Full Disclosure

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Full Disclosure and the Boston Farecard Hack

This preference for secrecy comes from confusing a vulnerability with information about that vulnerability. Using secrecy as a security measure is fundamentally fragile. It assumes that the bad guys don’t do their own security research. It assumes that no one else will find the same vulnerability. It assumes that information won’t leak out even if the research results are suppressed. These assumptions are all incorrect.

The problem isn’t the researchers; it’s the products themselves. Companies will only design security as good as what their customers know to ask for. Full disclosure helps customers evaluate the security of the products they buy, and educates them in how to ask for better security. The Dutch court got it exactly right when it wrote: “Damage to NXP is not the result of the publication of the article but of the production and sale of a chip that appears to have shortcomings.”

Just Do It?

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The question asked at incoherently scattered ponderings: Why would anyone want to get a PhD in sciences?

[T]he bottom line is that 10 years later non-PhD path can provide on the order of 0.5 million more in earnings than the PhD path. And one could argue that the career options after completing PhD and 1 or 2 postdocs are still quite bleak.

No, a PhD doesn’t get you more money. What it tends to get you is interesting work — there are opportunities that become possible with a doctorate that won’t be there without treading that path.

Meme, Too!

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Jennifer has started the great pop-sci book project, a natural evolution (and yet intelligently designed progression) of The Big Read

The rules are familiar

1. Highlight those you’ve read in full
2. Asterisk those you intend to read
3. Add any additional popular science books you think belong on the list
4. Link back to me (leave links or suggested additions in the comments, if you prefer) so I can keep track of everyone’s additions. Then we can compile it all into one giant “Top 100” popular science books list, with room for honorable mentions. (I, for one, have some quirky choices in the list below.) Voila! We’ll have awesome resource for general readers interested in delving into the fascinating world of science!

I don’t read tremendous amount of pop-sci, and not much in physics since A Brief History of Time, as I’ve gone to grad school since then and really don’t need much prose on how weird quantum mechanics and relativity are. (I had to put my foot down on getting pop-sci books as gifts after getting a pop-up book of cosmology; I felt a bit like John Cleese in a Monty Python sketch

Do you like your rattle? Do you like your rattle?
Ah, yes, the rattle.
Ooh, he’s talkin’ already
Of course I can talk, I’m the Minister for Overseas Development

But I digress.)
Continue reading →

Fly Me

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21 Funny Airline Announcements

“In the event of a sudden loss of cabin pressure, masks will descend from the ceiling. Stop screaming, grab the mask, and pull it over your face. If you have a small child traveling with you, secure your mask before assisting with theirs. If you are traveling with more than one small child, pick your favorite.”