Category: Security technology

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Cracking the Passwords of Early Internet Pioneers

Posted on By infossl
historyofcomputing, historyofsecurity, passwords, Security technology

Lots of them weren’t very good: BSD co-inventor Dennis Ritchie, for instance, used “dmac” (his middle name was MacAlistair); Stephen R. Bourne, creator of the Bourne shell command line interpreter, chose “bourne”; Eric Schmidt, an early developer of Unix software and now the executive chairman of Google parent company Alphabet, relied on “wendy!!!” (the name … Read More “Cracking the Passwords of Early Internet Pioneers” »

Factoring 2048-bit Numbers Using 20 Million Qubits

Posted on By infossl
academicpapers, cryptanalysis, cryptography, quantumcomputing, rsa, Security technology

This theoretical paper shows how to factor 2048-bit RSA moduli with a 20-million qubit quantum computer in eight hours. It’s interesting work, but I don’t want overstate the risk. We know from Shor’s Algorithm that both factoring and discrete logs are easy to solve on a large, working quantum computer. Both of those are currently … Read More “Factoring 2048-bit Numbers Using 20 Million Qubits” »

Details on Uzbekistan Government Malware: SandCat

Posted on By infossl
hacking, kaspersky, malware, operationalsecurity, Security technology, uzbekistan

Kaspersky has uncovered an Uzbeki hacking operation, mostly due to incompetence on the part of the government hackers. The group’s lax operational security includes using the name of a military group with ties to the SSS to register a domain used in its attack infrastructure; installing Kaspersky’s antivirus software on machines it uses to write … Read More “Details on Uzbekistan Government Malware: SandCat” »

New Reductor Nation-State Malware Compromises TLS

Posted on By infossl
attribution, certificates, kaspersky, malware, randomnumbers, russia, Security technology, tls

Kaspersky has a detailed blog post about a new piece of sophisticated malware that it’s calling Reductor. The malware is able to compromise TLS traffic by infecting the computer with hacked TLS engine substituted on the fly, “marking” infected TLS handshakes by compromising the underlining random-number generator, and adding new digital certificates. The result is … Read More “New Reductor Nation-State Malware Compromises TLS” »

Wi-Fi Hotspot Tracking

Posted on By infossl
privacy, Security technology, smartphones, surveillance, tracking, wifi

Free Wi-Fi hotspots can track your location, even if you don’t connect to them. This is because your phone or computer broadcasts a unique MAC address. What distinguishes location-based marketing hotspot providers like Zenreach and Euclid is that the personal information you enter in the captive portal­ — like your email address, phone number, or … Read More “Wi-Fi Hotspot Tracking” »

Speakers Censored at AISA Conference in Melbourne

Posted on By infossl
australia, conferences, Security technology, whistleblowers

Two speakers were censored at the Australian Information Security Association’s annual conference this week in Melbourne. Thomas Drake, former NSA employee and whistleblower, was scheduled to give a talk on the golden age of surveillance, both government and corporate. Suelette Dreyfus, lecturer at the University of Melbourne, was scheduled to give a talk on her … Read More “Speakers Censored at AISA Conference in Melbourne” »

New Unpatchable iPhone Exploit Allows Jailbreaking

Posted on By infossl
exploits, ios, iphone, malware, Security technology

A new iOS exploit allows jailbreaking of pretty much all version of the iPhone. This is a huge deal for Apple, but at least it doesn’t allow someone to remotely hack people’s phones. Some details: I wanted to learn how Checkm8 will shape the iPhone experience­ — particularly as it relates to security­ — so … Read More “New Unpatchable iPhone Exploit Allows Jailbreaking” »