31 Years of the Digest ... founded August 21, 1981

Add this Digest to your personal   or  

The Telecom Digest for December 12, 2012
Volume 31 : Issue 290 : "text" Format
Messages in this Issue:
Re: Disruptions: How Smartphones Are Making Wallets Obsolete (Thad Floryan)
LAPD Email Fail Hints at Arresting More People for Better Media Coverage (Monty Solomon)
"Dexter" malware steals credit card data from point-of-sale terminals (Monty Solomon)
Being entertained and going social: The Ultimate Smartphone Guide, part II (Monty Solomon)
25-GPU cluster cracks every standard Windows password in <6 hours (Monty Solomon)
Re: 25-GPU cluster cracks every standard Windows password in <6 hours (Pete Cresswell)
Inaccurate Apple Maps directions causes 'life threatening issue' for travelers, says Australian police (Monty Solomon)

====== 31 years of TELECOM Digest -- Founded August 21, 1981 ======

Telecom and VOIP (Voice over Internet Protocol) Digest for the Internet. All contents here are copyrighted by Bill Horne and the individual writers/correspondents. Articles may be used in other journals or newsgroups, provided the writer's name and the Digest are included in the fair use quote. By using any name or email address included herein for any reason other than responding to an article herein, you agree to pay a hundred dollars to that person, or email address owner.
Addresses herein are not to be added to any mailing list, nor to be sold or given away without the explicit written consent of the owner of that address. Chain letters, viruses, porn, spam, and miscellaneous junk are definitely unwelcome.

We must fight spam for the same reason we fight crime: not because we are naive enough to believe that we will ever stamp it out, but because we do not want the kind of world that results when no one stands against crime.  - Geoffrey Welsh


See the bottom of this issue for subscription and archive details and the name of our lawyer, and other stuff of interest.


Date: Tue, 11 Dec 2012 00:47:08 -0800 From: Thad Floryan <thad@thadlabs.com> To: telecomdigestmoderator.remove-this@and-this-too.telecom-digest.org. Subject: Re: Disruptions: How Smartphones Are Making Wallets Obsolete Message-ID: <50C6F30C.30307@thadlabs.com> On 12/9/2012 9:48 PM, Monty Solomon wrote: > Disruptions: How My Smartphone Emptied My Pockets > > By NICK BILTON > DECEMBER 9, 2012 > [...] > > http://bits.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/12/09/disruptions-how-my-smartphone-emptied-my-pockets/ > With the way people are oblivious to their surroundings when using so-called "smartphones" and flaunt them publicly every time they use them [thus attracting the attention of robbers who will steal them as 1000s of stories attest daily], more than just their pockets will be emptied, to wit checking and credit card accounts for starters followed by identity theft. The argument that a wallet is also "putting all one's eggs in one basket" is specious because a wallet is typically hidden from any public view in a man's trouser's pocket or a woman's purse. Thad
Date: Tue, 11 Dec 2012 00:53:22 -0500 From: Monty Solomon <monty@roscom.com> To: telecomdigestmoderator.remove-this@and-this-too.telecom-digest.org. Subject: LAPD Email Fail Hints at Arresting More People for Better Media Coverage Message-ID: <p0624083accec7a8486cc@[10.0.1.5]> LAPD Email Fail Hints at Arresting More People for Better Media Coverage DASHIELL BENNETT DEC 6, 2012 We've seen what can happen when people abuse the "Reply All" email button, but it's not too often that it catches police officers suggesting alternative reasons to fight crime. While working on a story about illegal animal trafficking in LA's fashion district, local NBC4 producer Robbi Peale emailed the LAPD asking for arrest numbers for people buying or selling illegal animals on the street. (Apparently, baby rabbits, too young to be away from their mothers, have become are a popular item.) A month earlier, the police held a press conference to announce they were cracking down on the practice, and Peale wanted to see if they actually had anything to show for it. That's when Commander Andrew Smith, the head of the LAPD's media relations department, fell victim to the dreaded "reply all" blunder. ... http://www.theatlanticwire.com/national/2012/12/lapd-email-fail-hints-arresting-more-people-better-media-coverage/59704/
Date: Tue, 11 Dec 2012 09:39:23 -0500 From: Monty Solomon <monty@roscom.com> To: telecomdigestmoderator.remove-this@and-this-too.telecom-digest.org. Subject: "Dexter" malware steals credit card data from point-of-sale terminals Message-ID: <p06240842ccecf5925e52@[10.0.1.5]> "Dexter" malware steals credit card data from point-of-sale terminals Hundreds of businesses around the world infected. by Dan Goodin Dec 11 2012 Ars Technica A researcher has uncovered new malware that steals payment card data from point-of-sale terminals used by stores, hotels, and other businesses. Dexter, as the malware is called, has infected hundreds of point-of-sale computers at big-name retailers, hotels, restaurants, and other businesses, according to a report issued by Aviv Raff, chief technology officer of Israel-based security firm Seculert. Businesses infected in the past three months are located in 40 different countries, with 30 percent of those compromised located in the US, 19 percent in the UK, and nine percent in Canada. Malware that infects point-of-sale terminals can be one of the most efficient ways to carry out payment card fraud because it targets machines with access to large amounts of the required data. ... http://arstechnica.com/security/2012/12/dexter-malware-steals-credit-card-data-from-point-of-sale-terminals/ -or- http://goo.gl/UQnUw
Date: Tue, 11 Dec 2012 09:45:01 -0500 From: Monty Solomon <monty@roscom.com> To: telecomdigestmoderator.remove-this@and-this-too.telecom-digest.org. Subject: Being entertained and going social: The Ultimate Smartphone Guide, part II Message-ID: <p06240844ccecf6969b30@[10.0.1.5]> Being entertained and going social: The Ultimate Smartphone Guide, part II Hunting down the best apps for reading comics, finding a restaurant, and more. by Florence Ion Dec 10 2012 Ars Technica In part one of our Ultimate Smartphone Guide series, we told you which handsets were best for which users. Now in part two, we're going to walk through the entertainment app landscape for each ecosystem, discussing how best to connect with friends and watch content on Android, iOS, Windows Phone 8. Smartphones are just as commonplace as our wallet and keys these days-we can't leave the house without them and we certainly freak out if they go missing. Our phones are packed with powerful CPUs and GPUs; the Snapdragon SOC with its Adreno GPU is the most powerful combo the Android and Windows Phone 8 platforms have seen, and Apple's extra-speedy A6 improves on the already-quick A5 it replaces. Whichever platform we're on, we use that power to document our daily happenings, to check in to see how our friends are family are doing, to communicate verbally and textually, and even to read a book before bed. We use our phones to order food or make reservations, tag ourselves with others while out having a good time, and catch up on our favorite television shows on the long train ride home. So in our second installment of the Ultimate Smartphone Guide, we've rounded up some of the best apps for doing all of these things. This guide should save you from scrolling endlessly through all the different app stores, looking for the right app to do that one thing. One note going in: we're focusing on picking out apps-we're not looking at the app stores themselves and what the app discovery and purchase process is like. ... http://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2012/12/the-ultimate-smartphone-guide-part-ii-being-entertained-and-going-social/
Date: Tue, 11 Dec 2012 09:20:04 -0500 From: Monty Solomon <monty@roscom.com> To: telecomdigestmoderator.remove-this@and-this-too.telecom-digest.org. Subject: 25-GPU cluster cracks every standard Windows password in <6 hours Message-ID: <p0624083dccecf14f5e77@[10.0.1.5]> 25-GPU cluster cracks every standard Windows password in <6 hours All your passwords are belong to us. by Dan Goodin Dec 9 2012 A password-cracking expert has unveiled a computer cluster that can cycle through as many as 350 billion guesses per second. It's an almost unprecedented speed that can try every possible Windows passcode in the typical enterprise in less than six hours. The five-server system uses a relatively new package of virtualization software that harnesses the power of 25 AMD Radeon graphics cards. It achieves the 350 billion-guess-per-second speed when cracking password hashes generated by the NTLM cryptographic algorithm that Microsoft has included in every version of Windows since Server 2003. As a result, it can try an astounding 95^8 combinations in just 5.5 hours, enough to brute force every possible eight-character password containing upper- and lower-case letters, digits, and symbols. Such password policies are common in many enterprise settings. The same passwords protected by Microsoft's LM algorithm - which many organizations enable for compatibility with older Windows versions - will fall in just six minutes. ... http://arstechnica.com/security/2012/12/25-gpu-cluster-cracks-every-standard-windows-password-in-6-hours/ -or- http://goo.gl/vrKWt
Date: Tue, 11 Dec 2012 16:27:31 -0500 From: Pete Cresswell <PeteCress@invalid.telecom-digest.org> To: telecomdigestmoderator.remove-this@and-this-too.telecom-digest.org. Subject: Re: 25-GPU cluster cracks every standard Windows password in <6 hours Message-ID: <059fc8tpf4ruu083tv3g6417duo3d40hsb@4ax.com> >by Dan Goodin >Dec 9 2012 > >A password-cracking expert has unveiled a computer cluster that can >cycle through as many as 350 billion guesses per second. >...The same >passwords protected by Microsoft's LM algorithm - which many >organizations enable for compatibility with older Windows versions - >will fall in just six minutes. > > >http://goo.gl/vrKWt > To me, in the context of the "Three Strikes And You're Out" rule that every commercial LAN I've used enforces, that sounds moot.... meaningless. Am I missing something? Maybe something about getting ahold of whatever hash total DB is used? --- Pete Cresswell ***** Moderator's Note ***** /Exactly/ something about getting ahold of the hash. The writer said that this attack depends on getting access to the stored password hashes: it is only useful as an offline attack. Bill Horne Moderator
Date: Tue, 11 Dec 2012 09:25:33 -0500 From: Monty Solomon <monty@roscom.com> To: telecomdigestmoderator.remove-this@and-this-too.telecom-digest.org. Subject: Inaccurate Apple Maps directions causes 'life threatening issue' for travelers, says Australian police Message-ID: <p0624083fccecf2b0b122@[10.0.1.5]> Inaccurate Apple Maps directions causes 'life threatening issue' for travelers, says Australian police http://macnn.com/rd/275064 == http://appleinsider.com/articles/12/12/10/inaccurate-apple-maps-directions-causing-life-threatening-issue-for-travelers-says-australian-police -or- http://goo.gl/6qvdf Apple redraws maps after Australian drivers led astray in the bush http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2012/dec/10/apple-maps-life-threatening-australian-police
TELECOM Digest is an electronic journal devoted mostly to telecom- munications topics. It is circulated anywhere there is email, in addition to Usenet, where it appears as the moderated newsgroup 'comp.dcom.telecom'. TELECOM Digest is a not-for-profit, mostly non-commercial educational service offered to the Internet by Bill Horne. All the contents of the Digest are compilation-copyrighted. You may reprint articles in some other media on an occasional basis, but please attribute my work and that of the original author. The Telecom Digest is moderated by Bill Horne.
Contact information: Bill Horne
Telecom Digest
43 Deerfield Road
Sharon MA 02067-2301
339-364-8487
bill at horne dot net
Subscribe: telecom-request@telecom-digest.org?body=subscribe telecom
Unsubscribe: telecom-request@telecom-digest.org?body=unsubscribe telecom
This Digest is the oldest continuing e-journal about telecomm-
unications on the Internet, having been founded in August, 1981 and
published continuously since then.  Our archives are available for
your review/research. We believe we are the oldest e-zine/mailing list
on the internet in any category!

URL information: http://telecom-digest.org


Copyright (C) 2012 TELECOM Digest. All rights reserved.
Our attorney is Bill Levant, of Blue Bell, PA.

Finally, the Digest is funded by gifts from generous readers such as yourself who provide funding in amounts deemed appropriate. Your help is important and appreciated. A suggested donation of fifty dollars per year per reader is considered appropriate. See our address above. Please make at least a single donation to cover the cost of processing your name to the mailing list. All opinions expressed herein are deemed to be those of the author. Any organizations listed are for identification purposes only and messages should not be considered any official expression by the organization.

End of The Telecom Digest (7 messages)

Return to Archives ** Older Issues