that the Equation Group has a pretty good reputation for using strong ENCRYPTION methods. They just can’t seem to figure out a way around encryption when folks like Apple create it for consumers to use.

So who kicked in the door at the NSA?

A group called Shadow Brokers took the credit for hacking the NSA. Things got a little crazy when they came out because they boasted rather audaciously and offered to auction off the goods for $576 Bitcoins.

Bidders backed way off and the general consensus has been that those responsible for the breach were not just some run of the mill hackers but a foreign Government, hiding behind the idea the breach was caused by a group of nobody hackers.

From that, another theory sparked a lot of interest and that was, that someone inside of the NSA was in fact responsible for the leaked intel.

Out of all of the theories, this is actually what more than likely happened.

The NSA stores sensitive information on air-gapped networks, which are networks that are not connected to the internet, i.e. the outside world. They also have other security measures, not to mention despite being a pain in the ass to crack, it’s still doable.  

They can be cracked through the use of undetected malware, cell phones, as Edward Snowden proved a flash drive, even a sim card can do the trick.

The point is, it’s pretty clear that the responsible party is within the ranks at the NSA.  

Now, I am not saying that I am convinced that Edward Snowden had anything to do with it however…

A strange sequence of events happened shortly before the breach.

On 8/5, Edward Snowden reached out through Twitter, with an odd message to those that knew him or who ever worked with him asking them to contact him followed by 64 characters of code. That message lead many to believe that Edward had been captured or killed and failed to do a check-in prompting his account to send out a dead man’s switch. His account went silent after the odd tweets.

Shortly after that, at least 8 torrent sites had been taken down or slowed. The sites are well known to distribute large files.

News of  the hack and leak at the NSA broke on 8/15

Edward Snowden began tweeting again on 8/15

Edward Snowden seems to think that the Russian Government is behind some of these hacks and has said as much through the media....initially it was almost as if he was handing out the idea like we hand out candy at Halloween.

And I, don’t believe in coincidence.  

I also don’t believe that the Russian Government was behind the hacks. It’s too neatly wrapped with the bow neatly tied on top.

Blaming the Russian Government seems too easy, too perfect and too convenient.

The hack came from the inside and the NSA just got owned again.

Cristal M Clark

IOS users can find The Crime Shop on Apple News

@thecrimeshop

US Government start using encryption

US Government to change mind on encryption

Well at the very least, they should.  

Ahhh the hacking over at the DNC, the hacking of the NSA linked spies, the IRS, the US military last year...it amazes me that our own government has not warmed to the idea of encryption.

One of the most appealing reasons consumers love encryption is because we feel safer having it.

In today’s world we have moved to a more technological way of living.

We shop online, pay for things with watches or phones, start cars with both, we can turn the air on or off in our homes from a phone, I can order Starbucks and pay for it all day long and go get it without having to say two words to anyone, we can even check our refrigerators from our phones.  

We can can monitor how well we brush our teeth or not, from a phone app, check our health, heart rate, eating habit, calorie intake, workout routine, or get a new routine, yoga instructions and start a pot of coffee all from a phone, watch or tablet, if not all three.

The way we communicate with one another is also a lot less verbal than it was 10 years ago and why pay for a stamp or actually talk on the phone when it’s just as easy to send a quick text or email, or chat on Facebook or Whats App?

While we are at all of this, we choose encrypted devices and services so as to better protect ourselves from hackers. We lock our cars, our homes, we keep our money in banks instead of under a mattress and we do that why?  

To keep it all safe from thieves of course. And that is how we view our messages, our data, our emails, our ability to shop online, to pay for things with our devices instead of a plastic card or paper and coin currency.

We have James Comey who still seeks a backdoor to encrypted devices and services when it’s warranted but we also see a telling reality that our government simply lacks the ability to be trusted should they ever be granted these backdoors. 

For the sake of argument if a government can’t bother to encrypt it’s own devices and data, any backdoor they were given, well that would be gone and into the hands of hackers at some point.

Last August FBI Director James Comey testified before Congress and said that that terror groups are in fact, using encrypted programs to hide their communications from prying eyes and that they are aggressively targeting young Americans online and they are succeeding.

So that really even last year wasn’t new news. If you ever ventured onto the dark web into the right places, you sort of already knew that.

So instead of look at the actual real underlying issues as to why any young American would want to join a terror group like ISIS, we want to tout that encryption is bad. It’s evil and so so bad and it allows these bad guys to communicate...secretly.

That means, our government fears it. Rather than try to learn it much less outsmart it, they want to instill this fear. Yet I look around me and I see the guys at organizations like Apple, Whats App, Facebook, as well as many others working with encryption daily, making it smarter, easier for me to work with, understand and use. 

And I along with many others trust it. 

Ahh but here is the catch, these organizations make encryption user friendly to a consumer, instead of something to be feared. They are giving me exactly what I want and they have a great track record so I trust it.

So personally, I tend to feel that our government needs to come forward a few decades in terms of really understanding encryption, society and how we use things like, technology. 

Some within our Government think that encryption puts us all at risk. I beg to differ, it’s our government’s lack of knowledge that does, not encryption.

Should companies like Apple, work with any government entity when faced with an issue like opening an iPhone for let’s say a person who committed an act of terror?

I vote for yes but only to an extent. They should help them open a device or message only if certain extreme conditions have occurred such as an act of terror.

Should they create backdoors and hand them to the FBI? Not at this point because our own government can’t be trusted with it and simply does not have the ability to secure it.

If a backdoor is needed to get into anything, its much safer at the company that created it and not ever in the hands of anyone at our government. 

If our government creates a backdoor at some point (highly doubtful, very highly doubtful) fine. 

The biggest issue however, is that our own government lacks the knowledge to deal with encryption, they can’t use it, don’t understand it and are reacting more out of fear than with knowledge.

According to Edward Snowden the recent hack of the NSA could be a warning from Moscow. By the way it's good to see Edward back and tweeting again. 

If what he says is true, our government truly doesn't have what it takes to defend us when it comes to the cyber world. 

As far as I can tell the issues and problems are not encryption, not in the least.

It’s the criminals and more importantly, that our government has been caught with it’s pants down over things like emails where what was said in them should have never been sent in an email if you didn’t want to get caught in the first place.

Emails that should have never been on a server that could be hacked, messages that should have been on an encrypted device, maybe?

If the most recent hacks have not opened our government's eyes from the slumber of ignorance they have been in, I am not sure what will. 

I really think that our government needs to start being part of the solution instead of the problem since hackers keep catching them with their pants down. 

Cristal M Clark

IOS users can find The Crime Shop onApple News

@thecrimeshop

Edward Snowden Tweets Dead Man’s Switch to followers

Edward Snowden Tweets Dead Man’s Switch to followers

 

The silence of Edward Snowden

On August 5, 2016 Edward Snowden tweeted a very odd message to his followers.

Telling followers it’s time, followed by 64 characters of code.

The tweet was quickly deleted but it has not stopped conspiracy theorists from taking to social media, many of which think he has either been captured by the US or killed therefore many suspect that the 64 character tweet was in fact, a dead man’s switch.

A dead man’s switch is a message set up to be automatically sent if the holder of the account does not perform a regular check-in or tweet or post etc. It is well known that Julian Assange the founder of Wikileaks has a dead man’s switch which is his insurance policy should anything happen to him.

A great many suspect that in Edward Snowden’s case, his dead man switch could very well be the key to encrypted files he had stolen from the United States Government.

It is widely known that the information Edward Snowden released back in 2013 was just a tiny fraction of what he actually obtained when he left the USA.

Oddly reports have indicated that at least 8 torrent sites used for distributing large files were immediately taken offline after Edward Snowden’s odd tweets. Which suggest the distribution of files were being suppressed or slowed in some way. 

That has only added to the speculation that Edward Snowden has been killed and that the key to his sensitive files has been released to those in the know, those that can release the information in those files to the world.

So far, nothing major has been released still, many feel that something huge is coming.

Journalist Glenn Greenwald, who has worked extensively with Edward Snowden claims the whistleblower is “fine,” but has refused give any further information on his safety.

A bitcoin subreddit user tests the key:

A bitcoin user who goes by the name Bobanaut tested the 64 character tweet as a private key hash on the bitcoin blockchain, which traced to transactions between two addresses on Sunday. The first transaction logged was in the amount of 0.000911 BTC, suggesting that Edward Snowden was using the cryptocurrency to convey a cryptic 911 distress signal.

While others pointed out the statistical impossibility that the 64-character hex code used by Snowden could be an unintentional hash in a bitcoin transaction.

Edward Snowden’s normally active twitter feed has gone silent since these two tweets were sent on August 5th. 

To his fans and followers the silence is deafening.

Cristal M Clark

@thecrimeshop

The Donald strongly encourages Russia to Hack Hillary Clinton

The Donald strongly encourages Russia to Hack Hillary Clinton

Trump implies that he is open to a new hack as long as it benefits his campaign

While watching the news conference I was so shocked by what I heard that I almost dropped my cup of coffee and what’s worse is that I didn’t care. If you know me, you know my relationship with coffee and the not caring over spilled coffee….

For the first time in history a presidential candidate is actively encouraging a foreign power to commit espionage...the first time in history.   

Don’t get me wrong, I rather enjoy the antics of the Donald. He is a much needed refreshing break from, well anyone in office currently, I can’t however be excited about his remarks today during his news conference in Florida today.

Donald is well known for saying things that might be a wee bit inappropriate but today was a little over that wee bit part.

During his news conference Donald stated “Russia, if you're listening, I hope you're able to find the 30,000 emails that are missing. I think you will probably be rewarded mightily by our press…”

He went on to insinuate that he feels they most likely already have the 30,000 missing emails and that he’d like to see them.

Some are now accusing him of being disloyal to America over his remarks. I don’t feel that he is disloyal, I do feel that he lacks the full understanding of what his statements mean, could potentially cause and how it will affect all of America should anyone try to take him up on his suggestion.

More importantly perhaps, while most don’t trust Hillary, is this the guy you want running our nation? Someone pisses him off and he encourages a foreign nation to take some type of action against that individual then later says that he really didn’t mean what he said?

Wars have been started over much less, in this day and age as violent as our world can be, is it really a time to mince words?

This comes on the heels of the recent hack on the Democratic National Committee, a hack that most believe Russia is behind in an attempt to influence the outcome of our upcoming presidential election.

Steven Cheung, the Donald’s rapid response director suggested that the Donald simply meant that if Russia or anyone had those 30,000 missing emails that they turn them over to the FBI.

Trump also later tweeted “if Russia or any other country or person has Hillary Clinton's 33,000 illegally deleted emails, perhaps they should share them with the FBI!"

As for the FBI, I can’t imagine what James Comey and his team thought upon initially hearing the words that came out of the Donald’s mouth, it had to have come as a little bit of a shock initially.

The reality is that Hillary has a long list of haters people that would love to see the woman fall off of a cliff and disappear, out of those haters, do gooders, or great hackers someone although it was not the Donald’s intention, might try to hack Hillary or the FBI, DOJ etc.

And if someone does in fact have her emails already as the Donald suggests, I doubt they would turn them over at this point in time. If let’s say Russian hackers do in fact have them, it would serve no purpose to turn them over at the moment.

The bigger question is, did the Donald break any laws through his very publicized initial request? Did he commit treason as some are now suggesting?

Perhaps not, but what if it turns out that his words do in fact inspire someone? Through his very suggestion, he did put our nation's security at risk. No American citizen not one who were to make comments like the Donald did today would be out walking around tonight without first having a little sit down with law enforcement.

In May of 2015, Newsweek published an article about Russia’s greatest weapon being it’s hackers. Are we ready to face that reality as a nation? I personally do not believe that we are yet, I also don’t believe that we or our presidential candidates should try to incite Russia or it’s hackers to hack a fellow candidate because through that we open the door to so much more.

Cristal M Clark

@thecrimeshop

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