Topeka man asks federal court to stop Edward Snowden film before the Oscars

The 10th Circuit Court of Appeals on Friday denied a Topeka mans request for an emergency injunction to prevent the documentary Citizenfour from being shown before the Academy Awards ceremony Sunday.

Horace Edwards, 89, first filed suit in December, claiming producers of the documentary, which chronicles former National Security Agency contractor Edward Snowdens leak of classified documents, shouldnt be allowed to profit from what Edwards called Snowdens crimes. The lawsuit was filed Dec. 19 in U.S. District Court in Kansas City, Kan.

On Feb. 13, a district court issued an order refusing to grant Edwards motion to seal the classified records revealed in the film, allowing the documentary to continue to be distributed, according to Jean Lamfers, Edwards attorney.

This is not a leak case about typical government inefficiencies, Lamfers wrote in the appeal Friday. It is about the classified information contained in Citizenfour that goes too far and discloses for any viewers consumption, serious national security information stolen by Snowden.

Citizenfour is one of five films being considered in the Best Documentary Feature category at Sundays award show.

Edwards, who served in the Navy during World War II and says he was granted several security clearances by the Atomic Energy Commission, felt compelled to file the lawsuit after seeing the documentary in late 2014.

I was kind of amazed a bit shocked, I guess as it dawned on me what it was a story about, he told The Topeka Capital-Journal during an interview Dec. 31.

Snowden was working as an NSA contractor for the consulting firm Booz Allen Hamilton when, in the summer of 2013, he released thousands of documents to journalists, revealing the agencys national and international surveillance efforts. He was charged with violating the Espionage Act and has spent nearly two years in asylum inside Russia.

Named as defendants in Edwards original lawsuit were Snowden, Praxis Films Inc., Participant Media, The Weinstein Company and producers Laura Poitras, Diane Weyermann and Jeffrey Skoll. After the district courts refusal order on Feb. 13, Lamfers filed a second complaint on Feb. 14, adding several other defendants to the lawsuit, including the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences and Home Box Office Inc.

Such widespread distribution of Citizenfour, coupled with the publicity the night before on the Oscars broadcast, (by) HBO will bring widespread release of classified information harmful to national security to small, secret cells of members of recognized, but de-centralized terrorist organizations, Fridays court filing argued.

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Topeka man asks federal court to stop Edward Snowden film before the Oscars

TrueCrypt audit back on track after silence and uncertainty

Phase two of the project will begin shortly and will be done by a professional team of consultants

An effort to search for cryptographic flaws in TrueCrypt, a popular disk encryption program, will resume even though the software was abandoned by its creators almost a year ago.

For years TrueCrypt has been the go-to open-source tool for people looking to encrypt files on their computers, especially since it's one of the few solutions to allow encrypting the OS volume.

In October 2013, cryptography professor Matthew Green and security researcher Kenneth White launched a project to perform a professional security audit of TrueCrypt. This was partly prompted by the leaks from former U.S. National Security Agency contractor Edward Snowden that suggested the NSA was engaged in efforts to undermine encryption.

Green and White's Open Crypto Audit Project started accepting donations and contracted iSEC Partners, a subsidiary of information assurance company NCC Group, to probe critical parts of the TrueCrypt code for software vulnerabilities. The firm found some issues, but nothing critical that could be described as a backdoor. Their report, published in April 2014, covered the first phase of the audit.

Phase two was supposed to involve a formal review of the program's encryption functions, with the goal of uncovering any potential errors in the cryptographic implementations -- but then the unexpected happened.

In May 2014, the developers of TrueCrypt, who had remained anonymous over the years for privacy reasons, abruptly announced that they were discontinuing the project and advised users to switch to alternatives.

"This threw our plans for a loop," Green said in a blog post Tuesday. "We had been planning a crowdsourced audit to be run by Thomas Ptacek and some others. However in the wake of TC pulling the plug, there were questions: Was this a good use of folks' time and resources? What about applying those resources to the new 'Truecrypt forks' that have sprung up (or are being developed?)"

Now, almost a year later, the project is back on track. Ptacek, a cryptography expert and founder of Matasano Security, will no longer lead the cryptanalysis and the effort will no longer be crowdsourced. Instead, phase two of the audit will be handled by Cryptography Services, a team of consultants from iSEC Partners, Matasano, Intrepidus Group, and NCC Group.

The cost of professional crypto audits is usually very high, exceeding the US$70,000 the Open Crypto Audit Project raised through crowdfunding. To keep the price down, the project had to be flexible with its time frame and work around Cryptography Services' other engagements.

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TrueCrypt audit back on track after silence and uncertainty

UK officers review Assange case

British police are reviewing the operation to guard WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange, the UK's most senior officer has said.

Metropolitan Police Commissioner Sir Bernard Hogan-Howe told LBC radio that the force is assessing its options due to the pressure the operation at the Ecuadorian embassy in London is putting on resources.

'We won't talk about tactics but we are reviewing what options we have. It is sucking our resources,' he said.

Assange has been at the embassy since June 2012 to avoid extradition to Sweden where the Australian faces questions over claims of sexual assaults, which he denies.

Last week Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg said the cost of the operation was around the 10 million mark.

Assange came under intense scrutiny after WikiLeaks began releasing a selection of more than 250,000 classified US diplomatic cables passed to the whistle-blowing website back in 2010.

Assange's supporters last year pondered whether he was to end his self-imposed embassy stay amid concerns over his long-term health.

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Hormone therapy approved for Chelsea Manning – UPI.com

WASHINGTON, Feb. 14 (UPI) -- Chelsea Manning, formerly Bradley Manning, has been approved for hormone therapy by the U.S. Army.

Manning was convicted of leaking classified military documents to the journalistic organization Wikileaks in 2013. She is serving a 35-year sentence with possible parole.

Manning announced in August of 2013 that she was a woman. "As I transition into this next phase of my life, I want everyone to know the real me," Manning said in the statement at the time. "I am Chelsea Manning. I am a female. Given the way that I feel, and have felt since childhood, I want to begin hormone therapy as soon as possible. I hope that you will support me in this transition."

In September of last year, Manning sued the Department of Defense for denying her hormone therapy. She is being represented by the American Civil Liberties Union

"After carefully considering the recommendation that (hormone treatment) is medically appropriate and necessary, and weighing all associated safety and security risks presented, I approve adding (hormone treatment) to Inmate Manning's treatment plan," Col. Erica Nelson, the commandant of the Fort Leavenworth Disciplinary Barracks in Kansas, wrote in a Feb. 5 memo obtained by USA Today.

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Edward Snowden: US, British spies hacked cell phone SIM …

The US National Security Agency (NSA) and Great Britains Government Communications Headquarters (GCHQ) hacked into the world's largest SIM card manufacturer, stealing encryption information, according to documents released by whistle-blower Edward Snowden and reported by The Intercept Thursday.

This gave the agencies the ability to secretly monitor a large portion of the worlds cellular communications, including both voice and data, according to The Intercept report, The Great SIM heist.

With these stolen encryption keys, intelligence agencies can monitor mobile communications without seeking or receiving approval from telecom companies and foreign governments, the report asserts. Possessing the keys also sidesteps the need to get a warrant or a wiretap, while leaving no trace on the wireless providers network that the communications were intercepted. Bulk key theft additionally enables the intelligence agencies to unlock any previously encrypted communications they had already intercepted, but did not yet have the ability to decrypt.

Gemalto, the Netherlands-based company allegedly targeted, produces some 2 billion SIM (subscriber identity modules) cards a year used in mobile phones and next-generation credit cards.

Among its clients are AT&T, T-Mobile, Verizon, Sprint, and some 450 wireless network providers around the world. The company operates in 85 countries and has more than 40 manufacturing facilities. One of its three global headquarters is in Austin, Texas, and it has a large factory in Pennsylvania, according to The Intercept report.

As part of the covert operations against Gemalto, spies from GCHQ with support from the NSA mined the private communications of unwitting engineers and other company employees in multiple countries, the report states.

The full impact of this latest revelation about the NSA may never be known. But if Snowdens latest claim as reported by The Intercept is true, it raises questions about the security of cell phone voice and data communications around the world.

The breach is disastrous for mobile security, which has historically already been on shaky ground, writes T.C. Sottek, senior news editor at The Verge, a technology newsand media network.

Once you have the keys, decrypting traffic is trivial, Christopher Soghoian, principal technologist for the American Civil Liberties Union, told The Intercept. The news of this key theft will send a shock wave through the security community.

Officials at Gemalto say they knew nothing about the security breachuntil the company wascontacted by The Intercept. After ordering its security team to look for signs of a breach on Wednesday, it found none, company officials told thenextweb.com.

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Edward Snowden: US, British spies hacked cell phone SIM ...

Edward Snowden: US, British spies hacked cell phone SIM card encryption keys (+video)

The US National Security Agency (NSA) and Great Britains Government Communications Headquarters (GCHQ) hacked into the world's largest SIM card manufacturer, stealing encryption information, according to documents released by whistle-blower Edward Snowden and reported by The Intercept Thursday.

This gave the agencies the ability to secretly monitor a large portion of the worlds cellular communications, including both voice and data, according to The Intercept report, The Great SIM heist.

With these stolen encryption keys, intelligence agencies can monitor mobile communications without seeking or receiving approval from telecom companies and foreign governments, the report asserts. Possessing the keys also sidesteps the need to get a warrant or a wiretap, while leaving no trace on the wireless providers network that the communications were intercepted. Bulk key theft additionally enables the intelligence agencies to unlock any previously encrypted communications they had already intercepted, but did not yet have the ability to decrypt.

Gemalto, the Netherlands-based company allegedly targeted, produces some 2 billion SIM (subscriber identity modules) cards a year used in mobile phones and next-generation credit cards.

Among its clients are AT&T, T-Mobile, Verizon, Sprint, and some 450 wireless network providers around the world. The company operates in 85 countries and has more than 40 manufacturing facilities. One of its three global headquarters is in Austin, Texas, and it has a large factory in Pennsylvania, according to The Intercept report.

As part of the covert operations against Gemalto, spies from GCHQ with support from the NSA mined the private communications of unwitting engineers and other company employees in multiple countries, the report states.

The full impact of this latest revelation about the NSA may never be known. But if Snowdens latest claim as reported by The Intercept is true, it raises questions about the security of cell phone voice and data communications around the world.

The breach is disastrous for mobile security, which has historically already been on shaky ground, writes T.C. Sottek, senior news editor at The Verge, a technology newsand media network.

Once you have the keys, decrypting traffic is trivial, Christopher Soghoian, principal technologist for the American Civil Liberties Union, told The Intercept. The news of this key theft will send a shock wave through the security community.

Officials at Gemalto say they knew nothing about the security breachuntil the company wascontacted by The Intercept. After ordering its security team to look for signs of a breach on Wednesday, it found none, company officials told thenextweb.com.

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Edward Snowden: US, British spies hacked cell phone SIM card encryption keys (+video)

Edward Snowden Leak: US And British Spies Accused Of Stealing SIM Encryption Keys

Documents leaked by whistleblower Edward Snowden revealed that American and British spies had broken into networks of the digital security companyGemaltoto steal encryption keys that are used to safeguard the privacy of cellphone communications worldwide, The Intercept reported Thursday.

The hack was carried out by the American National Security Agency (NSA) and its British counterpart, Government Communications Headquarters (GCHQ), in 2010, according to the Intercept report. A top-secret GCHQ document accessed by the Intercept provided details about the breach that allowed the agencies to secretly monitor cellphone communications, including calls, texts and emails.

Netherlands-based Gemalto, which makes Subscriber Identity Modules (SIM) cards that are used in cellphones and credit cards, was reportedly targeted in the hack. The company, which is the world's largest SIM card manufacturer, is headquartered in Amsterdam and has several subsidiaries across the world. Its clients include AT&T, T-Mobile, Verizon, Sprint and some 450 wireless network providers worldwide.

With stolen encryption keys, intelligence agencies can monitor mobile communications without seeking or receiving approval from telecom companies and foreign governments, the report revealed. Possessing the keys also sidesteps the need to get a warrant or a wiretap, while leaving no trace on the wireless providers network that the communications were intercepted. Bulk key theft additionally enables the intelligence agencies to unlock any previously encrypted communications they had already intercepted, but did not yet have the ability to decrypt.

According to The Intercept, Gemalto was unaware of the breach, and Paul Beverly, an executive vice president of the company, said that the most important thing for us now is to understand the degree of the breach, according to media reports.

Im disturbed, quite concerned that this has happened, he added.

AGemalto spokeswoman told Reuters: "From what we gathered at this moment, the target was not Gemalto, per se - it was an attempt to try and cast the widest net possible to reach as many mobile phones as possible.

"We take this publication very seriously and will devote all resources necessary to fully investigate and understand the scope of such highly sophisticated technique to try to obtain SIM card data," she reportedly said.

Once you have the keys, decrypting traffic is trivial, Christopher Soghoian, the principal technologist for the American Civil Liberties Union, said, according to The Intercept. The news of this key theft will send a shock wave through the security community.

As of now, NSA and GCHQ have not responded to the allegations, according to media reports.

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Edward Snowden Leak: US And British Spies Accused Of Stealing SIM Encryption Keys