Apple is fighting its own battle against leakers, using people and tactics from the NSA. According to the hour-long presentation, Apple’s Global Security team employs an undisclosed number of investigators around the world to prevent information from reaching competitors, counterfeiters, and the press, as well as hunt down the source when leaks do occur. Some … Read More “Fighting Leakers at Apple” »
Sad story of someone whose computer became owned by a griefer: The trouble began last year when he noticed strange things happening: files went missing from his computer; his Facebook picture was changed; and texts from his daughter didn’t reach him or arrived changed. “Nobody believed me,” says Gary. “My wife and my brother thought … Read More “Separating the Paranoid from the Hacked” »
In a proposed rule by the FAA, it argues that software in an Embraer S.A. Model ERJ 190-300 airplane is secure because it’s proprietary: In addition, the operating systems for current airplane systems are usually and historically proprietary. Therefore, they are not as susceptible to corruption from worms, viruses, and other malicious actions as are … Read More “The FAA Is Arguing for Security by Obscurity” »
A paddleboarder had a run-in with an injured giant squid. Video. Here’s the real story. 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
Interesting: As codes go, Potter’s wasn’t inordinately complicated. As Wiltshire explains, it was a “mono-alphabetic substitution cipher code,” in which each letter of the alphabet was replaced by a symbol — the kind of thing they teach you in Cub Scouts. The real trouble was Potter’s own fluency with it. She quickly learned to write … Read More “The Secret Code of Beatrix Potter” »
Amazon has been issued a patent on security measures that prevents people from comparison shopping while in the store. It’s not a particularly sophisticated patent — it basically detects when you’re using the in-store Wi-Fi to visit a competitor’s site and then blocks access — but it is an indication of how retail has changed … Read More “Amazon Patents Measures to Prevent In-Store Comparison Shopping” »
According to a recently declassified report obtained under FOIA, the NSA’s attempts to protect itself against insider attacks aren’t going very well: The N.S.A. failed to consistently lock racks of servers storing highly classified data and to secure data center machine rooms, according to the report, an investigation by the Defense Department’s inspector general completed … Read More “NSA Insider Security Post-Snowden” »
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?” »
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