??? :o
read thess two articles in the morning news paper and had to share...
..i hate to say it but we are doomed.. :'( >:(
don't need no apocalypse to happen.
.stupid and cheaters have the ball and are running with it
Missile Defense Staff Warned to Stop Surfing Porn Sites
By Tony Capaccio
August 02, 2012 5:47 PM EDT
The Pentagon's Missile Defense Agency warned its employees and contractors last week to stop using their government computers to surf the Internet for pornographic sites, according to the agency's executive director.
In a one-page memo, Executive Director John James Jr. wrote that in recent months government employees and contractors were detected "engaging in inappropriate use of the MDA network."
"Specifically, there have been instances of employees and contractors accessing websites, or transmitting messages, containing pornographic or sexually explicit images," James wrote in the July 27 memo obtained by Bloomberg News.
"These actions are not only unprofessional, they reflect time taken away from designated duties, are in clear violation of federal and DoD and regulations, consume network resources and can compromise the security of the network though the introduction of malware or malicious code," he wrote.
Individuals identified as violating the rules face referral for "appropriate" disciplinary action, he wrote. They put "their security clearances in jeopardy, and are subject to suspension and removal from federal service or MDA sponsored contracts."
Agency spokesman Rick Lehner said in an e-mail that the memo was written in response to "a few people downloading material from some websites that were known to have had virus and malware issues."
"MDA has more than 8,000 employees, and less than a half- dozen were found to have accessed restricted sites or downloaded inappropriate materials," Lehner said. "MDA has a highly- advanced monitoring system to detect intrusions, access to inappropriate websites, viruses and malware downloads, and it worked as designed, and there was never any compromise of the MDA computer network."
A government cybersecurity specialist, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because such work is classified, said that many pornographic websites are infected and criminals and foreign intelligence services such as Russia's use them to gain access to and harvest data from government and corporate computer networks.
"There are great dangers in interacting with any site that has high-quality imagery, whether it's pornographic or not, or a lot of links," said Chase Cunningham, chief of cyber analytics at Sterling, Virginia-based Decisive Analytics Corporation, in a telephone interview yesterday.
Using what is called steganography, Cunningham said, a programmer can embed malicious computer code that infects computers, opens ports, steals data or gains access to networks when photos, videos or other files are downloaded.
The Missile Defense Agency is responsible for developing, fielding and upgrading the nation's ground- and sea-based missile defense programs, working with Japan and Israel, among other nations. Its top contractors are Chicago-based Boeing Co. (BA); Lockheed Martin Corp. (LMT), based in Bethesda, Maryland; Raytheon Co. (RTN) of Waltham, Massachusetts; Falls Church, Virgina-based Northrop Grumman Corp. (NOC); and Orbital Sciences Corp. (ORB) of Dulles, Virginia. The Pentagon is seeking $7.7 billion for the agency in fiscal 2013.
The Pentagon inspector general criticized the agency's director, U.S. Army Lieutenant General Patrick O'Reilly, for abusive behavior toward subordinates in a May 2 report.
"Witnesses testified that O'Reilly's leadership style resulted in a command climate of fear and low morale," the inspector general found. The report was on the inspector general's website.
In his memo, James reminded employees that the agency's "network systems are subject to monitoring at all times. Inappropriate usage will be detected and reported to supervisors for appropriate disciplinary action."
"The seriousness of the potential breach to operations cannot be overstated," James wrote. "Contracting officers will coordinate action through contractor management when contractor personnel engage in inappropriate usage."
Lehner denied the memo was intended to intimidate agency employees from reading the IG report.
To contact the reporter on this story: Tony Capaccio in Washington at acapaccio@bloomberg.net
To contact the editor responsible for this story: John Walcott at jwalcott9@bloomberg.net
http://mobile.bloomberg.com/news/2012-08-01/missile-defense-staff-warned-to-stop-surfing-porn-sites?BB_NAVI_DISABLE=MARKETS_%2Fslideshow%2F%3Fcategory%3D%2Fnews%2Fenvironment%2Ftopic
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IRS missing billions in ID theft
By JOSH LEDERMAN - The Associated Press
Created: Friday, August 3, 2012 5:30 a.m. CDT
Visit the Government Center for more coverage of local government decisions and activity.
WASHINGTON – The Internal Revenue Service may have delivered more than $5 billion in refund checks to identity thieves who filed fraudulent tax returns for 2011, Treasury Department investigators said Thursday. They estimate another $21 billion could make its way to ID thieves' pockets over the next five years.
The IRS is detecting far fewer fraudulent tax refund claims than actually occur, according to a government audit that warned the widespread problem could undermine public trust in the U.S.
YA THINK !!! tax system. Although the IRS detected about 940,000 fraudulent returns for last year claiming $6.5 billion in refunds, there were potentially another 1.5 million undetected cases of thieves seeking refunds after assuming the identity of a dead person, child or someone else who normally wouldn't file a tax return.
In one example, investigators found a single address in Lansing, Mich., that was used to file 2,137 separate tax returns. The IRS issued more than $3.3 million in refunds to that address. Three addresses in Florida, the epicenter of the identity theft crisis, filed more than 500 returns totaling more than $1 million in refunds for each address.
In another troubling scenario, hundreds of refunds were deposited into the same bank account — a red flag for investigators searching for ID thieves who may be filing for refunds for multiple people. In one instance, the IRS deposited 590 refunds totaling more than $900,000 into one account.
Topping the list of concerns is the IRS's lack of timely access to third-party information it needs to verify returns and root out fraud.
Many Americans are struggling to pay their bills and the IRS takes pride in processing returns and issuing refunds promptly. But taxpayers can start filing their returns in mid-January, while employers and financial institutions don't have to submit withholding and income documents for taxpayers to the IRS until the end of March. That means the IRS often issues refunds long before it can confirm the veracity of what's listed on taxpayer returns.
Thieves are also exploiting vulnerabilities in the way the IRS delivers refunds, investigators found. Of the 1.5 million undetected cases of potential fraud, 1.2 million used direct deposits, including pre-loaded debit cards. Thieves often prefer those methods to a paper check, which require a physical address to receive the check and photo ID matching the taxpayer's name to cash it.
IRS officials said the growth of identity theft-related fraud is one of its biggest challenges. Already this year, the agency has stopped almost $12 billion in confirmed fraud, it says. And it says its criminal investigators are actively pursuing those who perpetrate fraud — including the previously undetected cases identified by the audit.
"If the IRS determines a refund has been issued improperly, we will attempt to recoup the funds," said IRS spokeswoman Michelle Eldridge.
The IRS agreed with the inspector general that Congress should expand the agency's access to resources that could help it fight theft, including the National Directory of New Hires, a database created to help states enforce child support orders. The IRS specifically asked Congress for that authority in its 2013 budget request.
But IRS officials disputed the notion that $21 billion in fraudulent returns could be issued over the next five years, arguing that the estimate didn't take into account the IRS's stepped-up compliance and prevention efforts.
"We're going to continue to monitor the IRS in this area until we see some improvement," Michael McKenney, the acting deputy inspector general for audit, told The Associated Press.
Investigators went back through a sample of the 1.5 billion undetected cases to see why the IRS never flagged them as fraudulent. In 49 of 60 returns, investigators said, the return didn't score high enough on the IRS's fraud filter to merit a closer review. In eight of the 11 cases where the IRS did perform an additional review, it never verified the income and withholding on the return.
The audit was prompted by a request from Florida Sen. Bill Nelson, whose home state contains the top two cities where fraudulent tax returns originate: Tampa and Miami. Last week Nelson, a Democrat, joined with Republican Sen. Tom Coburn of Oklahoma to introduce legislation designed to curb identity theft in the tax system.
"It's an ongoing problem," Nelson said in a statement. "We've got to find a fix."
Nelson's bill would improve protections for Social Security numbers that thieves need to file returns, and would expand an existing program that gives previous victims of ID theft a personal identification number to deter repeat offenses against the same taxpayer. Another bipartisan bill passed by the House on Wednesday would bolster prosecutions and strengthen criminal penalties on ID thieves.
The IRS said it is already putting a number of new measures in place, including new ID theft screening filters that will hold on to refunds until the IRS can verify a taxpayer's identity. That filter had thwarted about $1.3 billion in potentially fraudulent refunds through April, the audit said. Another system flags returns filed with Social Security numbers of those who have died.
For those who fall victim to identity thieves, the recovery process can be less than smooth. A separate report by the inspector general in May found that the IRS wasn't providing good customer service and proper assistance to victims of ID theft, increasing the burden for those whose identities are stolen. The Federal Trade Commission has listed identity theft as the No. 1 consumer complaint for the past 12 years.
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Reach Josh Lederman on Twitter at http://twitter.com/joshledermanAP
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http://www.nwherald.com/2012/08/02/irs-missing-billions-in-id-theft/afulzv2/
Maybe we can go to Mars, provided we agree not to root for the Yankees. What gets into these idiots?
Shasta
Yeah you guys, and stop visiting and harrassing those forums, too!LOL!
Le