Apr 052016
 

Telling travelers about to be screened whether to go left or right is an important job. It keeps people from getting in line in a way that would let them avoid more detailed screening. That’s why TSA bought $1.4 million of systems to do that. The product that costs 25 cents per installation – a quarter that screeners would flip – obviously won’t do. We need the cyber security version.

 Posted by at 10:14 am on April 5, 2016
Mar 112016
 

We continue to promote the practice of not just following headlines (though you should do at least that!) but also looking past them to understand relevant technologies. Two articles are thus very much on point for this practice today. One is an inventory of technical considerations on FBI hacking of the iPhone, which of course has our attention because of the legal battle between Apple and FBI, and the other is a very nice recounting of the first widely known cyber attack on power grid and infrastructure which occurred in the Ukraine.

 Posted by at 12:00 pm on March 11, 2016
Jan 052016
 

Literally so, as you’ll see in the linked article, Xfinity’s Security System Flaws Open Homes to Thieves. At issue is wireless technology that is easily jammed, and Xfinity software which ‘fails positive’, meaning, if it doesn’t hear from a sensor in the house then it presumes all is well instead of alerting the homeowner in a text or email about the condition.

Xfinity so far has not responded to either the authors of the report or CERT. Maybe something is jamming their radar to consumer concerns too.

 Posted by at 10:07 am on January 5, 2016