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Astronaut Edgar Mitchell Claims Alien Cover-up

Dr. Edgar Mitchell is a veteran of the Apollo 14 mission and he was the sixth man to walk on the Moon. Dr. Mitchell also insists that aliens have visited Earth and that governments are actively covering it up. "I happen to have been privileged enough to be in on the fact that we've been visited on this planet and the UFO phenomena is real," Dr Mitchell said. "It's been well covered up by all our governments for the last 60 years or so, but slowly it's leaked out and some of us have been privileged to have been briefed on some of it. "I've been in military and intelligence circles, who know that beneath the surface of what has been public knowledge, yes - we have been visited. Reading the papers recently, it's been happening quite a bit." Dr Mitchell, who has a Bachelor of Science degree in aeronautical engineering and a Doctor of Science degree in Aeronautics and Astronautics claimed Roswell was real and similar alien visits continue to be investigated. He told the astonished Kerrang! radio host Nick Margerrison: "This is really starting to open up. I think we're headed for real disclosure and some serious organisations are moving in that direction." NASA issued a quick denial. In a statement, a spokesman said: "NASA does not track UFOs. NASA is not involved in any sort of cover up about alien life on this planet or anywhere in the universe. "Dr Mitchell is a great American, but we do not share his opinions on this issue." If Dr. Mitchell is correct about a cover-up than this is exactly the type of denial one would expect NASA to make. You can listen to the interview with Dr. Mitchell where he discusses the UFO phenomena here. Permalink | Recent Headlines | News Feeds Read more…

Thwarting The Growth Of Internet Black Markets

17.10.2007 08:41 Science - Source: ScienceDaily Headlines

Science Daily — Carnegie Mellon University's Adrian Perrig and Jason Franklin, working in conjunction with Vern Paxson of the International Computer Science Institute and Stefan Savage of the University of California, San Diego, have designed new computer tools to better understand and potentially thwart the growth of Internet black markets, where attackers use well-developed business practices to hawk viruses, stolen data and attack services.

"These troublesome entrepreneurs even offer tech support and free updates for their malicious creations that run the gamut from denial of service attacks designed to overwhelm Web sites and servers to data stealing Trojan viruses," said Perrig, an associate professor of electrical and computer engineering and engineering and public policy.

In order to understand the millions of lines of data derived from monitoring the underground markets for more than seven months, Carnegie Mellon researchers developed automated techniques to measure and catalogue the activities of the shadowy online crooks who profit from spewed spam, virus-laden PCs and identity theft. The researchers estimate that the total value of the illegal materials available for sale in the seven-month period could total more than $37 million.

"Our research monitoring found that more than 80,000 potential credit card numbers were available through these illicit underground web economies," said Franklin, a Ph.D. student in computer science. However, the researchers warned that because checking the validity of the card numbers was not possible without credit card company assistance, the cards seen may not have been valid when they were observed.

Whatever the purchases, a buyer will typically contact the black market vendor privately using email, or in some cases, a private instant message. Money generally changes hands through non-bank payment services such as e-gold, making the criminals difficult to track.

To stem the flow of stolen credit cards and identity data, Carnegie Mellon researchers proposed two technical approaches to reduce the number of successful market transactions, including a slander attack and another technique, which were aimed at undercutting the cyber-crooks verification or reputation system.

"Just like you need to verify that individuals are honest on E-bay, online criminals need to verify that they are dealing with 'honest' criminals," Franklin said.

In a slander attack, an attacker eliminates the verified status of a buyer or seller through false defamation. "By eliminating the verified status of the honest individuals, an attacker establishes a lemon market where buyers are unable to distinguish the quality of the goods or services," Franklin said.

The researchers also propose to undercut the burgeoning black market activity by creating a deceptive sales environment.

Perrig's team developed a technique to establish fake verified-status identities that are difficult to distinguish from other-verified status sellers making it hard for buyers to identify the honest verified-status sellers from dishonest verified-status sellers.

"So, when the unwary buyer tries to collect the goods and services promised, the seller fails to provide the goods and services. Such behavior is known as 'ripping.' And it is the goal of all black market site's verification systems to minimize such behavior," said Franklin.

There have been successful takedowns against known black market sites, such as the U.S. Secret Service-run Operation Firewall three years ago. That operation against the notorious Shadowcrew resulted in 28 arrests around the globe, Carnegie Mellon researchers reported.

"The scary thing about all this is that you do not have to be in the know to find black markets, they are easy to find, easy to join and just a mouse click away," Franklin said.

"We believe these black markets are growing, so we will have even more incidents to monitor and study in the future," Perrig said.

That growth is also reflected in the latest Computer Security Institute (CSI) Computer Crime and Security Survey that shows average cyber-losses more than doubled after a five-year decline. The 2007 CSI survey reported that U.S. companies on average lost more than $300,000 to cyber crooks compared to $168,000 last year.

Note: This story has been adapted from material provided by Carnegie Mellon University.