Rodney Campbell's Blog

The hack of the year

A Swedish hacker tells how he infiltrated a global communications network used by scores of embassies over the world, using tools freely available on the internet.

Malware Response and Analysis (PDF)

This paper examines the response needed when your computer is infected with malware, the effect of malware programs and how to determine the changes to an operating system.

Loophole in Windows Random Number Generator (pdf)

Apple Fixes ‘Misleading’ Leopard Firewall Settings

Apple has fessed up to at least three serious design weaknesses in the new application-based firewall that ships with Mac OS X Leopard. The acknowledgment comes less than a month after independent researchers threw cold water on Apple’s claim that Leopard’s firewall can block all incoming connections. The firewall patches come 24 hours after a Mac OS X update that provided cover for at least 41 security vulnerabilities.

Did NSA Put a Secret Backdoor in New Encryption Standard?

There are four different approved techniques, called DRBGs, or ‘Deterministic Random Bit Generators’ based on existing cryptographic primitives. One is based on hash functions, one on HMAC, one on block ciphers and one on elliptic curves. The generator based on elliptic curves called Dual_EC_DRBG has been championed by the NSA and contains a weakness that can only be described as a backdoor. A presentation at the CRYPTO 2007 conference showed that there are constants in the standard used to define the algorithm’s elliptic curve that have a relationship with a second, secret set of numbers that can act as a kind of skeleton key. If you know the secret numbers, you can completely break any instantiation of Dual_EC_DRBG.

First Use of RIPA to Demand Encryption Keys

The Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act (RIPA) is being used for the first time to force an animal activist to reveal encryption keys for encrypted files she claims to have no knowledge of. According to the article, she could face up to two years if she doesn’t comply.

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