Daily Archives: March 16, 2008

Security Review: “Smart Guns”

Posted on March 16, 2008 by Trip Volpe

Overview This is a security review of “Smart Guns,” a general class of locking/use prevention mechanisms for firearms that rely on biometrics or other authentication indicators (such as “smart” chips embedded in the gun and in rings or other tokens … Continue reading →

Posted in Availability, Physical Security, Policy, Security Reviews | 18 Comments

Microsoft, Yahoo, and Internet Breakage

Posted on March 16, 2008 by Justin McOmie

In a recent interview with “Condé Nast Portfolio”, Google CEO Eric Schmidt warns us all that a Microsoft-Yahoo merger might “break the internet” due to the consolidation of web-mail, instant messaging, and other services that would follow as a result. … Continue reading →

Posted in Current Events, Miscellaneous | Tagged , | 1 Comment

Current Events: Wikileaks

Posted on March 16, 2008 by alpers

Something that really piques one’s curiosity are the documents and reasons why governments and institutions choose to go in the paths they do.  One site that caters to uncovering these sensitive documents is Wikileaks, which has been frequently featured on … Continue reading →

Posted in Current Events | Tagged , | 1 Comment

Security Review: credit cards stored in company databases

Posted on March 16, 2008 by Justin McOmie

Summary: It is now very common to do business with companies that will by default (or even as a requirement to patronize) permanently store credit card and associated personal information in a database to help speed up future transactions or … Continue reading →

Posted in Security Reviews | 6 Comments

Security Review: The Human Heart

Posted on March 16, 2008 by chrislim

As our professor has continually emphasized throughout the quarter, one of the primary aims of our course has been to go beyond technical details of current computer security in order to learn the security mindset. This new way of thinking … Continue reading →

Posted in Ethics, Integrity, Miscellaneous, Security Reviews | 6 Comments

Current Events: British Police Want DNA of Children

Posted on March 16, 2008 by Trip Volpe

From The Guardian, and on Slashdot. Police in the United Kingdom may soon be be able to collect DNA samples from children if they exhibit behaviors that suggest they may commit crimes later in life, at least if Scotland Yard … Continue reading →

Posted in Current Events, Ethics, Physical Security, Policy, Privacy | Tagged , , , | 3 Comments

Water: Essential for Life

Posted on March 16, 2008 by Kris Plunkett

Summary: As humans we are cursed by the need for a number of basic necessities. Among these include nutritious food, clean air, and of course water. In this brief post I will focus on the later of these. While the … Continue reading →

Posted in Physical Security, Security Reviews | 1 Comment

Security Review: Car GPS Navigation Systems

Posted on March 16, 2008 by joyleung

Summary Car GPS navigation systems are handy tool for finding one’s way on the road. With features like local points of interest, address book and SD card backup it would not be surprising if becomes a common everyday item soon. … Continue reading →

Posted in Availability, Privacy, Security Reviews | 8 Comments

Security Review – GSM Cellphones

Posted on March 16, 2008 by aodle56

I’ve seen a few people on this blog cover various aspects of cellphone security, including the new iphone 3rd party support and GPS tracking, however I haven’t seen anything covering the most basic of cellphone features, voice communication. It seems … Continue reading →

Posted in Privacy, Security Reviews | 3 Comments

Security Review: ‘taspo’ RFID cards for cigarette vending machines

Posted on March 16, 2008 by robertm2

Being a frequent visitor to Japan and thus knowing its people and culture fairly well, I thought it’d be appropriate for me to conduct a review on the new ‘taspo’ RFID cards which Yoshi also mentioned a while back.  The ‘taspo’ … Continue reading →

Posted in Security Reviews | 2 Comments