Tag Archive for: safe

A great idea: the ‘Safe Exchange Zone’

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They have been springing up here and there … and should become a fixture in every community: “Safe Exchange Zones” for conducting the physical interaction oftentimes necessitated by person-to-person online commerce.

The one pictured above is located outside police department headquarters in Hopkinton, Mass., where I happen to live. The HPD tweeted this morning:

031716blog hopkinton exchange tweet

So instead of venturing to a stranger’s home, or having a stranger venture to yours, you rendezvous in front of the police station – under the glare of surveillance cameras — to exchange goods and money. (Pro tip: provided your transaction is legal.)

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Network World Paul McNamara

SAFECode: How to ensure you’re buying safe software

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It’s hard to figure out how secure software is but the Software Assurance Forum for Excellence in Code (SAFECode) has issued guidelines to make it easier, especially for businesses trying to decide which products to buy.

The industry group published a white paper, “Principles for Software Assurance Assessment”, that recommends questions corporate software buyers should ask their suppliers beforehand so they wind up with products less likely to be riddled with security flaws.

One of the big problems these buyers may face is that they don’t know the relevant questions to ask, says Eric Baize, SAFECode chairman and Senior Director, Product Security and Trusted Engineering for EMC.

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Network World Tim Greene

Is Microsoft Corporation Software Safe Enough? – Bidness ETC

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Bidness ETC

Is Microsoft Corporation Software Safe Enough?
Bidness ETC
The Flame malware attacks in 2012 caused the company to lose trust in Microsoft's security updates. More recently, Sony Pictures Entertainment and Target Corporation became targets of data hacks, both of which use Microsoft's products. The former had …

and more »

flame malware – read more

Misguided House bill could make cars less safe

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Car owners could face more danger from hackers if a draft bill (pdf) by the House Energy and Commerce Committee (HECC) becomes law. The law would make independent oversight of the electronic safety of motor vehicles a crime subjecting well intentioned security researchers to a $ 100,000 fine per instance. Today’s cars have 200 – 400 microcontrollers and microprocessors in them making the access of each an individual offense subject to fines that could add up to millions.

The security flaws of the Jeep Grand Cherokee were exposed this summer by security researchers Charlie Miller and Chris Valasek who were able to shut down the vehicle during operation by cracking the Wi-Fi password. The risks of huge fines would stop researchers from exposing critical motor vehicle vulnerabilities but it would not stop hackers with malicious intentions from invading vehicle control systems.

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Network World Security