NetAssassin.com

Intellectual Property protection, or “When you know you are doing real Information Security.”

Submitted by Francisco Artes on Wed, 01/25/2012 - 09:23
Hydra

You are about to read a blog on Anti-piracy.  But it isn’t “anti-piracy” in the way that SOPA, DMCA, etc. would make you believe.  Because let’s be honest for a second and admit to the simple fact “those aren’t anti-anything.”  Some of you are nodding, others are scratching their heads.  Let me explain this one point and then move into the focus of my blog.

Go checkout Gal's Blog!

Submitted by Francisco Artes on Mon, 01/09/2012 - 17:28
Gal Shpantzer

Go checkout Gal's recent posting on his blog site where he talks about Personnel Security and uses Warren Zevon's lyrics to "Lawyers, Guns, and Money" to make his point.  It's kind of briliant, and you can find it by clicking this amazing self-redirecting link  http://shpantzer.blogspot.com/2012/01/personnel-security-musical-journey.html

 

Still playing Skyrim...

Submitted by Francisco Artes on Thu, 12/01/2011 - 13:16
Skyrim

Bethesda:

 

Elder Scrolls has always rocked, and um - OMG I can't stop playing Skyrim.  But I think you need to issue a patch to the game that has this young lady singing the theme song, because to be quite honest it's more awesome than the version you have in the game.  That is all.  I will now go back to killing dragons and shouting at things.

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4z9TdDCWN7g  (My website is so cool if you just mouse over that little icon of a movie clip and hover it will launch a cool video applet and play it for you. No seriously it will... I spent a lot of time making that happen, so do it!)  Or you could just click the link.  Old-school is cool sometimes too.

 

MMO Security - Greed

Submitted by Francisco Artes on Tue, 11/15/2011 - 11:01
Greed

 

This is the third post in my series on MMO Security, and again it aims to bring attention to the methods used to take advantage of the masses.  My first story was about phishing, and how situational awareness can save you a lot of heartache.  While it's hard for those who do not dedicate time and energy into playing an MMO to understand the loss of digital intangible items, the average consumer on a good MMO plays forty (yes 40) hours per week.  That happens to be the same amount of time people work at a full-time job, and thus there is considerable emotional attachment to these intangible items.  That’s even before you start to realize the very tangible amounts of real world money they are worth.

What to do after an online service you use has been hacked

Submitted by Francisco Artes on Tue, 11/15/2011 - 08:42
phishing

I should be posting the next in my series of MMO security stories, but I thought I would take a moment and peck this little blog out to help the masses of interweb users.  You can buy me a chi tea as a thank-you some time.

Most recently Steam was hacked and accounts were compromised, which kind of got me thinking about writing this very blog post for like the umpteenth time.  Like normal, I saw the news fill my feeds with all manor of people congratulating themselves on resetting their passwords on the Steam service as soon as they heard.  Okay, I guess if it makes you feel better that was a good move.  Now no one can use your account to buy and download a new game… but you missed the mark a little bit and this happens with so many people regardless of what service was hacked.  Be it a bank, an online game service, a social network, etc.  Let’s take a step back for a minute and review some glaring realities that you probably are overlooking in your panic stricken moment. 

 

MMO Security - A Phishing Story

Submitted by Francisco Artes on Tue, 10/25/2011 - 20:48
phishing

 

This is the second in my series on MMO Gaming and Security.  The first post can be found within the Security Blogs on NetAssassin.com.  

My time making MMO games, securing them, and the future.

Submitted by Francisco Artes on Tue, 10/25/2011 - 17:59
UO Dragon Addition

People who have read my bio or that have seen my LinkedIn page know I worked at Electronic Arts (EA) for a very long time.  But I kind of don't go into a lot of what I did there, and some of that is for good reason.  But I thought it would be fun to start talking a bit about MMO gaming and security, and in doing so I want to tell some fun war stories from back in the day.  To get to that point, I will start with sharing a story on how I came to EA, the game I worked on (hint, the logo is this blog's picture), and give a little taste of the future MMO/gaming security stories to come.  Who knows, maybe this ends up turning into a tell-all book on the early days of MMORPG.

Convenience Vs. Security in iOS 5 (fun pranks!)

Submitted by Francisco Artes on Fri, 10/21/2011 - 12:48
iOS 5

A while ago I wrote a blog,iOS 5 final beta Review, where I not only gave out some features of iOS 5 but I also pointed out some fun pranks with some "features" I found handy in the new iOS.  Those being items added for convenience, and thus sacrificing some security.  (It's a constant paradigm to be honest.)  And to be fair to Apple, you have to take into account some level of common sense when designing a UI.  That is to say, you kind of expect people to know what they are doing when they make choices.  And Apple did pay attention to some of these features, I list them in my other blog post linked above, in that they restrict the access to the feature.  For example, the quick access to the camera doesn't give access to the photo roll, or allow you to transmit the images you just captured... well almost.  

Goodbye, Steve.

Submitted by Francisco Artes on Thu, 10/06/2011 - 08:51
RIP Steve Jobs

For those that knew the man, he was stern and unyielding with a vision that demanded only excellence and little compromise.  For those that knew him, and those that did not, it's unmistakable that he has had a positive impact on the lives of so many.

Look around you right now, you may have several Apple appliances within arm's reach.  Your iPad, iPhone, iPod, Mac Book, or Apple //e maybe.  Now look around again, look at the people near you.  They too have some of these things.  Even if they don't support Apple's products, the ones they use were heavily influenced, if indirectly, by Steve's leadership.  But stop for a moment and look.

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