Second Life musings…
May 13, 2006
I'm long overdue in posting about SecondLife. Perhaps, it is because I've been too busy exploring it and writing about the implications of persistent virtual worlds in a paper I've been working on. From my perspective as a persistent, if not presient, technologist....SecondLife changes everything. It is a virtual world inhabited by several hundred thousand people with its own economy and its own emerging culture. I've got lots of ideas about how virtual worlds like this will be used in the future. Most of the ideas are exciting, but a few of them our outright scary. Within the next few months, SecondLife will also have the ability to render html code within the game, so some of those ideas I have for 3D virtual reference libraries…
Irhabi007’s silence on the net explained
March 26, 2006
Several months ago, stories on the AQ 007 where everywhere. Now we have an update from the Washington Post.
GroupIntel Blog rolling
March 10, 2006
Doogie Howser jokes, Bruce Schneier takedowns...all in the context of national security and intelligence issues. The GroupIntel Blog is rolling. If you haven't checked it out recently, it is worth a look.
What’s old is new again…
February 9, 2006
A few new interesting details regarding a thwarted attack against a target in L.A.
A partial RIM shutdown is NOT the answer
February 2, 2006
I'll admit to being pretty frustrated over all the discussion about how the government should be excluded from a shutdown of Blackberry service in the United States. Partial infrastructure shutdowns are not the answer. If a shutdown is ordered, it should be for all RIM customers with no exclusions. By excluding the government, we are giving the courts a biased leverage that provides an escape clause from rulings that could directly impact them or the federal government. What next, shut down all power in DC, but the power going to federal buildings. If an infrastructure provides an essential service, it is unrealistic to say that it is only essential to the federal government or that you can reasonably segment non-essestial users from…
Impressed with Newsvine
January 30, 2006
It is in closed beta right now, but I have to admit that I am overly impressed with Newsvine. It has a lot of buzz in the tech circles and it appears to be warranted. For those in the beta, my promoted stories can be found at terrorism.newsvine.com. If you aren't in the beta and are interested (and I know you), send me an email.
Experts: Countries make dangerous cyber adversaries
January 27, 2006
And a not so decent write-up or our BlackHat Federal presentation. A few misconceptions that don't track with the point we were trying to get across. However, this quote says a lot about the problem space. I hope that this attracts some attention and gets Tom Parker some support for the models he is working on. “The inability to characterize is a vulnerability, and the ability to characterize is a deterrent,” because if you can characterize a threat, you can attribute it to an attacker, Devost said.
Know your enemy
January 26, 2006
A decent write-up from my BlackHat presentation. “Obviously, nation-states have greater capacity to finance attacks,” Devost said. “We need to ask ourselves, ‘Who are the threats,’ because they all look the same in the exploit.” Effective risk management requires greater granularity in identifying our attackers, their motives and their capabilities, Devost said.
Black Hat Federal
January 2, 2006
I'll be speaking at Black Hat Federal on January 23-26, 2006. If you are going to be in town for the event, let me know. Conference site.
It is going to be a bad week for Windows security
January 2, 2006
The flaw, which allows hackers to infect computers using programs maliciously inserted into seemingly innocuous image files, was first discovered last week. But the potential for damaging attacks increased dramatically at the weekend after a group of computer hackers published the source code they used to exploit it. Unlike most attacks, which require victims to download or execute a suspect file, the new vulnerability makes it possible for users to infect their computers with spyware or a virus simply by viewing a web page, e-mail or instant message that contains a contaminated image. FT.com / By industry / IT - Windows PCs face ‘huge’ virus threat
Countering the anti-spam Extremists
December 28, 2005
Richard M. Scoville, editor of a site called the Free Speech Store, is suing the operators of the Abusive Hosts Block List (AHBL) for $3.525 million. On December 17, Scoville got a Texas county court to issue a temporary restraining order, forcing the AHBL to remove his site's IP address (71.40.8.100 - Road Runner Commercial) from its anti-spam blocklist until the case is litigated. Spam Kings Blog: Site claims $3.5M damages from spam blacklist I am glad someone has the time to do this, even if it isn't the strongest case. At TRC we had a similar incident at TRC last year where we got listed in a blacklist and it had a significant impact on business operations. Our "spam" crime that got us listed was being on the same subnet as a suspected…
First post with WordPress
December 18, 2005
I am now using WordPress to post this entry. Thanks again to Eric for the help in setting this up. Update: You may notice a few issues, missing images, etc. as the site migrates over and I cancel TypePad.
Even bigger changes…
December 17, 2005
I decided to become a Typepad customer after hearing about it from Joi Ito. At the time I was running Moveable Type on a server that I own and wanted a highly reliable, user friendly alternative and I was willing to pay for it. I moved my personal blog to Typepad and also established a blog for a graduate level course I teach at Georgetown. All was good....until Typepad started falling apart at the seams. First it was sluggish performance, which indicated to me that they didn't have the processing power to back up their installed customer-base. Then it was mismanagement of upgrades that took all my blogs down for extended periods. There is a certain amount I am willing to attribute to growing pains, but…
Time for a change…
December 11, 2005
While I love Typepad, I've found that having my primary URL be a blogging site to be a bit of a hassle. Within the next two weeks, I will be moving www.devost.net to a primary server that I own and then use blog.devost.net as a link to this content. In addition, we'll be starting a family blog that is separate from this site for hosting photos, etc. Please bear with me during the transition phase and keep an eye on this site and www.devost.net for some big changes. Thanks!
Whoa….
November 15, 2005
Watching CNBC coverage of Senate hearings this afternoon, I heard Senator Bennett say the following: "If I were someone who wished this country ill, I would be more anxious to find a way to hack into the computer system and shut down the Fedwire, than I would to try to find a way to get a suitcase nuclear device into lower Manhattan, because the damage to the economy of shutting down the Fedwire would be greater than the damage by a nuclear explosion from a suitcase bomb virtually anywhere, whether it was lower Manhattan or Pennsylvania Avenue or whatever it might be. I hope in your stewardship as the chairman of the Fed you pay attention to cyberterrorism and the vulnerability that we have to those who might break in, hack in."…
Thank you Mr. Baker
November 12, 2005
"It's very important to remember that it's your intellectual property -- it's not your computer. And in the pursuit of protection of intellectual property, it's important not to defeat or undermine the security measures that people need to adopt in these days"Full Story