Here are some interesting security tidbits you may have missed from the past few days.
Scientists, be on guard … ET might be a malicious hacker
We can't even secure networks against human beings and this is somebody's priority?
As if spotty teenagers releasing computer viruses on to the internet from darkened rooms were not enough of a headache. According to a scientific report, planet Earth's computers are wide open to a virus attack from Little Green Men.
The concern is raised in the next issue of the journal Acta Astronautica by Richard Carrigan, a particle physicist at the US Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory in Illinois. He believes scientists searching the heavens for signals from extra-terrestrial civilisations are putting Earth's security at risk, by distributing the jumble of signals they receive to computers all over the world.
Feds: Hacker hurt flood-relief efforts
From the employees-are-a-security-risk files:
Giovanni, a former New Jersey resident, "chose to launch an attack [on his former employer's computer] during one of the worst natural disasters in the history of civilization," said U.S. Attorney Patrick L. Meehan, announcing the new criminal case.
"Because of his actions, people who were reaching out for help via the Internet couldn't get it," the area's top federal lawman added.
Meehan said the company "is set up so people" in a disaster zone "can access vital medical-assistance information online.
"You had people in the midst of an unimaginable catastrophe desperately seeking online information and not being able to get it because the system was down," added Meehan.
Giovanni had worked for the victimized firm as a "senior developer and Webmaster" for about five years, until Nov. 9, 2004.
He lost his job just weeks before the deadly wave struck.
Before his termination, he allegedly created a "Trojan Horse" in the company's computer system.
Real Story of the Rogue Rootkit
This story is evidence that the worm has turned. Some of the most important stories are now reported by bloggers and eventually picked up by the MSM. The Sony root kit story is one of those. If it wasn't for the blogosphere, Sony would have gotten by with it. But Bruce Schnider makes the point that Sony's collusion with the anti-virus companies is the real story. I think he's right. This story has too many layers to be just one issue.
Who are the security companies really working for? It's unlikely that this Sony rootkit is the only example of a media company using this technology. Which security company has engineers looking for the others who might be doing it? And what will they do if they find one? What will they do the next time some multinational company decides that owning your computers is a good idea?
These questions are the real story, and we all deserve answers.
Popularity: unranked [?]
Unrest by Parkway Drive