May 2011
30 posts
1 tag
Anonymous →
Unter diesem Namen macht eine lose Gruppe von Computerfreaks seit Jahren das Internet unsicher: Mail-Angriffe, gehackte Seiten, lustiger Unfug. Doch irgendwann wurde das Netzwerk zu mächtig, heute greift es in Gesellschaft und Politik ein - und keiner weiß, wohin das alles führen soll. Die Geschichte einer Organisation, die nie eine Organisation sein wollte.
Full Article
Under this name a...
4 tags
Internet security: Keys to the cloud castle →
Consider the purchase of a home in two adjacent gated communities. Both have houses with truly impregnable locks. In one community, whenever you need to enter your house, you visit the management office and show your driving licence. A guard walks you to your home, and lets you in using the master key that opens every door lock in the community. You can stay inside indefinitely. If an employee...
4 tags
Seven security incidents in two months - Sony’s... →
It seems that Sony has had to deal with one embarrassing incident after another recently. Like piranha swarming someone injured in a river, it looks like everyone is testing Sony’s security defenses. What does this mean for Sony? Assuming it’s hurt at all by these incidents, can their reputation be salvaged?
Full Article
2 tags
Security Pros Keys To The Kingdom Leave Encrypted... →
Talk about the insider threat: Some 40 percent of IT pros worldwide say that the way in which their firms have deployed encryption could allow them to hold their companies’ encrypted data hostage if they were to go rogue or leave the company. One-third of the 500 IT security pros from around the globe surveyed at the InfoSecurity 2011 conference last month by Venafi say their individual...
2 tags
Zombie-Proof House →
Somehow, ritual drunk-conversation concerning team captains for the apocalypse has become a major part of the lives of 20-somethings. Having been matured in the Grandaddy-crowned masterpiece film (put “A.M. 180” on and forget that you have a job) 28 Days Later and the best-selling Zombie Survival Guide, we’re all a little too ready to deal with the 2012 of our dreams.
Full Article
4 tags
Hackers hit Sony sites raising more security... →
Sony Corp has been hacked again, exposing more security issues for the company less than a month after intruders stole personal information from more than 100 million online user accounts. A hacked page on a Sony website in Thailand directed users to a fake site posing as an Italian credit card company. The site was designed to steal information from customers, Internet security firm F-Secure...
1 tag
Fingerprints Go the Distance →
Over the years, fingerprinting has evolved from an inky mess to pressing fingers on sensor screens to even a few touch-free systems that work at a short distance. Now a company has developed a prototype of a device that can scan fingerprints from up to two meters away, an approach that could prove especially useful at security checkpoints in places like Iraq and Afghanistan. The device, called...
5 tags
Report: PSN password resets exploited, accounts... →
Just two days after the PlayStation Network was restored after a near month-long outage, the PSN password page has apparently been exploited. According to reports, the exploit allows other users to reset your account password using only your e-mail address and date of birth. This personal data was made available to hackers during the initial PSN attack.
Full Article
4 tags
Catching authTokens in the wild →
In a recent blog post Dan Wallach outlined some of the risks of using Android smartphones in open Wifi networks. He found that some Android applications transmit data in the clear, allowing an attacker to eavesdrop any transmitted information. Besides third-party apps, such as Twitter or Facebook, also the Google Calendar app transmitted unencrypted information. Wallach stated that “an...
4 tags
Obama Administration Lays Out New U.S. Cyberspace... →
The Obama administration has unveiled a sweeping strategy for the way that it plans to conduct the country’s business and political dealings online in the coming years, and much of the plan centers on improving the security and reliability of the Internet. The International Strategy for Cyberspace is a policy document and not a technical one, but the plan clearly implies that the U.S....
2 tags
1 tag
Israel-Palestinian violence erupts on three... →
Violence erupted on Israel’s borders with Syria, Lebanon and Gaza on Sunday, leaving at least eight dead and dozens wounded, as Palestinians marked what they term “the catastrophe” of Israel’s founding in 1948.
Full Article
1 tag
Silicon Valley and the technology industry: The... →
SOME time after the dotcom boom turned into a spectacular bust in 2000, bumper stickers began appearing in Silicon Valley imploring: “Please God, just one more bubble.” That wish has now been granted. Compared with the rest of America, Silicon Valley feels like a boomtown. Corporate chefs are in demand again, office rents are soaring and the pay being offered to talented folk in fashionable...
3 tags
Hackers point finger over Sony incursion →
Two veterans of Anonymous have acknowledged that members of the cyber-activist group are likely to have been behind the recent hacking attacks on Sony, in spite of the group’s official denials. An individual or handful of supporters of Anonymous’ well-publicised operation to disrupt Sony services – dubbed OpSony – went further than the rest of the free-speech campaigners expected when they broke...
3 tags
Anonymous Splinter Group Implicated in Game... →
The Web sites for computer game giant Eidos Interactive and one of its biggest titles — Deus Ex– were defaced and plundered on Wednesday in what appears to have been an attack from a splinter cell of the hacktivist group Anonymous. The hack comes just days after entertainment giant Sony told Congress that Anonymous members may have been responsible for break-ins that compromised personal...
3 tags
The "PROTECT IP" Act: COICA Redux →
Last year’s rogue website legislation is back on the table, with a new name: the “Preventing Real Online Threats to Economic Creativity and Theft of Intellectual Property Act of 2011”—or (wink, wink) “PROTECT IP”. The draft language is available here. The earlier bill, which failed to pass thanks largely to a hold on the legislation placed by Senator Ron Wyden of Oregon,...
4 tags
It's Time to Start Using a Password Manager →
Password Managers and Security go hand in hand in this day of age. Due to my Google Account recently getting compromised, I’ve put in quite a bit of research in the solutions you can implement to secure yourself on the Internet. As a plus, these solutions also add an extra level of usability while browsing the net.
Full Article
5 tags
Dropbox Lied to Users about Data Security,... →
Dropbox, the wildly popular online storage system, deceived users about the security and encryption of its services, putting it at a competitive advantage, according to an FTC complaint filed Thursday by a prominent security researcher. The complaint (.pdf) charges that Dropbox told users that their files were totally encrypted and even Dropbox employees could not see the contents of the file....
4 tags
New Music Locker Services Fail To Recognize Full... →
Google announced today that it will join Amazon in offering consumers a cloud-based music locker service. Google’s news, which had been rumored for some time, presents an opportunity to both answer and ask some questions about the future of the music industry. Those questions make clear that while services like these do improve the ability for fans to access their music, they still only get us a...
4 tags
Security Group Claims to Have Subverted Google... →
A French security research firm boasted today that it has discovered a two-step process for defeating Google Chrome‘s sandbox, the security technology designed to protect the browser from being compromised by previously unknown security flaws. Experts say the discovery, if true, marks the first time hackers have figured out a way around the vaunted security layer, and almost certainly will...
5 tags
A Syrian Man-In-The-Middle Attack against Facebook →
UPDATE: If you are in Syria and your browser shows you this certificate warning on Facebook, it is not safe to login to Facebook. You may wish to use Tor to connect to Facebook, or use proxies outside of Syria. Yesterday we learned of reports that the Syrian Telecom Ministry had launched a man-in-the-middle attack against the HTTPS version of the Facebook site. The attack is ongoing and has been...
3 tags
The Wall Street Journal Launches a WikiLeaks... →
Once upon a time, WikiLeaks was just a place where a would-be whistleblower could submit documents that he or she wanted the world to see. They provided a technologically secure channel and promised anonymity. The site was phenomenally successful in this early iteration and received thousands of important documents about governments around the world.
Full Article
3 tags
Don't Leak to the Wall Street Journal's New... →
The Wall Street Journal is trying to make a play for whistleblowers with its very own Wikileaks clone, SafeHouse. But SafeHouse is the opposite of safe, thanks to basic security flaws and fine print that lets the Journal rat on leakers. SafeHouse, which launched today to much fanfare, promises to let leakers “securely share information with the Wall Street Journal,” by uploading...
4 tags
Osama bin Laden: how DNA identified his body →
Achieving a satisfactory identification of the world’s most wanted man is not, it turns out, a simple matter. According to the US government, the body of Osama bin Laden, killed during a raid on a compound in Abbottabad, Pakistan, on 2 May, was identified by comparison to photographs, confirmation from one of his wives at the compound, facial-recognition software, and – the gold standard...
4 tags
Reality TV Show X-Factor Spills Data On 250,000... →
Reality TV hopefuls are prepared to bare all for a chance at insta-celebrity. But prospective contestants for the new Simon Cowell show X-Factor probably didn’t expect that their names, e-mail addresses and phone numbers to be up for grabs. Alas, that’s how it turned out after a network breach at Fox Broadcasting digorged data on 250,000 applicants. According to a report in the Daily...
6 tags
Feds Demand Firefox Remove Add-On That Redirects... →
The Department of Homeland Security has requested that Mozilla, the maker of the Firefox browser, remove an add-on that allows web surfers to access websites whose domain names were seized by the government for copyright infringement, Mozilla’s lawyer said Thursday. But Mozilla did not remove the MafiaaFire add-on, and instead has demanded the government explain why it should. Two weeks have...
4 tags
LastPass Forces Users to Pick Another Password →
LastPass.com, a free password management service that lets users unlock access to all of their password protected sites with a single master password, is forcing all of its approximately 1.25 million users to change their master passwords after discovering that intruders may have accessed the company’s user database.
Full Article
5 tags
Nikon Image Authentication System: Compromised →
ElcomSoft Co. Ltd. researched Nikon’s Image Authentication System, a secure suite validating if an image has been altered since capture, and discovered a major flaw. The flaw allows anyone producing forged pictures that will successfully pass validation with Nikon’s Image Authentication Software. The weakness lies in the manner the secure image signing key is being handled in Nikon digital...
2 tags
After botched child porn raid, judge sees the... →
Several recent government raids on computer users suspected of sharing child porn online hit the wrong targets. Instead of getting the perpetrators, some of the raids nabbed a neighbor with an open WiFi network instead. One obvious takeaway: letting total strangers use your Internet connection for any purpose comes with some risk. But there’s another lesson: IP addresses simply don’t...
3 tags
The death of Osama and the return to reality →
My son Alessandro was only six weeks old when, holding him in my arms, I watched the second tower fall crashing to the ground from the safety of several miles distance. It was a surreal moment, while the smoky haze caused by the collapse of the first tower was just clearing when the remaining structure came crashing down. Looking at his big and still clueless eyes, I shuddered to consider the...