Author: Justin Lane

Today, Black Hat 2013 is wrapping up in Las Vegas, concluding a week of presentations on security and technology. Two presentations, in particular, were important to note because of the potential direct effect their subject matter can have on the lives of their users. The first, a vulnerability in pacemakers that allows the device to be disabled from distance. The second, a talk on the ways hackers are, and can, work with the FDA to safely and securely disclose vulnerabilities that they find in medical equipment. Technology is infecting the medical industry. That cannot be denied. WiFi compatible pills...

Earlier this week, Fox News aired an interview of religious scholar, Dr. Reza Aslan. The interview was supposed to be about his new book “Zealot: The Life and Times of Jesus of Nazareth”. Instead, the interview was about his motives as a Muslim, for authoring the book. In the days that followed the interview, news sources and forums across the nation discussed the interviewer’s, Lauren Green’s, tactics and utter refusal to address the issues and arguments raised in the text. Instead, the interviewer chose to focus on his religious background. It was an obvious attempt to stir controversy and...

Today, over 100 billion emails will be sent. Over 6 billion text messages will be received. The government is still tracking your metadata. Companies are violating human rights. Congressmen are embroiled in scandals. The world spins onward. And we’re in the middle of a silent war. A war that is rarely, if ever, discussed in the papers. It doesn’t get mentioned on the nightly news. It crosses all borders and, yet, you cannot see “it”. It’s the new war of escalation and some are even going so far as to call it the “New Cold War”. What they are...

Technology monolith, Apple Inc., finds itself in yet another scandal over ethical and international human rights violations committed by its suppliers and manufacturers of the new iPhone. Numerous rumors are buzzing around the internet, speculating that the new iPhone will be made of plastic and cheaper than previous models. Unfortunately, those reporting on the technical revelations surrounding the device are missing the gravity and seriousness of the second scandal in Apple’s overseas supply chain. Last year, scandals broke out surrounding a member of Apple’s supply chain: Foxconn. The company was exposed by a series of reports to have deplorable...

On Tuesday, the fate of Bradley Manning will be handed down from a military court. The original charges against him included a listing of enemies that Manning had, allegedly, aided. The third name on the list was classified. At some point during the proceeding, the government dropped the charge of aiding the undisclosed enemy. Earlier, Democratic Senator Carl Levin of Michigan requested that the Department of Defense provide him with the names of the entities that are currently affiliated with al Qaeda. His request was answered privately but when asked by ProPublica about the exchange, the Senator responded that they...