SECURITY: Use unique passwords at every site

Thursday, December 18, 2014

http://arstechnica.com/staff/2014/12/ars-was-briefly-hacked-yesterday-heres-what-we-know/#p3

Ars was briefly hacked yesterday; here’s what we know
Readers, please change your passwords.

by Ars Staff – Dec 16 2014, 4:52pm EST

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Log files show the hacker’s movements through our servers and suggest that he or she had the opportunity to copy the user database. This database contains no payment information on Ars subscribers, but it does contain user e-mail addresses and passwords. Those passwords, however, are stored in hashed form (using 2,048 iterations of the MD5 algorithm and salted with a random series of characters).

Out of an excess of caution, we strongly encourage all Ars readers—especially any who have reused their Ars passwords on other, more sensitive sites—to change their passwords today.

We are continuing with a full autopsy of the hack and will provide updates if anything new comes to light.

Thanks to everyone who offered their support!

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LASTPASS ensures a unique password every time.

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HARDWARE: Keurig machines have security and a design flaw

Thursday, December 18, 2014

http://hackaday.com/2014/12/10/dead-simple-hack-allows-for-rebel-keurig-k-cups/

DEAD SIMPLE HACK ALLOWS FOR “REBEL” KEURIG K-CUPS
by: Rick Osgood
December 10, 2014  

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Unfortunately newer versions of these machines have a sort of DRM, or lockout chip. In order to prevent unofficial k-cups from being manufactured and sold, the Keurig machines have a way to detect which cups are legitimate and which are counterfeit. It appears as though the machine identifies the lid specifically as being genuine.

It turns out this “lockout” technology is very simple to defeat. All one needs to do is cut the lid off of a legitimate Keurig k-cup and place it on top of your counterfeit cup. The system will read the real lid and allow you to brew to your heart’s content. A more convenient solution involves cutting off just the small portion of the lid that contains the Keurig logo. This then gets taped directly to the Keurig machine itself. This way you can still easily replace the cups without having to fuss with the extra lid every time.

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BUT, (and there is always a BIG butt), after the big “bio film” revelation that Keurigs are “un clean able”, why would anyone buy one?

Ewww, yucky!

And, who know what breeds in that bio film contaminated water reserve — the green meanies?

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