Category Archives: Privacy

Monkey Brains In U.S. Make Robot Walk In Japan

Researchers at Duke University Medical Center have successfully used a monkey to control a robot. By putting the monkey on a treadmill and implanting electrodes into its brain, the movement of the robot in Japan matched the movements of the … Continue reading

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AT&T Investigating Copyrighted Material Network Filter

In one of the more interesting stories to come out of the telecom industry in recent weeks, the New York Times is reporting that AT&T is currently in the testing phases of developing a network filter that will monitor their … Continue reading

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GOA says “The IRS security still sucks”

According to a report Tuesday from the Government Accountability Office, sensitive taxpayer data housed at the IRS is critically vulnerable to security threats. The report is a follow up from March 2006 where the security problems were initially discovered. The … Continue reading

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Mac ‘scareware’ in the wild

Security software vendor F-Secure has recently reported the first known “scareware” scam targeting Mac users. The software known as MacSweeper (www.macsweeper.com) poses as legitimate security software that “discovers” numerous fake problems and threats, which can only be solved by purchasing … Continue reading

Posted in Current Events, Ethics, Policy, Privacy | 3 Comments

Social Engineering Your Way Into a Dorm Room

It is shocking to learn that while the University of Washington Housing and Food Services own nine residence halls with a total capacity of nearly 5000 students, the security barring access to individual students’ rooms can be compromised with little … Continue reading

Posted in Ethics, Miscellaneous, Privacy | Tagged , , | 8 Comments

RFID embedded in prisoners

The UK has proposed to embed offenders with RFID chips as part of an expansion of the electronic tagging scheme that would allow British officials to to help enforce home curfews.  This sort of tagging already exists within pets like … Continue reading

Posted in Availability, Integrity, Privacy, Security Reviews | 5 Comments

Security Review: Biometrics

Summary Biometrics is an authentication mechanism that relies on identification or verification based on unique physiological characteristics.  Biometric devices employ fingerprint recognition, hand geometry, retina scanning, and other methods to identify or verify a person based on stored biometric information.  … Continue reading

Posted in Physical Security, Privacy, Security Reviews | 2 Comments

Watching an Exploit Unfold: Sex Offenders and the ESRB

This post documents an actual vulnerability exploit I recently witnessed. Details have been changed to protect the stupid. I happened to be loafing around on IRC yesterday, when an unusual opportunity to observe some pointless cybercrime in action presented itself. … Continue reading

Posted in Ethics, Miscellaneous, Privacy | Tagged , | 1 Comment