Comment Yay, I got slashdotted! (Score 4, Interesting) 49
I should really visit
Comment Are you sure the target is Internet access? (Score 1) 884
If some attacker is so busy attacking your network (with usually loads of other networks around it with default settings) even when you disable the easiest method of attack, are you sure leeching (accessing the Internet via your connection) is the target of the attack? Isn't it possible the attacker thinks your network has something special?
Comment Remember police departments complaining? (Score 2) 95
Remember how there were big articles in the news that Skype was a problem for law enforcement and criminals were avoiding police investigations by using it. The complaints by law enforcement have stopped, which says enough to me.
Comment Re:Don't scan other people's systems (Score 1) 633
I guess SkyTech is reporting all those attempted attacks from outside Canada to the RCMP on a daily basis and having complete investigations started. </sarcasm>
I have done research after a reported SQL injection vulnerability (yes, by a student who decided to report the error and got a nice thankyou for reporting it) and noted other attacks from abroad in the logs at regular rates.
I have done research after a reported SQL injection vulnerability (yes, by a student who decided to report the error and got a nice thankyou for reporting it) and noted other attacks from abroad in the logs at regular rates.
Comment Do the people calling understand 'free software' (Score 1) 451
What I miss in your story and in the comments is the option "people calling who don't understand free software". I can imagine some users at companies 'thinking': We use this software in our business -> someone at our company has officially installed this -> we don't install software without a support contract -> there must be a support contract but I'm not going through the trouble of finding it.
Comment Remember hacker 'damage' in the 80s/90s (Score 1) 68
Remember the claimed 'damages' from hacker attacks in the 80s and 90s.. Like the E911 document worth over 80000 USD or the alleged 300 million dollar damage by Kevin Mitnick.
Usually those 'costs' were caused by companies trying to make the hacker pay for all the work surrounding the case and all the backlog in securing systems done as part of the clean-up operation in the aftermath of the break-ins.
I wonder if companies will overstate costs under these rules too or whether they will understate them because the numbers aren't used to make someone else pay.
Comment Future-proof your house (Score 1) 281
On a budget: remember whatever you do now gadget-wise will be old in 5 years time. But other investments can help for any future plans: enough cabling (CAT6 or CAT7) to rooms so you can wire whatever in those rooms in the future. Not just network and computers, but also phones or temperature/motion sensors. And enough outlets.
Comment Besides helping a few traders.. (Score 1) 158
There is also the good side that this will bring serious bandwidth to places where dialup over satellite is currently the way to get a bit of Internet. Scarcely populated places in northern Canada and Alaska will appreciate the chances of a bit more bandwidth!
Comment The new slashdot, now even whiter! (Score 1) 2254
Overall I think the new design is an improvement and in line with a larger web trend to have sites easier on the eyes. Looks good here (firefox 3.6.13 ubuntu) and makes good use of the width of the browser.
Next up, IPv6!
Embedded Linux 1-Second Cold Boot To QT 141
An anonymous reader writes "The blog post shows an embedded device cold booting Linux to a QT application all in just one second. This post also includes a link which describes what modifications were made to achieve this."
Comment Re:So how about it, Slashdot? (Score 1) 247
According to Savvis invested in a new ipv6-capable network in 2006, to be finished in 2008. Savvis hosts sourceforge / slashdot (from the whois record). Yet, according to the nanog grapevine in 2010, Savvis is not yet able to offer IPv6 to customers.
Time to put 'working ipv6' on the checklist for your new hosting?
Comment This only affects BIND and Unbound users (Score 1) 132
It is generally not made clear that problems are only to be expected for those users behind DNS resolvers that ask 'DNSSEC OK=1' questions by default.
Such 'do=1' default behaviour was enabled in BIND, most likely in an effort to 'make the world safe for DNSSEC'. Even though no further DNSSEC processing is performed by default.
Other implementations, like PowerDNS & DJBDNS, do not wantonly ask 'DNSSEC OK=1' questions. This means that for these (and other) resolvers, on May 5th nothing will happen.
The 'testing' sites linked do not clarify if you are behind a resolver that asks 'do=0' or 'do=1' questions, and may thus lead to needless worry.
Cheers,
Bert - PowerDNS.
Scientists Say a Dirty Child Is a Healthy Child 331
Researchers from the School of Medicine at the University of California have shown that the more germs a child is exposed to, the better their immune system in later life. Their study found that keeping a child's skin too clean impaired the skin's ability to heal itself. From the article: "'These germs are actually good for us,' said Professor Richard Gallo, who led the research. Common bacterial species, known as staphylococci, which can cause inflammation when under the skin, are 'good bacteria' when on the surface, where they can reduce inflammation."
Comment Re:Flash security has always frightened me (Score 1) 355
``Browser vendors have the right incentives because users have a realistic choice of browsers. Flash is an all-or-nothing affair.''
And that is a real problem for users, and not just because of its effect on security. Only Adobe makes software that can handle all the Flash applets out there, and anytime there is only a single supplier, the incentives to make things better for customers aren't there. Adobe has been pretty nice with Flash, considering.
Comment Re:The vulnerability (Score 1) 355
Seems to me there _is_ an easy fix: disable that behavior by default (why would you want it, anyway?). Then, for sites that are broken by it, allow it to be selectively enabled.
Of course, the fact that Adobe isn't fixing it and we aren't allowed to fix it nicely illustrates why having the whole world depend on a piece of proprietary software is a bad idea at least from a security point of view.
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