DarkCyber for July 24, 2018, Now Available

DarkCyber for July 24, 2018, is now available at www.arnoldit.com/wordpress and on Vimeo at https://vimeo.com/281132690.

Stephen E Arnold’s DarkCyber is a weekly video news and analysis program about the Dark Web and lesser known Internet services. This week’s program covers five Dark Web and security related stories.

The first story reports that a hacker stole technical details of the hunter killer MQ9 Reaper drone. These documents were offered for sale on a Dark Web eCommerce site. The documents in the wrong hands could lead to a bad actor’s development of jamming technology.

Second, the consumerization of encrypted blockchain services is accelerating. The Chinese electronics giant Huawei has announced that it will release a blockchain enable mobile phone in the fall of 2018. The idea is to make it easy to use digital currency from a mobile device. Each device can function as a node on the network which would expand the use of digital currency.

Third, Opera has released as a beta product of its flagship browser with a built in digital currency wallet. The implementation eliminates most of the technical complexity associated with using Bitcoin or other digital currencies. Stephen E Arnold, author of Dark Web Notebook, said: “Consumerization of encrypted services can be a plus for some business transactions. However, if the user of the encrypted services engages in illegal activity, the challenge for law enforcement becomes significantly more difficult for some investigations.”

The fourth story reports that German authorities are stepping up certain Tor related activities. Operators of Tor nodes and computers providing Tor relay services were seized in multiple locations in the country. German authorities allegedly wanted information about the use of Tor as well as the names of individuals who have contributed money to the US based Tor Project, a non profit organization sponsoring the development of the Tor software bundle. 

The final story discloses that Mozambique has developed a fast growing heroin smuggling industry. The infrastructure used by the bad actors is based on mobile phones and WhatsApp messaging software. The heroin business now rivals Mozambique’s coal exporting business in revenue.

DarkCyber is released weekly on Tuesday at 0130 am US Eastern time. 

About Stephen E Arnold
Stephen E Arnold is the author of “Dark Web Notebook” and “CyberOSINT: Next Generation Information Access.” This book describes some of the technologies used by GSR and Cambridge Analytica to acquire and analyze Facebook user data. He has been named as a technology adviser to the UK based Judicial Commission of Inquiry into Human Trafficking and Child Sex Abuse.” Mr. Arnold also lectures to law enforcement and intelligence professionals who will be attending the September 2018 Telestrategies ISS conference in Washington, DC, in September 2018. In recent months, he has shared his research with law enforcement and intelligence professionals in the US and Europe. His most recent lectures focus on deanonymizing chat and digital currency transactions. One hour and full day programs are available via webinars and on-site presentations. He publishes the free Web log “Beyond Search,” which is available at www.arnoldit.com/wordpress.

Contact Information

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Arnold Information Technology

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