Author: David

Illegal Content and the Blockchain

David Leave a comment

2021-03-17 Bruce Schneier

Security researchers have recently discovered a botnet with a novel defense against takedowns. Normally, authorities can disable a botnet by taking over its command-and-control server. With nowhere to go for instructions, the botnet is rendered useless. But over the years, botnet designers have come up with ways to make this counterattack harder. Now the content-delivery network Akamai has reported on a new method: a botnet that uses the Bitcoin blockchain ledger. Since the blockchain is globally accessible and hard to take down, the botnet’s operators appear to be safe.

https://www.schneier.com/blog/archives/2021/03/illegal-content-and-the-blockchain.html

Also

https://www.wired.com/story/opinion-bitcoins-greatest-feature-is-also-its-existential-threat/

 

Most surgeries are ineffective

David Leave a comment

2021-01-21 Paras Chopra

surgery is different than medicine. All new pharmaceutical molecules are subjected to rigorous clinical trials where they’re tested against placebo or doing nothing. In many countries, there’s no such procedure for surgical treatments. If there is a procedure for new surgical procedures, nobody is testing old ones that have been getting performed every day without evidence.

https://invertedpassion.com/most-surgeries-are-ineffective/

On US Capitol Security — By Someone Who Manages Arena-Rock-Concert Security

David Leave a comment

2021-01-13 Bruce Schneier

There’s not ever going to be enough police or security at any event to stop people if they all act in unison; if enough people want to get to Vanilla Ice at the same time, they’re going to get to Vanilla Ice. Social constructs and basic decency, not lightweight security gates, are what hold everyone except the outliers back in a typical crowd.

https://www.schneier.com/blog/archives/2021/01/on-us-capitol-security-by-someone-who-manages-arena-rock-concert-security.html