Forensics at home 

Lately, I was alerted that all pictures on the digital camera in our home had been accidentally deleted. The last transfer of pictures from the memory card to a stationary computer had been two months ago, so there were a lot of pictures at stake. The camera had been shut down immediately when the deletion […]

Just in time 

This week was the deadline for most applications for funding from the Norwegian Research Council (Forskningsrådet). I was tasked with taking care of all necessary files for a larger application in our information security group. Several people had collaborated for weeks on the application, and I had made continuous re-submissions of the application to ensure […]

Paper accepted for presentation at D-A-CH Security 2011 

I have been notified that my paper has been accepted for presentation at D-A-CH Security 2011. It is titled „Kostengünstiger Datenschutz auf USB-Sticks“ and based on results of a B.Sc. thesis completed this spring. Co-authors are Knut Borg, Øystein Nilsen, and Rune Søbye.

M.Sc. thesis topics for 2012 

I offer several topics for M.Sc. students in our Master in Information Security programme, most of them in cooperation with industrial partners. Here are six topics I presented at our internal seminar last week: Survey of Trusted Path and Logging+Audit Support in Operating Systems Cross-Platform Evaluation of App Hardening Security Architecture of a Home Automation […]

Interactive error message on unattended device 

I returned from vacation to Turkey this week. The AYT airport in Antalya uses a large number of public information screens to show advertisements, announcements, and security advice. A row of ca. ten screens in the front baggage screening area was not working properly. Instead of what they were supposed to be showing, the screens […]

Your students are your legacy 

Sometime this year I was clearing the pile of journals and magazines that had built up for months and years. I found an article by David Patterson on advising students. I liked it, and it can be found in the ACM digital library: Patterson, D. (2009). „Viewpoint: Your students are your legacy“. Communications of the […]

Using time registration in an academic environment 

„Your most valuable resource is time – that is true even today.“ It was one of the days I attended a lecture on complexity theory held by Prof. Lengauer, and he reminded his audience of how important it was to use our time as students (and after graduation) wisely. Of course, wisely meant that we should […]

Solving malware problems by adding hardware, again 

We in the security community tend to reach for hardware as the ultimate solution to securing systems against unwanted modification. Hardware cannot be manipulated by software.  Back in the time when I was young, or, more precisely, back in the time before I even was young, computers were running one program at a time, and that […]

How not to implement password authentication 

We use a software for employee self-service (ESS), e.g., for requesting remuneration of travel expenses at the college. It is web-based, allows to retrieve and modify personal information, and offers an interface to create and handle workflow items. Access to the system is protected, i.e., users have to authenticate themselves against the server.  Authentication is done by […]