Group items tagged

"The legality of using Firesheep is less wooly when it comes to the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act, which criminalizes accessing computer systems without authorization."

"The legality of using Firesheep is less wooly when it comes to the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act, which criminalizes accessing computer systems without authorization."

Although it doesn't directly deal with online privacy, I thought this was really cool. It is a new form of encryption involving sending a beam of two photons with only one of them acting as a "key." It could very well be the new method of securing privacy.

Interesting that ~35% of 1000 surveyed have upped the strength of their passwords, but only 6% turned on two-factor ID, which was a major cause of the iCloud hacks going undetected for so long.

It seems that two-factor authentication would not have prevented those iCloud hacks (according to this piece: http://www.tuaw.com/2014/09/02/think-iclouds-two-factor-authentication-protects-your-privacy/), but since Apple has now changed the triggers for two-factor to include things like iCloud access, two-factor will be more helpful going forward. So it is a little surprising that more people haven't enabled it.

I'm also reminded of the ACLU's Chris Soghoian's point (https://www.aclu.org/blog/technology-and-liberty/lessons-celebrity-icloud-photo-breach) that one reason people have crappy Apple passwords is that Apple makes you use your password so darn often. I know I get frustrated when I have to enter my (crazy long) Apple password on my iPhone just to download a free app.

This source gives a variety of examples in which encryption is used for security everyday, like ATM machines and DVD players. It seems like this is a pretty useful list because it goes into sufficient enough depth to describing the different examples, and specifically explains how encryption comes into play - without making it too long or hard to understand.

Here's a few lessons Kashmir Hill learned after living on Bitcoin for a week in San Francisco. (I said in class it was New York City. Oops.)

This page is from the University of Texas, and it describes different aspects of cryptography in everyday life. For instance, it explains how cryptography plays a large role in authentication, digital money, and time stamping. I liked this webpage because it had a lot of different examples with clear explanations.

This article on how the CIA is using crowdsourcing to make intelligence more accurate is particularly well written because if its inclusion of a quick attention draw with the reference to the new James Bond movie, good historical background, an inviting writing style that includes rhetorical questions, and interviews with experts that add to the legitimacy of the article. 

Our brains are wired such that we automatically cancel out things that are not changing around us, in a process called adaptation. I really like this article because it not only gives a lot of interesting information about the brain, but it also hooks the reader effectively by providing physical, relatable examples of how our brains tune stuff out. I quickly found myself drawn into the article and interested to learn more.

Britain's code-breakers acknowledged Friday that an encrypted handwritten message from World War II, found on the leg of a long-dead carrier pigeon in a household chimney in southern England, has thwarted all their efforts to decode it since it was sent to them last month.

The US Copyright Office has issued a statement saying that it would only issue copyrights to humans. PETA objects to this, having just filed a suit to grant that macaque monkey the copyright for the selfies it took back in 2011. The struggle is real.

The official website of the Code Talkers. It gives a description of the code used and stories of the remaining Navajos.

"With end-to-end encryption in place, not even WhatsApp's employees can read the data that's sent across its network. In other words, WhatsApp has no way of complying with a court order demanding access to the content of any message, phone call, photo, or video traveling through its service. Like Apple, WhatsApp is, in practice, stonewalling the federal government, but it's doing so on a larger front-one that spans roughly a billion devices."

An in-depth description of Julius Caesar's shift cipher and how it works. Also shows how to use frequency analysis and chi-square values to quickly break the cipher.

Very interesting article that begins with the story of Mary, Queen of Scots, and continues to speak about different techniques of encryption that are harder and harder to break. It also deals with the fact that Mary's messages were being intercepted and the article speaks about secure encryption using photons where you would know if your message was intercepted.

Instead of hiring "upper-class twits from Oxford and Cambridge," A government communications agency tried a new angle on recruiting hackers. They decided to combat hackers with other experienced hackers by posting an online puzzle and offering a job interview to those who solved it.

What really drew me to this article was how interesting the author made the subject sound. They hooked me right away by presenting something we usually consider to be ordinary as extraordinary. Additionally, the authors voice was really present and interesting throughout the whole article which is something that I really need to learn from. Also, once I got to the end I realized how well the article was organized. The title and initial premise wrapped right back up at the end with the experiment with spoons of different metal types. All in all, this article was well written; it was well organized, intriguing, and also concise.

I enjoyed reading this blog comparing medieval hospital foods to current hospitals because of the way the blog was set up with examples of medieval and contemporary hospital moves. The pictures also enhanced the blog.

I thought this post was well written. It was short and concise but was well organized and polished. I also liked that it wasn't too informal. The pseudo-scientific explanations for the malformation were very interesting.

This blog incorporates both researched information and personal anecdote in a well-balanced, entertaining manner. The topic is new information to me, and I would assume most readers, and was presented compellingly. The photo was also a nice addition!

I found this article to be well written and interesting because of the conversational and casual way it was written. The idea that one needs to remove all pronouns from scientific writing is one that is hammered into students from high school science day 1, yet may not be true. This was not written in the way that I was taught to write about science, however, it was both easy to read and informative. The casual writing style of science blogs may influence other writing standards of other areas of science in the future.