By JR Raphael Contributing Writer, [GAS] They’re billed as an international security solution, but the high-tech electronic passports developed after 9/11 may be easier to forge than their ink-and-paper counterparts. The passports, issued by the U.S. and 44 other countries, feature embedded microchips that contain the owner’s data. They were designed to boost protection against […]
By Jimmy Rogers Contributing Writer, [GAS] If you happen to find yourself in Las Vegas this weekend, make sure your wireless networks are protected and your firewall is engaged. It won’t really help you, but at least you’ll feel safer. Why the precautions? What could be going down in the desert to make your laptop […]
By JR Raphael Contributing Writer, [GAS] The days of the police dog’s career may be numbered. Scientists are working on a new breed of electronic noses that could replace the canine cadets, CNN reports. The high-tech sniffers would be able to find even the smallest amounts of explosive substances in places like airports and could […]
Last week I wrote about Terry Childs, the jailed network administrator for the City of San Francisco who, if the press is to be believed, went nutty, changed the admin passwords, and then locked everyone out of administration of city systems. It was the cyber equivalent of swallowing the key. In a twist to this […]
By PatB Contributing Writer, [GAS] US-CERT, the organization absorbed into the United States Department of Homeland Security in 2004, is keeping the Internet secure by coordinating the efforts of industry leaders and keeping those efforts top-secret. Yesterday, the biggest companies on the Internet, including Cisco, Microsoft and Sun Microsystems, came to a decision on security […]
This is potentially huge. Viacom, which owns MTV and Paramount Pictures, has been involved in a legal battle with YouTube (and now Google) over what Viacom alleges is massive copyright infringement of their property. Viacom claims to have identified 160,000 unauthorised clips of its programmes. Now, a US court has told Google that it must […]
Geeks, as we all know, rule the world. Would you like to be one, too? Maybe you’re not quite geek enough. Maybe you know somebody who is crying out to be a geek, but they don’t know where to start. Maybe – heavens, say it ain’t so – you don’t own a Blackberry. Or – […]
By PatB Contributing Writer, [GAS] When I worked at the Department of Homeland Security, I remembered hearing discussions about creating security by denying access to electronics or control systems. The idea was that in a crowd of people, like in a protest group or political rally, cell phones could be dampened in a region to […]