Den of Geek, Passwords, Frank, Ticket Touts and Peacocks

by Parsley on Sat, 2007/12/01 - 1:14am Post to Twitter

PARSLEY'S COMMLOCK
Internet tip : denofgeek.com
First I must declare an interest, as I'm a contributor to this new website. It's about all things cult TV, film, comics and more. It's produced mostly as a labour of love by people that are into that stuff the way Art Rockers are into music. Ian Gibson, 2000 AD comic artist, writes for it, as does Hammer horror starlet Ingrid Pitt. It features articles about things like The Mighty Boosh, Heroes and Doctor Who. You can even submit your own articles if you fancy. I've written about Space:1999, Madeline Smith and my Star Trek lounge so far...

IT News : Passwords on lost HMRC CDs
During the recent loss of 2 CDs containing the private data of everyone claiming child benefit, a reference was made to the CDs being password protected. It is known by those dealing with IT security that password protection no longer offers any real measure of security for data unless at some point you 'lock the user out' for failing to get their password right on several occasions. As CDs cannot spontaneously prevent someone from trying to guess the password then password protection served very little purpose.

The waters were further muddied by a reference to the CDs not having a 'strong' password. When requiring you to put in a password, several programmes rate the 'strength' of your attempt. Short passwords, or those that only use 'normal' 'alphanumeric' characters, are seen as not as strong. Microsoft advised that passwords entered on PCs should be at least 15 characters long to avoid a security weakness in 'LAN Manager' software still present in many environments. However, the implied idea that the CDs were only at risk because someone hadn't used a 'strong' password is laughable. Even the strongest of passwords can be cracked, and the CDs could easily be copied so that multiple high power computers could work round the clock till the code was found (if they needed too, although even that is doubtful). So the cracking of password protection is simply a matter of time, and with today's computers not much time at all.

One of the ways of securing access is by the use of constantly changing passwords in a system called 'secure ID'. You get given a key fob that is displaying a code on a small LCD. This is your password and it changes every minute. I heard Lloyds/TSB use it for their customers. This shows up the banks that keep pushing/telling us there is no risk with online transactions. I suspect they are simply looking at reducing their costs and driving transactions away from expensive branches. I hope someone will make them aware of the dangers and make them legally liable so that they will be less cavalier about the risks.

I do have to say that HMRC have been equally dismissive of security risks I raised when they encouraged me to enter returns online. It was also interesting to hear a classic phrase being wheeled out in subsequent support for ID cards: "I've got nothing to hide". If you have any bankcard you are contractually obliged to secure/hide your PIN number. If you don't hide it you have broken the terms of the contract, and if you lose money or have your identity stolen and mis-used you can have your credit rating damaged. I hope the criminals will come after the people who arrogantly proclaim that they think they have nothing to hide before they get to me.

Single Review : 'Frank' by Spilt Milk (myspace.com/happyrelease)
This sounds like a cross between the Housemartins and the Electric Shocks. The glockenspiel sound on it is a great way of 'lifting' music from a regular song into orchestral quality. There's also a nice drum bit at the end. It's going to be available on limited edition 7" vinyl and as a download (release date: 21st January '08). The band are based in Bromley, also famous for Paul Michael Glaser (Starsky in seventies TV cop show Starsky and Hutch) appearing in pantomime as Captain Hook.

Travel News : Ticket Touts
Changing trains at Liverpool Street the other day, an announcement warned me to be on the lookout for 'professional' ticket touts. I imagined that these are hard days indeed when our amateur ticket touts, who just fancy an opportunist 'couple of bob' on the side, are being squeezed out by the corporate touts giving the gentleman amateur a bad reputation...!

Christmas present tip : Peacocks
Loads of cool presents for a tenner or less at this clothes shop. Still using an iPod carry case with built in speaker I got from them last year.

parsley@gardenrecords.com [www.gardenrecords.com]