Category Archives: Current Events

Current Event: California IDs to have biometrics? The DMV hopes so!

It seems that in addition to the recently released biometric IDs in the UK, the California Department of Motor Vehicles seems to have recently tried to set up biometric IDs as well. In an otherwise innocuous vendor contract, the DMV … Continue reading

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Current Events: Cyber hackers turn to “virtual assets”

According to the ESET’s 2008 Global Thread Report, there has been a spike in the goals and targets of cyber hackers. Rather than attempting to break into a bank account or deface a website they would go for something more subtle, … Continue reading

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Current Event – Facebook the target of scammers

As Facebook becomes more ingrained in people’s public lives, so does the opportunity for people to take advantage of the virtual identities of others.  Recently, a Seattle man, Bryan Rutberg, had his Facebook account used to extort money from his … Continue reading

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Current Event: Spike in Online Game hacking

According to an article on Gamasutra online game hacking spiked in 2008.  It was noted that it usually wasn’t the games themselves being directly attacked, rather attackers would use social engineering or other techniques to install malware, such as keyloggers, … Continue reading

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Security Review: .tel domain

According to New Scientist, a UK company called Telnic is introducing a new top-level domain, .tel, with the intention of creating a “phonebook for the internet.” Users will only be able to register contact information, and this information will be … Continue reading

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Current Events – Infections that begin with windshield fliers

Not all computer malware infections are done completely electronically.  In recent events, cars in Grand Forks, North Dakota were tagged with “windshield fliers” which resembeled a parking ticket, stating they were violating the “standard parking regulations” and that in order … Continue reading

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Microsoft changes Windows 7 UAC after new exploit surfaces

Source: http://www.computerworld.com/action/article.do?command=viewArticleBasic&articleId=9127392 The User Account Control (UAC) in Microsoft’s Windows 7 has already been compromised. Two programmers have written code, which can alter UAC settings and upon restart of the machine execute arbitrary code with administrative privileges. The basis of … Continue reading

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Current Event: Google Releases ‘Latitude’

Google has released a new product called ‘Latitude’. It is an extension based on the extremely popular Google Maps web application that allows users to track the exact location of friends and family members using the GPS signal in their … Continue reading

Posted in Current Events, Ethics | 3 Comments

Police Searches of Personal Electronics

Source: Cnet In June 2008 Florida Highway Patrol officer John Wilcox pulled over Ariel Quintana for speeding, who was then discovered to be driving with a suspended license. The officer also suspected Quintana of being in possession of marijuana, but … Continue reading

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Current Events: GPU Accelerated WIFI Cracking

source articles: http://www.tgdaily.com/content/view/41032/144/ http://blogs.zdnet.com/security/?p=2419 GPU (graphical processing units) are usually intended to be dedicated hardware to aid in rendering 2D and 3D images.  However, as their computing and parallel processing abilities have grown to astounding levels, many have begun to … Continue reading

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