Shostack + Friends Blog Archive

 

New Cyber Security Bill: Crowdsource Analysis?

A lot of people I trust are suggesting that the “Collins-Lieberman” bill has a substantial chance of passing. I have some really interesting (and time-consuming) work tasks right now, and so I’m even more curious than usual what you all think, especially how this According to the press release, the “Collins-Lieberman” bill would: The Department […]

 

Representative Bono-Mack on the Sony Hack

There’s a very interesting discussion on C-SPAN about the consumer’s right to know about breaches and how the individual is best positioned to decide how to react. “Representative Bono Mack Gives Details on Proposed Data Theft Bill.” I’m glad to see how the debate is maturing, and how no one bothered with some of the […]

 

'Experts' misfire in trying to shoot down Charney's 'Internet Security Tax' idea

Industry ‘experts’ misfired when they criticized Microsoft’s Scott Chareney’s “Internet Security Tax” idea. Q: How many of these ‘experts’ know any thing about information economics and public policy responses to negative externalities? A: Zero. Thus, they aren’t really qualified to comment. This is just one small case in the on-going public policy discussions regarding economics of information security, but given the reaction of the ‘experts’, this was a step backward.

 

Green Dam

Update 26 June 2009: The status of Green Dam’s optionality is still up in the air.  See, for example, this news story on PC makers’ efforts to comply, which points out that Under the order, which was given to manufacturers in May and publicly released in early June, producers are required to pre-install Green Dam […]

 

Statistics Police?!

From Gelman’s blog: U.K. Sheriff Cites Officials for Serious Statistical Violations I don’t know if we need an “office” of information assurance in the government sector, but it would be nice to have some penalty on the books for folks who abuse basic common sense statistical principles. Of course, the *real* answer lies in education […]

 

The Eyes of Texas Are on Baseboard Management Controllers? WHAT??!!!

OR TEXAS HB1830S IS SWINEFLU LEGISLATION, IT’S BEEN INFECTED BY PORK! **UPDATE:  It looks like the “vendor language” around Section Six has been struck! Given Bejtlich’s recent promises, I thought we’d take a quick but pragmatic look at why risk assessments, even dumb, back-of-the-envelope assessments, might just be a beneficial thing. As you probably know, […]