New Threats!

"At the DEFCON hackers' convention this summer, two researchers showed off a way to take control of a laptop through its wireless connection. The attack didn't target the operating system; it sought out specific flaws in the software that managed the wireless-networking hardware." -by Robert Lemos

What does this mean to us? Though this is just a software vulnerability for the hardware, which would require software updates. But what if it was a vulnerability in the hardware's firmware, which would completely bypass the operating system, making EVERY system a target. This is somewhat like the change from phreakers(hacking phone's and telecommunication systems(who faded out)) to hackers(who found loops, and holes in software to make things perform in ways they weren't originally designed(not crackers)). This makes me wonder if we'll soon have a new breed of hackers that will be concentrating strictly on hardware issues. If so, the new exploits will be rather difficult to protect against. Short of firmware flashes, which 90% of box owners either A) don't know how to do, or B) are too lazy to do them.(*EDIT* Obviously firmware would still be in the same ballpark as software, but hardly anyone ever upgrades firmware, thus making it a longer wild exploit :/)

I will be keeping an eye out for these types of hacks as much as possible and keeping the blog updated with them.