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Comment Not a backdoor (Score 5, Informative) 121

This is not a backdoor.
  • It is not undocumented. It uses Arago, an actually open GNU/Linux distribution as firmware (so it is more open source than your average android device!), and the ability to root it via telnet has been available since day 1, with a widely known password.
  • It is not remote, since to access it you need to join the NAS WLAN, and for that you need to passphrase created by the user. If you've managed to guess the passphrase/break that layer, then you've already crossed the airtight hatchway: at that point you can already view all the files on the disk, install adware, viruses, etc.
  • This was being used by plenty of people to install custom Linux distributions such as Debian or Arch on relatively inexpensive hardware. There's even a user focused distribution for the device

Basically, another group of security ``researchers'' (use of quotes intentional) manage to force a company making a relatively open embedded product to close it down for tinkerers, while not improving the security of the product at all.

I hate this world.

Open Source

Submission + - Richard Stallman Falls Ill At Conference (itworld.com)

itwbennett writes: "Stallman, 59, was speaking at the North Campus of the Polytechnic University of Cataluna when he started to feel ill and called for a doctor. It was originally reported in the Spanish press that Stallman was hypertensive, but it is not yet known what his eventual health status was, just that he left the building later under his own power."
Power

Companies Waste $2.8 Billion Per Year Powering Unused PCs 348

snydeq writes "Unused PCs — computers that are powered on but not in use — are expected to emit approximately 20 million tons of CO2 this year, roughly equivalent to the impact of 4 million cars, according to report by 1E and the Alliance to Save Energy. All told, US organizations will waste $2.8 billion to power 108 million unused machines this year. The notion that power used turning on PCs negates any benefits of turning them off has been discussed recently as one of five PC power myths. By turning off unused machines and practicing proper PC power management, companies stand to save more than $36 per desktop PC per year."

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