Wimbledon Debrief
After the huge interest surround my breaking of the IBM / Napoleon Dynamite story, things are starting to settle down again. Let's take a look at the reaction around the web and IBM's response.
I first posted the story to Digg, where it gathered steam and quickly made the front page. A bizarre response from Digg readers has produced 182 comments, all but two of which have been buried by negative diggs. Read it here.
Slashdot also ran with the story, and the discussion was a little more intelligent. I thought this exchange was interesting:
I don't really see this as a "lapse" in security. I mean, it was an XML file with updated scares, not a SQL database with every known Social Security Number. The application in question (a flash scoreboard) doesn't exactly call for some kind of PKE scheme.
If a project doesn't require strong encryption, does it require encryption at all?
If a project doesn't require strong encryption, does it require encryption at all?
Of course it does. The lock to your house is most certainly breakable. Does that mean you should throw away the door?
Of course, IBM's encryption was really just a way to create a barrier to entry -- I never entertained the notion at IBM would have considered the feed securely encrypted. To me the point of the post was less about my 'leet hacking skills, and more just an entertaining find -- and a cheeky opportunity to headline an amusing non sequitur. Read more at Slashdot.
On the actual widget side things, Apple have picked it up and are promoting it as their featured widget. Always great to get some validation!
As for IBM's response, I've had no direct word from them. But as of last night they have now changed their key to a 64 character hex string. I was hoping they'd change it to another Napoleon Dynamite quote, and it could well be, albeit in some encoded form. I'll leave the answer to that in the hands of you, the reader. See what you can find! The new key is:
c0b0e9541fb10bffc6256b131fd6f33cbbff0fa97b9658ead438ab7402696ffc
