— Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn, born on this date in 1918
The Russian Siri is “…a bit politically incorrect and unsympathetic
Robot investigators ‘could be used to examine documents in criminal cases’ Independent
The Russian Siri is “…a bit politically incorrect and unsympathetic
Robot investigators ‘could be used to examine documents in criminal cases’ Independent
Will Women In Low-Wage Jobs Get Their #MeToo Moment? FiveThirtyEight
Taylor takes on cyber security in ministerial reshuffle
Pharmaceuticals officially more of a problem than illicit drugs, report findsTaylor takes on cyber security in ministerial reshuffle
Who Is Stealing Bukowski and Kerouac?: At Porter Square Books, volumes by the writers disappeared so often that the staff set up a display of the “Most Frequently Stolen Books.”
Federal News Radio December 15, 2017
The Trump
administration’s plan to modernize and secure federal IT systems and data came
together this week. The latest piece of the trifecta dropped Thursday as the
White House’s Office of American Innovation detailed its centers of excellence
(CoE) initiative to take on the infrastructure and legacy systems challenge.
Earlier this week, two other significant pieces fell into place when President
Donald Trump signed the Defense Authorization bill, which included the
Modernizing Government Technology (MGT) Act, and the White House released the
final version of its IT Modernization Strategy with 50 recommendations. “In the
new year, we will be launching the IT modernization centers of excellence to
start putting these recommendations into action,” said Jared Kushner, a senior
adviser to the president, during an industry day in Washington, D.C. “With help
from industry partners and our own federal IT teams, we have identified those
key areas that have the greatest opportunities and need for centralized talent,
process and acquisitions support vehicles. These teams will be based in
specific centers of excellence, and focused on our immediate priorities, that
you will hear more about today. In particular focus we are going to work with a
series of lighthouse agencies on top priority projects that will include: cloud
adoption, IT infrastructure optimization, customer experience, service delivery
analytics and contact centers.”
Bloomberg December 10,
2017
A
previously unknown ring of Russian-speaking hackers has stolen as much as $10
million from U.S. and Russian banks in the last 18 months, according to a
Moscow-based cyber-security firm that runs the largest computer forensics
laboratory in eastern Europe. The MoneyTaker group broke into 20 systems, which
includes 15 U.S. lenders, targeting ATMs with “mules” and Russia’s interbank
money-transfer system, Group-IB said in a report provided to Bloomberg. The
hackers, who also breached a U.K. software and service provider, are now
probing institutions in Latin America and may be trying to compromise the Swift
international bank messaging service, according to the privately held security
firm, whose clients range from Russia’s biggest lender Sberbank PJSC to
Raiffeisen Bank International AG. Group-IB last month signed an agreement with
Interpol to share data on threat intelligence and the latest cyber-criminal
activities.
“FBI appears to have investigated – and considered prosecuting – FOIA requesters“
“FBI appears to have investigated – and considered prosecuting – FOIA requesters“
The United
States of Petroleum: Government’s secret alliance with Big Oil
“KPMG staff being appointed to ATO senior positions at the expense of
experienced ATO staff with many years of corporate and tax knowledge.
The Commissioner is former KPMG,” wrote Waterhouse.
The comment was linked to a Canberra Times story about Tax Office heavyweight Michael Cranston who has been charged with two criminal offences but whose real crime appears to be trying to help his son.
Cranston Snr didn’t rob or defraud anybody. He tried to get access to information about an ATO investigation into his son and the ATO has strict laws on confidentiality.
That didn’t stop the press – which got the story “drop” from the police – from depicting Plutus Payroll as the biggest fraud in Australian history, a “massive” and “shocking” scandal which “engulfed” and “tainted” the Tax Office.
Until the 28 police raids occurred, the ATO had been investigating Plutus, then, once the story had been “dropped” to the Murdoch press, it suddenly “engulfed” the ATO.
It is worth considering that Murdoch’s News Corp has been the ATO’s number one “tax risk” or tax bludger as its papers would describe it.
Cranston has been charged for 1. using information obtained as a public official with the intention of dishonestly obtaining a benefit for another person, and 2. exercising influence as an official for the same dishonest purpose.
The comment was linked to a Canberra Times story about Tax Office heavyweight Michael Cranston who has been charged with two criminal offences but whose real crime appears to be trying to help his son.
Cranston Snr didn’t rob or defraud anybody. He tried to get access to information about an ATO investigation into his son and the ATO has strict laws on confidentiality.
That didn’t stop the press – which got the story “drop” from the police – from depicting Plutus Payroll as the biggest fraud in Australian history, a “massive” and “shocking” scandal which “engulfed” and “tainted” the Tax Office.
Until the 28 police raids occurred, the ATO had been investigating Plutus, then, once the story had been “dropped” to the Murdoch press, it suddenly “engulfed” the ATO.
It is worth considering that Murdoch’s News Corp has been the ATO’s number one “tax risk” or tax bludger as its papers would describe it.
Cranston has been charged for 1. using information obtained as a public official with the intention of dishonestly obtaining a benefit for another person, and 2. exercising influence as an official for the same dishonest purpose.
