First Blog

Did you know?  Researchers at the University of Michigan* have discovered a new way of hacking, one that you may have never even widely guessed – and how it was done.  What’s that?  Using acoustics, they discovered the tiny device, called a MEMS accelerometer and other motion detectors, can be fooled by sound waves.  These are found in all smartphones, all smart watches, and other technologies.  For example; this little device is used in step counters found everywhere, including the Fitbit.   These apps measure when you take a step by the device response to a physical step. You take a step, and this causes a force felt by the accelerometer, and this is translated into a step. Generally, the new technique is achieved by “acoustic interference.  So, using sound, you can take thousands of (measured) steps without moving a muscle.  Moreover, you can disable and control devices using sound.  Stupid, you say, if not just plain cheating.  However, sound can affect this same device used i

Everyone these days is flying up to the cloud, for storage of files (dropbox, onedrive, etc). for transmission of information, for communication.  Yet, I am suspicious.  When posting information to one of these free or even private clouds, there is an organization behind the service, often a free service.  No service is in business to simply "give" to the client a valuable portal toward information transmission of any kind. Once a file is up there on the cloud, someone has access, someone wants to know what you are doing, someone wishes to mine the information for advantage.  Someone wants to and needs to pay their electric bill.  Information must be exchanged for cash, influence, or other value. There is a consequence of payment, whether it be so benign as to determine products that may be of interest, to understand confidential aspects of your life, your family, your company, or your government. Private servers are subject to hacking. Public servers are the same but wit

A. Waste your time! Lots of it.  Some of my most productive moments have come when I was wasting time. B. Rules of Email. Does someone read your email?  The answer is yes.  For most of us it amounts to an application of data mining by dedicated robots by dedicated servers, but serving whom? 1. Never publish anything on email you don't want the world to see. Never publish to friends or family items you do not wish others to see. 2. Never publish anything that has racist, sexual, or political overtones. 3. Publish only plain commentary such as daily business to family or friends. 4. Publish only political stuff that has no personal connection with your affairs. C. Information corrupts integrity; it justifies inspection; it validates commercial gain; it indemnifies politicians.  Information provides the predictive analytics of our time. D. Suicide terrorists are nothing more than contract killers with an ecclesiastical contract and having an arbitrary target. E. Tax looph

The Two Generals What is so utterly unbelievable about the Generals Petraeus and Allen is their apparent naivety.  Here they are experts at secure communications.  Here they are intelligent and capable military officers.  What could ever overcome them to believe that any communications on the open net is secure and undiscoverable?  These firms actually do a lot of data mining, well beyond most of our comprehension.  (Just use your favorite search engine on any topic.  You will get thousands of hits.  Imagine the computing power this requires.   During the nights when few are hitting on searches, these servers do not rest. )  Anything appearing interesting is flagged. Even I know this. This is why it is good advice never post anything of any salacious, sensitive, or derogatory nature through these messengers.  But if you must... Use a messenger that supports encryption, such as PGP (Pretty Good Privacy), very difficult, no incredibly difficult, to decrypt.  Make certain your mess