With revolutionary fever fermenting across the Arab world, other long-serving dictators are getting a bit jittery these days.
The demonstration effect is a powerful phenomenon- when long-suffering citizens see people in similar situations casting off the shackles of repressive regimes, they’re inclined to as “well, why not us, too?” It isn’t …
The U.S. government, like a parent trying to stay hip, has hired younger staffers and put them in charge of using technology to build diplomacy and democracy. For example, Hilary Clinton in the State Department hired Alec Ross to head up technology and innovation in diplomacy. Terms invented …
Android smartphone owners had a bad week with several pieces of malware emerging in the Android App Store – necessitating the frightening step of remote-nuking the evil apps.
I have yet to hear of a significant iPhone Trojan horse or virus. It’s not that the …
I read yesterday that a private organization had graded the White House on its performance in cybersecurity policy. It seemed to me to be an interesting exercise. (Note: It is not my intention to judge the integrity of the report, as the organization is new to me. If …
We’re in that lull after the holiday season where gyms are crowded, but the days still feel short and cold (up north at least). Most everyone probably had an experience where two relatives were arguing about the best way to stuff a turkey, or who should have to sit next …
Welcome to 21st Century Diplomacy, State Department.
WikiLeaks’ massive cache of over a quarter million sensitive State Department cables is a bleak reminder that everything in in our Brave New World is ones and zeros- and ones and zeros are easily copied.
Back when Daniel Ellsberg stole the Pentagon Papers, he had …
The issue of whether a country should openly sanction offensive use of “cyber attack” by their military is one of touchier issues in the world of cyber warfare. Interestingly, US Cyber Command has openly expressed an interest in developing offensive cyber capabilities. Specifically, they refer to offensive …
Stuxnet, the worm from Russia America Israel who knows where designed to take out the American power grid Iranian Uranium refinement centrifuges BCS computer something controlled by Siemens machines has gotten a lot of attention.
Rightly so, as it’s the closest we’ve actually come to something that looks like a genuine …
Saying “I’m writing my master’s thesis on cybersecurity” is akin to saying “I’m writing my thesis about the United States.” It is often quoted that the internet was developed more for interoperability than to address security concerns. The silver lining? Russia is still expanding its tech industry. The field is still growing and evolving. New technological developments, such as the adoption of iPv6 have yet to take hold. This means that there is still room (to a certain extent) to get in at the ground level.
Amazing how demonstrations of appalling, imminent disaster tend to clarify the thinking.
Eric Butler has developed a brilliant piece of software called Firesheep that makes web site identity hijacking easy and fun for all. (Ed: First the iCow, now the Firesheep? CD: Agreed, it would behoof them to switch …
It’s ten days to midterm elections in the US. Tempers are running a bit high. Now FreedomWorks, one of the larger organized vehicles driving Tea Party activism, claims to have been shut down by a “cyber attack” when they were about to start a Glenn Beck …
The main Google search page now redirects to an SSL encrypted version.
Compute cycles are no longer the limiting factor on shoveling all the bits through an iron-bound SSL pipe.
Privacy concerns are going to lead more people in this direction. At the same time, law enforcement types are going to scream …
I grew up as a practicing member of the Cult of the Mac. As such, Microsoft was clearly of the Forces of Darkness.
They’re redeeming themselves now. Russia famously used illegal pirated software as an excuse to kick the doors in and shutter NGOs that …
I sometimes disagree with choices Google makes, but one note they have consistently hit is the importance of transparency. As a corporate entity they are obligated to follow the rules in the countries in which they operate – as long as they want to work there.
This often means they have …
The Hill had a piece recently talking about Republican Senatorial angst around Chinese networking electronics giant Huawei providing equipment to Sprint.
Huawei, like all firms of any importance in China, has significant ties to the CCP leadership and the People’s Liberation Army.
The idea is that Sprint, being a major provider …
