Category Archives: Current Events

Moving to a Forum

Posted on February 15, 2010 by Tadayoshi Kohno

For CSE 484 this year, we have switched from the blog format to the forum format.  The course website is online at http://www.cs.washington.edu/education/courses/484/10wi/.  This year’s forum is online at https://catalysttools.washington.edu/gopost/board/kohno/14597/.  We switched from the blog format to the forum format … Continue reading →

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Current Event – A Broader Look on Wireless Access Point Vulnerabilities

Posted on March 16, 2009 by qwerty

Wireless access points are a great technology – allowing a user the convenience of accessing the same wired network without wires.  But the vulnerabilites and weak points that they produce can often be overlooked.  Most people install these devices to … Continue reading →

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Security Review: New Weapons in the Fight Against Doping

Posted on March 13, 2009 by oterod

The use of performance enhancing drugs and medical techniques is a serious problem in every sport, but no sport is as notorious for doping scandals as is professional cycling. While Olympic athletes, baseball players, and body builders are often caught … Continue reading →

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Current Events: One more botnet-related legal fray

Posted on March 13, 2009 by oterod

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 →

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Current Event: California Politician Wants All Satellite Imagery of Schools, Churches, and Government Buildings to Be ‘Blurred’

Posted on March 13, 2009 by vincez

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 →

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How to break into a vault with 10 layers of security

Posted on March 13, 2009 by lidor7

In 2003, Leonardo Notarbartolo and a team of Italian thieves broke into the Antwerp Diamond Center and made off with $100 million worth of  diamonds, jewelry and other valuables.  The vault was protected by 10 layers of security including a … Continue reading →

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Cryptography towards a new kind of election?

Posted on March 13, 2009 by Orion

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 →

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Linux Desktop Security Vulnerabilities

Posted on March 13, 2009 by spa

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 →

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Current Event: iTunes Gift Voucher Hacked?

Posted on March 13, 2009 by Tim Crossley

Many online news agencies are reporting that a Chinese group of hackers have broken Apple’s iTunes Gift Voucher code generator. The original story seems to come from Outdustry, a Chinese music industry website, and tells of $200 gift certificates being … Continue reading →

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Security Review: Google Voice

Posted on March 13, 2009 by eapter

Apologies for reviewing the same technology. The other Google Voice review just appeared for me, which was after I wrote my own. I did check prior to starting this review, and it wasn’t up then. Summary: ComputerWorld had an article … Continue reading →

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