Romulans Uncloaked?

Whatever it is, it’s rather large and doesn’t appear until hit by the solar flare.

An alien spacecraft parked next to Mercury?

A giant object the size of a planet that appeared lurking near Mercury in a NASA footage has caught the attention of alien-hunters who say it could be a “cloaked” spaceship parked near the planet.

The object appears from nowhere in a sequence of images of a coronal ejection from the Sun taken by NASA’s STEREO spacecraft.

In the footage, one sees a huge spurt of plasma and other solar ejecta washing over Mercury; peculiarly, the material seems to flare up as it hits another nearby object, too.

“It’s cylindrical on either side and has a shape in the middle. It definitely looks like a ship to me, and very obviously, it’s cloaked,” YouTube-user siniXster said in his commentary on the footage which has gone viral and been viewed by more than 100,000 users on the video-sharing site.

See also:
Cloaked UFO Spotted Near Mercury? Solar Flare Stirs Debate [VIDEO]
Is this an alien spacecraft parked next to Mercury? Giant object the size of a planet has astronomers baffled
What’s that mysterious object spotted near Mercury?
Large, Mysterious Planet-Sized Object Spotted Near Mercury
Massive alien death star spotted parked by Mercury. Possibly
‘Spacecraft’ spotted near Mercury
Video: UFO Sighting Near Mercury or Natural Phenomenon?
Giant, cloaked UFO near Mercury, or just an after-image?
Mysterious “UFO” Footage Near Mercury Debunked
Cloaked UFO Spotted Near Mercury Is Actually Mercury [Video]
STEREO Spacecraft
STEREO

Oh sure, the “experts” will tell you that it’s a video artifact, a ghost image of Mercury’s position from the previous day. But who are you going to believe, the “experts” or your own lying eyes? If the “experts” knew it was a gigantic, cloaked Romulan spaceship, do you think they’d tell you and cause mass societal panic? I don’t think so.

/remember, The Truth Is Out There, Trust No One

Do The Microsoft Patch Dance

The dance that never ends.

Microsoft Patch

Microsoft released 13 security bulletins, patching 22 vulnerabilities across its product line, including two critical updates affecting Internet Explorer and the Windows DNS Server.

While Microsoft issued fewer updates this month, August was still marked as a busy month for system administrators. Adobe Systems Inc., which issues fixes on a quarterly cycle, issued a critical security update late Tuesday, repairing seven flaws in its Shockwave Player, more than a dozen holes in its Flash Player and an error in its Flash Media Server.

Microsoft addressed seven vulnerabilities in Internet Explorer including two zero-day flaws. According to MS11-057, Microsoft said an attacker who successfully exploited any of the vulnerabilities could gain the same user rights as the local user. Microsoft said the most severe vulnerabilities could allow remote code execution if a user views a specially crafted Web page using Internet Explorer

. . .

Another noteworthy bulletin is MS11-065, which resolves a vulnerability in the Remote Desktop Protocol. Although the security bulletin is rated important for users of Windows Server 2003, Miller said Microsoft has seen attacks targeting the flaw in the wild. The flaw can be targeted if an attacker sends a malicious remote desktop protocol connection request to the victim’s computer which could cause the system to crash.

See also:
Microsoft Security Bulletin Summary for August 2011
Microsoft Fixes IE, Windows DNS Server Flaws In Patch Tuesday Update
Microsoft Patches 22 Security Holes
Microsoft Security Patch Fixes 20-Year-Old Flaw
Microsoft fixes 22 security bugs
Microsoft’s August Patch Tuesday security update to tackle critical flaws in IE and Windows Server
Your Microsoft Patch Tuesday update for August 2011
Microsoft to Fix 22 Software Flaws in Its August Patch Tuesday Update
Hefty Microsoft August Patch Delivers 13 Security Fixes
IE, Windows server bugs likely to be exploited soon
Microsoft expecting exploits for critical IE vulnerabilities
Microsoft Update

Get busy downloading.

/so, until the next Patch Tuesday . . .

Get ‘Em While They’re Young

How evil and sick is this?

Al-Qaeda plans cartoon to fight the West

Fundamentalists in Yemen have drawn up cartoon sequences for a film designed to inspire children to take up acts of terrorism.

The drawings feature armed raids and assassinations, as well as terrorists at prayer.

The cartoons do not depict Osama bin Laden, the al-Qaeda founder or the current leader Ayman al-Zawahiri.

But there was strong criticism of the cartoons on internet forums for jihadists. Users complained they made the scarf-wearing fighters look too “scary” for children.

See also:
Al Qaeda group creates cartoon to recruit children; animated pic shows armed raids, assassinations
Cartoon jihadist announces AQAP comic
Al-Qaeda cartoon for kids
Militants plan al Qaeda cartoon for kids, monitors say
Al-Qaida plans cartoon recruiting film for kids
Militants plan al Qaeda cartoon for kids, monitors say
Al-Qaeda plans cartoon recruiting film
Car Bomb Cartoon: al-Qaida, the Animated Series
Jihadists Are Afraid Terrorism Will Scare Away Children

So let me get this straight, it’s okay to use cartoons to recruit children to be terrorists, as long as the cartoons aren’t too scary.

/thes al Qaeda asshole vermin give scum a bad name

Life, Liberty, And The Pursuit Of Free Internet Porn

Are you kidding me, internet access is a basic human right? Of course, as long as you have a basic human right to internet access, it follows that you also have a basic human right to a computer, modem, internet service, and hey, you’re going to need a place to plug in and the electricity to make it all work. Can’t afford all that? No problem, it’s a basic human right, demand it all free from your government and, if they can’t or won’t provide it, drag them before the U.N. Human Rights Council for human rights violations!

UN report: Internet access is a basic human right

Access to the Internet, especially during times of political unrest, is a basic human right, says a report released by the United Nations today.

“Facilitating access to the Internet for all individuals, with as little restriction to online content as possible, should be a priority for all States,” says the report, published on May 16 by Frank La Rue, a “special rapporteur” for the UN’s Human Rights Council.

. . .

The report urges states to avoid or amend any laws that “permit users to be disconnected from Internet access.”

. . .

The UN report defines Internet access to include both free information flow as well as access to infrastructure, “such as cables, modems, computers and software, to access the Internet in the first place.”

Read the report:

Report of the Special Rapporteur on the
promotion and protection of the right to freedom
of opinion and expression, Frank La Rue

See also:
Internet should remain as open as possible – UN expert on freedom of expression
United Nations report: Internet access is a human right
UN Declares Internet Access As A Human Right
UN Report: Internet access a human right
United Nations Declares Internet Access a Basic Human Right
United Nations Claims Internet Blackouts Violate Human Rights
UN: Disconnecting File-Sharers Breaches Human Rights
Filesharing laws ‘breach human rights’
United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR)

And make no mistake, when the report mentions “with as little restriction to online content as possible’, that’s a direct shot at copyright holders and any governmental efforts to protect copyright or otherwise filter internet content. You see, no matter how prurient, vile, subversive, inflammatory, inaccurate, untruthful, or proprietary it is, information and intellectual property just want to be free! It’s a basic human right, damn it!

/so remember boys and girls, if you don’t have access to free internet porn, demand it, along with all the equipment and infrastructure needed to enjoy yourself, it’s your basic human right!

Have We Attacked China Yet?

No sooner was it publicly revealed that the United States would now treat damaging cyberattacks by other nations as an act of war, threatening retaliation with conventional weapons, the new, bold, some say foolish, policy, was immediately put to the test.

China Google hackers’ goal: Spying on U.S. Govt.

It’s the second time Google has blamed a major computer hacking scheme on China, reports CBS News correspondent Wyatt Andrews.

This time Google says unknown hackers from Jinan, China, a city with a military command center, stole the personal Gmail passwords of hundreds of senior U.S .government officials.

Google said the hackers’ “goal” was to eavesdrop on the officials — “to monitor the content of the users’ emails.”

That suggestion — of spying — rang alarm bells in the Administration.

“These allegations are very serious,” said Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. “We take them seriously. We’re looking into them.”

See also:
Clinton: Google’s China Hacking Claims ‘Very Serious’
Hillary Clinton says FBI will probe Gmail hacker attack
US Investigating Google Claim of China Hacking
FBI Investigating Google Claim that China Hacked Them
Google breach gives way to diplomatic, high-tech tensions
China Denies Accessing High Profile Gmail Accounts
Google’s groundless accuses hurt global trust on Internet
The Google-China Saga Continues
Admin: Gmail phishers stalked victims for months
Gmail Hack Targeted White House
Cyber war: Google, China in fresh spat over email hacking
Google, what exactly is the China connection for the phishing scare?
Is Google an agent of the US Government? It certainly gives that impression

So far, the U.S. has uncovered a successful espionage phishing expedition, against top level U.S. Government officials, tracked back to a specific Chinese city. Why aren’t we bombing China, isn’t this a perfect situation to show how our new military policy will treat hacking intrusions like this as acts of war? Unfortunately for us, China denies the attack and, as I pointed out yesterday, it’s extremely difficult to be absolutely sure as to the origins of cyberattacks like this, so we do nothing and our brand new policy looks foolish and radiates national weakness.

/instead of making toothless threats to send missile strikes in response to hack attacks, why don’t we just send the Chinese back a nice Stuxnet worm or take down Baidu with a complimentary DoS attack

Oops, They Did It Again!

Despite having nearly an entire month to get their act together, Sony’s apparently still wearing their security pants down around their ankles.

Sony Hacked Yet Again

Hard as it may be to believe, Sony has been hacked yet again.

According to a report in the Wall Street Journal, So-net Entertainment Corp., a Japanese ISP owned by the technology giant, said that hackers accessed its customer rewards site earlier this week and stole customers’ redeemable gift points worth about $1,225.

The incident is the latest in a weeks-long string of hacks and breaches of security for Sony. The trouble began on April 19, when the company began investigating and ultimately discovered a massive breach of security on its PlayStation Network, a cyberscandal that compromised the personal information of more than 100 million users.

See also:
Sony’s Security Nightmare Not Over, Hacked Again
Fresh security glitch adds to Sony’s woes
Sony hit again with two hacks
Sony hacked twice in one day, this time $1225 was stolen from accounts in Japan
Sony subsidiary So-net reports data breach
Yep, Looks Like Sony’s Been Hacked Again
Sony Faces Another Hack Attack
Sony hacked again
Sony Hacked Again, Server Hosting Credit Card Phishing Site
Do You Own A Sony HackStation?

And if all this hacking wasn’t bad enough . . .

Sony Can’t Guarantee PlayStation Network Security

Sony CEO Howard Stringer says he cannot guarantee the security of his company’s videogame network. . . . maintaining security is a “never-ending process,” and he cannot say that anyone is “100 percent secure.”

/not exactly confidence inspiring, I’ll be taking a pass on Sony products for the foreseeable future