tags/security

James Davidson: The Copiale Cipher

Sat, 12 Nov 2011 09:24:00 -0800

The Copiale Cipher used by an 18th century secret society has been deciphered.

Decrypting secret codes has to appeal to the kid in all of us.

James Davidson: Two Centuries On, a Cryptologist Cracks a Presidential Code

Mon, 06 Jul 2009 10:27:00 -0700

Another neat story about an encrypted message sent to the President of the USA in 1801. I find this kind of story fascinating.

James Davidson: How to turn your neighbours off using your WiFi

Tue, 06 Feb 2007 00:00:00 -0800

Even though this is not really a security issue, be aware that if you leech WiFi access from somebody, the access point owner can control the data stream you get (and send!).

Upside-Down-Ternet is a funny example of what one guy did to his leeching neighbours.

James Davidson: Cracking WEP

Wed, 28 Jun 2006 10:34:00 -0700

If you still are under the illusion that WEP is a safe way to secure your wireless access point, think again. Read how the FBI demonstrated cracking WEP in 3 minutes.

James Davidson: Cracking a 137 year old Confederate Code

Mon, 15 May 2006 00:00:00 -0700

Every kid goes through a stage where secret codes and invisible ink are exciting. Eventually though, you find that what you need to say to your buddies is not really top secret and the effort to encode your "Let's go play hockey" message is impractical.

I still find cryptography interesting and the article How I Broke The Confederate Code (137 Years Too Late) is very cool.

James Davidson: Using chkrootkit properly

Wed, 10 May 2006 00:00:00 -0700

When a computer is compromised one of the first things the intruder does is install a root-kit. The article How to scan your Linux-Distro for Root Kits is an excellent step-by-step HOWTO to detect if your systems have been kitted.

James Davidson: Setting SSH key Authentication

Fri, 21 Apr 2006 16:12:00 -0700

Just came across, Five-Minutes to a More Secure SSH. Covers the steps to setup SSH to use key-based authentication instead of using traditional passwords.