Category Archives: Security

Plane Crash Poetry

Security and risk managers always talk about plane crashes and the fear we should have about flying. Doing a little searching, I stumbled across a poem by Steve Wilson on The Catholic National Weekly that perhaps raises as many questions as it answers:

…trees. A handbag. Sunglasses.
A crystal vase. An Italian shoe beside

the road. The villagers remember
with calm faces. And of the days to follow,
that burgeoned winter-white, hesitant,
detached—what do they think?

They resign themselves like a scarf
to the will of the chill and ragged air.


5 a.m., outside Bucharest, Romania, 1995

Resign themselves to the will of the air? Touching imagery to mourn the tragic loss of life, but it hardly fits the definition of giant jets using forced air and thousands of gallons of fuel, as well as ultra-light carbon and aluminum construction, to fight the elements and boldly embrace science and challenge the laws of gravity.

Email for the deceased

The Chronicle of Higher Education has reported a new service for those who wish to inform others that they have departed this world. I think they should have used the word “zombie” or “bot” somewhere in the product name:

A professor at the Baylor College of Medicine, in Houston, has started an Internet service that allows users to send e-mail messages from beyond the grave.

[…]

The service, called Deathswitch, works by automatically sending a message to the customer, usually every two weeks, just checking to see if that person is still alive. If no answer is received, the service goes into “worry mode� and starts pestering the person some more. Eventually the customer is declared dead, and the e-mails announcing such are sent.

Gives new meaning to the concept of virtual suicide. On the other hand just imagine how this changes the definition of a denial of service. If someone/something can successfully block your Deathswitch messages, they might be able to have you officially reported as dead. How weird is that? Would people/companies stop talking with you after you erroneously announced your own death? Sounds like a dead-smurf attack. Will a market emerge for resurrection after false death? Rebirthswitch? Oh, the possibilities for abuse and false positives…

US Defense Department Warns of Dangerous Change

Yes, change is now officially under investigation. But seriously, maybe you will think twice now before leaving coins sitting innocently in your car, or jingling in your pocket.

Breaking news from the AP that Canadian money can not be trusted:

Canada’s physically largest coins include its $2 “Toonie,” which is more than 1-inch across and thick enough to hide a tiny transmitter. The CIA has acknowledged its own spies have used hollow, U.S. silver-dollar coins to hide messages and film.

The government’s 29-page report was filled with other espionage warnings. It described unrelated hacker attacks, eavesdropping with miniature pen recorders and the case of a female foreign spy who seduced her American boyfriend to steal his computer passwords.

Er, make that US and Canadian money. And then there’s the related story that the Irish have found traces of cocaine in 100% of their euros while Spain apparently found 94%…

Wonder how much a spy coin costs to make and how many you’d have to give someone to ensure that they didn’t dispose of them all at the first Coffee stop?

UPDATED TO ADD (15 Jan 2007): Many comments on Bruce’s blog, including his, suggest this story is overblown. Even the US Govt is downplaying the story. Fair enough, the details are murky, but as I commented on Bruce’s blog, in theory the coin itself is unlikely to need to do more than ID someone/something in range of a transmitter. Thus someone carrying the coin can be detected entering a room, getting in a car, etc.. and is unlikely to suspect that the coin is the thing giving them away, or triggering a nearby device…

Paul Revere’s Ride Revealed

Interesting bit of history is provided by the National Lancers on what Paul Revere was really up to on his ride:

Contrary to popular belief, Paul Revere did not set out on the night of April 18th, 1775 to alert the countryside to the impending British march. His specific goal was to ride to Lexington to warn two prominent Colonial leaders, Samuel Adams and John Hancock, that their lives might be in danger. Having departed Boston by boat across the Back Bay, and narrowly averting notice by the H.M.S Somerset anchored there; he procured a strong, quick Yankee horse and rode west toward Lexington.

They go on to describe his capture by soldiers and how he told them that people were taking up arms, which led a heavily armed group of British soldiers to search for munitions in Lexington and eventually fire their guns into “fleeing crowds”.

Quite a different tale than you’ll find in the words of Longfellow.