InformationWeek Daily Archives
06/19/2013 12:50:56 Daily, August 02Black Hat Keynote: Cybersecurity Is Enemy Of Progress
In This Issue:
1. Editor's Note: DRM Scorecard: Hackers Batting 1,000, Industry Zero
2. Today's Top Story
- Richard Clarke: Computers Are Best Friend Of Progress, And Security Its Worst Enemy
- Apple Issues Giant Patch; Fixes iPhone At Eleventh Hour
3. Breaking News
- Qwest Reports Income Gains As CEO Paves The Way For New Leader
- Consumer Electronics Revenue Growth Slows; Lower Prices Are Blamed
- IBM Consolidates Its Own Data Centers
- 29 Companies Selected For $50 Billion Federal IT Contract
- Data Center Blackout In San Francisco Caused By A Bug
- FCC Airwave Auction Rules Praised For Supporting Openness
- Lufthansa, T-Mobile Eye Internet Access For Long Flights
- Microsoft Releases Mac-Friendly Tools For Vista, Office 2007
- Microsoft Patent: Biometric Recognition Used To Personalize Ads
- In A Big Win For HP, Wal-Mart Chooses Neoview Data Warehouse
- War-Driving Pornographic Spammer Escapes Jail Time
- Salesforce.com CEO Selling Off 20,000 Shares Per Day
4. The Latest Security Blog Posts
- Terrorism In Second Life? Give Me A Break
- Cybercriminal Innovation Will Continue To Drive The IT Security Market
5. Job Listings From TechCareers
6. White Papers
- Enterprise Security And Compliance Through Identity Log Monitoring
7. Get More Out Of InformationWeek
8. Manage Your Newsletter Subscription
Quote of the day:
"You don't get anything clean without getting something else dirty." -- Cecil Baxter
Forget the moral questions: Whether the millions of kids who load up their iPods from LimeWire are thieves, or whether there's something incongruous about Sheryl Crow, a millionaire many times over, railing against piracy. When you look at the technology, there's no getting around the fact that DRM is an abject failure. I put together a scorecard that shows that every single significant attempt at consumer-music DRM has been cracked. Here it is:
CSS: Cracked
The 10-year-old Content Scrambling System employed on early DVDs is such a technological relic at this point that CrunchGear recently reported this: "According to the Finnish courts, CSS is so weak that it doesn't even count as a protective measure anymore."
FairPlay: Cracked
In a game of iPod cat and mouse, the DRM system used in iTunes' music has been repeatedly cracked and then "fixed" by Apple. Last fall, the cracking program called QTFairUse6 had been updated so it could continue to perform its DRM-stripping duties within hours after Apple released iTunes 7.
AACS: Cracked
There's been no update from the Advanced Access Content System people on the cracking of their AACS DRM, which is used in the new high-definition HD DVD and Blu-ray DVDs, since May 7. That was the date the AACS publicized its response to the news that the crack of its DRM had been widely posted on the Web, saying it had "requested the removal solely of illegal circumvention tools, including encryption keys, from a number of Web sites."
In response to the crack, AACS-compliant vendors are apparently looking at both key revocation and the use of digital watermarks as the answer to their problems. Hey, why don't they just take a page from a World War II movie and issue a daily codebook?
Windows Media DRM: Cracked
The widely circulated crack comes in the form of a program called FairUse4M. The first iteration of this crack worked with Windows Media Player 10 under Windows XP, but for a long time wouldn't work on Vista. Alas, FairUse4M has now been updated to crack WMP11 running on Vista.
Most recently, the cracking of Windows Media DRM has thrown a bit of a monkey wrench into the BBC's plans to release its iPlayer. However, like true Brits, they're soldiering on and releasing it, possibly convinced that it's not much use worrying about what those stupid Americans are up to with their software schemes, anyway.
Sony-BMG Rootkit: Busted
The big DRM scandal of 2005, this one wasn't so much cracked as it was kicked to the curb. The unhappy recap: A bunch of Sony CDs were equipped with either XCP or MediaMax copy-protection software. Unbeknownst to users, XCP installed concealed software ("rootkits") on users' PCs. MediaMax sent user info over the Internet. The whole mess was a big scandal for Sony, resulting in a spate of legal activity, the most recent instance being a suit filed by Sony against the developer of MediaMax.
The one major online music DRM technology about which I couldn't find any definitive cracking information is Rhapsody DNA, used by the RealNetworks subscription music service. Regardless of the status here, since Rhapsody, while nice, isn't rocking the online music world, I think it's safe to say I've made my point.
What do you think? Are the hackers winning? Does industry stand a chance? Read my blog for more on this topic, and make sure to post your feedback, too.
Alexander Wolfe
Richard Clarke: Computers Are Best Friend Of Progress, And Security Its Worst Enemy
Related Story:
Apple Issues Giant Patch; Fixes iPhone At Eleventh Hour
Qwest Reports Income Gains As CEO Paves The Way For New Leader
Consumer Electronics Revenue Growth Slows; Lower Prices Are Blamed
IBM Consolidates Its Own Data Centers
29 Companies Selected For $50 Billion Federal IT Contract
Data Center Blackout In San Francisco Caused By A Bug
FCC Airwave Auction Rules Praised For Supporting Openness
Lufthansa, T-Mobile Eye Internet Access For Long Flights
Microsoft Releases Mac-Friendly Tools For Vista, Office 2007
Microsoft Patent: Biometric Recognition Used To Personalize Ads
In A Big Win For HP, Wal-Mart Chooses Neoview Data Warehouse
War-Driving Pornographic Spammer Escapes Jail Time
Salesforce.com CEO Selling Off 20,000 Shares Per Day
On the go?
Unified Communications
Benchmark Your Compensation
-----------------------------------------
Terrorism In Second Life? Give Me A Break
Cybercriminal Innovation Will Continue To Drive The IT Security Market
ISES, Inc. seeking SAP Plant Maintenance Business Analyst in Swiftwater, PA
Genworth Financial seeking IT Solutions Leader in Richmond, VA
[X+1] seeking Client Solutions Architect in New York, NY
ITT Corporation seeking IT Business Systems Mgr. in Fort Wayne, IN
McFadyen Consulting seeking eBusiness Project Manager in Vienna, VA
For more great jobs, career-related news, features and services, please visit CMP Media's TechCareers.
Enterprise Security And Compliance Through Identity Log Monitoring
Recommend This Newsletter To A Friend
Visit InformationWeek's Online Marketplace to learn more about the products, technologies and companies that will help you meet your business technology needs.
You are subscribed as #emailaddr#. To unsubscribe from, subscribe to, or change your E-mail address for this newsletter, please visit the InformationWeek Subscription Center.
Note: To change your E-mail address, please subscribe your new address and unsubscribe your old one.
Keep Getting This Newsletter
We take your privacy very seriously. Please review our Privacy Policy.
InformationWeek Daily Newsletter
1. Editor's Note: DRM Scorecard: Hackers Batting 1,000, Industry Zero
awolfe@cmp.com
www.informationweek.com
The former federal counterterrorism adviser tells security pros at the Black Hat USA conference that continuing to build more of the global economy on cyberspace as it exists today is dangerous business.
Apple was racing the clock when it released patches for iPhone bugs that researchers are planning to discuss at the Black Hat conference today.
Second-quarter income more than doubles over the previous year's, to $246 million.
Consumer electronics sales are expected to increase by 5.2% to $344 billion this year, compared with $327 billion in 2006.
Cost cuts of a quarter of a billion dollars are expected over the next five years through reduced energy use, software, and system support.
The winners of the contract can compete for individual government IT projects ranging from software applications to networking deployments.
Backup generators at 365 Main failed to complete their start sequence because of a memory problem in the engine monitoring and control component.
However, the commission faces criticism from business and consumer groups for neglecting wholesale licensing and other broadband access issues.
Luxembourg satellite operator SES Global and ViaSat also are involved in discussions that could lead to the implementation of Internet service in Lufthansa's planes.
The file-converter software lets users of the Mac version of Microsoft Office open files created in Microsoft's new Office Open XML format.
Identification could come from biometric sensors, cameras, or more traditional login methods.
Wal-Mart's choice gives HP a much-needed endorsement of its business intelligence software play and raises questions about the retailer's relationship with Teradata.
A California man who pleaded guilty to using unprotected wireless access accounts to send out porn site advertisements was sentenced to probation and home detention.
Marc Benioff now holds roughly 14% of Salesforce.com's outstanding stock, compared with about 25% when he began selling.
See InformationWeek's daily breaking news on your mobile device, visit wap.informationweek.com and sign up for daily SMS notifications.
----- The latest research, polls, and tools -----
The concept has been the "next big thing" for a long time. But as with a lot of innovative technologies, time brings improvements in the products and the business benefits, as well as some interesting new players. Learn how more than 300 companies are deploying unified communications and VoIP in this new report by InformationWeek Research.
Learn how your pay compares to that of your peers with our free and confidential online tool. Featuring more than 20 job functions and tracking IT compensation across 20 metropolitan areas, InformationWeek Research's 2007 IT Salary Adviser makes it easy to compare your salary and compensation.
4. The Latest Security Blog Posts
http://www.informationweek.com/blog/main/archives/security/index.html
Here in America, we have our share of stupid journalism, but we have trouble competing in the global market. For evidence, I point you to an article in The Australian about terrorists in Second Life.
The creativity and ambition of cybercriminals all but ensure for years to come there will be a market not only for security technology but for individual security components provided by a multiplicity of vendors.
5. Job Listings From TechCareers
Well-structured IT user management is crucial for minimizing operational risk and protecting data. Companies that do not control IT resource usage are inviting internal users to illicitly access confidential information. This paper explains why identity management and log monitoring are crucial for maintaining corporate security.
7. Get More Out Of InformationWeek
Try InformationWeek's RSS Feed
Discover all InformationWeek's sites and newsletters
Do you have friends or colleagues who might enjoy this newsletter? Please forward it to them and point out the subscription page.
8. Manage Your Newsletter Subscription
Don't let future editions of InformationWeek Daily go missing. Take a moment to add the newsletter's address to your anti-spam white list:
InfoWeek@update.informationweek.com
If you're not sure how to do that, ask your administrator or ISP. Or check your anti-spam utility's documentation. Thanks.
A free service of InformationWeek and the TechWeb Network.
Copyright (c) 2007 CMP Media LLC
600 Community Drive
Manhasset, N.Y. 11030