Archive for the ‘Computer Security’ Category

Massive ID Theft Linked to Wireless Networks and War Driving

Saturday, August 9th, 2008

On Tuesday, federal officials cracked the largest identity theft ring in history.  The group of 11 people was charged with stealing more than 41 millions credit and debit card numbers fom major retailers such as OfficeMax and Barnes & Noble.  How did they do it?  Wardriving. Wardriving is the technique of ...

Taking Hacking to Heart

Thursday, March 13th, 2008

According to a blog post on The Reeves Law Group Blog, we may now have to worry about hackers cracking pacemakers. Apparently, certain Medtronic pacemakers have wireless radios which allow doctors to easily monitor the device. A group of computer security researchers from the University of Washington and ...

Wireless Keyboards a Security Threat?

Wednesday, December 5th, 2007

ZDNet reports that researchers have cracked the protocol used to secure some of Microsoft's wireless keyboards.  This opens up the possibility of logging all keystrokes typed on the keyboard, or even controlling the compromised computer remotely. Users should always consider the security implications of using any wireless device.  If a device ...

Happy Computer Security Day

Friday, November 30th, 2007

November 30th is computer security day.  It was started in 1988 to raise awareness of computer related security issues.  Perhaps you should celebrate it by changing your password.  According to a survey reported on Out-Law.com, nearly two-thirds of people never change their passwords.  Some experts suggest that you should only keep a password ...

FBI Nabs Botherders

Thursday, November 29th, 2007

The FBI announced it has nabbed eight computer crooks in its operation "Bot Roast."  Bot Roast is an attempt to control the crimal use of botnets.  Botnets are collections of computers under the control of a criminal "botherder."  Often these computers belong to innocent and unsuspecting third-parties.  A computer user may ...

Government Data at Risk

Wednesday, November 28th, 2007

It is not just corporate or home computers users that are vulnerable to social engineering or phishing.  According to FederalTimes.com government data is at risk from foreign spies due to gullible computer users.  A report by the SANS Institute found "gullible, busy, accomodating computer users...who follow false instructions in spear ...

Social Engineering

Monday, November 26th, 2007

Social engineering is a term popularized by security consultant Kevin Mitnick.  Mitnick was once considered a world-famous computer hacker, with several books describing his exploits.  Mitnick is now reformed and runs his own security company and points out the dangers of social engineering.  Social engineering is a series of techniques ...

Phishing is Old School – Now it’s Vishing

Tuesday, November 20th, 2007

Phising is an attempt to fraudulently acquire sensitive information such as user names, passwords and creditcard numbers by posting links to websites which appear to be authentic electronic commerce sites, but are in fact just a method to gather personal data.  A user, for example, might receive an email which ...

Microprocessor Bugs Could Create Security Disaster

Monday, November 19th, 2007

Adi Shamir, one of the world's leading cryptographers and  co-developer of the RSA encryption code has warned that if computer microprocessors contain bugs which lead to mathmatical errors, computer security could be at risk.  Shamir noted that the increasing complexity of modern microprocessors is almost certain to lead to undetected ...