Stardate 20010615.1222 (On Screen): I sometimes think that all high-tech companies should have a VP of Paranoia, whose department looks at every new proposal in the company and tries to figure out all the ways it can be used for evil. For example, some brilliant person managed to design a cell phone in Japan which, deliberately or inadvertantly, permits received email to
take over the phone and do "interesting" things. It's not clear if this is a buffer overflow or a case of hostile email taking advantage of a feature, and in either case it's inexcusable.
Or take the wireless keyboard. The guys designing this gem seem to not have bothered to incorporate encryption in the RF link, which means that anyone nearby can "listen" to all the keystrokes being sent to the computer, including such things as login names and passwords. This can be done through walls, at quite a distance with the proper equipment. Even more impressive, it means that the bad guys can beam keystrokes in through the wall and operate the computer remotely. (Good work, guys! The world is a safer place now for your efforts.) (discuss)
