HOPE and Wiretap News

[John Young <jya@pipeline.com>]

NYT had a front page story yesterday on the HOPE meet. 
Featuring hack of NYC's Metrocard, with wry commentary
on new adventures "underground." A quote:

   Bruce Schneier, a highly regarded cryptography expert who
   spoke at the conference, said experience bad taught him
   that hackers often understood computer systems better than
   the engineers who designed them.

   "Hackers just have a much more holistic view," he said.

   Mr. Schneier, who is a consultant to Cubic on the
   next-generation Metrocard, said he believes someone will
   inevitably figure out a hack. "I believe that, fundamentally, 
   a system as complicated as the Metrocard
   cannot be absolutely secure," he said.

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See full report at:

   http://jya.com/beyond-hope2.htm

Aptly, with Bruce's emphasis at HOPE on the need for laws to 
punish computer criminals and to close the global jurisdictional 
gap so there's no refuge for outlaws, there's Markoff's report 
yesterday on a petition to the FCC opposing the FBI's digital 
wiretap plan:

   http://jya.com/tap-opp.htm