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Tax Return Identity Theft
From Schneier on Security

Tax Return Identity Theft

I wrote about this sort of thing in 2006 in the UK, but it's even bigger business here: The criminals, some of them former drug dealers, outwit the Internal Revenue...

Bar Code Switching
From Schneier on Security

Bar Code Switching

A particularly clever form of retail theft -- especially when salesclerks are working fast and don't know the products -- is to switch bar codes. This particular...

The Psychology of Immoral (and Illegal) Behavior
From Schneier on Security

The Psychology of Immoral (and Illegal) Behavior

When I talk about Liars and Outliers to security audiences, one of the things I stress is our traditional security focus -- on technical countermeasures -- is much...

The Problem of False Alarms
From Schneier on Security

The Problem of False Alarms

The context is tornado warnings: The basic problem, Smith says, it that sirens are sounded too often in most places. Sometimes they sound in an entire county for...

Backdoor Found in Chinese-Made Military Silicon Chips
From Schneier on Security

Backdoor Found in Chinese-Made Military Silicon Chips

We all knew this was possible, but researchers have found the exploit in the wild: Claims were made by the intelligence agencies around the world, from MI5, NSA...

Interview with a Safecracker
From Schneier on Security

Interview with a Safecracker

The legal kind. It's interesting: Q: How realistic are movies that show people breaking into vaults? A: Not very! In the movies it takes five minutes of razzle...

My Last Post About Ethnic Profiling at Airports
From Schneier on Security

My Last Post About Ethnic Profiling at Airports

Remember my rebuttal of Sam Harris's essay advocating the profiling of Muslims at airports? That wasn't the end of it. Harris and I conducted a back-and-forth...

Friday Squid Blogging: Squid Ink from the Jurassic
From Schneier on Security

Friday Squid Blogging: Squid Ink from the Jurassic

Seems that squid ink hasn't changed much in 160 million years. From this, researchers argue that the security mechanism of spraying ink into the water and escaping...

The Explosive from the Latest Foiled Al Qaeda Underwear Bomb Plot
From Schneier on Security

The Explosive from the Latest Foiled Al Qaeda Underwear Bomb Plot

Interesting: Although the plot was disrupted before a particular airline was targeted and tickets were purchased, al Qaeda's continued attempts to attack the U...

The Ubiquity of Cyber-Fears
From Schneier on Security

The Ubiquity of Cyber-Fears

A new study concludes that more people are worried about cyber threats than terrorism. ...the three highest priorities for Americans when it comes to security...

The Banality of Surveillance Photos
From Schneier on Security

The Banality of Surveillance Photos

Interesting essay on a trove on surveillance photos from Cold War-era Prague. Cops, even secret cops, are for the most part ordinary people. Working stiffs concerned...

Lessons in Trust from Web Hoaxes
From Schneier on Security

Lessons in Trust from Web Hoaxes

Interesting discussion of trust in this article on web hoaxes. Kelly's students, like all good con artists, built their stories out of small, compelling details...

Privacy Concerns Around "Social Reading"
From Schneier on Security

Privacy Concerns Around "Social Reading"

Interesting paper: "The Perils of Social Reading," by Neil M. Richards, from the Georgetown Law Journal. Abstract: Our law currently treats records of our reading...

Racism as a Vestigal Remnant of a Security Mechanism
From Schneier on Security

Racism as a Vestigal Remnant of a Security Mechanism

"Roots of Racism," by Elizabeth Culotta in Science: Our attitudes toward outgroups are part of a threat-detection system that allows us to rapidly determine friend...

Security Incentives and Advertising Fraud
From Schneier on Security

Security Incentives and Advertising Fraud

Details are in the article, but here's the general idea: Let's follow the flow of the users: Scammer buys user traffic from PornoXo.com and sends it to HQTubeVideos...

Portrait of a Counterfeiter
From Schneier on Security

Portrait of a Counterfeiter

Interesting article from Wired.

Friday Squid Blogging: Squid Scalp Massager
From Schneier on Security

Friday Squid Blogging: Squid Scalp Massager

Cheap! As usual, you can also use this squid post to talk about the security stories in the news that I haven't covered.

Kip Hawley Reviews <i>Liars and Outliers</i>
From Schneier on Security

Kip Hawley Reviews Liars and Outliers

In his blog: I think the most important security issues going forward center around identity and trust. Before knowing I would soon encounter Bruce again in the...

Cybersecurity at the Doctor's Office
From Schneier on Security

Cybersecurity at the Doctor's Office

I like this essay because it nicely illustrates the security mindset.

<i>Rules for Radicals</i>
From Schneier on Security

Rules for Radicals

It was written in 1971, but this still seems like a cool book: For an elementary illustration of tactics, take parts of your face as the point of reference; your...
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