Last week I got a chuckle reading a story about a cyber security/intelligence firm called HB Gary Federal getting triple hacked and humiliated by one of its targets, the hacktivist group "Anonymous." [Wired: Article]

Today, a friend directed my attention to a post on the Brad Blog that does not have me laughing.

It involves a comic book cast of nefarious characters including private cyber intelligence subcontractors (including HB Gary Fed), a network surveillance platform (PALANTIR) designed for use by government intelligence and law enforcement agencies, Bank of America, the American Chamber of Commerce, a Big Tobacco Virginia based law firm called Hunton & Williams, wikileaks, the Department of Justice, Merrill Lynch, Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young, Sacco and Vanzetti (kidding).

The main point of the story is that private sector entities like BAC and the American Chamber of Commerce are now being offered cyber-op and cyber-dirty trick services by private defense/intelligence contractors to counter the activities of unions, grass root political organizations, bloggers and other outspoken netizens. I am not going to wade into the sordid details of this, you can read all about it here: Brad Blog Post 

However, I have taken one of the linked documents, which is a pitch made to the H&W law firm collectively by three firms referring to themselves as Themis. I don't believe this document is fabricated. It gives you a concrete idea of the kind of public and private sector intelligence/cyber ops that are being deployed on the internet.

I have no doubt that these clowns are already somehow engaged in perhaps all of the types of activity described in the "Themis" pitch. Read it carefully, it is not limited to passive intelligence gathering.

The idea that blogs such as Zero Hedge are under surveillance or that adversarial interests have created "internet personas" to interact in comment threads, is not a science fiction fantasy. Moreover, this document as well as the two linked articles underscore the point that we should all be very mindful of the privacy and security issues inherent to all social media like Twitter, Facebook, data troves like Google and all of our other online interactions.

Better to be deliberate about your internet spoor than happy go lucky as Lord Zuckershnook continuously suggests. 

How the fuck it is possible that a software platform designed for use by law enforcement and intelligence agencies is being offered to BAC and The American Chamber of Commerce (albeit through a law firm intermediary), is a question that singularly answers and begs many other important questions.

The significance of all of this is obviously underscored by all of the internet enabled rebellion and political counter ops we are currently witnessing in real time.

Know your adversaries and be on your guard.

CORPORATE INFORMATION RECOVERY CELLS (CIRC): The Latest Obamatunity

PALANTIR DEMO