<![CDATA[[SecurityRatty] tag: criticism]]> http://securityratty.com/tag/criticism Wed, 09 Jul 2008 21:30:48 +0000 iRatty Engine http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/tech/rss <![CDATA[Terrorist Fear Mongering Seems to be Working Less Well, Part II]]> http://securityratty.com/article/6f8cdae72a681b69b75eeee5bb6fec7e http://securityratty.com/article/6f8cdae72a681b69b75eeee5bb6fec7e Last week I wrote about a story that indicated that terrorist fear mongering is working less well. Here's another story, this one from Canada: two pipeline bombings in Northern British Columbia:

Investigators are treating the explosions as acts of vandalism, not terrorism, Shields said.

"Under the Criminal Code, it would be characterized as mischief, which is an intentional vandalism. We don't want to characterize this as terrorism. They were very isolated locations and there would seem there was no intent to hurt people," he said.

It's not all good, though. Here's a story from Philadelphia, where a subway car is criticized because people can see out the front. Because, um, because terrorist will be able to see out the front, and we all know how dangerous terrorists are:

Marcus Ruef, a national vice president with the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and Trainmen, compared a train cab to an airliner cockpit and said a cab should be similarly secure. He invoked post-9/11 security concerns as a reason to provide a full cab that prevents passengers from seeing the rails and signals ahead.

"We don't think the forward view of the right-of-way should be available to whoever wants to watch ... and the conductor and the engineer should be able to talk privately," Ruef said.

Pat Nowakowski, SEPTA chief of operations, said the smaller cabs pose no security risk. "I have never heard that from a security expert," he said.

At least there was pushback against that kind of idiocy.

And from the UK:

Transport Secretary Geoff Hoon has said the government is prepared to go "quite a long way" with civil liberties to "stop terrorists killing people".

He was responding to criticism of plans for a database of mobile and web records, saying it was needed because terrorists used such communications.

By not monitoring this traffic, it would be "giving a licence to terrorists to kill people", he said.

I hope there will be similar pushback against this "choice."

]]> Wed, 22 Oct 2008 02:44:42 +0000 terrorist terrorists terrorist fear dangerous terrorists people kill people cab stop terrorists train cab Terrorist Fear Mongering Seems to be Working Less Well, Part II <![CDATA[Sarah Palins Yahoo Mailbox Compromised]]> http://securityratty.com/article/ac59a9d84fd041913c53dc58fc6479a7 http://securityratty.com/article/ac59a9d84fd041913c53dc58fc6479a7 A group of individuals has compromised VP candidate Sarah Palin’s personal email and sent the information to Wikileaks which has posted the information publicly.

http://wikileaks.org/wiki/Sarah_Palin_Yahoo_email_hack_2008

Circa midnight Tuesday the 16th of September (EST) Wikileaks’ sources loosely affiliated with the activist group ‘anonymous’ gained access to U.S. Republican Party Vice-presidential candidate Sarah Palin’s Yahoo email account gov.palin@yahoo.com. Governor Palin has come under criticism for using private email accounts to avoid government transparency mechanisms. The zip archive made available by Wikileaks contains screen shots of Palin’s inbox, example emails, address book and two family photos. The list of correspondence, together with the account name, appears to re-enforce the criticism.

Internet security has finally become an issue in presidential politics.

Palin’s use of a Yahoo account has been the subject of recent newspaper articles. The Washington Post published her Yahoo email address, which was likely a precursor to the attack.

]]> Wed, 17 Sep 2008 11:57:33 +0000 wikileaks palins wikileaks sources loosely information publicly palins inbox circa midnight tuesday yahoo account account information Sarah Palins Yahoo Mailbox Compromised <![CDATA[Interop NY Keynotes: IBM]]> http://securityratty.com/article/44ba0e9ad08b54462e9c92a6c54837a5 http://securityratty.com/article/44ba0e9ad08b54462e9c92a6c54837a5 Day one of Interop NY began with an introduction from Interop Manager Lenny Heymann, then Bob Picciano, General manager Lotus software and WebSpehere Portal IBM took the stage.

IBM’s presentation was cleverly titled 2mor0@Wrk - Tomororow work and Web 2.0.

Overview

Web 2.0 is delivering a whole different paradigm of communication. The slide is Lotus Symphony - NOT PPT. Over 2 million downloads.

There is an information overload that impacts individual productivity in the workplace. It has a profound effect on organizational productivity. A more complex organization entity provides more pressure and more inefficiencies in workplace. Up to 70% of time can be used looking for the WRONG information.

Collaboration mitigates information overload. It allows you to identify experts and opinions.

The collaboration agenda. Enterprises are at the onset of exploring these features. Web 2.0 is giving us the capacity to do more. Collaboration optimizes business outcomes - global, secure and dynamic.The most progressive companies are looking at UNIFIED COMMUNICATIONS. Making sure that directories and profiles are fully mobile.

Collaboration should be a contextual part of the workflow, going directly into applications.

IBM’s collaboration strategy is to deliver these services through online or offline services.

Demonstration

Executive IT architect Ron Sebastian provided a demonstration of IBM’s collaboration strategy. IBM’s Web 2.0 solutions span delivery platforms:

  • Platform - web as  platform
  • Application - development
  • People - social computing

Lotus Connections - a family of social computing software that provides profile lookup and community capabilities. Think of Facebook, Yahoo Groups, and delicious combined in one portal.

Ron demonstrated these social services embedded into a healthcare provider application. Semantic tagging is available, contact information and commenting. Not only are we providing service to customers, you can integrate sync capability to directly call the person you want.

The biggest aspect of Lotus Connection? It’s all integrated.

A new service - Project Bluehouse. This is a SaaS delivery of these collaborated capabilities. The store and share can manage and share documents within and outside the company. Access control is no longer an issue.

Collaborative Web 2.0 services available as standalone products that also work in a mobile environment.

Case Study: Natural Disaster Management Mashup

Boeing came up with twenty different scenarios that they could handle through their systems. The problem was the one they didn’t count on. One example was Katrina - how to deliver supplies to the area: what airports were open? Where could they land? The problem was they could not find one list of public, private and military airports, nor what was open. The mashup took different feeds to allow the deacon maker to make a more rapid and intelligent decision based on information on where they could fly in the appropriate supplies. From open information sites like AirNav.com and personal contacts, users were able to mashup the information to make better decisions.

Conclusion

IBM announced the IBM Center for Social Software, proving their commitment to connect, collaborate, and innovate. Users and academics can work together to how these innovations can be applied to businesses and provide value to the market.

There has been some question of whether or not IBM can pull this off and move into the collaborative Web 2.0 market. Despite some criticism, it looks like IBM has really taken a step forward in advancing their products and services to meet market needs.

People drive better business outcomes. Connecting, collaboration, and innovation is key. Having the right tools and information to do that eases pressure that many organizations feel and brings Web 2.0 technologies to the heart of businesses.

]]> Wed, 17 Sep 2008 09:39:59 +0000 ibm information sites information collaboration web social ibms collaboration strategy social services collaborative web Interop NY Keynotes: IBM <![CDATA[DHS rejects criticism of agency as Beltway politics]]> http://securityratty.com/article/c68b479a29faaea1950c785b7c004000 http://securityratty.com/article/c68b479a29faaea1950c785b7c004000 Add to digg Add to StumbleUpon Add to Twitter Add to Slashdot
]]> Wed, 17 Sep 2008 09:00:00 +0000 classic beltway politics homeland security cybersecurity initiatives country lead department suggestion unfit experts DHS rejects criticism of agency as Beltway politics <![CDATA[DHS rejects criticism of agency as Beltway politics]]> http://securityratty.com/article/83b23f8898932935debccb80345fa61b http://securityratty.com/article/83b23f8898932935debccb80345fa61b Tue, 16 Sep 2008 20:00:00 +0000 cyber security initiatives classic beltway politics homeland security wednesday country lead department suggestion unfit experts DHS rejects criticism of agency as Beltway politics <![CDATA[EstDomains & Intercage: A Perfect Couple in Crime]]> http://securityratty.com/article/8490240982532919695d5c4c9231e15f http://securityratty.com/article/8490240982532919695d5c4c9231e15f take on the topic, or search Emergingthreats to come up to speed.
Yesterday, EstDomains posted the most inept, ridiculous response ever issued to the endless and worthy criticism, largely leveled by Brian Krebs at the Washington Post.
Not only can't these morons from EstDomains write, they're either so deeply clueless or flagrantly malicious (likely both), it's beyond laughable. This section sums it up best:
"The company also has a reliable ally in its battle against malware in a face of Intercage, Inc which provides company with the hosting services of the highest quality. But the outstanding performance of hosting services is not the sole reason why EstDomains, Inc appreciates this partnership so greatly. Intercage, Inc generously provides EstDomains, Inc specialists with reports regarding discovered malware vehicles. As the main database for additional domain name management services is located in Intercage Data Center, EstDomains, Inc has the perfect opportunity to get notifications of the slightest mark of malware presence in the shortest time and take measures in advance."
What? Really?
Again, aside from the absolute butchery of the language, did they just say "The company also has a reliable ally in its battle against malware in a face of Intercage, Inc which provides company with the hosting services of the highest quality."? SIGH...yes, they did.

Allow me to exemplify just how ridiculous a claim that is.
Following is content from a packet capture I took during a recent Storm worm analysis.

Using the ip2asn module included in NSM-console availabe in HeX, we find:
27595 | 216.255.189.211 | INTERCAGE - InterCage, Inc.

Using Etherape, also included in HeX, we see:



Using Eric Hjelmvik's NetworkMiner, we see:



See the recurring theme? Intercage, EstDomain's "reliable ally in its battle against malware".
Nice work, guys...keep it up.

I'm submitting this to The Daily WTF as we speak.

del.icio.us | digg]]> Mon, 15 Sep 2008 17:32:00 +0000 intercage estdomains malware malware presence intercage data center track malware issues reliable ally management services malware vehicles EstDomains & Intercage: A Perfect Couple in Crime <![CDATA[Wee-Fi: Routing Out an Address; Badger-Fi]]> http://securityratty.com/article/47e82ddcf180a1e8e117a5087166b7f3 http://securityratty.com/article/47e82ddcf180a1e8e117a5087166b7f3 Slashdot breathlessly posts an item by coderrr that Skyhook Wireless is exposing people's addresses: Yeah, whatever. Skyhook has accidentally offered an API that lets you query their Wi-Fi positioning system for latitude and longitude using a MAC address. Skyhook constantly drives major cities around the world and integrates scans created by users of their systems as well. The poster defines a non-existent problem: first, a scammer needs to get someone's MAC address; then you need to pair a rough lat/long with their street address; then, coderrr says, you'd get a phishing email with your home address. Whatever. If my machine is compromised enough that you can obtain my MAC address and then launch a phishing attack, I have worse problems already than my street address being in the email--which is unlikely given that most Wi-Fi scans will be in urban areas. It's likely Skyhook will modify their systems to prevent submission of such queries, or perhaps open their API further.

Madison Wi-Fi network sold to Atlanta firm: Xiocom purchases Mad City Broadband, a firm that has suffered significant criticism over the performance of its Wi-Fi network in Madison, Wisc. The press release from Xiocom (some quoted in the Badger Herald article) are a bit over the top about a network that reportedly has few users, inconsistent performance, and covers only a fraction of the city.

]]> Fri, 12 Sep 2008 07:34:26 +0000 wi-fi network madison wi-fi network madison wi-fi network mac address skyhook skyhook wireless skyhook constantly Wee-Fi: Routing Out an Address; Badger-Fi <![CDATA[Who is "dodacrazy" and what is a "montize buddy"?]]> http://securityratty.com/article/1cc25691e6f3d8a040ab59fc022a20c8 http://securityratty.com/article/1cc25691e6f3d8a040ab59fc022a20c8 Check this out:

http://blogs.technet.com/steriley/archive/2008/06/25/directly-connect-to-your-corpnet-with-ipsec-and-ipv6.aspx#3122377

Hey Steve you and your montize buddy Scott will soon have your hands full after the federal officers come down on your data scams and as for your educational acts i'm not buying it and if others are willing to trade your data for their profits guess there are fools born everyday tunnels oh I see drug dealers right Stevo

Normally I delete spam from my comments, and have occasionally deleted mindless ranting criticism (I encourage vigorous discussion of ideas, but won't allow personal attacks). However, this guy's comment is just...weird.

  • What's a "montize buddy Scott"? I know lots of Scotts, and once even admired a particular "Montgomery Scot." But "montize"? Maybe it's a new kind of malt.
  • I don't believe I'm perpetuating any data scams, none that I know of, anyway. If any of you, my readers, feel that I'm scamming your data, I guess I haven't concealed that fact well enough. Oops, sorry! We'll have to add another item to the constantly-growing list of data breaches.
  • While it's true that some of my conference appearances aren't free, no one is certainly forced to buy any of my "educational acts." A lot of my presentations you can download for free!
  • I never look in tunnels for my supplies, they're too dark and you can never be totally certain of what you're getting.

Thanks, dodacrazy, for a good Thursday morning laugh!

]]> Thu, 11 Sep 2008 18:53:55 +0000 data data breaches data scams educational acts buddy scott tunnels everyday tunnels encourage vigorous discussion montgomery scot Who is "dodacrazy" and what is a "montize buddy"? <![CDATA[Misdirected disappointment over fax inaction]]> http://securityratty.com/article/7269c8d5dc85c0b012ac71176a2a72ff http://securityratty.com/article/7269c8d5dc85c0b012ac71176a2a72ff Mon, 14 Jul 2008 20:00:00 +0000 columnist clarifies target faxs fcc criticism ftc combat Misdirected disappointment over fax inaction <![CDATA[DNS Vulnerability Survives Scrutiny of Peer Review]]> http://securityratty.com/article/9fc8d3f7899f8f693bb1b89afdd9ebc5 http://securityratty.com/article/9fc8d3f7899f8f693bb1b89afdd9ebc5 The security community is cynical. So much so, that most of the chatter that’s taken place over the past 24-36 hours has suggested that Kaminsky’s DNS vulnerability was little more than a publicity stunt and that his BlackHat presentation would be an over-hyped rehash of prior art. Granted, one has to suspend disbelief to even consider that something monumental would be discovered in DNS — that’s the protocol itself — but hell, it’s always nice to give a guy the benefit of the doubt.

Faced with nearly a month of criticism and questioning, and understanding the persuasive power of a technical peer review, Dan decided to expand the inner circle, so to speak. Rich Mogull arranged a phone call with Tom Ptacek and Dino Dai Zovi so that Dan could spill the beans and let them decide for themselves whether it was spin or substance. Turns out there was substance.

Now we sit around and wait until August 6th to cram into a ballroom with a thousand sweaty conference-goers to hear the juicy details. And Dan’s presentations are usually packed to the brim even when he’s not announcing anything.

In the meantime… how about patching those servers?

]]> Wed, 09 Jul 2008 21:30:48 +0000 dns kaminskys dns vulnerability technical peer review dino dai zovi persuasive power blackhat presentation dan tom ptacek substance DNS Vulnerability Survives Scrutiny of Peer Review