computer security

Tartan Metrics, the firm that targets protesters’ affiliations: we target theirs

Mathematical modelers are out to target protesters, specifically anarchists and members of Occupy, and have put together an algorithm for working out the various affiliations of anarchists. It goes under a programme heading, Tartan, and is operated by a front company called Tartan Metrics. Details of the programme can be found here (thanks to a very intrepid – no pun intended – investigative researcher) with a fancy-looking marketing flyer found here.

So, how does Tartan work? Basically, Tartan Metrics uses data mined from the deep web and social networking sites (the same techniques that Darker Net uses in its research). In particular, it compiles ranks of influence within human networks by key voices within populations; interlocutors, messengers, and others with key access; hidden or missing relationships; the use of aliases; and emerging leaders and new key informers. More details here.

And who is behind Tartan Metrics? Yes, you guessed it: Ntrepid, which also took on some of the staff who set up Anonymizer for Abraxas Corporation (the email system that used to be used by activists all over the world but now is largely worthless) and also runs a programme using ‘sock puppet‘ technology (that basically creates fake accounts – e.g. Twitter – to put out disinformation or US propaganda). And Tartan could well presage something much bigger, especially as the expertise at Ntrepid is no doubt shared with TrapWire and Cubic (see affiliations below).

Previous Darker Net postings demonstrated that although, technically, there is no financial ownership of Ntrepid by Cubic Corporation (defense systems, transport smart cards, etc) there are people linked to both companies at senior level and with the consequent exchange of expertise. Further evidence of the affiliations that connect Cubic Corporation, via Abraxas Dauntless (a subsidiary of Abraxas Corporation, which Cubic Corporation owns) with Ntrepid, as well as TrapWire, which runs surveillance systems, has emerged and this is given below.

Note: more details of the affiliations that connect these companies will be published in due course. To paraphrase Tartan Metrics’ sales pitch, the Darker Net model identifies the hidden relationships among organizers of seemingly unrelated companies, exposing affiliations that allow these businesses to hijack the resources of people everywhere and push their own agenda.

Ntrepid, Cubic Corporation (via its subsidiary, Abraxas Dauntless) and Trapwire: the affiliations:

Here is the business entity listing for Trapwire with the Commonwealth of Virginia.Here you can download the Corporate Charter Approval for Ntrepid, showing a signature by Richard Hollis Helms, 25/10/2010. (Helms – on the left in the photo above – is basically the lynch pin – or node, to borrow a term from Tartan, who runs all these operations.) Details of the officers and directors of Ntrepid (dated 15 Feb 2012) as filed with State of Arizona Corporation Commission are also given below (note the similarity with officers listed with Abraxas Dauntless, Ntrepid and TrapWire.) (See also old promo video of TrapWire by Abraxas Corporation.)

Posted from the darker net via Android.

Cubic Corporation: more evidence of TrapWire link; their darker side exposed

Cubic Corporation denies via a press release (and a comment posted on the Darker Net site) that it owns TrapWire, but there is another layer to this that exposes how this denial does not completely add up – details below. Also, Cubic, which runs your transportation smart card – and it has just put in a new bid for the Melbourne Myki card contract – has its darker side and we provide four examples. First, about that denial…

A. Cubic Corporation and TrapWire: a case of musical chairs?

When Cubic Corporation acquired Abraxas Corporation, there were some interesting changes made – see Merger document here. The document refers to Ntrepid, which was assigned to the shareholders of Abraxas Corporation as part of the merger. And then there is Abraxas Dauntless, which was acquired by Cubic, also as part of the merger (in that it is a subsidiary of Abraxas Corporation). Basically the document outlines how Cubic Corporation was keen to distance itself from some of these companies. However, if one looks at the senior staff at Abraxas Dauntless, Ntrepid and Trapwire (now run by Abraxas Applications) an interesting picture emerges.

Annual reports filed only six months back showed that the directors for these three companies are as follows:
Abraxas Dauntless’: Michael Martinka (President), Margaret A. Lee (Secretary), Richard H. Helms (Chief Executive Officer) and Wesley Husted (Chief Financial Officer).
Ntrepid: Richard H. Helms (Director), Wesley R Husted (CFO), Margaret A. Lee (Secretary), Michael Martinka (President).
Trapwire Inc: Jack Reis (President), R. Daniel Botsch (Vice President), Margaret A. Lee (Secretary), Wesley R. Husted (Chief Financial Officer) and Richard H. Helms (Chief Executive Officer).

The lesson: ownership can also be about knowledge-sharing and collaboration and that is what is obvious here, whatever sleight of hand took place at the time of acquisition.

Note 1: All stories about Cubic Corporation and/or TrapWire have been removed from Australian newspapers. Is this an example of jumping before you’re pushed, lazy journalism (corporate connections are not only about acquisitions) or Government putting the frighteners on the newspaper proprietors who like their counterparts in the USA of late, can be a timid lot when it comes to criticising Government.
Note 2: It is rumoured that activists are intending to turn the tables on Cubic Corporation and register for millions of Anonymizer nyms (emails) to block the nyms system up – the equivalent of a DDoS.

B. The darker side of Cubic.

Here are four examples of military systems developed by Cubic Corporation, with some going back as far as 2004. (There are more examples – too many to list here).

1. Recently DARPA (part of the Pentagon) awarded Cubic Corporation $6 million to develop a “laser-emitting targeting computer” for American military snipers. It’s called ‘One Shot XG’ (see photo above) “that will allow the sniper to make kill shots “under crosswind conditions, at the maximum effective range of current and future weapons.”
2. In 2004, Cubic Corporation were granted a $6.5 million subcontract from General Dynamics Amphibious Systems to develop and produce a Driver Simulator and a Turret Simulator for the Marine Corps new Expeditionary Fighting Vehicle (EFV).
3. Cubic Corporation were also awarded another $6 million contract from Raytheon/Lockheed Martin Javelin Joint Venture to produce tactical trainers for RLM’s shoulder launched, “fire-and-forget” anti-tank missile.
4. Cubic are also building the Surveillance Target Attack Radar System (STARS), an air/ground data link system for the US military.
5. Two days ago Cubic Corporation put out a press release denying any link with TrapWire, which we now know is questionable (if we go by their directors listings). Well here’s another Cubic Corp press release (from May 2010):

ORLANDO, Florida – May 17, 2010 – Cubic’s Simulation Systems Division, a defense systems unit of Cubic Corporation (NYSE: CUB), has been awarded a contract valued at approximately $4.8 million to supply 27 of its COMBATREDI systems to the Florida Army National Guard, along with four 180-degree Warrior Skills Trainers (WST), a vehicle trainer that works with COMBATREDI. The award represents Cubic’s first sale of the new COMBATREDI system, which immerses users in a highly realistic 360-degree “virtual reality” environment. COMBATREDI is a new approach for Cubic, its first completely tetherless, user-worn virtual training system. It features a high-definition helmet-mounted OLED video display that delivers game-quality graphics with a 60-by-45-degree field of view, and an integrated 3D stereo headset for sound effects. Trainees are able to move through a 360-degree virtual environment, including entering buildings, as if it were real. The user carries a realistic wireless “surrogate” rifle that performs like a real one, requiring things like magazine changes and selecting the correct firing mode to operate correctly. Cubic introduced the new system to potential military users late last year. “Cubic is pleased that it hasn’t taken long for the groundbreaking characteristics of COMBATREDI to be recognized by the user community,” said Tony Padgett, Immersive Product Line Manager for Cubic Simulation Systems in Orlando. “COMBATREDI fully immerses trainees into the virtual environment. This is a whole new way to train the dismounted soldier.” Padgett said COMBATREDI allows individual soldiers to be trained almost anywhere, incorporating virtually limitless scenarios without the need for dedicated facilities. The WST system also being delivered to the Florida Army National Guard projects realistic high-fidelity scenes on large screens using the Virtual Battle Space 2 (VBS2) engine. This system is in use in multiple U.S. Army locations.

So, next time you use a transport system with your Cubic-managed smart card, whether in London, San Francisco, Sydney or Hong Kong, you may be inadvertently contributing to a war effort that uses Cubic Corporation developed military systems. Have a nice day.

Note: for more on One Shot XG, see http://nextbigfuture.com/2012/08/darpa-one-shot-xg-sniper-system-should.html

TrapWire and Stratfor are business partners – documentary evidence

Stratfor, the private Intelligence-gathering company whose emails were hacked by Anonymous then published by Wikileaks, didn’t just comment on TrapWire via its emails: in August 2009 it joined with the TrapWire project via a partnership deal with Abraxas Applications. And here is the document to prove it. The deal explicitly states that Stratfor will supply intelligence directly into TrapWire on an ongoing basis. To see detailed analyses of Stratfor’s business relationship with TrapWire (and the consequent conflict of interest) click here and here.

So there you have it. Another piece in the jigsaw. This story gets bigger and bigger…

In Australia, Greens Senator, Scott Ludlam, tried to ask a question in the Senate about whether TrapWire was deployed in Australia. He was not allowed to (the Senate voted not to answer questions on this matter). Senator Ludlam’s office later issued a statement explaining that the Senator will be pursuing the matter via other channels of inquiry.

Also, a representative of Cubic Corporation has posted a comment on the Darker Net article, saying “SAN DIEGO, Calif. – August 13, 2012 – Cubic Corporation (NYSE: CUB) acquired Abraxas Corporation on December 20, 2010. Abraxas Corporation then and now has no affiliation with Abraxas Applications now known as TrapWire, Inc.”

Some background explanation is needed…

Today, TrapWire software is owned by TrapWire Inc., a Reston, VA company. But it wasn’t always. Abraxas Corporation created TrapWire under its subsidiary firm, Abraxas Applications Inc.. Abraxas Corporation trademarked the TrapWire software in a filing with the U.S. PTO in 2006. Abraxas Corporation is now owned by Cubic Corporation, which bought the firm in November 2010 for $124 million in cash. According to one report, Cubic acquired Abraxas Corporation after TrapWire was reorganised as a separate entity and that one of the terms of this acquisition was to “cause the corporate name of Abraxas Applications, Inc. to be changed to a name that does not include ‘Abraxas’ or any variation thereof.” Also, according to a March 2007 article in the Washington Business Journal “Abraxas Corp., a risk-mitigation technology company, has spun out a software business to focus on selling a new product. The spinoff – called Abraxas Applications – will sell TrapWire, which predicts attacks on critical infrastructure by analyzing security reports and video surveillance”. And the article continues: “Abraxas Corp. previously won contracts to test TrapWire…”

Further insight is provided by Public Intelligence (renowned for its accuracy): “A proprietary white paper produced by TrapWire, formerly called Abraxas Applications, describes the product as “a unique, predictive software system designed to detect patterns of pre-attack surveillance.” In an interview from 2005 with the Northern Virginia Technology Council, the CEO of Abraxas Corporation, Richard “Hollis” Helms, says the goal of TrapWire is to “collect information about people and vehicles that is more accurate than facial recognition, draw patterns, and do threat assessments of areas that may be under observation from terrorists… The new company [Abraxas Applications] also can tap into Abraxas’ [Corporation] work with defense and intelligence agencies and the connections of Abraxas founder and CEO Richard Hollis Helms, who owns both companies.”

So can Cubic Corporation legitimately claim not to own Abraxas Applications (which runs TrapWire)? Yes, if we go by purchase dates. Though it’s also common practice for a company when acquiring another to relinquish one part that might cause embarrassment so that on paper there is no longer any connection even though some of the personnel between those companies are swapped around. Also, we should not lose sight of the range of services Cubic Corporation does admit to – these are mostly defence systems and military training – as well as transport smart systems and even interests in credit card management. A bizarre mix that in itself should be of concern. Then there’s Ntrepid, a shadowy organisation that “provides national security and law enforcement customers with software, hardware, and managed services for cyber operations, analytics, linguistics, tagging and [online] tracking”. Ntrepid’s corporate registry lists Abraxas’ previous CEO and founder, Richard Helms, as a director and officer, along with Wesley Husted, the former CFO. Moreover, some of the top people at Anonymizer, who later moved to Abraxas, initially left Cubic to start another intelligence firm but are now listed as organisational leaders for Ntrepid. All very circular…

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TrapWire: the Barclays connection; UK & Aussie army training; questions asked of UK PM, Aussie Senate…

Within hours of the story breaking about TrapWire, the British Prime Minister and the Metropolitan Police were asked to investigate, while in Australia a question was raised in the Senate. The UK Daily Mail covered the story and Cubic has issued a denial. Cubic runs transportation smart cards in cities around the world and also owns Anonymizer. Now we learn that Cubic organised a deal with Barclays to run their credit cards. Cubic also provides defence systems to the US, British and Australian military (above video is Aussie forces training by Cubic). And all this in the week the new Bourne (Treadstone?) movie is released. All the details below…

Cubic Corporation is the parent company of three major business segments: Defense Systems, Mission Support Services and Transportation Systems. Cubic Defense Systems is a leading provider of realistic combat training systems, cyber technologies, asset tracking solutions, and defense electronics. Mission Support Services is a leading provider of training, operations, maintenance, technical and other support services. Cubic Transportation Systems is the world’s leading provider of automated fare collection systems and services for public transit authorities.

1. Cubic and Barclays

In 2007 Cubic brokered a deal with UK bank, Barclays to produce a joint Oyster card/Barclay card. In was intended that the contact interface for the card would manage Barclaycard payments while the contactless interface would have two separate and distinct functions: Oyster for transit, and a low value, contactless payment capability. Steve Shewmaker, managing director of Cubic Transportation System, Ltd. said: “The deal with Barclays, which unlocks the value of the brand, is unique in the transportation world and will benefit not only TranSys but TfL and Barclays as well.” (Then) Mayor of London, Ken Livingstone said: “Oyster has been a great success making journeys across London, cheaper, easier and quicker, but we want to make Oyster even more convenient. This new deal will mean that from next year people can buy low cost items and take advantage of Oyster fares on the same card, reducing the need to carry cash.”

2. Cubic and defence systems

Cubic Corporation is the parent of two major segments: transportation and defense. Cubic Transportation Systems is the world’s leading full-service systems provider of automated fare collection systems for public transport including bus, bus rapid transit, light rail, commuter rail, heavy rail, ferry and parking. Every year, nearly 10 billion rides are taken worldwide using Cubic fare collection systems. Cubic Transportation Systems has delivered over 400 automated fare collection projects in 40 major markets on five continents, and offers security solutions developed specifically for public transportation infrastructure. The Cubic Defense Applications group is a world leader in realistic combat training systems, mission support services and defense electronics. In November 2010 Cubic Defense Applications was awarded a follow-on contract worth more than $30 million for support work at two British Army training areas in Canada and England. The three-year contract was for maintenance and operation of Area Weapons Effects Simulator (AWES) systems at the British Army Training Unit Suffield (BATUS), in the Canadian province of Alberta, and at the Defence Training Estate Salisbury Plain (DTE SP), in the county of Wiltshire in southern England. About 30 Cubic employees work in support roles at each location. The contract was awarded to Cubic as part of an urgent operational requirement to enhance troop readiness and predeployment training to support ongoing operations in Afghanistan. “The British Army is one of our largest long-term and most important customers,” said Bradley H. Feldmann, President of Cubic Defense Applications. “We are fully committed to deliver these new capabilities on an accelerated basis to satisfy this urgent requirement.”

3. The political fallout

The Australian Greens Senator, Scott Ludlam will move a motion this Wednesday calling on the Australian Government to reveal all it knows about the operation of the TrapWire surveillance system: “We call on the Government to confirm whether the TrapWire system is deployed anywhere in Australia; if Australian agencies have used information provided by foreign agencies using TrapWire; and if the Government has held discussions about acquiring TrapWire for use here.”

In the UK, the Daily Mail reported on TrapWire clients include Scotland Yard, #10 Downing, the White House and many businesses. The British Prime Minister, David Cameron, has been queried about TrapWire. He has asked the Metropolitan Police to investigate.

Statements from Anonymous (hactivists): “destroy the servers” where the AI “electronic brain” of the program is housed. This ‘monster’ doesn’t just have eyes that need gouging out – it also has ‘ears.’ TrapWire constantly monitors social media. In a strange twist of fate, the company that developed TrapWire also works on something called ‘sock-puppet’ programs. “These are projects designed to create thousands of fake personas on social media. We will turn this idea and software against them, creating thousands of phony accounts and use them to produce a deluge of false triggers for the TrapWire program – essentially drowning it in ‘white noise”. 


Cubic has issued a press release denying it has or had any involvement with TrapWire.

Posted from the darker net via Android.

Breaking: Trapwire surveillance linked to Anonymizer and transport smart cards

Anonymizer, the company that brings you free anonymous email facilities, called nyms, as well as similar secure services used by activists all over the world, is owned by Ntrepid but some of it’s staff expertise moved to Abraxas Corporation (when purchased by Cubic Corporation). Abraxas used to own TrapWire, the global surveillance system. This could be lifted straight out of a political conspiracy movie – but it isn’t. Furthermore, Cubic Corporation runs transport smart cards around the world, including USA, Australia and London (Oyster card).

The above info has actually been available for some time, but it is only thanks to the information about Trapwire and Abraxas, hacked from Stratfor files by Anonymous and published by Wikileaks, that the full picture is starting to emerge.

1. Anonymizer

Re. Anonymizer, this was acquired by Abraxas Corporation in 2008. Two years later, Cubic acquired Abraxas for $124 million in cash. Cubic internal communications explain that the RFI for Cubic’s ‘persona software’ was actually written for Anonymizer. Quote from Richard “Hollis” Helms (former CIA and then founder of Abraxas): “I am also pleased to announce that Lance Cottrell, the Founder and Chief Technology Officer of Anonymizer, will become our Chief Scientist and continue to pursue his advocacy of privacy for people around the world. Bill Unrue, Anonymizer’s CEO, will assume the position of President of Anonymizer which will operate as a wholly owned subsidiary of Abraxas Corporation. Bill will continue to pursue Anonymizer’s goals to provide proprietary technologies and complementary capabilities that offer unique, multi-layered identity protection that enhances the traditional network perimeter defenses of consumers, corporations and government agencies.”

2. Transportation smart cards

A. Australia:
In 2010 Cubic Corporation signed a $370 million contract with the NSW Government to provide Sydney’s electronic ticketing system for public transport. It was also awarded a $65 million contract to provide services to NSW’s CityRail. It also runs the Brisbane “go card” system. It operates in Australia as Cubic Transportation with offices in Sydney, Brisbane and Perth. In 2008 it also opened a defence subsidiary based in Queensland, Cubic Defence Australia, run by Mark Horn.

B. UK
Cubic designed, developed and installed the Oyster Card system for London’s Underground and buses.

C. Other
In 1972, Cubic acquired the first Automatic Fare Collection (AFC) system for Chicago’s Illinois Central Gulf Railroad. By the late 1970s, Cubic had installed AFC systems for the Hong Kong Mass Transit Railway Corporation and the Eastern Suburbs Railway in Sydney. Soon came the Bay Area Rapid Transit (BART) system in San Francisco, the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority and the Pennsylvania Port Authority Transit Company AFC system.

Cubic Corporations offices:
WASHINGTON, D.C. Crystal Gateway One, Suite 1102 1235 Jefferson Davis Hwy. Arlington, VA 22202 703-415-1600 703-415-1608 Fax
ORLANDO, FL 12000 Research Parkway Suite 408 Orlando, FL 32826 407-273-5500 407-275-0200 Fax
SHALIMAR, FL 60 Second St., Suite 105 Shalimar, FL 32579 850-609-1600 850-609-0100 Fax
LONDON Derwent House Kendal Avenue Park Royal London W3 OXA UK

Cubic Corporation Board of Directors:
Walter J. Zable: Chairman; Walter C. Zable: Vice- Chairman; Robert D. Weaver: Director; Robert S. Sullivan: Director; Richard Atkinson: Director; Raymond E. Peet: Director; Robert T. Monagan: Director; Raymond L. DeKozan: Director; Gerald R. Dinkel: Vice-Presiden;t Mark A. Harrison: Vice-President; Daniel A. Jacobsen: Vice-President; Kenneth Kopf: Vice-President; Bernard A. Kulchin: Vice-President; John A. Minteer: Vice-President; John D. Thomas: Vice-President; Richard A. Johnson: Corporate Executive; William L. Hoese: Secretary; William W. Boyle: Chief Financial Officer.

Cubic Corporation IP addresses (via Anonymous):

208.86.144.37 ca.trapwire.net
208.86.144.37 access.trapwire.net
208.86.144.37 demo.trapwire.net
208.86.145.176 cert.trapwire.net
208.86.144.37 lv.trapwire.net
208.86.144.40 smtp.trapwire.net
208.86.144.37 training.trapwire.net
208.86.144.37 west.trapwire.net
208.86.144.37 http://www.trapwire.net

See also:
http://wiki.echelon2.org/wiki/Cubic_Corporation
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2187602/U-S-Government-secretly-spying-using-civilian-security-cameras-say-Wikileaks.html?ito=feeds-newsxml
http://darkernet.wordpress.com/2012/08/11/abraxas-and-trapwire-the-technology-and-personnel-revealed/
http://www.theage.com.au/technology/technology-news/revealed-trapwire-spy-cams-ticket-to-australia-20120813-2448z.html

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Abraxas and Trapwire: the technology and personnel revealed

TrapWire is a secret global surveillance system, founded in 2004 and run by ex-CIA chiefs, with clients all over the world. It’s significance is that it is being used for all sorts of surveillance, including everyday protests. The existence of TrapWire was only made known a few days ago, thanks to documents published by Wikileaks (and hacking of Stratfor docs by Anonymous). It is now believed that the recent cyber attacks on the Wikileaks sites were in retaliation for the exposure of Trapwire, which is both a product and a company (previously a subsidiary of Abraxas Corporation). Here, Darker Net provides a) an introduction to the TrapWire technology, b) details of how that technology works and c) the people who run TrapWire AND Abraxas. Oh, and then there’s the mysterious green and blue badgers (!!!) – see below…

For hackers, here is the TrapWire operating console.

A. Introduction

According to Richard Hollis Helms, ex-CIA and founder of Abraxas in 2001, TrapWire was designed to share threat information and establish patterns of data that could be used to predict attacks. “It can collect information about people and vehicles that is more accurate than facial recognition, draw patterns, and do threat assessments of areas that may be under observation from terrorists,” he said. “The application can do things like ‘type’ individuals so if people say ‘medium build,’ you know exactly what that means from that observer.”

A leaked email from Fred Burton, Stratfor’s vice president for intelligence, states that the TrapWire network is now covering most North American and British high-value targets (HVT.) “I knew these hacks when they were GS-12′s at the CIA. God Bless America. Now they have EVERY major HVT in CONUS, the UK, Canada, Vegas, Los Angeles, NYC as clients,” he wrote.

“….tell me that more than 50 percent of the National Clandestine Service (NCS) — the heart, brains and soul of the CIA – has been outsourced to private firms such as Abraxas , Booz Allen Hamilton, Lockheed Martin and Raytheon. “These firms recruit spies, create non-official cover identities and control the movements of CIA case officers. They also provide case officers and watch officers at crisis centers and regional desk officers who control clandestine operations worldwide. As the Los Angeles Times first reported, more than half the workforce in two key CIA stations in the fight against terrorism – Baghdad and Islamabad, Pakistan – is made up of industrial contractors, or ‘green badgers,’ in CIA parlance. “Intelligence insiders say that entire branches of the NCS have been outsourced to private industry. These branches are still managed by U.S. government employees (‘blue badgers’) who are accountable to the agency’s chain of command. But beneath them, insiders say, is a supervisory structure that’s controlled entirely by contractors; in some cases, green badgers are managing green badgers from other corporations.” R.J. Hillhouse, July 8, 2007, Washington Post.

TrapWire is also linked to the National Suspicious Activity Reporting (NSI) Initiative, a program designed to help aggregate reports of suspicious activity around the USA. One email from TrapWire states “TrapWire SAR reports are fed directly/automatically into the National SAR Initiative” as well as “the FBI’s eGuardian system if/when there’s confirmed nexus to terrorism or major crimes (which is happening frequently).” The email goes on “our networks in LA, Vegas and DC all support See Something Say Something (S4 as I call it).” Further, Over the past few years, several cities around the U.S. have implemented websites allowing the public to report suspicious activity, including Washington D.C., Houston and even the U.S. Army. These activities are part of a larger program called iWatch, which also feeds into TrapWire according to a leaked email.

A copy of the TrapWire brochure can be downloaded here. A white paper on TrapWire can be downloaded here.

B. The TrapWire technology

The prevention of terrorist attacks on critical infrastructure requires the ability to detect various discreet but identifiable indicators of pre-attack preparations. Only by uncovering such attack preparations can we take actions designed to deter or intercept a terrorist strike before it begins. While international terrorist organizations are using increasingly sophisticated methods, their modus operandi does contain a critical vulnerability: meticulous pre-attack preparations require the terrorists to approach a target facility on multiple occasions to identify physical and procedural vulnerabilities, probe for weaknesses and conduct practice missions. For example, the terrorists planning the Khobar Towers attack in Saudi Arabia reportedly surveilled the facility on 40 occasions. Terrorists will typically surveil multiple facilities prior to selecting an appropriately vulnerable target. Therefore, as the number of facilities on the Trap Wire network increases, so does the probability of detecting pre-attack preparations. Trap Wire is specifically designed to exploit this vulnerability by combining deep counterterrorism experience, proven counter-surveillance techniques, unique sensor systems, and data mining capabilities to detect attack preparations and allow security personnel to deter or intercept terrorist operations.

TrapWire dramatically increases the ability to detect pre-attack preparations and to take appropriate action to detect, deter and intercept terrorist attacks. A visual monitor of the entire system-a map with dynamic status indicators for each entity connected to the Trap Wire network- facilitates the ability of decision makers to absorb vast quantities of information quickly and efficiently. The dynamic status indicators show the threat level at each facility and highlight those that have moved to a higher threat level over the preceding 24 hours. Security officials can thus focus on the highest priorities first, taking a proactive and collaborative approach to defense against attacks. The information collected by Trap Wire can also be shared with law enforcement agencies to assist in their counterterrorism efforts.

The basic premise behind the TrapWire system is as follows: Through the systematic reporting of suspicious events and the correlation of those events with other event reports for that facility and for related facilities across the network, terrorist surveillance operations can be identified, appropriate countermeasures can be employed to deter attacks, and steps can be taken to apprehend the perpetrators. The TrapWire system provides the following capabilities:

• A mechanism for a facility’s personnel to record suspicious activity data in a structured format;
• A mechanism to identify and link related events following human review;
• The ability for a facility’s Chief Security Officer (CSO) to identify threat trends at his/her facility (increasing or decreasing) and to drill down into the specific event reports that generated those threats;
• Alerts to the CSO of events that do not affect the threat score but may nevertheless be of interest;
• The ability to notify a facility of a changing threat level within its industry or geographical location;
• A mechanism to correlate external events such as watch list events for suspected terrorists or stolen vehicles with other observed event data already within the system;
• The ability to correlate events occurring at different facilities by related individuals, and to notify all affected facilities of the increased threat to their facility based on this related activity;
• A mechanism to reduce the system-calculated threat level at a facility, based upon the time since the last threatening event; and
• Notifications, alerts, and possible action recommendations based on a particular site’s security plan, implemented via a set of rules that act upon event information.

For more see http://www.trapwire.com/trapwire.html

C. Current Abraxas and Trapwire management

1. Trapwire

Dan Botsch is one of the founders of the project. He was with the CIA for more than a decade, working on Russian and Eastern European affairs.
Michael Maness is Trapwire’s business development director. He was with the CIA for two decades, working on counterterrorism and security operations in the Middle-East, the Balkans and Europe.
Michael K. Chang, is TrapWire’s director of operations. He was with the CIA for around 12 years, also on counterterrorism and a close friend of Helms.

2. Abraxas Corporation

Rodney G. Smith, President
Smith leads the sales and business development activities of Abraxas. Drawing on a distinguished career leading highly specialized organizations to remarkable success, Smith has for more than four years brought that same success and mission focus to Abraxas where he drives revenue and earnings opportunities across each of the Abraxas products and services. A former local and federal prosecutor and criminal justice policy advisor during the Reagan Administration, Smith capped a remarkable career in the National Security community where he last led two operational divisions. Smith holds a Bachelor’s degree cum laude from Dartmouth College and a Juris Doctor from Boston University. He is a combat veteran of the United States Marine Corps.

Katherine M. Green, Senior Vice President
Green brings more than 27 years of operational and leadership experience in the National Security community to Abraxas Corporation. Her experience ranges from niche operational efforts to service as the Executive Director for one of the National Security community’s largest issue-based Centers. With extensive experience in operations and resource management, Green brings in-depth understanding of how to effectively leverage and mesh the two disciplines. Green holds a Bachelor of Arts degree from Oklahoma State University in Stillwater.

Basil “Bill” Trikas, Vice President Technical Services
Trikas has 34 years intelligence community experience and knowledge of technical systems, operational tradecraft, deployment methodologies, and integrated learning solutions. He brings to Abraxas extensive experience leading technical, operational, and analytical organizations in support of the global intelligence community. Trikas served in critical roles shaping the strategic intelligence workforce directing recruiting and diversity outreach, learning and employee development, leadership development, language training, and historical studies. Trikas holds a degree in Electronic Engineering Technology. He is also a graduate of the Intelligence Community Senior Leadership Program, the Intelligence Community Senior Intelligence Fellows Program, and the Harvard Senior Managers in Government program.

Matthew Broderick, Vice President Defense and Homeland Security
Broderick brings extensive operational and leadership experience to Abraxas leveraging three years as the DHS Director of Operations, a career in the US Marine Corps at every level of troop command, earning the rank of Brigadier General, and significant private sector experience responsible for 1100 employees generating in excess of $100M net sales and marketing revenue. Mr. Broderick is a graduate of Marine Corps Amphibious Warfare School, the Armed Forces Staff College, the Naval War College and Worcester State College.

John Etgen, Vice President Maryland Operations
Etgen has over 25 years of national security service in the industry, government, and the military. He is an accomplished leader in business execution and astutely skilled in strategic planning, opportunity identification, capture management, and program execution. Prior to joining Abraxas Corporation, Etgen was a Department Manager at Applied Signal Technology and Director for Business Development for the Titan Corporation. Prior to entering private industry, Mr. Etgen served in a number of technical and management positions at the National Security Agency. Etgen began his career in 1982 enlisting in the United States Air Force as a Morse Systems technician and proudly serving until 1989. He has a Bachelors of Science degree from University Maryland and is a certified Program Manager.

Barry McManus, Vice President Training and Education
McManus served 26 years in the intelligence community as a leading expert in deception detection, behavioral assessment, interviewing, and interrogations. He served for more than 10 years as a CIA Chief Polygraph examiner and interrogator, working against terrorists, hostile intelligence services, and other high threat targets. He has conducted extensive research on the uses of the polygraph and developed sophisticated interview and interrogation techniques. McManus has developed and implemented training programs within the FBI, DHS, and the commercial financial arena in behavioral assessment, interviewing and elicitation in diverse cultures for law enforcement and intelligence organizations to include computer web-based training. McManus earned a BA in Sociology at Loyola University, Baltimore, MD; an MA in Organizational and Security Management at Webster University, St. Louis, MO; and will complete his Doctorate of Arts in Higher Education from George Mason University in Fairfax, VA in spring 2011. McManus was also recognized as an Oxford scholar and attended the prestigious Christ Church College at Oxford University.

John F. Weiland, Director Abraxas Engineering
John Weiland is a leading designer of Applications Specific Integrated Circuits (ASICs), joining Abraxas from Intrinsix Federal Systems and previously Westinghouse Electric Corporation. Weiland is a recognized leader on ASIC design tools and methodologies and has spent his career designing cutting edge chips and assemblies. A Westinghouse Lamme Scholarship recipient, Weiland pursued advanced studies in project management and artificial intelligence at the MIT Center for Advanced Engineering Studies before directing his skills to design of trusted solutions for the National Security community. Weiland holds a Bachelor of Science in Engineering and a BA in Mathematics from Swarthmore College, a MS in Electrical Engineering from the University of Maryland.

See also:
http://publicintelligence.net/unravelling-trapwire/
http://storify.com/bendoernberg/test-post

Posted from the darker net via Android.

Government is spying on you: here are 10 steps on how to avoid it (Part 1)

Note: Part 2 will appear soon.

As with the USA and elsewhere, the UK Govt Home Office has said that they have the technology to look inside HTTPS. It’s likely they will do this via SSL snooping boxes. However, it’s not fool-proof and your browser will pop up lots of warnings to let you know that Big Brother is watching. Similarly, in Australia new legislation is proposed to retain all phone and internet data for snooping purposes (see link below for more details).

Wherever you are, whether you are an investigative journalist, a citizen journalist, or simply someone who doesn’t like the idea that government or a private security company/investigator can snoop on you, there are a range of technologies available that can help keep these snoopers at bay. And you don’t have to be a computer whiz to install them. See below for details…

1. The ultimate solution (wherever you are):
Basically you can’t go wrong if you install Tor Bundle (see video above for a dummy’s guide to TOR).

2. Alternatives to TOR:
Try ProXPN
Or try Vaultlet suite from Autonomy.

3. Or try these half-way fixes:
A. Install ‘Certificate Patrol’ for Firefox
B. Install HTTPS Everywhere for Firefox
C. Install Collusion or Disconnect for Firefox
D. Install Ghostery for Firefox.

4. A nice package
Try Sandboxie… covers most if not all in Section 3 (above)

5. You can also protect your tweets from snooping
Click here to find out how.

6. Encryption:
To encrypt your files and even the whole of your drive, TrueCrypt is reckoned to be the best.
Or try Chaos Mash

7. Use encrypted email:
Try Hushmail.
Try Yopmail

8. Apps for androids (available via Play Store):
For secure Internet Relay Chat, use Gibberbot.
For encryption of files and emails, use PGP Manager or Box Cryptor.
For secure browsing, use Orbweb.

9. General Internet security resources:
Go to Epic for a comprehensive listing of Internet security resources and tools, by category.
Take a look at Security in a box resources/advice.
This Tools for activists is pretty good too.
See how to blog anonymously.

10. Finally, you can join the ‘parallel internet’: by going to Freenet to share files, chat on forums, browse and publish, anonymously and without fear of blocking or censorship!

Articles and documents:

A. On how to avoid Government snooping:
To see why you have a right to anonymity, click here.
To see how to remove your online identity, click here.
To see how you can prevent your ISP from tracking your every move, click here.

B. On UK phone and email monitoring:
Overshadowed by the SOPA and PIPA bills that went before US Congress, shortly before they were shelved, H.R. 1981 aims to keep track of Internet users’ activities in the UK for one year in case it proves useful for law enforcement – click here to see more.
To see the MoD cyber strategy this is based on click here.
Also you can download here the Intelligence Commissioner’s 2011 Annual Report.
How the UK Police grabs location data from your mobile phones.
Here is a link to the Communications and Data bill.

C. On Australian phone, email and Internet monitoring:
The telephone and internet data of every Australian will be retained for up to two years and intelligence agencies would be given increased access to social media sites such as Facebook and Twitter, under a suite of new proposals from Australia’s intelligence community. Revealed in a discussion paper released by the Attorney-General’s Department, the more than 40 proposals form a massive ambit claim from the intelligence agencies. To find out more click here and here and here.
Also, new legislation significantly expands the surveillance powers of the Australian Security Intelligence Organisation (ASIO) to monitor anyone overseas, including Australian citizens, considered a threat to “national economic well-being,” “security” or “foreign relations”. for more click here.
To see the proposed legislation click here.
Also, download recent Australian Govt doc, ‘Equiping Australia against emerging and evolving threats.

Have fun!

Posted from the darker net via Android.

Assange’s lawyer confirms Wikileaks Grand Jury charges

(Note: the above documentary on Wikileaks is recommended by Birgitta Jonsdottir, the Iceland MP and who is a Wikileaks activist. It covers the evolution of Wikileaks from its origins through to more recent times.)

On May 31, Darker Net published the reference number of the Wikileaks Grand Jury. Yesterday, ABC Television (Australia) aired a programme on Julian Assange, with the following explanation from Michael Ratner, Assange’s US lawyer, on what that number means… “There’s a Grand Jury currently sitting in Alexandria, Virginia and the Grand Jury’s number – and it’s interesting the Grand Jury’s number is 10 standing for the year it began, GJ which is Grand Jury and then 3793. Three is the Conspiracy Statute in the United States. 793 is the Espionage Statute. So what they’re investigating is 3793: conspiracy to commit espionage.”

So there you have it, spelt out in language anyone can understand. The Australian public definitely get it and realise, too, that the Government also gets it but are doing the bare minimum to help Assange, partly out of a misplaced loyalty to a foreign power and partly out of sheer revenge given that Wikileaks revealed that the USA had played a part in the Gillard coup.

(The ABC programme and a full transcript is here.)

Meanwhile the American Civil Liberties Union have published redacted and unredacted versions of 11 cables previously published by Wikileaks. Their value is that they show Government thinking as to what should be redacted and what shouldn’t. To see, click here.

Here, also, is an interview by the blogger, Jaraparilla, with Christine Assange.

Posted from the darker net via Android.