Two new Flash zero-days. Currently being used in watering hole attacks… probably against Syrian dissidents complaining about their government. Notably, Kaspersky comments that “It’s likely that the attack was carefully planned and that professionals of a pretty high caliber were behind it. The use of professionally written 0-day exploits that were used to infect a […]

Lifehacking: If you’re fat, it may be because you’ve fallen victim to foods that are engineered to make you eat more.[1] Solution: KILL ALL PROCESSED FOODS from your diet. (Organic raw food for the win!) Here’s how to generalize this principle… in a way that will let you discover some really neat (and sometimes totally […]

Lifehacking tip: Bach. Specifically, Bach organ music. I swear, the stuff’s like toilet bowl cleaner for the mind. ’nuff said. Private sector using #badBIOS? Very strange story. http://www.reddit.com/r/privacy/comments/23ljti/private_investigators_hire_nsa_trained_hackers/ Looking to bypass the limitations of commercial communications, a group of hackers associated with Anonymous has put together some (currently not very usable) software to do encrypted […]

Whatever the big but secret cryptanalytic breakthroughs floating around the Western signals intellignece community, they’re useful enough that the Norwegian signals intelligence agency is buying their own supercomputer to better exploit them. The Norweigans have been relying on the NSA’s capability for a while but they’re now collecting so much encrypted data they need their […]

Not a new theme here, at all, but a just-completed two-year study into the security of hospital equipment produced results that are truly terrifying for anyone entrusting themselves to the care of such an institution. Bottom line: IT’S. ALL. VULNERABLE. Everything except the anaesthesia machines, and those presumably only due to a procedural fluke that […]

Snowden inaugurated as University of Glasgow rector. First the honorary doctorate from the University of Rostock, now this. Who said you needed a high school diploma to make it in higher education…! http://freesnowden.is/2014/04/23/edward-snowdens-statement-on-his-inauguration-as-rector-at-the-university-of-glasgow/index.html Results from the 2014 Verizon Data Breach Investigations Report show that 2 in 3 online breaches made use of stolen or misused […]

Overconfidence… one of the biggest problems in defensive security. Which is not to say you have to assume the adversary is omnipotent. But, as this article shows, it’s always a good idea to take the same approach to protecting yourself as the NSA takes to watching you masturbate. Specifically, think belt and suspenders. RSA believed […]

One of the most famous US civil liberties cases revolved around the legality of cops using thermal imagers to find indoor cannabis farms. Now, the increasing availability of easy-to-fly drones mounted with thermal imagers means it isn’t just cops who have access to the technology. UK’s criminal underworld has seen the appearance of a new […]

Researcher discovers a “bug” which looks an awful lot like a backdoor. Manufacturer issues a “fix.” Researcher investigates and discovers the “fix” just obfuscated the backdoor, making it a little harder to find and activate. The affected equipment? Wireless DSL routers manufactured by a company known as Sercomm, which makes routers for Netgear, Cisco, Linksys, […]

(Featuring a guest appearance by none other than the Illuminati!) In the Christian tradition, Easter is a time of rejuvenation and renewal. Indeed, in pre-Christian times, Easter was an important fertility celebration, and the name Easter comes from Ēostre or Ostara… a goddess who contributed the rabbit & egg symbology so many people still use […]