In a cautionary tale to those who favor government-mandated backdoors to security systems, Microsoft accidentally leaked the key protecting its UEFI Secure boot feature. As we all know, the problems with backdoors are less the cryptography and more the systems surrounding the cryptography. Powered by WPeMatico
Month: August 2016
Experts are blaming bacteria, not squid nets. Powered by WPeMatico
Some minimal information about the NSA’s abilities to hack networks via submarine. Powered by WPeMatico
Nice attack against electronic safes: Plore used side-channel attacks to pull it off. These are ways of exploiting physical indicators from a cryptographic system to get around its protections. Here, all Plore had to do was monitor power consumption in the case of one safe, and the amount of time operations took in other, and … Read More “Hacking Electronic Safes” »
Here’s an interesting hack against a computer’s monitor: A group of researchers has found a way to hack directly into the tiny computer that controls your monitor without getting into your actual computer, and both see the pixels displayed on the monitor — effectively spying on you — and also manipulate the pixels to display … Read More “Hacking Your Computer Monitor” »
We’re seeing car thefts in the wild accomplished through hacking: Houston police have arrested two men for a string of high-tech thefts of trucks and SUVs in the Houston area. The Houston Chronicle reports that Michael Armando Arce and Jesse Irvin Zelaya were charged on August 4th, and are believed to be responsible for more … Read More “Hackers Stealing Cars” »
Scott Atran has done some really interesting research on why ordinary people become terrorists. Academics who study warfare and terrorism typically don’t conduct research just kilometers from the front lines of battle. But taking the laboratory to the fight is crucial for figuring out what impels people to make the ultimate sacrifice to, for example, … Read More “Scott Atran on Why People Become Terrorists” »
At Defcon last weekend, researchers demonstrated hacks against Bluetooth door locks and Internet-enabled thermostats. Powered by WPeMatico
EFF has the story of malware from the Kazakhstan government against “journalists and political activists critical of Kazakhstan’s authoritarian government, along with their family members, lawyers, and associates.” Powered by WPeMatico
Citizen Lab has a new report on an Iranian government hacking program that targets dissidents. From a Washington Post op-ed by Ron Deibert: Al-Ameer is a net savvy activist, and so when she received a legitimate looking email containing a PowerPoint attachment addressed to her and purporting to detail “Assad Crimes,” she could easily have … Read More “How the Iranian Government Hacks Dissidents” »