Comments on: facepalm

By: Hanne Klintoe

Hanne Klintoe — Fri, 06 Mar 2009 20:49:44 +0000

What Dave said. For sure.

– The World’s Greatest Hazard.

By: MJ

MJ — Tue, 17 Feb 2009 06:09:17 +0000

I tend to prefer *headdesk* to *facepalm*, but hey, it’s your blog.

By: Nathan

Nathan — Tue, 17 Feb 2009 04:06:57 +0000

I read the article before reading your comments on it, and I have to say it didn’t really offend me that much. Kevin Mitnick may be a media whore, but that doesn’t change the fact that he’s highly accomplished as a malicious hacker (‘cracker’?). I think it’s unfair to assume that when he refers to a malicious website that he means the same dime-a-dozen, fire-and-forget phishing emails you and I get every day. Clearly if a malicious website were to be used for this it would be something custom-designed. An attacker would surely, after compromising the machine of someone on the President’s whitelist, spend time snooping on their communication. They might be able to determine exactly what kind of device and browser the President uses and tailor an exploit to it, as well as effectively using social engineering against him. This kind of thing is in a totally different league from the kind of ‘attacks’ you or I, or your grandma, have to deal with.

That being said, I would be very surprised if Obama hasn’t got a security expert on staff somewhere who has already taken steps to guard against this scenario and other attacks. And as the article points out, (a) he probably doesn’t keep any classified information on his mobile, and (b) if he does, it’s surely kept under serious encryption.

By: Steve

Steve — Mon, 16 Feb 2009 14:58:47 +0000

Clearly, it couldn’t have happened to Bush and would never happen to McCain- they’re much more careful about the internets… (yes, they didn’t have Blackberrys, but the principle of this basic stupidity would work with any computer).

~Steve

By: Dave Jacob Hoffman

Dave Jacob Hoffman — Mon, 16 Feb 2009 13:55:17 +0000

Here’s my plan: Follow Obama around (secretly!), and when he accidentally drops his blackberry (or leaves it in a cab!), GRAB IT! Then we can put all the naked pictures he’s taken of himself on the internet!