https://www.pcmag.com/news/colorado...ge-verification-at-the-operating-system-level
Colorado Lawmakers Push for Age Verification at the Operating System Level
Rather than having people verify their age on every app they use, Colorado's SB26-051 would implement a way for devices to share an 'age-bracket' signal to third-party apps.

We already have a system, it's called, wait for it, a parent. Parents can already do that by SUPERVISING THEIR CHILDREN THEMSELVES.

 

https://www.macrumors.com/2026/02/26/nato-classified-data-iphone-ipad/
iPhone and iPad Are First Consumer Devices Cleared for NATO Classified Data
The iPhone and iPad can be used with NATO restricted level classified information after meeting NATO's information assurance requirements, Apple said today. No special software or settings are required.

Not really a classification in the US.

https://sgp.fas.org/library/ipshbook/Chap_10.html

a. DoD and contractor employees may have access to NATO classified information only when access is required in support of a U.S. or NATO program which requires such access (i.e., "need-to-know").

b. Access to NATO classified information requires a final DoD personnel clearance (except for RESTRICTED) at the equivalent level and a NATO briefing as described in section D., below. A security clearance is not required for access to NATO RESTRICTED information. (See also Section D, below.)

 

https://www.wyden.senate.gov/imo/media/doc/memo_-_tempest.pdf



Modern electronics, because of the demands of energy savings and/ for increased battery life have actually hardened our gear to TEMPEST attacks.

 

https://www.wyden.senate.gov/imo/media/doc/memo_-_tempest.pdf

View attachment 364322

Modern electronics, because of the demands of energy savings and/ for increased battery life have actually hardened our gear to TEMPEST attacks.

Yeah, but....

At the same time, detection methods and sensitivities have improved dramatically, as well.

One project that cadets at the Air Force Academy did while I was there (I think it was about a decade ago) was reconstruct the image on a monitor from an adjacent office by picking up the trace radiations from the HDMI cable.

 

Yeah, but....

At the same time, detection methods and sensitivities have improved dramatically, as well.

One project that cadets at the Air Force Academy did while I was there (I think it was about a decade ago) was reconstruct the image on a monitor from an adjacent office by picking up the trace radiations from the HDMI cable.

In the old days with 60mA current TTY loops you could detect across the street, so we used low-level bipolar voltage to reduce detection range by reducing field energy at the source before countermeasures.

Near field detections have improved but they don't defy the physics of EM field propagation.

 

In the old days with 60mA current TTY loops you could detect across the street, so we used low-level bipolar voltage to reduce detection range by reducing field energy at the source before countermeasures.

Near field detections have improved but they don't defy the physics of EM field propagation.

Things have gotten a lot harder for everyone. The defenders have to defend against far more capable attackers and the attackers have to engage against far more capable defenders. It's the never-ending back and forth of measures, counter-measures, counter-counter-measures, and so on.

 

Has anyone here ever read Cryptonomicon? ... best nerd book I've read in years.

 

Has anyone here ever read Cryptonomicon? ... best nerd book I've read in years.

I have it and was looking forward to reading it, but for some reason just couldn't get into it. I don't recall why not. Perhaps I should dig it out and give it another shot. I've had a very few books over the years that didn't catch on with me at first but, upon later reading (usually in desperation for something to read) actually found it quite to my liking.

 

Well, it's a big book. But you don't strike me as one who minds that sort of thing, at all.

 

Well, it's a big book. But you don't strike me as one who minds that sort of thing, at all.

Yep. Big books don't turn me off. I've read numerous sci-fi novels that have passed the 1000 page and a few that have topped 2000 pages (in a series of books with nearly twenty entries and counting).

I know that I've read, and enjoyed, at least of few of Stephenson's works.

Usually when a book that I looked forward to reading disappoints in the first few pages or chapters, it's because of one of two things. Either some over-the-top totally unbelievable action scene, or the total misrepresentation (often a cliched misrepresentation) of something that I actually know something about. I remember, years ago, starting to read a Tom Clancy book and in the opening chapter two guys get into a knife fight in a bar and it turns out that it is just their way of saying, "Hi" when they run into each other. It was apparently the author's way of showing how super capable and super macho these super cool secret operators were. Totally absurd. Leaving aside the idiocy that would be involved in such behavior, totally unbelievable that anyone involved in the covert community would ever draw attention to themselves like that in public! It put me off Tom Clancy completely, despite having thoroughly enjoyed many of his prior works. Even after I discovered that his later works were often written by other people writing in his universe and using his name as the supposed author (the real author only being disclosed in the front matter of the book). Even if I hadn't found this incredibly deceitful outright, the fact that he would authorize such pure garbage to be published under his name told me more than I needed to know about the quality of work to expect going forward.

In the case of Cryptonomicon, given that it has the Enigma machine as a central plot point, I suspect it might have been due to fanciful misrepresentations about either the machine or how it was broken, having worked on and analyzed them myself. But that was many years ago, so my recollections are not too clear. It might also have turned me off if it was repeating the time-worn cryptononsense tehcnobabble that so many stories fall into that expose fundamental misunderstandings of things like what a one-time pad is and is not, or using overused and meaningless buzz phrases like "military-grade encryption".

 

Cash is key for economic privacy. But also for untraceable monetary crimes ... it's a complicated, delicate subject:

Swiss vote places right to use cash in country’s constitution


​

The vote means Switzerland will join the likes of Hungary, Slovakia and Slovenia, which have already written the right to cold, hard cash in their constitutions. Austrian politicians are also debating whether to follow suit, as people's payment habits become increasingly digital — especially since the pandemic.

 

Cash is key for economic privacy. But also for untraceable monetary crimes ... it's a complicated, delicate subject:

Swiss vote places right to use cash in country’s constitution
View attachment 364399
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The article doesn't say what the change actually does. For instance, does it require that all businesses and individuals accept cash as payment for everything? Or can businesses still operate on a cashless model?

 

The article doesn't say what the change actually does. For instance, does it require that all businesses and individuals accept cash as payment for everything? Or can businesses still operate on a cashless model?

And it also doesn't mention if there's a limit in cash deposits, or transactions ... I'm going to try and dig deeper

 

SW radio s the failsafe when all else fails.
https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.rf...station-persian-signal-iran-war/33700659.html

"The number keys that are used are perfectly random. There are no mathematical operations you can use on them to brute force them," he said. "And even if the answer gets out, say in proper English, it's not necessarily understandable."

https://theiceman.substack.com/p/a-new-spy-radio-signal-has-appeared

Iran is jamming it, we are talking (or pretending to talk) to our people inside Iran.

 

SW radio s the failsafe when all else fails.
https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.rf...station-persian-signal-iran-war/33700659.html

"The number keys that are used are perfectly random. There are no mathematical operations you can use on them to brute force them," he said. "And even if the answer gets out, say in proper English, it's not necessarily understandable."

https://theiceman.substack.com/p/a-new-spy-radio-signal-has-appeared

Iran is jamming it, we are talking (or pretending to talk) to our people inside Iran.

A number of possibilities. The U.S. might or might not be one of the parties involved. It could be the Kurds, or other dissident group, transmitting and Iran jamming, for instance. It could be Iran activating sleeper cells around the world. Or wanting us to think that they might be activating sleeper cells around the world. It might be complete misdirection by whomever is broadcasting to divert resources away from efforts to find their actual means of communication. Whatever is going on, it is interesting none-the-less.

 

Very unlikely to used (or to trick us to think it's) for activating Iran sleeper cells around the world. The startup timing, locations of the transmitter outside of Iran and the fact it's being jammed by a known Iranian (located in Iran) jamming signal say that's IMO social media BS.

 

https://www.nbcnews.com/investigations/north-korea-it-worker-scheme-nisos-fbi-rcna245025
'We've got a live one.'
He was a perfect hire — until a U.S. company exposed him as a likely North Korean operative.

For the past decade, North Korea has engaged in a wide-ranging effort to place remote workers at U.S. companies in order to funnel money back to its coffers and, in some cases, steal sensitive information. Those workers’ salaries are used in part to evade sanctions and fund the communist regime’s illicit programs, including its weapons of mass destruction and ballistic missile efforts, according to U.S. government agencies. Last year, the FBI announced the schemes were becoming “increasingly malicious” and the Department of Justice declared the issue a “code red.”
...
Over a roughly three-month investigation, Nisos uncovered an apparent network of at least 20 North Korean operatives including Jo who had collectively applied to at least 160,000 roles. During that time, workers in the network — which some evidence showed were based in China — were employed by five U.S.-based companies and allegedly helped by an American citizen operating out of two nondescript suburban homes in Florida.

Monitoring the team’s communications nearly 24/7 through its laptop, Nisos gained insights into what its analysts say was likely a Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK) IT team, including how it functioned and how its members communicated with each other. Nisos gathered that the workers were likely based in China and used only each other as references in their job applications. And like many tight-knit workplaces, the team seemed to enjoy a collegial atmosphere. Jo and his colleagues exchanged Minion-themed GIFs and chatted, often in English, about getting drinks together, smoking cigarettes and playing the online game skribbl.io together.

“We could see the coordination. We could see the facilitators. We could see the hierarchy of their cell,” Hudson said. “It was the most insightful look inside an active DPRK employment fraud cell that I know of honestly.”

 

Officer reportedly leaks location of French aircraft carrier with Strava run

​

French news outlet Le Monde first reported the officer, referred to as Arthur, logged a 35-minute run on the app while exercising on the deck of aircraft carrier Charles de Gaulle on 13 March.

He used a smartwatch to record his run and upload the activity to the app, the paper said, creating a map that showed his location.

 

Officer reportedly leaks location of French aircraft carrier with Strava run
View attachment 364928​

Not the first time, but it's far less excusable today than it used to be. I don't know what French regulations say or how well it's military members are educated on the security risks, but U.S. has very strict regulations regulations about this. In operational environments, they are simply prohibited unless specifically approved, on a case-by-case basis, when mission needs (which does NOT include personal fitness) justify it.

I've never understood this desire and obsession to share everything with the world. Where you run, what you eat, how your last bowel movement was. It's insane.