By PatB Contributing Writer, [GAS] MSN, Yahoo IM and AIM all use clear text in the chat discussions, which means anyone along the path of communication can read what it is you are typing, including your boss if you use chat at work. Many people, including myself, use Skype as an IM chat client because […]
By Mark O’Neill Contributing Writer, [GAS] I’m not sure whether to be fascinated about this or totally horrified. An Indian court has convicted a woman of murdering her fiancé. Prosecutors managed to get a conviction on the basis of a brain scan which allegedly showed areas of the brain “lighting up”. This apparently proved that […]
As the LHC’s activation date approaches (only two days left now, folks!), scientists working on the super-collider have started receiving large amounts of pleas, some which include death threats, asking to stop the potential apocalypse-bringing machine. According to an article published on the Telegraph, CERN, the organization behind the project, has been bombarded with calls, […]
By Mark O’Neill Contributing Writer, [GAS] They won’t be able to poke one another or post photos of their drunken one night stands. Or install widgets that plays games or sends virtual Winnie The Poohs. But the US Intelligence community’s “A-Space”, the ‘Facebook and YouTube for Spies’ which is about to begin, will be hopefully […]
By Mark O’Neill Contributing Writer, [GAS] Here’s some food for thought if you think your online banking password is securely hidden from curious eyes at the bank. A British banking customer, Steve Jetley, phoned up his bank (Lloyds TSB Bank) and discovered that his password “Lloyds is pants” had been changed to “no it’s not” […]
By PatB Contributing Writer, [GAS] After a stinging rebuke from the FCC over Comcast’s efforts in bandwidth shaping to preserve bandwidth for all their customers, Comcast is planning to retreat behind a stingy Acceptable Usage Policy. Instead of shaping bandwidth, they are just going to give the finger and pull the plug on P2P users. […]
The ubiquity of secure online transactions often makes us take them for granted. Most people will happily type their credit card and other personal information into a web form and hit Submit, as long as they see that little padlock in the status bar. Sometimes they don’t even check for that. Have you ever had your […]
By PatB Contributing Writer, [GAS] A gag order prevented three MIT students from presenting their findings to a Defcon audience on a penetration test at Boston’s Subway system. The Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority filed a lawsuit to stop the speech and a U.S. District Court granted the temporary injunction, which kept the vulnerabilities in the […]
By Mark O’Neill
Contributing Writer, [GAS]
A political row is erupting in Scotland after it emerged that 8,300 Scottish schoolchildren are to be biometrically fingerprinted at a cost of 20,000 pounds ($37,300) per school per year. As well as the staggering cost, angry parents are also voicing their opposition to the Big Brother privacy intrusions into their children’s lives.
It’s all part of a pilot scheme which is being tested at eight secondary schools (high schools) at East Dunbartonshire. Supporters of the scheme are citing the advantages of the fingerprinting database including class attendance monitoring, better monitoring of library book borrowing and the buying of school meals (and the end of stigma for those who receive free meals).
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 […]