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Have you ever used Google to search for your own name? If you haven’t, I suggest you give it a try: The results may surprise you. Google probably knows more about you than you’d assume. And, although Google receives a hefty share of criticism for its policies regarding private information, it’s far from the only [...]
How to pick your next password to maximize your security
by Marshall Brain | January 17, 2011
The following article makes a great point – it is prudent to have a different password for ever site that needs one. Therefore you need a different password for your bank, your email account, your facebook page and so on. Unfortunately this means that you have a dozen or more different passwords and they become [...]
This is a remarkable video, showing how it easy it is for someone to scan your credit card numbers out of your wallet because of the RFID chips embedded in your credit cards: This problem has been around and known for some time… Why did RFID come to be something that is so lacking in [...]
There is a huge uproar right now about the new full body scanners being deployed in airports around the United States. There are people loudly claiming that the TSA is handcuffing them to chairs for refusing to be scanned… TSA agents yelled at her, handcuffed her to a chair, ripped up her ticket… …and TSA [...]
The Army turns to robots to guard a large nuclear site in Nevada
by Marshall Brain | October 5, 2010
Imagine that you have a huge piece of land – bigger than the state of Rhode Island – out in the Nevada desert. This site contains some sensitive stuff, like tons of nuclear waste. The site is called The Nevada National Security Site, and it is the big grey area on this map. Switch to [...]
A couple months ago we talked about the vulnerability of WiFi passwords:
How WPA Password Cracking Works – Boring title, but important if you have a wireless router
Snagging the encrypted password isn’t the problem, because the encryption protects the password. The weakness comes in the password you choose. If you choose a simple password, a person who snags the password can run what’s called a dictionary attack on the encrypted password to discover the unencrypted password.
The problem is that the “time consuming” part is breaking down. Computers and GPUs are getting so fast that “Right now we can confidently say that a seven-character password is hopelessly inadequate – and as GPU power continues to go up every year, the threat will increase…”
The video on the following page is remarkable. It shows that a sophisticated fingerprint-activated lock can be picked instantly using a paperclip…
More than 100,000 Apple iPad users have had their data revealed, thanks to a Web site glitch that allowed hackers to take the information, according to Ryan Tate at Gawker. The group responsible has a French address and goes by the name Goatse Security. Among those with their details exposed include White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel, New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg, The New York Times CEO Janet Robinson and ABC News’ Diane Sawyer.
Given today’s terrorism climate, there really isn’t any room left for joking about murder or bombs. And if you do try to make a joke, it can seriously backfire, as can be seen in this recent example…
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