Welcome back from what I hope was a delightful weekend for you and yours. Pretty chill around here…a good thing.
Some of our weekend accomplishments included several new items off the 3D printers, a well-manicured lawn, lots of work on the space-time bending problem, and pages 49-77 of my newest book “Packing to Die: Suitcase between your ears” ready for Peoplenomics.com subscribers tomorrow.
Since the news flow is light, and nothing that can’t wait until the open – given the paucity of data until Wednesday afternoon’s Fed Minutes – it wouldn’t hurt to talk about something many people aren’t clear on.
Growth of Digital Thievery
Extensible thinking is what we do a lot of around here: We like to take solid – experience-based works – of others and then extend them in order to better understand where Future is taking us.
This morning, reading an article on G.A. Stewart’s website (“SELLING CHRISTIANITY – The Age of Desolation site’) reminded me we haven’t had a major discussion of how “value” has “crossed the divide” into digital (plus notional) realms. Digital and notional theft is reworking definitions of “crime.”
Take the big data heist presently underway. Even this morning the scale of the attack (commenced Friday) is still being estimated. Some good preliminary guidance is found in Kaseya ransomware attack affected at least 1,500 businesses – TechStory
Military and computational affairs contributor ‘warhammer‘ after his oak leaf B52 days went into expert realms of computational risk, so his perspective on the growth rate of digital crimes is certainly pertinent: it outlines the evolutionary advances in cybercrime.
“Ure no doubt aware of most of this info. I just wanted to make sure you have it handy for reference or footnoting as necessary.
First, the Office of personnel Management hack in 2015: Office of Personnel Management data breach – Wikipedia
This was quite serious at the time as it involved ‘not only’ personnel who had undergone high level security background checks. As part of filling out the Standard Form (SF) 86, one must list, name by name, immediate family members, DOBs, addresses, phone numbers and their relationship. This info was also compromised, a fact not widely advertised by the OPM. The SF 86 also details all foreign travels conducted since one’s birth (if new) or since one’s last re-investigation. Locations must be listed with addresses. Literally EVERY individual with a security clearance very likely had their personal data and the data of their family members hacked. Those of us falling into that category get free credit fraud alerts for life from Equifax (nice of ‘em, eh!). Not so much for our family members. Makes me feel like Covid infected bat guano.
China’s nesting of super-microchips on motherboards manufactured for use by DoD weapon systems, command and control and also major U.S. commercial manufacturers is the next major hack – this one physical, with a huge amount of systems and commercial vendors affected: The Big Hack: How China Used a Tiny Chip to Infiltrate U.S. Companies – Bloomberg
Next, the 2020 SolarWinds Federal Government hack:
2020 United States federal government data breach – Wikipedia
Per Wikipedia:
The attack, which had gone undetected for months, was first publicly reported on December 13, 2020,[25][26] and was initially only known to have affected the U.S. Treasury Department and the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA), part of the U.S. Department of Commerce.[42] In the following days, more departments and private organizations reported breaches…
Corporate hacks are too many to mention, and most are not reported. This article details the top ones in the last several decades or so: The 15 biggest data breaches of the 21st century | CSO Online.
And most recently, the slew of ransomware attacks on small to large businesses: Russian hackers REvil claim to have infected a MILLION firms in massive cyber attack & demand $70M ransom in Bitcoin (the-sun.com)
. . . and the Colonial Pipeline ransomware hack of May 2021: Colonial Pipeline CEO Tells Why He Paid Hackers a $4.4 Million Ransom – WSJ.
Our networks are essentially completely compromised. Until trusted and secure work-arounds are developed, only hope of keeping data relatively secure is to implement encryption protocols, which unfortunately slow computer speed and data transmission rates.
As I think of more, I’ll throw the stuff your way. Starting with Stuxnet and going forward from there, this has turned into a geopolitical weapon of espionage if not outright clandestine warfare, often with kinetic vice purely virtual effects.
This is where it gets Interesting. Think hydroelectric dam and nuke power plant control, power grids, rail switching, ATC systems, SATCOMS and more. I’m thinking the folks at Homeland Security don’t get much sleep these days. And it’s only going to keep getting worse.
On that happy note . . .”
We assume you saw the CBS piece “Unprecedented Russian hack accessed government secrets (msn.com)?” SolarWinds – the gift that keeps on paying.
With respects to the people staffing Homeland Security’s US-CERT: United States Computer Emergency Readiness Team (cisa.gov), most people have not made some key evolutionary leaps in their thinking to keep pace with modern risks.
Hacking Willie Sutton
America’s understanding of “crime” is terribly disconnected from modern technology. We’re operating back in the “trunk of cash or gold” on a stage coach mentality. Not entirely our fault: That’s what most of us were raised on: Westerns with an occasional train robbery and a silver shipment, as well. Programming of the public is out of date!
But if you want to understand crime, you’ve got to go deeper than Lex Luthor (played by Gene Hackman in Superman: The Move, 1978, Superman II, 1981, and Superman IV, 1987). My favorite is Bank robber Willie Sutton. Wiki him and you’ll find he was…
“William Francis Sutton Jr. (June 30, 1901 – November 2, 1980) was an American bank robber.[1] During his forty-year robbery career he stole an estimated $2 million, and he eventually spent more than half of his adult life in prison and escaped three times. For his talent at executing robberies in disguises, he gained two nicknames, “Willie the Actor” and “Slick Willie”. Sutton is also known as the namesake of the so-called Sutton’s law, although he denied originating it.”
Although Sutton was famous for (*allegedly) saying “I rob banks because that’s where the money is...” Which then spawned Sutton’s Law which is taught in med schools, the useful quote on point this morning is:
“Go where the money is… and go there often.”
Which neatly explains the astronomic rise in cyber crime. Enforcement is difficult which (to gamblers is the risk-reward ratio) makes a good cybercrime far preferable to gun play in a bank, for example.
CrimeCoins
At some point, it ought to become obvious to clear-headed people (both of us?) that digital crime works best with a digital currency. It’s using the keyboard as a getaway car and its range is global.
As a result of last week’s hack, we see Bitcoin this morning wavering around the $34,000 level and ask: “Is this because people are trading digital tulips or because honest business is buying up Cryptos now to use as payoff money to what we’d label the “Clickanostra?”
Cryptos & “Broken Tulips”
Are we setting up for a technology bust? Because despite all this (seemingly unlimited) hype, block-chain technology is just an anti-copy tool.
With cryptos now rolling from a “banking savior” and “alternative finance” role, we have to wonder is there isn’t a parallel to Broken Tulips.
If you didn’t know “tulip colors” can be caused by a virus go read the NY Times piece from 2017 Broken Tulips: ‘That Last Gasp of Beauty Before Death’ – The New York Times.
The parallels to the evolution between cryptos and actual tulips is both useful and important.
While stocks are set up open flat, we’re watching for hints…
…Of What’s to Come
Commodities today aren’t moving too much: Lumber contract is around $782 – less than half of two months back, or so.
Gold, silver, oil and the PGMs were up while rough rice, canola, and wheat were down.
Mostly, we’re waiting for people to sense the end of the blockchain hype. But we’re in oil tanker country: You can put the helm “hard over” on an oil tanker and not have it really turn much for one or two kilometers.
News hype is like that: Whereas an oil tanker might take 15-minutes to come to a full stop, same thing is true in news inferences. Like the lumber price story. It’s been over for weeks now, yet the media will use fully 4-6 months to bring that “higher home prices because of lumber prices” story to a halt.
The sequence is:
- Data trends change (*price charts)
- Experts notice
- Generalists notice
- Media hype begins
- Public catches on
- Chain reactions occur (investment switches and such)
- And then the Data changes again…
These factors vary by market, investor interest, media hype, and hedge funds and other monetizing the change. But, you get the idea: hysteresis. (“Hysteresis is the dependence of the state of a system on its history. “)
Florida Does Blow
Not Miami’s vice this time: Tampa/Saint Pete’s:
Meanwhile, East Texas continues having a delightfully cool and wet summer. Golf course lawn this year. Sadly, though, the drought out West has been expanding:
This is not particularly encouraging on the food front.
Troubles are becoming apparent in a wide swath from the Southwest up through the Colorado Front Range (Drought forces Grand Junction to dip into Colorado River (sltrib.com)) while the Canadian wheat belt is also in a world of hurt this year. Manitoba municipality declares state of agricultural disaster due to drought, record-breaking heat (reposted by msn.com).
All this argues for (not to get preachy, mind you) a real incentive to have your home equipped with some basic garden and water collection effort. Much higher payoff than playing video games, right?
Sheep Dippings
No, he doesn’t walk on water: NBC News historian fawns over Biden’s ‘half-century’ of political experience: He’s made ‘very few mistakes’. Huh?
Gender monetization of Booze? In the Male World of Whiskey, More Women Are Calling the Shots. (Although Elaine’s a fan of old single malts and has been since partying with Eve…back when I was trying on fig leaves, lol)
Not much of a Holiday...because it’s also being used for political division. Try Black Dems and NPR trashed the Declaration of Independence yesterday – American Thinker for starters.
Also using the occasion to divide? Leftist squad democrat Cori Bush. Cruz excoriates Cori Bush’s ‘stolen land’ tweet as ‘divisive lies’ | Fox News.
War planners take note: Russian warplanes have been practicing bombing enemy ships in the Black Sea, where the US and Ukraine are leading a large military exercise.
Nope, not much of anything to see here…move along, citizen. More tomorrow on Peoplenomics…
Dow futures down 30 S&P down 2 with 90 minutes to the open.
Write when you get rich (and that terrible headache goes away, lol),
George@Ure.net
Cliff said, we all are like little antennas that pick up consciousness waves of the future. Him and I emailed back and forth regularly, years ago.
Well, I wrote you yesterday about roses. Of all the things to add to yesterday’s discussion, which was way off topic … but it seemed important to mention it for some reason.
Antennas pick up waves, at least mine does. Most of the time the water is calm, but then a tide comes because there “something” the universe wants to say. AKA: WOO WOO.
I wake up this morning … smelling roses. I get my coffee, go out side and sit down and (listen) as (thoughts?) come to me.
I see the rose “Bush” in my mind and see it’s beauty but more so, the thorns. I hear, “a serpent in the garden” – Then I see the words “secret” and then “Genesis” then people being driven out into dirt fields, as if history were repeating its self.
Last night I was all about the nice things like antioxidants in rose petals … but this morning, I’m seeing what I believe to be a premonition. Something very profound is ahead and it ain’t good.
Best I can do is, wait for more waves.
Peace … I hope.
Thanks for the kind words, George. One tidbit I forgot to mention – how many folks are biting on that cool commercial and are using their mobile phone for banking and charge transactions? It’s convenient, right? Go cashless and even go cardless. But the process is only as secure as the network you are using and your phone’s software. Public networks can hide lots of malicious code that can hijack your phone and hack your precious personal and banking data. Most phones in use today notify the user if the networks available are not secure. How many of us use the unsecure public network anyway for convenience? All it takes is one call or data transaction for nefarious actors to access your device. Do you religiously keep your phone software up to date? If not, and you turn around and use your phone for monetary transactions after using unsecured public networks, you are at serious risk of compromising your private banking and personal data. So if you must do mobile banking and purchases with your phone, follow the most stringent security protocols possible on your device and avoid using unsecured public networks as much as possible. If you must use a public network due to your job, travel or an emergency, I suggest reading this helpful article: https://www.pcmag.com/how-to/tips-for-public-wi-fi-hotspot-security
So clicking “wifi off” at night to disconnect from the network isn’t so dumb even on a VPN, then?
You live in God’s country, George, so ‘drive by’ wifi hackers (or overflight ones) are not as prevalent as for folks packed into city housing plans, apartments and dense neighborhoods. A strong PW is most important for wi-fi, especially if your wifi unit puts out a strong signal. VPN is another layer of excellent protection. But turning off the wifi when not being used definitely makes sure your data is protected. Nerdwallet has some sound advice on how to protect against identity theft in the linked Lifelock review (no endorsement is implied, they’re just the focus of the review). Some stuff they recommend can be done at home for free: https://www.nerdwallet.com/article/finance/lifelock-review
:-( ….. I wish I could..turn off our wifi at night..
“Lumber contract is around $782 – less than half of two months back, or so.”
Perhaps so, but 4’x8’x7/16″ OSB is still $52 at the Orange Box. Quantities limited to 90 pieces. We still have a ways to go before it’s worth buying any beyond essentials.
Is their idea of supporting climate selling less lumber so indy minded folks like us can’t add on s/f as we feel like? Hmm…
Hi, George,
So glad Elaine is feeling so much better. She has been through a lot and emerged victorious.
Regarding your packing for death, no one has mentioned that we make contracts in Heaven with friends, future spouses and/or family, or even specific scenarios to experience. We also make or break connections in love, friendship, and family.
More on that in tomorrow’s installment – which is largish – ‘preciate the input, though!
George, you’re barking up the wrong tree. Cryptos are stored on indelible blockchains that allow tracking of every transaction once you know the wallet address. A poor choice for criminals. How about investigating the crimes of the Federal Reserve Bank of the United States instead? The Fed makes crypto crime look like lollipops. I know you’re not a big fan of the Fed either. The biggest crime syndicate in the history of the world. Everything that has happened recently is by design. Crypto is not the problem. End the Fed!
Wallets are held in number name, lol – when you been? This is Swiss francs with a twist of code!
There are log files all over the internet. Any wallet on an exchange is like a bank account. Don’t you think the intelligence services can easily trace this stuff? They have all the data. Crypto crime is allowed to happen, just like the crime waves in the inner city. How much money did the Fed steal from you, George? Cryptos have done nothing to harm you.
The U.S. government is the digital criminal.
The Friday news articles used the same wording as the WEF. Uncanny.
Here’s another joke headline ripped from today:
“20 years after 9/11, lawsuit against Saudis hits key moment
Lawyers for the victims plan to ask a judge to lift a protective order.”
The only thing that changes in that headline is the leading years.
Rumsfeld got away last month.
As I have suggested previously, you need to have an offline back-up of EVERYTHING (or what’s left) on your website. I would suggest DVD data discs buried in a tube on the back 30.
Have you thought about physically visiting your deceased service provider’s facility and jotting down names and license plates? It is always so much easier to get service when you can connect real names and addresses with the web handles.
The idea that complete loss of internet-connected data only happens to deep pockets is a comforting delusion, but it doesn’t really work that way in real life. Sometimes the data disappears because the hired help hasn’t been paid.
Grrrr-
Stick a dam god fork in it – whole dammed ball of wax.
Our once great Nation, Country, Society, Church, Family have embraced the inverted/ the upside down – the satanic/satamic.
– actually seems the whole world bee freefalling ….https://youtu.be/MXHBDF1zrUA
Since bush the evil(1000pts of EVIL) – been watching Virtue, natural Human Kindness and common sense – erased/removed from our daily lives.
Okay – actually being actively anal raped as a country by our Own CIA/FBI & DIA since that fateful day in Dallas , November 1963..prolly before that even..
– All actively working against Source, Humanity, and all that is Good in this World.
Nary a peep, ever – why?
– THEY SOLD THEM SELVES/Souls – media & politicians – 100% all of them all of the time.
– 2 biggest SCUMBAG occupations/careers a young person could ever choose to pursue.. present company excluded.
..US army testing Sarin gas (live fire) in NYC Subways – NYTimes article/archives.
Same shit loaded in micro drones – in turn loaded onto 1of 4 global hawks based in Italy – flight paths indicated flying over Iran ,China, NK, Spain..
?? Separated, Isolated, Identified covert19 as a Novel Virus ???? NOPE!
Curiously, scientists have id’d graphene oxide in every covid vaxx to date .
It has also been found in masks, even after the “withdrawn” batch, and yes you guessed it, found in un-opened swab packages. See mr Lewellyn Rockwell for latest reports on medical/science malfeasance regards covert19 pys-op.
Most curious symptoms from exposure to the stuff – mimics covert19. hmmmmm
Sure looks like the end goal of all this global fuckery is a slave society – very tightly controlled with technocrats, like sith wanna be swaby klaus – who I used to think the was Dune’s baron vlad harkonnen – wrong – turns out ole floaty fat dude was/is – T-rump.
– a transhumanist dream..”welcome to a new dimension”.
they will remove U from Ure bodies..one way or another..just pick up that celly..perfect device with which to lose touch/feeling of the”source’- best part – U will get a life review !
– here on the “battery” prison planet , we call that – the last parole board review. : (
George, I hope your mind is on firmer ground than mine.
First, read the site directly below. Then please explain to me( in 25 words or less) exactly what it says / what this means???
https://cointelegraph.com/news/wyoming-legally-recognizes-first-dao-in-the-united-states
I do not understand compooter very well so please help me and answer these questions:
1) would this replace the U.S. Dollar?
2) how does this track considering Wyoming legalized Gold and Silver as legal tender about 2 years ago?? (legalizing gold and silver should never haven even considered necessary as the constitution itself stipulates that gold and silver is the only form of acceptable currency.)
3) and speaking of gold and silver, would transaction in this “bit coin currency even be constitutionally legal except as some form of barter?? as the constitution precludes states from using anything but gold and silver??
4) Now that we have all of that resolved read this next site (directly) below and explain to me how a cripto currency would survive.
https://www.zerohedge.com/geopolitical/why-isnt-us-preparing-emp-war-rest-world
Now add these two articles and this Glenn Beck article about FOOD https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PQTbpJl2-Ho and perhaps you understand why my brain has come to a complete stop.
I think it’s time for me to quit thinking and put my faith in God or Whiskey, and I’m pretty sure that the whisky is going to run out. Fortunately God never has “run out”. Maybe the Amish have it right?
We will have MUCH more to say on the Wymong situation on PN tomorrow morning. Just got off the phone with the Wyo
SeState’s office. Very helpful press aide (Monique) tells me -NO! The state is NOT adopting a crypto for ANYTHING.
This is merely the first entity approved under a change of WYO state law that sets up “DAO’s (digitaul autonomous organizations” The new law up there, going into effect July 1, says it’s nothing more (or less) than letting interested digital companies (especially those using so-called SmartContracts (which are a good use of blockchain tech, btw) to set up shop as a DAO as opposed to an LLc or SP or SubChapter corp structure.
Very nice people to talk with and yes – it’s NEW. aND NO, the state is not accepting cryptocurrency for any State billing/billed services like tax payments.
Way over done, but interesting – we are awaiting docs which hopefully will get here in time for PN in the AM.
Relax.
\
“Kaseya ransomware attack affected at least 1,500 businesses”
Not difficult to prevent.
Terribly inconvenient to prevent though, especially for low-level office drones.
If you can do nothing except work, on a “work computer,” and your company acquires workstations which lack data I/O ports & devices (no CD/DVD/BR readers and no USB ports) your net is impervious to “stupid user hacks” like E-Mail or Web clickbait trojans.
Intel, Supermicro, and Trenton build computers that are turnkey, 100% made in USA, and have no spy-chips on their mobos. I’m pretty sure the Trentons are all servers…
WRONG! I just dropped in on their website – They now have a desktop (ruggedized) mini-pc which they released a few months ago. The thing’s a beast! 7×7 inches, will run an 8-core i7-9700 or Xeon on 32Gb with 1Tb SSD and a 32TB U.2 NVMe SSD. I did not know this, because I haven’t had one cross my desk…
Most of the Intel and Supermicro systems are servers, but they build DoD and DoS Foreign Service spec’d desktop and workstation computers also (complete with Tannerite SSDs.) Trenton’s wares are all MIL-Spec and DoD certified. The Trenton and Supermicro computers are for sale in the retail channel. They are not cheap! The government surplus ones are unobtaneum. AFAIK they are all turned into ingots when they hit their EoL/EoU expiration date…
You’ve heard this one… what’s said in front of one’s real-world devices (celly/TV/etc.) transfers into the virtual world in form of pop-ups or email?
Recall the other day G mentioned rags and fire.
G’s rags comment transferred from virtual world to real:
Aprons from laundromat self-ignite, causing smoke damage at Peteet’s Cheesecakes
A fire broke out at Peteet’s Famous Cheesecakes, on Nine Mile in Oak Park.
The bakery’s in-store video caught the 200 aprons in a bucket from smoke to fire at 5 a.m. June 29th. The laundry was in a plastic bucket and went up in flames. The fire went out on it’s own before firefighters arrived – but the damage from smoke had already been done.
https://www.fox2detroit.com/news/aprons-from-laundromat-self-ignite-causing-smoke-damage-at-peteets-cheesecakes
Holly [smokes] – spontaneous blogging?
Absolutely psycho world . Read Kipling and have a beer . The greatest depression never to be surpassed. The fourth turning . Veges
Hey George
Are you OK?
You no longer show up in my junk mail or anywhere.
Did I hit the wrong button on something?
I hope everything is OK
Everything is fine – and jujst doing paperwork – had a hiccup on the server which should have the meail issues on the daily reminders completed… if it’s not one thing (phone rings…)