Poker Cards Marked With IR Codes
The short video clip below is an excerpt from a recent Defcon talk about cheating at poker using an electronic device that uses infrared to read specially marked playing cards. Watch the video first, then keep reading to get the whole story. Poker analyzer basic demo – [youtube.com] Here’s the whole story: Full(er) House: Exposing […]
Stop Using Quicktime for Windows
Quicktime for Windows is no longer being supported by Apple, but new vulnerabilities have been disclosed that include the possibility for “remote code execution”. This means exploits can likely take over control of a computer running Quicktime for Windows. The United States Computer Emergency Readiness Team (US-CERT), Trend Micro, and other security organizations have called […]
Witness Signatures Add Authenticity
Part of the Apple/FBI court case involves how software updates are protected with digital signatures. The key ensures that the update comes from Apple and therefore has a level of trust associated with the history of the company. The government is not asking Apple to turn over the signing key and Apple is not likely […]
Encryption Ensures Privacy
Encryption techniques are mathematically designed to be uncrackable, at least in an amount of time that relates to the value of the secret. This means the time and computing resources needed to successfully attack the encryption will cost more than the attacker is willing to spend. More computing power means less time. If it takes […]
Hacking an Encrypted Phone
Recent news has the media atwitter with misinformation about hacking phones and encrypted data. Here are some of the basic issues: ENCRYPTION Encryption is the process of using a coding technique to obscure information. Simple substitution techniques like using a number for each letter of the alphabet have been in use for many years. These […]
Super Criminal from Silk Road
Ross Ulbricht is a super criminal like Lex Luthor in the Superman comics. Ross is the creator of the darknet trading post and web site known as “the Silk Road”. Named after the trade route of history that connected China and Europe, the Silk Road became an online black market where illicit goods could be […]
FISMA Law vs Home Email Server
Working for a federal agency that has IT functions regulated by public law and running an email server from home to use for agency business seems problematic, but it may be possible. Here are some of the laws and regulations that come into play: FISMA – PUBLIC LAW 107–347, DEC. 17 2002 is known as […]
NSA APT? – “THE EQUATION GROUP”
Kaspersky Lab uncovers online spy tools with potential NSA connections – [youtube.com] Equation Group: The Crown Creator of Cyber-Espionage – [kaspersky.com] For several years, Kaspersky Lab’s Global Research and Analysis Team (GReAT) has been closely monitoring more than 60 advanced threat actors responsible for cyber-attacks worldwide. The team has seen nearly everything, with attacks becoming […]
British Army “Twitter Brigade”
During World War II, the British Army created a commando/special forces unit called the “Chindits” that operated in Burma and India, using guerrilla warfare tactics to operate deeply behind Japanese lines. They were formally known as the 77th Indian Infantry Brigade and operated on foot, getting resupplied by parachute drops. They were known for collecting […]
CRITICAL SECURITY VULNERABILITY – “heartbleed”
A bug in the OpenSSL protocol that encrypts and protects our web page logins and passwords has been discovered and was announced on April 7, 2014. Web servers are being patched rapidly to close this hole. But in the meantime, our passwords and other important credentials (certificates and keys) may have been revealed. The vulnerability […]
