From Scott Granneman. It's strange, it's creepy, it's funny - it's your tax dollars at work. It's Dewie the e-turtle and his security shell!

All over the site, you’ll see Dewie the e-Turtle. Dewie’s wired, but carries his security shell no matter what he’s doing on the Internet. Even though turtles take their time, Dewie crosses the finish line first because he takes the appropriate steps to avoid a disaster.

posted by mt at 14:01

I don't see much out there, hopefully more this afternoon.
posted by mt at 10:54

Security Focus reports on an interesting story out of England. Evidently, the author of the t0rn rootkit has been arrested. Not for a specific incident, rather for having authored a malicious tool. I hope this isn't a sign of things to come - it could seriously hamper security research.
posted by mt at 14:16

AP Link:

Supporters of the outlawed Falun Gong movement hacked into China's top TV satellite system, beaming flashes of their own material across the vast land during programming aimed at millions of rural Chinese, the government said Tuesday.

posted by mt at 09:00

From Reuters:

A Chinese programmer who works for the state-run China National Petroleum Corp. has been arrested for allegedly trying to steal software used to map underground oil deposits from a Silicon Valley company, a representative of the software company said on Friday.

posted by mt at 09:04

Read why you should hire us. Seriously - some good comments on the pluses of using specialized consultants.

The advantages of outsourcing are many. It's less expensive to pay a fee for expert services than to hire and train dedicated staff. Security providers are aware of the latest vulnerabilities, patches and products. And if they're monitoring your traffic full-time, they can respond to attacks in progress rather than a day or week later when your regular administrators get around to analysing the network logs.

posted by mt at 08:37

In case you didn't see it yesterday, ZDNet has a piece on the increasingly blurry lines defining a hacker. It was posted at several places, including Slashdot, so check it out.
posted by mt at 08:34

I suspect that the networks of multiple states are in similar states of disarray.

The state Department of Human Services has systematically neglected computer security for years, leaving Oregon's largest agency vulnerable to hackers and thieving employees who can pay themselves public benefits, according to an internal agency report.

posted by mt at 08:32

Thanks to Scott Granneman for the link. Check it out - funny stuff.


posted by mt at 22:47

According to this Slashdot post, Verisign will no longer provide WHOIS information for .gov domains. Interesting move. What's interesting is that this will not only make it more difficult to map out government networks, but will also make it harder to determine who/what government organization is visiting your site.
posted by mt at 13:02

CBS Marketwatch has an article on just how much sensitive information is stored on the typical home PC. It's something overlooked in many households - and broadband access is bringing many of these unprotected machines online. What to do? Backup regularly - and secure every machine on your network.
posted by mt at 12:10

You know the Nigerian bank emails we all get? I need help getting 21 million out of the country. Send me your bank account number and you will get half! A woman from Michigan fell for it. She lost 2.1 million!

The woman now faces up to three years' jail on 13 counts of wire fraud. Luckily for her, sheer idiocy will not be a factor in sentencing.

Yikes. I'd never imagine someone fell for such scams.
posted by mt at 12:03