Category: overreactions

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The Missouri Governor Doesn’t Understand Responsible Disclosure

Posted on By infossl
courts, disclosure, overreactions, Security technology, Uncategorized, vulnerabilities

The Missouri governor wants to prosecute the reporter who discovered a security vulnerability in a state’s website, and then reported it to the state. The newspaper agreed to hold off publishing any story while the department fixed the problem and protected the private information of teachers around the state. […] According to the Post-Dispatch, one … Read More “The Missouri Governor Doesn’t Understand Responsible Disclosure” »

Needless Panic Over a Wi-FI Network Name

Posted on By infossl
airtravel, overreactions, Security technology, warontheunexpected, wifi, wireless

A Turkish Airlines flight made an emergency landing because someone named his wireless network (presumably from his smartphone) “bomb on board.” In 2006, I wrote an essay titled “Refuse to be Terrorized.” (I am also reminded of my 2007 essay, “The War on the Unexpected.” A decade later, it seems that the frequency of incidents … Read More “Needless Panic Over a Wi-FI Network Name” »

How the Media Influences Our Fear of Terrorism

Posted on By infossl
cars, overreactions, psychologyofsecurity, riskassessment, risks, Security technology, terrorism

Good article that crunches the data and shows that the press’s coverage of terrorism is disproportional to its comparative risk. This isn’t new. I’ve written about it before, and wrote about it more generally when I wrote about the psychology of risk, fear, and security. Basically, the issue is the availability heuristic. We tend to … Read More “How the Media Influences Our Fear of Terrorism” »

Texas School Overreaction

Posted on By infossl
overreactions, Security technology, securitypolicies

Seems that a Texas school has suspended a 9-year-old for threatening another student with a replica One Ring. (Yes, that One Ring.) I’ve written about this sort of thing before: These so-called zero-tolerance policies are actually zero-discretion policies. They’re policies that must be followed, no situational discretion allowed. We encounter them whenever we go through … Read More “Texas School Overreaction” »

Did North Korea Really Attack Sony?

Posted on By infossl
fbi, hacking, intelligence, nationalsecuritypolicy, northkorea, overreactions, rootkits, Security technology, sony

I am deeply skeptical of the FBI’s announcement on Friday that North Korea was behind last month’s Sony hack. The agency’s evidence is tenuous, and I have a hard time believing it. But I also have trouble believing that the US government would make the accusation this formally if officials didn’t believe it. Clues in … Read More “Did North Korea Really Attack Sony?” »