Category Archive: Technology

NY’s Response to Sandy Hindered by Computer Network Overload

New York’s emergency response to Superstorm Sandy was hindered because the Division of Homeland Security and Emergency Service’s computer network could not handle all the applications running, according to a new report from a western New York company that works for the agency.

The report reveals the division’s ability to access computer data was stalled for a few days in the fall of 2012 because its system was saturated with data requests, requiring IT professionals to disconnect a Google Maps program that was causing the logjam and make other adjustments.

The details of the network difficulties are among revelations in a document ripping reports done for the state assessing its handling of Sandy. The “after-action” reports, which the state has refused to release, were obtained by the Times Union and published last month. The reports were supposed to help the state learn what worked and what didn’t during its emergency response effort.

Buffalo Computer Graphics said in its new document that the harsh criticisms of its incident management/procurement tracking system, called DisasterLAN, in the after action reports were inaccurate, although many of the other criticisms of the state’s response were on target.

The after-action reports were done by Rick Mathews and his National Center for Security & Preparedness, a unit within the state University at Albany that contracts with the Division of Homeland Security. The agency has spent $70,000 to $100,000 on the after-action reports, Mathews has said.

To create the reports, Mathews assigned several interviewers to collect anonymous statements from people who worked on the state’s Sandy response team.

“We were never interviewed ourselves,” said Buffalo Computer Graphics Vice President Gary Masterson. He said in the weeks during and after the October 2012 storm, BCG personnel staffed the state’s Emergency Operations Center at the bunker below the State Police headquarters in Albany and at the Regional Operations Center set up in Manhattan at Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s direction. About 20 BCG employees were embedded for many days during the emergency activation, and the company’s staff were on site around the clock.

Mathews reported that the DLAN system crashed. “That is 100 percent false,” said BCG Emergency Services Program Manager Chris Zak, who was deployed to the Manhattan outpost.

He and Masterson, who was at the Albany bunker during the response, said the company’s system did not fail; instead, the emergency center’s computer network that couldn’t handle all the action.

“If the Internet to your home goes out and you cannot reach CNN.com, you should not assume that CNN is broken and blame CNN,” BCG says in a lengthy document it put together for business partners and associates concerned about the criticisms in the after-action reports.

The response, provided to the Times Union, was also sent to a Homeland Security official by the company.

The Buffalo firm says the state had a few computer system hiccups during Sandy and wireless connectivity was lost, meaning the DLAN System couldn’t run.

“Apparently, upon executive orders, a KML data feed tied to other DHSES systems unrelated to DLAN was provided to Google so that they could provide mapping data to their Google Maps product,” the company stated. “Unfortunately, this had the untoward effect of saturating the (state Office of Emergency Management) network with data requests thereby blocking or preventing other traffic from passing.” (KML or Keyhole Markup Language is a file format used to display geographic data in Google Maps.)

He did point out that the state has taken up a recommendation that the Buffalo company said it has been advising for some time: Homeland Security has begun attaching GPS devices to products that may be sent out during a storm response. But it is not using its DLAN system to coordinate the asset tracking with the procurement tracking, as the Buffalo company had recommended before and during the Sandy response.

“Unfortunately,” the company said in its document, its advice did not win the day during the Sandy effort and the state failed to adequately track many large and small assets, such as light towers or generators.

Masterson and Zak pointed out many problems with the after-action reports’ portrayal of DLAN. But they agreed in findings that the state’s emergency response entities are very understaffed, and that the governor’s decision to set up a regional operations center did not help the staff perform duties normally carried out in the Albany center.

Mathews declined to take questions on the report.

The company noted that other states, provinces and counties use DLAN. It is known to be disliked by state Homeland Security Commissioner Jerome Hauer, who was interviewed for the after-action reports and who has a cozy relationship with Mathews, according to interviews with state officials.

“Unfortunately, it appears as if the authors of this report either ignored DLAN supporters or specifically sought out DLAN detractors. One can only question the author’s motivations,” BCG wrote.

The company has a $6.8 million contract with Homeland Security that began in 2012 and extends through the end of 2017 for its proprietary software and maintenance. The company, in business since 1982, employs about 40 people in Erie County.

 

Start now to make sure you are staying prepared.

 

 

Via: survivalring

http://www.emergencymgmt.com/disaster/NY-Computer-Network-Sandy.html


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Russia Blocks Websites Of Putin’s Critics, Including Chess Star Garry Kasparov

 


Russia is blocking websites critical of President Vladimir Putin. The Prosecutor General’s office ordered Russian Internet service providers to cut off access to a handful of websites, including the blog of famed chess champion, Garry Kasparov. “These sites contain incitement to illegal activity and participation in public events held in violation of the established order,” read the announcement (via Google translate).

Kasparaov immediately took to Twitter to denounce the move:

Not only did Putin block access to opposition news sites in Russia, but Rus govt contacted our admin to turn off servers. They work fast.


Garry Kasparov (@Kasparov63) March 13, 2014

Blocking theses websites is just the latest in a turbulent month for the Russian government. Earlier this month, Russia blocked over a dozen Ukrainian activist websites, protesting their military intervention of Crimea. Last week, a Russia Today anchor quit on-air, saying she could no longer work for a network that “whitewashes” Putin’s image.

Putin has defended his free speech record, claiming that he is preserving order and upholding the law.

 

Start now to make sure you are staying prepared.

 

 

Via: techcrunch


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E-Bomb: The Electronic Weapon That Can Make a Plane “Disappear”

Over a dozen nations have now mobilized search teams for Malaysia Airlines Flight 370. The mysterious disappearance has left investigators all over the world wondering what could have happened. This is a huge investigation, as evidenced by the fact that China has re-tasked ten satellites to search for the wreckage, suggesting that the People’s Republic really wants to get to the bottom of what happened here.

There is no debris to be found. The black box, which is supposed to be indestructible in a large explosion and should broadcast a homing signal for up to 30 days, has gone dark. Moreover, INTERPOL is looking into several passengers who boarded the plane using false passports, and whose tickets were reportedly purchased by an unknown Iranian benefactor.

Several theories have emerged as to what could have caused the flight to “vanish” out of thin air. None of them are, as of yet, conclusive.

We can probably rule out a mid-air explosion, because something like that would likely have left instruments operational for long enough that readings would have been transmitted back to flight controllers. Likewise, there would be a fairly wide debris field had such an explosion occurred at such a high altitude.

Terrorism has not been ruled out, but traditional methods, including a hi-jacking, seem unlikely (remember those reinforced cockpit doors?).

It is certainly possible that search teams are just looking in the wrong place and the plane could be found in coming hours or days.

However, as noted by Mike Adams, the idea of an advanced military weapon of some sort is certainly within the realm of possibility. We know our Defense Department, as well as the militaries of other countries, are always hard at work developing new war-making technologies.

One such advanced weapons system has come to public light in recent years and as recently as two days prior to the disappearance of flight 370 Senator Ted Cruz mentioned it in a followup to his CPAC speech:

“When Iran describes Israel as the Little Satan, and America as the Great Satan, we have every interest to make sure they don’t acquire the weaponry to kill millions of Americans.” Cruz imagined a nightmare scenario in which Iran detonated a bomb over “Tel Aviv or New York or Los Angeles.” Detonated here, the effects of an EMP attack could kill “tens of millions of Americans.”

We know for a fact that China, North Korea, Russia and the United States have developed what are dubbed Super-EMP Weapons. These types of weapons require nuclear fuel and must be detonated over or near the target area. The secondary effect of this nuclear detonation is an electro-magnetic pulse. Deployed properly, for example 200 miles over the state of Kansas, such a weapon could literally wipe out every electronic system from coast to coast.

It is this possibility that prompted investigators to contact the Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty Organisation yesterday, so they understand that this could well be the type of weapons used.

Experts at Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty have been asked to see if they detected an explosion at high altitude of the missing Malaysian Airlines plane.

Lassina Zerbo, executive director of the Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty Organisation (CTBTO) told a news conference the organisation used “infrasound” – or infrasonic sensors – to monitor the earth mainly for atmospheric nuclear explosions. (source)

More than likely, the infrasound tests won’t yield any result. For starters, it would be quite difficult to sneak a suit-case nuclear weapon onto an airplane. Second, a space or air explosion would have quickly been detected by military monitoring systems operated by the U.S., China and Russia.

The other possibility is one that is often not discussed, yet has emerged as a highly effective military system in recent years. This involves the use of a non-nuclear electro magentic pulse weapon.

Weapons designers specializing in high-energy physics can now create electromagnetic pulses without going into outer space. One approach involves harnessing the force of a conventional explosion. Others are simply just modifications of radar, which bounces pulses of energy off aircraft in flight, vehicles on the ground, and other objects.

Crank up the power and you have an EMP weapon, ready to point at the computers of your favorite enemy.This knowledge has set off a new arms race. Whether fitted into cruise missiles or parked at the side of the road in a van, non-nuclear EMP weapons have the potential to devastate the electronic systems of areas as large as a city or as small as a selected building, all without being seen, heard, or felt by a single soul.

It is a dream come true for any and all terrorists.

Sound far-fetched? It did not in 1993 to the owners of automobiles parked about 300 meters from a U.S. Defense Contractor’s EMP generator test site at Eglin Air Force Base in Florida. Their alternators and electronic engine controls were accidentally fried by a pulse during classified field trials.

Source: Military Intelligence Professional Bulletin

The following provides an explanation for how these weapons work. What we know about the Flight 370 disaster suggests that if this was an act of terrorism it could have been executed using a NNEMP:

NNEMP generators can be carried as a payload of bombs, cruise missiles (such as the CHAMP missile) and drones, with diminished mechanical, thermal and ionizing radiation effects, but without the political consequences of deploying nuclear weapons.


The electromagnetic pulse from NNEMP weapons must come from within the weapon, while nuclear weapons generate EMP as a secondary effect. These facts limit the range of NNEMP weapons, but allow finer target discrimination. The effect of small e-bombs has proven to be sufficient for certain terrorist or military operations. Examples of such operations include the destruction of electronic control systems critical to the operation of many ground vehicles and aircraft.

We know for a fact that these e-bombs have been built and tested by our own military. Unlike nuclear-based EMP weapons, these devices can be small and compact versions can actually be created with basic Do-It-Yourself kits. They can be deployed on drones, planes and missiles. They can be specifically targeted at cities, buildings or even vehicles. Thus, it is possible that such a device was used to take down Flight 370.

For the skeptics out there, watch the following video of a do-it-yourself homemade e-bomb being used to short-circuit a cell phone:

 

 

In this video, another homemade e-bomb is used to disable various electronics. Note that the rudimentary device looks to have an effective range of roughly 10 – 15 yards:

 

 

Now consider what a rogue terror organization or black ops team could do with a multi-million dollar budget.

Harping back to the Iranian connection, is it possible that a small capacity non-nuclear EMP weapon was smuggled on board the airplane, perhaps in common electronic devices, and triggered mid-flight?

That an unknown man named “Ali” purchased tickets for his friends at the last minute to the cheapest destination available, is highly suspect and is indicative of terrorism. An incident involving a man with a similar profile occurred at Amsterdam airport when the Christmas underwear bomber was allowed onto the plane – without a passport.

We’re not necessarily suggesting Iran is behind this, but it sure is an easy story to sell.

Insofar as the effects themselves, a non-nuclear EMP could well explain how a plane, from one second to the next, simply vanishes without a trace.

  • There would be no large debris field because the plane would have fallen right out of the sky, so instead of a search area of square miles, we’d be looking at mere yards, a difficult find in a huge ocean.
  • The homing device on the black box, which as far as we can tell is not shielded against an EMP blast, would, just as the planes instrumentation and communications equipment, short circuit and become inoperable.
  • No explosions or missile signature would have been detected by monitoring systems

While this theory is far from conclusive, it makes as much sense as any being proposed.

If this was the kind of weapon used, then it could have been a “dry run” for something much bigger, like a coordinated attack involving many more planes in the future.

Or, as highlighted by American Everyman, we can just go with the official story per the mainstream media:

So, right on cue, in the absence of a logical thesis, the mainstream media along with “high ranking unnamed sources” are starting to float ridiculousness as the solution.

Officials investigating the disappearance of a Malaysia Airlines jetliner with 239 people on board suspect it may have disintegrated in mid-flight, a senior source said on Sunday, as Vietnam reported a possible sighting of wreckage from the plane. Reuters

Yes, there you have it, it may have just vaporized itself in mid-air for no apparent reason.

Vaporized? Gone? Nothing remained of this 600,000 pound jumbo jet?

The notion that an e-bomb was responsible is much more likely than vaporization.

And that is a much more terrifying thought to consider.

 

Start now to make sure you are staying prepared.

 

Via: shtfplan


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Cyber Attack Wouldn’t Take Long to Bring Down the USA- Just 900 Seconds

With our increasing dependence on the internet to transmit everything from emails and electronic payment information to air traffic control and transportation logistics, a properly targeted cyber-attack could wreak havoc in the United States within minutes, says Richard Clark:

In his warning, Mr. Clarke paints a doomsday scenario in which the problems start with the collapse of one of Pentagon’s computer networks.

Soon internet service providers are in meltdown. Reports come in of large refinery fires and explosions in Philadelphia and Houston. Chemical plants malfunction, releasing lethal clouds of chlorine.

Air traffic controllers report several mid-air collisions, while subway trains crash in New York, Washington and Los Angeles. More than 150 cities are suddenly blacked out. Tens of thousands of Americans die in an attack comparable to a nuclear bomb in its devastation.

Yet it would take no more than 15 minutes and involve not a single terrorist or soldier setting foot in the United States.

An enemy of the United States, whether foreign or domestic, wouldn’t need a nuclear bomb. They would simply need to take down the main computer networks. Many internet operations are centralized, especially in the private sector, so taking down something like the national DNS (Domain Name System) databases would put a stop to pretty much any communications used by the general public. An attack on Defense Department networks would be even more serious, potentially leading to a cascading effect across the entire nation.

Utilities, like water systems and electricity, are highly vulnerable, as they are built on very old technologies and are very dependent on each other due to old-style distribution systems. As an example, consider the massive black out that covered the entire north east for several days in 2003 while emergency crews worked to resolve the problems. Roughly one fifth of our country was out of power not because local power stations were taken down, but, according to the official story, because one or two main plants experienced outages due to natural causes (trees on power lines). There is still no definitive confirmation on what happened here, and for all we know this could have been a cyber attack testing our networks.

It’s no secret that hackers in countries like Russia, and especially China, have spent the last decade infiltrating and testing the stability and security of US networks – including the Pentagon and our satellite systems. At the first sign of potential international conflict, the initial wave of attacks will likely occur on the digital battlefield, resulting in downed communication systems, utilities, cable systems, GPS, cell phone networks, hardline networks and transaction processing systems.

Another issue, not related directly to defense computer networks, is that the plans for US water utility, electrical utility, and internet networks are readily available on the internet for anyone to download and analyze for vulnerabilities. We’ve essentially given any potential enemies a road map for how to bring down the United States without even firing a shot.

 

Start now to make sure you are staying prepared.

 

 

Via: shtfplan


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Digital Bugout Preps: SCAN YOUR WALLET

 

This is a great article By Rich at the survivalring.

 

One of my yearly New Year chores is to scan and update the contents of my wallet and keep a digital copy in a secure location.

Personally, I own three scanners, each for a different purpose. Depending on the type of item to scan, these allow me to make multiple scans and save it as one PDF file. With your own scanner, once you’ve digitized your own important documents, you can then either print a copy for a safe deposit box, encrypt the file and keep it with your valuables, or hide it where only YOU will know the location. Hopefully you will never need this backup, but there’s always a chance, (never say NEVER) and then you will be really happy you have this backup.

Now, WHY would you want to do this? One very simply reason. BACKUP.

Like an extra hidden key for your car or home entrance, jumper cables in your trunk, an ankle holster and weapon to back up your main holstered firearm, or regular backups of ALL your most important computer data, you need a full backup set of your financial and identification easily and quickly accessible to you should you be the victim of robbery, burglary, and stupidity.

Ever misplaced your wallet, or some card or cards within it? Ever had your wallet STOLEN? Do you have a phone list of all your credit card company customer services anywhere, just in case your wallet, with all your credit cards and contact info for each one, somehow…vanishes?

I’ve lost a total of 2 credit cards in my life, realized it, canceled the card, and later found the card fallen between the front seat of my truck and the center console, or washed and damaged. Not too bad a thing, but the sheer panic of realizing your money…your income…is waiting for someone to find your card and pick you clean with one swipe in the wrong place…is a very good way to practice and re-examine, your personal “pucker factor”. I’ve misplaced my wallet a number of times, but never had it stolen.

Years ago, on a trip to SoCal in general, and Santa Monica and it’s famous Pier in particular, with my daughter with me on a trucking trip layover, I found a full wallet on top of one of those “park your own car and put your parking fee in the numbered collection slot box” thingies, right next to the pier.

I had put my parking fee in my slot, and there it was… a fat, full, and complete wallet…just at eye level. Couldn’t have been there very long. Wow. Lots of cash…many credit cards…and a military ID right in the front when you opened it up.  What do to?  The right thing, obviously…a teaching moment for my teenage daughter, in a strange place, after dark, in one of the most liberal, left wing states in the nation.

I put the wallet in my jacket pocket, thinking in a busy place like this pier, I’d find law enforcement folks somewhere soon. Within minutes, we saw a manned police car on the shore end of the pier and walked over to it, explaining to the officer eating a burrito what we found and where, and then handing it over to him. I’ve never had a cop look at me like I was a complete lunatic like that…but that was the immediate response I saw in his eyes.

Having taken care of that, we enjoyed the rest of the evening on the pier, than drove around the area, saw some movie grand opening red carpet affair, and headed back to our hotel in Lancaster for the evening. We enjoyed the evening, and hopefully the gentleman who left his wallet got it back fairly quickly. I felt really good for having the first thought to do the right thing, and especially for having my daughter see that for herself. Still, at the time, it got me thinking. Which is why you are now reading this article.

So why digitize your wallet?  It’s probably the most important personal carry item you may ever have. Both women and men usually have some leather or other kind of folding container for pants, suits, or purse pocket storage. You know what’s found in most of these…credit cards, ID cards, passes, certification cards, training cards, cash, business cards, and more.  Cash doesn’t need to be copied, because counterfeiting is wrong. Anything else that is your personal ID, credit info, or anything else with needed numbers, accounts, or so forth SHOULD be digitized. Doing this gives proof of ownership, proof of possession, and needed info in case that day occurs where you wallet IS stolen or lost.

Making digital copies is literally child’s play these days, with thousands of different models of scanners and software available to create a snapshot of your wallet contents. You’ll find a massive amount of YouTube videos on the actual concept and how to do this rather easy job. The key is actually DOING it.

Get it Done…

So, you’ve made a digital copy of your wallet contents, and using your scanner and software, you now have a PDF file with all the pertinent information at your disposal at any time.  Now comes the important question…where are you going to store that VERY personal set of information that resides in your computer? And, how are you going to lock it up, so only you or your closest family can access it when and as needed?

You have multiple choices, locations, and formats to choose from. Here’s the best way to handle this step with finesse, practicality, and ease of use.  Starting with your freshly cooked PDF file, do the following.

  1. Create a short list of at least 3 places to keep the info in digital format.  These could be a) your computer, in a nondescript folder, b) on a pen drive or SD Ram card, and c) emailed to yourself as a password protected ZIP archive file.
  2. Yes, an archive. You’ll only have one file in it, and you can always add more, but you need the data encrypted. Any archive tool will do, but I normally use WinRar or 7-Zip, the latter of which is free, and VERY good.
  3. While creating your new archive, save it with that password you’ve chosen, that only YOU can remember, and make sure to click the “encrypt” check box in your archive software.
  4. Hit “Go”, and within seconds, you are done.

Now, move the file to at least TWO physical devices, such as an SR Ram card, a micro-SD Ram card, a thumb/pen USB drive, or any of a thousand possibilities, as well as send a copy to yourself via your favorite online email service. A reminder here that your file MUST be encrypted and password protected to maintain its lock on your most precious life information.

Personally, I go with a 16 gig pen drive, and a 32 gig SD Ram card, with backup on my 4 gig micro-SD Ram chip. Any of these three devices can be located literally ANYWHERE, in your clothing, your car, your home, briefcase, or even jewelry. Do some searches on Amazon for “creating hiding places” and look for any and every idea you can think of as possible stowaway locations for your digital life.

The most practical, for me, is the pen drive, with for secondary backup my 32 gig chip which I use in both my digital 16 megapixel digital camera, and my Canon HD video camera, both of which use SD Ram for storing new images and videos. The files on these chips can be accessed like any other storage device, using your standard My Computer or similar file manager and nearly every laptop or computer these days has a SD RAM slot built in for moving your data from your cameras to your work computer. Heck, even most tablets have this tech as well.

When that inevitable day occurs that your wallet goes missing, forever….you’ll look back at this moment…right now…and say one of two thing….”no problemo” or “oh shit”. To get to the correct answer, act now, and get started in backing up your wallet.

Start now to make sure you are staying prepared.

 

Via: survivalring


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Radiation Detection App for iPhone / iPad

While I am not normally a great fan of stuffing my phone full of apps that are entertaining but useless at best, here is one that I came across that can actually prove very useful for those that have the older Civil Defense survey meters that have and audio output that lets you hear the clicks as the Geiger tube is detecting hits. This will work with any meter that gives audible clicks for activity that is being detected by the Geiger tube, the app needs the external input through the microphone on the iPad / iPhone or a patch cable made to utilize direct input.

What’s more important about this app is the accuracy that can be attained with it. The CDV-700 that was used to test this was calibrated by a lab in the late 90’s so I have a fairly high confidence that its meter is reading correctly, all the readings that were taken with the application using the audio from the survey meter matched what it was showing on the analog meter.

             iPhone version

The application is called Geiger Bot, and it is available on iTunes for free. Yes, you heard me right, free. Now if this app on an iPhone were to be coupled up with the compact Geiger Counter that is offered by GQ Electronics LLC for $95.00 you have a good handheld radiation detector that will even alert you if the background radiation rises above safe levels.

I will not detail out all of the functionality of the application, the author of it has already done a great job on his web site (http://sites.google.com/site/geigerbot/).

So for those that have an old CDV-700 meter and an iPhone or iPad, here is a way to bring it forward into the digital age for a minimum cost.


              iPad Version

Via: tpass


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