Michael Gracie

Someone hacked into Linkin Park rocker Chester Bennington’s email and phone records. The guy was caught.

And…nobody really cares (which is half the reason I held off). He isn’t Paris Hilton after all (although I am curious to hear whether this was again T-Mobile).

That day would be this last Sunday, and that former hacker turned security expert would be Kevin Mitnick and his website.

The news all over the net is that Microsoft’s upcoming Vista operating system was hacked in a live demonstration.

I’m not one to stroke Microsoft. In fact, if you’ve read Spamroll for a while, you are probably saying “all this guy does is bash Microsoft.” That’s the impression, but I’m going to lay down here, and throw the bullshit flag at the same time.

Vista was hacked by Joanna Rukowska using a rootkit technology that has been in development for quite a while. Microsoft knew this was coming - it was mentioned over a month ago. If the folks at Black Hat, or anyone else for that matter, can’t find a new and original way in, I’d say Microsoft may actually have something there.

It could be because professors can be pains in the ass, and students are looking for revenge. It could just because someone knows there are a lot of names in the database that are paying more attention to their beer inventory and the opposite sex. But it certainly doesn’t matter how fine the school’s curriculum is - even Stanford recently got hacked. Curious that they were one of the recent recipients of a Homeland Security grant to improve software security.

We are seeing a lot of hype over the issue of instant messaging spam nowadays. Part of this hype could be an actual problem, and part of it could be guilt by association. With all the talk about the Secret Service and Paris Hilton getting hacked via T-Mobile, I wonder if this isn’t already a little overdone - people seem to associate the instant message with mobility, and more and more phones are coming to market with chatting features. Don’t shoot me for reaching.

BetaNews thinks it is less of an issue than is being described, and points out a lot of the security features that service providers have to put a clamp on the “problem” (see BetaNews | The Hype Over Spim).

What’s worse is the potential for association with politics and laws such as CAN-SPAM.
Read more »