Hacker educating Microsoft and Apple

The three time repeat hacking contest winner;Charlie Miller, of the annual Pwn2own contest is tired of the way that computer industry companies tries to fix it flaws and bugs. That is why he won't tell Microsoft, Apple and Adobe about the 20 flaws and vulnerabilities it has in its software. Instead he will show and teach them how to find the bugs themselves. He recently just won $10,000 in the hacking challenge and has been the winner the past 3 years.

He states that he wants change and says that he is tired of the lack of progress in software security. He talks about companies making patches here and there,which makes the software perform better but its doesn't improve the security of the product. Miller finds the mistakes of the software by using what is called a "dumb fuzzer", a tool that automatically looks for flaws in software by inserting data to see where the program fails. Miller found vulnerabilities in Apples Mac OS 10.6 and safari browser, Microsoft's PowerPoint presentation maker and in Adobe's PDF viewer and Reader.

PC World Article

Miller demonstrated how he came to finding the bugs in front of Microsoft,Apple and other vendors in hopes that the companies would listen and improve of their security standards. He knows he might seem like a bad guy in some peoples eyes but he wants them to take initiative and do more fuzzing to improve on security. Maybe this the way to put the pressure on companies to do so.

Electric Hack

Just what we don't need is to have any idiot with a laptop being able to hack in to the power grid. That is exactly what the security consultants InGuardians found was possible with all five varieties of smart meters.

The Smart Meters are used to create a network connection between the customer and the utility company. They have a couple different security holes that could allow a hacker in to the system. The type of communtication used by the meters appears to be the weakness. There is a whole host of the scenarios that are possible by taking advantage of these vulnerabilities.

As quoted from the article "The communications standard used by smart meters, in particular, was an area that was a cause for concern, said Joshua Wright, a senior security analyst with InGuardians. If criminals are able to tap into the network, they could potentially doctor another person's bills or even stage bigger attacks on the grid, according to the report."


InGuardians has published a number of reports based on their findings. In one report it was stated that a single criminal could have control of multiple meters at the same time. The reports also point out that these types of vulnerabilities are more common due to our upgrading the grid's infrastructure.

I have worked for a retail Choice provider in the past. The cellphones that power the smart meters are very simple, and the meter boxes were not very secure. We had major problems with people using the phone line for long distance calls all the time or just stealing the phones. So the nightmare scenario of having a terrorist attack on the power grid is very real.

Quarter of U.K. Kids Have Hacked

A recent U.K survey found that twenty six percent of school age children had tried to hack into someone else’s social or email account. Despite the fact that the majority of children say hacking is wrong. This article raised two important issues for me. The first one being that the younger generation has no respect for others and how safe are our accounts really if children can hack into them? In world where everyone is connected by technology, we really have become disconnected as people.

Young people now days see their computer or their cell phone or other data device not as a tool but as a part of themselves that they can not put down. If you have gone to a movie recently you will know what I am talking. All the young talk extremely loud with their friends, oblivious to anyone else. Then they start to text. Why did you even come to the movie if you want to talk to someone else? These kids are really disconnected from society and what is correct behavior. So hacking into someone’s account is no big deal to them. I see this becoming a really serious problem with all the young people of the world.

Another issue is how safe are our private accounts if young kids can hack into them. I think that the kids in this survey hacked into their friends accounts but they could lead up to non friends accounts and then into other than email or social. It just seems terrible that you have to think so far ahead about the next generation of hackers. Most hackers start out hacking because it seems like fun and then turns into something more. There is no way to stop technology but maybe we can show kids how to be better users and have respect for others.