Slack Space Malware Leads to Retrial
Our thanks to numerous news outlets in the US for reporting on the curious case of a convicted murderer who secured a retrial after the stenographer’s backup of his case was nixed due to a computer virus. The fact that the backup of trial records were unavailable only came to light after the 26-year-old appealed his 2009 conviction for shooting a man during a drug deal that apparently went bad. What a nice chap.
When the Florida appeals court judge discovered that almost no records of the trial were available, he then struck out the conviction and ordered a retrial. According to Techworld, the stenographer tasked had “deleted the primary records held on a ‘memory disc’ used in the stenography process before the electronic backup made to a PC was also destroyed after an unspecifi ed malware infection”. How about that for a fail over problem? Cloud backup services anyone?…
App-driven Crowd Control CrowdOptic – a Silicon Valley start-up – has developed a crowd monitoring and control system based on users’ mobile devices. As with all great developments, the technology was discovered by accident while the fi rm was developing an ‘immersive app’ experience for sporting events. The technology sources photo, GPS and sound output from users’ smartphones and intelligently interprets the data to give control room staff a powerful overview of what is happening at an event – spotting any disturbances in real time.
“Go to a concert or sporting event today and every kid has a phone in the air”, says the fi rm’s CEO Jon Fisher. “This is better than security guards”, he explains, adding that in a crowd of 50,000 or 100,000 people, it can mean the difference between a fi stfi ght turning into a melee.
So why would people install the data collating software? Simple – they get premium content for free. In return, the app would also advise them on where to go if things get problematic. Of course, vandals and hooligans may also use the app in the reverse direction, allowing them to pitch into those areas where a scrap is developing. This nuance appears to have escaped the developers, of course…
Marconi’s assistant sent a letter of complaint to The Times newspaper, complaining of “scientifi c hooliganism”. It later transpired that Maskelyne had been hired by the Eastern Telegraph Company, which was “worried that Marconi would stuff up its business”. Could this also have been the fi rst case of cyber espionage?
Cuffed in Job Interview Sting Now here’s an amusing tale about a ‘jobseeker’ who reportedly sent trojans to staff members with the Marriott hotel chain, allowing him access to fi nancially sensitive information. According to The Register, the hacker then tried to blackmail the hotel chain into giving him a job maintaining its IT systems.
Why anyone would think they had a snowball’s chance in hell of getting a job with a fi rm after such antics foxes ol’ Slackey, but the chain invited him for an interview, at which he revealed his modus operandi. He was then arrested, handcuffed, and charged.
First Hacker ID’d in 1903! Our thanks to the New Scientist for reporting on the world’s fi rst hacker – all the way back in 1903 – who apparently discovered a security fl aw in Marconi’s wireless telegraphy system. A stage magician by the name of Nevil Maskelyne generated a series of insults and sent them – wirelessly – in morse code, wrecking a public demonstration of the then new- fangled wireless telegraph. The insults were in the form of a poem that accused Marconi of “diddling the public”, which was transmitted locally, thereby swamping out Marconi’s legitimate transmission.
Mitnick Reveals Lock-picking Kevin Mitnick, the infamous US hacker, has boasted to reporters that he wears a handcuff lock-picking bracelet at all times. Apparently the hacker-turned-consultant is worried that his trips to South America may result in his getting held by dodgy people, necessitating a need to escape from kidnappers. The bracelet includes a neat plastic lock-picking device that works in most situations, and costs around $18.00. Mitnick’s claims are curious, as many kidnap victims in Columbia and Ecuador have reported their wrists were bound with tape and/or rope. Many have also been shot – in the head – while escaping.
This appears to be a publicity stunt. It also makes ol’ Slackey wonder what would happen if the police arrest Mitnick in a South American country…
www.infosecurity-magazine.com /// 53
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