Security Mishaps

I really enjoy watching various security - related threads on the Internet. It is just amazing how completely blind and insecure we were running our machines back in 1995. Sounds almost like the Flower - Power times. Lots of things have changed since then, but people (both lame users and experienced system designers) are still being caught by hackers and intruders. Here is the recent favorite collection of mine:

• New attack cracks WEP in record time. WEP is the old wireless network security scheme. Now it takes two minutes using an ordinary laptop to break it.
• Malware will thrive despite Vista efforts. Mark Russinovich explains why even the latest security measures won't stop malware programs from sniffing your data.
• Satnav hacking made simple. This story describes how easy it is to inject spoofed information into the real time car navigation systems we all rely on.
• How credit card data went out wireless door. This is a good one. Actually one of the most successful high profile credit card data thefts. 45 million credit card numbers in 18 months, probably worth more than a billion dollars and hackers never caught.
• Crook reprograms an ATM to think $20s are #1s. This story shows how so called layer-8 security (ie humans) is the easiest to break. The guy entered a master password into an ATM machine made by Triton. The password ("123456", no kidding) was printed in a manual published on the web and somebody forgot to change it...

There are hundreds or even thousands similar stories. The take-out is common and simple. Understand how the things you are using work. And think. Do not let your password out when a stranger offers you a bar of chocolate. Actually one of my recent hack ideas is to leave an USB stick somewhere at the office. The chances somebody will pick it up and plug in are close to 100%. And then you can have a Trojan application there being launched as soon as somebody clicks on it. No operating system on Earth will prevent a user from doing that, only the common sense will save you...