There Is No Such Thing

Putting aside the jabs at the NSA, etc. at the end of the article linked below, I think the article does a good job of expressing why the metadata we leave behind on the Internet is far more valuable/dangerous than the specific content we openly create and communicate on the Internet. Also, the article seems to reinforce my contention there is no such thing as anonymous metadata.  All metadata of sufficient quality and quaintly can be fingerprinted and used to identify specific individuals and their relationships to other entities.  Even the metadata generated around the use of encryption is fingerprintable. 

You don’t need to know someone’s name, birthdate, address, driver’s license, bank account, or SSN to know everything thing else about them; to know who they are and how to take advantage of them.  This is why I wish as a society we were a little more paranoid about what we share online, who we share it with, and what tools and services we use online.  Almost every entity on the Internet believes they have the right to collect quality metadata in sufficient quantities for it to be highly valuable for their needs.  There is no such thing as anonymous metadata and privacy. 

The Article of Interest:

My Life in Circles: Why Metadata is Incredibly Intimate

Is This What They Would Have Us Believe

Snowden the supper spy suggests he premeditated and planned to attack the NSA from the inside while the NSA was collecting the metadata on almost every entity, human being, business, nation state, dog, lol cat, etc. on the Internet in an attempt to stop precisely what Snowden was pre-planning to do from within their own house. Are they sure that is the story they want to spin or are they going to just stop while they are a head? Snowden bad, yes; but is the NSA really that bad? 

Maybe the real truth is no matter how much metadata you collect, you can't stop every Advanced Premeditated Threat.

The NSA Is Listening

The metadata is the conversation.

Long Live V'Ger

I recently ran across this article and I have to agree we need more information and more humor.

My CISO is an Alien: Meet John Powers
http://www.tripwire.com/state-of-security/people-at-tripwire/my-ciso-is-an-alien-meet-john-powers/

My Rant…

This is so wrong and full of misinformation.  Don’t waste your time with alien tech and knowledge to defend your information.  Just learn to use real magic from here on Earth.  Half the alien tech you would encounter is based on some form of magic anyway.  This Clint guy has some real issues; clearly John is a “Computer Whiz’ard”, possibly even a human Technomage, but not an alien.  Look how he wields a flashlight like a magic wand at the end of the video.

BTW, the more appropriate sensational phrase is “NOT of this world”, not “OUT of this world”, but what should IT security people know about the supernatural anyway.  There are many things from Earth that are out of this world, satellites, space shuttles, astronauts, space probes, etc. Heck, Voyager is almost out of this solar system. Long Live V’Ger!

…wait that rant didn’t just sound a lot like Clint; did it? ;-)