Media

Google Glass POV

Beyond ‘Likes’: CrowdOptic Uses Google Glass To Map Your Focus

Sometimes a technology becomes so ubiquitous and obviously useful that we (humans) cease to think critically about its shortcomings. As an illustration of this, imagine yourself teleported back in time to the island of Manhattan in 1900. You’d find a bustling metropolis, for sure. You might look around and notice that the people dressed differently, or that the skyline was different from what we’re used to. But I bet one of the things you’d notice first was the stench emanating from the piles of horse manure and puddles of urine. As this (great) post at The Daily Kos points out, there were 200,000 horses working in New York City by 1900. Those horses were dropping 4 million pounds of manure and 40,000 gallons of urine on city streets every day. “The ubiquitous street sweepers could only pile the stuff up in vacant lots, occasionally to the height of sixty feet. To […]

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Insecure At Any Speed: Are Automakers Failing The Software Crash Test?

Editor’s Note: You can view the rest of my conversation about application and supply chain security, featuring Joshua Corman of Akamai and Chris Wysopal of Veracode by visiting Veracode’s web site. – PFR  You’re in the market for a new car, and you’ve made a list of the features you want: a cool, tablet style interface for the audio and navigation system, side impact airbags for the front and rear compartment, a pop-up third row of seating. Heck, maybe you even want to hold out for the automatic seat temperature control that some Lexus cars now come with. While you’re at it, how about some secure software, too? That last item probably isn’t on most buyers’ check list today, but it may be soon, according to two, prominent security experts: Chris Wysopal, of Veracode, and Joshua Corman of Akamai. Speaking on Talking Code, an exclusive video hosted by The Security Ledger […]

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Security Lapse Has Tumblr Asking IPhone, IPad Users To Update -Now!

Tumblr, the blogging and content sharing web site issued an urgent warning to those using its mobile application for Apple iPhones and iPads to update their Tumblr application – ASAP – after it was apparently found to be transmitting user names and passwords in the clear. In a blog post on Tuesday, Derek Gottfrid, the Vice President of Product at the New York City-based firm, said that the company had issued an update to the iOS version of Tumblr’s mobile application to fix an issue that allowed Tumblr passwords to be sniffed in transit on certain versions of the iOS Tumblr application for iPhone and iPad. Gottfrid did not explain the reason for the sudden update. However, a report by the UK publication The Register claims that the rush update came after Tumblr was made aware that the iOS versions of its application was not using SSL (Secure Socket Layer) […]

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Richard Clarke: Car Hacking Possible In Crash That Killed Michael Hastings

OK – let me start by saying that The Security Ledger isn’t a web site that’s going peddle in rumor or unfounded conspiracy theories. Period. AND let me note that Richard Clarke, the former Cyber Security Czar and U.S. National Coordinator for Security, Infrastructure Protection and Counter-terrorism just told the Huffingtonpost.com that he thinks a car hack may have played a role in the suspicious, single car accident that killed investigative reporter Michael Hastings last week. Whoa! If you don’t know, Hastings was a Polk Award winning correspondent for the web site Buzzfeed.com, where he covered national security. He died, at age 33, in a fiery, single car crash in Los Angeles last week after the Mercedes he was driving hit a tree and burst into flames. The car was almost totally destroyed. The Los Angeles County Coroner confirmed Hastings identity but said it would likely take weeks to determine the cause of […]

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Privacy Bombshell: NSA Given Access To Facebook, Apple, Microsoft, Others

If you haven’t had a chance to check out the Washington Post story on The National Security Agency’s (NSA’s) and FBI’s widespread program of wire tapping, which leads directly into the servers of nine leading U.S. Internet companies, including Facebook, Microsoft, Google and Apple. The classified program, dubbed PRISM, dates to 2007 and the administration of George W. Bush and authorizes the nation’s top spy agency to peer deep into the servers of  popular social networking sites, compiling audio, video, photographs, e-mails, documents and connection logs. Together the information could enable intelligence operators to track an individual’s communications, movements relationships over time. The classified program came to light following the leak of a classified presentation for NSA staff, dated April 2013, that describes the program as critical and a leading contributor of intelligence to President Obama’s daily briefing. While a small cadre of members of Congress were briefed on the program […]

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