PLTW Computer Science

Blown To Bits Reflection

7/7/2014

Reflection of Blown to Bits by Hal Abelson et. al., 2008

(1) European Union's "Right to be Forgotten" high court decision (May 30, 2014)
http://www.theguardian.com/technology/2014/may/30/google-launches-right-to-be-forgotten-webform-for-removal-requests

(2) Facebook's face recognition software "Deepface" is 97.25% accurate
versus humans 97.53%
http://money.cnn.com/2014/04/04/technology/innovation/facebook-facial-recognition/

(3) (Quantum) Cryptography (evolution of ciphers)
http://www.techrepublic.com/blog/it-security/how-quantum-cryptography-works-and-by-the-way-its-breakable/

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Python Programming Language - Version 3+

4/19/2014

Welcome! Are you completely new to programming? If not then we presume you will be looking for information about why and how to get started with Python. Fortunately an experienced programmer in any programming language (whatever it may be) can pick up Python very quickly. It's also easy for beginners to use and learn, so jump in!

Installing

Installing Python is generally easy, and nowadays many Linux and UNIX distributions include a recent Python. Even some Windows computers (notably those from HP) now come with Python already installed. If you do need to install Python and aren't confident about the task you can find a few notes on the BeginnersGuide/Download wiki page, but installation is unremarkable on most platforms.

What is GPG4Win and how is it used?

4/18/2014

Gpg4win - a secure solution for file and email encryption. Gpg4win (GNU Privacy Guard for Windows) is Free Software and can be installed with just a few mouse clicks.

Gpg4win enables users to securely transport emails and files with the help of encryption and digital signatures. Encryption protects the contents against an unwanted party reading it. Digital signatures make sure that it was not modified and comes from a specific sender.

Gpg4win supports both relevant cryptography standards, OpenPGP and S/MIME (X.509), and is the official GnuPG distribution for Windows. It is maintained by the developers of GnuPG. Gpg4win and the software included with Gpg4win are Free Software (Open Source; among other things free of charge for all commercial and non-commercial purposes).

What is GitHub and how is it used?

4/18/2014

GitHub is the largest code host on the planet with over 12.3 million repositories. Large or small, every repository comes with the same powerful tools. These tools are open to the community for public projects and secure for private projects.

For reference, software developers can review changes, comment on lines of code, report issues, and plan the future of your project with discussion tools. In addition, code review is an essential part of the GitHub workflow. After creating a branch and making one or more commits, a Pull Request starts the conversation around the proposed changes. Additional commits are commonly added based on feedback before merging the branch. Pull Requests are living conversations that streamline the process of discussing, reviewing, and managing changes to code.

Pull Request = Code + Issue + Code Comments

Each Pull Request takes into account not only what you would like pulled but also where you intend those changes to be applied. From there, your team can discuss the changes as a whole, individual parts, or even specific lines. Later commits addressing concerns or ideas appear as part of the conversation.

Heartbleed Hackers Steal Encryption Keys in Threat Test

4/14/2014

By Jordan Robertson | Apr 14, 2014 9:01 PM PT
The crown jewel of secure websites is a single string of data - a very long jumble of letters and numbers and symbols that looks like gibberish. The Heartbleed bug allows hackers to crack it.

Security professionals demonstrated last weekend that the recently disclosed Heartbleed bug can be exploited to allow criminals and intelligence agencies to make off with one of the most sought-after prizes in hacking: the private keys that websites rely on to decrypt sensitive information, including passwords, banking details and health data.

At least six people were able to extract the private key of a website in a test of the bug’s viability organized by CloudFlare Inc., said Nick Sullivan, a security architect with the Internet security company. The results suggest hackers have stolen encryption keys using the bug and are planning attacks, he said.

Vinson Pluma

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Network / Security Engineer

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