Abstract: Diffie-Hellman key agreement protocol [21] implementations have been plagued by serious security flaws. The attacks can be very subtle and, more often than not, have not been taken into account by protocol designers. In this summary we discuss both theoretical attacks against the Die-Hellman key agreement protocol and attacks based on implementation details . It is hoped that computer security practitioners will obtain enough information to build and design secure and ecient versions of this classic key agreement protocol.

paper: Security Issues in the Diffie-Hellman Key Agreement Protocol

A drug created by the former KGB to keep its agents sober so that they could drink opponents under the table before stealing their secrets is being sold on the internet to Hollywood stars as a defence against hangovers.

anti-hangover pill

Gremlin wrote:
] The phaomnneil pweor of the hmuan mnid.
]
] Aoccdrnig to a rscheearch at Cmabrigde Uinervtisy, it
] deosn't mttaer in waht oredr the ltteers in a wrod
] are, the olny iprmoetnt tihng is taht the frist and
] lsat ltteer be at the rghit pclae. The rset can be a
] total mses and you can sitll raed it wouthit porbelm.
] Tihs is bcuseae the huamn mnid deos not raed ervey
] lteter by istlef, but the wrod as a wlohe.
]
] Fcuknig amzanig, huh?

Ian Grigg pointed out on the cryptography list that this inner transposition technique could be used as a simple steganographic channel:
http://www.mail-archive.com/cryptography@metzdowd.com/msg00853.html

The suggestion was shortly followed by the following post from Peter Wayner:

Changing around the order of a list of items is a pretty cool way to hide information. You can hide about log_2(n!) bits of information in a list of n items. In the case of words, you can move around the inner letters as long as there are no duplicates.

If you want to experiment with the basic technique, check out this web page with an applet I wrote.

http://www.wayner.org/books/discrypt2/sorted.php

RE: naet ltilte ticrk!

For those interested, NGSS has just published a paper describing how to defeat the mechanism built into Windows 2003 Server to prevent exploitation of stack based buffer overflow vulnerabilities. previous work done in this area presented methods that only worked in highly specific scenarios - the new methods presented in this paper are generic. The paper can be downloaded from http://www.nextgenss.com/papers/defeating-w2k3-stack-protection.pdf .

Cheers,
David Litchfield
NGSSoftware Ltd

paper: Windows 2003 Server - Defeating the stack protection mechanism

Abstract
This paper considers the problem of using wireless LAN location-sensing for security applications. Recently, Bayesian methods have been successfully used to determine location from wireless LAN signals, but such methods have the drawback that a model must first be built from training data. The introduction of model error can drastically reduce the robustness of the location estimates and such errors can be actively induced by malicious users intent on hiding their location. This paper provides a technique for increasing robustness in the face of model error and experimentally validates this technique by testing against unmodeled hardware, modulation of power levels, and the placement of devices outside the trained workspace. Our results have interesting ramifications for location privacy in wireless networks.

paper: Wireless LAN Location-Sensing for Security Applications

It's a discovery that could require a complete rethink of how life on Earth began, and how likely life is on other planets. The current consensus is that over millions of years, simple molecules must have formed amino acids, then primitive proteins, before finally forming an organised cell structure. However, physicists recreating the atmosphere of the early Earth have produced blobs of gaseous plasma that fulfil the four criteria used to define living cells: possession of a distinct boundary layer and the ability to replicate, communicate and grow. What's more, such cell-like self-organisation can occur in a few microseconds...

Plasma blobs hint at new form of life