From: IN%"educom@educom.unc.edu" 1-AUG-1996 17:11:49.07 To: IN%"edupage@elanor.oit.unc.edu" "EDUCOM Edupage Mailing List"
***************************************************************** Edupage, 1 August 1996. Edupage, a summary of news about information technology, is provided three times a week as a service by Educom, a Washington, D.C.-based consortium of leading colleges and universities seeking to transform education through the use of information technology. *****************************************************************
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CELLULAR PHONE COMPANIES FIGHT CLONING To fight the illegal practice called "cloning," cellular telephone carriers will be adopting new "smart phone" technology intended to foil high-tech criminals by matching calls with encoded passwords. In cloning, pirates use portable scanners and computers to intercept the cellular phone user's phone and serial numbers as they are being broadcast to a transmitting tower or "cell site." The new digital phones will contain a non-clonable ''smart cards'' that encrypt the identifying information to prevent scanners from eavesdropping or cloning the customer's telephone number. (San Jose Mercury News 1 Aug 96)
It sounds like the "smart cards" will have some chip oddities to try to prevent reading them - something in TCMay's department. I do wonder whether they're going to have one key for all of them, or differing keys for each user. If the former, then cracking one (which I get the impression is quite possible) equals cracking all, of course.
G7 LEADERS & THE INTERNET Experts on electronic communications said ideas presented by G7 leaders for fighting terrorism by restricting access to the Internet are "naive and probably unworkable" because there are too many ways to circumvent censorship on the Net to believe regulation could prevent terrorists from using the technology for communications. (Toronto Globe & Mail 1 Aug 96 A4)
Yes... although it could be rather inconvenient.
CANADIAN SERVICE PROVIDERS TACKLE OBJECTIONABLE MATERIAL Canadian access providers are developing guidelines for dealing with potentially objectionable material and have set up a code of conduct committee, with goals that include establishing guidelines members can use to determine if information stored on their servers is illegal. (Toronto Globe & Mail 1 Aug 96 B1)
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CERTIFIED WEB SITES The National Computer Security Association in Carlisle, PA., will certify that a Web site meets minimum security specifications, including the presence of firewalls, use of passwords, and encryption of sensitive data transmission. Certifications costs $8500 a year and requires that the site submit to remote tests, an NCSA site visit, and random compliance audits. (Computerworld 29 Jul 96 p2)
One hopes that the level of encryption will be required to be above single DES, at least...
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