The UnSub

I bought a real tiny (small enough to be with my coins) Sony thumb drive recently because I thought I’d lost my 1Gb thumbdrive. Somehow, I found the old one again. Anyway it came across my mind that if I were to keep sensitive document in it, it would be bummer if I really misplaced tiny devices.

Some thumbdrive comes with some default crypto software, not sure if they are really secure. So I decided to Google it and found this…. In simple English, the software allows you to create a virtual encrypted drive. Any files dumped into that drive is totally secured unless your password is “password”!

If you are in the mood of writing top secret emails to friends… consider http://hushmail.com. It uses OpenPGP. Btw, my account is jym@hushmail…. in case you feel like writing secret emails to me (I didn’t complete the domain in case spam spider bots are out to harvest emails).

Following up on the previous thumbdrive episode. I finally found it ! No.. not for forgetful people who leave their thumbdrives around…. But for locking my Windows when I am away from my terminal.

This cool device that locks out your PC when you are out of range. Of course you have to carry a transmitter with you.
According to reviews, the software that comes with it sux big time. It’s so bad that some folks at microsoft decides to write their own version in C#!

They even have a user group dedicated to this nifty little device! Can’t wait for my shipment to arrive!

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-4356347903120410001&sourceid=docidfeed&hl=en

If you fall asleep during your lectures, I suggest you not to click on the above link.

If you managed to watch through the video without closing the browser, one important lesson is that “Obscurity is not security…”.

Even if they (M$) hired (cheap) student interns to solve some of these problems, I believe it was a smart move since the hackers will indirectly help “audit” and publish the results anyway. Without issuing a single paycheck, M$ has somehow gotten these hackers to educate the XBOx team and taught them important design, implementation and policy making lessons. The net result is a more secure Xbox 360.

Not a bad move after all to be cheapo…