Category Archives: Security

Hacking Logs

A story in The Register about Brazilian hackers, pointed out in Bruce’s blog, brings new meaning to log management:

Some Brazilian states used a computerised allocation system to levy how much timber can be logged in each area. However, logging firms attempted to subvert these controls by hiring hackers to break systems and increase the companies’ allocations.

Greenpeace reckons these types of computer swindles were responsible for the excess export of 1.7 million cubic metres of timber (or enough for 780 Olympic-sized swimming pools, as the group helpfully points out) before police broke up the scam last year. Brazilian authorities are suing logging firms for 2 billion reais (US$833m).

And now the Brazilian states will need to install new controls from logging companies to keep track of the logging companies. Ha ha.

Whistler Gondola Accident

An old Excaliber Gondola tower collapsed at Whistler today:

At least a dozen passengers are trapped inside two gondolas after a tower partially collapsed at Canada’s Whistler ski resort on Tuesday.

Police said there were no serious injuries, but the passengers are stranded as emergency officials work out a plan to evacuate them from the gondolas on the Excalibur lift.

I wonder if anyone will get a discount or refund on lift tickets. This is not the new Peak-to-Peak, but it is an important lift and must give people the jitters. It also may shutdown access to key parts of the mountain while other lifts are inspected.

The Leader Post has images of the tower that failed. It looks like it snapped in half, leaving one of the gondolas hanging just six feet off the ground. Another gondola is suspended over a creek.

Victoria’s Secret GLBA influence

EPIC has posted some insights into the history of the US Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act and why privacy protections for personal information succeeded despite opposition from the banking industry:

Critical support for the Markey Amendment came from Representative Joe Barton (R-TX). Barton expressed concern that his credit union had sold his address to Victoria’s Secret. Representative Barton noted that he started receiving Victoria’s Secret catalogs at his Washington home. This was troubling—he didn’t want his wife thinking that he bought lingerie for women in Washington, or that he spent his time browsing through such material.

Barton explained that he maintained an account in Washington for incidental expenses, but used it very little. Neither he nor his wife had purchased anything from Victoria’s Secret at the Washington address. Barton smelled a skunk; he reasoned that since he spent so little money in Washington, his credit union was the only business with his address. Barton believed that he should be able to stop financial institutions from selling personal information to third parties, and supported the Markey Amendment. Congress enacted the bill, and now individuals have the right to direct financial institutions not to sell personal information to third parties.

I guess we can say thank you to Victoria’s Secret for putting fear into the heart of the American congress. Financial loss did not seem to bother them, guns and ammo magazines probably never even raised an eyebrow, but one lingerie catalog to a representative from Texas and the bi-partisan privacy advocacy movement was set in motion. Note that Markey was considered a liberal of Massachusetts while Barton was a conservative Texan.

We Can Breathe in Space

by Enter Shikari

And what comes next
A chance to save ourselves

Imagine magma encrusted in rock
And on the surface of this world
All eyes are on the clock
All our empires, our philosophies
Our practiced faiths
Our revolutions
Our proud sciences
Are all but a flickering
One day in the lives of the stars

We can breathe in space
They just don’t want us to escape
We can breathe in space
They just don’t want us to escape

And what comes next
The constellations, yes, all 88 of them
A chance to save ourselves
Like the G8, they meet to procrastinate

Greetings,
We are an infant species
Crawling into our own premature decline
The north star is chairing the meeting
He knows we’re spoiled
And he’s snickering at our histories

We can breathe in space
They just don’t want us to escape
We can breathe in space
They just don’t want us to escape

The hollow proposals mean we’ll migrate
But they’ll bleed us dry
until the 11th hour
And when dawn breaks I’ll sit and stagnate
With this metric tonne on your shoulders

How do you cope,
We are an infant species
Crawling into our own premature decline
The north star is chairing the meeting
He knows we’re spoiled
And he’s snickering at our histories

Let’s prove the stars wrong
We’ve got to do this

I find it hard to believe that we are alone

Hardcore trance awesomeness!