-Caveat Lector- http://sun.soci.niu.edu/~crypt/ A refreshing blast of critically cold air from cyberspace, class... ------------------------------------------------------------ Crypt Newsletter's First Law of Cyberwar: Cyberwar is Hell, but never so hellish it can't be used as convenient advertising. >From the Fall 1998 course catalog at George Washington University comes this little gem of better education through fear as a sales tool: IAFF 202.15 Cyber Threats to National Security 9/27-10/29 Tuesday 6:10-8:00pm/Harry Lesser and Jim Christy If you can read this, you are vulnerable. So is everything we take for granted in our prosperous, secure, information-age society: the banking system, the power grid, our military might and much more. This course covers the broad range of cyber threats, from the common criminal seeking to empty your pockets electronically to the terrorist or rogue nation seeking to cause widespread death and destruction. The course covers defenses and counters against cyber threats, and the efforts being made by government and the private sector to bolster their cyber defenses. Taught for persons with basic familiarity with computers, you can either take this course or risk being road kill on the information superhighway. Take this course or risk being roadkill on the information superhighway. Hmmmm. Been run over, lately? Other relevant links: Jim Christy, the instructor for this course, was working in the Air Force Office of Special Investigations when it went after the infamous Air Force Rome Labs hackers in 1994. Read about how it went. About the Crypt Newsletter. Back to Crypt Newsletter Send a comment: George Smith, Editor About Crypt Newsletter: Crypt Newsletter is unique. I've tried to think of other publications like it and there aren't any. So when someone asks "What's the Crypt Newsletter like?" I usually answer, "It's like the Crypt Newsletter. You have to read it." Which is what you are doing or you wouldn't be here. For those who desire a brief history: Crypt Newsletter has been on the Web since sometime in 1994 when Jim Thomas, editor of Computer underground Digest, made space for me on the computers of Northern Illinois University's Depart of Sociology. Jim's generosity (for which I'm endlessly grateful -- Crypt Newsletter wouldn't exist without CuD) came on or slightly before the publication of "The Virus Creation Labs" which, more or less, was the fruit of the research I put into the first twenty issues. And I've been here -- in virtual space, anyway -- ever since. Crypt Newsletter started life as an electronic mail and bulletin board system distributed publication in 1992. So, as for cyberspace journalism, Crypt Newsletter is older than most. Translated: Been here, done that, if you don't see it, Crypt News tried it and tossed the idea or wore it out long ago. Is there a FAQ? No. FAQs are an Internet invention, largely superfluous sops thrown to those who lack the sense to pour urine from a boot even when the instructions are printed on the heel. Are you in need of something like that? Of course not. Anyway, Crypt Newsletter has been issued regularly every two months with shorter special editions sent to the subscription list on a weekly or monthly basis depending upon availability of interesting material. In the real world, Crypt Newsletter is written and edited in Pasadena, California. If you've been reading material on the Website you already know the newsletter has a strong and extremely critical point of view. I make the assumption that Crypt Newsletter regulars don't like watered-down material arbitrarily made that way because some editor has glommed onto the patronizing idea that those Americans who read their news must be addressed as if they are intellectual children. And they are readers who don't have much patience for "edutainment," "infotainment," or any variety of ". . . tainment" that smudges the distinction between scientific fact and fiction for the sake of a sexy lead that resembles the opening paragraph of a potential movie script. I figure that such readers have a pretty sharp appreciation for critical analysis, too. In other words, readers won't stomach phlogiston. As a consequence, readership has gone slowly but steadily upward. In 1995, the Crypt News Website averaged 175-250 readers per day. Now, it fluctuates between 700-1000 readers/day on weekdays, mostly during U.S. business hours. Weekend statistics fluctuate wildly, perhaps dependent upon how nice the weather averages out to throughout the continental U.S. How do others describe the Crypt Newsletter? Well, here's a recent blurb from the San Jose Mercury News' On-line minister of information, John Murrell. Thanks, John! "The presentation is Spartan, but George Smith's Crypt Newsletter home page offers plenty to entertain and exasperate those who insist on at least a modicum of fact, accuracy and clear thinking in their tech news. The newsletter deals with different sorts of myths -- about computer viruses, secret mind-control weapons, network security, etc., and also takes delight in skewering half-baked reporting on such issues in the popular media." And here are a few even more recent samples: "As those familiar with George Smith's work would expect, [he] is timely and provocative . . ." -- Michael Vatis, Asst. Director of the FBI and Director, National Infrastructure Protection Center. "[Crypt News] is a debunker of the first water who fearlessly fights against the stuporous and the stupid." -- Linton Weeks, Net Navigator, The Washington Post. On Crypt Newsletter's coverage of the mythos of electromagnetic pulse gun threats to computer networks: "This is great stuff." -- Dorothy Denning, computer science guru, Georgetown University. On yet another lacerating Crypt Newsletter analysis: "Once again you have done a fine job documenting a pile of . . . hokum. -- Gene Spafford, Net security don, Purdue University. And generally speaking: "Excellent, as usual . . . no, actually unusually excellent." -- John Pike, Federation of American Scientists. "I can't tell you how much I appreciate Crypt Newsletter when it arrives. I almost feel like an insider when I read it. It certainly makes me sneer at any news reports out of the computer industry or the military industrial complex." -- Floyd Kemske, author of "The Virtual Boss." ". . . priceless!" -- Lewis Z. Koch, intrepid free-lance journalist. "Again, hats off for the interesting and educational work." -- Tom Ricks, Wall Street Journal. "The Crypt Newsletter is difficult to describe but worth a visit. It positions itself as an antidote for media fear-mongering about viruses, hackers, and infowar. It persuasively argues that these things are generally much smaller threats than they are made out to be by ignorant journalists and self-interested consultants and vendors." -- Ziff-Davis Learning Technology Highlights Crypt Newsletter or its editor have also been cited in numerous sources. Some of them have included Forbes, Rocky Mountain News, Scientific American, USA Today, Science magazine, Aviation Week & Space Technology, Newsday, Der Spiegel, The Age (Melbourne, Australia), the Manchester Guardian, CNET, WIRED, Brian McWilliams' PC World On-line RealTime audio radio show, Federal Computer Week, the Wall Street Journal, Defense News, the Federation of American Scientists' Secrecy & Government Project (also recommended Crypt Newsletter as an intelligence source "hotsite"), The Sydney Morning Herald, the National Computer Security Association's magazine and SPIN. For more Crypt-oid style, I have also written regularly on subjects dear to the heart of our readers for the Netly News on TIME Inc's Pathfinder site -- as well as other publications. I'm available for speaking engagements, too. Contacting Crypt Newsletter -- George Smith Crypt News 1635 Wagner St. Pasadena, CA 91106 ph: 626-568-1748 Relevant links. · A slice from "The Virus Creation Labs." · Back to Crypt Newsletter Feedback: George Smith, Editor DECLARATION & DISCLAIMER ========== CTRL is a discussion and informational exchange list. Proselyzting propagandic screeds are not allowed. Substance—not soapboxing! These are sordid matters and 'conspiracy theory', with its many half-truths, misdirections and outright frauds is used politically by different groups with major and minor effects spread throughout the spectrum of time and thought. That being said, CTRL gives no endorsement to the validity of posts, and always suggests to readers; be wary of what you read. CTRL gives no credeence to Holocaust denial and nazi's need not apply. Let us please be civil and as always, Caveat Lector. ======================================================================== Archives Available at: http://home.ease.lsoft.com/archives/CTRL.html http:[EMAIL PROTECTED]/ ======================================================================== To subscribe to Conspiracy Theory Research List[CTRL] send email: SUBSCRIBE CTRL [to:] [EMAIL PROTECTED] To UNsubscribe to Conspiracy Theory Research List[CTRL] send email: SIGNOFF CTRL [to:] [EMAIL PROTECTED] Om
