Technical Director of the Information Security Institute at Johns Hopkins University
Professor of Computer Science at Johns Hopkins University and Technical Director of its Information Security Institute; author of Brave New Ballot: The Battle to Safeguard Democracy in the Age of Electronic Voting; Maryland Elections Judge
How Hackers Can Watch You through Your Webcam Webcam technology can connect you with loved ones or colleagues across the country or around the world, but it also can be an easy target for hackers who can spy on your every move and profit from advertising. A website in Russian is streaming feeds from webcams with lax password security — violating the privacy of many people who are plugged in. The operators claim they’re warning users their cameras aren’t secure, but the site is festooned with advertisements. Avi Rubin is Professor of Computer Science and the Technical Director of the Information Security Institute at Johns Hopkins University.
California Voting Machines Decertified, Susceptible to Hackers With the first presidential primaries just six months away, are America's voting systems accurate and secure from tampering? The eyes of election officials around the country are focused on the biggest state in the Union and crucial for candidates of both parties in the presidential primaries on February 5, 2008. But California Secretary of State Debra Bowen has thrown election officials into a frenzy by refusing to certify electronic voting machines in 39 of 58 counties—including Los Angeles, the biggest county of all. Avi Rubin is a computer scientist at Johns Hopkins University and elections judge in Maryland.
Are America's Elections Free and Fair? In America, the right to vote is supposedly sacred, but conflicting laws and shady practices cast doubt on the fairness and accuracy of many elections. Electronic voting machines are the latest cause for concern about technological snafus, ill-trained poll workers, and opportunities for partisan manipulation. Using computer software, Texas Republicans and California Democrats have drawn district boundaries that virtually guarantee who wins and who loses. After the vote-count debacle in Florida, which decided the year 2000 presidential election, Congress passed HAVA , the Help America Vote Act. What's happened to election reform?
Who's to blame for the opioid crisis? Some of the lawyers who took on Big Tobacco are now going after Big Pharma. It’s all about the deadly epidemic of opioid use. Are the drug companies to blame? What about the users? Later, on today’s Talking Point: making sense of Britain’s upset election.
White House budget proposal slashes and burns President Trump's first budget request is considered dead on arrival in Congress — a familiar development in Capitol Hill. We hear what it reveals about the priorities of the new administration. What's likely to die… and what might survive?
Trump's 'America First' goes missing abroad In the Middle East, President Trump is changing some policies of the Obama Administration—and reversing his own campaign attacks on Islam as a religion that "hates us." We hear about his visit to Saudi Arabia and what's at stake for the rest of his foreign excursion.
The Trump agenda: where's the beef? President Trump says big things are happening. After celebrating a House bill on health care, he doesn’t yet have Senate agreement. With James Comey’s public testimony scheduled tomorrow, the President today tweeted his selection of a new FBI Director. Is the Chief Executive all style and no substance? Later, terror attacks in Iran and conflicting claims about who’s behind them.