Chuvakin, Tanks versus Tractors →
Via Gartner Research Vice President Anton Chuvakin, Ph.D., comes a superb screed prompted by JeepGate. Today's Must Read.
Seven Lines →
Another nearly perfect example of why signals (radio frequency electromagnetic communications) are a vital component of multilevel security in the environment you either work in, or are exploited by...
In this fascinating project by Columbia University's Intrusion Detection Lab doctoral student Ang Cui, comes a reminder that embedded componentry can be leveraged to leak the blather contained in silicon; and, astoundingly, all it took was seven lines of code. Absolutely Phenomenal.
Read This
And perhaps note what similarities exist between and betwixt this young 2nd LT at the United States Military Academy recently branched to the Cyber Command and your career... Absolutely outstanding. Via The Cyber Defense Review.
Title: 'An Emotional Response to Being One of the First Cadets to Branch Cyber.'
Author: 2LT Daniel Brown
Date: Jun 11, 2015
I have been asked multiple times what my emotions were the night I learned that I would be branching cyber. The night was like any other branch night at West Point with all of the First Class cadets anxiously awaiting their fate as army officers. The only difference with this branch night as opposed to the previous decades of them was the inclusion of the new branch, Cyber, to the list of possibilities. I knew going into this night that there were roughly forty to fifty cadets that were competing for Army Cyber slots. All of us had put in work through a selection process known as the Cyber Leader Development Program in which our talents, experiences and skills were assessed by a mentor. I thought my chances were decent because I had put hours into my application packet and had done everything I had been asked to do. I knew I would branch either Army Signal or Army Cyber. My grandpa had been an officer in the Army Signal Corps so I had a historical connection to Army Signal, but my hope and dream was to branch Army Cyber.
As the night progressed we were finally given our envelopes with our branch inside and the first thing every firstie did was feel the envelope to figure out what branch they had gotten. I can say with complete honesty that I had no idea what mine was. We then waved the envelopes above our heads, as per tradition, and awaited the order to open our branches. When the order came I ripped open the envelope and confirmed my hopes and dreams. I had branched Army Cyber. The moment was surreal and was shared with several of my classmates. Cadet Ames Evans, a fellow cyber cadet, told me that he was ecstatic as well and that it was one of the greatest days of his life. Cadet Braxton Musgrove informed me he was happy, but was not incredibly surprised. This lack of surprise was an emotion that was shared by several cyber cadets who were confident in their abilities. This demonstrates one aspect of branching cyber that differentiates it from the other branches. Not only do cadets have to be sufficient in all three pillars, but even more importantly, prospective cyber soldiers have to possess a certain set of skills that separates them from their peers. To branch cyber means that you are a member of a profession. The hours and time it takes to become proficient in the skills necessary to be an effective cyber officer set cyber soldiers apart. It could be compared to learning several foreign languages, proficiently; learning to think analytically as well as logically work through incredibly complicated problems that utilize everything from cryptographic algorithms to complicated arithmetic equations. I knew that night that I was joining the ranks of such soldiers, and that was what made it one of the greatest nights of my life.
Will The Real McCoy Please Stand Up?
via CEPro's Julie Jacobson, comes the tale of one company, with two long tails... With published plans for only one, that is. Vizio, the well known television manfuacturer seen so often in membership wholesale club stores, is going public, and divulging the true nature of it's business, originally founded in 2002. in Irvine, California.
However, in the documents germaine to that IPO, is a secret, and not one well kept, I might add. In this case, the real business of the company is not, in reality, TV sets, speakers, soundbars and the like, but data mining of it's customer's behaviors through those purchased systems.
'Vizio isn’t really luring investors with promises of really good TVs. That prospect is buried in its plans to deliver customer data, monitoring tools and e-commerce platforms to advertisers and online resellers. The core mission, as stated in Vizio’s filing, reads, “VIZIO’s mission is to deliver the ultimate entertainment experience through our community of connected consumers, advertisers and media content providers.”' - via CEPro's Julie Jacobson
Cringely on Outsourcing →
And, the dire security implication thereof... Today's Must Read.
Risk →
via Robert Graham's well-crafted Errata Security blog, comes this insightful piece on a fundamental lack of expertise in the Information Security racket.
To wit, the inability of information security professionals to quantify risk successfully, and communicate the results to the apropos stakeholders - an activity crucial to providing the fodder necessary to formulate decisions regarding risk avoidance, transfer, mitigation, or acceptance. Something insurance companies have been accomplishing regularly (with a certain level of acceptable success) for centuries....
Samy Kamkar" by Vissago / Dan Tentler
Kamkars' OnStar →
And the slew of vehicle flaws just keep coming... Witness Samy Kamkar's superb research targeting the General Motors Corporation (NYSE: GM) OnStar product as the vector in to a relatively unexplored country. Watch the video, and I'm sure you will arrive at a similar comclusion...
Photo of Samy Kamkar Attrribution: "Samy Kamkar" by Vissago / Dan Tentler - http://www.flickr.com/photos/vissago/4861025347/. Licensed under CC BY 2.0 via Wikimedia Commons - https://commons.wikimedia.org*
La Mort de la vie Privée →
Marc Arment sums-it-up, succintly.
