When an event occurs that raises the awareness of the general population to a risk from a particular threat, the mitigation strategy of many individuals seems to entail taking actions that do not in fact address the threat. Instead they purchase equipment and take actions that only make them feel better with out in fact [...]
Posts Tagged ‘security’
Man-Bear-Pig Flu and Masks
Posted in News, tagged influenza, particulate masks, risks, security, threats on April 28, 2009 | 4 Comments »
Internet Scam: Vehicle Sales
Posted in Technology, tagged scam, security on March 5, 2009 | Leave a Comment »
The Internet Crime Complain Center (IC3) released a statement today about a new twist on the old online vehicle sale scam.
This scam works by advertising “competitively” priced vehicles at online classified sites like CraigsList. The seller will have a third-party involved as a kind of escrow to ensure you get your vehicle and they get [...]
X-Rays
Posted in Geek Stuff, Technology, tagged security on November 5, 2008 | 3 Comments »
I have a box. It is a box with a known purpose and a clear function. However, this box also purportedly contains countermeasures that prevent it from functioning should the case ever be opened. This is a problem as it is my job to open the case.
So you see my conundrum. I have to [...]
Copying Keys at a Distance. No lockpicks required.
Posted in Random Thoughts, tagged lockpicking, security on October 30, 2008 | 1 Comment »
The use, breaking and securing of locks is an interest of mine that sometimes finds relevance in my daily life. I have no particular depth of knowledge nor skill in the subject, only enough to understand that basic workings of locks and on occasion pick one for the fun of it. On the topic of [...]
Defcon 16 Recap or The Cake is a Lie
Posted in Technology, tagged defcon, security on August 10, 2008 | 1 Comment »
Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic – Arthur C. Clarke
This weekend was the first Defcon I attended, and if I had to summarize what I learned, it would be two-fold. One, any sense of security we feel in life is a lie. Second, for some of the things the speakers were doing, I [...]
Major Linux Vulnerability: Debian PRNG
Posted in Geek Stuff, Technology, tagged Debian, linux, security, Ubuntu on May 15, 2008 | 2 Comments »
Two days ago this vulnerability was released: http://www.debian.org/security/2008/dsa-1571
Luciano Bello discovered that the random number generator in Debian’s openssl package is predictable. This is caused by an incorrect Debian-specific change to the openssl package (CVE-2008-0166). As a result, cryptographic key material may be guessable.
This is a Debian-specific vulnerability which does not affect other operating systems which [...]
Breaking and Entering: Legalizing an Illegal Act
Posted in Random Thoughts, Society, tagged investigation, law, security, sin on May 6, 2008 | 16 Comments »
From time to time we are asked to take actions that in some contexts would be considered illegal activity. At times we are asked by companies to perform actual illegal endeavors. Discerning the difference between a legal illegal activity and an illegal illegal activity can be hard to one such as myself, uninformed with the [...]
Firefox: Web Development Extensions
Posted in Technology, tagged firefox, security, web development on March 27, 2008 | 1 Comment »
While there are many great web browsers out there, Firefox is unparalleled for web development. I wanted to devote a post to some of my favorite extensions that I use during development….
Firebug: My top choice for extensions. Great for viewing and fixing errors that appear in the console. I also use it to inspect [...]
cDc: Goolag
Posted in Technology, tagged programming, security on March 26, 2008 | 2 Comments »
The Cult of the Dead Cow, which bills itself as “the internet’s #1 white slavery and cockfighting site” recently released Goolag an open-source, surprisingly written in C#, tool that allows one to search a site using “dorks”.
From Goolag’s specifications document:
* Dork = A detailed search pattern – [...]
