Security Cartoon
Security is only as strong as the weakest link.
Entries Tagged "humor"
Page 23 of 24
Weakest Link Security
Funny story:
At the airport where this pilot fish works, security has gotten a lot more attention since 9/11. “All the security doors that connect the concourses to office spaces and alleyways for service personnel needed an immediate upgrade,” says fish. “It seems that the use of a security badge was no longer adequate protection.
“So over the course of about a month, more than 50 doors were upgraded to require three-way protection. To open the door, a user needed to present a security badge (something you possess), a numeric code (something you know) and a biometric thumb scan (something you are).
“Present all three, and the door beeps and lets you in.”
One by one, the doors are brought online. The technology works, and everything looks fine—until fish decides to test the obvious.
After all, the average member of the public isn’t likely to forge a security badge, guess a multidigit number and fake a thumb scan. “But what happens if you just turn the handle without any of the above?” asks fish. “Would it set off alarms or call security?
“It turns out that if you turn the handle, the door opens.
“Despite the addition of all that technology and security on every single door, nobody bothered to check that the doors were set to lock by default.”
Remember, security is only as strong as the weakest link.
The Onion on Security
“CIA Realizes It’s Been Using Black Highlighters All These Years“:
A report released Tuesday by the CIA’s Office of the Inspector General revealed that the CIA has mistakenly obscured hundreds of thousands of pages of critical intelligence information with black highlighters.
According to the report, sections of the documents—”almost invariably the most crucial passages”—are marred by an indelible black ink that renders the lines impossible to read, due to a top-secret highlighting policy that began at the agency’s inception in 1947.
“Terrorist Has No Idea What To Do With All This Plutonium“:
Yaquub Akhtar, the leader of an eight-man cell linked to a terrorist organization known as the Army Of Martyrs, admitted Tuesday that he “doesn’t have the slightest clue” what to do with the quarter-kilogram of plutonium he recently acquired.
The Human Side of Security
A funny—and all too true—addition to the SANS Top 20:
H1. Humans
H1.1 Description:
The species Homo sapiens supports a wide range of intellectual capabilities such as speech, emotion, rational thinking etc. Many of these components are enabled by default – though to differing degrees of success. These components are implemented by the cerebral cortex, and are under the control of the identity engine which runs as me.exe. Vulnerabilities in these components are the most common avenues for exploitation.
The Security of Tin Foil Hats
Abstract: Among a fringe community of paranoids, aluminum helmets serve as the protective measure of choice against invasive radio signals. We investigate the efficacy of three aluminum helmet designs on a sample group of four individuals. Using a $250,000 network analyser, we find that although on average all helmets attenuate invasive radio frequencies in either directions (either emanating from an outside source, or emanating from the cranium of the subject), certain frequencies are in fact greatly amplified. These amplified frequencies coincide with radio bands reserved for government use according to the Federal Communication Commission (FCC). Statistical evidence suggests the use of helmets may in fact enhance the government’s invasive abilities. We theorize that the government may in fact have started the helmet craze for this reason.
And a rebuttal:
A recent MIT study [1] calls into question the effectiveness of Aluminum Foil Deflector Beanies. However, there are serious flaws in this study, not the least of which is a complete mischaracterization of the process of psychotronic mind control. I theorize that the study is, in fact, NWO propaganda designed to spread FUD against deflector beanie technology, and aluminum shielding in general, in order to disembeanie paranoids, leaving them open to mind control.
Another "Movie Plot" Threat
“Study Reveals Pittsburgh Unprepared for Full-Scale Zombie Attack“:
A zombie-preparedness study, commissioned by Pittsburgh Mayor Tom Murphy and released Monday, indicates that the city could easily succumb to a devastating zombie attack. Insufficient emergency-management-personnel training and poorly conceived undead-defense measures have left the city at great risk for all-out destruction at the hands of the living dead, according to the Zombie Preparedness Institute.
“When it comes to defending ourselves against an army of reanimated human corpses, the officials in charge have fallen asleep at the wheel,” Murphy said. “Who’s in charge of sweep-and-burn missions to clear out infected areas? Who’s going to guard the cemeteries at night? If zombies were to arrive in the city tomorrow, we’d all be roaming the earth in search of human brains by Friday.”
From The Onion, of course.
Do-it-Yourself Security Checkpoint
Photograph from What-the-Hack.
The Devil's Infosec Dictionary
I want “The Devil’s Infosec Dictionary” to be funnier. And I wish the entry that mentions me—”Cryptography: The science of applying a complex set of mathematical algorithms to sensitive data with the aim of making Bruce Schneier exceedingly rich”—were more true.
In any case, I’ll bet the assembled here can come up with funnier infosec dictionary definitions. Post them as comments here, and—if there are enough good ones—I’ll collect them up on a single page.
Sidebar photo of Bruce Schneier by Joe MacInnis.