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This month
June 2008
Hacking TCP/IP To Support Location Aware Services - O'Reilly Radar
by karlcow
share a rather simple idea for hacking the TCP/IP protocol (specifically IP addresses) to support location-based services; I'm calling it geoIP.
The Usability of Passwords - Baekdal.com
by ghis
& 4 others
Security companies and IT people constantly tells us that we should use complex and difficult passwords. This is bad advice, because you can actually make usable, easy to remember and highly secure passwords. In fact, usable passwords are often far better than complex ones.
So let's dive into the world of passwords, and look at what makes a password secure in practical terms.
Sponsorised links
April 2008
March 2008
Cold Boot Attacks on Encryption Keys - Center for information technology policy
by rike_
Contrary to popular assumption, DRAMs used in most modern computers retain their contents for seconds to minutes after power is lost, even at operating temperatures and even if removed from a motherboard. Although DRAMs become less reliable when they are not refreshed, they are not immediately erased, and their contents persist sufficiently for malicious (or forensic) acquisition of usable full-system memory images. We show that this phenomenon limits the ability of an operating system to protect cryptographic key material from an attacker with physical access. We use cold reboots to mount attacks on popular disk encryption systems — BitLocker, FileVault, dm-crypt, and TrueCrypt — using no special devices or materials. We experimentally characterize the extent and predictability of memory remanence and report that remanence times can be increased dramatically with simple techniques. We offer new algorithms for finding cryptographic keys in memory images and for correcting errors caused by bit decay. Though we discuss several strategies for partially mitigating these risks, we know of no simple remedy that would eliminate them.
