] The origin of the video was traced to Silicon Valley Land
] Surveying Incorporated, a California land surveying and
] mapping company, said Spiegel online, the internet
] service for the respected German weekly.
]
] The magazine said that according to its research the move
] was the first time al-Qaeda had "hijacked" a website to
] broadcast its propaganda.
]
] The network usually spreads its message through Islamist
] sites but this time, Spiegel maintains, hackers created a
] special file at the company's web address at least an
] hour before global news agencies broke word of the video.

First report of Al'Q hackers

Hackers spread hostage video

] NANOG actively works to produce sessions and seminars to
] help foster security on the Internet. All sessions are
] taped and converted to streaming media for all to use for
] their personal education. Slides are available for each
] session as well. Over time, this effort has generated a
] valuable online tutorial for engineers and others seeking
] to learn more about running a more secure network.

Wow. Nanog has developed an awesome collection of security presentations for previous conference.

NANOG Security Curriculum

] Caffrey claimed the evidence against him was planted on
] his machine by attackers who used an unspecified Trojan
] to gain control of his PC and launch the assault.
]
] Neil Barrett, an expert witness for the prosecution, said
] that Caffrey's machine showed no trace of the tell-tale
] signs that would be left by such an attack but today's
] verdict, shows that this did not persuade the jury.

This is actually the right decision, but I'll bet it will send the computer forensics industry for a loop. Computer log file "evidence" cannot be trusted. You need something else. There is always reasonable doubt that the computer records have been tampered with. There are no "telltale" signs.

The Register - Jury says computer records not enough to convict

] Microsoft promised to improve the way in which Windows
] manages computer memory to protect users against commonly
] exploited software flaws known as buffer overruns, which
] can trick Windows into accepting dangerous commands. Some
] of the most damaging attacks in recent months fall under
] this category.

MS deploys non-executable stack patch. (What year is it?)

CNN.com - Microsoft plans Windows overhaul to fight hackers - Oct. 16, 2003

] The primary intended use for this is to allow
] identifiable participants in the domain name system to
] vote on matters that affect the whole domain name system
] in an easy (and easily-verifiable) fashion. The method
] for voting is specifying a string in the whois data for a
] domain name.

This sounds like a good idea. I need to think about it more. Something tells me that this doesn't necessary put the power in a better place.. I need to think about the math in play. Wouldn't this just mean that the lion-share of the voice just goes to domain speculators?

A Voting System for Internet by Domain Name Owners - Part I

] SunnComm Technologies Inc. (OTC: STEH), a leader in
] digital content security and enhancement for optical
] media, announced today that it intends to take legal
] action against the writer of a critical report titled:
] "Analysis of the MediaMax CD3 Copy-Prevention System."

CD 'shift-key' Hackers Sued

] Should we blame the teenager? Sure, we can point the
] finger at him and say, 'Bad boy!' and slap him for it. Will that
] actually fix anything? No. The next geeky kid frustrated about not
] getting a date on Saturday night will come along and do the same thing
] without really understanding the consequences. So either we should make
] it a law that all geeks have dates -- I'd have supported such a law when I
] was a teenager -- or the blame is really on the companies who sell and
] install the systems that are quite that fragile."

Linus is in a position to say things directly that some of us cannot be trusted to say objectively.

[IP] Torvalds: geeky kids need dates [risks] Risks Digest 22.92

] A lovesick hacker brought chaos to America's busiest
] seaport after launching a computer attack on an internet
] chatroom user who had made anti-American comments,
] a court heard yesterday.

] "The defendant's girlfriend was an American called
] Jessica. The defendant was deeply in love with her - in
] fact somewhat obsessed with her. He named his computer
] after her and he dedicated parts of the attack script to
] her rather like the way some adolescents draw graffiti
] on walls with 'I love so-and-so'. This defendant managed
] to weave into the script a sentence about his girlfriend
] Jessica."

Guardian Unlimited | Online | Hacker attack left port in chaos

] A computer security expert who contributed to a paper
] deeply critical of Microsoft has been dismissed by his employer,
] a consulting company that works closely with the software giant.

[Politech] Dan Geer loses CTO job at AtStake after criticizing Microsoft

] A wealthy businessman helping the Ohio Republican Party
] try to win the state in 2004 for President Bush also is
] the head of a company competing for a state contract to
] sell voting machines.
]
] Walden O'Dell, chief executive of Diebold Inc., told
] Republicans in an Aug. 14 fund-raising letter that he is
] ``committed to helping Ohio deliver its electoral votes
] to the president next year.''

Watch the bouncing ball here. The mainstream press has widely discredited the security analysis of the Diebold's machines because the person that performed it is on the board at a competing company. On the other hand, there is hardly a peep about this. There are 9 links on google news from 6 outlets, 4 small local news stations, and two leftist journals.

Want undeniable proof of press culpability, compare a google news search for "Walden O'Dell" with "Avi Rubin votehere" Not all of the Avi Rubin stories are critical, but we're talking about 63 to 9 here. Furthermore, consider the impact that the blaster worm stories have had on the American mindset. We may not say "this kid created the blaster worm" but we build that association in your head anyway.

The AJC: "Furor over the report was partly defused when the lead researcher acknowledged this week that he failed to disclose that he had stock options in VoteHere, a company that competes with Diebold in the voting-software market, and was a member of VoteHere's technical advisory board."

From ABC: Diebold officials said they were "shocked and disappointed" by Rubin's admissions.

"Diebold Election Systems has consistently questioned the conclusions drawn by the Johns Hopkins-issued report," the company said in a statement. "It is now clear, by Mr. Rubin's own admission, that questions of bias must be considered."

Diebold appears to have conflict