Tuesday, October 11. 2005
And they don't even have the Patriot Act
Daniel Cuthbert was a Security Consultant at ABN Ambro and lecturer on Computer Security at Westminster and Royal Holloway universities. While making a donation for Tsunami Relief on New Year's Eve, he became concerned that the website he had just donated to might be a fraud site. He tried two simple tests, using his Mac and Safari Web Browser, to see of the site he had just given his credit card info to might have been hacked. Satisfied that he was safe, he stopped.
He has now lost his job and been convicted of violating England's Computer Misuse Act.
This incredible overreaction and use of a blunt instrument will make any security researcher think twice about cooperating in any police investigation - just running a simple test, using a web browser, can now result in felony convictions. A perfect example of how ignorance of the technical aspects of computer security can completely foul up any attempt to provide real protection. And America's Patriot Act is a much larger, much heavier instrument than the CMA.
He has now lost his job and been convicted of violating England's Computer Misuse Act.
This incredible overreaction and use of a blunt instrument will make any security researcher think twice about cooperating in any police investigation - just running a simple test, using a web browser, can now result in felony convictions. A perfect example of how ignorance of the technical aspects of computer security can completely foul up any attempt to provide real protection. And America's Patriot Act is a much larger, much heavier instrument than the CMA.
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