Mediaboss Marketing

For many, many years, Senator Ron Wyden has been directly asking the US intelligence community a fairly straightforward question (in his role as a member of the Senate Intelligence Committee): just how many Americans are having their communications swept up in surveillance activities supposedly being conducted on foreigners under the FISA Amendments Act (FISA being Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act). Wyden started asking way back in 2011 and got no answers. His continued questioning in 2013 resulted in Director of National Intelligence James Clapper lying to Congress in a public hearing, which Ed Snowden later claimed was a big part of the inspiration to make him leak documents to the press.

Just last month, we noted that Wyden had renewed his request for an accurate depiction of how many Americans have had their communications swept up, this time asked to new Director of National Intelligence, Dan Coats. Unfortunately, for all these years, it's basically felt like Senator Wyden tilting at a seeming windmill, with many others in Congress basically rolling their eyes every time the issue is raised. I've never understood why people in Congress think that these kinds of things can be ignored. There have been a few attempts by others -- notably on the House Judiciary Committee -- to ask similar questions. Almost exactly a year ago, there was a letter from many members of the HJC, and there was a followup in December. But, notably, while there were a number of members from both parties on that letter, the chair of the House Judiciary Committee, Bob Goodlatte, did not sign the letter, meaning that it was unlikely to be taken as seriously.

Suddenly, though, it seems that the ins-and-outs of Section 702, and how the "incidental" information it collects on Americans is used has taken on a much wider interest, following President Trump's misleading suggestion that President Obama tapped his phone lines, and some Trump supporters trying to twist typical 702 surveillance to justify those remarks. Either way, if that leads people to actually look at 702, that may be a good result out of a stupid situation. And, thus, we get to this surprising moment, in which Goodlatte has actually sent a similar letter to Coats (along with ranking member John Conyers) asking about the impact of 702 surveillance on Americans. And since (for reasons that are beyond me) Reuters refuses to link to the actual source materials, you can read the full letter here or embedded below.

The letter demands an answer by April 24th. And, yes, it's notable that Goodlatte has signed on, because Section 702 is up for reauthorization at the end of the year, and if Goodlatte is not on board with reauthorization, then the NSA is going to have some difficulty in getting it through.

You have described reauthorization of Section 702 as your "top legislative priority." Although Congress designed this authority to target non-U.S. persons located outside of the United States, it is clear that Section 702 surveillance programs can and do collect information about U.S. persons, on subjects unrelated to counterterrorism. It is imperative that we understand the size of this impact on U.S. persons as our Committee proceeds with the debate on reauthorization.

The letter then even points to Coats' response to Wyden during Coats' confirmation hearing that he was "going to do everything I can to work with Admiral Rogers in NSA to get you that number." Of course, back in December, it was said that the intelligence community might finally deliver that number... in January. And it's now April. Still, with Goodlatte finally taking an interest in this, it's a sign that the NSA can't just coast by and continue to completely ignore this.

Read the rest here:
Oh, Sure, Now Congress Is Serious About Asking NSA About Surveillance On Americans - Techdirt

President Donald Trump should not have accused American intelligence agencies of wiretapping Trump Tower during the 2016 Presidential campaign, former director of the Central Intelligence Agency and National Security Agency Michael Hayden said Thursday afternoon in a talk at Princeton University.

Thats awful, and thats untrue, Hayden said. The retired four-star Air Force general said that the assorted intelligence agencies do not have political motives in their actions.

Just found out that Obama had my wires tapped in Trump Tower just before the victory, Trump tweeted on March 4. He has since maintained that the Obama administration, and specifically National Security Advisor Susan Rice, monitored the Trump campaigns communications.

Trump has not provided any firm evidence for his claims, the New York Times reported on Wednesday.

Although there has been a particularly public conflict between Trump and the CIA at times, it is normal for there to be tensions between an incoming president and intelligence agencies, Hayden said. I dont know if youve been following along up here in New Jersey, but it hasnt been smooth.

It has been harder than usual for Trump and the intelligence agencies to work together because Trump thinks intuitively by nature and is not used to consuming the large amounts of information intelligence agencies provide.

Hayden also recounted stories from his time in the upper echelons of American government. He was the director of the NSA when the 9/11 attacks happened.

He had to address the agencys tens of thousands of employees two days after the attacks and reassure them that their work mattered, he said. Some employees were scared to come to work.

Hours after the attacks, Hayden directed the NSA to expand monitoring of communications between Afghanistan and the United States. He later played a critical role in expanding the surveillance program that former CIA employee Edward Snowden revealed in 2013.

In Haydens view, Snowden should not be considered a true whistleblower, since he did not expose any illegal activity. Everything that the NSA did was authorized by Congress and Presidents Bush and Obama, so the American public should already have known what was happening, Hayden said.

There are far more checks on the powers of the NSA to collect data on Americans than the organizations foreign counterparts have, Hayden said in defense of the agency. In other countries, including Western democracies, legislatures and courts do not have oversight, but they do in America.

We know that as night follows day, we will end up in a Congressional hearing sooner or later, Hayden said. When he led the CIA and NSA, he would use the maximum powers allotted to him by the Constitution, American law, and American policy to keep the country safe, even if he knew some of his actions would be controversial.

Complete transparency is not possible from the spy agencies because the full reality would scare some Americans, Hayden said. He advocated for what he calls a policy of translucence over full transparency, so that Americans could know generally what was going on without hearing unnecessary specifics.

Frightened people dont make good Democrats or Republicans, Hayden said.

Hayden teaches a course as George Mason University called Intelligence and Public Policy in which he challenges his students to find the correct amount of control and knowledge that the American public should have over the intelligence agencies that are tasked with protecting it.

At the beginning of the course, he asks his students a single question, which he wants them to answer over the course of the semester, he said.

Is the secret pursuit of secret truth compatible with American democracy? Hayden asked. "Is the secret pursuit of any secret truth compatible with any modern democracy?

Continued here:
Former CIA and NSA director: Trump should stop attacking ... - Packet Online

Observer

Trump Has a Problem With NSABut So Does Obama Observer More rarely, the NSA intercepts phone calls in which one of the interlocutors is an American. As long as this operation has been approved per the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Actmeaning a top-secret Federal court has issued a warrant for this ... Former CIA Analyst: Susan Rice's NSA demasking denials don't add upFox News Susan Rice's White House Unmasking: A Watergate-style ScandalNational Review Oh My: Former Obama NSA Susan Rice Reportedly Directed Dubious 'Unmasking' of Trump AlliesTownhall The New Yorker -American Free Press -Slate Magazine -Bloomberg all 1,368 news articles »

Read more from the original source:
Trump Has a Problem With NSABut So Does Obama - Observer

Cybersecurity is an issue that never goes away. Hacks are becoming more and more prominent and a growing concern for not just the tech industry, but the world as a whole. With that said, even though the emphasis today is on privacy, data, and the IoT, basic security starts with securing your own systems. If you dont have the correct tools to protect yourself then you could find yourself in dire straits relatively quickly.

Recently Intel Security ran a test on a router to determine current threat levels on unsecure systems. The router in question was left in idle mode and unsecured in order to gauge how quickly the device could be compromised. The test found that the unsecure device was affected by malicious software in just sixty seconds.

In order to protect yourself against these threats, both old and new, antivirus is just as important as ever. The only problem with this is that sometimes antivirus software can get pretty pricey, pretty swiftly. However, CBR has you covered, check out this list of the best free antivirus software to ensure that youre properly protected.

AVG antivirus is one of the most popular protection solutions on the market today. AVG and Avast, after the latter acquired the former, have roughly 400 million users worldwide combined. When tested by independent labs it was found that AVG has an extremely high malware blocking score and a fairly decent malicious URL blocking score.

Unfortunately, asthe system is incredibly thorough this means that a full scan of your computer, particularly the initial scan, can take some time. The software also had a lower than average score when tested for phishing protection, meaning users will have to use a bit more common sense if they go with this option.

However, one of the biggest benefits of using AVG is that you become a part of its enormous sample size, meaning that you are one of the reasons that the software is consistently getting better. Currently AVG utilises machine learning drawing vast wells of data from its usersand continually improving the service offered. If you dont mind a slower scan and you can trust yourself to identify phishing scams, then look no further than AVG.

Avira antivirus is another tried and tested antivirus software, one which has more than stood the test of time. Avira was first launched in 1986 and since then has gone on to acquire hundreds of millions of happy, and more importantly, safe customers. With independent testing labs Avira was found to be excellent when used for blocking malicious URLs and blocking ad trackers within browsers.

Unfortunately, many of these functions are not available to internet explorer users, meaning that to enjoy full protection you may have to change your browser to compensate for that. On top of this, Avira is yet another entry on the list that has a fairly slow scan rate and rated fairly poorly for anti-phishing protection.

If youre not an Internet Explorer user and enjoy the benefits of platforms such as Chrome or Firefox then the protection offered by Avira is almost unparalleled. However, if youre absolutely married to the idea of using IE then this may not be the correct antivirus solution software for you.

Read this article:
Best free antivirus software - Computer Business Review

Whether its due toa virus, hardware failure, or just good old human error, its all too easy to lose vital files. That critical report youve got to deliver tomorrow; the huge end of year paper; your massive music collection; or those precious family photos nightmare! But dont worry, help is at hand! When a file is deleted, it isnt actually erased immediately. Instead, the space it occupies is marked as available to be overwritten, which means it can (in most cases) be restored using recovery software. Phew! So, without further ado, heres our list of the five best free data recovery software titles that might just save the day. And dont forget, you candownload them all now, here on FileHippo.

Picture 1 of 5

As you might guess from the name, one of the great features of EaseUS Data Recovery Wizard Free, is its ease of use. Whether you want to find missing photos, music, videos, emails, folders, or archive files, you can easily view your files before beginning the recovery process, and to make life even easier, all fully recovered files are automatically sorted. See, we told you it was easy! Once scanned, if your requested data isnt shown, then you can choose to run a Deep Scan to really get in there and dig deep. If you do locate it, you then have the option to export the rescued file to another storage area. The only downsides wed highlight are the limitation of 2GB total recovery allowance, and that its not the best at recovering files from a reformatted hard drive. Apart from that, EaseUS Data Recovery Wizard Free is a top-notch disaster recovery solution.

Continued here:
Best Free Data Recovery Software - FileHippo News