#theory Articles


The Unfortunate Economics of Defense in Depth

A mantra we hear all the time in security is the notion of defense in depth. It's applied in numerous areas from protecting computer systems to safeguarding airports. Anyone who receives formal training in security will likely encounter the term at least once in their coursework. It's a milestone we …

The Problem with DRM

Preamble The topic of digital rights management (DRM) systems is a controversial one among those affected by it. Some readers are going to jump to conclusions without properly reading what I want to write on the matter and there's nothing I can do about that. To those with minds open …

How Number of Limbs Relates to Robots and Organisms

This weekend was the weekend over which DARPA hosted its large robotics challenge where semi-autonomous robots had to perform a series of tasks simulating a disaster relief scenario. Specifically, robots had to be able to open doors, shut off water valves, drill holes in walls, climb stairs and more. It …

Digital Verses Analog Sanitization

As I promised in my previous blog post, I will try to explain the difference between digital and analog sanitization using an analogy better suited for the task. If you have no clue what I'm talking about, I recommend that you go and read that post. If you were hoping …

Is your data really gone? Explaining the challenges of data wiping.

Every now and again you hear on the news about some police investigation having a breakthrough by recovering deleted data off of an electronic device belonging to the possible suspect. You may also hear about professional criminals who recover sensitive information, such as credit card numbers, by sifting through the …