NetSec

3.12.2005

FTC Bars Bogus Anti-Spyware Claims

posted by arkng Saturday, March 12, 2005

Alternative browser spyware infects IE

Photos: Palm-reader in security's future

posted by arkng Saturday, March 12, 2005

3.11.2005

MIT Sloan School of Business Joins Ranks of Schools Who State That They Will Not Hire Alleged "Hackers" in the Wake of the ApplyYourself Fiasco. A So-Called "Hacker" is Alleged to Have Posted An URL to a BusinessWeek Discussion Board That Allowed People to Access Their Own Records in the Hopes of Gaining Early Access to the Success or Failure of their Admissions Records.

The Irony is that the Term Hacker Originated at MIT's Tech Model Railroad Club as Meaning "One who is adept or skillful at their art", typically a computer enthusiast. While fighting a semantic war over the term these days seems particularly pointless, the MIT TMRC Dictionary contains the following definitions:

Hack
1) an article or project without constructive end; 2) work undertaken on bad self-advice; 3) an entropy booster; 4) to produce, or attempt to produce, a hack.

Hacker
one who hacks, or makes them.

posted by GeeWhiz Friday, March 11, 2005

Favorite Sig File of the Day - "ASCII stupid question, get a stupid ANSI!"

posted by GeeWhiz Friday, March 11, 2005

Government warns utilities to beef up computer security from Brenda

posted by GeeWhiz Friday, March 11, 2005

DSW Data Theft Likely to Affect Hundreds of Thousands of Records from John.

Remember all the buzz about living in an information economy? Organized crime has caught on in a major way. These incidents are not kids playing on the Internet. The daily stream of information breaches is caused by a systemic engagement in crime. The low risk, high anonymity environment of the Internet makes e-crime all the more attractive.

In thinking about it the other day I realized how Jane Jacob's "Eyes on the Street" theory is demonstrated in full effect on the Internet. If you want to know more about Jacobs, check out "The Death and Life of Great American Cities." If you read up on her, you will realize that now, fourty-four years after writing "The Death...", her ideas are very trendy in urban design.

posted by GeeWhiz Friday, March 11, 2005

3.10.2005

"Which, luckily for me, was longer than the statute of limitations." - More on The Elsevier/Lexis-Nexis/Seisint Database theft. That quote is not the perpetrator... it's the former president of Seisint... a firm entrusted with the data records of hundreds of millions of people. Seisint Operates the MATRIX Program. The Founder, Hank Asher, Resigned After Details of His Previous Career (Drug Smuggling) Garnered Media Attention. The MATRIX Program is a Continuation of the DARPA TIA Program Formerly Administered by Convicted Felon John Poindexter. With people like entrusted with control of our personal information, we will never be safe. Hopefully, this will serve to prompt Congress to consider additional regulation of the Information Brokerage Industry. Thanks to the Center for Media and Democracy for Hosting Such a Rich Array of Resources on their Sourcewatch Website.

posted by Anonymous Thursday, March 10, 2005

Wireless Security is Devolving from Clyde

posted by GeeWhiz Thursday, March 10, 2005

3.09.2005

An old gem, recently updated, and with additional drivers (such as serial ATA), Petter Nordahl-Hagen's Offline NT Password and Registry Editor is a bootable linux-based 1.44mb floppy diskette that allows an NT/2000/w2k3/XP local administrator's, or any other local account's password, to be reset to the enter key, or any other desired string. Also available as a bootable CD ISO file with more extensive driver collection. A must-have utility for any sys admin\security guru's toolbox.

posted by Mark Wednesday, March 09, 2005

To Learn More About Risks to Physical Infrastructure, Read FEMA's "Multi-Hazard Identification and Risk Assessment" Document

posted by GeeWhiz Wednesday, March 09, 2005

Hackers have gained access to personal information of about 32,000 U.S. citizens
No Hackers at Harvard (Update to arkng post on 3-3-2005)

posted by Lance Wednesday, March 09, 2005

Harvard Researcher Successfully Prosecuted for Violating French Intellectual Property Laws - In the US, the DMCA Allows but Places Limits on Reverse Engineering - Skip the Newsy Stuff and Read About the Issue in the Author's Own Words. Tena's work on Adaptive Plant Pathogen Immunity Response is Interesting (Picture)

posted by GeeWhiz Wednesday, March 09, 2005

3.08.2005

Linuxense issues server break-in challenge - achieve internet immortality and the respect of your peers by being the first to own their server. Scoot over to http://www.linuxense.com/challenge/ for details...

posted by Anonymous Tuesday, March 08, 2005

Arizona student guilty of Web piracy

Worms on the prowl, traveling via MSN Messenger

posted by arkng Tuesday, March 08, 2005

Astaro rolls out new (anti-)spyware (Version)

posted by arkng Tuesday, March 08, 2005

3.07.2005

Microsoft Shows Off Prototypes to Blunt Network Attacks
Windows Server 2003 and XP SP2 (with Windows Firewall turned off) are vulnerable to LAND attack.

posted by Lance Monday, March 07, 2005

Symbian Cell Phone Virus Spreading in the Wild

posted by GeeWhiz Monday, March 07, 2005

Judge Dismisses Felony SPAM Conviction

posted by GeeWhiz Monday, March 07, 2005