Monthly Archives: March 2009
Current Events: One more botnet-related legal fray
As part of an “expose’” on cyber crime, BBC’s “Click” team took it upon themselves to hire a botnet. With the stated goal of demonstrating the power of “cyber criminals” in today’s world, the journalists purchased the use of ~22,000 … Continue reading
Current Event: California Politician Wants All Satellite Imagery of Schools, Churches, and Government Buildings to Be ‘Blurred’
A politician in California, Assemblyman Joel Anderson, has just proposed legislation to be drafted that would require Google’s map application to blur satellite imagery of all schools, churches, and government buildings. The Assemblyman’s proposal would require not just Google, but … Continue reading
Security Review: Web based Remote Access
Many operating systems include some sort of remote access solution by default. Windows XP, for example, ship with Microsoft’s Remote Desktop as a simple remote administration interface. Even OpenBSD, the Unix variant which is usually regarded as the most secure … Continue reading
Cryptography towards a new kind of election?
Computer scientists at the Harvard School of Engineering and Applied Sciences recently deployed the first “practical, Web-based, secure, verifiable voting system.” After testing through 2008 and early 2009, the system, dubbed “Helios,” was used for the university presidential elections at … Continue reading
Security Review: PayPal
PayPal, along with other services like Ebay, is an online tool used to transfer money that most are familiar with. Web payment services are a major conveinence, but come with a number of significant risks. Services like PayPal can allow … Continue reading
Security Review: VoIP Communication
Over the past five years or so, voice over IP has rapidly gained in popularity and use. It touts cheaper calls for residential users and corporations can save big because additional extensions on a VoIP infrastructure are less costlythan their … Continue reading
Security Review: DTV coupon program
This June, all U.S. television stations must shut off their analog broadcasts, and replace them with digital ones. In order to make the transition less painful, the DTV Coupon Program offers up to two coupons to every U.S. household, good … Continue reading
Security Review: Google Latitude
Google Latitude is yet another product available by the well established makers of the Gmail internet based mail system. Latitude is a web based service, running in sync with a client side application Google Gears, which allows Google to pinpoint … Continue reading
Linux Desktop Security Vulnerabilities
A common method for infection of many operating systems is a malicious executable file–either sent in an email or downloaded otherwise–that the user simply double clicks without thinking. Linux .desktop files allow arbitrary code execution without the need for an executable bit set on the file. Continue reading