Last week, Microsoft issued a security patch for Windows XP, a 16-year-old operating system that Microsoft officially no longer supports. Last month, Microsoft issued a Windows XP patch for the vulnerability used in WannaCry. Is this a good idea? This 2014 essay argues that it’s not: The zero-day flaw and its exploitation is unfortunate, and … Read More “Is Continuing to Patch Windows XP a Mistake?” »
Author: infossl
Last week, the Department of Justice released 18 new FISC opinions related to Section 702 as part of an EFF FOIA lawsuit. (Of course, they don’t mention EFF or the lawsuit. They make it sound as if it was their idea.) There’s probably a lot in these opinions. In one Kafkaesque ruling, a defendant was … Read More “The Dangers of Secret Law” »
I have no comment on the politics of this stabbing attack, and only note that the attacker used a ceramic knife — that will go through metal detectors. I have used a ceramic knife in the kitchen. It’s sharp. Powered by WPeMatico
Access Now has documented it being used against a Twitter user, but it also works against other social media accounts: With the Doubleswitch attack, a hijacker takes control of a victim’s account through one of several attack vectors. People who have not enabled an app-based form of multifactor authentication for their accounts are especially vulnerable. … Read More “New Technique to Hijack Social Media Accounts” »
An early preview. As usual, you can also use this squid post to talk about the security stories in the news that I haven’t covered. Read my blog posting guidelines here. Powered by WPeMatico
There’s evidence: Though the assessment is not conclusive, the preponderance of the evidence points to Pyongyang. It includes the range of computer Internet protocol addresses in China historically used by the RGB, and the assessment is consistent with intelligence gathered recently by other Western spy agencies. It states that the hackers behind WannaCry are also … Read More “NSA Links WannaCry to North Korea” »
Turns out that it’s surprisingly easy to game: It appears that news sites deemed legitimate by Google News are being modified by third parties. These sites are then exploited to redirect to the spam content. It appears that the compromised sites are examining the referrer and redirecting visitors coming from Google News. Powered by WPeMatico
I hesitate to blog this, because it’s an example of everything that’s wrong with pop psychology. Malcolm Harris writes about millennials, and has a theory of why millennials leak secrets. My guess is that you could write a similar essay about every named generation, every age group, and so on. Powered by WPeMatico
This article argues that Britain’s counterterrorism problem isn’t lack of data, it’s lack of analysis. Powered by WPeMatico
Good commentary. Powered by WPeMatico