Re: Physical security rather than crypto---but perhaps of interest

2009-07-17 Thread Ali, Saqib
Since we are on this topic:

"You don’t need to be a crowned Ranger class master hacker to sneak
into someone’s email or facebook account these days. Which means that
you’re not simply being a nervous nellie if you’re worried about
security.

In fact, users of public WiFi should be worried. If you use WiFi to
access some of the most popular email and social networking services,
like, gmail, yahoo mail, hotmail, and facebook, your account
information floats around in the air, often completely unsecured.

You want some more fear with your coffee? Chris Soghoian, a fellow at
the Berkman Center for Internet and Society, took a look into WiFi and
account security to find out just how scary the situation is."

Listen to the audio at:
http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/mediaberkman/2009/07/16/radio-berkman-126-the-g-fail/



saqib
http://www.capital-punishment.us

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Re: Physical security rather than crypto---but perhaps of interest

2009-07-16 Thread Darren J Moffat

Charles Jackson wrote:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/8147534.stm

Chuck
 
[Moderator's note: It is helpful, when posting a link, to give enough

information that people can know whether they want to go and read the
article. In this case, the title and first few sentences are:

   Snooping through the power socket


When I first read the article title I assumed it was going to be about 
Ethernet over Powerlines and how they had weak or non existent crypto.



   Power sockets can be used to eavesdrop on what people type on a
   computer.

   Security researchers found that poor shielding on some keyboard
   cables means useful data can be leaked about each character typed.

   By analysing the information leaking onto power circuits, the
   researchers could see what a target was typing.

   The attack has been demonstrated to work at a distance of up to 15m,
   but refinement may mean it could work over much longer distances.


When I read this and my first thought was: "exactly how is this new 
research or news ?"  This is exactly the type of threat that TEMPEST 
protection is intended to provide risk reduction for.


So yeah not new or news to some people but certainly scary for the masses.

Now to bring it back to crypto this shows the danger of assuming 
that local "links" don't need to be encrypted and that cables are "more 
secure" than wireless links (eg Bluetooth, WiFi etc).


--
Darren J Moffat

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Physical security rather than crypto---but perhaps of interest

2009-07-14 Thread Charles Jackson
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/8147534.stm

Chuck
 
[Moderator's note: It is helpful, when posting a link, to give enough
information that people can know whether they want to go and read the
article. In this case, the title and first few sentences are:

   Snooping through the power socket

   Power sockets can be used to eavesdrop on what people type on a
   computer.

   Security researchers found that poor shielding on some keyboard
   cables means useful data can be leaked about each character typed.

   By analysing the information leaking onto power circuits, the
   researchers could see what a target was typing.

   The attack has been demonstrated to work at a distance of up to 15m,
   but refinement may mean it could work over much longer distances.

--Perry]
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