2006.12.25
The Capacitor Plague Hits a Baby Monitor
Good baby monitors are hard to come by.
Many tend to be oversensitive, others switch from squelch mode to
transmission with a loud hiss that is more irritating than a baby's
cry.
We were very satisfied with a Tomy Walkabout Digital
1998 baby monitor, until the day it started emitting a squeaking
sound.
Continue reading "The Capacitor Plague Hits a Baby Monitor"Last modified: Monday, December 25, 2006 12:41 am
2006.12.21
The Escape of a Small Program
C. A. R. Hoare's
Law of Large Programs states that
inside every large program is a small program struggling to get out.
The parking receipt I got yesterday returning from a
SQO-OSS meeting proves this fact.
Continue reading "The Escape of a Small Program"Last modified: Thursday, December 21, 2006 10:59 am
2006.12.15
Cracking Software Reuse
[Newton] said, "If I have seen further than others, it is because I've stood on the shoulders of giants." These days we stand on each other's feet!
— Richard Hamming
Sometimes we encounter ideas that inspire us for life. For me, this was a Unix command pipeline I came across in the '80s:
Continue reading "Cracking Software Reuse"Last modified: Friday, December 15, 2006 12:31 am
2006.12.13
Secure Passports and IT Problems
In 2003 Greece, in response to new international requirements for secure travel documents, revised the application process and contents of its passports. From January 1st 2006 passports are no longer issued by the prefectures, but by the police, and from August 26th passports include an RFID chip. The new process has been fraught with problems; many of these difficulties stem from the IT system used for issuing the passports.
On December 12th, the Greek Ombudsman
(human rights section) issued a special 22-page report on the problems of the new passport issuing process.
The report is based on 43 official citizen complaints.
Continue reading "Secure Passports and IT Problems"Last modified: Wednesday, December 13, 2006 1:25 pm
2006.12.01
(Not) Hacking the Digipass Go 3 OTP Dongle
My bank moved to two factor authentication solution, and thus required me to purchase
from them a Digipass Go 3 dongle in order to authenticate my transactions.
To register my dongle I keyed-in a five-digit code they gave me,
and also the key's serial number appearing on its back.
Given that Go 3 utilizes an
open authentication framework,
and a published algorithm
for generating the one time password (OTP), could I utilize the key and the
numbers I keyed in, for using the key in my own applications, of for cloning
the dongle in my mobile phone or palmtop?
Continue reading "(Not) Hacking the Digipass Go 3 OTP Dongle"Last modified: Friday, December 1, 2006 12:19 am