Scary Things

While waiting for my iPod to sync . . .

A look at the world of news outside sports that should scare the bejezus out of some fans and some adminstrators.

First up, the hacking of Sarah Palin's email account. Very cute. Done with anonymizer software. Posted with screen names. Ha, ha, ha, says the blogger. Until the FBI arrives. Guess what? Within 24 hours, the cyber division had a person of interest, knew exactly what computer was used through what local ISP to perform the hack, post the data and brag about the reveal.

What have I told my friends in the blogosphere over and over (and my colleagues who often try to dip their toes in anonymously) ? There is no such thing as anonymous, just degrees of secrecy.

That said, next up is the hot new product for trying to Hack Sarah Palin (sounds like a teen movie title, doesn't it?). The Iron Key is a USB device with advanced encryption, a secure browser and claims to be able to allow users the ability to surf anonymously. Either this $75 USB key is one heck of a ripoff for a 1 GB of storage, or a huge threat to everyone that must deal with the public with transparency.

Last of all, the rise of hacktivism -- which is what the person or persons who went into Palin's email would call themselves. Bill O'Reilly's website got hacked, and personal data of the users of the site were revealed. There's much more on this from ZDNet, but it reminds those of us in the public sector of the data we need to protect, and the lengths to which the upset will go to achieve their ends.