Questions tagged [security]

Questions about security; as it applies to any vulnerable and valuable asset, such as a person, dwelling, community, nation, or organization.

Security

noun, plural: securities.

  1. freedom from danger, risk, etc.; safety.

  2. freedom from care, anxiety, or doubt; well-founded confidence.

  3. something that secures or makes safe; protection; defense.

  4. freedom from financial cares or from want. "The insurance policy gave the family security."

  5. precautions taken to guard against crime, attack, sabotage, espionage, etc. "claims that security was lax at the embassy; the importance of computer security to prevent hackers from gaining access."

  6. a department or organization responsible for protection or safety. "He called security when he spotted the intruder."

  7. protection or precautions taken against escape; custody. "The dangerous criminal was placed under maximum security."

  8. an assurance; guarantee.

  9. Law.
    a. something given or deposited as surety for the fulfillment of a promise or an obligation, the payment of a debt, etc.
    b. one who becomes surety for another.

  10. an evidence of debt or of property, as a bond or a certificate of stock.

  11. Usually, securities. stocks and bonds.

  12. Archaic. overconfidence; cockiness.

adjective

  1. of, relating to, or serving as security. "The company has instituted stricter security measures."
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Is closed-source code more secure than open-source?

My computing teacher told us that closed source software is more secure than open source software, because with open source "anyone can modify it and put stuff in." This is why they do not want to use open source alternatives for learning to…
Thomas O
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Are Americans more likely to be killed by vending machines than terrorist refugees?

The Financial Times did some analysis of Donald Trump's controversial immigration restrictions (which were claimed to be about protecting Americans from terrorism). They focus on analysing risk from refugees since (my emphasis): President Donald…
matt_black
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Does Sci-Hub use malware and phishing to obtain researchers' login credentials?

There is a new BBC article, Police warn students to avoid science website about Sci-Hub, a pirate site to circumvent paywalls on science journals. But Max Bruce, the City of London police's cyber protection officer, has urged universities to block…
user2316602
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The origin of "99 cents"

I've seen two competing theories on the origin of pricing products at $.99 (i.e. charging $19.99 instead of $20, of $5.99 instead of $6): Psychological pricing scheme used by retailers to make products seem one dollar…
Billy ONeal
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Does Melania Trump's security cost double the National Endowment for the Arts' budget?

This viral post was found at The Resistance with 16,000 shares in less 12 hours. It's from @chapmanchapman who seems to be commenting on Trump cutting the National Endowment for the Arts. The est. security cost for Melania living 200mi away from…
Evan Carroll
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Will unsubscribing from spam get you even more spam?

To quote Rick's Spam Digest: It’s just too likely that the spammer uses the “removal” feature as a means to compile lists of known-deliverable e-mail addresses, and you could simply wind up getting more spam for your trouble. Phil Bradley…
Oliver_C
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Does the "Nonstop Elevator Hack" work?

I stumbled across this claim pretty often in the last few years. Now the problem is that I wasn't able to reproduce it but maybe it was just because I rarely visit tall buildings with multiple floors (Or I did something completely wrong, which I…
Jutschge
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Were Facebook employees unable to enter their own building to fix router problems, during a recent (six hour) outage?

It's been somewhat mysteriously reported that FB employees couldn't fix some router (BGP) misconfiguration in a timely manner because "the people trying to figure out what this problem was couldn't even physically get into the building" to work out…
Fizz
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Do antivirus vendors write viruses for profit?

I think this forum post sums it up nicely: I think that anti virus companies [...] are the ones who develop most of the viruses on the market today. If you think about it, it does make sence because in order to make a good product, you need to make…
Sklivvz
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Do four random common words make a stronger password than passwords like "Tr0ub4dor&3"?

In xkcd comic #936, Randall Munroe claims that passwords like "Tr0ub4dor&3" (uncommon base word, caps, common letter substitutions with a number and punctuation suffix) has ~28 bits of entropy, while taking four random common words, like "correct…
user39173
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Is it possible to recover data on a zeroed hard drive?

Let's assume that I have a modern magnetic (not SSD) hard drive, manufactured within the past ten years, and the hard drive is packed with the only copies of an unpublished paper about cheap cold fusion written by a scientist who died in the fire…
Dietrich Epp
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Will entering the ATM's PIN in reverse notify the police?

I received a rather intriguing email. It says that if I am at an ATM and I'm in the process of getting robbed, I just enter my PIN in reverse order e.g. 4321 instead of 1234. The ATM will still give me the cash but it will notify the police. Is…
maltadolls
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Did US prohibit the export of the mere description of a cryptographic algorithm?

A Wikipedia page says that in the US regulations were introduced as part of munitions controls which required licenses to export cryptographic methods (and even their description) What concrete evidence is there that the US banned the export of…
Fizz
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Is anti-malware software effective?

I have heard claims that anti-malware software isn't really effective and will "only catch 33% of malware", and so it's best to "get rid of them; you don't have to pay, and your system will be faster". It is right here on my favorite blog, Coding…
Mateen Ulhaq
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Can mobile phones be tracked when they're switched off?

Seeing as mobile phones aren't sending signals when switched off, is it possible to track a mobile phone when it's switched off? NSA growth fueled by need to target terrorists By September 2004, a new NSA technique enabled the agency to find…
Jan Vladimir Mostert
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