Police to probe phone hack claims

[formercia]

Source: BBC

The police are to examine claims of a mobile phone hacking operation by the News of the World, which is alleged to have targeted thousands of people.

The Guardian says News of the World reporters paid private investigators to hack into phones, many of them owned by politicians and celebrities.

It is alleged details were suppressed by the police and the High Court.

Metropolitan Police Commissioner Sir Paul Stephenson has ordered a senior officer to "establish the facts".

Read more: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/8142047.stm

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Still trust your cell phone?

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=385&topic_id=331665&mesg_id=331665

[dipsydoodle]

1. trust your cell phone?

I've got a life and rarely use mine.

[formercia]

2. Follow the link.

and watch the video clip.

[dipsydoodle]

3. I'd seen that before when you posted it.

We'd already had a live demonstration here in the UK on TV, well before that clip, at one of our mainline railway stations to demonstrate what was possible and how it was done.

Of what possible interest me 'phoning my daughter on the way back from dancing to make some coffee could be to anyone else defeats me.

[midnight]

4. I wonder what hole this will fall down. Cuz we have the patriot act.

[Lone_Star_Dem]

5. No need to probe Murdoch paper hacking claims: police

"No additional evidence has come to light since this case has concluded. I therefore consider that no further investigation is required," Assistant Commissioner John Yates told reporters.

http://www.reuters.com/article/newsOne/idUSL95447920090709

[autorank]

6. Confirmation

Here's a great story of how a few very bright people literally saved the internet. In the story, these highly
knowledgeable people decided on secure communication:

Paul Vixie, one of the creators of the most widely used DNS software, stepped out of a conference in San Jose. A curious email had just popped up on his laptop. A guy named Kaminsky said he'd found a serious flaw in DNS and wanted to talk. He sent along his phone number.

Vixie had been working with DNS since the 1980s and had helped solve some serious problems over the years. He was president of the Internet Systems Consortium, a nonprofit that distributed BIND 9, his DNS software. At 44, he was considered the godfather of DNS. If there was a fundamental error in DNS, he probably would have fixed it long ago.

But to be on the safe side, Vixie decided to call Kaminsky. He picked up immediately and within minutes had outlined the flaw. A series of emotions swept over Vixie. What he was hearing shouldn't be possible, and yet everything the kid said was logical. By the end of the third minute, Vixie realized that Kaminsky had uncovered something that the best minds in computer science had overlooked. This affected not just BIND 9 but almost all DNS software. Vixie felt a deep flush of embarrassment, followed by a sense of pure panic.

"The first thing I want to say to you," Vixie told Kaminsky, trying to contain the flood of feeling, "is never, ever repeat what you just told me over a cell phone."

Wired 11/24/08
http://www.wired.com/techbiz/people/magazine/16-12/ff_kaminsky?currentPage=1