Cipher Issue 111, November 19, 2012, Editor's Letter

Dear Readers,

For the 2012 winter issue of Cipher we have a book review from Richard Austin covering the arcane subject of penetration testing. This is a white hat activity that draws on black hat knowledge, and its elevation to a profession makes it worthy of an interesting book.

In the popular press we have been reading about the odd attempt of the US CIA head to achieve communications security through the obscurity of a Gmail account's draft folder. This weak subterfuge proved to be his professional undoing. The Internet seems alluringly opaque, but privacy is largely an illusion. Information escapes confinement like tunneling quanta.

Cybersecurity is a growing field, and this issue of Cipher lists several academic institution's openings for faculty members. The size and number of conferences is ever increasing, and there are prestigious venues for publication in every month of the year. Submit a paper, attend a conference, keep up with a field that pervades our modern lives.

Be thankful for your servers that haven't been hacked,

      Hilarie Orman