There was a competition at the CanSecWest security conference to see who could hack/control/Pwn any of the three laptops (VAIO VGN-TZ37CN running Ubuntu 7.10; Fujitsu U810 running Vista Ultimate SP1; MacBook Air running OSX 10.5.2) available. The prize for the first successful hack was the laptop and a cash prize that reduced the more access given to the machine.
Continue reading PWN To OWN: MacBook Air Hacked In 2 Minutes
Ask most people about their views on Phorm and you’ll either get a blank look or people turning purple with rage.
In brief: It’s a ‘service’ that monitors all of your normal Web browsing, with the stated aim of providing personalised advertising to you. All of this monitoring is made possible under agreements with ISPs, including BT, Talk Talk and Virgin Media.
Continue reading fipr: Phorm Web Monitoring Illegal?
Web inventor Sir Tim Berners-Lee, has voiced his concerns over the future of the Internet, saying that consumers need to be protected against systems designed to track their web based activity.
Continue reading Web Creator Speaks Out Against Phorm Net Tracking
Just when the BBC were pleased to tell everyone that they’d fixed the hole in their iPhone iPlayer service that let people download TV programmes without DRM – the very next day, the originator of the hack, Paul Battley, produced an update to get around the BBC’s fix, re-opening the whole.
We’ve heard of many companies cutting off people’s access to Facebook and other social networks – primary reason? Just too much time spent on them – frittered in the eyes of the company
Companies, being companies, also have other concerns, like their confidential data flying out of the company via postings to Facebook.
Online directory enquiry service 192.com have launched a new service which combines information on the UK Electoral Roll with the data they hold on phone numbers and addresses.
Those using the service are able to search for a people in the way you would expect with a directory, but by combining the Electoral Roll data with “modelled statistical data,” the expected age of the person is also shown.
Continue reading 192.com Age Guide: Yet More Personal Data On The Web
Looks like the State noose is tightening in Myanmar/Burma, particularly where the Internet is concerned.
There are reports that blogger, Nay Myo Latt, has been taken into custody, following his blog postings on the suppression of freedoms currently being enacted in the country.
The UK National Mobile Phone Crime Unit carried out a number of raids around London last month – under the grandly titled, Operation Prestige – seizing 324 stolen mobile phones and carried out 56 arrests.
The actions were take in Lambeth, Lewisham, Croydon, Brent, Newham, Southwark, Tower Hamlets and Camden. The police believed that many of the handsets were stolen by street gangs and pickpockets.
Continue reading London Police Raids Reclaim Stolen Mobile Phones
Ask.com is to allow users of its search engine to delete all of their queries from their server – a stark contrast to other major search engines, especially Google.
The loss of private records of 25 million residents by a UK government department continues to make headlines.
The News of the World newspaper have obtained a March 2004 letter from Treasury risk manager Richard Fennelly following his analysis of the security of the child benefit records system.
Continue reading Government Data Loss Signalled In 2004