Handhelds and laptops, the next privacy frontier
More and more I like the idea of having my own home server. I don’t want my information “In the cloud” where it will be hackable. Portable devices are too easily lost or stolen, so only the stuff you’re currently using should be on them AND encrypted.
See the Security Now podcast reviews of IronKey and TrueCrypt for some secure travelling options.
Risks, regulations and a reality check | Shane Schick’s Computerworld
IT departments need to see regulations as a way of double-checking their already transparent information management strategy.
On the eve of Mac World it seems apropos to post a link to this description of the Apple Product Cycle
An obscure component manufacturer somewhere in the Pacific Rim announces a major order for some bleeding-edge piece of technology that could conceivably become part of an expensive, digital-lifestyle-enhancing nerd toy.
(Thanks to Doc Searls for pointing this out.)
Elcomsoft turns your PC into a password cracking supercomputer (gulp) – Engadget
An NTLM-hashed Microsoft Vista password, for example, can now be cracked in 3 to 5 days
I have to wonder if there are the equivalents of chopshops for stolen laptops? The idea is that a laptop thief just takes their newly acquired laptop to the shop, sells it for the price of hot hardware, and then moves on. The chopshop then has the laptop to hack and crack. They can make money two ways – confidential and identity data sales, and hardware resale on the “Don’t ask why you’re getting such a good price market” with a ‘refurbished’ laptop.
I was catching up on my reading today, with the last issue of the IEEE Security & Privacy magazine. Two things caught my eye in the ‘Silver Bullet’ interview with Ross Anderson. The first thing is that his book “Security Engineering” is available on line for free. What is notable is that this has resulted in increased sales, presumably driven by what was available for free. Are you listening CRIA?
The second thing I noted was when he said that a risk should lie with the party that’s best able to mitigate it. I’ve heard this before, of course, but this happened as I was thinking about backend processing of personal information and identity theft. It prompted some other thinking, but I’ll have to let that percolate for a while.
Just a quick little shout out to Merlin Mann and his “How I made my presentations a little better“. I met Merlin briefly at a TWIT gathering at No Regrets in Toronto. He is as funny and hyperactive in person as he is when he’s on with Leo Laporte. I absolutely endorse the ideas that he presents and links to in this series of posts. For me it boils down to the fact that what you have to say has to be interesting and you have to say it in interesting ways. All the slides, effects and other implements of destruction that you might bring to bear after that really don’t matter that much. They can make a good presentation great, but they can’t make a bad presenter/public speaker into a good one.
Courtesy of LifeHacker, I can recomend the CustomizeGoogle Firefox extension. Primay benefits include the ability to turn off ads, and to default to https on many of Google’s many apps. You can see an example of what the options are below. There is an interesting commentary on the ‘ethics’ of blocking ads on Nicolas Carr’s blog that’s definitely worth the read.
The initial surge of work to get this site up is done. I’ve started to winnow down the 200 sites I have on Bloglines to a more reasonable number for the blogroll on this site. I’m also playing with a photo gallery app, but the jury’s out on that one. I’ve also been struck by the idea that a dedicated wiki might make a good vehicle for communicating privacy polices. Also more on that later.