Wednesday, April 19, 2006

Mafia Boss Using Crook Crypto Captured. Mafia Boss Using Crook Crypto Captured. boggis writes "Discovery is running a story on Bernardo Provenzano, the recently arrested 'boss of bosses' of the Sicilian Mafia. He apparently wrote notes to his henchmen using a modified form of the Caesar Cipher, which was easily cracked by the police and resulted in further arrests of collaborators. Discovery's cryptography expert describes it as a code that 'will keep your kid sister out'." [Slashdot: Your Rights Online] 9:00:28 PM  PermaLink   / trackback []

Oracle Database Security. Oracle Database Security. Nathan Aaron submits this paper on Oracle security discussing permission, architecture and more. By Nathan Aaron. [Infosec Writers Latest Security Papers] 8:50:26 PM  PermaLink   / trackback []

Guardian Unlimited Technology | Technology | Inside IT: Has Hollywood gone overboard on piracy? The entertainment industry argues that its new digital rights management system will bring flexibility to the use of video content, but consumer campaigners say it has taken too much control. George Cole reports      [...]     Imagine someone creeping into your living room and tweaking your DVD player so that it no longer played any discs. Or what about a DVD disc that didn't like the look of your television, and so only displayed low-quality video pictures? Such scenarios are theoretically possible with a new digital rights management (DRM) system being rolled out by the video industry, PC companies and consumer electronics firms. What is more, under the new system, no one need enter your home to disable your video player. Little wonder, then, that Mike Evangelist, a former director of product marketing for Apple Computer, describes the new system as sinister and has set up the HD Boycott website (www.hdboycott.com), urging people not to buy high definition (HD) discs and players. But those behind the technology say we should welcome the new flexibility it will bring to using digital video content. 8:47:33 PM  PermaLink   / trackback []

High-Def DVD Formats Take Use Restrictions to New Heights. High-Def DVD Formats Take Use Restrictions to New Heights. This week, the first HD-DVD releases entered the US market. The standards battle with Blu-Ray is the talk of the town, but that's not the only element of this format roll-out that will inevitably frustrate consumers. These discs come ready to restrict legitimate uses far beyond what you've faced with typical DVDs. Just as with DVDs, though, these restrictions won't do anything to stop "Internet piracy." In a recent article in The Guardian, EFF's Seth Schoen discusses some of the restrictions you'll face in the future when you "upgrade." Without the DMCA, Hollywood wouldn't be able to get away with this. Take action now and support DMCA reform. [EFF: Deep Links] 8:42:48 PM  PermaLink   / trackback []

DMCA Encourages Bad Security. - HDCP has serious security weaknesses, DMCA Encourages Bad Security. Professor Ed Felten has been posting this week (1, 2, 3) about HDCP, a content protection technology rapidly becoming ubiquitous in the world of high-def video, whether from your cable, satellite, or next-gen Blu-Ray/HD DVD player. Apparently, HDCP has serious security weaknesses, Hollywood knew it, and everyone went ahead with it anyway. So it won't stop "pirates," but it will create incompatibilities for regular movie fans for years to come. Why? Because the developers were dumb? Because they were desperate to stop piracy? Nope. Felten explains: A much more plausible answer is that HDCP encryption exists only as a hook on which to hang lawsuits. For example, if somebody makes unlicensed displays or format converters, copyright owners could try to sue them under the DMCA for circumventing the encryption. (Also, converter box vendors who accepted HDCP[base ']s license terms might sue vendors who didn[base ']t accept those terms.) The price of enabling these lawsuits is to add the cost of 10,000 gates to every high-def TV or video source, and to add another way in which high-def video devices can be incompatible. So, in other words, the DMCA gives Hollywood a strong incentive to deploy cheap, weak security systems in order to get legal leverage over technology companies, rather than investing in good security. [EFF: Deep Links] 8:38:09 PM  PermaLink   / trackback []

No2ID plans passport protest to scupper ID cards. No2ID plans passport protest to scupper ID cards. Drive Home Office nuts in May No2ID is calling for mass passport renewals next month to create a spike in the system that shows the government how unhappy people are with its plans to have everyone clocked in an identity database. [The Register - Internet and Law: Digital Rights/Digital Wrongs] 8:31:34 PM  PermaLink   / trackback []

Security Bites Podcast | CNET News.com Backdoors, pharming, phishing, rootkits, viruses, worms. Feeling vulnerable? CNET News.com's Joris Evers and CNET.com's Robert Vamosi tell you about the latest security threats, what's coming, and how to protect your system. Latest podcast April 14, 2006: Patch up before you go surfing! Microsoft, Mozilla and Opera all released security fixes for their browsers. Also: wipe your hard drive before recycling it and a new security chief at MySpace.com. 8:27:45 PM  PermaLink   / trackback []