comp527

I had a one character typo in the CGI script that managed course registrations. It’s now fixed and seems to be working. (I’ve used this same script for years, so of course, I didn’t think I needed to test it.)

All of you read about security issues every day, whether it’s in your newspaper, on Slashdot, or on more security-focused blogs like Freedom to Tinker or Bruce Schneier’s blog. Now’s your chance. As a participant in this class, I’m expecting you to be a part of the blogosphere. As the semester winds on, you may see some piece of news. Write a paragraph or two here about it. When somebody else posts here, feel free to comment on it.

What we’re really trying to get at is the security mindset; if you learn to look at the world through skeptical eyes, you’ll see problems everywhere. As an example: how good is the physical security of your dormitory? How long could somebody pretend to be a Rice student and get away with it? (Answer: longer than you’d think.) Or maybe you start using the latest new web service. Use a JavaScript debugger in your web browser, or maybe a packet sniffer, and have a look at how it works. Maybe you find a security vulnerability. Let us know. Over the course of the semester, each of you should make at least two posts here, and contribute in the comments of other posts as well. You can see what people posted last year to get a sense of how this works.

Of course, this is a public blog, and search engines will pick up what you write. Be polite and mature. Also, if you’ve discovered something where public disclosure might cause some heartburn, then make sure you talk to me first and we’ll make sure we handle things properly, hopefully avoiding any nasty lawsuits.

(Note, as an anti-spam measure, I need to bump you up from a newly registered “subscriber” to an “editor” before you’ll be allowed to post anything. You won’t be able to post immediately after you register.)

For all the details on this class, see the About Comp527 page. The most important information:

We meet Tuesdays and Thursdays, 2:30-4:00m, in Keck Hall 105 (Keck is next to Duncan Hall).

Your zeroth assignment:

• get yourself a username and password for this blog
• submit a username and password for access to our Subversion server
• fill out the class registration form

We (benza & chrisw) are proud to announce our final project proposal.

Or something like that. Discovery is doing a piece about our assignment and about the security of our elections this fall. Apparently, they want some video. If any of you are interested in helping out (and this would need to be before Thursday), you and your partner would demonstrate your Hack-a-Vote hacks. Look, you click here, and you can cast multiple votes. Look, you do this and it blows up. That sort of thing. The video would be owned by Rice, which means that it could well show up elsewhere, perhaps in a DVD trying to convince prospective undergrads to come here. You never know.

Anyway, if you’re interested in helping, please email David Ruth (druth –at– rice.edu).

At this point, I have eight of you signed into the blog, SVN, and my class registration. Hey, at least you’re all consistent. With more than that in class, that means some people are missing. Please register!

For those of you who have registered, I’ve “promoted” you to authors, so you should be able to start blogging now.

(If you’re actually just hanging out in the class but not taking it for credit, then please at least do the blog and the class registration. That will help me contact you in the event that we have, oh, a hurricane evacuation or something.)

For all the details on this class, see the About Comp527 page.  The most important information:

We meet Tuesdays and Thursdays, 2:30-4:00m, in Keck Hall 105 (Keck is next to Duncan Hall).  For our first meeting, we will break early so people can attend Stallman’s talk.

Your zeroth assignment:

• get yourself a username and password for this blog
• submit a username and password for access to our Subversion server
• fill out the class registration form