Schneier on Security

Communications During Terrorist Attacks are Not Bad

Mon, 01 Dec 2008 12:02:50 -0600

Twitter was a vital source of information in Mumbai: News on the Bombay attacks is breaking fast on Twitter with hundreds of people using the site to update others with first-hand accounts of the carnage. The website has a stream of comments on the attacks which is being updated by the second, often by eye-witnesses and people in the city....

Lessons from Mumbai

Mon, 01 Dec 2008 08:03:41 -0600

I'm still reading about the Mumbai terrorist attacks, and I expect it'll be a long time before we get a lot of the details. What we know is horrific, and my sympathy goes out to the survivors of the dead (and the injured, who often seem to get ignored as people focus on death tolls). Without discounting the awfulness of...

Friday Squid Blogging: Cooking a Humboldt Squid

Fri, 28 Nov 2008 16:09:02 -0600

I thought that large squid were too chewy and not very tasty, but this person cooked a 30-pound Humboldt squid....

Terrorism Survival Bundle for Windows Mobile

Fri, 28 Nov 2008 11:39:01 -0600

Seems not to be a joke....

1941 Pencil-and-Paper Cipher

Fri, 28 Nov 2008 06:30:22 -0600

Fascinating photo and explanation....

FBI Stoking Fear

Thu, 27 Nov 2008 12:27:35 -0600

Another unsubstantiated terrorist plot: An internal memo obtained by The Associated Press says the FBI has received a "plausible but unsubstantiated" report that al-Qaida terrorists in late September may have discussed attacking the subway system. [...] The internal bulletin says al-Qaida terrorists "in late September may have discussed targeting transit systems in and around New York City. These discussions reportedly...

Victoria's Secret Competition Gets Hacked

Thu, 27 Nov 2008 08:39:38 -0600

Colleges aren't assigning enough homework these days. In seriousness, it's hard to prevent ballot stuffing in online polls....

New DHS Head Understands Security

Wed, 26 Nov 2008 12:43:33 -0600

This quote impresses me: Gov. Janet Napolitano, D-Ariz., is smashing the idea of a border wall, stating it would be too expensive, take too long to construct, and be ineffective once completed. "You show me a 50-foot wall and I'll show you a 51-foot ladder at the border. That's the way the border works," Napolitano told the Associated Press. Instead...

Government Can Determine Location of Cell Phones without Telco Help

Wed, 26 Nov 2008 06:06:43 -0600

Interesting: Triggerfish, also known as cell-site simulators or digital analyzers, are nothing new: the technology was used in the 1990s to hunt down renowned hacker Kevin Mitnick. By posing as a cell tower, triggerfish trick nearby cell phones into transmitting their serial numbers, phone numbers, and other data to law enforcement. Most previous descriptions of the technology, however, suggested that...

Here Comes Everybody Review

Tue, 25 Nov 2008 07:39:13 -0600

In 1937, Ronald Coase answered one of the most perplexing questions in economics: if markets are so great, why do organizations exist? Why don't people just buy and sell their own services in a market instead? Coase, who won the 1991 Nobel Prize in Economics, answered the question by noting a market's transaction costs: buyers and sellers need to find...

The Future of Ephemeral Conversation

Mon, 24 Nov 2008 14:06:41 -0600

When he becomes president, Barack Obama will have to give up his BlackBerry. Aides are concerned that his unofficial conversations would become part of the presidential record, subject to subpoena and eventually made public as part of the country's historical record. This reality of the information age might be particularly stark for the president, but it's no less true for...

BNP Database Leaked

Mon, 24 Nov 2008 06:26:07 -0600

This is a big deal. British National Party (BNP, a far-right nationalist party) membership and contacts list. 12,801 individuals are represented. Contains contact details and notes on selected party members and (possibly) other individuals. The list has been independently verified by Wikileaks staff as predominantly containing current or ex-BNP members, however other individuals who have donated to the BNP or...