2007 December

Why not give the gift of safer computing habits this year? This articles outlines how you can give someone the gift of secure computing with very little effort:
“Internet use can be far safer for most home computer users through the use of free tools and services that help protect computers from malicious code that can […]

“Free firewalls are better than their paid-for cousins. That is the surprising conclusion of a test of desktop firewalls by security researchers.
Researchers at David Matousec’s matousec.com carried out tests on 21 leading products using 26 assessment programs known as “leak” testers. These simulated a total of 77 test attacks on firewalls, configured using both out-of-the-box […]

ArsTechnica is reporting that Sony’s lack of regard for its customers as well as the DMCA lead it to developing the now infamous CD rootkit.
“In a new paper examining the Sony BMG rootkit fiasco, a pair of lawyers argue that the music company didn’t just damage itself—it unwittingly struck a blow against DRM in general.
Deirdre […]

Gunslot is carrying an interesting article on why computer hackers will always be one step ahead of the government:
“The United States Government, Playboy, Western Union, Creditcards.com and CD Universe are just a few of thousands of businesses and government departments that have been hacked into resulting in over a billion dollars of damages per year […]

Talk about a chilling effect. This blows “privacy” right out of the water, shoots it a few dozen times, then chops it into itty bitty pieces and uses the pieces to make fish food.
“People of the Internet, I have a story to tell. A story with a few morals to it and a dire warning […]

Sometimes we take for granted that “anonymous data” is actually anonymous, but is it really anonymous? According to this article from Wired, no:
“Last year, Netflix published 10 million movie rankings by 500,000 customers, as part of a challenge for people to come up with better recommendation systems than the one the company was using. The […]

File this one under “really frickin’ scary” -
“Hackers successfully infiltrated Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL), one of the nation’s leading government-run research facilities. The attackers gained access by sending e-mails infected with trojan horses to ORNL employees. The lab claims that no classified information was retrieved, but admits that the perpetrators managed to acquire a […]

Don’t copy that floppy, otherwise you might lose your computer, router, and any equipment that may have assisted in some kind of file sharing. The wording of the bill is scary as hell - the proposed group can seize your assets and auction them off before you are ever accused of or found guilty of […]

While Wikipedia has been under fire for its internal policies, the encyclopedia that (almost) anyone can edit is coming under fire in Germany for … being Nazi Sympathizers?
“There’s been no shortage of stories lately alleging that Wikipedia moderators have fascist tendencies, but a new case goes one step further. A German politician has filed charges […]

The House has passed the SAFE - Securing Adolescents From Exploitation-Online - act with only two dissenting votes. According to engadget, the bill is a bad thing because it’s a harsh rule that requires strict monitoring of Internet connections that borders on gestapo-esque:
“The new bill requires everyone (that includes you and Starbucks) offering an open […]

In a move that will surely pique the interest of Ron Paul, the Department of justice has chimed in the Capitol v. Thomas case that the $222,000 damages sought by Capitol is not unconstitutional:
“The US government has weighed in on the constitutionality of the $222,000 damage award in Capitol v. Thomas with a brief filed […]

LifeHacker has an interesting piece on how you can track anyone down anywhere, without using Google. this goes from simply finding out someone’s name, to their phone number, where they live, and even where they work. Yikes.
For those of you with short attention spans, here are the services they recommend:

ZabaSearch - for finding names, phone […]