Sunday, December 12, 2010

WikiLeaks Prompts Military Ban Of Removable Media On SIPRNET

 There's always more that can be done. According to the article below, the U.S.Military has now apparently issued a directive to"immediately cease use of removable media on all systems, servers, and stand alone machines residing on SIPRNET", the Defense Departments secure computer network. This is seemingly in response of the leak of classified data by WikiLeaks. Better late than never I guess!

     . . .  June


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In Wake of WikiLeaks, Military Bans Removable Media
Maximum PC:Posted 12/10/10 at 02:40:18 PM  by Ryan Whitwam

Wired is reporting that the Air Force commander of Network Operations has issued a new directive seemingly in response to the leak of classified data to whistleblower site WikiLeaks. The Dec. 3 “Cyber Control Order” calls on the Air Force to “immediately cease use of removable media on all systems, servers, and stand alone machines residing on SIPRNET.' SPIRNET is the Defense Department's secure computer network.

The data being released by WikiLeaks was taken from SPIRNET by Pfc. Bradley Manning, who smuggled them out on a CD labeled "Lady Gaga". The new directive seeks to keep this from happening again. However, this is far from the first attempt to seal leaks. In August the Pentagon disabled the ability of all classified computers to write to removable media.

Critics suspect that the new restrictions will make the job harder for service members. Many PCs are not networked for security reasons, and internet access can be spotty in various places. Thumb drives and discs are often the only good way to move data around. We would also like to point out that even a machine's hard drive is removable, if you know your way around a PC. Taking data might be less surreptitious, but we don't see how it can be stopped altogether.


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Moscow Times says " WikiLeaks Is Fighting the WRONG Enemy"

According to the following article from the the Moscow Times, Julian Assange, founder of WikiLeaks has been fighting the wrong enemy. By exposing the U.S. classified documents he has made it easier for the Taliban to capture, torture and kill the secret informants in Afghanistan who are working for the U.S. military. The reporter here suggests that he instead should have aimed his guns towards fighting North Korean dictators, al-Qaida or the drug mafia. Maybe he's right!
     . . . June


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WikiLeaks Is Fighting the Wrong Enemy
Opinion | The Moscow Times:

WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange, who is wanted in Sweden to face rape, sexual molestation and unlawful coercion charges, was driven by one noble principle — that good should prevail over evil. The computer genius — aka the “Robin Hood of hackers” — founded WikiLeaks to expose evil and injustice throughout the world.

But Assange’s guns were aimed at the wrong target. Instead of being used to fight North Korean dictators, al-Qaida or the drug mafia, Assange fired on the U.S. military. In July, WikiLeaks published more than 76,900 documents on the U.S.-led war in Afghanistan, and in October it released about 400,000 documents connected with the war in Iraq.

The documents make for an interesting read, although the majority contain no classified information. The only problem is that Assange’s leaks make it easier for the Taliban to capture, torture and kill the secret informants in Afghanistan who are working for the U.S. military. For this, al-Qaida counterintelligence should bestow Assange the Bin Laden Award for outstanding service in the fight against U.S. infidels.

Making his contribution to the fight against the global center of evil and tyranny, Assange decided not to linger long in any one place. In September, he flew from Stockholm to Berlin, checking his bags containing three laptop computers with encrypted information. The computers disappeared, and the computer wonder boy was shocked.

“We have been attacked by the United States,” he complained to a New York Times reporter.

What Assange didn’t take into account was that he had attacked the United States first. It actually never occurred to the infantile self-proclaimed champion of truth and justice that a person who had aided al-Qaida counterintelligence should never pack laptop computers into his checked baggage. Neither should the Australian-born Casanova sleep with any young Swedish beauty who bats her eyes at him. It could easily be a trap.

There is a simple reason why Assange targeted his attacks on the United States, not on tyrants and butchers, who are not known for their computer literacy. Imagine that instead of exposing tens of thousands of detailed, technical documents about U.S. operations in Afghanistan, Assange had decided to expose cannibalism in the Congo. Not much would have come of it because, unfortunately, Jean-Pierre Bemba — a former vice president of the Congolese provisional government in 2003-06 and a man who is now being tried in the International Criminal Court in The Hague for crimes against humanity and war crimes — did not keep computerized records of the number of pygmies his troops ate for dinner. What’s more, Congolese cannibals probably don’t even know what a computer is.

The syndrome from which Assange suffers is the same problem afflicting most members of the infantile left. They start with the self-absorbed goal of becoming famous by declaring a noble fight against tyranny and evil. They then proceed into battle without ever once tearing their faces away from the computer screen. They forget that, in the first place, the same battle is already being fought by professionals working for Mossad and the CIA.

For someone in the public eye and without any significant credentials, that path leads more often to shame than fame. That is why it is much easier for a computer wizard like Assange to fight against democratic nations that document their actions on computers rather than fighting against real tyranny and evil in the world.


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 What do you think about the opinions in this article? Are you on the side of the whisleblower?  Plkease leave a comment.


June