"Treat your password like you treat your toothbrush. Don't let anybody else use it, and get a new one every six months."
- Clifford Stoll
Online protection is never a guarantee. Even high-profile businesses such as Apple, Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn have fallen prey to sophisticated hacking within the past two months. 250,000 passwords were stolen as a result of the Twitter hack. Twitter acted fast and forced the compromised users to change their passwords. Their Twitter accounts have been secured, but these users may still be in danger if they practice password reuse. Having a single password compromised can compromise your entire online identity if you use the same username and password for Gmail, Facebook, Twitter, and online banking. While it is important to have secure passwords that can't be guessed algorithmically, it is even more important to have a unique password for each online account.
http://abcnews.go.com/blogs/technology/2013/02/rising-computer-hack-attacks-prompts-concern/
Thursday, February 21, 2013
Monday, February 11, 2013
Means to an End
"Martha . . . began to see a mechanical rival in my pocket pager. 'How long before you're free from that electronic leash?' . . . The hacker wasn't just breaking into computers. By way of the beeper, he was invading our home" (pp. 170, 245).
- Cliff Stoll in The Cuckoo's Egg (1989)
In The Cuckoo's Egg, Berkeley astronomer Cliff Stoll finds a 75-cent accounting error that he soon attributes to a hacker in his system. Initially thinking the hacker to be a harmless Berkeley student, Stoll sets up a clever (although somewhat ghetto) system he can use to track the hacker without being detected. Cliff's hacker-tracking is discouraged by his boss and his girlfriend, and higher authorities aren't willing to take the case. Despite the opposition, Cliff doggedly pursues the unknown hacker month after month. He spends nights at work, waiting for his tracking system to go off. He puts off work that he is supposed to do to spend time tracking and analyzing the hacker. He eventually rigs his tracking system to call his pager when the hacker connects, thus allowing him to take action no matter where he is, who he is with, or what he is doing. After months of diligence, his work leads to the capture of a group of German spies selling sensitive military data (or so they think) to the Russian KGB. The end is impressive, but does the end justify the means?
Cliff was willing to sacrifice a lot in order to catch these hackers. He was obsessed. Had his boss found out how much work time he was dedicating to tracking the hacker, Cliff could have been fired. Cliff put his girlfriend, Martha, on the back burner whenever his pager notified him that the hacker was connected. He arrived late to the Halloween party that Martha had planned for weeks because the hacker came online as Cliff was about to leave work. He sacrificed important relationships for his obsession, and he had no guarantee that his labors would amount to anything important. He had no idea that the hacker was anyone of consequence. Had the hacker been some punk in high school, Cliff's obsessive persistence would not have been worth what he sacrificed. It so happens that the hackers ended up being international spies. Does that make it worth it?
- Cliff Stoll in The Cuckoo's Egg (1989)
In The Cuckoo's Egg, Berkeley astronomer Cliff Stoll finds a 75-cent accounting error that he soon attributes to a hacker in his system. Initially thinking the hacker to be a harmless Berkeley student, Stoll sets up a clever (although somewhat ghetto) system he can use to track the hacker without being detected. Cliff's hacker-tracking is discouraged by his boss and his girlfriend, and higher authorities aren't willing to take the case. Despite the opposition, Cliff doggedly pursues the unknown hacker month after month. He spends nights at work, waiting for his tracking system to go off. He puts off work that he is supposed to do to spend time tracking and analyzing the hacker. He eventually rigs his tracking system to call his pager when the hacker connects, thus allowing him to take action no matter where he is, who he is with, or what he is doing. After months of diligence, his work leads to the capture of a group of German spies selling sensitive military data (or so they think) to the Russian KGB. The end is impressive, but does the end justify the means?
Cliff was willing to sacrifice a lot in order to catch these hackers. He was obsessed. Had his boss found out how much work time he was dedicating to tracking the hacker, Cliff could have been fired. Cliff put his girlfriend, Martha, on the back burner whenever his pager notified him that the hacker was connected. He arrived late to the Halloween party that Martha had planned for weeks because the hacker came online as Cliff was about to leave work. He sacrificed important relationships for his obsession, and he had no guarantee that his labors would amount to anything important. He had no idea that the hacker was anyone of consequence. Had the hacker been some punk in high school, Cliff's obsessive persistence would not have been worth what he sacrificed. It so happens that the hackers ended up being international spies. Does that make it worth it?
Wednesday, February 6, 2013
Battle of the Sexes
"I want to help middle-school girls stay interested in math and be good at it, and see it as friendly and accessible and not this scary thing. Everyone else in society tells them it's not for them. It's for nerdy white guys with pocket protectors."
- Danica McKellar
Not many women take Computer Science courses. Not here at BYU, at least. In most of the Computer Science courses I've taken, 80-100% of the students have been male. Some blame it on blatant favoritism towards male students. Others say that women don't like the abstract application of mathematics or the peculiar mix of math and creativity. The real reason, however, is the men. Women don't want to be peers and colleagues with geeks that have limited (severely, in some cases) social abilities. Men in Computer Science have tendencies to be geeky, to not work well with people, to not be able to communicate with non-geeks, to not observe principles of basic hygiene, to not keep up with modern trends, and to be unhealthily obsessed with their computers. The very thought of working with these men every day is no doubt repulsive to many women. Women won't start being attracted to Computer Science until the men in Computer Science make themselves more attractive.
- Danica McKellar
Not many women take Computer Science courses. Not here at BYU, at least. In most of the Computer Science courses I've taken, 80-100% of the students have been male. Some blame it on blatant favoritism towards male students. Others say that women don't like the abstract application of mathematics or the peculiar mix of math and creativity. The real reason, however, is the men. Women don't want to be peers and colleagues with geeks that have limited (severely, in some cases) social abilities. Men in Computer Science have tendencies to be geeky, to not work well with people, to not be able to communicate with non-geeks, to not observe principles of basic hygiene, to not keep up with modern trends, and to be unhealthily obsessed with their computers. The very thought of working with these men every day is no doubt repulsive to many women. Women won't start being attracted to Computer Science until the men in Computer Science make themselves more attractive.
Tuesday, February 5, 2013
Bionic Hand
"'Cause everybody wants prosthetic foreheads on their real heads."
- They Might Be Giants, We Want a Rock
David Gow, an engineer based in Scotland, has shared the news of his new and improved bionic hand with the world. Though the hand cannot sense touch or temperature like a real hand can, the bionic hand is shaped like and can move like a real human hand.
This new break-through in technology has already changed lives of amputees. Unfortunately, hope for many amputees is quickly snuffed out as they see the price tag: $60,000 - $100,000. Considering that prosthetic limbs are typically replaced every 3-4 years due to wear and tear, getting a bionic hand is financially impossible for middle- and low-class citizens. Though the bionic hand is an impressive piece of equipment, its potential cannot be met until the technology is simplified so the price can be lowered.
- They Might Be Giants, We Want a Rock
David Gow, an engineer based in Scotland, has shared the news of his new and improved bionic hand with the world. Though the hand cannot sense touch or temperature like a real hand can, the bionic hand is shaped like and can move like a real human hand.
This new break-through in technology has already changed lives of amputees. Unfortunately, hope for many amputees is quickly snuffed out as they see the price tag: $60,000 - $100,000. Considering that prosthetic limbs are typically replaced every 3-4 years due to wear and tear, getting a bionic hand is financially impossible for middle- and low-class citizens. Though the bionic hand is an impressive piece of equipment, its potential cannot be met until the technology is simplified so the price can be lowered.
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