Petard Pinch →
NODE, The Viral Nakamoto Satoshi →
Interesting post at NODE, proffering advice to 中本哲史 Nakamoto Satoshi on the method to attain the penultimate viral outcome. Bitcoin users, rejoice...
Sunday Security Maxim
Cyborg Maxim: Organizations and managers who automatically think “cyber” or “computer” when somebody says “security”, don’t have good security (including good cyber or computer security). Compiled by Roger G. Johnston, Ph.D., CPP, Argonne National Laboratory.
Saturday Security Maxim
By the Book Maxim: Full compliance with security rules and regulations is not compatible with optimal security. Comment: Because security rules & regulations are typically dumb and unrealistic (at least partially). Moreover, they often lead to over-confidence, waste time and resources, create unhelpful distractions, engender cynicism about security, and encourage employees to find workarounds to get their job done— thus making security an “us vs. them” game. Compiled by Roger G. Johnston, Ph.D., CPP, Argonne National Laboratory.
Deux Étape, L'Internet Quantum →
Welcome, my friends, to the show that (evidently) never ends... Of course, I am writing about our beloved interwebs, and in this case, L'internet Quantum.
"The future quantum Internet will need a network of satellites and ground stations, similar to that of the Global Positioning System, in order to exchange quantum keys instantaneously." - via Alexander Hellemans writing at IEEE Spectrum Magazine
Roots, Math of →
PhoneBoy's Existential Threat →
PhoneBoy's thought provoking post, noting the unpreparedness [from a defence perspective] of our society to cybersecurity threats. Quite obviously, today's Must Read.
Pete's Doomsday Cult →
via the eponymous Pete Herzog, whilst writing at DarkMatters, comes this outstanding compilation of New Year Predictions. Enjoy.
191 Million
Thomas Fox-Brewster, writing at Forbes, regales us with the latest display of the demise of privacy: The formerly private records of 191,000,000 United States citizen's voting data, apparently yearning to be free, was granted it's wish and published in an on-line database of reportedly unknown origins... Available for consumption on our beloved interwebs. Astounding.
Sunday Security Maxim
Kafka’s Maxim: The people who write security rules and regulations don’t understand (1) what they are doing, or (2) how their policies drive actual security behaviors and misbehaviors. Compiled by Roger G. Johnston, Ph.D., CPP, Argonne National Laboratory.
Saturday Security Maxim
Patton’s Maxim: When everybody is thinking alike about security, then nobody is thinking. Comment: Adapted from a broader maxim by General George S. Patton (1885-1945). Compiled by Roger G. Johnston, Ph.D., CPP, Argonne National Laboratory.
28x →
Old, as these things go, yet truly the most glaring example of operating system failures yet seen, this time in Linus's Linux (Full Disclosure: We are heavy users of at least three Linux distro's)... Comes this outstandling and outrageous vulnerability, starting in 2009's release of Grub (also known as the Grand United Bootloader) all the way down through the ages to today 2015! The Dr's Marco and Ripoll of this embroglio-laden code expound further:
"A vulnerability in Grub2 has been found. Versions from 1.98 (December, 2009) to 2.02 (December, 2015) are affected. The vulnerability can be exploited under certain circumstances, allowing local attackers to bypass any kind of authentication (plain or hashed passwords). And so, the attacker may take control of the computer. Grub2 is the bootloader used by most Linux systems including some embedded systems. This results in an incalculable number of affected devices." - via Hector Marco, Ph.D. & Professor Ismael Ripoll, Ph.D., Cybersecurity Group.