WikiLeaks’ web host raided by Swedish police

The Stockholm-based web host for WikiLeaks and The Pirate Bay has been raided by Swedish police. Four of the firm’s servers were seized, though it remains unclear exactly who was being targeted.

The Stockholm-based web host PeRiQuito AB, or PRQ, was targeted by police on Monday, the company’s owner Mikael Viborg told local media.

"PRQ.se, one of a number of ISPs used by WikiLeaks has been raided by Swedish police; 4 servers seized. Police still in office," WikiLeaks tweeted on Monday.

A large swatch of filesharing sites, including The Pirate Bay and PRQ’s own website have been down since the raid, though Viborg says the technical issues were unrelated to the seizure of the servers.

Other bittorrent sites which are currently unavailable include torrenthound.com, linkomanija.net and tankafetast.nu, release blog RLSLOG.net, and the sports streaming sites atdhenet.tv, hahasport.com, sportlemon.tv and stopstream.tv, Torrent Freak reports.

Viborg says the search warrant was related to intellectual property violations, though it remains unclear whose servers were impounded.

The Prosecutor General’s Office confirmed that a raid had taken place, but did not provide any additional information.

Several Swedish government agencies and businesses were the victims of cyber attacks in the days leading up to the raid. No one has claimed responsibility for the attacks, though Swedish police claim they are linked to the ongoing sex crimes investigation against WikiLeaks-founder Julian Assange.

PRQ became infamous for its maximalist approach to free speech issues concerning its policy on hosting.

Among its 2,000 or so clients, the firm has hosted WikiLeaks, the North America Man-Boy Love Association (NAMBLA), Pedophile.se, and the Chechen rebel site Kavkaz Central.

The Pirate Bay said PRQ is no longer their host, though Viborg said WikiLeaks was still hosted by PRQ as of last summer, Forbes reported.

“Even though I loathe what they say, I defend them,” Viborg told Forbes last August regarding his pro-pedophile clients. “We don’t cooperate with the authorities unless we absolutely have to.”

PQR was founded by The Pirate Bay members back in 2004 and has been raided by police on two separate occasions.

In 2006, Swedish police confiscated 180 servers in connection with an investigation targeting The Pirate Bay. A second raid occurred in 2010 targeting a filesharing network known as “The Scene.”

The Pirate Bay and PRQ co-founder Svartholm Warg was extradited to Sweden last month to serve a one-year sentence for breaching copyright laws. He is also being charged with hacking into the Swedish IT security company Logica, a firm that services the Swedish tax office. The tax numbers of 9,000 Swedes were later leaked online, making headlines around the country.

Mad Mullah Republic of Iran to block Google, Gmail over 'Innocence of Muslims'

Tehran is set to block access to Google and Gmail in Iran as a response to the anti-Islam film which has already triggered worldwide protests.

Iran has restricted access to the Google search engine and Gmail. The move by the Iranians coincides with protests throughout the Muslim world – including Tehran – against an anti-Islamic film posted on Google’s video sharing site YouTube.

A deputy government minister announced the ban on Sunday on state television.

“Google and Gmail will be filtered nationwide and will remain filtered until further notice,” said Abdul Samad Khoramabadi, an advisor to Iran’s public prosecutor’s office.

Google services which require a secure SSL [Secured Sockets Layer] are already reportedly out of service in Iran.

Data issued by Google showed that traffic in Iran was substantially down Monday, compared to the rest of September.

However, the unsecured version of the site, which is much easier to eavesdrop on, remains accessible. Users can access Gmail accounts by using virtual private networks (VPNs), which allow them to surf the web behind heavily encrypted firewalls.

Many Iranians, including school children, regularly use VPNs to bypass government restrictions on blocked Western websites.

The decision to filter Google and Gmail coincides with Iranian government plans to launch the initial phases of a national internet, an Iranian wide network, which will substitute services currently run through the World Wide Web.

The project has prompted fears that the Iranian authorities might be planning to pull out of the global market, but some experts believe the main reason they are creating it is to secure sensitive military and banking data from the outside world.

An Iranian IT expert told British newspaper The Guardian earlier in the year that, “Iran has fears of an outside cyber-attack like that of Stuxnet and is trying to protect its sensitive data from being accessible on the World Wide Web.”

Stuxnet was a computer worm designed to sabotage Iran’s uranium enrichment process, which hit the country’s nuclear industry in 2010.

The websites of many Western media outlets such as the BBC and CNN are already blocked in Iran. Facebook and Twitter are also often censored.

But many Iranians have voiced their dismay at the government on social networking sites like Twitter.

Golnaz Esfandiari, who has a blog called Persian Letters on the Radio Free Europe website, tweeted, “By blocking Gmail/Google, Iran government punishes its own people over anti-Islam movie. Most Iranians have not seen it/don’t care.”

Iran is widely considered to be one of the most censored countries in the world.

Chinese-made laptops’ latest feature: Pre-installed viruses

By the time you switch on your fresh-out-of-the-box laptop for the first time, it may already be infected with dangerous malware that can either harm you or turn your computer into a pawn in a criminal cyberwar.

­This accidental discovery was made by Microsoft’s digital crimes unit during an investigation into Chinese computer manufacturers, many of whom are illegally installing its Windows operating system onto their hardware.

"The cybercriminals are really changing the ways they try to attack you," Richard Boscovich, a former federal prosecutor and a senior attorney in Microsoft's digital crimes unit wrote in the company’s blog.

After Microsoft engineers purchased and tested local laptops, they discovered that 20 percent of them had become infected with viruses or malware at some point between leaving the assembly line and the date of purchase.

"We found malware capable of remotely turning on an infected computer's microphone and video camera, potentially giving a cybercriminal eyes and ears into a victim's home or business," Boscovich said. "Additionally, we found malware that records a person's every keystroke, allowing cybercriminals to steal a victim's personal information.”

Microsoft security officers found that most of the infected computers contained a powerful and malicious software program called Nitol. The malware apparently originated from a notorious server called 3322.org, which in 2009 was reported to be responsible for nearly a fifth of the world’s illegal transactions.

The US software giant filed a lawsuit with a Virginia District Court to block the server. The judge ruled in Microsoft’s favor earlier this week.

Server owner Peng Yong, the defendant in the trial, claimed that he had no knowledge of Microsoft’s findings and denied any responsibility.

"Our policy unequivocally opposes the use of any of our domain names for malicious purposes," Peng told the AP news agency.

In the first few days after the legal rulings, Microsoft says that it has already blocked some 37 million malware connections to 3322.org.

But as one source of malware is snuffed out, another is likely to grow in its place.

Microsoft said that no computer can be guaranteed to be virus-free as long as “unsecure supply chains” continue to exist in China. The country teems with lightly regulated electronics manufacturers, offering plenty of opportunities for fraud. And for the ordinary customer, finding out whether a hacker laid hands on your laptop after leaving the factory can be a tricky task.

"So how can someone know if they're buying from an unsecure supply chain? One sign is a deal that appears too good to be true. However, sometimes people just can't tell, making the exploitation of a broken supply chain an especially dangerous vehicle for infecting people with malware,” Boscovich said.

White House gives Homeland Security control of all communication systems

The White House has finally responded to criticism over US President Barack Obama’s hushed signing last week of an Executive Order that allows the government to command privately-owned communication systems and acknowledges its implications.

When President Obama inked his name to the Assignment of National Security and Emergency Preparedness Communications Functions Executive Order on July 6, he authorized the US Department of Homeland Security to take control of the country’s wired and wireless communications — including the Internet — in instances of emergency. The signing was accompanied with little to no acknowledgment outside of the White House, but initial reports on the order quickly caused the public to speak out over what some equated to creating an Oval Office kill switch for the Web. Now the Obama administration is addressing those complaints by calling the Executive Order a necessary implement for America’s national security.

“The [order] recognizes the creation of DHS and provides the Secretary the flexibility to organize the communications systems and functions that reside within the department as [Homeland Security Secretary Janet A. Napolitano] believes will be most effective,” White House spokeswoman Caitlin Hayden tells the Washington Post.

Hayden insists that “The [order] does not transfer authorities between or among departments,” but the order does indeed allow the DHS to establish and implement control over even the privately owned communication systems in the country, including Internet Service Providers such as Time Warner, Verizon and Comcast, if the administration agrees that it is warranted for security’s sake.

Immediately after last week’s signing, the Electronic Privacy Information Center (EPIC) said the order allowed the DHS "the authority to seize private facilities when necessary, effectively shutting down or limiting civilian communications."

Following up with the Post this week, EPIC attorney Amie Stephanovich stands by that initial explanation, agreeing that the DHS can now “seize control of telecommunications facilities, including telephone, cellular and wireless networks, in order to prioritize government communications over private ones in an emergency.”

“The previous orders did not give DHS those authorities over private and commercial networks,” adds. Stepanovich. “That’s a new authority.”

According to the order, the DHS can take charge of “commercial, government, and privately owned communications resources” to satisfy what is described as “priority communication requirements.” With little insight from outside the White House, though, what constitutes such an emergency may very well be decided on by Washington, where the country’s elected leaders are still split on all things involving the Internet.

Even still, Stepanovich says that approaching Capitol Hill for comment before rushing through an Executive Order could have caused things to come out differently, but would have also arguably brought forth a firestorm such as the one that accompanied an attempt to pass the Stop Online Piracy Act. When Congress tried to pass SOPA this year — which included provisions that were argued to grossly regulate the Internet — protests nationwide played a massive part in killing the legislation.

“This should have been done by Congress, so there could have been proper debate about it,” Stepanovich tells the Post of last week’s signing. “This is not authority that should be granted by executive order.”

White House spokesperson Hayden adds to the Post, “Mobile phones, the Internet, and social media are all now integral to the communications landscape,” concreting still the allegations that this order could be used as a kill switch to any of the millions upon millions of handheld and desktop devices across the country.

Putin Backs Imports of Foreign Military Technology

Russian President Vladimir Putin supported on Monday the idea of purchasing certain types of military technology abroad to satisfy the specific and urgent needs of the military and defense industry.

“We must make full use of the mechanisms of military-technical cooperation for purchasing foreign technologies, certain samples of equipment, which are needed for the development of our defense industry and for accomplishing specific and urgent tasks for equipping the Russian Armed Forces," Putin said at a meeting of the Commission on Military-Technical Cooperation.

One of Russia’s rare deals to buy foreign military hardware was with France in June 2011.

The two countries signed a $1.7 billion contract on two French-built Mistral class amphibious assault ships for the Russian Navy, which includes the transfer of sensitive technology. Russia will build two more ships at its own shipyards.

Another recent arms imports deal was the purchase of 12 unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV) from Israel to study Israeli achievements in the development of spy drones in order to build reliable UAVs domestically.

The Russian military stressed the need to provide its Armed Forces with advanced means of battlefield reconnaissance in the wake of a brief military conflict with Georgia in 2008, when the effectiveness of Russian military operations was severely hampered by the lack of reliable intelligence.

Herr Adolf Putin's & Lavrov's Russia - The Supporter of Assad's Syrian State Murder (Nothing to be proud of)

Russia in media crossfire over Syria

The media war against Syria has got a new target – Russia. Far-fetched stories circulating in western media this week have been raising eyebrows in Moscow.

­Paraphrasing Napoleon’s saying about God and the artillery, today it is “God fights on the side with the best (or at least the most active) media.” This week has been marked with a salvo of controversial news on Russia’s role in the Syrian conflict.

There have been several reports on Russian battleships heading towards Syria. Also, there has been breaking news about Russia, China and Syria conducting joint military exercises on Syrian territory. And on top of that there has been the head of the British government declaring Bashar Assad’s regime falling out of grace with Russian President Vladimir Putin.

But truth, as they say, is often the first casualty of war.

“As soon as you have so many forces excited about the war option, there is that danger always, and they will get there through disinformation as usual, like they did before the Iraq war, and before intervention in Afghanistan in the late 1970s also – they always rely on disinformation,” warns Camille Otrakji, a contributing editor for the Syria Comment online magazine.

According to some reports flying in the mainstream media over the past week, Russian battleships laden with arms and troops were rushing to Syria, full steam ahead. Later it turned out they were nowhere near the country, in their home ports in the Baltic and Black Seas.

But in the fog of war, any report, however inaccurate, can have influence.

A Russian ship was turned back from off the coast of Scotland, after it was found to be carrying helicopters bound for Syria. Cue assertions that Russia was supplying combat helicopters to President Bashar Assad.

“We’re concerned about the latest information we have about attack helicopters on their way from Russia to Syria, which will escalate the conflict quite dramatically,” said US Secretary of State Hilary Clinton. Later Ms. Clinton admitted that she wrong in her assertions.

“The ship which is being discussed these days was indeed carrying air defense systems. And it was carrying three helicopters which had been repaired in Russia under contracts signed in 2008. Those are Soviet helicopters. They have been in Syria since Soviet days,” stated Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov. “In 2008 there was a contract to repair them. They are still to be assembled after delivery. That entire process will take at least three months. So to speak about something we have just sold to Syria, which is then to be used in action, is not true at all,” Lavrov added.

But it wasn’t only ships. There have been claims that Russia-China-Syria war games were planned, too. Iranian news agency Fars reported that Iran, Russia, China and Syria are planning to conduct joint military exercises in Syria next month. Many analysts say the story was planted by Syria or Iran as a show of strength, and that US outlets took it up because it suited them.

“All the US news agencies love the story because it matches their narrative that the Syrian regime and its supporters in Iran or Russia or China are the bad guys in this battle, and they are the ones who are escalating the conflict, instead of seeking a peaceful solution. So they like the story, even though they rarely pay attention to Iranian news agencies,” Camille Otrakji explained to RT.

Then there is the war of words. British Prime Minister David Cameron came out of a meeting with President Putin at the recent G20 summit saying that Putin no longer wanted President Assad in power in Syria. Russia’s Foreign Ministry later denied that was Putin’s position. But was this a case of lost in translation, wishful thinking on the PM’s part, or another attempt to exert pressure on Russia? The Russian President will have to be more careful in choosing his interlocutors next time.

“The last 15 months there has been a media attack on Syria. The Syrian crisis is 70 per cent in the media, 30 per cent on the ground,” Haitham Alsibahie from Syrian Social Club says. “So there are quite a lot of stories every day, like some Arab channels and Al Jazeera using YouTube, and there are no confirmed reports anymore.”

All this international rumor-mongering and jockeying for power comes at the expense of the Syrian people. Their situation doesn’t change regardless of which country wins the latest battle of words.

New red threat? Virus stole, sent thousands of blueprints to China

A new virus, dubbed ACAD/Medre.A, has been uncovered by Cybersecurity firm ESET. The worm mostly affected computers in Peru, and leaked thousands of original blueprints for machinery and other products to e-mail accounts based in China.

­The worm targeted AutoCAD, a program used by architects, engineers, project managers and designers to create blueprints, including machines, buildings, household appliances and other inventions. ACAD/Medre.A sent these blueprints to e-mail accounts at two Chinese Internet provider websites, 163.com and qq.com.

It is unclear whether the recipients of the e-mails were Chinese, or if hackers simply set up the accounts on Chinese servers to divert attention from their real location.

Internet security firm ESET spotted a spike in ACAD/Medre.A infections in Peru. It is believed that the virus spread through an AutoCAD template that Peruvian companies downloaded from a specific website. Other firms doing business with these companies had to download the same template, resulting in further contagion.

Countries where the virus was also detected on a small number of computers include Ecuador, Colombia and the United States. Most of them were in Latin America.

“ACAD/Medre.A is a serious example of suspected industrial espionage,” said Richard Zweinenberg, senior research fellow at ESET. “Every new design created by a victim is sent automatically to the authors of this malware. Needless to say this can cost the legitimate owner of the intellectual property a lot of money as the cybercriminals will have the designs before they even go into production by the original designer.”

He noted that the hackers may even go so far as to obtain patents on the stolen designs before the original author registers it at the patent office.

“The inventor may not know of the security breach until his patent claim is denied due to prior art,” he noted.

While the data was clandestinely transferred to e-mail accounts based in China, the nationality of the hackers remains a mystery. Tencet, the company operating one of the websites hosting the e-mail accounts, actively cooperated with the ESET investigation and blocked the accounts in question.

The Chinese National Computer Virus Emergency Response Center (CVERC) also responded promptly and helped get the e-mail accounts removed.

Autodesk, the company that designs AutoCAD, also assisted ESET in the clean-up.

“By working with Autodesk, Tencent and CVERC, we were able to not only alert and inform users but also defeat the e-mail relay system used by the attackers and deny them access to the e-mail boxes, so the damage is now contained,” Zweinenberg noted.

China’s reaction could help to dispel its notorious reputation of being a major source of industrial espionage online.