The "Red October" Campaign

In October 2012, Kaspersky Lab’s Global Research & Analysis Team initiated a new threat research after a series of attacks against computer networks of various international diplomatic service agencies. A large scale cyber-espionage network was revealed and analyzed during the investigation, which we called «Red October» (after famous novel «The Hunt For The Red October»).

This report is based on detailed technical analysis of a series of targeted attacks against diplomatic, governmental and scientific research organizations in different countries, mostly related to the region of Eastern Europe, former USSR members and countries in Central Asia.

The main objective of the attackers was to gather intelligence from the compromised organizations, which included computer systems, personal mobile devices and network equipment.

The earliest evidence indicates that the cyber-espionage campaign was active since 2007 and is still active at the time of writing (January 2013). Besides that, registration data used for the purchase of several Command & Control (C&C) servers and unique malware filenames related to the current attackers hints at even earlier time of activity dating back to May 2007.

Main Findings

Advanced Cyber-espionage Network: The attackers have been active for at least several years, focusing on diplomatic and governmental agencies of various countries across the world.

Information harvested from infected networks was reused in later attacks. For example, stolen credentials were compiled in a list and used when the attackers needed to guess secret phrase in other locations. To control the network of infected machines, the attackers created more than 60 domain names and several server hosting locations in different countries (mainly Germany and Russia). The C&C infrastructure is actually a chain of servers working as proxies and hiding the location of the ‘mothership’ control server.

Unique architecture: The attackers created a multi-functional kit which has a capability of quick extension of the features that gather intelligence. The system is resistant to C&C server takeover and allows the attack to recover access to infected machines using alternative communication channels.

Broad variety of targets: Beside traditional attack targets (workstations), the system is capable of stealing data from mobile devices, such as smartphones (iPhone, Nokia, Windows Mobile), enterprise network equipment (Cisco), removable disk drives (including already deleted files via a custom file recovery procedure).

Importation of exploits: The samples we managed to find were using exploit code for vulnerabilities in Microsoft Word and Microsoft Excel that were created by other attackers and employed during different cyber attacks. The attackers left the imported exploit code untouched, perhaps to harden the identification process.

Attacker identification: Basing on registration data of C&C servers and numerous artifacts left in executables of the malware, we strongly believe that the attackers have Russian-speaking origins. Current attackers and executables developed by them have been unknown until recently, they have never related to any other targeted cyberattacks.

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Do Less: A Short Guide

 

By Leo Babauta

Many of us work in an endless stream of tasks, browser tasks, social media, emails, meetings, rushing from one thing to another, never pausing and never ending.

Then the day is over, and we are exhausted, and we often have very little to show for it. And we start the next day, ready for a mindless stream of tasks and distractions.

I am a fan of going against the stream of what most people do, and taking a step back. Is it really worth it? Is this the best way? Are we losing our lives to busy-ness and distraction?

What if we did less instead?

Of course, I’ve been suggesting doing less for six years here on Zen Habits, but it’s a topic worth revisiting, because it is so necessary. Today I offer a short guide to doing less, for those willing to give it a try.

The Benefits

I could probably write an entire book on the benefits of doing less, but here’s the short version:

1. You accomplish more. No, you don’t get more done (you’re doing less, after all), but if you do less and focus on the important stuff, you actually achieve better results, more meaningful accomplishments. This is how I’m able to work less but still write hundreds of posts a year (on various sites), create ebooks and courses, and more.
2. You have less anxiety. When you let go of the distractions and the non-essential, you free yourself from the fear that you need to do these things. You learn that your world doesn’t fall apart when you let these things go.
3. You enjoy life more. Taking time to really focus on an important task, or enjoy the little things, rather than rushing through them, is much more enjoyable.
4. You create time. When you do less, all of a sudden you have free time! What can you do with all that time? How about spend some time with loved ones, read, write, make music, exercise, cook healthy meals, start your own business, meditate, do yoga?

I’ll stop with those benefits — they’re sufficient for getting started. But I think you’ll discover others as you give this a try.

More @ Do Less: A Short Guide By Leo Thu, 17 Jan 2013 15:35:29 GMT

Microsoft Tech: Choose Your Adventure

Click to enlarge

Appsfire’s Apple Store Infographic (2012)

Crime Against Women (India / World)

 

Note: Click on the images to view the full-size one

Crimes Against Women (Year 2011/ India)

     

 

Top 10 States By Crime (Year 2011 / India)

        

       

Crimes Figures At A Glance (Year 2011 / India)

Incidence Of Cognizable Crimes (IPC) Under Different Crime Heads During 1953 To 2011

          

Little Closer Look At Crime Against Women During 2007-2011 (India)

Incident & Rate Of Crime Against Women Percentage Change From 1997-2007

Incident & Rate Of Crime Against Women Percentage Change From 2001-2011

Incidence Of Crime Against Women During 2011 (All India 228650)

Rate Of Crime Against Women During 2011 (All India 18.9)

Murder, Rape & Kidnap Over The Year (1953-2007)

** This data would be more useful if used in conjunction with over all population growth and then percentage, but unfortunately I don’t have the source of this image.

Finally, World Sexual Assault Stats (Not All Countries, Based on UN Data)

** I was surprised to see the next chart, I just can’t believe US numbers (80-90K).. but one should note that the number of cases are decreasing (slowly but are) where as in case of India they are increasing every year.

Some More Statistics (USA), Very Similar to What Can Be Seen In India’s Numbers

 

Sources (Mostly the data is from National Crime Records Bureau, Ministry Of Home Affairs, India):
1. NCRB (Data From 2007-2011)
2. RAINN
3. United Nations
4. UN Office Of Drugs & Crime
5. Wiki Crime In India
6. Time Of India
7. NCRB Data From 1953-2011 (PDF)

What Lying Actually Does to Your Brain and Body Every Day

 

Each day, we make the same choice hundreds of times: whether to lie or tell the truth. It often happens without thinking, and we ignore the profound impact of these seemingly inconsequential decisions. Even the smallest lies can cost you money, impact your relationships, and affect your choices. Conversely, honesty offers many surprising psychological benefits. Here's how truth and lies affect your brain and your life every day.

Little Lies Can Cost You Money

You're out at a restaurant and your server comes by to ask you how you like your food. You say everything's great. The food is okay, but you don't want to be rude so you lie. It may not seem like a big deal, but when the check comes you'll be overly generous with your tip. This is one example of how white lies actually affect your behavior. Psychologist Guy Winch, writing for Psychology Today, explains:

[Researches Argo and Shiv] found that 85% of diners in restaurants admitted to telling white lies when their dining experiences were unsatisfactory (i.e., claiming all was well when it wasn't). However the real interesting finding was that diners who told white lies to cover up their dissatisfactions were then likely to leave bigger tips than those who did not. Why would diners who were less satisfied with their meals and who lied to their server about it leave an even bigger tip as a result? The researchers propose that cognitive dissonance was at play.

Conigitive dissonance describes the discomfort you feel when holding two (or more) conflicting thoughts, and it shows up a lot when you lie. In another study by Argo and Shiv, University students received a short list of words with which to form sentences. Some participants received lists containing basic words that had no real meaning behind them, but others received lists of words related to honesty. Then, the research assistant purposefully left the participants in the room with nothing to do for about 12 minutes just to annoy them. Upon returning, she asked some students how they felt. Most said "fine," which was obviously a lie because they were clearly annoyed.

After this initial test, the researchers invited the participants to a second study with a raffle prize of $100. They also asked the participants if they'd like to donate a portion of their winnings back to the study. Anyone primed to think about honesty and told a white lie in the first experiment offered up more than half their money (on average). Everyone else opted to donate about one third of their potential raffle winnings. Again, cognitive dissonance reared its head when the conflict of lying came to mind.

We ignore white lies because they seem harmless. They rarely resurface in conversation, but while their future effects are subtle they do exist in profound ways. As a result, it's necessary to look at the long term effects of our actions even when the consequences seem benign or even non-existent.

Lies Tax Your Brain, Cause Stress, and Harm Your Body

Lying requires a lot of effort. When you tell the truth, you simply remember what happens. When you lie you have to consider what you're trying to hide, figure out a believable version of the opposite, give a convincing performance to sell that lie, and then remember it for the rest of eternity so you never get caught. Even if you're pretending to love your grandmother's disgusting fruitcake, that's a lot of pressure. Furthermore, it builds and builds every time you lie. (And you all do, even if you don't think so.) According to deception expert Pamela Meyer, the average person lies three times within the first minute of meeting a stranger and between 10 and 200 times per day. We handle this constant lying well considering how remarkably often it occurs, but that's especially easy to do when we have an easy time ignoring the consequences.

Lies, just like many other things, cause stress and anxiety. If you need proof, consider the polygraph machine (what's come to be known as the "lie detector"). They don't actually detect lies, specifically, but rather the signs of stress that accompany telling them. While stress isn't a definitive indicator of lying, it's often a good clue. Author David Ropeik points to a study that found additional evidence:

Anita Kelly and LiJuan Wang of Notre Dame recruited a group of 110 people from 18 to 71 years old, and told them that once a week for ten weeks they'd have to come in and, in a lie detector machine, report how many times in the previous week they had lied. But the group was divided in half. 55 of them got explicit instructions in how to avoid lying. (They could avoid telling the truth, or not answer, just not out and out confabulate.) The other group got no instructions, just the request to come in once a week and tell the truth about how many times they had lied last week.

Everybody lied less. But the group that had gotten advice on how to avoid lying reduced their fabrications far more. And in questionnaires, those who had lied less reported better mental and physical health. They reported improvements in their relationships, less trouble sleeping, less tension, fewer headaches, and fewer sore throats.

You probably know thatstress harms your brain and body in several horrible ways. Since lying contributes to your stress level and you do it many, many times per day, you need to consider the impact of your secrets. The harm isn't self-evident, but it readily exists in the numerous health issues you encounter in your daily life.

Sometimes Honesty Is Not Always the Best Policy

Life has no paradigms. Lying cause stress and other awful problems, but it's useful and even necessary at certain times. When lying assures your safety or honesty puts you in danger, you probably shouldn't choose the truth. Exceptions always exist, and regardless of our intentions we're not going become model truthtellers no matter how comfortable we feel. Generally speaking, honesty provides far more mental and physical health benefits than dishonesty. Nevertheless, we're complicated creatures. We make complicated decisions every day. We'll find reasons to lie that are necessary, but we'll naturally find more that aren't. Watch out for instances when you lie out of politeness and to preserve your own self-esteem. Think about the long-term effects and not how the lie will protect you, or someone else, in a particular moment. You can't always tell the truth, but the more you do the happier your brain and body will be.

Images by lineartestpilot (Shutterstock), OK-SANA (Shutterstock), Thirteen-Fifty (Shutterstock), Oxley, and Yes Royalty Free (Shutterstock).

via LifeHacker Adam Dachis

Apple's Thermonuclear Patent War Is A Farce

The news: The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office has declared a huge Apple multi-touch-screen patent - the so-called "Steve Jobs patent" - to be invalid. As CNET adds, this is the second Apple patent to get a smackdown. The previous one was about Apple's "rubber band" effect. Neither ruling is final, but still.

The best analysis: Groklaw, which has been doing amazing coverage of Apple's legal war, writes: "If you want to know why people now hate Apple for its legal swashbuckling, this is Exhibit A."

The conclusion: This whole notion of Steve Jobs launching his "thermonuclear war" on Android is a farce. A sham. A joke. It has been from the start.

Apple Keeps Failing

Apple's claims have been knocked down all over the world. In England a court was so appalled by Apple's claims that it ordered Apple to run ads explaining that Samsung had not, in fact, copied Apple.

Apple appealed, and lost, so the public shaming went forward. Apple brazenly snubbed its nose at the court by creating an ad that taunted Samsung even more. So the court made Apple do it again, and get it right this time.

Yes, Apple won a big case in California. But that too could unravel since the jury appears to have made numerous mistakes. Samsung wants the verdict set aside. The judge is now urging Apple and Samsung to make peace.

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