Tag: espionage
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UK’s secret Apple iCloud backdoor order is a global emergency, say critics
The UK seems to be strongarming Apple to weaken the security of its consumer products, which is fucking stupid. Weakened and backdoored encryption in mainstream products doesn't help catch smart criminals. But it does help smart criminals to catch regular folks.
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Supply-Chain Security and Trust
Bruce Schneier shares thoughts about why supply-chain attacks are, for now, undefeatable.
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Enigma, the Bombe, and Typex
How to guides
How to encrypt/decrypt with Enigma
We'll start with a step-by-step guide to decrypting a known message. You can see the result of these steps in CyberChef here. Let's say that our message is as follows:
XTSYN WAEUG EZALY NRQIM AMLZX MFUOD AWXLY LZCUZ QOQBQ JLCPK NDDRW F
And that we've been told … -
Evaluating the GCHQ Exceptional Access Proposal
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In a blog post, cryptographer Matthew Green summarized the technical problems with this GCHQ proposal. Basically, making this backdoor work requires not only changing the cloud computers that oversee communications, but it also means changing the client program on everyone's phone and computer. And that change makes all of those systems less secure. Levy and … -
Nazi spies awarded fake medals after war by their MI5 controller
Two fascist spies were awarded fake Nazi medals after the end of the second world war by an MI5 officer who penetrated their secret network, a newly published book on wartime espionage has revealed.
Copies of German bronze honours for non-combat gallantry were commissioned from the Royal Mint and presented at a covert ceremony in January … -
The Man Who Knew Too Much
His nuclear research helped a judge determine that former Russian spy Alexander Litvinenko had been assassinated – likely on Putin’s orders. Just months after the verdict, the scientist himself was found stabbed to death with two knives. Police deemed it a suicide, but US intelligence officials suspect it was murder...
BuzzFeed -
One-Time Pad In Javascript
A few months ago, I spent one lunchtime writing a One-Time Pad Encryption/Decryption Engine in Javascript. I'd meant to blog about it at the time, but I forgot, but I came across it again today and thought it was cool enough to share with you all.
If you already appreciate why that's cool, go play with … -
Uncommon Occurances
I didn't sleep well; I woke up several times throughout the night. On the upside, I have a strong recollection of three distinct yet inter-related dreams:
Dream I: Alex and the Accident
I came into work as normal and spoke to Alex, my co-worker. He'd been in some sort of car accident in which he'd hit … -
Busy Days
[this post was damaged during a server failure on Sunday 11th July 2004, and it has not been possible to recover it]
[this post was partially recovered on 12 October 2018]
Yay! I won an eBay auction for a copy of Everyway. For £4! Yay! Winner! Now all I need are some friends, some paper, some pencils, …