German Officials Confirm 18 Million Emails & Passwords Stolen

Another mass hacking of private data was confirmed by German officials on Thursday, this time involving 18 million email addresses and passwords. Authorities in the northwestern city of Verden discovered the trove of information, according to the city’s public prosecutor Lutz Gaebel.

The latest case of cyber crime came just three months after Spiegel reported the hacking of 16 million email addresses, a find also attributed to public attorneys in the northwestern German city of Verden. Researchers and prosecutors had stumbled upon the breached accounts while conducting research on a botnet, a network of computers infected with malware.

Learn more | Read The Full Story

German Officials Confirm 18 Million Emails & Passwords Stolen

Another mass hacking of private data was confirmed by German officials on Thursday, this time involving 18 million email addresses and passwords. Authorities in the northwestern city of Verden discovered the trove of information, according to the city’s public prosecutor Lutz Gaebel.

The latest case of cyber crime came just three months after Spiegel reported the hacking of 16 million email addresses, a find also attributed to public attorneys in the northwestern German city of Verden. Researchers and prosecutors had stumbled upon the breached accounts while conducting research on a botnet, a network of computers infected with malware.

Learn more | Read The Full Story

NSA Director Rewrites History of War & Technology | Eats Shoe/Foot

Does anyone else find it troubling The Director of The NSA, Keith Alexander doesn’t know how to read? How about the fact Alexander has no problem rewriting history by giving US military intelligence forces credit for breaking the Enigma code, a communication encryption algorithm used by Nazi Germany during WWII? 

Clip – NSA Interview | 10-24-2013  

Clip – CyberSecurity Summit Speech | 9-26-2013

How dare General Alexander disrespect the man responsible for creating artificial intelligence! He crafted the mathematical concepts by hand… on paper. Turing developed the theory underlying all computing devices & least we forget his intellect saved society from the second global war?

Director of the NSA purposefully besmirches, dishonors Alan Turing?! The nerve…

Alan Turing was the British mathematician, logician, cryptanalyst, and computer scientist who was highly influential in the development of computer science, giving a formalization of the concepts of “algorithm” and “computation” with the Turing machine, which can be considered a model of a general purpose computer

Turing is widely considered to be the father of computer science and artificial intelligence. Most importantly, during World War II, Turing worked for the Government Code and Cypher School (GC&CS) at Bletchley Park, Britain’s codebreaking centre, similar to the NSA, the US intelligence agency. For a time he was head of Hut 8, the section responsible for German naval cryptanalysis.

Alan Turing devised a number of techniques for breaking German ciphers, including the method of the bombe, an electromechanical machine that could find settings, break the encryption or decrypt the secret otherwise cryptographically protected communications of Nazi military forces. 

After the war, he worked at the National Physical Laboratory, where he designed the ACE, one of the first designs for a stored-program computer. Turing was gay. His homosexuality resulted in a criminal prosecution in 1952, when homosexual acts were still illegal in the United Kingdom. He accepted female hormones (chemical castration) as an alternative to prison. Turing died in 1954, just over two weeks before his 42nd birthday, from cyanide poisoning. 

An inquest determined that his death was suicide; his mother and some others believed his death was accidental. On 10 September 2009, following an Internet campaign, British Prime Minister Gordon Brown made an official public apology on behalf of the British government for “the appalling way he was treated.” In May 2012, a private member’s bill was put before the House of Lords to grant Turing a statutory pardon. In July 2013 it gained government support.  

(Source: Common Sense & Wikipedia)

 

United Nations Says NSA Violating Human Right To Privacy

We now know, in some detail, that fears are often justified…

NSA data-collection projects are indeed being conducted on the global Internet by, at the very least, the United Kingdom and the United States. With that disturbing revelation, other nation states are waking up to the consequences.

In a Geneva room full of representatives from nations around the world, some of the world’s largest privacy organizations, including EFF, today warned the United Nations of the dangers of the mass Internet spying being conducted by its own members. We used the side-event on privacy to officially launch our 13 Principles on the Application of Human Rights to Communications Surveillance, which is intended to return the rule of law to these, and future, digital surveillance programs.

Innovations in technology have increased the possibilities for communication and protections of free expression and opinion, enabling anonymity, rapid information-sharing and cross-cultural dialogues. Technological changes have concurrently increased opportunities for State surveillance and interventions into individuals’ private communications. 

Communications techniques and technologies have evolved significantly, changing the way in which communications surveillance is conducted by States. States must therefore update their understandings and regulation of communications surveillance and modify their practices in order to ensure that individuals’ human rights are respected and protected.

States cannot ensure that individuals are able to freely seek and receive information or express themselves without respecting, protecting and promoting their right to privacy. Privacy and freedom of expression are interlinked and mutually dependent; an infringement upon one can be both the cause and consequence of an infringement upon the other. Without adequate legislation and legal standards to ensure the privacy, security and anonymity of communications, journalists, human rights defenders and whistleblowers, for example, cannot be assured that their communications will not be subject to States’ scrutiny.

Electronic Frontier Foundation Story | READ THE UNITED NATIONS REPORT 

Taking A Break

Sunday, January 4th started off good. The night before my friend Zane and I went out to dinner and then out for a few drinks. I drove from Plano towards my apartment down Preston Road. Before I knew it I was bouncing off the pavement and flying head first into the bumper of the car in front of me. 

Days before the accident my brother loaned me a full helmet of his which I gladly borrowed and used instead of the half helmet I had been using. This no doubt saved my life. My face hit the bumper right were the half helmet provided no protection. 

So, I broke my femur (fractured actually) in two places. This was the most painful experience ever. Stranger on the scene pulled me out from underneath the car and stabilized me until EMT’s put me on a stretcher (very painful) and took me to Parkland hospital. In route I somehow called my mother and closest friend Meredith. They met me at the hospital with my brother and his wife to comfort me. 

A few hours later I was in surgery and a steel rod was put in my leg and titanium screws to hold it in place. I thought was weird that to make things better they had to cut me up even more. Odd huh?

To make matters even more difficult, I had to move a week after being discharged from the hospital three days later. My brother and Tiffany have singled handedly been there to catch me after my fall. Granted, I’m getting short term disability from my job, and I’ll be out of work until almost the middle of March, but they’ve welcomed me into their home and truly taken care of me. 

I feel so lucky. I feel so loved. Friends visited me in hospital, sent cards, gift baskets and plants. They’ve visited me at my brothers place to check on me and really reminded me of how much I am cared for…

Any Easier

What a complex time lately… each day brings new challenges: The search for  a new home is close at hand. The conclusion of a lengthy legal matter next week. Actually finding it within myself to muster enough self control to save enough cash to pay for outstanding debts, legal representation and court costs… all while staying current with my bills and cost of living. For ME, accomplishing these things at once makes me think to myself, “It’s about damn time Matthew.” Hello?

Getting a good feeling from being on top again professionally is fun. Opportunity knocked the other day when my boss asked me if I would photograph his wife’s new restaurant opening. “Sure,” I said. I could use the extra cushion considering my massive effort to pay off debts and legal costs. As well, Knowing the location was far from where I live… I had no idea how I’d get to Frisco three days in a row. Two hours each evening I photographed regulars invited to sample the new dishes an give the staff good practice. Traveling on side streets for several hours each way I put 171 miles on my new scooter in three days!

With malfunctioning flash on my camera and limited lighting in the dining room I was stressed that I wouldn’t capture great shots… the expectations placed upon me were blown away like newspaper in a hurricane. Better yet, my impression on the owners led them to extend another opportunity… or two… or three. It was presented to me that my photos are to be permanently displayed in the dining area (twenty some-odd frames were already meticulously mounted on an entire wall visible from the front door… Great! Well, the images of the kitchen staff preparing delicious  food were so on point, the owners/investors decided to ask if they could use them on their website and marketing materials. Nice eh?

Well, it gets better, (yes, I’ll stop ‘bragging’ in a second)… I countered back with the proposal to have a photo shoot onsite to adequately photograph the plated entrees, drinks and capture the interior of restaurant with the utmost attention to lighting. Without hesitation I was met with immediate response…  it looks as if my rates are going up and the client is well aware of the increase… actually, it was insisted upon by my bosses wife that I charge MUCH more (industry standard rates) for the upcoming project. I gladly agreed. Lastly, I am to design name badges and begin creative discussions regarding html templates for their email marketing campaign (which is already successfully up and running without creative design of any kind).

This made my day. It wasn’t so much the promise of more opportunity, but rather that my abilities where great enough, interaction pleasant enough and overall performance exceeded expectations. There’s still lots of work to be done… over 250 images to process and turn around to the client. 

Did I ever mention I love photoshop?!

Hurt

Man, these days are hard. There’s something about these days that make it hard to keep on going. I feel like an idiot. If only I could scream loud enough. Loud enough to reach myself back in time before I’d screwed up love. Breaking my promises to those around me is so hard… but it’s even harder to kill my dreams. Watching them die hurts so much. 

I only wish there’s was forgiveness. Forgiveness would be so wonderful right now. But no matter what I do… I can’t get through. This most difficult moment in my life seems like it will never end. But it always does.

It feels like forever since you’ve been gone. I want you to understand it a little f*cked up that I’m left sitting here alone. I miss you so. It seems like I’ll never get back to the place where we didn’t make excuses. A place where we were following our bliss. It hurts so badly right now. And I’m the one to blame for not doing something to alter the course of this devastating tragedy. 

Why do I hear the voice in my head telling me to just quit? It told me not to love you. It told me there always will be pain without peace. There were times when I didn’t fill my time  with anything just to keep you from my mind. It seems like forever since love warmed over the cold embers of my heart. 

Crap!!!!!!! What the hell is wrong with me??!?!!?!? This existence will eventually transform into nothingness. There are moments when this thought actually brings peace. Not that I’m crying out for help… but this trip feels so long. I’m stuck here waiting for everything to catch up with my mind… my heart… my desire. 

No matter what anyone tells me… pain caused by those close to my heart… those very people who I let in… will propel me through this experience called life with an emptiness that can not be filled. The very thought of separation from that which is most precious to us is unbearable. But we as people run around so fast, so feverishly in hopes of distracting ourselves from the simply facts surrounding us everyday. 

Even if I talked until blue in the face, it is impossible for another person to fully know what I am feeling. Words are incomplete, scrawny and an inadequate means of conveying the chopping emotional waters inside me. Nothing I can ever do will ever allow me to reach an understanding with myself. An understanding of why me. Why should I struggle with these hurts? These mistakes?  

The very thought of releasing all hope and giving up entirely has enormous appeal. I’m doing fine. I’ll be okay. It’s just not right when doing nothing at all is attractive. It’s for the simple fact that this life is a giant circle. We all arrive back where we started. No matter what we do… we come spinning around the corners of life, some of us with a more intense gleam in our eyes. This twinkle of hope has origins that we no nothing about. No one knows why we believe that change will bring less suffering. 

I’ve had it with the career. I’m genuinely done rushing through this thing. There was a place inside me when I was younger where I know my sense of wonder lived. This quiet place was home to a boy who imagined greater. Who pretended to be different than he is today. Bent and broken I will search for this place now. Only this place could offer refugee, grant solace or calm the tormented mind from my self inflicted interrogation. 

Come please with me. Please come back home. I guess when you come back I won’t be here. And this seems like the answer. The only answer. Forget me. Erase my hopes, words, dreams, loves, hates, likes, dislikes, chuckles and tears. Wipe them from the face of every clock. There isn’t time anymore for these things. Sure, I can see clearly now that all these things and those like them… are now my ‘no-things.’ There are no things that will be able to compare to what they cause to be created deep in my being. So nothing will suffice in explaining to anyone… anything. Even to myself. I give up with trying. 

No more. 

UpAsidate

As it’s been awhile since my last post… much has changed. 

At the end of my tenth week as the Art Lead/Director for a major upscale food store, I am optimistic. My job is challenging. There’s so much to be done. I’d love to say the same about my love life. 

The new schedule has me crossing paths with my truest love at the earliest of hours. His working until three or as late as five after midnight furnishes little time for us to enjoy one another. 

The sensation of growing without your partner is difficult. I don’t mind growing… it’s just I had imagined, we would be growing together. Overwhelming me when I see others come closer to his heart than I, the feelings inside me are all too familiar. 

Almost seven years ago I started what I considered would be my first and only true relationship. A few years later it ended in my partner choosing to be unfaithful. This hurt. It felt like someone died. We continued living with one another in a small efficiency for almost six months after my discovering his infidelity.

A number of warning signs emerged after looking back. A level head has not always been my strongest character trait. Now, as my current relationship seemingly struggles for survival there are moments when similarities surface. 

Beyond all the newness of my job, and the possibility of preparing to end what was once a new relationship… my friend Meredith has been there for me. Opening doors professionally is mirrored by her revealing to me the seldom travelled passageways of my heart. Growing, learning and becoming more comfortable with how I am, without excuses became something she almost unknowingly helped me practice. 

Over the past few months our relationship became to much of a burden on her… we’ve drifted apart. 

Coming to realize my reoccurring patterns isn’t something I remember to do. I catch myself becoming caught up in long abandoned ways. Old thoughts and emotional traps snare my heart and mind. And only I can free myself.

I read recently, “A fool that persists in his folly will become wise.” So simple an idea once digested and contemplated transforms the actions and internal conflicts waging war on the battlefield of my mind. 

Until my next entry… good day.

 

~m