Digital TV Switch Will Be Messy: FCC Official [Reuters]
FCC Commissioner Robert McDowell believes that next February's transition from analog to digital television will be "messy." McDowell made that comment after returning from a digital transition awareness campaign in Montana, Oklahoma, and Alaska. FCC commissioners are visiting a number of cities with large percentages of over-the-air television viewers - those that will be affected by the digital transition.
According to this article McDowell goes on to request that broadcasters continue their efforts to educate the public about the transition and what they need to do to make sure their television continues to work after February 17, 2009.
It's also important that the FCC continue to make a successful digital transition the focus of its efforts. At this critical time, it's important that we all keep our eye on the ball.
McCain campaign protests YouTube's DMCA policy [CNET News]
John McCain's presidential campaign is protesting YouTube's removal of some campaign videos under copyright infringement concerns raised under the DMCA. Turns out that McCain's campaign was using news clips from various networks that asked that the videos using those clips be taken down. McCain's campaign claims that the use of the clips was "fair use," but the networks say McCain never had permission to use them.
Cybercrime Supersite 'DarkMarket' Was FBI Sting, Documents Confirm [Wired: Threat Level]
The FBI has infiltrated the underworld of criminals trafficking in stolen personal financial data online. According to recently released legal documents, it appears that the FBI constructed an online marketplace for criminals to trade stolen credit cards numbers, bank account information, and the like. The site allowed thieves to sell their stolen information to the highest bidder. All the while, the FBI was logging the IP addresses of the buyers and sellers for criminal prosecution.
Based on this article, it sounds like the FBI's elaborate sting operation should net several arrests. One prominent trafficker in ATM card information has already been arrested in Turkey due to this sting.
WPA password hacking using Elcomsoft’s new tools [Sherman's Security Blog]
There's been some buzz in the blogosphere lately about the possibility that the WPA Wi-Fi security protocol could be hacked. Sherman has posted comments from two experts on the issue, indicating that, yes, given a supercomputer and at least 6 years, a hacker could crack into a WPA protected wireless network using a "brute force" attack - meaning that the hacker repetitively attempts guesses at your WPA pass phrase.
According to Sherman, it's not realistic that most hackers would take on a 6-year hacking project. However, you can add additional protection for your wireless network by lengthening your pass phrase and avoid using dictionary words in your pass phrase.
YouTube Passes Yahoo As #2 Search Engine [Slashdot]
Google now holds the #1 and #2 spots on the list of most used search engines. The latest ComScore rankings show that YouTube searches surpassed Yahoo searches in August for the first time, dropping Yahoo to #3 on the list. Yahoo's total searches dropped 5% from July to August.
According to the rankings, Americans made 11.7 billion web searches during the month of August. Sixty-three percent of those searches were conducted using a Google product, 19.6% searched using Yahoo.
The WPA cracking article is nothing more than an attempt at publicity (which has worked out pretty well for them). This isn't anything that wasn't known from the get go, if you use a weak passphrase or password for anything it's breakable. If you use a really easy to guess password like a dictionary word, it's easily breakable.
That's why it's important to use strong passwords, as it always has been. Include a mix of upper and lower case letters, numbers, and symbols, and make them as long as you can reasonably remember. 8 characters should be considered a minimum, and each additional character makes it exponentially more difficult to break.
Posted by: Chris Buechler | Wednesday, October 15, 2008 at 10:13 PM