Today isn't actually Pi Day, but I was unable to get this article out in time. Pi Day was actually yesterday, March 14th (3.14), so let's call this a post-Pi Day treat!
Industrial espionage, social engineering and no-tech hacking are all very real, and there are simple precautions that you can take to protect yourself, which this article will discuss. Whether you are a high-profile businessman or a housewife (or househusband), keeping the information you want to remain private private should be important to you.
The cryptology course went live today and is accepting anyone who is interested for registration. Check out the link for more information and to view the other awesome free online courses!
Last time, we looked at archaic cryptography, so you should have a basic understanding of some of the concepts and terminology you'll need. Now, we'll discuss one of the most important advances in computer security in the 20th century—public key cryptography.
Cryptography is a quintessential part of computer security in the modern world. Whenever you buy something on eBay or log into Facebook, that data is encrypted before it's sent to the server in order to prevent third parties from eavesdropping and stealing your sensitive information.
I recently found this video series that discusses (in a more round about way) the theories that make cryptography what it is today, which goes great with my most recent blog post. I haven't finished watching them all yet, but so far they have been fairly good and I would recommend watching one to see if you like it?!
Scroogle was shut down this month due to " a combination of throttling of search requests by Google and a denial-of-service attack by an unknown person or group."
I recently posted a link to what seemed to be a very useful guide on Lifehacker for creating a TOR button in Chrome. However, when I tried it myself, it did not work. Also, it lacked a warning on the limits of Tor, which I think are important. Therefore, I decided to create an updated and more comprehensive tutorial.
The department of Homeland Security released a list of 'words and phrases' it uses to search social media for terrorism, and whatever else they decide they are looking for that day. Read some of these. A few are obvious "bomb, nuke" and some "target, event" are just down right vague. More reasons to watch what you do on the Internet. You are not the only one watching!
If you did anything but watch the Superbowl alone with a small screen TV, then you are in violation of copyright infringement law, according to this article!
A nice little series of videos where you witness live social engineering and listen to others share their funny little stories where they were able to use their skills. Definitely worth a watch if you're into this sort of thing!
Stanford is soon supposed to offer free classes in Cryptology, Computer Security and a slew of other intriguing topics! Check out the site to sign up and learn more!
Many times throughout history companies have been hacked by so-called "grey-hatters": hackers who do ambiguously ethical things with their computer skills. Often enough, after being hacked the companies actually offer to hire the hacker, but not always (as you see in this case). Just a reminder that you need to watch what you are doing. Never do anything illegal unless you don't mind facing the consequences!
