In a video clip a few years old, Russian president Vladimir Putin can be seen handing out prizes to a group of geography students. He asks one the question, where do the borders of Russia end? When the child cannot answer, Putin smiles and says, Russia has no borders. For a President more typically given […]
My land’s only borders lie around my heart! Read More »
Russia has accused America of hacking into its power grid and planting viruses. Not for the first time – and coincidentally only a few days after much of South America was blacked out – the two old foes are stoking fears not that a new cyberwar is on the way, but that it has already
Power to the people? Read More »
Russian television channels Sputnik and RT have been banned from a conference on media freedom to be held in the UK, with the organisers citing their ‘active role in spreading disinformation’. And while it is certainly true that these Russian institutions have a history of purposefully reporting lies and distorted truths, it can be just
Confirmation of bias Read More »
Following on from our previous article, Scared New World: The Fracturing of the Internet, we turn to the private sector and why the behemoths of Facebook, Apple, Amazon and Google – the Standard Oil-sized monopolies of today – have also come under increasing scrutiny. The recipients of frequent criticism, whether it be for data breaches,
The Monopoly-Industrial Complex Read More »
There are serious concerns that the UK will suffer from a security deficit post-Brexit, particularly in intelligence-sharing and cross-border strategies. While it may be impossible to divorce an issue of Brexit from the politics that surround it, on the basest level, it never makes sense to cut oneself off from a stream of intelligence. In
Intelligence islands in the stream Read More »
Much has been written in recent years on the use of disinformation, ‘fake news’ and who it is exactly that controls the media. Initially, the internet, and all that it holds, was predominantly seen as a source of promise, hope and advancement. Instead, it has become something quite different. In fact, it is odd to
Scared New World: The Fracturing of the Internet Read More »
KCS has known all manner of con-artists, tricksters and fraud-artists in its time. Recently, however, our interest has been particularly piqued thanks to the simplicity and audacious nature of one case, against the backdrop of an increasingly inter-connected and, supposedly, ‘secure’ world. For all the security and countermeasures companies now employ, it is the human
L’homme au Masque en Silicone Read More »
British Airways has been handed a £183m fine for 2018’s data breach, in what is a record penalty applied against a UK firm. After suffering the theft of customer details for 500,000 people over a four-month period between July and September last year, this fine is the first to be given under the new GDPR
Air-fought convention Read More »
Issues of identity and data have been in the news once more recently, and once more for no good reason. In New York, tenants of a New York apartment block are fighting the installation of a system using facial recognition to control access. In Cardiff, a legal challenge is being fought over whether automated facial
Facial attraction: the perils of invisible data loss Read More »
Genuine change seems to be on the agenda in Sudan, where the military not only ousted President Omar al-Bashir but have seen their leader, Defence Minister Awad Ibn Auf, voluntarily step down as head of the ‘interim military council’. However, the council have refused to hand over power to a civilian administration. Not only does
Sudan: Shifting Sands Read More »