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Despite plentiful advice online about how to protect your privacy and keep your data safe, we all make mistakes now and then. We leave that text file of passwords in our Dropbox folder. We forget the password of our home router set to 'password.' But at least most of us can say we never left extensive software and documentation for one of the most powerful codebreaking systems in the worlda supercomputer collaboration between IBM, NYU and the Department of Defensecasually lying around on a completely unsecured public server. That's a pretty big oops, especially when someone finds it.

The Intercept published a fascinating story today about WindsorGreen, an encryption-breaking computer designed by brilliant mathematicians and likely used by the NSA. Specifically, the fascinating part is how easily a security researcher, with a hobby of poking around the internet looking for out-of-place files, found some pretty high-level Department of Defense stuff. Under the alias Adam, he told The Intercept "The fact that this software, these spec sheets, and all the manuals to go with it were sitting out in the open for anyone to copy is just simply mind blowing."

"All of this leaky data is courtesy of what I can only assume are misconfigurations in the IMAS (Institute for Mathematics and Advanced Supercomputing) department at NYU. Not even a single username or password separates these files from the public internet right now. Its absolute insanity," Adam wrote to The Intercept over email.

The only tool Adam used to find the NYU trove was Shodan.io, a website thats roughly equivalent to Google for internet-connected, and typically unsecured, computers and appliances

Adam didn't find this server full of secrets by hacking through NYU firewalls or anything so complex. According to The Intercept, "the only tool Adam used to find the NYU trove was Shodan.io, a website thats roughly equivalent to Google for internet-connected, and typically unsecured, computers and appliances around the world, famous for turning up everything from baby monitors to farming equipment. Shodan has plenty of constructive technical uses but also serves as a constant reminder that we really ought to stop plugging things into the internet that have no business being there."

That last line is the kicker here. You may have read about how botnets comprised of Internet of Things devices are being used in massive DDOS attacks, like the ones instigated by squabbles over Minecraft servers last year. Shodan.io is a reminder that anyone could easily find a hole through your weak home router, and more importantly, your internet-connected refrigerator or lightbulbs could someday be used to DDOS a website you care about, like Steam.

In other words, Juicero wasn't just a sign that Silicon Valley spends millions of dollars reinventing basic shit we already have, but with internet connectivity. It's a harbinger of a bleak, bleak future where your coffee maker and your $400 juice bot can and will be taken hostage by a 17-year-old and next thing you know we're living a version of Maximum Overdrive we made for ourselves.

Adam informed NYU about the unsecured server and the files were removed, but experts have reviewed the documentation (which was the property of IBM and didn't appear to be classified by the DOD) and suggested that WindsorGreen is likely the best cryptography system in the world. The NSA is doubtless giving it a workout.

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Man finds NSA supercomputer info sitting on an unsecured server ... - PC Gamer

Foreign Policy (blog)

NSA Director: Russia Hacked French 'Infrastructure' Ahead of Vote Foreign Policy (blog) National Security Agency Director Michael Rogers said the NSA warned French authorities that Russian hackers were targeting that country's computer infrastructure in the run-up to Sunday's pivotal presidential election, a revelation likely to intensify ... NSA chief: US alerted France to Russian election hackingCNET The NSA Confirms It: Russia Hacked French Election 'Infrastructure'WIRED NSA chief explains 'discrepancy' over claim that Russia sought to boost TrumpFox News ABC News -CyberScoop -Politico all 131 news articles »

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NSA Director: Russia Hacked French 'Infrastructure' Ahead of Vote - Foreign Policy (blog)

Ivanka Trump's new book, Women Who Work, has gotten mixed reviews. If you want to read a glowing one, you can head on over to the government-financed Voice of America. On this week's Full Frontal, Samantha Bee gave Ivanka's guide to "rules for success" the book-club treatment, and it isn't pretty.

Trump "writes about her struggles as the working mother of a beautiful 10-year-old lifestyle brand," Bee began, and "if there's one thing the author inherited from her dad besides, you know, absolutely everything it's his recipe for word salad." She played some clips of Trump speaking at various forums, repeating one word in particular. "Stop using 'architect' as a verb that's not how you language," Bee said. "Learn how to architect a sentence!"

Still, "if you're not a fan of Ivanka's prose, don't worry you won't find much of it in this book," she said. "Practically every word that isn't 'I,' 'Trump,' or 'architecting' is cribbed from BrainyQuotes.com, or another self-help book." This has landed Ivanka in some hot water. "Who could have anticipated that confining your research to internet memes would have a downside?" Bee asked, letting Whoopi Goldberg sigh over Ivanka's appropriation of a Toni Morrison quote. And "it takes a special kind of whiteness to take a Maya Angelou line about racism, mangle it, and apply it to asking for a raise," Bee said.

The examples of life challenges Trump cites, like turning down Anna Wintour's personal invitation for an internship, rubbed Bee the wrong way, too. "If you were raised working poor like I was, this book will inspire you," Bee said. "Specifically, it will inspire you to challenge the next rich woman you see to a broken beer bottle fight."

"Okay, look. Ivanka is smart, polished, and hard-working," Bee concluded. "I truly believe that if she hadn't been Donald Trump's daughter, she would have still been one of the more successful realtors in the southeast Tampa area. But her belief that she's a role model is laughable." Look, "if you want to pickle yourself in the vapid platitudes that didn't help her climb from the very top all the way to the terrifyingly, inappropriately influential," you can buy Women Who Work for $26, Bee said, or you can check it out for free at your local library and "help future borrowers by returning the dust jacket with a better book inside." Peter Weber

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NSA has constricted its surveillance of Americans' emails and text messages - The Week Magazine

Navy Adm. Michael Rogers, commander of the US Cyber Command, and Director of the National Security Agency, testifies during a Senate Armed Services Committee hearing on Capitol Hill.

France's election is the latest victim of Russian hacking. That's according to the NSA.

After US intelligence agencies agreed Russia was behind the 2016 presidential election hacking, both Federal Bureau of Intelligence Director James Comey and former Director of National Intelligence James Clapper warned that Russian hackers would be back to influence future elections.

The warning rang true during France's presidential election, National Security Agency Director Mike Rogers revealed on Tuesday. Rogers was testifying at a Senate Armed Services committee hearing, as lawmakers look to establish a policy on how to respond to cyberattacks.

The NSA director and US Cyber Command leader told the committee that the US was monitoring Russian activity and saw hackers attempt to break into France's election infrastructure.

"We had talked to our French counterparts prior to the public announcements of the events publicly attributed this past weekend and gave them a heads up. 'Look, we're watching the Russians. We're seeing them penetrate some of your infrastructure,'" Rogers said during the hearing. "Here's what we can do to try to assist."

On Friday, two days before France's election, hackers leaked hordes of emails from candidate Emmanuel Macron's campaign in a last-minute attempt to sway voters. It didn't work. Macron won the presidency on Sunday. It had been unclear who was behind the leak, but Russia was a prime suspect.

"We've known for some time that the Russians run fairly robust information operations in Europe, and have for many years," Michael Daniel, the president of the Cyber Threat Alliance, said in an email.

Despite the failed influence campaign in France, it hasn't stopped Russian hackers from trying in other nations, Rogers said.

"We're doing similar things with our German counterparts, with our British counterparts, they have an upcoming election sequence," the NSA director said.

The Russian Embassy in the US didn't immediately respond to a request for comment. The Kremlin has previously denied any involvement with hacking efforts to influence the world's elections.

Batteries Not Included: The CNET team reminds us why tech is cool.

CNET Magazine: Check out a sample of the stories in CNET's newsstand edition.

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NSA chief: US alerted France to Russian election hacking - CNET

On Monday, it was revealed that former President Barack Obama warned then-President-elect Donald Trump not to hire Gen. Michael Flynn. That was two days after the November presidential election. Despite the warning, President Trump selected Flynn as national security adviser. Flynn was later fired for lying to Vice President Mike Pence about his discussions with the Russian ambassador to the United States.

During a hearing on Capitol Hill on Monday, former acting Attorney General Sally Yates also revealed that Flynn was vulnerable to foreign blackmail and that she issued a separate warning about him to the Trump administration. Yates testified alongside James Clapper, the former director of national intelligence.

Retired four-star Gen. Michael Hayden served Presidents Bill Clinton, George W. Bushand Barack Obama in top intelligence posts, including as the director of the National Security Agency, the director of the CIA, and the deputy director of national intelligence. Though Hayden believes Flynn is tactically brilliant and praises his distinguished career within the Pentagon, he argues that he was not the right person to serve as Trumps national security adviser.

I think Mike coming into the national scene was very unfamiliar turf for him, and I dont think he was a very good fit for the job that the president selected him for, Hayden says.

This was a perfect storm, he later adds. Gen. Flynn coming out of government a bit angry, feeling a bit disrespected, passionate about some things, and working for a president who had those same attitudes they kind of fed off of one another. Hence, my reasoning, back before all this, I thought Mike was an ill fit for the job. What President Trump needs is someone to calm him down, not someone to accelerate him. I fear as if weve got this convergence, and it just headed to a very dark place.

According to Hayden, during an early Trump transition meeting on national security, Flynn was specifically told to be careful when it came to discussions with the Russians.

There were already these kinds of signs, I think, that folks more familiar with how this stuff works were a bit ill at ease with what they saw happening, Hayden says.

Overall, Hayden believes that the testimony given by Clapper and Yates was solid.

You saw two career government professionals testifying yesterday, says Hayden. Ive got to tell you, the only safe haven for a government professional in issues like this is the truth. And I knew, when I saw the lineup for this hearing, one, this was not going to be a happy day for the White House, who have tried to spin all of this in every possible direction. And number two, this wasnt going to settle things down this was going to excite this issue.

After the Trump administration was warned about Flynn, there should have been a tectonic shift inside the West Wing of the White House, Hayden says.

[Monday], we learned [the warnings] happened not once but twice in personal meetings, and [there was] an additional phone call, says Hayden. The tone of the conversation was intensely serious, and that this is a big deal.

After Yates warned the Trump administration, it took officials 18 days to fire Flynn, something Hayden attributes to chaos and incompetence within the White House. On Monday, officials within the administration backtracked, saying that former President Obama did warn President Trump, but that Trump thought his predecessor was joking.

This White House has a strained relationship with the truth, and they find themselves unable just simply to admit facts that seem obvious to the rest of us, says Hayden. Ten days ago, you had the president of the United States still questioning whether or not the Russians were the ones who actually did all this stuff.

This story originally aired on The Takeaway.

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Former NSA director says this White House can't handle the truth - PRI