Friday, August 16, 2002

War against viruses According to George Hulme in Information Week magazine, "companies have gained an edge in the war against viruses and other network infiltrators."  Hulme then states: "...it's unclear whether the credit should go to network administrators for liberally deploying and faithfully updating antivirus software, to antivirus vendors for being vigilant, or to virus authors for a lack of creativity. I think hackers and virus writers have probably gotten a little lazy.  Rather than creating something new, they grab an existing virus, rename it, perhaps modify it a little and release it again.  It will get serious when nation-state and international terrorists get serious about it and provide significant intellectual and financial resources to the effort. 4:16:49 PM

Fear and Security In his newly created weblog, Wade Billings writes about the State's growing interest in wireless networks, This scares the be-gees (yes, the 1970's disco group) out of me. Why you ask?, well I am a paranoid man by nature and the thought of someone sitting in a dark alley beside my building listening to our network traffic is enough to keep me up at night. I learned a long time ago that you shouldn't fear anything.  It is a prohibitor of progress.  At the same time, we must be concerned about things like this and make a serious effort to do it right.  We need an encryption expert, we need a virus detection expert, we need an intrusion detection specialist.  If you do things in an organized and well-designed fashion you can reduce such fears.  The Pentagon is about as concerned about this as Billings is.  I used to know people who did what Wade is talking about.  That is why all our equipment was tempested and we used double-encryption.  People can already see what you're doing whether you have a wireless network or not.  (if they only knew)  And to make Wade feel even better, he should read this article in Washington Post's Technews. When I was asked to be the State's Y2K coordinator, I had a dozen people tell me not to do it: "too much liability, it's a no-win situation, blah, blah, blah."  Actually, it concerns me that someone like Wade is that concerned.  He is a very bright individual.  I already am well aware of our exposure.  I'm not sure that it's greater than anybody else out there, but it is something we must continue to be vigilant about. 10:01:54 AM

Wearable Encryption This is in from the NIPC's Daily Report: Wearable encryption system 'will safeguard laptop data'. Engineers may have developed a way to stop information on laptops from falling into the wrong hands. The University of Michigan's Zero-Interaction Authentication system automatically encrypts information when owners stray from their machines. Most data encryption systems require users to actively encrypt or decrypt their documents. The new system automates this process via a wearable device that remains in wireless contact with the laptop. When the wearer moves away, the radio connection is broken and all data is automatically encrypted. Inventor Brian Noble says the technology could be embedded into any kind of portable device. The technology, backed by Intel and Novell, will be showcased at a computing conference in Atlanta, GA in September. 9:10:53 AM

© Copyright 2002 David Fletcher.