tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-55869982011-04-22T05:15:12.586ZTopics of interest to the information security professional.PHBnoreply@blogger.comBlogger121100tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5586998.post-1079999203058751962004-03-22T23:46:00.000Z2006-11-11T03:12:13.259Z

Wired News: Brits Going at It Tooth and Nail This story worries me, but not because I am a fan of social conservatism, I think that if people want casual sex that is their own affair. Nor does it appear to be a major health risk, if people use condoms there should be no problem. The part that does worry me is all the personal security issues. Announcing to folk you don't know that you are

PHBnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5586998.post-1079836457497556742004-03-21T02:34:00.000Z2006-11-11T03:12:13.097Z

PRODUCTS WARNING LABELS FOR PHYSICISTS Even with cryptography there is no such thing as 100% risk free

PHBnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5586998.post-1079836151885754962004-03-21T02:29:00.000Z2006-11-11T03:12:12.917Z

You can tell a coffee shop is geek oriented when it serves its 'bottomless cup' of coffee in a Klein Bottle

PHBnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5586998.post-1079623782619432142004-03-18T15:29:00.000Z2006-11-11T03:12:12.782Z

TAP: Web Feature: Rational Security. by Matthew Yglesias. March 16, 2004. I don't intend to get into politics to any great extent in this blog, but one point that this article makes is that the Bush Administration is focused on terrorism supported by state actors. This type of terrorism certainly existed in the 1980s. The IRA received funds from Libya. Iran supported terrorist groups in Lebanon

PHBnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5586998.post-1078673803026689622004-03-07T15:36:00.000Z2006-11-11T03:12:12.545Z

NewsForge | A peek at script kiddie culture OK so a second bite at the same article, lets take a look at those DDoS schemes. According to the article the ISPs are unresponsive to take down requests, the FBI do not take notice. I know that people keep making this complaint but there are high tech crimes units in the major cities and they are looking to takedown these guys. And at the moment the

PHBnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5586998.post-1078672313404702792004-03-07T15:11:00.000Z2006-11-11T03:12:12.377Z

NewsForge | A peek at script kiddie culture This article pretty much shows that little has changed in the past ten years except for the number of the perpetrators. Although this is described as 'script kiddie culture' it sounds as if the hackers described have rather more skill than the usual knob-turner types. I am not sure that anyone ever claimed that hackers did not find out some exploits

PHBnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5586998.post-1078596805663699412004-03-06T18:13:00.000Z2006-11-11T03:12:12.257Z

ISP hammers Bob Vila site with spam suit | CNET News.com One of the big problems with legislation is that it is a blunt instrument that does not necessarily hit the people you want it to. Is Bob Vila a spammer? Possibly, but not very likely. Is Bob Vila selling penis potions, mortgages or inviting you to help move money out of Nigeria illegally? Almost certainly not. The problem here is 'deep

PHBnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5586998.post-1078585634401087952004-03-06T15:07:00.000Z2006-11-11T03:12:12.090Z

Infoworld reports that Windows XP Service Pack 2 may break some applications because of security enhancements. I hope the firewall changes break Gator and Comet Cursor real good.

PHBnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5586998.post-1062688030611766522003-09-04T15:07:00.000Z2006-11-11T03:12:11.941Z

Hiawatha Bray's article on the DDoS attacks against spam blacklists highlights a key problem with running Internet infrastructure on an amateur basis. It is one thing to provide a successful service, quite another to provide a service that can survive a determined attack. The DDoS attacks against the spam blacklists were significant but nowhere near the level that critical infrastructure such as

PHBnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5586998.post-1061827428845341052003-08-25T16:03:00.000Z2006-11-11T03:12:11.795Z

Scott Rosenberg raises the old 'viruses are caused by Outlook' claim. Well yes viruses are more likely to affect outlook than other clients, but no the reasons have little to do with the design of the code. Older versions of Outlook did have bad habbits, like automatically running possibly malicious code when the user clicked on an attachment. This behavior was not unique to Outlook, Netscape

PHBnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5586998.post-1060226294046110032003-08-07T03:18:00.000Z2006-11-11T03:12:11.667Z

Patent Ruling Goes Against EBay (TechNews.com) A federal judge Wednesday ordered online auction house eBay to pay $29.5 million to a Virginia inventor who accused the company of stealing his ideas. The 'idea' in question being the idea of fixed price bidding, the 'buy it now' option on EBay. Yet another stupid patent issued by the USPTO that does not have a shred of originality and would be

PHBnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5586998.post-1058408082136570302003-07-17T02:14:00.000Z2006-11-11T03:12:11.455Z

Douglas Heingartner's story in the New York Times highlights an old problem but one that still suprises many. If you want to make sure that a document cannot be read, don't shred it, burn it. A paper shredder is great for making papier-mache to amuse the children, but it does not prevent a determined snoop. In the aftermath of the invasion of the US embassy in Tehran the students spent long

PHBnoreply@blogger.com