Google introduced encrypted search which gives the user the option to use SSL (Secure Socket Layer) to prevent packet sniffing which in turn could reveal user’s searches on the site. The encrypted search service moved to https://encrypted.google.com.
Only Google web search is available over SSL. Other search products like Google Images and Google Maps are not currently available over SSL.
The U.S. Federal Trade Commission has begun contacting copy machine makers, resellers and office-supply stores about privacy concerns over the thousands of images that can potentially be stored on the machines’ hard drives…
Copy machines, a security risk?
Copiers are computers and they need to be purged of data before disposal.
Thou shalt not be afraid for the terror by night; nor for the arrow that flieth by day; Nor for the pestilence that walketh in darkness; nor for the destruction that wasteth at noonday. (Psa 91:6)
I don’t think they were talking about Communication Security (COMSEC) when they wrote that Psalm, but good COMSEC helps avoid terrors that come in the night.
Zfone appears to be the lowest cost solution for robust VOIP encryption that you control.
Calls made over Skype are encrypted by 256-bit long Skype encryption keys are a length that at least in theory, would take a literal eternity to crack. But you don’t have control over the encryption, Skype does.
To avoid an electronic trail, hard copy letters that are distributed via snail mail in a circular rotation might work– these are known as circular letters. Each letter is given a number, and each addenda that is added is given a letter. Subsequent letters can reference the content of earlier ones, for example, “as mentioned in Letter 2-A”, etc., etc..
This can be modified to include an emailed file that is encrypted and the message sending it digitally signed by each person. Using nearly anonymous email accounts accessed through TOR would make this very secure.
I guess we all now need to build a Faraday Room instead of a Safe Room or Bomb Shelter — EMP Attack Would Decimate America and The Great Storm: Solar Tempest of 1859 Revealed. Damn, I thought I was going to get a week-end off this year.
When a Windows PC, in its default configuration, is unable to find any wi-fi access point, it actively seeks one out. In doing this it broadcasts signals trying to connect with any network to which it has previously connected. It will cycle through all of the network identities (names) it has previously used. All of this is sent in the clear and can be captured by anyone with a simple wireless tool running in “sniffing mode” nearby. All of the network names it connected with are disclosed over a few minutes. Coupled with an online resource such as WiGLE, this information can be used to establish a profile of the PC owner – where he lives, works, eats, drinks coffee, his gym, his favorite no-tell motel, and more. Any network that PC has connected to using wi-fi is an open book.
I’m not sure that I believe all the stories about unintended acceleration in Toyota vehicles, but I do know what should stop this from becoming a disaster, and so does Tony Scotti, who has trained security drivers for decades. Please check-out his article on this topic.
The pocket spy: Will your Smartphone rat you out?
by Linda Geddes,14 October 2009 issue of New Scientist
According FakeResume.com, a web site that teaches job seekers how to lie and get away with it, 53% of job applicants lie to get a job.
The top 3 lies that candidates tell HR are as follows:
1. Covering up employment gaps
2. Fake references
3. Phony responsibilities
I guess I have too much time on my hands — look at what I found.
CASTING CALL – Real Working Security Guards
If this sounds like you, we want to hear from you. You could be the star of the first season of The Real Security Guards.
I guess it had to happen — I just hope the resulting show favorably illustrates the value of this industry and the challenges its people face.
The add provides Sandi Butler as the contact at Tricon Films & Television in Toronto with 416-341-9926 or email: realmallcops@triconfilms.com.
During a recent project I came across an interesting study about the vulnerability of hotels from Cornell’s Center for Hospitality Research which finds that safety and security equipment in U.S. hotels varies dramatically by size, location, and overall hotel class.
For more on hotel Wi-Fi security in hotels, check out Dan Lohrman’s blog post and Hotel Network Security: A Study of the Computer Networks in U.S. Hotels also from Cornell.
An article entitled, Study: Terror attacks on hotels surge since 9/11, refers to a STRATFOR study entitled, Special Security Report: The Militant Threat to Hotels.
While it’s impossible to escape every social networking threat out there, there are steps one can take to significantly reduce the risks
A social engineer is someone who uses deception, persuasion, and influence to get information that would otherwise be unavailable. To social engineers, the fact that “there is a sucker born every minute” gives them the opportunity to circumvent some of the most secure data centers in the world.
Nowadays, it’s rare for malicious hackers to rely on just one exploit or tool; instead, they use “chained” exploits that integrate multiple forms of attack to achieve their goals. Chained exploits are far more complex and far more difficult to defend. Few security or hacking books cover them well and most don’t cover them at all. Now there’s a book that brings together start-to-finish information about today’s most widespread chained exploits–both how to perform them and how to prevent them.
Your mobile phone can become a slave bracelet if it is compromised by malicious software.
The following article illustrates the dangers of using web-base collaborative applications.
Google Privacy Blunder Shares Your Docs Without Permission
by Jason Kincaid on March 7, 2009
In a privacy error that underscores some of the biggest problems surrounding cloud-based services, Google has sent a notice to a number of users of its Document and Spreadsheets products stating that it may have inadvertently shared some of their documents with contacts who were never granted access to them.