Thousands of articles have called the December attack against Sony Pictures a wake-up call to industry. Regardless of whether the attacker was the North Korean government, a disgruntled former employee, or a group of random hackers, the attack showed how vulnerable a large organization can be and how devastating the publication of its private correspondence, … Read More “The Security of Data Deletion” »
Category: essays
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When you’re attacked by a missile, you can follow its trajectory back to where it was launched from. When you’re attacked in cyberspace, figuring out who did it is much harder. The reality of international aggression in cyberspace will change how we approach defense. Many of us in the computer-security field are skeptical of the … Read More “Attack Attribution in Cyberspace” »
No one has admitted taking down North Korea’s Internet. It could have been an act of retaliation by the US government, but it could just as well have been an ordinary DDoS attack. The follow-on attack against Sony PlayStation definitely seems to be the work of hackers unaffiliated with a government. Not knowing who did … Read More “Attributing the Sony Attack” »
The Intercept has published an article — based on the Snowden documents — about AURORAGOLD, an NSA surveillance operation against cell phone network operators and standards bodies worldwide. This is not a typical NSA surveillance operation where agents identify the bad guys and spy on them. This is an operation where the NSA spies on … Read More “NSA Hacking of Cell Phone Networks” »
Last week, we learned about a striking piece of malware called Regin that has been infecting computer networks worldwide since 2008. It’s more sophisticated than any known criminal malware, and everyone believes a government is behind it. No country has taken credit for Regin, but there’s substantial evidence that it was built and operated by … Read More “Corporate Abuse of Our Data” »
In the Internet age, we have no choice but to entrust our data with private companies: e-mail providers, service providers, retailers, and so on. We realize that this data is at risk from hackers. But there’s another risk as well: the employees of the companies who are holding our data for us. In the early … Read More “Corporations Misusing Our Data” »