Cypherpunk Bitstream

Cypherpunk Bitstream 0x05: Security I


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We talk about security and the current state of the security system (police, intelligence services, and the military).

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  • Show Notes
    What is security
    • 00:02:05 What is security: Security VS Safety.
      • Security: unexpected events that go back to an actor,
      • Safety: maintaining a status.
      • 00:07:20 Entropy: things decay. Security is not a natural state, but
      • must be maintained.
      • 00:09:10 Evil people: psychpaths, predators.
      • 00:09:50 Circumstances: acting irrationally.
      • 00:10:25 Hackers: Red Hats, joy of overcoming security systems.
      • 00:11:11 WASP Privilege: no exposure to threats, stuff works most of
      • the time, no incentive to learn about security.
        Systems
        • 00:12:29 High trust society VS low trust society: Low trust comes
        • with high cost and less functional societies.
        • 00:16:16 Symptoms of societies with low trust: different
        • environments are what make them.
        • 00:16:50 Universal core values of humans: self-preservation,
        • protecting family and friends, private zones, no drama.
        • 00:18:05 High trust society needs maintenance, will get eroded
        • quickly by few “bad actors”.
        • 00:19:05 How can you turn a low security, low trust environment into
        • a high security, high trust environment? Parallel developments also
          possible: high security, low trust societies.
        • 00:19:40 Trust builds from history of interactions.
        • 00:20:13 To change, bad memories must die (social memory). See
        • Thomas Kuhn (1962): The Structure of Scientific Revolutions
        • 00:22:10 Western states want to make people dependent on security
        • (stateism) and increase state control. Thus, individuals externalize
          security, and state is presented as the White Knight.
        • 00:25:15 Are we being played/gamed/manipulated by the state and
        • state actors?
        • 00:27:38 Just doing our jobs.
        • 00:29:50 Machiavellianism: concepts how states can work.
        • 00:31:20 Hegelian concepts: totalist and collectivist states and
        • politics.
        • 00:33:20 Look at systemic issues.
        • Institutions
          • 00:33:30 Inspecting institutions: 1) Police.
          • 00:39:00 Policemen’s selection bias: everyone is a potential
          • criminal or at least a suspect.
          • 00:40:20 Documentation work of police activity by example of firing
          • weapons.
          • 00:42:30 Bureaucracy can work.
          • 00:47:30 Police in uniform VS civilian police: both are for peace
          • preservation.
          • 00:48:00 Military is directed outwards.
          • 00:49:00 Carl von Clausewitz: war is the extension of politics
          • [original: war is the continuation of politics by other means].
          • 00:49:39 Border guards are the middle layer between military and
          • police (control of territorial boundaries VS maintaining territorial
            integrity VS maintain security within the borders).
            Intelligence services
            • 00:50:00 Intelligence services:
            • Classification: Intelligence service for proper and covert action
            • 00:51:00 Similarities and differences to Journalism: Are
            • intelligence services also ad-driven?
            • 00:51:48 Intelligence Agencies report only news that can be
            • actionable.
            • 00:53:40 Domestic and Foreign Intelligence Services.
            • 00:54:20 Objective reporting: Not mission driven, but report driven.
            • 00:54:41 Two classes of intelligence services: Report requests
            • coming out of intelligence circle, or mission driven services
              (Bundesverfassungsschutz, for example).
            • 00:56:30 FBI: police organization plus intelligence aspect.
            • 00:57:05 Intelligence services are about information, other services
            • are about action.
            • 00:57:40 Staatsschutz and German Intelligence: police is for prevent
            • and investigate crimes.
            • 00:59:05 Forensics is for police, subversive or maybe illegal
            • actions are for intelligence work. In Germany, it’s clearly
              seperated; in USA, not so much.
            • 01:02:15 CIA: Considered as Intelligence Agency. Gather information
            • is their mandate, not catch criminals.
            • 01:05:10 Sending in intelligence to change things: huge toolkit to
            • act available.
            • 01:05:50 Intelligence and Military Covert Actions are not Security,
            • but political action. However, it‘s a security issue for the other
              side.
              International organisations
              • 01:06:47 International Security Organizations (Europol, Interpol).
              • No police powers, limited investigation powers.
              • 01:08:45 Working groups: example SIS (communicating warrants in EU).
              • 01:09:58 Organizations: example Le Circle (high-ranking intelligence
              • chiefs), Munich Security Forum (conference with high-level security
                chiefs).
              • 01:15:00 Why is their image so skewed in the public? (The „Spy
              • Story“)
              • 01:18:00 Rubicon Series (2010)
              • 01:19:25 CSI Series (2000) - all about forensic analysis of crime
              • scenes, but in reality it‘s not the dominant part, only few
                questions can be answered.
              • 01:21:28 Playbook crime following the standard model VS outliers.
              • 01:22:55 Being secretive about methods means keeping the advantage
              • from opponents: intelligence agencies VS intelligence agencies from
                other countries; police VS criminals.
              • 01:23:40 Sources 1) Scientific Fields: Criminalistics, Criminology.
              • (Education Material for people that train police, manuals and
                coursework can be brought on Amazon, also check out libraries).
              • 01:25:34 Sources 2) Reports: Indictments, Warrants (a lot are
              • public, depending on country). Caveat: contains successes and legal
                processes only.
              • 01:27:08 Sources 3) Private Conversation with Policemen,
              • Investigators, Intelligence People to get a more accurate picture
                about their work.
                Public private partnerships
                • 01:29:39 Private Security Services.
                • 01:30:45 Cybercrime Investigations: Takedown of Cyberpunker 2 (200
                • servers in a German bunker).
                • 01:32:25 Private Companies helping the police in Cybercrime
                • Investigation.
                • 01:32:40 Analyzing digital evidence: Given to a lab from a private
                • company. (Cyberforensics, not done by police)
                • 01:34:18 White-Collar Crime: Fraud, Commercial Fraud cases etc.
                • Corporate Investigators for hire: Forensic Accountants, etc. (Police
                  work only for special investigator power, or force powers.)
                • 01:37:10 Corporations can use private security services when police
                • are bound legally (for example, in bribing), then sanatize the data
                  and give it to the police.
                • 01:41:28 Informal communication lines… like in every other
                • industry. (But with special privileges: Police, Military,
                  Intelligence)
                • 01:43:04 Presumably Cardinal Richelieu: „If you give me (three, or
                • two) six lines written by the hand of the most honest of men, I will
                  find (seven reasons) something in them which will hang him.“, this
                  quote might be originated by memorialist Françoise Bertraut de
                  Motteville (1723), and was later paraphrased.
                • 01:44:46 Real-life cases have a lot of ambiguity going on. It‘s a
                • work of probabilities, not a binary process.
                • 01:45:45 Can you cover up a crime as a non-corrupt policeman?
                • 01:46:50 Private Security Services exploit the ambiguity of
                • policework (someone bringing you from outside a full case, only
                  verification needed, negative evidence often gets lost).
                • 01:48:21 Political Aspect: which crimes are deemed important?
                • 01:49:20 Lobbying and capital power: Intellectual Property Crimes.
                • 01:50:44 Industry identifies perpretators and delivers them to
                • police.
                • 01:50:58 Filesharing: Machine investigating and filing reports,
                • backchanneling, automated sting operation (example, IP-Echelon).
                • 01:56:08 Private Agencies provide: Analysis of evidence, production
                • of leads, investigation.
                • 01:56:26 Money Laundering: not based on investigative results, but
                • on information provided by for example NGOs (example, Transparency
                  International).
                • 01:59:28 Chain Analysis Companies produce risk scores for
                • Cryptocurrency Adresses (public keys).
                • 02:01:05 Face recognition to identify suspects: example, Clearview
                • AI (finding people software)
                • 02:02:20 Police relies on outside, unchecked influence: Private
                • Actors (non-illegmitate).
                  Private Intelligence
                  • 02:03:25 Recap of Episode:
                    • What outside input is influencing the police
                    • Policy definition
                    • Intelligence field
                    • 02:04:22 Tax crimes: special investigators who actively try to find
                    • criminals.
                    • 02:04:39 Organized Crime: preventitive task of police (dismantling
                    • organizations, Staatsschutz).
                    • 02:05:35 Civil Disobedience: infiltration by police and private
                    • companies.
                    • 02:07:00 Private Security: 3 categories
                      • private intelligence services
                      • private security services
                      • private military contractors.
                      • 02:09:38 Private Intelligence is information gathering.
                      • 02:09:53 Private Intelligence VS corporate espionage.
                      • 02:11:11 First example.
                      • 02:15:00 Why is there so much cheap spy tech for sale?
                      • 02:19:53 Second example: credit suisse incident.
                      • 02:21:12 Some serious health concerns for the operators and
                      • middlemen (in-betweens).
                      • 02:24:05 Birds of a feather flock together: blurry lines of
                      • corporate, state, and private decision makers (different sides of
                        the law).
                      • 02:26:29 Book/Thesis: Stephan Blancke (2011): Geheimdienstliche
                      • Aktivitäten nicht-staatlicher Akteure (private intelligence
                        activities by non-state actors)
                      • 02:27:11 Private inflitrators, informants and agent provocateurs.
                      • 02:28:10 Extinction rebellion and very active activists.
                      • 02:30:30 Capture bounties.
                      • 02:32:45 A quiet business: private infiltration intelligence
                      • services (IMSI-catchers) are often ex police, ex military etc.
                      • 02:34:40 Sharing information services between intelligence: 4 eyes,
                      • 14 eyes.
                      • 02:38:05 HCPP and game theory: will the cryptoanarchists ever get
                      • something done?
                      • 02:39:00 Today’s security system is like antique byzantine, easy to
                      • understand from outside, inside not easy to understand- even for the
                        players themselves.
                      • 02:40:25 Ross Ulbricht and Silk Road made agents run with money—is
                      • it the only case, only in this direction?
                      • 02:42:00 State systems’ marketing: “protect and serve” by angels?
                      • But, ACAB is also wrong.
                      • 02:45:55 Take personal responsibility for own security.
                      • Outlook
                        • 02:48:40 Developments/outlook: technologies that make globalization
                        • possible, organizational technologies, reporting and communication.
                        • 02:50:25 Old days: reporting was sampling (today: big data, AI).
                        • 02:51:00 New incentive structures: financial markets. Old: financial
                        • markets were not global, slow. Today: Global financial markets mean
                          indirect profit from activities like war, markets can be complex,
                          distributed, longer reach.
                        • 02:52:50 Even dumb criminals can use smart technologies (Dropgangs).
                        • 02:54:00 The mastermind/ intelligent criminals VS random criminals:
                        • attribution becomes problematic (witness problem, no review
                          pointers).
                        • 02:57:24 Book: Evan Ratliff (2019): The Mastermind. Drugs. Empire.
                        • Murder. Betrayal. (Paul LeRoux)
                          Wrap up
                          • 03:00:59 Donation Report
                          • Reading Recommendations
                            • Thomas Kuhn (1962): The Structure of Scientific Revolutions
                            • Machiavelli
                            • Hegel
                            • Carl von Clausewitz
                            • Rubicon Series (2010)
                            • Stephan Blancke (2011): Geheimdienstliche Aktivitäten
                            • nicht-staatlicher Akteure (private intelligence activities by
                              non-state actors)
                            • Evan Ratliff (2019): The Mastermind. Drugs. Empire. Murder.
                            • Betrayal. (Paul LeRoux)
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                                  Cypherpunk BitstreamBy Frank Braun & Jonathan 'smuggler' Logan