Tag Archives: security

Malware? Not here.

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So several people (all using Chrome) have now alerted me that they’re getting this alert when they navigate to www.denimandtweed.com:

Screencap courtesy Tim Vines.

Here’s what seems to be going on. That “known malware distributor” site, www.imachordata.com is Jarrett Byrnes‘s blog — apparently it’s been hacked, and Jarrett hasn’t been able to clean it up yet.

Why does this generate an alert for Denim and Tweed? I believe it’s because somewhere (probably multiple places), D&T links to imachordata.com — both because I’ve linked to posts there, and because Jarrett has commented here. However, so far as I can tell, there’s no malware on www.denimandtweed.com. Both an independent scan of the site by Sucuri and Google’s “Safe Browsing” diagnostic give www.denimandtweed.com a clean bill of health.

If anyone has further information, or some idea what I ought to do beyond these checks, please let me know in the comments. (I haven’t been able to replicate the warning message on any browser.) If imachordata.com isn’t cleaned up soon, maybe I’ll have to find and purge the links to it.◼

Security theater

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Photo by nedrichards.

Under the guidance of security expert Bruce Schneier, Jeffrey Goldberg goes on a quest to see what he can and can’t take through airport security. It’s simultaneously funny, sad, and worrying:

… because I have a fair amount of experience reporting on terrorists … I’ve amassed an inspiring collection of al-Qaeda T-shirts, Islamic Jihad flags, Hezbollah videotapes, and inflatable Yasir Arafat dolls (really). All these things I’ve carried with me through airports across the country. I’ve also carried, at various times: pocketknives, matches from hotels in Beirut and Peshawar, dust masks, lengths of rope, cigarette lighters, nail clippers, eight-ounce tubes of toothpaste (in my front pocket), bottles of Fiji Water (which is foreign), and, of course, box cutters. I was selected for secondary screening four times—out of dozens of passages through security checkpoints—during this extended experiment. At one screening, I was relieved of a pair of nail clippers; during another, a can of shaving cream.

The piece is a perfect encapsulation of how absurd airport security has become – all about making passengers feel like they’ve had a hard time getting to the plane, so we know terrorists would have to take their shoes off. Which would totally stop me, were I a terrorist.

via kottke.org

School shooting defused peacefully

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Yesterday, in Willoughby, Ohio, a student brought a gun to school – and, instead of calling in the SWAT team, the principal and assistant principal confronted him and talked him down.

“Our gut told us that the young man did not want to hurt us, but he may in fact be ready to hurt himself very soon,” Lyons told NPR’s “All Things Considered” in an interview broadcast this afternoon. “Panic mode did set in a bit, but we then said to ourselves, ‘what are we going to do to keep this young man safe?'” Lyons said that he and the principal drew on years of experience working with kids, and, when the student threatened suicide, Lyons actually told him about his memories of a high school friend who had killed himself.

Not only is this an example of incredible bravery, it demonstrates that a peaceful response to a violent situation takes more nerve and creativity than simply resorting to force. I have a t-shirt with that message, but Lyons and his fellow administrator lived it yesterday.