Wikipedia

Cyberattacks on Estonia refers to a series of cyber attacks that began 27 April 2007 and swamped websites of Estonian organizations, including Estonian parliament, banks, ministries, newspapers and broadcasters, amid the country’s row with Russia about the relocation of the Bronze Soldier of Tallinn, an elaborate Soviet-era grave marker, as well as war graves in Tallinn. Most of the attacks that had any influence on the general public were distributed denial of service type attacks ranging from single individuals using various methods like ping floods to expensive rentals of botnets usually used for spam distribution. Spamming of bigger news portals commentaries and defacements including that of the Estonian Reform Party website also occurred.

Some observers reckoned that the onslaught on Estonia was of a sophistication not seen before. The case is studied intensively by many countries and military planners as, at the time it occurred, it may have been the second-largest instance of state-sponsored cyberwarfare, following Titan Rain.

Estonian Foreign Minister Urmas Paet accused the Kremlin of direct involvement in the cyberattacks. On 6 September 2007 Estonia’s defense minister admitted he had no evidence linking cyber attacks to Russian authorities. “Of course, at the moment, I cannot state for certain that the cyber attacks were managed by the Kremlin, or other Russian government agencies,” Jaak Aaviksoo said in interview on Estonian’s Kanal 2 TV channel. Aaviksoo compared the cyber attacks with the blockade of Estonia’s Embassy in Moscow. “Again, it is not possible to say without doubt that orders (for the blockade) came from the Kremlin, or that, indeed, a wish was expressed for such a thing there,” said Aaviksoo. Russia called accusations of its involvement “unfounded,” and neither NATO nor European Commission experts were able to find any proof of official Russian government participation

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Critical systems whose network addresses would not be generally known were targeted, including those serving telephony and financial transaction processing.  Although not all of the computer crackers behind the cyberwarfare have been unveiled, some experts believed that such efforts exceed the skills of individual activists or even organised crime as they require a co-operation of a state and a large telecom company.

A well known Russian hacker Sp0Raw believes that the most efficient online attacks on Estonia could not have been carried out without the blessing of the Russian authorities and that the hackers apparently acted under “recommendations” from parties in higher positions.  At the same time he called claims of Estonians regarding direct involvement of Russian government in the attacks “empty words, not supported by technical data”.

Mike Witt, deputy director of the United States Computer Emergency Readiness Team (CERT) believes that the attacks were DDoS attacks. The attackers used botnets – global networks of compromised computers, often owned by careless individuals. “The size of the cyber attack, while it was certainly significant to the Estonian government, from a technical standpoint is not something we would consider significant in scale,” Witt said.

Professor James Hendler, former chief scientist at The Pentagon’s Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) characterised the attacks as “more like a cyber riot than a military attack.”

“We don’t have directly visible info about sources so we can’t confirm or deny that the attacks are coming from the Russian government,” Jose Nazario, software and security engineer at Arbor Networks, told internetnews.com.  Arbor Networks operated ATLAS threat analysis network, which, the company claimed, could “see” 80% of Internet traffic. Nazario suspected that different groups operating separate distributed botnets were involved in attack.

Experts interviewed by IT security resource SearchSecurity.com “say it’s very unlikely this was a case of one government launching a coordinated cyberattack against another”: Johannes Ullrich, chief research officer of the Bethesda said “Attributing a distributed denial-of-service attack like this to a government is hard.” “It may as well be a group of bot herders showing ‘patriotism,’ kind of like what we had with Web defacements during the US-China spy-plane crisis [in 2001].” Hillar Aarelaid, manager of Estonia’s Computer Emergency Response Team “expressed skepticism that the attacks were from the Russian government, noting that Estonians were also divided on whether it was right to remove the statue”.

Clarke and Knake report that upon the Estonian authorities informing Russian officials they had traced systems controlling the attack to Russia, there was some indication in response that incensed patriotic Russians might have acted on their own.  Regardless of conjectures over official involvement, the decision of Russian authorities not to pursue individuals responsible—a treaty obligation—together with expert opinion that Russian security services could readily track down the culprits should they so desire, leads Russia observers to conclude the attacks served Russian interests.

A Commissar of the Nashi pro-Kremlin youth movement in Moldova and Transnistria, Konstantin Goloskokov (Goloskov in some sources), admitted organizing cyberattacks against Estonian government sites.  Goloskokov stressed, however, that he was not carrying out an order from Nashi’s leadership and said that a lot of his fellow Nashi members criticized his response as being too harsh.

Like most countries, Estonia does not recognise Transnistria, a secessionist region of Moldova. As an unrecognised nation, Transnistria does not belong to Interpol. Accordingly, no Mutual Legal Assistance Treaty applies. If residents of Transnistria were responsible, the investigation may be severely hampered, and even if the investigation succeeds finding likely suspects, the legal recourse of Estonian authorities may be limited to issuing all-EU arrest warrants for these suspects. Such an act would be largely symbolic.

Head of Russian Military Forecasting Center, Colonel Anatoly Tsyganok confirmed Russia’s ability to conduct such an attack when he stated: “These attacks have been quite successful, and today the alliance had nothing to oppose Russia’s virtual attacks”, additionally noting that these attacks did not violate any international agreement. Influence on international military doctrines

The attacks triggered a number of military organizations around the world to reconsider the importance of network security to modern military doctrine. On 14 June 2007, defence ministers of NATO members held a meeting in Brussels, issuing a joint communiqué promising immediate action. First public results were estimated to arrive by autumn 2007.

On 25 June 2007, Estonian president Toomas Hendrik Ilves met with the president of USA, George W. Bush.  Among the topics discussed were the attacks on Estonian infrastructure. NATO Cooperative Cyber Defence Centre of Excellence (CCDCOE) operates out of Tallinn, Estonia, since August 2008.

The events have been reflected in a NATO Department of Public Diplomacy short movie War in Cyberspace.

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This clown got a parking ticket and lost his mind over it.  He received 10 years in prison.

 

Some pictures of Patricia Beach. It is located about 50 kilometers north of Winnipeg at the southern tip of Lake Winnipeg.  It was very windy and cloudy, it didn’t stop a couple brave para-sailors who were out having fun.

 

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South Beach Casino and hotel on the way to the lake.  People love to fight the odds and gamble.

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There is a quaint little neighbourhood in Winnipeg where the houses were designed like California style ranch houses.  There are no basements and the houses are long with lots of windows.  The area is called Niakwa Place.

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It could have been a bar fight, alcohol poisoning, booze induced coma, a drinking party jilted lover knife fight, a drunk falling flat on his face, or a heart attack.  But the paramedics were strutting their stuff at the Windsor.

 

Central Park is a public park at the center of Manhattan in New York City. The park initially opened in 1857, on 778 acres (315 ha) of city-owned land (it is 840 acres today).

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Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada also has a Central Park.  Comparing Winnipeg’s park to the park in New York is like comparing a shot glass to a beer keg. The park in Winnipeg is maybe 4-5 acres.  But in its own right it is charming. There is a crime problem near the park.  It is not recommended to walk near the park after dark.

The area is bound by Notre Dame Ave. to the north, Ellice Ave. to the south, Donald St. to the east and Balmoral St. to the west. Everything within the neighbourhood’s one-kilometre loop can be reached within eight minutes on foot.  It’s one of Winnipeg’s most densely populated neighbourhoods with around 13,755 people per square km according to Statistics Canada’s 2001 Census.

Central Park is home to many different ethnicities including Vietnamese, Arabs, Chinese, First Nations, Filipinos, with a majority from Africa. Because of the growing African population, the area has been transforming in recent years, giving it a new sense of community and culture. Its Central Market for Global Families is a summer outdoor market that sells handmade and imported African clothing, beadwork, handicrafts, weavings, art, as well as organic produce [including some African/tropical greens raised by local residents on a community garden at University of Manitoba].

 

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If I had to go to battle, who would I want to back me up, Arnie Schwarzenegger or Sylvester Stallone?  Based on the muscle mass alone, I would have to go with Arnie.  Arnie was a professional bodybuilder who likely munched back steroids by the bushel.  Rocky likely ate his fair share of the power pills to, but he never developed the bull bulk of Dutch.  Why some Hollywood mogul never pitted these two killing machines against each other is a mystery.  Would have made a great series of movies.

 

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I bet this babe could slap Rocky silly.

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The turn of the mummy: God of death statue starts SPINNING on its own in  Manchester museum… but is this a sign that there really is a curse of the  Pharaohs?

An ancient statue in a British museum has been caught on camera turning in its locked display case, and it’s unnerving many people. According to an article in the “Manchester Evening News,”

An ancient Egyptian statue has spooked museum bosses — after it mysteriously started to spin round in a display case. The 10-inch tall relic, which dates back to 1800 BC, was found in a mummy’s tomb and has been at the Manchester Museum for 80 years. But in recent weeks, curators have been left scratching their heads after they kept finding it facing the wrong way. Experts decided to monitor the room on time-lapse video and were astonished to see it clearly show the statuette spinning 180 degrees – with nobody going near it.

What’s going on? Because the piece is in a museum display about ancient Egypt, some have suggested a curse or ghost. It is certainly mysterious: If the video is to be believed — and there’s little reason to doubt it — then the statue is indeed moving independently inside a closed case, untouched by human hands.

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Egyptologist Campbell Price studies an ancient Egyptian statuette at the  Manchester Museum, which appears to be moving on its own

Others, including TV physicist Professor  Brian Cox, have a more down-to-earth explanation for its movement.

Whatever the solution, the puzzle certainly  won’t dent visitor numbers at its present home, Manchester Museum.

The statuette’s slow about-turn has  been  captured on film by a time-lapse camera, and curator Campbell  Price, 29, says  he believes there may be a spiritual explanation.

‘I noticed one day that it had turned around,’ he said. ‘I thought it was strange because it is in a case and I am  the only one who has a key.

‘I put it back, but then the next day it had  moved again.

‘In Ancient Egypt they believed that  if the  mummy is destroyed then the statuette can act as an alternative  vessel for the  spirit. Maybe that is what is causing the movement.’

The statue, made by one Neb-Senu in  about  1800BC, was donated to the museum in 1933, and had been  reassuringly immobile  for most of that time.

However Mr Price and his  colleagues are now  used to finding it facing the rear of its case –  perhaps significantly,  displaying a prayer on the back requesting  ‘bread, beer, oxen and  fowl’.

 

 

Their video has recorded it rotating  to its  left over the course of three days until facing backwards.

Even  more mysteriously, it appears to spin  only during daylight hours, and  does not turn beyond 180 degrees. Some,  including Professor Cox, have  suggested that vibrations caused by the footsteps  of passing visitors  makes the statuette turn on its glass shelf.

Mr Price said: ‘Brian thinks it’s   “differential friction” where two surfaces, the stone of the statuette  and  glass shelf it is on, cause a subtle vibration which is making the  statuette  turn. But it has been on those surfaces since we have had it  and it has never  moved before.

‘And why would it go a round in a perfect  circle? It would be great if someone could solve the mystery.’

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Death was a garage rock and protopunk demo band formed in Detroit, Michigan, in 1971 by the brothers Bobby (bass, vocals), David (guitar), and Dannis (drums) Hackney. The African American trio started out as an R&B band but switched to rock after seeing an Alice Cooper show. Music critic Peter Margasak (incorrectly denoting the youngest brother) retrospectively wrote of their musical direction: “The youngest of the brothers, guitarist David, pushed the group in a hard-rock direction that presaged punk, and while this certainly didn’t help them find a following in the mid-70s, today it makes them look like visionaries.” The band broke up by 1977 but reformed in 2009 when the Drag City label released their 70s demos for the first time.

 

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