Monthly Archives: January 2009
Wikipedia Editing Could Be Made More Restrictive Due to Vandalism
According to this article, the English version of Wikipedia may be implementing a system called “flagged revisions” to the editing software, which would require that edits would have to be approved (“flagged”) by a “trusted” user (see the Wikipedia page … Continue reading
Security Review: Network Solutions’ Worldnic Domain Name Hosting Service
Network Solutions runs one of the largest domain registrars and DNS hosting providers in the world. It currently hosts more than 7.5 million domain names, including many of the most popular web sites on the Internet. The domain name servers … Continue reading
New Zealand man accesses US military secrets
According to an article from New Zealand’s ONE news, one of their citizens, Chris Ogle, recently purchased an iPod from a thrift shop with detailed information about some of the US soldiers. This information has included social security numbers, information about … Continue reading
Current Event: OMG, The Real World Is Actually Like the Spy Movies
Today’s Seattle Times reports of an Oregon ex-CIA agent who had been selling the identities of other CIA agents to the Russians – from his jail cell. Not only am I surprised that he had already been convicted (in 1996) … Continue reading
Security Professional Works as Botmaster
Security Professional John Schiefer has continued to work in the computer security field for 15 months while he has been waiting to be sentenced for being a botmaster of a 250,000 bot herd (http://www.theregister.co.uk/2009/01/23/botmaster_sentencing_kerfuffle/). This Los Angeles based security consultant … Continue reading
Security Review: Advertisements That Watch You
The Associated Press reports that there is a growing chance that, while watching an advertisement on a video screen in a public place, the advertisement may also be watching you. Following a trend of increasingly prevalent automatic public monitoring, from … Continue reading
Personal Networks of the Future: The MAGNET project
With the improvement of wireless technologies and a decrease in their cost, more and more devices come with network connectivity built in. From Wifi to Bluetooth to 3G, more and more devices are becoming wireless capable. A recent article from … Continue reading
Security Review: Pandemic Prevention
According to a New Scientist Article, a company called Biorics wants to control the spread of pandemic disease by dispersing “cough-detecting” microphones throughout airport lounges. The proposed technology would detect coughing passengers and distinguish a common-cold-like cough from one that … Continue reading
Current Events: President Obama (‘s Web Site) Under Attack!
Barack Obama’s online community, which began during the 2008 campaign as a way to bring people into the political process, has been the target of recent attacks, according to an article in PCWorld. The site (login required) allows registered users … Continue reading
Ex-Fannie Mae worker charged with planting computer virus
According to the D.C. Examiner, a virus, allegedly planted by an ex-employee, was recently discovered among Fannie Mae’s 4,000 computer servers. The virus would have first disabled the companies’ computer monitoring systems, then restricted all employee access, begin erasing all … Continue reading