Raveen wrote: What nonsense - if they want their own security so be it, how does it bother you?
If they want they can keep them in embassy perimeter not in some farm house. But the question is will they allow ITBP to guard our embassy in US of A.
Raveen wrote: What nonsense - if they want their own security so be it, how does it bother you?
to keep it covert . maybe the present embassy can't house many.ravip wrote:Raveen wrote: What nonsense - if they want their own security so be it, how does it bother you?
If they want they can keep them in embassy perimeter not in some farm house. But the question is will they allow ITBP to guard our embassy in US of A.
Update: It was a hoax. Some kind of comic book launch. (WTF?)vaibhav.n wrote:Nothing surprising.......all hoopla about nothing...Cobrap#st is a known congi cat.
It is common knowledge, most western embassies will maintain back-up rally sites for crisis evac/disaster response for their own personnel. Even during the recent Yemen episode no Delta were present inspite of friction with the Shia Houthi's, same for Benghazi too. Delta boys won't involve themselves in such mundane matters. The Marines wont allow no one to p$ss in their turf.
Guess what, even we have BSF chaps at Indian Embassy to provide security across the western world.
By the same standards, even Para SF has been deployed in Indian Embassies in the past. They are all declared personnel and cannot be touched as such.
If I am not mistaken, the Indian Embassy at Kabul or Jalalabad (or one of the major cities in Afghanistan) was guarded by one of the CPMF organisations, most likely ITBP. There was an attack on this embasy, and the people who faced the brunt of the attack were jawans from the Para Military forces.xave wrote:Embassies and consulates are treated as sovereign land of the country that operates them. U.S embassies and consulates are secured by armed marines, i am sure there wont be any legal restriction is having the ITBP guarding our embassies anywhere since it is sovereign land of Bharat.
Kaspersky Labs, a Moscow-based cyber security company, said it had uncovered the spying software in computers that were used in 30 countries, including Iran, Pakistan, Russia and China, which have long been priorities for US intelligence agencies.
Without accusing the National Security Agency of being the source of the new malware, Kaspersky researchers indirectly suggested that the tools were devised by the US.
Some of the surveillance tools had been hidden deep inside the hard drives of computers made by companies such as Toshiba, Western Digital, Seagate and IBM, the Russian company said.
SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - The U.S. National Security Agency has figured out how to hide spying software deep within hard drives made by Western Digital, Seagate, Toshiba and other top manufacturers, giving the agency the means to eavesdrop on the majority of the world's computers, according to cyber researchers and former operatives.
That long-sought and closely guarded ability was part of a cluster of spying programs discovered by Kaspersky Lab, the Moscow-based security software maker that has exposed a series of Western cyberespionage operations.
Kaspersky said it found personal computers in 30 countries infected with one or more of the spying programs, with the most infections seen in Iran, followed by Russia, Pakistan, Afghanistan, China, Mali, Syria, Yemen and Algeria. The targets included government and military institutions, telecommunication companies, banks, energy companies, nuclear researchers, media, and Islamic activists, Kaspersky said.
The firm declined to publicly name the country behind the spying campaign, but said it was closely linked to Stuxnet, the NSA-led cyberweapon that was used to attack Iran's uranium enrichment facility. The NSA is the U.S. agency responsible for gathering electronic intelligence.
A former NSA employee told Reuters that Kaspersky's analysis was correct, and that people still in the spy agency valued these espionage programs as highly as Stuxnet. Another former intelligence operative confirmed that the NSA had developed the prized technique of concealing spyware in hard drives, but said he did not know which spy efforts relied on it.
NSA spokeswoman Vanee Vines said the agency was aware of the Kaspersky report but would not comment on it publicly.
Kaspersky on Monday published the technical details of its research on Monday, a move that could help infected institutions detect the spying programs, some of which trace back as far as 2001.
The disclosure could hurt the NSA's surveillance abilities, already damaged by massive leaks by former contractor Edward Snowden. Snowden's revelations have upset some U.S. allies and slowed the sales of U.S. technology products abroad.
The exposure of these new spying tools could lead to greater backlash against Western technology, particularly in countries such as China, which is already drafting regulations that would require most bank technology suppliers to proffer copies of their software code for inspection.
Peter Swire, one of five members of U.S. President Barack Obama's Review Group on Intelligence and Communications Technology, said the Kaspersky report showed that it is essential for the country to consider the possible impact on trade and diplomatic relations before deciding to use its knowledge of software flaws for intelligence gathering.
"There can be serious negative effects on other U.S. interests," Swire said.
TECHNOLOGICAL BREAKTHROUGH
According to Kaspersky, the spies made a technological breakthrough by figuring out how to lodge malicious software in the obscure code called firmware that launches every time a computer is turned on.
Disk drive firmware is viewed by spies and cybersecurity experts as the second-most valuable real estate on a PC for a hacker, second only to the BIOS code invoked automatically as a computer boots up.
"The hardware will be able to infect the computer over and over," lead Kaspersky researcher Costin Raiu said in an interview.
Though the leaders of the still-active espionage campaign could have taken control of thousands of PCs, giving them the ability to steal files or eavesdrop on anything they wanted, the spies were selective and only established full remote control over machines belonging to the most desirable foreign targets, according to Raiu. He said Kaspersky found only a few especially high-value computers with the hard-drive infections.
Kaspersky's reconstructions of the spying programs show that they could work in disk drives sold by more than a dozen companies, comprising essentially the entire market. They include Western Digital Corp, Seagate Technology Plc, Toshiba Corp, IBM, Micron Technology Inc and Samsung Electronics Co Ltd.
Western Digital, Seagate and Micron said they had no knowledge of these spying programs. Toshiba and Samsung declined to comment. IBM did not respond to requests for comment.
GETTING THE SOURCE CODE
Raiu said the authors of the spying programs must have had access to the proprietary source code that directs the actions of the hard drives. That code can serve as a roadmap to vulnerabilities, allowing those who study it to launch attacks much more easily.
"There is zero chance that someone could rewrite the [hard drive] operating system using public information," Raiu said.
Concerns about access to source code flared after a series of high-profile cyberattacks on Google Inc and other U.S. companies in 2009 that were blamed on China. Investigators have said they found evidence that the hackers gained access to source code from several big U.S. tech and defense companies.
It is not clear how the NSA may have obtained the hard drives' source code. Western Digital spokesman Steve Shattuck said the company "has not provided its source code to government agencies." The other hard drive makers would not say if they had shared their source code with the NSA.
Seagate spokesman Clive Over said it has "secure measures to prevent tampering or reverse engineering of its firmware and other technologies." Micron spokesman Daniel Francisco said the company took the security of its products seriously and "we are not aware of any instances of foreign code."
According to former intelligence operatives, the NSA has multiple ways of obtaining source code from tech companies, including asking directly and posing as a software developer. If a company wants to sell products to the Pentagon or another sensitive U.S. agency, the government can request a security audit to make sure the source code is safe.
"They don't admit it, but they do say, 'We're going to do an evaluation, we need the source code,'" said Vincent Liu, a partner at security consulting firm Bishop Fox and former NSA analyst. "It's usually the NSA doing the evaluation, and it's a pretty small leap to say they're going to keep that source code."
The NSA declined to comment on any allegations in the Kaspersky report. Vines said the agency complies with the law and White House directives to protect the United States and its allies "from a wide array of serious threats."
Kaspersky called the authors of the spying program "the Equation group," named after their embrace of complex encryption formulas.
The group used a variety of means to spread other spying programs, such as by compromising jihadist websites, infecting USB sticks and CDs, and developing a self-spreading computer worm called Fanny, Kaspersky said.
Fanny was like Stuxnet in that it exploited two of the same undisclosed software flaws, known as "zero days," which strongly suggested collaboration by the authors, Raiu said. He added that it was "quite possible" that the Equation group used Fanny to scout out targets for Stuxnet in Iran and spread the virus.
(Reporting by Joseph Menn; Editing by Tiffany Wu)
ignorance is indeed bliss.sarang wrote:How bad India compromised?
This took the cake away........... Wonder who is the Editor who did a fictional story.....How the Government Was Punked
NEW DELHI, INDIA: Government officials were in a spin on Monday afternoon. A web portal which has in the past conducted sting operations, had announced a press conference the next day promising a big expose.
The flier it sent out hinted at an international terror network operating out of Delhi, rogue intelligence officials, an Afghan minister laundering money through India, covert operations of the CIA and the US Delta Force on Indian soil. And the Prime Minister's Office being kept in the dark.
On Tuesday, the portal, Cobrapost, unveiled all of that. In a well-produced comic book.
It had used its reputation as an investigative portal of sorts to take the Mickey out of the media and the government. Here is an account of what happened in the government on Monday.
Early afternoon, Ministry of Home Affairs: Reporters rushed into a senior bureaucrat's room, flier in hand. After a quick examination, the official made a call to the Intelligence Bureau: "Have you guys any idea what this is all about?"
"No idea, we are checking," was the answer. The IB's apparent lack of knowledge only increased the suspense. Officials also called the editor of the web portal; he was tight-lipped.
Late afternoon, at the Ministry again: The mystery had deepened. Calls flew from one end of the government to the other. The flier had found its way to the table of the Director of the Intelligence Bureau. A taciturn, diminutive man with grey hair who has spent many hours in his long career finding a way out of intractable situations as he matches disparate pieces of information, the DIB wasn't amused. The matter was referred to the super secretive counter-intelligence wing.
"Can they figure out anything?" The answer, apparently not.
A check with the Ministry of Defence revealed that India's special forces do exercise with the US Delta Force but it is never advertised or talked about. Could it have been a rogue operation?
Early Evening, the Home Ministry: Officials, unable to fathom what could hit the Government the next morning, informed the Union Home Secretary - the second most powerful bureaucrat in the country. Soon it would reach the Home Minister's office.
Simultaneously, phones were constantly ringing at the Research and Analysis Wing (RA&W) Headquarters, housed in a white 10-storey building in a secluded location in south Delhi. "Who could the Afghan Minister be?" It sounded far-fetched, but the chief, the Secretary RA&W was nonetheless informed.
A call made this morning - after the comic book was released - to a senior official was not answered. But a text message soon arrived - a smiley and a cuss word.
A leading Hindi newspaper had done a front page story on the basis of the press invite sent by Cobrapost claiming that terrorists used a prominent club to meet senior bureaucrats while several reporters had listed the event as prime story of the day who immediately came out of the conference to tell their offices this was a spoof.
The dejection among the journalists was palpable with a senior reporter telling Bahal that next time no one will turn up on his invitations.
ITBP is deployed in Afghanistan to provide protection to embassies and consulates there. And yes they were involved in defending during the many attacks there by ISI. The original question asked by Ravip was whether the USA will accept Indian guards. My answer is that there is no legal way for them or anyone else to stop us from deploying guards to what is essentially our territory.Sachin wrote: If I am not mistaken, the Indian Embassy at Kabul or Jalalabad (or one of the major cities in Afghanistan) was guarded by one of the CPMF organisations, most likely ITBP. There was an attack on this embasy, and the people who faced the brunt of the attack were jawans from the Para Military forces.
GoI can allow them a farmhouse/piece of land in Chattarpur as a detached annex to the US embassy therefore the marines stationed there would be legal since it would be US land. Either way, this is speculation and your reaction was baseless.ravip wrote:Raveen wrote: What nonsense - if they want their own security so be it, how does it bother you?
If they want they can keep them in embassy perimeter not in some farm house. But the question is will they allow ITBP to guard our embassy in US of A.
For the first time in its history, the Intelligence Bureau (IB) has created a separate desk for China, which till now was being handled with 20 other countries. It will function directly under National Security Advisor Ajit Doval, who is also the special representative on border talks with China.
Though the main task of gathering information regarding China rests mainly with the Research and Analysis Wing, the creation of a separate desk for China speaks of the heightened importance the NDA government puts on activities of the neighbouring country, including incursions along the Line of Actual Control (LAC).
Deliberations on creating a separate desk had been on since the NDA government came to power. The China desk is being headed by a joint director and has separate political and security wings.
“In some places along the LAC, we are the only (official presence). Though there are security forces present, we wanted to create a robust intelligence gathering mechanism,” said a top IB official. Syed Asif Ibrahim, under whose tenure as IB chief the China desk was created, says, “It was done to focus on border areas where the IB is the first line of defence.”
Apart from the IB, the Indo Tibetan Border Police and Army also collect intelligence along the border. “Sometimes we get conflicting reports from border areas and having another agency helps get unadulterated information,” said an IB official.
Recently the Home Ministry had promised to take steps to encourage Chinese investments in India. The Ministry of External Affairs had requested for the same to ease security clearances for Chinese firms.
This was probably one of IB's more sensitive CI operations. Full blown war between the PMO and Reliance/Cong is happening right in front of us.Government swoops on 'corporate spies': Intelligence Bureau detains staff from at least eight ministries over classified papers leak
By MAIL TODAY BUREAU
PUBLISHED: 21:58 GMT, 19 February 2015 | UPDATED: 21:58 GMT, 19 February 2015
Raided: Gopal Dass Bhavan in Connaught Place, New Delhi
A sheet of paper carelessly left behind in a photocopier has blown the cover off one of India’s biggest corporate spying scandals.
The crackdown on the ubiquitous malpractice that thrived during the UPA’s regimes is a significant success for the NDA government.
A surveillance operation was mounted by the Intelligence Bureau (IB) after the chance discovery of a classified paper.
Later handed over to the Crime Branch of Delhi Police, the probe led to the arrest of five persons by Wednesday night. Twelve other persons have been detained.
Those arrested include two employees of the Petroleum Ministry, Ishwar Singh and Asharam, and the latter’s sons Lalta Prasad (36), his brother Rakesh Kumar (30).
The fifth arrested man has been identified as Raj Kumar Chaubey, who was with the sons when they were apprehended outside Shastri Bhavan.
Among those detained are an employee of the Mukesh Ambani-led Reliance Industries Ltd (RIL) and a journalist running a petro news-related website.
Besides RIL, four other top corporates with interests in the oil and gas sector are on the government’s radar. Officials in some of these suspect companies have also been subjected to grilling by five police teams, though nothing of import has been found on them.
Following the surveillance launched by the IB on Tuesday, the north India headquarters of RIL at Gopal Dass Bhavan in Connaught Place was raided at 4pm on Wednesday. From the reception area, four police officers swiftly moved into the office of a suspect.
Search warrant
Armed with a search warrant, they quietly shut the door from the inside and started searching the premises and interrogating him. The team detained him after finding incriminating documents in the room.
The next stop was the dotcom journalist’s address, from where he was picked up at night. During sustained interrogation, he is said to have broken down and admitted to his role in the leak.
Meanwhile, the Centre has launched a massive investigation into the alleged leak of top-secret documents to certain independent consultants and energy companies in what seems to be a clear case of corporate espionage.
Sources in the government feel the crackdown signals a major relief for foreign investors who were wary of getting their secret data leaked to Indian corporate entities.
Petroleum Minister Dharmendra Pradhan said his ministry’s arrested employees - Asharam and Ishwar Singh - would face strong action.
“Police are probing the case. The government will come down hard on the guilty,” he said.
Corporate lobbyist
On whether any corporate lobbyist could be involved, the minister said it was up to the police to investigate.
“The government was conscious… agencies are investigating. They will come out with full facts,” he added.
Pradhan said the leak was a serious issue.
“CCTV cameras have recently been installed in the ministry,” he emphasised.
But Lalta Prasad and Rakesh Kumar managed to disable the cameras at Shastri Bhavan during the two hours they were inside the high-security building to photostate secret government papers.
Meanwhile, the Mukesh Ambani-led RIL, which is locked in several arbitration cases with the Petroleum Ministry, has stated that it has launched a “robust internal probe” into the detention of one of its personnel.
“It has been brought to our notice that an employee has been detained by the law-enforcement authorities. We are unaware of more details. As per the SOP (standard operating procedure), a robust internal probe is underway,” a company official said.
“The matter is under investigation as per law and RIL will cooperate in every possible manner. No information…in the said ministry is of commercial consequence to us. We are in arbitration and our only expectation is an expeditious resolution in line with our legal rights and contentions,” he added.
Delhi Police Commissioner B. S. Bassi said a trap was laid at Shastri Bhavan following a tip-off.
“Lalta and Rakesh went inside Shastri Bhavan while Chaubey kept sitting in his Indigo car, which had a fake government sticker. When the brothers returned after two hours, all three were apprehended,” Joint Commissioner (Crime Branch) Ravindra Yadav said.
“The secret documents were obtained by individuals linked to companies operating in the energy sector. Ishwar Singh and Asharam used to leak classified papers for monetary considerations. The accused will be charged under Official Secret Act,” Bassi added.
The police said the ministry’s employees had been leaking sensitive information for almost two years for Rs 1,500 to Rs 20,000 depending on the document’s importance.
NCR can expect more raids
By Mail Today Bureau in New Delhi
Employees of around nine ministries are under scanner for providing classified information and documents to various companies and individuals.
According to sources, the five people arrested for sharing classified documents have told investigators that several government officials have been constantly in touch with executives of various corporate houses.
“Ministries of mines, coals and corporate affairs, among others, are under scanner and it is possible that the Delhi Police will soon arrest more government officials. During interrogation, arrested employees of the Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas (MoPNG), Asharam and Ishwar Singh, said several ministry officials were in touch with firms and individuals,” a senior police official told Mail Today.
According to sources, the Delhi Police will conduct more raids in the Delhi-NCR in the coming days.
“The Delhi Police has made five teams led by inspectors to raid not only offices of those arrested but also their residences,” the source added.
The Delhi Police has recovered a number of tender-related documents after conducting raids in corporate offices on Wednesday and Thursday.
Besides that, the police seized documents, pen drives and laptops from the office of a private company working in the petrochemical industry.
According to sources, the government was apparently already aware that some corporate lobbyists might be involved in espionage.
“If the documents fall under the purview of the Official Secrets Act, then the relevant Sections will also be imposed,” the police officer said.
During the interrogation, it was revealed that the stolen documents were being sold to individuals of private energy consultancy companies as well as to those in the petrochemical and energy industry.
The accused persons allegedly charged between Rs 1,500 and Rs 20,000 to provide these documents to firms and individuals.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/indiahome/in ... z3SIsvkkCa
-AnkitThe massive crackdown on corporate espionage in crucial ministries was the result of a four-month-long investigation conducted by the intelligence agencies at the behest of national security adviser Ajit Doval.
Doval raised an alarm over the frequent reporting of classified matters in the media. A TV channel's report saying the Prime Minister was shown images of INS Arihant, a nuclear submarine, at a DRDO function proved to be the last straw, said sources. He then asked RAW to initiate action,.....
ramana wrote:Google search with key words Arihant, News Channel, August 20, 2014 turns up numeorus hits with NDTV. There is even a youtube video
See comments on this facebook page
https://www.facebook.com/ndtv/posts/10152634223445798
looks like NDTV should be prosecuted for possessing classified material and the reporters sent to jail.
Thats what they will get in US.
Burned by the INC how ?SaiK wrote: i'd not dismiss anyone at this time, however. we have done that, and got burned by INC.
A must watch. terrifying. bullet points from the interviewSaiK wrote:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=02DH_Y94M0E
Former RAW Officer RSN Singh Exposed Arvind Kejriwal's Anti-National Activities
a must watch
Finance Minister Morarji Desai’s antipathy to Krishna Menon was garnished by his belief that India, the land of ahimsa, should not spend big on military paraphernalia. He even considered spying as immoral. By cutting down on budgets, he reduced India’s intelligence agency, RAW, to a skeleton. In line with his moral posture, he told Pakistan’s Zia-ul-Haq about Pakistani agents working for RAW. The under-cover agents were shot. Morarji became the only Indian national to receive Pakistan’s highest civilian honour, the Nishan-e-Pakistan.
The gent suddenly popped out of nowhere and with the propitious help of a motivated media/international NGOs/international church groups (including the POTUS)/islamic fatwas becomes CM of dilli, not once but twice??Sid wrote:^^^ What a load of crap. I personally don't like AK, but stating he got links with Dawood!! What is this guy smoking?
But I won't be amused if he is being used by some higher powers for their vested interested. AK is too narrow minded in his agenda to notice anything.
he gent suddenly popped out of nowhere and with the propitious help of a motivated media/international NGOs/international church groups (including the POTUS)/islamic fatwas becomes CM of dilli, not once but twice??
and we see nothing wrong of suspicious in this?? Has such a thing ever happened before??
maybe we should simply invite the east India company to return pronto and then just lie down and die quietly.
This guy is known to invent conspiracy theories, he was complaining about foreign funding of AAP but the successive GOI both UPA and NDA have filed affidavit in Delhi High Court that there is no wrong in foreign funding of AAP.Sid wrote:^^^ What a load of crap. I personally don't like AK, but stating he got links with Dawood!! What is this guy smoking?
But I won't be amused if he is being used by some higher powers for their vested interested. AK is too narrow minded in his agenda to notice anything.
From the news reports I saw (last week), the investigation initiated by the previous government found AAP funds to be going above the radar. The investigations (if any) started after the ex-AAP people revealed some information is yet to conclude. AAP was crying for an apology from BJP, but that did not get any great publicity - perhaps because of the "previous government" angle?ravip wrote:This guy is known to invent conspiracy theories, he was complaining about foreign funding of AAP but the successive GOI both UPA and NDA have filed affidavit in Delhi High Court that there is no wrong in foreign funding of AAP.
You are wrong on making the statement that Arvind popped out from nowhere. He is into this dharna or agitation in delhi since 1995, even when he was a serving IRS officer through a NGO called 'Parivartan', which he established along with Manish Sisiodia in the 1995. Only after watching this video i got to know about him, even i was under the impression that he became the CM with less effort and time unlike others who toil their life for it.chetak wrote:The gent suddenly popped out of nowhere and with the propitious help of a motivated media/international NGOs/international church groups (including the POTUS)/islamic fatwas becomes CM of dilli, not once but twice??Sid wrote:^^^ What a load of crap. I personally don't like AK, but stating he got links with Dawood!! What is this guy smoking?
But I won't be amused if he is being used by some higher powers for their vested interested. AK is too narrow minded in his agenda to notice anything.
and we see nothing wrong of suspicious in this?? Has such a thing ever happened before??
maybe we should simply invite the east India company to return pronto and then just lie down and die quietly.
The investigation about the AVAM disclosure has been initiated by the present GOI, it is yet to conclude. However of the four transactions, as claimed by AVAM, one owner has turned out and has given the required documents about the same. Its just a matter of time which will establish the innocence or guilt of AAP, but however seeing precedents of 3 affidavits filed by GOI i guess it will also follow the same conclusion.http://www.timesnow.tv/Donors-drag-AVAM ... 473471.cmsSachin wrote:From the news reports I saw (last week), the investigation initiated by the previous government found AAP funds to be going above the radar. The investigations (if any) started after the ex-AAP people revealed some information is yet to conclude. AAP was crying for an apology from BJP, but that did not get any great publicity - perhaps because of the "previous government" angle?ravip wrote:This guy is known to invent conspiracy theories, he was complaining about foreign funding of AAP but the successive GOI both UPA and NDA have filed affidavit in Delhi High Court that there is no wrong in foreign funding of AAP.
Click to read more"If the OSA is invoked, police will have to prove that the leakage of the documents have hurt the "integrity of India" and "helped an enemy state", The Economic Times quoted a home ministry official as saying, adding that police has so far not approached the ministry on this issue.
It is only the previous govt that has "given him a clean chit". Considering how they collaborated with the aap in the formation of the first dilli govt, why am I not surprised??ravip wrote: Even after the GOI giving clean chit about his foreign funding you still indulge in casting aspersions without any hard facts to justify your statement.