Breaking the OODA Loop!

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I am very excited to see that the first in a series of articles I am writing for Security Week has been published. I would love to hear what you think.

The OODA loop is a well established concept often used in security which originated in the military. OODA stands for Observe, Orient, Decide, Act.
OODA is an iterative process because after each action you need to observe your results and any new opposing action. The idea is that if you can consistently get to the action faster than your opponent you can beat them. It is typically described using an airplane dogfight analogy – airplanes try to turn more quickly and sharply than their opponent in order to get off a shot. But, as you turn faster and faster the g-forces build and at this point the ever faster OODA loop is more like a centrifuge crushing us. We need to break out of the loop and find a new way to play the security game.

Read the whole article.

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Lance Cottrell

I have my fingers in a great many pies. I am (in no particular order): Founder, Angel Investor, Startup Mentor/Advisor, Grape Farmer, Security Expert, Anonymity Guru, Cyber Plot Consultant, Lapsed Astrophysicist, Out of practice Martial Artist, Gamer, Wine Maker, Philanthropist, Volunteer, & Advocate for the Oxford Comma.

Going Online Undercover

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I will be speaking at the HTCIA conference on August 29th talking about how to conduct online undercover investigations for anti-fraud, criminal investigations, etc.

See the schedule here.

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Lance Cottrell

I have my fingers in a great many pies. I am (in no particular order): Founder, Angel Investor, Startup Mentor/Advisor, Grape Farmer, Security Expert, Anonymity Guru, Cyber Plot Consultant, Lapsed Astrophysicist, Out of practice Martial Artist, Gamer, Wine Maker, Philanthropist, Volunteer, & Advocate for the Oxford Comma.

Facebook Messenger alarmism is distracting from real Internet privacy issues · The Privacy Blog

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There is a lot of smoke around the privacy implications of the Facebook Messenger app, but little to no actual fire. More at ThePrivacyBlog.com

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Lance Cottrell

I have my fingers in a great many pies. I am (in no particular order): Founder, Angel Investor, Startup Mentor/Advisor, Grape Farmer, Security Expert, Anonymity Guru, Cyber Plot Consultant, Lapsed Astrophysicist, Out of practice Martial Artist, Gamer, Wine Maker, Philanthropist, Volunteer, & Advocate for the Oxford Comma.

Canvas Fingerprinting: a reality check · The Privacy Blog

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Lance Cottrell

I have my fingers in a great many pies. I am (in no particular order): Founder, Angel Investor, Startup Mentor/Advisor, Grape Farmer, Security Expert, Anonymity Guru, Cyber Plot Consultant, Lapsed Astrophysicist, Out of practice Martial Artist, Gamer, Wine Maker, Philanthropist, Volunteer, & Advocate for the Oxford Comma.

Attack on Tor may have exposed hidden services and more. · The Privacy Blog

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Lance Cottrell

I have my fingers in a great many pies. I am (in no particular order): Founder, Angel Investor, Startup Mentor/Advisor, Grape Farmer, Security Expert, Anonymity Guru, Cyber Plot Consultant, Lapsed Astrophysicist, Out of practice Martial Artist, Gamer, Wine Maker, Philanthropist, Volunteer, & Advocate for the Oxford Comma.

Russia puts a bounty on Tor’s head · The Privacy Blog

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Lance Cottrell

I have my fingers in a great many pies. I am (in no particular order): Founder, Angel Investor, Startup Mentor/Advisor, Grape Farmer, Security Expert, Anonymity Guru, Cyber Plot Consultant, Lapsed Astrophysicist, Out of practice Martial Artist, Gamer, Wine Maker, Philanthropist, Volunteer, & Advocate for the Oxford Comma.

The Privacy Blog Podcast – Ep. 21: · The Privacy Blog

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The latest ThePrivacyBlog podcast. Lots to talk about including a whole bunch of legal decisions.

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Lance Cottrell

I have my fingers in a great many pies. I am (in no particular order): Founder, Angel Investor, Startup Mentor/Advisor, Grape Farmer, Security Expert, Anonymity Guru, Cyber Plot Consultant, Lapsed Astrophysicist, Out of practice Martial Artist, Gamer, Wine Maker, Philanthropist, Volunteer, & Advocate for the Oxford Comma.

Supreme Court requires warrant for cell phone searches · The Privacy Blog

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Lance Cottrell

I have my fingers in a great many pies. I am (in no particular order): Founder, Angel Investor, Startup Mentor/Advisor, Grape Farmer, Security Expert, Anonymity Guru, Cyber Plot Consultant, Lapsed Astrophysicist, Out of practice Martial Artist, Gamer, Wine Maker, Philanthropist, Volunteer, & Advocate for the Oxford Comma.

If you don’t admit you won’t decrypt · The Privacy Blog

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Court compels the decryption password from defendant who admitted to having it.

ThePrivacyBlog

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Lance Cottrell

I have my fingers in a great many pies. I am (in no particular order): Founder, Angel Investor, Startup Mentor/Advisor, Grape Farmer, Security Expert, Anonymity Guru, Cyber Plot Consultant, Lapsed Astrophysicist, Out of practice Martial Artist, Gamer, Wine Maker, Philanthropist, Volunteer, & Advocate for the Oxford Comma.

Data anonymization is hard – this time shown with NYC taxi data · The Privacy Blog

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Lance Cottrell

I have my fingers in a great many pies. I am (in no particular order): Founder, Angel Investor, Startup Mentor/Advisor, Grape Farmer, Security Expert, Anonymity Guru, Cyber Plot Consultant, Lapsed Astrophysicist, Out of practice Martial Artist, Gamer, Wine Maker, Philanthropist, Volunteer, & Advocate for the Oxford Comma.

Chicago to track cell phones with streetlight poles.

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Chicago is rolling out environmental monitoring stations on streetlight poles, including capture of passing wireless devices. - ThePrivacyBlog

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Lance Cottrell

I have my fingers in a great many pies. I am (in no particular order): Founder, Angel Investor, Startup Mentor/Advisor, Grape Farmer, Security Expert, Anonymity Guru, Cyber Plot Consultant, Lapsed Astrophysicist, Out of practice Martial Artist, Gamer, Wine Maker, Philanthropist, Volunteer, & Advocate for the Oxford Comma.

Law enforcement can’t keep your seized files forever (anymore) · The Privacy Blog

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An important new 2nd Circuit ruling protecting 4th Amendment rights for seized files.

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Lance Cottrell

I have my fingers in a great many pies. I am (in no particular order): Founder, Angel Investor, Startup Mentor/Advisor, Grape Farmer, Security Expert, Anonymity Guru, Cyber Plot Consultant, Lapsed Astrophysicist, Out of practice Martial Artist, Gamer, Wine Maker, Philanthropist, Volunteer, & Advocate for the Oxford Comma.

Specifics on recent Iraq censorship orders · The Privacy Blog

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ThePrivacyBlog - some very specific information on Iraqi censorship rules.

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Lance Cottrell

I have my fingers in a great many pies. I am (in no particular order): Founder, Angel Investor, Startup Mentor/Advisor, Grape Farmer, Security Expert, Anonymity Guru, Cyber Plot Consultant, Lapsed Astrophysicist, Out of practice Martial Artist, Gamer, Wine Maker, Philanthropist, Volunteer, & Advocate for the Oxford Comma.

Iran criminalizes Facebook

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Iran is going from censorship to arrests of Facebook and other social media users.

More at ThePrivacyBlog.

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Lance Cottrell

I have my fingers in a great many pies. I am (in no particular order): Founder, Angel Investor, Startup Mentor/Advisor, Grape Farmer, Security Expert, Anonymity Guru, Cyber Plot Consultant, Lapsed Astrophysicist, Out of practice Martial Artist, Gamer, Wine Maker, Philanthropist, Volunteer, & Advocate for the Oxford Comma.

Canada now has some right to internet anonymity

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An interesting Canadian ruling supporting the right to privacy in information stored by Internet providers. I think this is going to be a trend. We all keep so much in the cloud these days.

More on ThePrivacyBlog.

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Lance Cottrell

I have my fingers in a great many pies. I am (in no particular order): Founder, Angel Investor, Startup Mentor/Advisor, Grape Farmer, Security Expert, Anonymity Guru, Cyber Plot Consultant, Lapsed Astrophysicist, Out of practice Martial Artist, Gamer, Wine Maker, Philanthropist, Volunteer, & Advocate for the Oxford Comma.

Iraq starts censoring social media

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Lance Cottrell

I have my fingers in a great many pies. I am (in no particular order): Founder, Angel Investor, Startup Mentor/Advisor, Grape Farmer, Security Expert, Anonymity Guru, Cyber Plot Consultant, Lapsed Astrophysicist, Out of practice Martial Artist, Gamer, Wine Maker, Philanthropist, Volunteer, & Advocate for the Oxford Comma.

Fourth Amendment to protect cell location information?

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My latest ThePrivacyBlog post is on a recent court ruling protecting cell tower location information

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Lance Cottrell

I have my fingers in a great many pies. I am (in no particular order): Founder, Angel Investor, Startup Mentor/Advisor, Grape Farmer, Security Expert, Anonymity Guru, Cyber Plot Consultant, Lapsed Astrophysicist, Out of practice Martial Artist, Gamer, Wine Maker, Philanthropist, Volunteer, & Advocate for the Oxford Comma.

DHS will start swiping the cards in your wallet at the border

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According to this Forbs article, DHS is going to start checking your cards at border entry points. They are doing this to find pre-paid / stored value cards which need to be declared like you would cash (you would, right?).

My worry is that this may allow them to capture account numbers and other information from any other cards that they swipe while checking to see which cards meet the criteria.

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Lance Cottrell

I have my fingers in a great many pies. I am (in no particular order): Founder, Angel Investor, Startup Mentor/Advisor, Grape Farmer, Security Expert, Anonymity Guru, Cyber Plot Consultant, Lapsed Astrophysicist, Out of practice Martial Artist, Gamer, Wine Maker, Philanthropist, Volunteer, & Advocate for the Oxford Comma.

Why is the population getting so much older on average?

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Planet Money has a really interesting interactive infographic showing how lower birthrates is giving rise to a rapidly increasing ratio of elderly to working age people.

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Lance Cottrell

I have my fingers in a great many pies. I am (in no particular order): Founder, Angel Investor, Startup Mentor/Advisor, Grape Farmer, Security Expert, Anonymity Guru, Cyber Plot Consultant, Lapsed Astrophysicist, Out of practice Martial Artist, Gamer, Wine Maker, Philanthropist, Volunteer, & Advocate for the Oxford Comma.

No warrant to place a surveillance camera on your property?

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CNET has a article on a district court ruling that it is OK for the DEA to place a surveillance camera on the suspects property without a warrant.

Wow.

I am amazed by how hard law enforcement resists having court oversight. It is the only reliable check we have on their activitie

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Lance Cottrell

I have my fingers in a great many pies. I am (in no particular order): Founder, Angel Investor, Startup Mentor/Advisor, Grape Farmer, Security Expert, Anonymity Guru, Cyber Plot Consultant, Lapsed Astrophysicist, Out of practice Martial Artist, Gamer, Wine Maker, Philanthropist, Volunteer, & Advocate for the Oxford Comma.