Schneier on Security: Friday Squid Blogging: Squid Insurance

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Friday Squid Blogging: Squid Insurance

This was once a real insurance product. Squid Insurance Marketing was the low-end offering at Astonish, complete with the tagline "Nothing Kills a Squid!"

As usual, you can also use this squid post to talk about the security stories in the news that I haven't covered.

Posted on October 19, 2012 at 4:54 PM ? 6 Comments

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Not sure what I think of it yet, but have you been tracking the new Apple connector?

http://appleinsider.com/articles/12/10/16/...

Supposedly, the /cable/ has a security chip. Very odd system, where Apple (so we're told) has control of all of them, then as a peripheral maker, you buy the chips from Apple.

Or, apparently, a "security" chip. Supposedly already cracked, which makes me wonder what the point was. Not that they are necessarily bad at security, but maybe that it's true purpose is to increase cost, or... something else I can't decipher.

Posted by: Steven Hoober at October 19, 2012 5:53 PM

OK, didn't see this story covered, so I thought it was worth a discussion. Adi Shamir did a study of Bitcoin and the transaction history. He and his co-author concluded that around 75% of the coins have never been in circulation and are being hoarded by a very small number of people.

Ars technica story here: http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2012/10/...

Posted by: Bitcoin at October 19, 2012 6:12 PM

W.r.t. the Apple connector, has anybody checked similarities to the bq26100? Hooked up an oscilloscope to the pin used for communication and looked at the signals?

Posted by: J. at October 20, 2012 8:42 AM

"Supposedly already cracked, which makes me wonder what the point was..."

Killing the second-source market. The spread on a MacBook replacement battery from an OEM and from Apple for my 2009-vintage unit is rapidly approaching $100.

Think of getting that for a cable.

Posted by: Davis X. Machina at October 20, 2012 10:08 AM

#*sucks teeth* and wanders round kicking the tentacles

insurance on that mate ? It'll cost you a fair few squid ...

Posted by: Nick Leverton at October 20, 2012 4:27 PM

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