Insecurity at the Black Hat Conference
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Within minutes of arriving on Wednesday we were warned not to use the hotel's wireless Internet network or any ATM on premise, and to turn off our BlackBerry. The reason: All could - and most likely were - controlled by one of the hackers in attendance. And in fact, someone stole email and other passwords belonging to journalists Thursday. He cites professor Ian Angell of the London School of Economics, who says security problems are ineluctable and we have to learn to live with them -- until they finally wreak havoc: "[A]s systems become more complex and are asked to work with other more-complex systems, the chances of something unforeseen - and potentially catastrophic - happening increase." The Department of Homeland Security, Worthen says, isn't providing much leadership on security. Instead, it dispenses "vague allusions to unspecified threats," which are all too easy to ignore. |
