Ever wonder how the new US passports are made?

Recent news stories recently raised questions about the fact that some of the components of U.S. passports are produced overseas. Questions were also raised about passport security and why foreign firms have been engaged as part of the passport production process. Under Secretary of State for Management Pat Kennedy joined Department Spokesman Sean McCormack for a video podcast to discuss these issues. This video walks you through the process and explains the new passport's new security features.

High Security or HIgh In-security?

As part of my job, I'm responsible for implementing certain measures to thwart attacks. The most common measure I implement is choosing which locks go on which doors. Sounds pretty basic right? Those in the business know, like computer security, physical security has to change constantly to deal with new threats. Over the last few years, you've heard about key-bumping. This entails taking a key blank for a lock and then guiding the blank through the lock and knocking out the pins. torque is then applied to the lock and the lock and key turn to open the door. Some locks claim to be "bump-proof". Well as we found out last year, this ain't necessarily so. At Defcon (world's largest hacker conference) last year, Marc Weber Tobias gave a talk about "high security" locks, their standards, and their weakness. He even demonstrated bypasses. I HIGHLY encourage everyone who missed this talk to check out the video below.

Need to nuke a major city?

Okay, I found this little gem on the Net today. The author of the script says he got all of his calculation from FAS and Wikipedia. This mapping tool only calculates thermal effects and not radiation. It may have its faults, but it is really neat and eye-opening.