'Not designed to be government-proof'

Apple has disclosed little about how iMessage works, but a partial analysis sheds some light on the protocol. Matthew Green, a cryptographer and research professor at Johns Hopkins University, wrote last summer that because iMessage has "lots of moving parts," there are plenty of places where things could go wrong. Green said that Apple "may be able to substantially undercut the security of the protocol" -- by, perhaps, taking advantage of its position during the creation of the secure channel to copy a duplicate set of messages for law enforcement.

I guess we'll just have to read the message over their shoulder while they're typing it on the public subway - HA, encryption deciphered! #OldSkewlSocialHack ^_^

If you thought the last round of pointless patent lawsuits was fun to watch... just wait, the best has yet to come surrounding the definition of a "time keeping device that is fastened to the wearer's wrist". ^_^

I suspect that "A person commits an offense..." would read better as "'A person or government commits an offense..."

^_^

How about some James Bond-esc features, like a: laser cutter, knife, garrote wire, etc. ??

^_^

Unfortunately, one does not know the exact running time "a priori" - it varies widely with different hardware configurations, network congestion, hard drive speeds and is therefore often easier to measure than to predict.

The progress bar has always been a "best effort" guess as to the amount of time remaining, I think they have gotten a lot more accurate over the years - but perfection is a long way off I suspect.

Crab Juice (please!)

+ http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=273_1350970132&comments=1

^o^!

True story, I once walked into an Apple store wearing a blue shirt.
As luck would have it - it looked pretty damn close to the blue shirts that all the "Geniuses" were wearing that day.
Once inside the store, I was bombarded by a constant stream of people asking me technical questions - which it just so happens that I'm good at answering! ^_^

I didn't deliberately choose to wear a blue shirt that day - it was just the luck of the draw.
Did I deceive anyone in this case??

Social engineering can take on many forms.

"The hacker had developed a considerable reputation as a major operator of ZeuS-powered botnets and bragged about his exploits"

Seems if he had just enjoyed the 100M and kept his mouth shut they might not have figured out who he is...

But it is the lowest form of hack. ^_^

I agree - is it still considered a "hack" when all the attacker did was guess the password from common (public domain) knowledge??

I don't think it changes the degree of wrong in his actions - but in this light we shouldn't revel in the miraculous technical innovations used to snipe some celeb p0Rn.

Forget about the military applications, think about never having to charge your iDevice/Droid again! ...just plug it into your shirt. ^_^

Oh - I almost forget, (network) CABLE TESTER!!

An OLD (skewl) notebook that has a real serial DB-9 connector for all those serial management console ports.

Or failing that, a brand name DB-9 to USB adapter (don't mess with the cheap ones, the good ones are not that much more $$)

I believe its geek appeal is derived from the fact that a software hack utilized to break the locks, rather than a physical set of lock picks.

There is also a sub-text about the social responsibility and obligation that manufacturers have to patch security holes found in their devices in a timely manner I suspect as well.