Tag Archives: Security

Haldar Reads Reflections on Trusting Trust

Posted on 2019-06-25 by jcs

I’ve written at least twice about Ken Thompson’s Turing Award Lecture, Reflections on Trusting Trust and each time I told you to be sure to read it. It describes one of the—if not the—greatest hacks of all time. In the … Continue reading →

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The Government Can’t Protect Your Data Either

Posted on 2019-06-13 by jcs

A couple of weeks ago, I wrote about the Equifax and First American Financial Corp breaches. I noted that the situation was out of hand and that even the curmudgeons at Irreal were ready to put aside their distaste for … Continue reading →

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The Unpickable Lock

Posted on 2019-06-08 by jcs

It used to be, and probably still is, a rite of passage for young hackers to learn how to pick locks. I believe this started at MIT where the idea of locked /anything/—software, doors, …—was an anathema, and challenge, to … Continue reading →

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How to Limit Google Tracking You

Posted on 2019-06-02 by jcs

It turns out that there are some steps you can take to limit the type and amount of data that Google collects on you. This is especially relevant if you live in the Android ecosystem but even for those of … Continue reading →

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Taking It Very Seriously

Posted on 2019-05-28 by jcs

The other day I wrote about the costs Equifax is finally having to bear for its 2017 breach of 150 million consumer records. Apparently, First American Financial Corporation upon learning of the Equifax breach said, “Hold my beer.” Over the … Continue reading →

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The Past Comes Due for Equifax

Posted on 2019-05-26 by jcs

For those who have forgotten, 2 years ago Equifax—one of the top three credit reporting services in the world—suffered a catastrophic breach that resulted in the loss of data on 150 million people. The details are drearily familiar: Equifax had … Continue reading →

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Some Pithy Advice to Engineers About Crypto

Posted on 2019-04-11 by jcs

Via Karl Voit we have this Tweet from Tim Dierks offering some pithy but good advice to engineers about crypto: I’ve been working on Google’s cryptography policy (for engineers). It fits in a tweet: Don’t invent your own algorithms, don’t … Continue reading →

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Privacy.io

Posted on 2019-03-31 by jcs

From John Cook’s Data Privacy Twitter feed we have this recommendation: How to protect your privacyhttps://t.co/4Os4OH1p7D — Data Privacy (@data_tip) March 14, 2019 If you’re at all interested in privacy, you should take a look at the PrivacyTools.io site. It … Continue reading →

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An Analysis of Some Password Managers

Posted on 2019-03-29 by jcs

Over at the Independent Security Evaluators site they have an interesting article on the security of of several password managers. It’s virtually universal advice from security experts that you should use a password manager and the authors of the article … Continue reading →

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An Afterword on Being Almost There

Posted on 2019-03-13 by jcs

In a comment to my recent post on achieving a digital life, Zarniwoop asks about the risks of putting all my eggs in one basket if everything I need for everyday carry is on my iPhone. That’s a question I … Continue reading →

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