Archive for Security
Gunwharf Quays Tracks Shopper’s Habits
Interesting articles here and here about how Gunwharf Quays – in Portsmouth – uses customer’s mobile phone signals to monitor their progress into and out of their shops, for market research purposes. I’m bringing it up because it’s a local story, and it makes you think twice about your privacy.
I’m not really fussed about the owners of Gunwharf Quays knowing which of their shops I visit, for how long, and in what order. But since they’re taking the info without asking, it puts me in mind to be difficult. 
So next time I’m there, I think I might turn my phone off and on a few times to reset the ID signal. If you read this and feel as I do, then it might be worth thinking about doing the same. 
Railgun News
Not about mine this time, but a new version planned by the US Navy. It’s generally been “known” that certain navies have been thinking about ship mounted rail cannons for a good few years now, but it nice to finally see some action on this front. Not a lot of point in me repeating this story, when you can read about it here.
Well We Thought It Was A Good Idea…
Thursday bought news of a sorry story from America about a student who was expelled for making a map for the FPS ‘Counter-Strike’ based on his school. I’m sure you’ll agree that this is pretty retarded (as the majority of the commentators on the OP do) – when we were at Bay House we theorised about and designed a map for Half-Life (ironically using the same engine as CS) based on our school. It was only a lack of skill with the map editor that prevented this dream from becoming a reality.
So should we have been expelled for this thought crime? As we racked-up a grand fatality total of 0.0000000 between us, I’d say there probably wouldn’t have been any point, it’s just a good job we weren’t born across the pond. This rant isn’t really going anywhere to be honest, I just thought you’d all like to share in my annoyance.
Does This Remind Anyone Else Of ‘Desert Strike’?
How nails is this? This is so impressive that if I jabber on about it here, the story itself will become sullied and less cool. Therefore, I shall let it speak for itself.
EDIT: Just to clarify, I think the bravery and heroism exhibited in the rescue attempt was cool, not the fact that someone lost their life.
Battlesuit Type Thing…
Remember that guy who invented the cool bear-proof suit under the codename “Project Grizzly”? Well he’s back, only this time the suit is bullet-proof and he’s called it the “Trojan”. Well you would, wouldn’t you? Thought I should mention it as it’ll probably be of interest to some of my regular readers.
China in ‘Anti-Satellite Laser’ Shocker!
An interesting story from the Reuters news agency. When I first heard about this I imagined the spy satellite being blown out of the sky by a huge Chinese laser cannon. Sadly (from a hi-tech weapon POV) this was not the case – the craft in question was only temporarily blinded, suffering no permanent damage. Indeed the US remains unsure whether the Chinese were actually testing a new weapons system, or if it was actually a laser-based tracking device. Despite this, the article still makes interesting reading.
Lead-Free Bullets…
…to replace the more traditional type, as these “can harm the environment and pose a risk to people”. The mind boggles.
You’ll Laugh, Then Cry…
A very good point was raised on the letters pages of The Register, regarding the recent ‘terror alerts’.
“As news leaks (pardon the pun) that some kind of ‘binary liquid explosive’ was involved, airport staff can be found pouring all of the confiscated drinks together into a big bin. Either they know there’s nothing to be found (in which case can we please end the charade), or they presumably don’t understand what a binary explosive is. Hope they aren’t putting the electronic key fobs in there too.”
When I first saw this I laughed, and then silently wept for this country.
On Internet Safety…
Today my Mum forwarded me an e-mail that a work colleage had sent her, warning of a ‘phishing’ scam. However the scam was so blatantly…well…a scam (enter your credit card details here so we can protect your card against internet fraud) that I wept tears of blood at the thought of anyone being clueless enough to fall for this. Although I’d say my Mum does have a reasonable appreciation of the inherent dangers of the internet, I decided to compose a ’6 Top Tips’ guide to internet safety for her to share with the people at work. I thought I should put it here as well, just in case it’s helpful for anyone else. Comments containing any additional ‘Top Tips’ that I’ve not covered are, of course, welcome.
—
Remember “Chris’ 6 Top Tips” for internet survival and you’ll be fine:
1. Banks, credit card companies, etc, will NEVER, EVER ask for your passwords, PIN numbers or details by e-mail. Ever. No exceptions. It’s as simple as that.
2. If you get an e-mail from someone you don’t know (or don’t trust) that contains a link or an attachment, DO NOT OPEN IT. Full stop.
3. If you get an e-mail with an attached document that you think may be legitimate, but you’re not sure, get someone who is “in the know” about computers to check it out. This does NOT mean the guy in your office who spurts crap about computers all day long; there’s always one and as a rule he will know NOTHING. Forward the e-mail to your IT department, they will help you.
4. Remember “Occam’s razor”, if you’re sent an e-mail offering you something and it seems too good to be true, then it probably is. Almost without exception, everyone you meet on-line is an utter b*****d, and no-one wants to give you anything for free. Deal with it.
5. Do not take spam e-mails personally. They are NOT from a living person, addressed directly to you. They are sent out to long, long, long lists of people all at the same time by an automated computer process. DO NOT reply to hurl abuse, to say “please take me off you list”, to say “no thank you” or any crap like that. All this will do is let the computer’s operator know that someone (i.e. you) checks that e-mail address, and that it is a great place to send EVEN MORE spam, as someone will read it.
6. As a final safeguard, if you are ever asked to do something over the internet, or offered something by e-mail, or similar, then think the following: “If someone came to my front door and said this, would I do it?”
If the answer is no, then what makes you think it will be a good idea to do it on-line? Example:
*Ding-Dong*
YOU (opening front door): “Hello?”
STRANGER: “Hello sir/madam, I’m from your bank. We seem to have lost you account detaills. Could you tell me what they are please so we can correct our records?”
Which is the correct answer?
a) YOU: “Certainly, I’ll just get them for you now.” OR
b) YOU (slamming door): “Get lost kid.”
If you answered a) then you are too stupid to own a computer anyway, disassemble it and take it back to the nice people at the shop. They will happily swap it for Lego.
If you answered b) then you have passed the test and now stand at least a small chance of using the internet safely without losing your life savings to some Nigerian con-artist.
The ‘Current Climate’…
We had an interesting encounter with the police yesterday…
My friend Sven has recently purchased a nice new digital camera, as he wants to get into photography as a hobby. He got the full works; extra lenses, filters, batteries, etc. Yesterday (Sunday) he decided he wanted to test it, so we set out towards the New Forest in search of interesting things to photograph, with our friends Sheaf and Becky along for the ride.
To get to the New Forest via the M27, we had to pass Southampton. It was as we approached Southampton that Sven remembered the half size mock-up of a Spitfire by Eastleigh Airport, that is opposite a Mercedes-Benz dealership. He’d always meant to take a photo of it, because of the amusing irony of a British WWII fighter apparently performing an attack run on a German car dealership.
So we came off the motorway and parked-up, then went to take some pictures. After spending about 1 minute finding a good vantage point, it was only another 30 second before a police van pulled up on the pavement next to us! Two police climbed out, and came over to talk to us. They informed us that it wasn’t a good idea to take photos of the airport in the “current climate”, especially as it was guarded by armed police, and that we should move along. Sven immediately agreed, and we headed back to the car and drove away.
Now I can see their point, and they were both very nice about it, but the silly thing was that we couldn’t see the airport from where we were, there were several buildings in the way! I thought about pointing that out, but realised they weren’t going to change their minds, so there was obviously no point. And of course I’m sure there’s loads of photos of the airport on the internet if anyone wanted them that badly. It all seemed a little unnecessary to me. As for the quick responce time, I guess they were just out on patrol nearby, although the guy in the Mercedes dealership was giving us funny looks…
As we left the scene, we remembered that Sven had done a group project on that airport in his first year at Uni (which was after September 11th had happened), that had involved wondering around the airport with a video camera, shooting footage. So why wasn’t he stopped then?
Brushes with the law aside, the rest of the day’s photography was quite successful. If you’d like to see some of the test photos Sven took yesterday, then click here. I don’t think the Mercedes/Spitfire photos are on display; for security reasons you understand…
