DeRay McKeeson Phone Hacked By Trumpazoid

Despite efforts by BLM members to up their security, hacking social media accounts by miscreants is still relatively easy, due to intrinsic faults in the platform software.

If you want to be secure on Social Media, you need to change passwords and PINs frequently, and for someone with a high media profile, probably daily. Utilizing some VPN technologies provide security, however those that use DES or WPK Encryption are basically useless against a sophisticated or professional level hacker.

Someone hijacked DeRay Mckesson’s Twitter account in a sneaky and preventable way

It’s called pretexting and it’s easy to do, but it’s also easy to prevent.

By now you’ve probably heard that the Twitter account belonging to #BlackLivesMatter activist DeRay Mckesson was hijacked on Friday. The tweet sent from Mckesson’s account that endorsed Donald Trump for president was probably a giveaway.

It wasn’t a hacking attack in the strictest sense: Twitter’s systems apparently weren’t compromised, and Mckesson even had two-factor authentication turned on. Instead, the attackers hijacked his mobile phone, using a weakness in how account information is managed by wireless providers.

Having first obtained the last four digits of Mckesson’s Social Security number, the hackers called Verizon’s billing department and impersonated him. They then redirected his service to a phone they had handy so that calls and texts going to his number were directed instead to their phone.

From there they used Twitter’s password reset feature — which relies on authorization codes sent via text messages to a phone — and locked Mckesson out of his account.

The technique of pretending to be someone and tricking a wireless provider into handing over control of a customer account is an old one. It’s called pretexting: The attacker pretends to be a customer having a problem, and convinces a service rep that the request they’re making is legitimate.

It’s illegal. When the technique was used by a set of private investigators hired by the chairman of Hewlett-Packard a little more than a decade ago it caused a huge corporate scandal. One person charged served time in federal prison, while others received probation.

So how do you avoid experiencing the same headache Mckesson had on Friday? According to the Federal Trade Commission, it comes down to eliminating your Social Security number as a way to identify yourself to your carrier. Without that, hackers would have no way to access your phone and therefore no way to get ahold of your two-factor authentication code.

The details on how to set this up vary with your wireless carrier:

• AT&T calls its feature “extra security.” It means that before you can talk to a service rep you have to provide a passcode. You can read more about it here.

• Verizon allows customers to set their own personal identifying number to access their accounts. You can do this by calling Verizon or going to a Verizon store.

• T-Mobile does the same thing Verizon does, but calls it a “customer care password.” Again, call in or visit a T-Mobile store.

• Sprint asks customers to set a PIN number to access their accounts.

 

DeRay for Mayor!

It appears that DeRay Mckesson, one of he mainstream players in Black Lives Matter is a serious politician, with a solid platform on what he would do as Mayor of Baltimore. I think most people have been underestimating his understanding and grasp of what the job entails because of his youth. Baltimore, just like any major city, is an ugly beast to run with many conflicting interests and embedded issues. The people who are successful at big city leadership tend to be part Gandhi and part Hitler. However…

He has done his homework.

Is DeRay Mckesson for real?

When DeRay Mckesson, a 30-year-old Black Lives Matter activist, filed at the last moment for Baltimore mayor, the city’s political establishment was well justified in asking, is this guy for real? Is he going to run a legitimate campaign, or is he going to tweet a bunch and lap up the love in the national media?

Tweet a bunch, he has done, though one gets the impression that’s like saying he’s breathed a bunch in the last couple of weeks. Love in the national media? Check. Starting with a story in the New York Times and, an hour later, a beyond-fawning profile of his decision to run by a Washington Post reporter who had embedded with his proto-campaign, and then including accounts in The Atlantic, Slate, NPR, The Guardian etc., he’s been everywhere.

But he’s done something else, too, and that’s issue an extensive set of policy proposals on education, economic development, public safety, health, the environment, arts and more that at least rival — and in some cases easily surpass — those from so-called mainstream candidates in their depth and scope. They are ambitious and leave gaps in some key points, particularly in terms of how the city is going to pay for them or get lawmakers in Annapolis and Washington to support them where necessary, though Mr. Mckesson is hardly the only candidate to be guilty of that sin. But what’s surprising about the platform, given how recently Mr. Mckesson has arrived on the scene, is the depth of knowledge it displays about how things have been done in this city and how they could be done differently. His ideas aren’t always the right ones or necessarily better than those proffered by other candidates, but they’re no joke either.

Though Mr. Mckesson is running as an outsider, his proposals are in certain respects less radical than what other candidates are proposing. City Councilman Carl Stokes, for example, wants to require that all developments awarded incentives like a payment in lieu of taxes or tax increment financing include a community benefits agreement. Mr. Mckesson, by contrast, wants to encourage such agreements, not require them, while “rigorously” evaluating TIFs and PILOTs to ensure they are necessary and that their costs and benefits are clearly spelled out. He notes the limitations presented by the city-state co-appointment of city school board members, but unlike businessman David Warnock, he doesn’t call a hybrid elected/appointed board, nor full mayoral control of the schools, asstate Sen. Catherine Pugh suggests. Mr. Mckesson wants a $15 minimum wage — but on the state level, not just in the city.

As might be expected based on his activism since the death of Michael Brown in Ferguson, Mo., Mr. Mckesson goes farther than other candidates in some of his ideas for police accountability. For example, he advocates eliminating the Law Enforcement Officers Bill of Rights altogether — a goal that is unnecessary and probably counter-productive, in that it could foreclose the possibility of meaningful reforms. But in other respects, he doesn’t. Like several other candidates, Mr. Mckesson advocates for beefing up Baltimore’s Civilian Police Review Board, but he does not go so far as Councilman Nick Mosby to propose making seats on it elected positions. Mr. Mckesson wants to decriminalize certain nuisance crimes like spitting and open-container violations, and to shift the war on drugs to one centered on public health principles rather than criminal justice. But he doesn’t suggest ending arrests for simple possession of marijuana, as attorney Elizabeth Embry does.

Mr. Mckesson’s plans reveal a grasp of the minutiae of city government. His ideas for using city contracting to generate more jobs for city residents rest on detailed knowledge of how City Council PresidentBernard C. “Jack” Young‘s local hiring ordinance works. He is clearly versed on the latest problems that have cropped up for Baltimore — for example, the unexpected impact of tax incentives for development on state school funding formulas — and on innovative strategies from other cities, such as an effort in San Francisco to seed college savings accounts for children….Read The Rest Here…

 

DeRay for Mayor!

I think the bright young leaders of the BLM Movement are about to get a lesson in politics, and intractable problems… Einstein once said – “We can’t solve problems by using the same kind of thinking we used when we created them.” I sincerely hope that if DeRay wins, the experience of there being no short term or easy solutions doesn’t end his desire to change…

 

DeRay Mckesson files to run in Baltimore mayoral race

In a surprise move, civil rights activist DeRay Mckesson jumped into the already crowded contest for Baltimore mayor Wednesday night, shaking up the Democratic field minutes before the deadline to file.

“Baltimore is a city of promise and possibility,” the Black Lives Matter member told The Baltimore Sun. “We can’t rely on traditional pathways to politics and the traditional politicians who walk those paths if we want transformational change.”

He said he planned to release a platform within a week. He said it would include a call for internal school system audits to be made public.

Mckesson was the 13th and final candidate to jump into the primary race. In deep-blue Baltimore, the Democratic primary has long determined the winner of the general election.

Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake has declined to run for re-election. Leading candidates include former Mayor Sheila Dixon, state Sen. Catherine E. Pugh, City Councilmen Carl Stokes and Nick J. Mosby, lawyer Elizabeth Embry and businessman David L. Warnock.

Mckesson, 30, a Baltimore native and former public school administrator here and in Minnesota, is part of a team called Campaign Zero, which seeks to end police killings in America. The group wants to end “broken windows” policing, increase community oversight of police and limit use of force, among other goals.

Mckesson has gained widespread attention in the protest movement that began in Ferguson, Mo., and came to Baltimore last year to demonstrate against police brutality after the death of Freddie Gray. He has nearly 300,000 followers on Twitter.

He has met with top White House officials and presidential candidates in recent months to discuss civil rights. Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has called him a “social media emperor.”

In recent months, Mckesson has been living in North Baltimore.

Dixon, the front-runner in the Democratic primary, said Wednesday she had not heard of Mckesson. She noted there are less than three months to go until the election, and said she wouldn’t be distracted.

“We all want the best for Baltimore,” she said. “There are 84 days left. I’m staying focused.”

Recent polls showed Dixon leading the Democratic primary, followed by Pugh and Stokes.

Mosby, who has been doing well among younger voters, welcomed Mckesson to the race. “I welcome anyone to the race and look forward to the discussion about building a better Baltimore,” he said. “I have seen the best and the worst of Baltimore and so far I am the only candidate for mayor to offer a comprehensive plan to tackle Baltimore’s toughest challenges.”

The crowded Democratic field means a candidate could win the April 26 primary with a small fraction of the vote.

Sean Yoes, the host of the “First Edition” radio show at Morgan State University’s WEAA station, said Mckesson’s candidacy would “represent a departure from business as usual.”

But he added that Mckesson is likely not well-known among the older African-American women who have long decided Baltimore’s elections….More here…