Cipher Issue 109, July 23, 2012, Editor's Letter

If you are worried about your WiFi network, Richard Austin's book review this month can guide you to some insights and helpful strategies.

If you are worried about spam email, you might take some comfort in knowing that there is a 17% reprieve due to a skillfully planned takedown of a major botnet. If you are reading this, you do not have to worry about the "DNSchanger" software that perverted the mapping from names to Internet addresses.

It is interesting to note that both the botnet and DNS threats were removed by large-scale coordinated efforts involving security experts and Internet asset controllers. We have moved far beyond end user solutions, and security is now a global effort.

If you want to learn more about the present and future of security from the researchers who develop defenses and secure designs, try attending one or more of the workshops or conferences as part of your summer vacation.


      Visit the Internet, a place where there is no there,

      Hilarie Orman