"Every great magic trick consists of three parts or acts. The first part is called "The Pledge." The magician shows you something ordinary: a deck of cards, a bird or a man. He shows you this object. Perhaps he asks you to inspect it to see if it is indeed real, unaltered, normal. But of course... it probably isn't. The second act is called "The Turn." The magician takes the … [Read more...] about The Fusion Analyst: An intro to all source intelligence and analysis
Coriolanus Articles
Op-Ed: Mythos, logos, and sexual harassment in the information security profession
According to many historians, the "Greek miracle" of a polis was achieved as a result of a cultural transition from mythos to logos. That is the transition of a culture based on myths to one of reason. It was on logos on which society was born in Greek culture. But myths didn't die, they just took a second seat. Even today we have myths. Myths have positive and negative … [Read more...] about Op-Ed: Mythos, logos, and sexual harassment in the information security profession
Lesson in self-denial: How Glen Greenwald recontextualizes & profits off Snowden’s leaked documents
A little preface: To say I dislike Edward Snowden and Glen Greenwald is putting my feelings mildly. I think about the years leading up to this point and it draws out an ire that borders on fury. I was politely asked to write an article covering a facet of this, and I felt that I could not legitimately cover the topic without providing an underlying framework from which to … [Read more...] about Lesson in self-denial: How Glen Greenwald recontextualizes & profits off Snowden’s leaked documents
Empty chessboards: Rethinking the military intelligence apparatus
This shit is chess. It ain't checkers. - Alonzo Harris, Training Day Bottom Line Up Front: This is a rebuttal to "Fixing Intel: A Blueprint for Making Intelligence Relevant in Afghanistan"(Flynn 2010), and includes my own assertions regarding military intelligence. This post is a series of observations based on my own experience within the community (spanning more than a … [Read more...] about Empty chessboards: Rethinking the military intelligence apparatus
Sailors’ personally identifiable information stolen by Ricky Ninja
On October 27, 2016, an unknown person or persons of interest stole 134,386 names and social security numbers of US Navy sailors from a laptop of a contractor working for Hewlett Packard and under contract by the Navy. The exfiltrated data derives from the Career Waypoints database (C-WAY). The C-WAY database is used to for re-enlistment submission and request for Navy … [Read more...] about Sailors’ personally identifiable information stolen by Ricky Ninja
China’s New Social Credit System is a Tool for Population Control
What Orwell feared were those who would ban books. What Huxley feared was that there would be no reason to ban a book, for there would be no one who wanted to read one. Orwell feared those who would deprive us of information. Huxley feared those who would give us so much that we would be reduced to passivity and egoism. Orwell feared that the truth would be concealed from us. … [Read more...] about China’s New Social Credit System is a Tool for Population Control
Chinese Information Dominance: Encircling America with Weaponized Technology
“They want to be the agents, not the victims, of history. They identify with God's power and believe they are godlike. That is their basic madness. They are overcome by some archetype; their egos have expanded psychotically so that they cannot tell where they begin and the godhead leaves off. It is not hubris, not pride; it is inflation of the ego to its ultimate—confusion … [Read more...] about Chinese Information Dominance: Encircling America with Weaponized Technology
How Glen Greenwald Recontextualizes & Profits Off Snowden’s Leaked Documents
A little preface: To say I dislike Edward Snowden and Glen Greenwald is putting my feelings mildly. I think about the years leading up to this point and it draws out an ire that borders on fury. I was politely asked to write an article covering a facet of this, and I felt that I could not legitimately cover the topic without providing an underlying framework from which to … [Read more...] about How Glen Greenwald Recontextualizes & Profits Off Snowden’s Leaked Documents
The Harmonious Fist of China: Artifacts
The term "artifact" has at least two meanings: From a technical perspective, an artifact is an unintentional pattern in data, arising from processes of collection and management. From a cultural perspective, an artifact is a designed object, with a social and material history. -Yanni Loukissas As I laid out in the first part of this series, a large component of the Chinese … [Read more...] about The Harmonious Fist of China: Artifacts
The Harmonious Fist Of China: Twenty Years of Strategy In The Making
The artifice on which every intra-state relationship with the People's Republic of China (PRC) stands is: "In China, 'win-win" means China wins twice." There have been a few articles on the PRC here on SOFREP. I recently worked on a project that dealt with this, and thus my decision to write on it was appropriately supplanted by my own concerns for OPSEC. This changed with … [Read more...] about The Harmonious Fist Of China: Twenty Years of Strategy In The Making
Government Hackers, Console Cowboys, The Tech Model Railroad Club, and the Dark Web Part 2
So to recap, Part 1 of this subject covered the deep web and its relationship to analytics, and the dark web and its relationship to nefarious activity in brief. As part of this week's fun, I thought I would introduce you to Daisake Inoue. I met him several years ago at a VisWeek conference and was impressed with a design he and his team created. Daisake created a system called … [Read more...] about Government Hackers, Console Cowboys, The Tech Model Railroad Club, and the Dark Web Part 2
Govt. Hackers, Console Cowboys, The Tech Model Railroad Club & The Dark Web Part 1
This article spawns from a conversation on the nature of the "Deep Web" and/or the "Dark Web," and what is the difference and why. The "why" is "Why does it matter to me the reader?" It should. It's your Internet. To quote William Gibson in Neuromancer: "Cyberspace. A consensual hallucination experienced daily by billions of legitimate operators, in every nation, by … [Read more...] about Govt. Hackers, Console Cowboys, The Tech Model Railroad Club & The Dark Web Part 1