Mediaboss Marketing

The group that released two vulnerabilities used in Tuesday's ransomware outbreak one of which was also used in the similarly devastatingWannaCry outbreak in May is making an effort to capitalize on the notoriety.

The ShadowBrokers, which claims to be releasing cyber weaponry stolen from the National Security Agency, announced pricing changes to a "wine of the month"-type leak program and a new "VIP" product in their attempts to monetize the hacking tools and apparent government documents in their possession.

"Another global cyber attack is fitting end for first month of theshadowbrokers dump service. There is much theshadowbrokers can be saying about this but what is point and having not already being said? So to business! Time is still being left to make subscribe and getting June dump. Dont be let company fall victim to next cyber attack, maybe losing big bonus or maybe price on stock options be going down after attack. June dump service is being great success for theshadowbrokers, many many subscribers, so in July theshadowbrokers is raising price," the ShadowBrokers wrote in an online message released early Wednesday.

The ShadowBrokers have been active since summer 2016and have over time leaked potent hacking tools that could bypass security measures in popular security hardware and Windows machines, as well as documents appearing to show the NSA hacked a Middle Eastern banking services company as a vector into its clients.

Tuesday's attack also used a second ShadowBrokers vulnerability, EternalRomance, that targets Windows XP systems as well as a hacked updating feature for Ukrainian accounting software.

The Tuesday attack did most of its damage in Ukraine and Europe, but reports of infections have spread to India, throughout Asia and in the United States. Major victims include the U.S. law firmDLA Piper, the pharmaceutical giant Merck and the Russian oil firmRosneft.

WannaCry infected hundreds of thousands of computers worldwide.

The ShadowBrokers launched its monthly subscription document leaks service this month at a price of $27,000 a month in digital currency. Their new release more than doubles the price to $61,000.

The ShadowBrokers also announced a new premium service allowing customers to make requests for assistance or specific document releases.

"For months many peoples is messaging theshadowbrokers...Do you have X or Y vulnerability? Will you hack X or Y for me? Do you have intel on X or Y organization? Do you have intel on my organization? Have I been hacked? In past theshadowbrokers is not taking request or providing individual services. This changes with VIP Service," said the ShadowBrokers.

"For one time payment of [$120,000] you getting theshadowbrokers VIP attention. VIP Service is no guarantee of future good or services, negotiation for those is being separate."

The ShadowBrokers also used their latest announcement to threaten a critic, calling out someone the group only identified as "the doctor" who posted criticaltweets online. The ShadowBrokers claim the critic left enough digital breadcrumbs to embarrass them online.

"TheShadowBrokers is thinking 'doctor' person is co-founder of new security company and is having much venture capital. TheShadowBrokers is hoping 'doctor' person is deciding to subscribe to dump service in July. If theshadowbrokers is not seeing subscription payment with corporate email address of doctor@newsecuritycompany.com then theshadowbrokers might be taking tweets personally and dumping data of 'doctor' persons hacks of China with real id and security company name," it said.

Read more:
Alleged NSA leakers capitalize on ransomware scare based on their wares - The Hill

One of the surveillance state's biggest cheerleaders is seeing his years of support pay off.

Two congressional sources confirmed a May meeting, where Sen. John Cornyn, (R-Tex.), a vocal supporter of the intelligence community, got a private audience with the NSA Director Adm. Michael Rogers.

Cornyn also got a private tour of the signals intelligence facility at Fort Meade, Maryland at the same time as the May meeting.

Officials "familiar with the situation" (possibly read "jealous as hell") expressed concern about Cornyn's personal NSA tour. And for good reason. If Rogers and other NSA officials were feeding Cornyn information the rest of the NSA's Congressional oversight isn't privy to, that's a problem. It's more of a problem as the date for Section 702's reauthorization approaches. And it seems even more problematic that Cornyn was given a personal walk-and-talk while oversight members were failing to get substantive answers from the DNI during a Senate hearing.

There's a long history of the IC playing favorites with oversight members (and vice versa) and a long history of those favorites withholding information from other members of Congress. This visit/personal chat may have been innocuous but given its context -- the Section 702 renewal -- it looks shady as hell.

The additional context is the DNI's office believes all is forgiven -- or at least, no longer relevant. Reversing Clapper's promise to hand in something on incidentally-collected US persons' communications, the new Director is saying that's just not going to happen.

The Foreign Policy article notes that it's common for incoming reps and senators to be given a tour and that oversight members routinely visit the NSA as part of their oversight duties, but this Cornyn-only event definitely appears to be the agency making a play for unbridled support from a powerful Senator.

Read the original:
NSA Appears To Be Seducing Sen. John Cornyn With Personal Tours And One-On-One Meetings - Techdirt

You are here: Home / * PRESS / Software / Free Business Location Data for Use with Maptitude Mapping Software

June 28, 2017 By GISuser

NEWTON, MASSACHUSETTS(USA) Point files with the locations for some of the largest U.S. businesses are now downloadable for free for Maptitude 2017.

The download includes point layers for 402 U.S. businesses, including many of the largest bank, restaurant, and retail chains. These new layers are perfect forsite location,competitive analysis,routing, andreal estatereports. The layers have company logos and can be added to any Maptitude 2017 map (more).

Maptitude includes a vast amount of business critical data at no additional cost, such asdemographics, boundaries, streets, and the most accurate ZIP Code/postal boundaries available.If you have any questions about Maptitude or data availabilitycontact Caliper.

Caliper Corporationdevelops state-of-the-artGeographic Information Systems (GIS) software. With a focus on usability,Maptitudeis designed to be a cost-effective, professionalhealthcare mapping softwareproduct. Maptitude enables organizations to leverage their location-based data to improve decision making and planning, while minimizing expenditure through competitively priced solutions.

Caliper is a privately held corporation and is a leading developer ofmapping,redistricting,transportation, andGIS software.

Maptitude issimple to use and inexpensive, but is powerful andpacked with valuable data. Ive used it for over 15 years and love it!

Filed Under: Software

View post:
Free Business Location Data for Use with Maptitude Mapping Software - GISuser.com (press release)

Now, theyve really done it. Floridas gun-happy, National Rifle Association-controlled Legislature has turned an already dangerous, unpopular law into an unmitigated disaster.

Its nothing short of legislative malpractice. Floridas infamous stand your ground law with a long-running, well-documented history of flagrant misuse has now been elevated into a virtual license to kill.

Already weighted heavily in favor of trigger-happy shooters (freed of any duty to retreat), new changes to the law will not only increase shootings but discourage legitimate prosecutions.

Previously, shooters charged with a crime bear in mind, many acts of self-defense never result in criminal charges could obtain immunity at a pretrial hearing if they were able to show, by a preponderance of the evidence (the lowest evidentiary standard), that the shooting was justified.

Now, thats been turned upside down. Bent on giving shooters an even better shot at immunity, lawmakers have mandated that the government, in pretrial hearings, must demonstrate the exact opposite; namely, that defendants self-defense claim is totally meritless. And, they must do so pursuant to a decidedly higher evidentiary standard (clear and convincing evidence).

Phil Archer, the state attorney for Floridas Space Coast counties, rightfully accuses lawmakers of being anti-law enforcement. In effect, [i]ts saying [they] dont trust law enforcement either at the arresting stage or filing stage, and that state attorneys dont understand a self-defense case, Archer told the Washington Post.

Archer and other prosecutors not only foresee a dramatic increase in pretrial hearings because the revised law virtually guarantees that every defense attorney will, instinctively, seek immunity they also anticipate fewer prosecutions being pursued in the first instance. (Key note: The law applies to a wide array of violent acts, including domestic violence, perpetrated with guns or other lethal weapons.)

Indeed, as University of California at Los Angeles law professor Adam Winkler pointed out to the Post: (Floridas) new revised stand-your-ground law may really inhibit the proper functioning of the judicial system. Its an extraordinary departure, because no other criminal defendant gets the benefit of a (full-fledged) trial before a trial, in which prosecutors must prove the necessity of a subsequent trial (to weigh actual guilt).

But, for law-abiding Floridians, the risk goes beyond such legal niceties. With legislators making it far easier for those prone to violence to escape punishment, being on guard against angry gun-toting enforcers is no longer the exclusive concern of those living in marginalized neighborhoods.

In fact, everyday activities like driving a car (think road rage), attending a raucous sporting event or political rally, waiting in an over-crowded airport line, lingering outside an ice cream parlor, sitting in a suburban movie theater, getting gas at a convenience store, or just walking home from a convenience store can quickly turn deadly, if someone with a gun suddenly becomes agitated. The last four examples, of course, depict the locale of actual stand your ground cases in Florida.

Unnecessarily hyperbolic? Perhaps. I just think Florida lawmakers have acted in an exceedingly reckless fashion needlessly endangering the lives of everyone living in and visiting our state. Theyve bolstered an already indefensible law, without public support, and in open defiance of a recent Florida Supreme Court decision that specifically rejected the perverse approach theyve now adopted.

Its totally outrageous. Instead of protecting citizens with sensible, yet limited gun-control measures something that, contrary to the fallacious, fanatical claims of Second Amendment absolutists, is fully permissible under both the U.S. Constitution and Supreme Court rulings Florida lawmakers seem intent on emboldening citizens to solve disputes with guns. And, of course, this comes on top of the state continuing to issue record numbers of concealed weapons permits and the legislature continuing to expand the public places where guns can be taken.

If this revised law, as anticipated, results in a substantial spike in stand your ground cases, allowing more miscreants (and vigilante types) to be shielded from prosecution again, not to be confused with citizens having legitimate self-defense claims (who are rarely charged) its not going too far to say that Florida lawmakers will have real blood on their hands. I hope Im way off base, but the history of this misguided, ill-conceived law suggests otherwise.

Carl Ramey, a retired communications attorney and monthly contributor to The Sun, lives in Gainesville.

Excerpt from:
Carl Ramey: On guard against stand your ground - Gainesville Sun

In District of Columbia v. Heller, the U.S. Supreme Court held that Washington, D.C.s ban on handgun possession unconstitutionally infringed on Second Amendment rights. Yet a District law prohibiting with few exceptions ammunition in residents homes lingers on the books.

What good is the right to keep and bear arms for self-defense if you cannot have ammunition? How can residents look to the law to understand what conduct is and is not illegal? Should they follow the statutes? The court? Get confused and forgo their rights?

In Marbury v. Madison, Chief Justice John Marshall wrote that if a statute is in opposition to the Constitution, the Constitution must govern.

Following that principle, the criminal code reform commission established by the City Council has reviewed the districts criminal laws and identified two statutes Unlawful Possession of Ammunition (D.C. Code 7-2506.01) and Alteration of Identifying Marks of Weapons (D.C. Code 22-4512) as being unconstitutional.

The commissions findings rest on two cases in D.C. courts: Herrington v. United States and Reid v. United States.

In Herrington, the trial court had ruled that all the government needs to prove to obtain [an unlawful possession of ammunition] conviction are that the defendant possessed ammunition, and that he did so knowingly and intentionally. The D.C. Court of Appeals disagreed, writing, a flat ban on the possession of handgun ammunition in the home is not just incompatible with the Second Amendment, but clearly so.

Yet it ruled that the government may convict a defendant of unlawful possession of ammunition if it also proves beyond a reasonable doubt that he had not lawfully registered a firearm of the same gauge or caliber as the ammunition he possesses.

The commissions report identifies the statute as unconstitutional but advises lawmakers to cure that by amending the law to incorporate the courts ruling.

The second offense makes it a crime to alter or obliterate a firearms serial number. The commissions report observes that the law also permits a jury to infer that a person who possesses a weapon with obliterated markings is the same person who did, in fact, obliterate those markings.

In Reid, the D.C. Court of Appeals recognized that individuals might unknowingly acquire weapons with previously obliterated markings, and that, therefore, the presumption of guilt in the statute is fundamentally unfair and violates due process.

Thirty-four years later, commissioners are just now advising lawmakers to bring the law up to date with the U.S. Constitution.

The commissioners give three reasons why lawmakers should no longer delay updating D.C. firearms laws:

1) to ensure respect for the peoples constitutional rights;

2) to clarify to the general public what precisely constitutes an offense; and

3) to guide practitioners in the future.

For the same reasons, other states should review their criminal codes to ensure that Second Amendment rights, and other constitutional provisions, are protected.

As the Supreme Court stated in McBoyle v. United States in 1931, and had recognized long before that, fair warning should be given to the world in language that the common world will understand, of what the law intends to do if a certain line is passed. To make the warning fair, so far as possible the line should be clear.

In Heller, the Court wrote that the Second Amendment bears no secret or technical meanings that would not have been known to ordinary citizens in the founding generation. In McDonald v. Chicago, the Court held that the Second Amendment right, recognized in Heller, to keep and bear arms for the purpose of self-defense applies to the states.

The D.C. Criminal Code Reform Commission represents a step in the right direction. It has provided a straightforward methodology for reviewing criminal laws in the interest of protecting constitutional rights. It is an approach that all cities and states should consider taking.

The rest is here:
Second Amendment Violations Targeted by Criminal Code Experts - Heritage.org