October, 2012

Cryptography contest solution

So, if you haven't figured it out already, the code I posted last night is from Edgar Allen Poe's "The Gold Bug." From Wikipedia:

"The Gold-Bug" is a short story by

A cryptography contest

Huge...

Update on physical security failure

Hollering on the right channels seems to have gotten results. Here's the update on the physical security problem I mentioned in my last post. These are excerpts from emails. Us: We are experiencing another issue with our network cable in the Phone/Data Closet.  Our server was...

Tale from the trenches: Physical security failure

Last Friday, a trouble ticket came in saying someone from our satellite campus could not access our database application. I immediately attempted to log in remotely and was unable to do so. The next check revealed that our NLAN link was down and had been since approximately 7 p.m. the night before....

The 25 most popular (and most insecure) passwords of 2012

Distributed passwords: A simple security precaution that works

Everyone of us has one: A user who has a "book" of passwords sitting in plain view at their workstation. This person absolutely insists on keeping passwords written down in longhand and refuses to use any type of password manager software. Yes, the book is usually closed and it's not obviously...

All credit card PIN numbers in the World leaked

Don’t make these five security mistakes

Everyone knows it's not safe out there in cyberspace. Your privacy and your money are at risk all the time if you don't know and practice safe computing. In particular, five security mistakes can really set you up for disaster.