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Monthly Archives September 2014

NSA Wireless Software Implant for Windows XP SOMBERKNAVE

09/27/2014 | By: Preston Hood | No Comments

I know that this does not sound very surprising today in 2014 but think about how impressive this would be if it was leaked to the public in 2008. This software implant is called SOMBERKNAVE and it provides covert internet connectivity for isolated targets. What It Is SOMBERKNAVE is a software implant that is capable of using a Windows XP system’s 802.11 (WLAN) adapter (which is not in use) to route TCP traffic from a designated process to a secondary network. This means that if you, for example, were using Internet Explorer (iexplore.exe) to visit yahoo’s website, SOMBERKNAVE would
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Categories: Information Technology, IT Security, and Preston Hood.
Tags: 802.11 Adapter, NSA, NSA Devices, SOMBERKNAVE, TCP, Windows 7, Windows 8, Windows 8.1, Windows XP, and WLAN Adapter.

International Mobile Subscriber Identity (IMSI) Catchers

09/22/2014 | By: Preston Hood | 1 Comment

International Mobile Subscriber Identity (IMSI) catchers are basically spoofed cell towers. There are many different types of IMSI catchers, everything from a home built $1000 unit to a professional grade one which can cost substantially more. The NSA has their own “version” of a GSM IMSI catcher which is called CANDYGRAM. I talked about CANDYGRAM in my article NSA’s Version of a GSM IMSI Catcher CANDYGRAM. International Mobile Subscriber Identity (IMSI) Catchers As I said above IMSI catchers are basically spoofed cell towers. These spoofed cell towers simply go between you and your handset and the service provider’s real
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Categories: Information Technology, IT Security, and Preston Hood.
Tags: 2.5G, 2.75G, 2G, 3G, 3GPP, 3rd Generation Partnership Project, 4G, 4G LTE, Asterisk, AT&T, Backhaul, CANDYGRAM, Debian Linux, EDGE, Enhanced Data Rates for GSM Evolution, ETSI, European Telecommunications Standards Institute, General Packet Radio Service, GPRS, GSM, IMSI, IMSI Catcher, IMSI Catchers, IP Backhaul, LTE, NSA, OpenBTS, RF Antenna, UMTS, and Universal Mobile Telecommunications System.

NSA’s Version of a GSM IMSI Catcher CANDYGRAM

09/16/2014 | By: Preston Hood | No Comments

This is one of the most non-surprising NSA documents I have seen. This device is named CANDYGRAM and its purpose is to act as an IMSI catcher for GSM cellular networks. What It Is CANDYGRAM is a device that mimics a GSM cell tower of a target network. This is basically the same thing as an IMSI catcher but with a few extra bells and whistles. One of the extra features is that it sends out an SMS though the external network to registered watch phones when a target handset enters the base station’s area of influence. CANDYGRAM is
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Categories: Information Technology, IT Security, and Preston Hood.
Tags: CANDYGRAM, FVEY, GitHub, GSM, IMSI, IMSI Catcher, IMSI Catchers, NSA, and NSA Devices.

Governments, Mass surveillance, and Terrorism

09/11/2014 | By: Preston Hood | No Comments

When people talk about governments, mass surveillance, and terrorism there are always complications mainly because the topics do not go together. Governments are always trying to stop the terrorists, in doing so, they perform mass surveillance. Once the people find out that the governments have been spying on their every move they get angry at the governments. The reality of the situation is that there needs to be more balance, cooperation, and communication between the governments, government agencies, and the people. This is a difficult problem to solve. Governments Before I start talking about governments let me first say
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Categories: Information Technology, IT Security, Legal, Preston Hood, and Social Issues.
Tags: 9/11, Governments, Mass Surveillance, Mexican Drug Cartels, PSTN, public switched telephone network, Surveillance, Targeted Surveillance, and Terrorism.

NSA Codenames

09/10/2014 | By: Preston Hood | 1 Comment

Below are most of the known NSA codenames. Some of the codenames do not have a definition that corresponds with the name. This is because a lot of the codenames were recovered off LinkedIn profiles and other various websites. As of the day this article is published there are 300+ codenames on this list, as time goes on we may add more. 1. ACCORDIAN – Type 1 Cryptographic algorithm used in a number of crypto products 2. AGILITY – NSA internet information tool or database 3. AGILEVIEW – NSA internet information tool or database 4. AIGHANDLER – Geolocation analysis
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Categories: Information Technology, IT Security, and Preston Hood.
Tags: National Security Agency, NSA, and NSA Codenames.

Video Graphics Array Cable Implant RAGEMASTER

09/08/2014 | By: Preston Hood | No Comments

Here is another one of the NSA’s hardware backdoors/implants. It is called RAGEMASTER, which is a hardware implant that is embedded on a standard Video Graphics Array (VGA) cable. What It Is RAGEMASTER is a hardware implant which is embedded on a standard Video Graphics Array (VGA) cable. RAGEMASTER taps into the red video line between a desktop (or laptop) computer and an external monitor. RAGEMASTER is illuminated by a radar unit and the illuminating signal (containing the red video information) is modulated. Then the modulated information is re-radiated, picked up at the radar, demodulated, and passed onto the
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Categories: Information Technology, IT Security, and Preston Hood.
Tags: Digital Visual Interface, DVI, Ferrite bead, HDMI, High-Definition Multimedia Interface, NSA, NSA Devices, RAGEMASTER, VGA, and Video Graphics Array.

Security vs Privacy on the Internet

09/01/2014 | By: Preston Hood | 1 Comment

Many people think of security and privacy as two different concepts, which is true, but many times when referring to the internet they go hand in hand. When a lot of people talk about their privacy on the internet they also are referring to security, or vice versa. Security Security has been a concern ever since the Stone Ages. The only difference is that we now have the internet to take into account. Security on the internet is a hard problem to solve primarily because the internet protocol suite (TCP/IP) was not built with security in mind. Back in
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Categories: Information Technology, IT Security, and Preston Hood.
Tags: Advanced Research Projects Agency Network, ARPANET, Cryptography, Encryption, Internet, Privacy, Privacy by Design, Privacy by Policy, Security, and TCP/IP.