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Security Stories and Help with Network Documentation

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How To Get a Car for Under $50

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This isn’t related to computer security, rather unauthorized access or policy problems. I had been planning on washing my car for quite some time, time and other factors (read laziness) had however kept me from doing so. It had come to the point where you tried to avoid your clothes touching the car while stepping into it, I wouldn’t have been surprised if some kid had written on it with his fingers; Dirty!

I could have driven it through a car wash but it wouldn’t have been enough to get it clean. Instead I went to a company where they clean the car for you at a reasonable price 300 Swedish Krona (roughly $39).

Now the problem arises when I’m there to leave my car, they just want my key and say that I pay when I come back. I don’t think there’s anything wrong with the company, others who have used them have been happy and they’ve been around for a while.

However I have trouble comprehending how you could have a system that works that way. What’s to stop someone else walking into the store and pay $39 and then drive off with my car?

I wasn’t expecting to get a digitally signed service order, but some kind of paper would have been comforting. They could have asked to see my driver’s license when I left off and picked up the car.

My car is safe in my garage now but I hope those guys change their policy.

[tags]security policy, grand theft auto, security awareness[/tags]

The Tale of the Nomadic Web Site – Part 2

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“I was told you could handle things discreetly.” n3m0 was already getting annoyed at the callers distorted voice. He considered making his voice silly himself but decided against it, this was after all a business call.
“That’s what I do best”, at least when it suits me, n3m0 chuckled to himself.
“Excellent!”

“So who are you anyway?”
“I was told you didn’t ask questions,” the voice sounded like when you play a record at too slow speed.
“Fair enough I guess. Can I ask you what you want me to do?”
“But of course, I want you to find me a web hotel”
What the fuck? n3m0 looked up at his editor window, his notes of the conversation so far consisted of a single word; Mental.

“Have you heard of a little something called Google?” n3m0 asked.
“Well yes but I haven’t found anything suitable.”
“A bit picky are we, I get,” n3m0 did a quick search “300 million hits, did you check them all?”
“Maybe not the whole lot, but I’ve checked a good few. Unfortunately most of them don’t quite meet my needs.”

He want’s me to go power surfing? n3m0 started to wonder why the caller was distorting his voice. “What’s wrong with the ones you’ve been looking at?”
“I’m having trouble with their Terms of Service documents”.
Is this guy for real? “I never read those.”
“Yes but that could lead to trouble down the road.” The strange voice finally struck home. n3m0 had worn a black hat to work before and this guy sure as hell wasn’t looking for a web hotel.

“You want me to find a web hotel that doesn’t know it’s a web hotel.”
“Now we’re on the same page,” the caller seemed amused.
You could have just told me, n3m0 thought. He had a pretty clear picture of what the caller wanted and wrote down some more notes in his editor, though he kept the word ‘mental’ there.
“Would you mind telling me what part of the ToS that didn’t agree with you?”
“Some of the material I’m putting up could be considered illegal”

[tags]security, stories[/tags]

Return of the Web Mob

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eWeek has published an interesting article about cyber crime.

“Based on all the evidence gathered over the last two years, Dunham is convinced that groups of well-organized mobsters have taken control of a global billion-dollar crime network powered by skillful hackers and money mules targeting known software security weaknesses.”
–
“If you become a known hacker and you start to cut into their profits, they’ll come to your house, take you away and beat you to a pulp until you back off or join them. There have been documented cases of this,” Dunham said.

Apparently there’s no honor among thieves on the Internet.

[tags]cyber crime[/tags]

The Tale of the Nomadic Web Site – Part 1

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Not for the first time n3m0 realized he had been killing a few hours at del.icio.us. Hunger had started its pull some time ago but the only food he had at home was Ramen Noodles. God I’m sick of those, he thought. He had been browsing “Get Rich Quick” links and poker strategy. He knew he was fooling himself regarding the get rich quick schemes, but he was getting desperate and too little sleep was affecting his brain. n3m0 had started playing online poker four months ago, the feeling that he was James Bond had vanished when his winning streak had ended abruptly. Confident of his abilities, he hadn’t missed a beat; instead he kept on playing and he was loosing big.

His car was quite old and he hadn’t used it much of late so that had been one of the first things to go. I was going to get a new car anyway, n3m0 tried to defend his decision. Some days he fooled himself, other days he banged his head into the wall to punish himself. Wouldn’t be able to pay for the petrol anyway, at least not now, sometimes he caught himself just laughing hysterically. The profit he should have gotten from selling the car were nowhere to be seen. Not having any other assets he wanted to part with, he found the perfect solution – a quick loan.

It was so easy to dial the number, the people at the mortgage institute didn’t even ask what the money was for. It had lasted for ten days.

His computer speakers started their familiar buzzing, n3m0’s eyes found his cell phone and sure enough it started to ring. n3m0 sighed and answered the phone.

“Yeah”.
“Hello there”. n3m0 didn’t recognize the voice; it sounded strange somehow.
“Hello?” he asked, trying to focus his eyes on the computer clock. It was too blurry.
“Who am I speaking with?” the caller asked. There was a lot of static on the line, n3m0 had some trouble hearing him.
“You called me, who the hell are you?”
“Someone who needs your help.” The caller was using something to distort his voice. “Are you n3m0?”
“Where did you get this number?”
“From someone who said you were low on cash.”
Among other things. Damn. n3m0 opened up a text editor.
“So what do you want?”

[tags]security, stories[/tags]