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Comment This isn't new! (Score 3, Interesting) 23

This isn't new, or even weird.

Almost thirty years ago I worked for a leasing company. We leased computers and equipment, not buildings, but the two things went hand in hand. Our customers would say they had a new office going in, we'd line them up for all the gear they needed.

And guess what? We'd have the vendors in there months before the place was even complete so they could install the phone system, or pre-stage cubicles, or get the switches installed.

Comment Re:Nice to see them finally breaking (Score 1) 75

Part of the reason things have been crap lately is that the studios have been running smaller and smaller writer's rooms. Why hire eight writers when you can hire four, work the hell out of them, and then lay them off before production so they can't do any rewrites?

They're pushing quantity over quality.
Security

Is Your Chip Card Secure? Much Depends on Where You Bank (krebsonsecurity.com) 38

Posted by BeauHD from the location-is-key dept.
A recent series of malware attacks on U.S.-based merchants suggest thieves are exploiting weaknesses in how certain financial institutions have implemented the technology in chip-based credit and debit cards to sidestep key security features and effectively create usable, counterfeit cards. Brian Krebs reports via Krebs on Security: Traditional payment cards encode cardholder account data in plain text on a magnetic stripe, which can be read and recorded by skimming devices or malicious software surreptitiously installed in payment terminals. That data can then be encoded onto anything else with a magnetic stripe and used to place fraudulent transactions. Newer, chip-based cards employ a technology known as EMV that encrypts the account data stored in the chip. The technology causes a unique encryption key -- referred to as a token or "cryptogram" -- to be generated each time the chip card interacts with a chip-capable payment terminal.

Virtually all chip-based cards still have much of the same data that's stored in the chip encoded on a magnetic stripe on the back of the card. This is largely for reasons of backward compatibility since many merchants -- particularly those in the United States -- still have not fully implemented chip card readers. This dual functionality also allows cardholders to swipe the stripe if for some reason the card's chip or a merchant's EMV-enabled terminal has malfunctioned. But there are important differences between the cardholder data stored on EMV chips versus magnetic stripes. One of those is a component in the chip known as an integrated circuit card verification value or "iCVV" for short -- also known as a "dynamic CVV." The iCVV differs from the card verification value (CVV) stored on the physical magnetic stripe, and protects against the copying of magnetic-stripe data from the chip and the use of that data to create counterfeit magnetic stripe cards. Both the iCVV and CVV values are unrelated to the three-digit security code that is visibly printed on the back of a card, which is used mainly for e-commerce transactions or for card verification over the phone. The appeal of the EMV approach is that even if a skimmer or malware manages to intercept the transaction information when a chip card is dipped, the data is only valid for that one transaction and should not allow thieves to conduct fraudulent payments with it going forward.

However, for EMV's security protections to work, the back-end systems deployed by card-issuing financial institutions are supposed to check that when a chip card is dipped into a chip reader, only the iCVV is presented; and conversely, that only the CVV is presented when the card is swiped. If somehow these do not align for a given transaction type, the financial institution is supposed to decline the transaction. More recently, researchers at Cyber R&D Labs published a paper detailing how they tested 11 chip card implementations from 10 different banks in Europe and the U.S. The researchers found they could harvest data from four of them and create cloned magnetic stripe cards that were successfully used to place transactions. There are now strong indications the same method detailed by Cyber R&D Labs is being used by point-of-sale (POS) malware to capture EMV transaction data that can then be resold and used to fabricate magnetic stripe copies of chip-based cards.

Comment Timothy Dexter. (Score 4, Funny) 38

by technos (#60338223) Attached to: Rock From Mars Heads Home After 600,000 Year Odyssey Across Space

> the interplanetary equivalent of sending coals to Newcastle

Famously, one man did this, Timothy Dexter. He was the world's worst businessman, but luck was with him every time.

Buy a buttload of worthless currency issued by a country destined to lose a war to the British? He was the one laughing when the British lost and the newly formed US government paid out. Ship bed-warmers to the West Indies? Well, turns out they make great ladles for molasses manufacture.

Same with the woolen mittens he sent there; His ship got there at the same time traders were leaving for what's now Siberia.

On to the coal. Someone suggested, as a joke or as an insult, that Dexter could make money shipping coal to Newcastle.

So he did.

His ship hit the harbor at Newcastle the same week the coal-miners went on strike and he was the only game in town.

Comment carrying phones (Score 1) 294

I see both sides of it.

In real life I have to carry 2 phones, 1 personal and 1 work, since I'm on 24/7 oncall. True, I rarely get that afterhours call but my job calls for me to carry it (even though it sucks). And I have the personal in case I get that emergency call from the babysitters while out relaxing. Other than that, I don't record at shows, I don't watch videos on my cells, and I don't text "Whee! Chk it out, look where I'm at you losers!"

On the other hand, I work security at music festivals and I see all these dumbasses (yes, DUMBASSES!) with a drink in 1 hand and a phone in the other recording the show instead of just enjoying it. Seriously, when was the last time you watched that crappy video you recorded of The XX while at the music fest?

Comment Guidance given / Your decision (Score 1) 435

So, I read thru about 75% of the answers that were offered and I agree with pretty much all of them. The real question is, how much do YOU feel comfortable telling them?
This really boils down to your outlook on life and the reality of the present.

I personally do not give out salary history:
-it's none of their business, it has no bearing whatsoever on any work I may be hired for
          : I may be looking for more of a reasonable worklife balance and willing to accept less :maybe I've recently come into a lot of money and willing to work less hard for less money :I actually work for a state agency right now where I am paid at LEAST 30-40% LESS than private sector (the average being 50%, $50k vs $75k), and believe me the benefits are not all that it is cracked up to be.
                        should I really have to hear that stupid question from a recruiter "What makes you think you are worth 50% more?" gee, I dunno, market forces? maybe you should ask your CEO who is making $5mil/yr and has a contract with guaranteed minimum 10% increases?"

                      regardless of the above, is it any of their damn business? NO

-do not lie about your salary history :yes, it can be grounds for dismissal. although you could make the argument that statement was made prior to hiring you so does not apply. still.... :tell them your prior company had an NDA or similar regarding salaries. many companies do have this :if you want to be an ass about it (they started it), ask them how much they make :leave the fields blank
                      this one is for you HR types, I know how you score applications and resumes. No answer, points off; mis-spelled answer, points off; answers put into the wrong field, points off; this is how many paper-pushers (SPHR) justify their jobs when in reality they don't know squat about combing through the resumes

(digression: I had to sort thru 30 state applications to fill a position, even if they were over-Qualified I still had to include them in my interview rounds. out of 5 interviews, I had:
- 1 (average-qual) no-show/no-callback
- 1 (highly-qual'd) who found out some more info and then politely called back to cancel the interview
- 1 (average-qual) who couldn't tell me about any of his experience except "I've got lots of experience! ho ho ho!"
- 1 (above-avg qual) tele-conference interview who took control of the interview reading off all the questions and his responses
- 1 (basically-qual'd) tech who actually showed up with a good attitude if a bit short on some of the experience we needed

Guess which one I hired? and his was the very last app submitted just under the deadline. and I have had no regrets hiring him in the last 3 years.)

-I've had companies ask for credit scores and consumer reviews :for what reason? my job has NOTHING to do with handling money or the financials system :if you don't supply it, we can't arrange an interview
                      really? please sign this document right here that says my personal data will be locked up tight (destroyed, if not hired) and that your company will be personally responsible for any data breach that results in my personal data being spread across the Internet because you certainly don't need it if I'm not hired. .... oh, you won't? and you expect me to work for YOUR company? .... you will now hand back all the paperwork I gave when applying for this position

FINAL THOUGHTS
You are the one who is going to have to decide how much data to share. Is it worth not getting that job? I mean, in the midst of an economic depression (circa 2005-2010, when tech jobs were few and far between) will you have enough to pay the mortgage, feed the family, hold onto what you have? What lengths are you willing to goto to hold onto your self-respect and take care of your responsibilities?
You need to examine what you are willing to give up and, at certain times, it may be less or more depending on your circumstances.

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