Exposed Sender ID Patents Up Debate
48803
Now that Microsoft&#39;s (Quote, Chart) two patent efforts regarding e-mail authentication are publicly available, anti-spam advocates are raising even more questions about how the patents might impact an industry-wide anti-spam protocol effort called Sender
296597
How significant is the US Patent and Trademark Office&#39;s initial rejection of Microsoft&#39;s FAT (file allocation table) file system patent claims?
713369
GNUCitizen is describing an apparent vulnerability that could use VoIP to trick people into revealing personal data.
671272
Microsoft this month is moving forward with the developer implementation of its anti-spam Sender ID framework, but open-source advocates and mail vendors doubt whether the software giant&#39;s new proposed license meets open-source requirements.
443930
(InfoWorld) - The widely reported dispute between security firm IOActive and secure card maker HID has raised awareness about the risks associated with RFID proximity cards and may prompt DHS warnings to government agencies about use of the technology. Representatives from IOActive, Black Hat, the ACLU, and the U.S. Department of Homeland Security laid bare the vulnerabilities inherent in the popular proximity cards and debated with a HID representative at a panel discussion about RFID vulnerabilities that was part of the Black Hat Federal security conference. While the discussion did little to resolve the disagreements over the cancellation of a planned RFID hacking session, the publicity around the incident may prompt greater scrutiny of RFID security in the public and private spheres, panel members agreed. The panel discussion at Black Hat followed an abbreviated version of a presentation on RFID security by Chris Paget, director of research and development at IOActive. IOActive said on Tuesday that it was pulling its presentation under threat of legal action from HID, which claimed that Paget's discussion of methods for creating an RFID cloning device would violate two HID patents on RFID technology. After discussing RFID technology at a high level and possible security concerns arising from RFID, Paget informed the audience that he couldn't discuss those vulnerabilities further. Instead, he presented a number of slides that excerpted a letter from HID's attorneys and that seemed to suggest that HID had demanded IOActive not present any information at Black Hat. The slides ran contrary to an HID statement late Tuesday that said the company never demanded that Paget cancel his talk. "HID Global did not threaten IOActive or Chris Paget, its Director of Research and Development, to stop its presentation at the Black Hat event being held in Washington, DC on Wednesday, February 28, 2007. HID Global, acting in the best interests of its customers worldwide, simply informed IOActive and its management of the patents that currently protect HID Global intellectual property," the e-mail statement read. Mike Davis, director of intellectual property at HID, defended that position and the company's efforts to suppress the presentation of schematics and source code concerning its RFID proximity cards. In sometimes testy exchanges with Paget and Dan Kaminsky of IOActive and in comments to InfoWorld after the panel, Davis said that his company was "ambushed" by IOActive and never threatened to sue Paget or IOActive. "We never intended to sue IOActive," Davis said, noting that the company only became aware of the issue on the 14th after Paget contacted them in an e-mail but took a week to formulate a response. Differences between the free-wheeling IT security community and a more closed physical security industry may be partially to blame, according to Joe Grand, a security researcher at Grand Idea Studio. "Hardware companies are generally not involved in the security process, so they don't know anything about disclosure. So their response is, 'Let's throw down the hammer,'" he said. While the specifics of the dispute between HID and IOActive are shrouded by legal maneuvers, there was general agreement that insecure RFID deployments are a big problem that needs to be addressed soon. "RFID is not a new technology. It's been around for decades, but its going mainstream," Grand said. In a wide-ranging panel discussion that followed Paget, Nicole Ozer, an attorney with the ACLU; Black Hat director Jeff Moss; Mike Witt, a Deputy Director of U.S. CERT (Computer Emergency Readiness Team), and security researchers Kaminsky and Grand said the right of independent security researchers to investigate problems like the vulnerabilities in RFID proximity cards was critical to protect. Witt of DHS said that U.S. CERT said that DHS often serves as an intermediary between researchers and companies, especially when there is a concern about legal dangers in outing security holes. The agency generally gives companies 45 days to respond to reports of serious security holes in their products, he said. U.S. CERT is now working with both IOActive and HID to investigate the issue and may issue a vulnerability notice concerning the security flaws in HID proximity cards, said Mike Witt, a deputy director of U.S. CERT. Witt said that use of HID proximity cards was widespread in the government, but he didn't say whether DHS used the vulnerable RFID proximity cards. Ozer of the ACLU said that HID's efforts to suppress discussion of flaws in its RFID proximity cards may have the opposite effect: stirring discussion about the vulnerable cards, which are often used to access buildings, data centers, and other sensitive facilities. With RFID technology working its way into passports and drivers licenses, U.S. citizens need to be sure that the documents they are required to carry are not vulnerable to cloning or data theft, Ozer said.
130762
New antispam technology standards are on the way that promise to hit spammers where it hurts the most--their wallets. At issue is the ability to authenticate the original source of e-mail messages, a major
667187
Big companies exploring ways to verify identities online
457601
Updated: The Internet giant plans to fight spam by implementing the industry-standard Sender Policy Framework instead, citing tepid support for Sender ID in the open-source community.
258462
The Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF) has turned down Microsoft&#39;s technical contribution to the Sender ID proposal. A combination of Microsoft&#39;s Caller ID and a domain authentication scheme devised by
243471
Deal masks an interest in controversial digital content distribution patents?
690179
America Online Inc. has decided not to fully support Microsoft's Sender ID spam-fighting plan citing intellectual property concerns from the Internet Engineering Task Force and the open-source community.
292161
Ziff Davis - Sender ID's license is making it impossible for open-source programmers to use it in their e-mail applications.
96829
Some people have started using registered e-mail systems to prove that specific documents were sent or received.
184683
A effort by a Seattle company at Black Hat DC to demo a device that easily hacks data from a popular RFID-based ID card system has been met by a patent-infringement claim. Meanwhile, legislators attempt to wrap laws around the security issues.
460556
So much for Microsoft&#39;s Can-Spam proposal. Now you can add America Online to the growing list of ventures who&#39;ve rejected a Microsoft-patent-encumbered and lawsuit-challenged anti-spam standard, Sender ID.
458139
The dangers of software patents for free software have always been a hot issue.  But with the news that Red Hat and Novell are being sued for alleged patent infringement by IP Innovation, the matter has moved from theory into practice.  In fact, in the battle against software patents, it turns out that the open source world already has a rather powerful weapon in its armoury â even if it's one that few people know about. read more
556000
Leading ISPs, anti-spam vendors, and e-mail software companies are moving quickly to add support for the Microsoft-backed anti-spam technology standard Sender ID, even as some e-mail experts raise doubts that the technology will work.