Category Archives: Miscellaneous

Current Event: Biometric Identification Cards Distributed in the UK, But No Readers

A recent article from silicon.com details the recent issuance of £4.7 billion worth of ID cards containing biometric and biographical data to people of the UK. Critics of the plan are quickly pointing out that with no readers in place, … Continue reading

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Arrested in Washington? Give us your DNA!

As I found on Slashdot, a controversial piece of legislation is being considered that would allow for the collection of DNA from arrested persons. The DNA may be collected prior to the arrested person being charged with a crime, and … Continue reading

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Security Review: Cryptography

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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

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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

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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

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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

Posted in Ethics, Miscellaneous, Policy, Security Reviews | Tagged | 2 Comments

Windows Mobile Bluetooth Security Vulnerability

A recent vulnerability discovered in the Windows Mobile Bluetooth server allows access to all files. This vulnerability is a simple directory traversing problem, simply using “../” or “..\\” allows for traversal outside of the directory. Users of Windows Mobile 6 … Continue reading

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Data Breach at Heartland

A New Jersey based payment card processing company- Heartland Payment System Inc. admitted last week to a data breach into their system. In what may result as one of the largest compromises in payment card information, Heartland disclosed that intruders … Continue reading

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Obama’s Blackberry Security Review

It looks like, after much debate, Obama will be allowed to continue to use a smart phone (From most articles I have read, it seems unclear whether the phone will still be the Blackberry he seemed to like so much, … Continue reading

Posted in Miscellaneous, Security Reviews | 9 Comments