Government Will (Finally) Encrypt All Laptops
Schneier reports that the government will begin encrypting all laptops. This is in response to case after case of stolen laptops leading to loss of personal data such as in the case with the Veterans Administration.
Considering that the typical response is to offer worthless credit monitoring services to make .... [Click here to read the rest of this post]
Tags: Identity Theft, Lost Laptops, Security TheaterSony Settles for $4.5 Million for their Illegal CD-Virus
Consumer Affairs reports a settlement with 39 states for Sony's use of a "rootkit" to try and prevent users from copying their music. This forced DRM was detected by computer experts and quickly raised a stir.
Most importantly,
Sony said it was "pleased" .... [Click here to read the rest of this post]New State Laws Allow Security Freezes
According to Consumer Affairs, Hawaii, Kansas, New Hampshire, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island and Wisconsin now have Credit Freeze laws. However, it sounds as if you must be a victim before you can use the law (which is really, really stupid). A friend said once that this is like having to wear a seatbelt, but only after you've been in a car wreck. Sounds like a good analogy to me.
.... [Click here to read the rest of this post]Tags: Identity TheftMicrosoft Finally Adds Stupidly Obvious Security Feature
The Washington Post reports that IE 7 will not have the long known flaw that allows a website to steal the data that may be hanging out in your clipboard.
For those who don't know, the clipboard is where anything you cut and paste hangs out. The trick is, it stays there until you cut or copy something else. .... [Click here to read the rest of this post]
Tags: Bad Design, Internet Explorer, MicrosoftThe Electronic Frontier Foundation Takes on the DHS’s Secret Profiling Program
The EFF (who is also the organization spearheading the lawsuits against AT&T) is now taking on the secret profiling program that has hit the news recently. From their e-newsletter:
The Automated Targeting System (ATS) creates and assigns "risk assessments" to tens of millions of citizens as they enter and leave the country. .... [Click here to read the rest of this post]Ancient Telephone Tax Repealed – Three Year Refund Due Consumers
In the CAGW newsletter, they report that:
In a widely-heralded and very long-sought victory for CAGW and all taxpayers, the Treasury Department announced last May that it would stop collecting the excise tax on long distance telephone service. Known as the Spanish-American War Tax, this "temporary" tax on phone service, considered .... [Click here to read the rest of this post]Government Says They Can Read Your E-mail Without a Warrant
In this article, they explain that the Government can use the laws the way they're written now to read any e-mail that is hosted on someone else's computer (like the servers at AOL, Google, Hotmail).
A man who was partially convicted based on his e-mails is suing saying .... [Click here to read the rest of this post]
Tags: Big Brother, EmailRFID Passports Still Broken – Only Faster Now
Schneier links to an article about RFID passports being cloned in under 5 minutes. The authorities have stopped denying it's possible and have shifted to denying that it can be used for any nefarious purposes.
The UK Home Office however dismissed the ability .... [Click here to read the rest of this post]College Student Proves TSA “Boarding Pass/ID Check is Useless”
Bruce Schnier found an intereting article in the NY Times about a bored computer science student wrote a webpage that printed nearly identical boarding passes to those used by Northwest Airlines. Using the fake passes, people were successfully able to bypass airport security. The .... [Click here to read the rest of this post]
Tags: ID Check, Security Theater, TSAFake Word-of-Mouth Advertising from Sony Goes Wrong
In an amusing example of fake marketing, Sony created a fake website called "alliwantforchristmasisapsp" where two employees of their marketing firm pretended to be young, hip gamers who blogged about wanting a PSP.
According to the 1-up article on the debacle:
The tide began to turn against Sony's .... [Click here to read the rest of this post]
