Page 78 - CDM Cyber Warnings February 2014

In the New Testament�s Book of Revelations, Jesus calls forth the But what happens when no real or apparent crime is involved�
four Horsemen of the Apocalypse to symbolize the coming of Today, the ostensible boundaries separating or restricting
the end times. These horsemen are thought to represent state-corporate snooping on individual Americans are
Conquest, War, Famine and Death. disappearing. An exceptional crime-fighting incident – whether
globally or in the States -- provides the rationale for the further
To intentionally overuse this well-worn analogy, we are today erosion of personal privacy. Equally troubling, �cross boarder �
st
confronting a 21 century version of the �end times, � this one collaboration between corporate and government entities seems
involving the erosion of personal privacy. And in keeping with on the upswing. This is the new normal.
our postmodern, globalized market economy and all powerful
corporate and state apparatus, the four horsemen have become Perhaps most troubling, what happens when the traditional
five. safeguards offered by �watchdog� entities (like the FISA court),
a regulatory agency (like the FTC) or a Congressional committee
The almost-daily revelations about the National Security Agency (like Senate Intelligence) no longer seem to work� What does
(NSA) have raised Americans� concern over privacy to a level it say that the entities designed to protect personal privacy rights
not seen since the Senate Church committee hearings of the seem to have either been effectively �captured� or become
mid-1970s. However, the NSA is only the most visible example toothless tigers� Many leading U.S. high companies, including
of a widening net of surveillance and tracking that might best be Google and Microsoft, have raised concern over NSA
described as the five horsemen of the cyber apocalypse. surveillance. Equally critical amidst the NSA revelations, little
is known as to how the new �five digital horsemen� of the
The attacks of 9/11 and the subsequent �war on terror� continue postmodern Apocalypse use and share the information they
to provide the rationale for an ever-expanding domestic security gather.
system. This system consists of five distinct but increasingly
integrated entities. First and foremost, this surveillance net http://www.nytimes.com/2013/12/09/technology/tech-giants-issue-call-for-
limits-on-government-surveillance-of-users.html?_r=0
consist of the federal bureaucracy anchored in the NSA but also
including its network of �customers � ranging from the White
The scope and scale of surveillance, tracking, monitoring and
House to the CIA, DOD, DOJ/FBI, DHS and IRS, among others.
even espionage against ordinary Americans – let alone
Second are the 50 individual states and innumerable local law
�terrorists� and �criminals� – by law enforcement and
enforcement entities (e.g., NYPD) with their own security
commercial entities is enormous. The following five profiles --
apparatuses. Third involves corporate use of private security
with but one or two representative illustrations -- sketch out the
firms to snoop – and much more -- whistleblowers, journalists,
parameters of the new info-gathering paradigm. Taken together,
activist citizens group and competitors. Fourth involve the
they illustrate the widening and increasingly integrated networks
leading high-tech companies (e.g., Google, Microsoft, Facebook)
of a postmodern surveillance society.
and data aggregators (e.g., Acxiom, ChoicePoint, Equifax) that
acquire digital information for commercial purposes. And, fifth,
#1. Federal surveillance
the nation� s leading telecom companies – AT&T, Verizon, etc.
-- who gladly supply the personal digital data of their customers
The most Kafkaesque example of federal tracking efforts is
to federal authorities and use proprietary customer data for their
the DHS� Transportation and Safety Administration� s (TSA)
own commercial ends. Together, they represent the five
No-Fly List. As of May 2011, it was estimated to contain about
horsemen of Security, Privacy, Competition, Identity and
20,000 names. The list�s inherent absurdity was illustrated when,
Communications.
some years before his death, Sen. Ted Kennedy discovered he
(as �T. Kennedy �) was on the list. The No Fly List is shared with
Conventional analysis treats these five domains of information
22 foreign governments.The No-Fly List is administered by the
processing as separate and distinct; government agencies focus
Terrorist Screening Center (TSC) which cannot reveal whether
on security issues while corporate entities are concerned with
a particular person is on the list, nor does it have the authority
the commercial marketplace. Some overlap can be expected as,
to remove someone from the list -- that's up to the FBI. The TSC
for example, in case of a terrorist threat or an online banking
also manages what is known as the Terrorist Watch List. Also
fraud. In both cases, an actual crime might be involved.

CYBER DEFENSE MAGAZINE - ANNUAL EDITION 78