Can the NSA Break AES?
In an excellent article in Wired, James Bamford talks about the NSA’s codebreaking capability. According to another top official also involved with the program, the NSA made an enormous breakthrough...
View ArticleThe Economist Debate on Airplane Security
On The Economist website, I am currently debating Kip Hawley on airplane security. On Tuesday we posted our initial statements, and today (London time) we posted our rebuttals. We have one more round...
View ArticleFriday Squid Blogging: Giant Squid Eyes
It seems that the huge eyes of the giant squid are optimized to see sperm whales.
View ArticleRare Spanish Enigma Machine
This is a neat story: A pair of rare Enigma machines used in the Spanish Civil War have been given to the head of GCHQ, Britain’s communications intelligence agency. The machines – only recently...
View ArticleCongressional Testimony on the TSA
I was supposed to testify today about the TSA in front of the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform. I was informally invited a couple of weeks ago, and formally invited last Tuesday: The...
View ArticleThe Effects of Data Breach Litigation
“Empirical Analysis of Data Breach Litigation,” Sasha Romanosky, David Hoffman, and Alessandro Acquisti: Abstract: In recent years, a large number of data breaches have resulted in lawsuits in which...
View ArticleSHARCS Conference
Last weekend was the 2012 SHARCS (Special-Purpose Hardware for Attacking Cryptographic Systems) conference. The presentations are online.
View ArticleHarms of Post-9/11 Airline Security
As I posted previously, I have been debating former TSA Administrator Kip Hawley on the Economist website. I didn’t bother reposting my opening statement and rebuttal, because—even though I thought I...
View ArticleSummer Schools in Cryptography and Software Security at Penn State
Normally I just delete these as spam, but this summer program for graduate students 1) looks interesting, and 2) has some scholarship money available.
View ArticleFriday Squid Blogging: How Squid Hear
Interesting research: The squid use two closely spaced organs called statocysts to sense sound. “I think of a statocyst as an inside-out tennis ball,” explains Dr Mooney. “It’s got hairs on the inside...
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