Sean Michael Kerner

WASHINGTON — Hacking Apple Mac OS X is no easy task. Just ask security researcher Vincenzo Iozzo. Iozzo today delivered a session on Mac OS X hacking here at the Black Hat security conference, where he attempted to show how he had developed a new vulnerability that allows for a hacker to executes arbitrary code […]

From the ‘information is just flying through the air‘ files: WASHINGTON — One of the sessions I was really looking forward to ahead of the Black Hat DC event this year was Adam Laurie’s session titled – Satellite Hacking for Fun and Profit. It’s a session that didn’t disappoint, Laurie is always entertaining, but it […]

From the ‘do you know what your browser is storing‘ files: WASHINGTON DC. With or without your knowledge your web browser is storing information that could end up leaving you at risk – maybe. That’s the gist of a presentation by security researcher Michael Sutton delivered at the Black Hat conference. Browsers today store data […]

WASHINGTON — Is it time for the U.S. to develop “cyberweapons”? Paul Kurtz thinks so. A former cybersecurity and homeland security expert for the Clinton and Bush White Houses blasted the current state of U.S. network defenses during a keynote here at the Black Hat security conference, arguing that the country’s efforts are both poorly […]

From the ‘think SSL is secure?‘ files: WASHINGTON D.C We all rely on SSL and HTTPS to secure our web transactions. That’s why Moxie Marlinspike’s session at Black Hat DC on SSL/HTTPS attacks just blew my mind and has me ‘concerned’ to say the least. Marlinspike demonstrated how a new tool he has developed called […]

From the ‘I told you so‘ files. There is news out today about a ‘new’ IE 7 flaw. The ‘funny’ thing is Microsoft itself predicted such an IE 7 exploit flaw with its Patch Tuesday advisory last week.  Microsoft’s own Exploitability Index pegged the flaw as a number 1 which means that the flaw can […]

From the ‘knowledge is power‘ files: WASHINGTON. Black Hat events are often times when new security exploits are reported and discussed. For me this year, at the Black Hat DC event which kicks off tomorrow (for the Briefings, training is on today), I see a lot of reasons to be very optimistic. Sure there is […]

Over time, software applications grow, sometimes becoming so complex that one hand of the enterprise doesn’t have a grip or know what the other hand is doing to track how the application is laid out. In the collaborative environment that under-girds open source software development, getting a grip on the project’s architecture — or tracking […]

From the ‘time flies‘ files: It was just over a year ago that this blog (Netstat-vat) was launched. Time sure does fly. Officially launched on February 8, 2008 – this blog has had over 400 posts and over 1,100 comments over the last 53 weeks. It’s been a great ride. First off I want to […]

Red Hat and Microsoft, the erstwhile operating system rivals, are teaming up on a virtualization interoperability deal between Microsoft’s Windows Server and Red Hat’s Enterprise Linux. The arrangement marks a new level of cooperation between Windows and Linux-based systems. The pact will enable Microsoft Windows Servers 2008 and 2003 to run as a supported, guest […]

From the ‘while you were on vacation‘ files: Red Hat and Microsoft have entered into a support and certification deal for each others virtualization technologies. Red Hat Enterprise Linux will now be a supported guest on Windows Server 2008 running Microsoft’s Hyper-V virtualization. Microsoft Windows Server on the other side will now be a supported […]

From the ‘to WWW or not to WWW‘ files: It’s always a bit of a mystery to figure out if it matters whether or not you need to use ‘www’ in front of a domain name or not. That is www.example.com or just example.com. Sometimes one will refer to the other and in some cases […]