Bruce Schneier has written a piece on how trivial it is to control a Bluetooth device, as the secret “key” it uses to connect to another device is only 4 digits long (ie, VERY easy to brute force on any laptop): There’s a new cryptographic result against Bluetooth. Yaniv Shaked and Avishai Wool of Tel [...]
Entries Tagged as 'Security'
Top Israeli Firms Ran Spy Ring
May 31st, 2005 · No Comments · Middle East, News, Security
The BBC reports that some Israeli companies have been very very naughty: Police in Israel say they have uncovered a huge industrial spying ring which used computer viruses to probe the systems of many major companies. At least 15 Israeli firms have been implicated in the espionage plot, with 18 people arrested in Israel and [...]
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Holding Computer Files Hostage – Show Me The Money
May 30th, 2005 · No Comments · Crime, Security
Bruce Schneier writes about a possible serious problem from an article posted at cnn.com: WASHINGTON (AP) — Computer users already anxious about viruses and identity theft have new reason to worry: Hackers have found a way to lock up the electronic documents on your computer and then demand $200 over the Internet to get them [...]
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Data Recovery, How Do They Do It?
May 30th, 2005 · No Comments · Hardware, Security
Tom’s hardware has written an interesting article on how data is recovered from a defective hard disk: Over the years, hard disks have gotten a lot quieter and faster, with capacities of up to 400 GB. The downside is that their reliability is far from perfect, and the devices are often fraught with mechanical failures [...]
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Hacking Lexus Nexis – How Some Dudes Did It
May 26th, 2005 · No Comments · Security
Three dudes recollect on how they hacked Lexus Nexus in a Wired article (nothing too technical): Three young hackers under investigation for unlawfully accessing personal information on thousands of people in a LexisNexis database have characterized their act as a cyberjoyride that got out of hand. The hackers, ages 16, 19 and 20, spoke with [...]
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Firefox 1.0.4 Released
May 12th, 2005 · No Comments · Firefox & Thunderbird, News, Security
A new release of firefox, consisting of security fixes: MFSA 2005-44 Privilege escalation via non-DOM property overrides MFSA 2005-43 “Wrapped” javascript: urls bypass security checks MFSA 2005-42 Code execution via javascript: IconURL Get it or get 0wned!
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Potential Of SSH Worm Devastation
May 10th, 2005 · No Comments · Internet, Security
Bruce Schneier once again makes a valid point: SSH, or secure shell, is the standard protocol for remotely accessing UNIX systems. It’s used everywhere: universities, laboratories, and corporations (particularly in data-intensive back office services). Thanks to SSH, administrators can stack hundreds of computers close together into air-conditioned rooms and administer them from the comfort of [...]
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Google’s Accelerator Breaks Web Apps
May 10th, 2005 · No Comments · Google, Internet, Privacy, Security
It seems that my hitherto published worries about Google Web Accelerator are being given some grounds by a recent article published in Eweek: Google’s effort to speed the pace of Web browsing quickly aggravated some early users, who say that the software is delivering them Web pages under other users’ logins and breaking Web applications. [...]
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Pepsi Machine Hacking HOWTO
May 5th, 2005 · 1 Comment · Cool Geeky Stuff, Security
A couple of months ago we posted a link to a HOWTO on how to hack Coke machines. Well, someone who was inspired by that HOWTO has written his own short HOWTO on how to hack its cousin, the Pepsi vending machine. Excerpt: Getting into the debug menu is as simple as pressing buttons. Some [...]
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PDF Redacting Blunder (Again)
May 4th, 2005 · No Comments · Security
The BBC reports: A Greek medical student at Bologna University who was surfing the web early on Sunday found that with two simple clicks of his computer mouse he could restore censored portions of the report. He passed the details to Italian newspapers which immediately put out the full text on their own websites. The [...]
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