RSA Tells Developers to Stop Using Encryption Algorithm Linked to NSA

Security vendor RSA has sent out a message to customers warning developers not to use one of its 
encryption algorithms. "To ensure a high level of assurance in their application, RSA strongly 
recommends that customers discontinue use of Dual EC DRBG and move to a different PRNG," 
stated the RSA advisory. "Technical guidance, including how to change the default PRNG in most 
libraries, is available in the most current product documentation."
Last week, The New York Times reported that the U.S. National Security Agency (NSA) inserted a 
backdoor into the Dual EC DRBG standard. Many academics and security experts have expressed 
concerns about this particular encryption algorithm in the past.
It isn't known how many commercial products or internally developed enterprise applications 
currently use the standard.
                                                                                                                             Quoted from DevX.

Dual_EC_DRBG means "Dual Elliptic Curve Deterministic Random Bit Generator" and is a
pseudorandom number generator that was designated by the NSA, supposedly it contains a backdoor
that would allow them to know the status of the number generator in any point in time.

Internal documents leaked by Edward Snowden suggested the existence of such backdoor in the
random number generator.

Five Finger Death Punch - Battle Born

Wikileaks Spy Files 3

Hey guys, I wasn't able to read all the documentation yet but in these documents you can see how
companies sell to governments, maybe other companies?, all your internet/phone traffic details.

Documentation is highly technical, who knows maybe I'll post something in plain English about this...
 
On Wednesday 4 September 2013 at 1600 UTC, WikiLeaks released 'Spy Files #3' – 249 documents
from 92 global intelligence contractors. These documents reveal how, as the intelligence world has
privatised, US, EU and developing world intelligence agencies have rushed into spending millions on
next-generation mass surveillance technology to target communities, groups and whole populations.

http://wikileaks.org/spyfiles3

Here is a nice Reuters coverage about this: http://rt.com/news/wikileaks-spy-files-release-402/

Bad things about the Baofeng UV5R

Hey guys

Probably you already found a ton of articles telling you how awesome the Baofeng UV5R is, today
I'm going to do something different, I'll tell you all the defects I found in it.

Don't get me wrong, I think it's an awesome radio, specially considering the bang for the buck factor,
and I would buy another one without doubt, but I didn't want to write just another UV5R article...

So, lets get down to business.

- The manual sucks. The manual is just a few pages long, doesn't give you much details about the unit
and doesn't explain clearly how to program it. Lucky for us there is a great website with a ton of
information about the UV5R, check it here: http://www.miklor.com/uv5r/

- There is no reception power indicator, the indicator is binary, you are receiving something or you
don't.

- You can't update the firmware. The microcontroller is an OTP (One Time Programmable). Once 
'flash' programmed at the factory, it cannot be changed.

- There is a known 'quirk' with the UV5R receiver. If a scanned channel has an R-CTCSS (PL) tone 
of 136.5 Hz or lower, the receiver will not stop on that channel. R-CTCSS (PL) tones of 146.2 and 
higher work fine.

- Scanning speed is really low, to scan 1 MHz at 5KHz steps it takes 59.65 seconds, while my Yaesu 
FT270 only takes 7.45 seconds. Test was performed scanning from 147 to 148 Mhz without finding 
any station during the scan.

- The charger input voltage is 10v, so you wouldn't be able to plug it directly to your car battery.

- Some people report a low mic volume, didn't happen to me, the solution is to carefully enlarge the 
mic hole.

- The Alarm function. Man, WTF is that crap? When you push a button named "Call" to the side of 
the unit, it will start emitting an alarm sound and turning on and off all the lights, and depending on 
the mode it is configured it will also start transmitting the alarm! You gotta see that for yourself, 
check it HERE. Biggest problem with that is that the button is in a position that is very easy to push 
by accident, in a tactical situation you are dead meat if that turns on. Also, there is no way to 
deactivate the function programmatically, so I think the solution is to open the unit and break that 
button, the problem is that you'll lose the FM radio if you do that.

- The flashlight, its very useful with the exception of the strobe mode that is totally useless, but the 
problem is that is turned on by pushing the MONI button, so the chances of turning it on by accident 
are really big, and in some situations that can ruin your day. Best solution, put some tape over the 
LED or when you open the radio to break the CALL button, also disconnect the LED. 

Number stations and other shortwave radio oddities

Hey guyz

I'm about to start the course to get my HAM license and started looking for "number stations".
No one really knows what number stations are, although I'm sure they are a way to transmit messages
to spies overseas, who else but a government could have stations with the power to transmit non stop
weird shit into the air since WWII?

If you are curious about this stuff you can check this site called Mystery Signals of the Short Wave
that's great for starters and for sure will get you hooked into the subject.

Then you can visit www.enigma2000.org.uk where you can continue your research, and enjoy an
awesome FAQ document.

Also I'd like to share with you this video, where you can see a collection of weird stuff there is or was
in the airwaves.

Enjoy

Various recordings of shortwave radio oddities, numbers and noise stations. These mysterious 
broadcasts are found on shortwave bands and they are - or appear to be - with no definite purpose. 
These signals are said to actively haunt the airwaves after World War II at beginning of the Cold War. 
With the collapse of the Soviet Union many expect these stations to disappear overtime but radio 
monitors indicate these signals continue to exist with new ones surfacing every now and then along 
with stations that have operated for 30 years.

So what are they? There are many speculations what these numbers stations are; theories point to 
covert government-sponsored broadcasts for spies abroad, illegal activities such as drug trafficking, 
for various scientific research and undisclosed military operations. However, to this day, no 
 organization, broadcaster or country ever admitted the use of these stations.

The Lacs - Keep It Redneck

Fuck yeah

Devil at the Door : A Lights Out Saga Short Film Review

A few years ago I wrote about an awesome book called "Lights Out" by David Crawford, if you ask
me is the best prepping fiction book I have read until today.

http://apx808.blogspot.com/2010/02/lights-out-by-halffast.html
http://apx808.blogspot.com/2010/12/lights-out-on-paper.html

Imagine my happiness when I found out that they planned to do a series of movies about the book
with the author directly involved in the project.

Well, today they published a short film called "Devil at the Door" just as a preview for the things to
come... And things to come are fucking depressing, see it for yourself.



Tactically this is a joke, both the attackers and the defense had no fucking clue what they were doing.

The defense should have used better defensive positions, being holed up in the ground and being
distributed in the area, not in a fucking line 30 cm apart from each other!!

It seems they don't know the difference between cover and concealment, wood pallets won't stop rifle
bullets, they won't stop even handgun bullets!

The attackers where playing around with their motorcycles while they where getting shot, and the
ones on foot didn't even use the trees as cover.

Fuck is so frustrating I have seen better tactics in Hollywood movies, people filming Lights out
supposedly are preppers they should know better...

The acting sucked so fucking bad I can't believe it and the FX are non existent.

Damn, I'm so disappointed...

EDIT: 
Travis Fox the Executive Producer of the project replied to some comments similar to mine with this:

In the movies themselves, we'll dig trenches, fortify fighting positions, have interlocking fields of
fire, etc. The barricade here was meant to deny movement more than provide cover (although there
were sandbags and items like a backhoe bucket). This was a two day film shoot intended to share the
concepts of the story on a very limited budget. Your points are very valid, though.

Sorry for not explaining this trailer better.  This wasn't cherry picking scenes - this is a short film that
captures the concept of the movie series. The movies have NOT started filming yet. We have no
movie footage to use, and this footage will not be used in the movies. This was a two day film project
intended to get your attention. We couldn't dig trenches and do a lot of things we WILL do in the
actual movies here.