"...would require the registration and identification of all online publications and of each Web user, including visitors to Internet cafes. Web service providers would have to report this information to police, courts and special services."
"Cyberspace grants small countries and individuals a power that was heretofore the preserve of great states"...
and added:
"The potential exists here for applying force ... capable of compromising the military controls and the economic functions of countries, without the limitations of range and location."
"Shiite fighters in Iraq used off-the-shelf software programs ... available for as little as $25.95 on the Internet — to regularly capture drone video feeds, the Wall Street Journal reported Thursday. The hacking was possible because the remotely flown planes have an unprotected communications link."Even more incredulous is the admission that the system was not originally designed to encrypt transmissions:
"...in December 2008, the military apprehended a Shiite militant in Iraq whose laptop contained files of intercepted drone video feeds, the Journal reported. In July, they found pirated feeds on other militant laptops, leading some officials to conclude that groups trained and funded by Iran were regularly intercepting feeds and sharing them with multiple extremist groups."
"The military has known about the vulnerability for more than a decade, but assumed adversaries would not be able to exploit it."This is a classic, textbook example of inadequate security design and risk assessments - the root causes of most security issues in both the public and private sector.
"The opposition, which relies on the Web and cell phone service to organize rallies and get its message out, has vowed to hold rallies Monday, the first anti-government show of force in a month."Likewise, governments may target these communications as a means to limit protests. Reports are alleging the Iranian Government is restricting Internet and mobile phone services to limit opposition communications prior to planned protests:
"Internet connections in the capital, Tehran, have been slow or completely down since Saturday. Blocking Internet access and cell phone 'service has been one of the routine methods employed by the authorities to undermine the opposition in recent months.
"The government has not publicly acknowledged it is behind the outages, but Iran's Internet service providers say the problem is not on their end and is not a technical glitch. A day or two after the demonstrations, cell phone and Internet service is restored."
