The Security Samurai
 
Showing 1-10 of 19 records
 
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Open Letter to Verizon Wireless

2008-08-25 15:43:00 by Eric Marvets in The Security Samurai
 
After receiving no support from agents at the Verizon Wireless store or by agents on the phone, I decided to write them and make it an open letter. Its no secret that Verizon has a great network, but its also no secret that their phone selection stinks. I dont want to leave them and am hoping that whatever little bad press I can cause will...
 
Tags: phone, phone workedit, free phone, current phone, verizon, phone selection stinks, verizon wireless store, time, verizon wireless customer
 
 
 
 
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What Does SHA1 is Broken Mean?

2007-12-12 07:35:00 by Eric Marvets in The Security Samurai
 
...security videos for Microsoft, and decided that SHA1 was the best hash function for the example (modifying an existing application to store hashed passwords The videos I did were part of the How Do I series, and not exactly the place to explain why it was appropriate to use SHA1. But for those of you looking to understand the why behind the...
 
Tags: sha1, choose sha1, sha1 protects, hash data, data, sha1 drops, hash function, hash, function
 
 
 
 
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The Pwnie Awards

2007-09-10 04:21:00 by Eric Marvets in The Security Samurai
 
...security researchers and the wider security community They give awards in the following categories Best Server-Side Bug Best Client-Side Bug Mass 0wnage Most Innovative Research Lamest Vendor Response Most Overhyped Bug Best Song
 
Tags: pwnie awards, awards, bug, server-side bug, wider security community, client-side bug, innovative research, accept nomination, vendor response
 
 
 
 
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XBOX 360 Dies Again

2007-08-26 21:57:00 by Eric Marvets in The Security Samurai
 
Two days ago my XBOX 360 quit working after a few minutes of play and started blinking red. I checked out the error message online and it seems to be a simple overheating issue. I contacted Microsoft, and they agreed to fix the console (only 6 months old), but that it would take 3 to 5 days to send me a box to ship it to them in, and then...
 
Tags: fan shroud, fan, rear fan, replacement talismoon fan, days ago, fix, days, xbox, gpu
 
 
 
 
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You Need An Address to Call 911

2007-08-23 09:23:00 by Eric Marvets in The Security Samurai
 
...information seemed good enough. As I talked to her on the phone I was walking back to the hotel, and I finally gave her its address, and that seemed fit into their system It made me think of a situation that happened to a friend of mine in 2000. An elderly woman made an improper left hand turn and he hit her doing close to 50 mph. He called...
 
Tags: tracks, train tracks, railroad tracks, rail road tracks, hotel, address, road, expensive car, imperfect information
 
 
 
 
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Presenting at the Connecticut Developers Group August 28th

2007-08-22 13:20:00 by Eric Marvets in The Security Samurai
 
If anyone in the Connecticut is interested, I will be doing a presentation entitled Applied Cryptography on August 28 th . Its similar to the presentation I used to do ( Block Ciphers and Initialization Vectors ) only Ive expanded its scope a little I changed the presentation slightly and am trying to turn it into a dnrTV episode with Cark...
 
Tags: presentation, presentation slightly, initialization vectors, block ciphers, connecticut, cark franklin, august, dnrtv episode, eric marvets
 
 
 
 
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Playing With Homemade Explosives

2007-08-07 17:30:00 by Eric Marvets in The Security Samurai
 
After reading Bruce Schneier s interview with TSA Administrator Kip Hawley I started thinking of all the explosives used in recent terrorist plots and how silly they were. As a kid, I loved going into the woods and playing with all sorts of dangerous stuff which of course included fireworks, gas cans, hair spray, propane tanks, etc. What I...
 
Tags: gas, lawn mowers gas, tank, cars gas tank, time, time delay fuse, terrorist, empty gas, recent terrorist plots
 
 
 
 
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DRM Scorecard Makes Me Wonder: The Media Industry and the TSA, Sadistic or Incompetent?

2007-08-02 08:19:00 by Eric Marvets in The Security Samurai
 
Back in March, I posted about the media industry and the BORA principle , or break once, run anywhere. Info week has a DRM scorecard where the box score reads Hackers 1000, Industry 0 This all goes back to the simple fact that all DRM is based on encryption, and that its illogical to give someone the decryption key that is required to enable...
 
Tags: media industry, industry, media industry views, illogical behavior impedes, drm, behavior, drm scorecard, secret, secret internal referendum
 
 
 
 
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No More Comments

2007-07-27 18:09:00 by Eric Marvets in The Security Samurai
 
I've left the comments feature enabled on my blog despite the majority of entries being spam. But it just seems silly anymore. The number of valid comments pales in comparison to the number of spam messages so I'm just going to turn it off. I wish I had the time to add some sort of captcha function and will look at adding it in the future I...
 
Tags: comments, valid comments pales, comments feature, spam, spam messages, captcha function, edit posts, format, contact form
 
 
 
 
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Encryption Presentation - .NET Developers Group - NYC Microsoft Offices - June 21st

2007-04-02 06:46:00 by Eric Marvets in The Security Samurai
 
For those of you in NYC or the surrounding area, I will be doing a presentation on encryption at the .NET Developers Group on Thursday, June 21, 2007 . Its a similar presentation to the one Ive done for a number of user groups in the Southeast. I made this presentation as a response to the flood of online code snippets for encrypting data. While...
 
Tags: encryption, presentation, level encryption basics, similar presentation, net developers, developers, symmetric, symmetric algorithm, symmetric encryption