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Submission + - Australian law enforcement pushes against encryption, advocates data retention (computerworld.com.au)

Submitted by angry tapir
angry tapir writes: Australia is in the middle of a parliamentary inquiry examining telecommunications interception laws. Law enforcement organisations using this to resurrect the idea of a scheme for mandatory data retention by telcos and ISPs. In addition, an Australian peak law enforcement body is pushing for rules that would force telcos help with decryption of communications.

Submission + - OpenSSL: The New Face Of Technology Monoculture (securityledger.com)

Submitted by chicksdaddy
chicksdaddy writes: In a now-famous 2003 essay, “Cyberinsecurity: The Cost of Monopoly” (http://cryptome.org/cyberinsecurity.htm) Dr. Dan Geer (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dan_Geer) argued, persuasively, that Microsoft’s operating system monopoly constituted a grave risk to the security of the United States and international security, as well. It was in the interest of the U.S. government and others to break Redmond’s monopoly, or at least to lessen Microsoft’s ability to ‘lock in’ customers and limit choice. “The prevalence of security flaw (sp) in Microsoft’s products is an effect of monopoly power; it must not be allowed to become a reinforcer,” Geer wrote.

The essay cost Geer his job at the security consulting firm AtStake, which then counted Microsoft as a major customer.(http://cryptome.org/cyberinsecurity.htm#Fired) (AtStake was later acquired by Symantec.)

These days Geer is the Chief Security Officer at In-Q-Tel, the CIA’s venture capital arm. But he’s no less vigilant of the dangers of software monocultures. Security Ledger notes that, in a post today for the blog Lawfare (http://www.lawfareblog.com/2014/04/heartbleed-as-metaphor/), Geer is again warning about the dangers that come from an over-reliance on common platforms and code. His concern this time isn’t proprietary software managed by Redmond, however, it’s common, oft-reused hardware and software packages like the OpenSSL software at the heart (pun intended) of Heartbleed.(https://securityledger.com/2014/04/the-heartbleed-openssl-flaw-what-you-need-to-know/)

“The critical infrastructure’s monoculture question was once centered on Microsoft Windows,” he writes. “No more. The critical infrastructure’s monoculture problem, and hence its exposure to common mode risk, is now small devices and the chips which run them," Geer writes.

What happens when a critical and vulnerable component becomes ubiquitous — far more ubiquitous than OpenSSL? Geer wonders if the stability of the Internet itself is at stake.

“The Internet, per se, was designed for resistance to random faults; it was not designed for resistance to targeted faults,” Geer warns. “As the monocultures build, they do so in ever more pervasive, ever smaller packages, in ever less noticeable roles. The avenues to common mode failure proliferate.”

Comment Re:That's a strange definition of "rich" (Score 2) 311

by phantomfive (#46815893) Attached to: In the US, Rich Now Work Longer Hours Than the Poor

So, lets talk less about how rich Americans are and how we as a world should make everyone rich. Of course to that end, it'd probably help to figure out why Americans are so materially rich and so much of the world is so materially poor. A big hint is, it isn't because a person in the US making minimum wage works 90x as hard or smart or whatever as a worker in Ghana.

Let me guess, your solution is that the 'rich' should be made 'poorer?'

Comment Re:That's a strange definition of "rich" (Score 5, Insightful) 311

by phantomfive (#46815423) Attached to: In the US, Rich Now Work Longer Hours Than the Poor
Maybe, but I know what it's like to live with dirt floors, without any running water or even a well in your yard. You can check it out, but in all likelihood you are probably already in the 1%, so yeah you are rich.

Yeah, your rent is higher, but you are probably so rich you turn on the faucet and pour potable water down the drain waiting for it to heat up, without even thinking about it. Most likely you have carpet or wood floors, not concrete or dirt. If you live somewhere hot in the US, you probably have air conditioning. You probably have a car. You probably never worry about not having enough food. You can go on vacation in Hawaii if you feel like it.

If you have a median US college degree income and you don't feel rich, it's only because you've gotten used to the feeling of being rich, just like we've all gotten used to the feeling of electric lighting, but that is magical.

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