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Security

Submission + - The L33t Pill (forensicscontest.com)

rye writes: The Network Forensics Puzzle Contest has opened their DEFCON 2011 contest for public competition, and it's AWESOME. Six rounds, five packet captures, one Truecrypt volume, and a prize for the Most Elegant Solution. Check it out:

"The lead chemist of a high-profile pharmaceutical company was involved in a serious accident, leaving him in a coma days before the release of the company’s highly publicized '133t pill.' The chemist was the only person in possession of the list of ingredients required to produce the wonder drug, and it is not known if he will ever recover. All chemical evidence of the drug has been destroyed, but the company believes that the missing ingredients may have been stored electronically. You have been hired as a forensic investigator, to recover the final ingredient of their 133t pill. Can you find the missing ingredient?"

Privacy

Submission + - What Does DHS Know About You? (philosecurity.org)

Sherri Davidoff writes: "Here's a real copy of an American citizen's DHS Travel Record retrieved from the U.S. Customs and Border Patrol's Automated Targeting System (ATS). This was obtained through a FOIA/Privacy Act request... The document reveals that the DHS is storing the reader's:
  • Credit card number and expiration
  • IP address used to make web travel reservations
  • Hotel information and itinerary
  • Full airline itinerary, including flight numbers and seat numbers
  • Phone numbers, incl. business, home & cell
  • Every frequent flyer and hotel number associated with the subject, even ones not used for the specific reservation
"

Comment Re:Please don't think of the children. (Score 1) 1092

First it was tracking consumers. Look at the location histories that public transit agencies store (EZ-Pass, Metro Card, etc), not to mention credit card and cell companies that track and analyze consumer location info for the company's benefit. Money is the greatest motivator.

After these systems are set up, police realize that they can gain access and use them to track suspects or "terrorists." Once the capabilities are well-publicized, parents get interested and companies spew out spinoff consumer-friendly tracking tools... such as Verizon's Chaperone, which more average people buy... which LE will subsequently take advantage of...

Every new advance in location tracking technology is an exploitative cycle between the market forces, Big Brother and normal human attachments.

Medicine

Submission + - Doctors Scan Photo ID for Treatment (philosecurity.org)

Sherri Davidoff writes: "Spurred by the FTC's "Red Flags Rule," more health care clinics are requiring photo identification and storing high-resolution copies in their computer systems. Ironically, this probably puts patients at greater risk of identity theft, not less. From the article: "Walking into the doctor's office, I was surprised to see a new sign which read: 'Red Flag Identity Theft Rule: We are now required by law to ask for a Photo ID at the time of each visit. Please have your Photo ID ready for the receptionist to scan.' As an avid bicyclist, I wasn't carrying a driver's license. 'I'm sorry, we'll have to reschedule you,' said the receptionist.

"Everyone should have access to medical care- not just people who have registered with the government and obtained a photo ID. Furthermore, patients should have the right to health care without being forced to give up control of our personal information. As a patient, I don't really want a copy of my Photo ID stored on a crappy unpatched Windows box at my doctor's office. Today's patients do not even have the right to know how well doctor's offices and hospitals are secured, even in the face of constant reports of medical data breaches. That's sick.""

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