http://www.zeropaid.com/news/102462/is-the-pirate-bay-storing-personal-data/

Is The Pirate Bay Storing Personal Data?

Hackers have accused owners of The Pirate Bay of collecting and storing the personal data of its users, backing it up with screenshots that show a user management system that holds IP addresses, emails and passwords in an easy to read format.

While the authenticity of the images has yet to be verified, PokeX, the twitter account that posted links to the screenshots and pastebin post, claims to have links with Anonymous.

However if these claims turn out to be true, the owners of the site would have more to worry about than its reputation with anonymous. It would completely cease to exist in its current iteration. If the user base of the site thought that it was being tracked, there would be a mass exodus.

If The Pirate Bay is storing user info, what’s to stop that information from falling into the hands of hackers or law enforcement?

http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/chrome-plugins-access-all-data-browsing-activity/

Why Do Chrome Plugins Need Access To ‘All My Data’ and ‘Browsing Activity’?

chrome plugin privacy If you’ve installed Chrome plugins, you’ve probably seen a warning that they can access your data on all websites, your tabs and browsing activity, or even all the data on your computer. This warning can be scary, especially if you’re installing a simple browser extension that looks harmless.

Chrome has a permissions system, just like Android does. Unfortunately, the way web browsers and web pages work means that extensions must ask for quite a few permissions to do simple things. Chrome’s permissions system is not particularly fine-grained.
Plugin Permissions

Unlike Mozilla Firefox and Internet Explorer, both of which allow extensions to do anything they want, Chrome uses a permission system for its extensions. All Chrome plugins must declare the permissions they need. When you install a plugin, you’ll see a list of the permissions it requires. This gives you some idea of what a plugin can do. For example, if an extension doesn’t require any permissions, it’s definitely safe to install. If an extension requires permission to access all the data on your computer, you should be sure the extension was created by someone you trust.

Google has no way of knowing whether an extension that manipulates the pages you visit is doing something innocuous, like picking a color, or doing something more dangerous, such as spying on your credit card number and payment information.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=avP5d16wEp0

Explore a Google data center with Street View

See inside one of Google's data centers in this guided tour. See what powers our products, and then explore on your own in Street View: http://www.google.com/about/datacenters/streetview

http://news.cnet.com/2300-1001_3-10014218.html

Google's data centers can be vast. This one in Council Bluffs, Iowa, has more than 115,000 square feet of room.

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/opinion/news/article.cfm?c_id=466&objectid=10836733

Judge who watches the watchers
By Mai Chen 9:30 AM Thursday Sep 27, 2012

Former High Court judge Paul Neazor is a part-timer with the task of unravelling the great Dotcom spy scandal

In Mr Dotcom's case, the GCSB appears to have relied on the wrong advice of another public taxpayer funded agency, the Organised and Financial Crime Agency New Zealand, that Mr Dotcom and his associates were foreigners.

The GCSB failed to realise that this advice was wrong because they didn't check it. No one found out what the GCSB was up to because the Acting Prime Minister signed a ministerial certificate which effectively suppressed it. The GCSB had told him the certificate was warranted in the interests of security.

The result appears to be illegal spying because the GCSB Act states that the bureau must not take any action for the purpose of intercepting the communications of a person who is a New Zealand citizen or a permanent resident.

http://www.stuff.co.nz/technology/7734292/Scandals-spooks-not-regular-spies

Hager's book traced New Zealand's involvement in the global Echelon network, which spies on communications, including emails and phone calls. He interviewed a number of GCSB staff for the book.

The GCSB's involvement in the Dotcom case has raised questions about how and what information was collected on the internet entrepreneur.

Hager said the fact the GCSB operated without warrants limited its options, because any snooping which necessitated planting a device would require one. "They can legally go out and listen to the airwaves, because that's not planting a device.

"So they could theoretically sit on a hill and pick up signals. Those signals intelligence officers are very good . . . they pick up all the local radio signals so basically they would be picking up his mobile-phone traffic."

The other way they could spy on Dotcom was through the Waihopai listening station, which is part of the Echelon network. "They'd actually just plug in his email address, his name, his company name whatever and see what comes off it."

http://www.stuff.co.nz/technology/7734184/Dotcoms-lawyers-question-police-statements

Dotcom's lawyer Paul Davison told the High Court at Auckland yesterday that Mr Wormald had said in evidence on August 9 there was no surveillance of Dotcom undertaken by anyone other than New Zealand police to his knowledge.

However, the GCSB were engaged by police to monitor Dotcom for at least a month before his arrest in January and attended a meeting with police and Crown Law before the raids.

"There are very grave and significant implications arising from this recent discovery," Mr Davison said.

He said it was not the first time Mr Wormald had been "inconsistent" and he had corrected his errors about other aspects of his testimony with an affidavit, but not the one about GCSB involvement.

Outside court, Mr Davison said the inconsistencies were "a matter of real concern".

"We had evidence from an officer on oath and we have some other material which makes it look to be inconsistent with that."

http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/7734301/SIS-involvement-in-Dotcoms-residency-likely

Goff said it was hard to believe so many public agencies and government ministers were involved and Key was not made aware.

"Civil servants always act on the cautious side and if they're planning something that's big they like to ensure that there is a no surprises policy for government.

"Either [Key's] presiding over total incompetence or he's not telling the truth."

Judge Justice Helen Winkelmann in the High Court at Auckland yesterday questioned how GCSB could have been mistaken about Dotcom's residency.

http://www.stuff.co.nz/technology/7731225/Expert-to-make-Dotcom-spy-data-decision

Expert to make Dotcom spy data decision

Revelations about illegal Government spying on Kim Dotcom may have ramifications all the way to his case in the United States.

Dotcom, leaving the High Court in Auckland today, said it was his understanding the Government Communications Security Bureau (GCSB) provided "real-time" intercepted information to the United States.

"If they got it, and if it was illegal, it might indicate parts of the indictment are tainted."

In other words, the GCSB's illegal spying on Dotcom may make evidence against him inadmissible in an American court.

The extent of the GCSB spying is not yet known.

The GCSB are only allowed to spy on foreign nationals and the police agency in charge of the Dotcom raids wrongly told the agency Dotcom and co-accused Bram Van der Kolk were foreign nationals when in fact both were permanent New Zealand residents.

http://www.securitynewsdaily.com/2177-amd-data-breach.html

Chip Maker Advanced Micro Devices Hit by Data Breach
Microprocessor maker Advanced Micro Devices was hit by a data breach yesterday (Aug. 19) after a four-strong hacker group known as "r00tbeersec" hacked its site and posted login credentials for 189 users of AMD's official blog.

AMD's blog, which appeared to have been set up to use the famously hackable WordPress platform, currently displays a "temporarily unavailable" page "due to routine maintenance."

In an email to SecurityNewsDaily, an AMD spokesman confirmed the data breach.
Ironically, the "@r00tbeer_" Twitter user told SecurityNewsDaily that he used AMD's Radeon graphics cards to crack encrypted passwords.

If you're a WordPress user, avoid becoming the next victim by keeping your WordPress software patched, and by turning off or renaming the default "admin" account built into every WordPress blog.

http://www.securitynewsdaily.com/2179-philips-data-breach.html

Electronics Giant Philips Hit by Data-Dumping Hackers
The new hacker collective "r00tbeersec" has struck again — and this time, it matters.
More than 350 passwords, full names and email addresses belonging to Italian customers of the Dutch consumer electronics giant Philips were posted online today

The difference with today's breach was that the Philips customer passwords were in plain text, meaning anyone can now log into those Philips customer accounts — and any other online account where those users registered the same email address and password.

http://www.technologyreview.com/news/428497/your-laptop-can-now-analyze-big-data/

Your Laptop Can Now Analyze Big Data

New software makes it possible to do in minutes on a small computer what used to be done by large clusters of computers.

According to Guestrin, a Mac Mini running GraphChi can analyze Twitter's social graph from 2010—which contains 40 million users and 1.2 billion connections—in 59 minutes. "The previous published result on this problem took 400 minutes using a cluster of about 1,000 computers," Guestrin says.

Don't know how many people have heard of Michael Robertson, but he started mp3.com, sold it, & among other things later started MP3tunes, a company where you store your music on-line, then stream it to your devices anywhere. He's apparently had his share of legal battles with the music industry, & so may know more about that sort of thing than most. A while back this is what he had to say about the U.S> government's actions against Megaupload -- he brings up some good points.

http://www.michaelrobertson.com/archive.php?minute_id=360

http://www.businessinsider.com/steve-wozniak-on-kim-dotcom-2012-6

Apple cofounder Steve Wozniak says the U.S. piracy case against Kim Dotcom is "hokey" and a threat to Internet innovation.

Wozniak and Dotcom spoke out against the federal case in separate interviews with The Associated Press Wednesday. Dotcom, the flamboyant founder of file-sharing site Megaupload

Steve Wozniak, known as "WoZ," founded Apple Computer, Inc.--now called Apple--with Steve Jobs in 1976.

http://news.cnet.com/8301-1023_3-57462441-93/kim-dotcom-warrants-invalid-new-zealand-judge-rules/

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kim.com

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10816121

Another news source reporting on the same ruling if anyone's interested.

http://www.3news.co.nz/Prepare-to-return-Dotcom-data---FBI-told/tabid/423/articleID/257915/Default.aspx

http://www.3news.co.nz/Judge-Search-and-seizure-at-Dotcom-mansion-illegal/tabid/423/articleID/259456/Default.aspx

Judge: Search and seizure at Dotcom mansion illegal

The police search and seizure at Megaupload founder Kim Dotcom’s mansion have been ruled illegal by a High Court Judge.

Chief High Court Judge Helen Winkelmann has just released the ruling.

Dotcom’s wife, Mona, took to Twitter after the announcement was made public, tweeting: “Amazing news today!!!”.

In a summary of her findings, Judge Winkelmann said the warrants executed by police “did not adequately describe the offences to which they related”.

“Indeed they fell well short of that. They were general warrants, and as such, are invalid.”

http://nakedsecurity.sophos.com/2012/03/09/smartphone-apps-sending-your-data-to-china/

Smartphone apps are sending your data to China

These run-of-the mill applications were chosen because the Sunday Times felt they sought more information than was functionally necessary.

Using "MiddleMan" software, they were able to monitor app data transfers and made some rather disconcerting discoveries.

The Sunday Times The Sunday Times The results showed that of the 70 apps, "twenty-one transmitted the phone number, six sent out email addresses, six shared the exact co-ordinates of the phone and more than half passed on the handset's ID number."

PS some one said over right 62 times and got data back, I only do it 3 time with Danik's Boot & Nuke find no Data ?

17 said I thoroughly erased (35 wipes) the unused drive space.
I then set this program to work to recover this supposedly wiped space, not expecting any returns from it.
To my utter astonishment it found a large number of files which it recovered.

so I try it iCareFormatRecovery got nill ?

on NTF 100 GB and FAT 32 50 GB it just say find .tmp RECYCLER desktop.in change.log

I can see that so not old is new most free ones work ok please add the ones you find good

http://news.hitb.org/content/dropbox-cloud-was-haven-data-thieves-researchers-say

Dropbox could also be used as a place to store documents clandestinely and retrieve them from any Dropbox account controlled by an attacker.

We just got a new computer about a week ago. The old one went bad and anyway in Windows 7 I learned today it has the ability to make disk images. Start/ control panel/ back up your computer.

had 20 gb & 40 gb so got new one 350 gb all I need, how do you full it up I try only got to 9 gb system & backups ?

Thank you, MtnVision, for this review.
I hate those big drives! Especially when they are installed as the only drive in the new PC I bought. Now I'm going to install a smaller drive for C and have to partition the mega drive. Okay, no problem thanks to Paragon (again), however, even with partitions it's still one big drive, and when things happen, you have to deal with the complete drive. It's always extremely time consuming to back up a full drive or do some maintenance.

I have 2 external drives full to bursting - and, like yours, with severe problems. Even though they have "only" 1 TB and 1.5 TB I didn't dare to take care of them, I fear all the time it takes to copy them :( They are sleeping and waiting to be reactivated. Luckily there are no urgent needed data on them.
Even with TeraCopy (instead of using windows lame explorer) a lot of time is needed for TB drives.

Sorry for the rant - but I'm really frustrated by these mega drives - nevertheless I bought a new one - 2 TB.

graylox

I have installed a few Paragon products from GAOTD over the past year or so on my original laptop and also on my newer laptop. Paragon has been very faithful to continue using GAOTD as part of their marketing & testing strategy for which we should all be thankful. Fortunately I read the comments of other GAOTD users which told me I could have both the Home & Pro versions installed simultaneously.

Long story short... I have a 1 year old 2TB Western Digital My Book external which contains irreplaceable data. My Vista OS & also other Windows operating systems would not recognize the drive without wanting to format it. I have Hard Disk Sentinel Pro which told me that there ware 541 bad sectors on the drive and another 580ish sectors that will soon go bad but would not browse the drive for data recovery. A scandisk action, by Sentinel, to recover &/or mark bad sectors would take an estimated 490 hours but with Spinrite running from removable media drive was going to take 2 months (1900+ hours)...

Obviously these repair options were time consuming beyond my laptop's capability... and everyone told be to back up my data first but the drive could not be read to do that with Windows. Trying several applications to read the drive I finally used Paragon Drive BackUp Pro which has the volume explorer that the Home version does not. Since I do not have another 2TB drive to do a total back up to with a one click copy process that was impossible. SO it was with great pleasure I discovered that from the volume explorer this drive's folders and files can be highlighted then exported (copied) to another drive location as individual or multiple selections. In my case I am copying approximately 2 GB at a time using my spare laptop with XP Home to 300 GB externals I am able to free up. This may seem to be a very time consuming manual process but at least I have control of that time!

I just want to say how very grateful I am for Paragon products and will be recommending this company's products at every opportunity because of this positive experience in my traumatic situation. Thank you GAOTD for making this possible!

http://www.techrepublic.com/photos/how-google-secures-its-data-centers-photos/6226394?tag=nl.e098

Safe from others
Our data is safe from others, What about google? How it can ensure that GOOGLE wont use/keep/read our pesonal/finance datas?

http://300allpctips.blogspot.com/2008/11/information-microsoft-hides-on-your.html

The Information Microsoft Hides on Your Computer
INDEX
1. DEFINITIONS AND ACRONYMS
2. WHY YOU SHOULD ERASE THESE FILES
3. HOW TO ERASE THE FILES ASAP (Recommended for the non-savvy.)
3.1) If You Own Microsoft Internet Explorer
3.2) Clearing Your Registry
3.3) If You Own Outlook Express
3.4) Slack files
3.5) Keeping Microsoft Internet Explorer (Not recommended at all.)
4. STEP-BY-STEP GUIDE THROUGH YOUR HIDDEN FILES (For the savvy.)
5. A LOOK AT OUTLOOK
6. HOW MICROSOFT DOES IT
7. +S MEANS [S]ECRET NOT [S]YSTEM
8. THE TRUTH ABOUT FIND FAST
8.1) Removing Find Fast
9. HOW HARD MICROSOFT TRIED TO KEEP PEOPLE FROM FINDING ABOUT IT

WHY SHOULD I ERASE THESE FILES?
1) Besides the glaring privacy risks.
2) Besides the fact that Microsoft is keeping these logs intentionally. (For reasons I can only imagine.)
3) These files can take up huge amounts of disk space. I've personally inspected a computer with almost 200 megs of this stuff, so you can imagine how much this can slow your computer down. After following these instructions you will probably notice a great improvement in performance.

then use ccleaner wipe free space

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-13192359 (A lawsuit has been filed in the US against Sony)
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-13231307
PlayStation Network credit card details were encrypted (can unencrypted)
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-13206687
Q&A: How will PlayStation hack affect users?
Sony has not said how many accounts have been compromised. It may only be a handful, it could be all 70m registered users.
Should I change my logon details for the PlayStation Network?
Gamers can not log on to the network at the moment, so are unable to change their details.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-13213632
'Steal everything' era of hacking.
"Any lock can be picked," said Blaine Price, senior lecturer in computing at the Open University and an expert in data protection.
"The reason is that there's always a trade off in security between usability - being able to get at what you want to get at, and making it secure.
A more secure option would seriously hinder this process, Mr Price argues.
"A bank would usually use two-factor authentication, where you've not just got a password.
An Xbox controller in a gamer's hands Other gaming networks, such as Microsoft's Xbox Live, could be vulnerable, experts claim.
"It would be a real pain if every time you want to start up a game you had to scan your thumb, type in 15 digits and pull out a card reader.
"Any time you're just using a user ID and password, it's going to be a risk."
"It's a very important data protection principle that you shouldn't collect excessive information or keep it longer than is necessary.
"The question about, for example, why an organisation asks for a specific date of birth, as opposed to an age band, is at the centre of our work."
"If you keep it secret, then it only takes one person to know the secret and then you're in trouble."
http://news.cnet.com/8301-31021_3-20057963-260.html (Five questions for Sony about PSN breach)
http://www.stuff.co.nz/technology/digital-living/4945473/Stolen-info-from-PlayStation-reportedly-up-for-sale
The credit card list alone was listed for upwards of $100,000
http://news.cnet.com/8301-31021_3-20058617-260.html
The committee wants answers no later than May 6.
The letter was sent Wednesday and Sony has 10 days to respond before incurring a fine from the commission of between NT$30,000 (U.S. $1,041) and NT$300,000 (U.S. $10,408) for violating the city's consumer protection laws.
Sony has said it contacted law enforcement and is working with a private security firm to investigate the intrusion on its network. Reuters reports the company is working with the FBI.
Sony has also said it plans to compensate customers for the incident, though it hasn't revealed when or how.
http://news.cnet.com/8301-27080_3-20058067-245.html
Here's what people have reported:
An employee of GameFly Media tweeted that a colleague's card was used to buy $1,500 worth of goods at a grocery store in Germany.
A reader of gaming site VGN365 said his bank had informed him of a fraudulent $300 debit card withdrawal this weekend. And another person reported on video game forum site Neogaf.com $600 in fraudulent withdrawals.
Ars Technica reports hearing from about two dozen people complaining about fraudulent charges, including one who said $600 was used to pay for a ticket on a German airline and another who said $8,000 from his account was spent at a Japanese store.
http://pcworld.co.nz/pcworld/pcw.nsf/news/playstation-hacker-sony-has-only-itself-to-blame-for-breach
The hacker who has received widespread grassroots support after being sued by Sony for posting code that can jailbreak Sony PlayStation consoles blamed the company's recent data breach on executive-level arrogance.
Hotz hacked the PlayStation so that it could run the Linux OS. Sony claimed that his software violated the U.S. Digital Millennium Copyright Act, which prohibits the reverse-engineering of encryption protections.
http://www.pcworld.com/businesscenter/article/226672/taipei_demands_answers_from_sony_threatens_fines.html

http://i.imgur.com/gyqHh.jpg

http://blogs.forbes.com/andygreenberg/2011/04/28/sony-encrypted-playstation-users-credit-cards-left-other-data-vulnerable/

Sony Encrypted Playstation Users’ Credit Cards, Left Other Data Vulnerable.
Sony has some good news and some bad news.

The good news first: In the massive breach of its Playstation Network that exposed as many as 77 million users’ data, those users’ credit cards remained encrypted, and so likely weren’t readable for whoever broke into the network.

And the bad news? All the rest of the breached data, including phone numbers, passwords, email addresses, usernames, birth dates and account histories, was left unencrypted and vulnerable.

Stories emerged like this one, of an Australian who saw fraudulent transactions appear on his credit account after his data was exposed by Sony’s breach. But given how tough it would be for Sony’s attackers to decrypt and use victims’ credit card data, that story and others may simply be run-of-the-mill fraud coinciding with news of the intrusion.

http://venturebeat.com/2011/04/27/surprise-sony-faces-class-action-lawsuit-on-playstation-network-breach/

Surprise: Sony faces class action lawsuit on PlayStation Network breach.

http://www.stuff.co.nz/technology/digital-living/4931460/PlayStation-privacy-breach-77m-accounts-exposed

An unauthorised person stole names, addresses and other personal data including potentially credit card details belonging to about 77 million people who have accounts on Sony Electronics' PlayStation Network, Sony said.
The "illegal and unauthorised person" got access to people's names, addresses, email address, birthdates, usernames, passwords, logins, security questions and more, Sony said on its US PlayStation blog.

http://blog.us.playstation.com/2011/04/26/update-on-playstation-network-and-qriocity/

U.S. residents are entitled under U.S. law to one free credit report annually from each of the three major credit bureaus. To order your free credit report, visit http://www.annualcreditreport.com or call toll-free (877) 322-8228.

You may wish to visit the web site of the U.S. Federal Trade Commission at http://www.consumer.gov/idtheft
See Also

http://www.ftc.gov/bcp/edu/microsites/idtheft/ (pdf's) & Watch the video.

To Buy or Not To Buy: Identity Theft Spawns New Products and Services To Help Minimize Risk (PDF 229KB) just some.

http://www.idtheft.gov/

http://www.onguardonline.gov/games/id-theft-faceoff.aspx

http://www.ftc.gov/bcp/edu/microsites/idtheft/become-a-partner.html (PDF's & Download Windows Media)

* Low Resolution English - 320 x 240 (36 MB)
* High Resolution English - 640 x 480 (95.6 MB)

* Low Resolution Spanish - 320 x 240 (35.6 MB)
* High Resolution Spanish - 640 x 480 (94.5 MB)

drill it as well to be safe

I actually got rid of a HD a while ago and used a hammer. The deformed platters not concentric anymore should be fine I think. (hope, anyway)

Unfortunatly,this side of the pond,we're not allowed the tools to use the method that sounds the most fun.
Cutting torches sounds good though,molten metal spraying everywhere is nice and colourful.
My preferred method is undoubtably hammer and anvil,just like being back at work.....

betcha bullets, blowtorch *or* thermite would be pretty darned certain of removing all sensitive data quite permanently.

resale or reuse value of the drive would suffer, but secure, it should be.

using a torch for data erasure without proper safety gear and procedures can also be quite an adrenaline rush, too. Right exciting, oh, my, yes.

http://www.smh.com.au/technology/technology-news/hightech-criminals-outsmarting-the-law-20110308-1bltt.html

The new drives found in many of the latest desktop and laptop computers make it virtually impossible to recover files that criminals have deleted, which forensic experts say will cause serious issues when it comes to presenting evidence in court.

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2011/03/01/self_destructing_flash_drives/

Self-erasing flash drives destroy court evidence

http://www.techradar.com/news/computing-components/storage/solid-state-drives-all-you-need-to-know-641692?artc_pg=1

Solid state drives: all you need to know
In Depth: Don't waste cash on an SSD that doesn't live up to its hype

http://www.zdnet.com/blog/storage/ssd-security-the-worst-of-all-worlds/1326?tag=nl.e019

http://www.techrepublic.com/blog/five-tips/five-tips-for-securely-destroying-data/773?tag=nl.e101

When the time comes to dispose of data — securely and permanently — you need to use the right destruction methods.
Encrypting from the beginning
While this method isn’t purely destructive in nature, encrypting the contents of your storage as a routine practice can help you protect against prying eyes when it comes time to dispose of the media, particularly if you store the decryption key away from the media. The downside to this method is that it’s not 100% foolproof and can be subverted by someone who really wants the data. The upside is that the attacker needs physical access to the computer’s operating system.

http://gizmodo.com/?_escaped_fragment_=5489933/leave-no-trace-how-to-completely-erase-your-hard-drives-ssds-and-thumb-drives#!5489933/leave-no-trace-how-to-completely-erase-your-hard-drives-ssds-and-thumb-drives

Wiping Flash Memory Cards with Roadkil's DiskWipe

http://www.techrepublic.com/blog/security/the-security-limitations-of-solid-state-drives/5154

The security limitations of SSDs

If you'll pardon the pun, it's a blast. quite a few of them, in fact.

I used to use my AK variant and SKS as well, but the docs put a stop to that after my cervical fusions, the spoilsports.

That sounds like fun Goodgotd