Thursday, June 14, 2007

Microsoft, Mozilla execs respond to Safari on Windows announcement

I think it is fair to say the industry response to Safari for Windows ranges from lukewarm to non-existent.

We'll be talking about it Sunday, but for now, trust me; there is no reason to get excited unless you've installed Safari and gotten hacked.

Jack

10 reasons why the Black Hats have us outgunned

This is realistic and so a bit depressing. However; it's told with just a bit of humor, is relatively short and well written. Well worth your time.

Jack

Wednesday, June 13, 2007

FBI Unveils Movable Feast with 'Operation Bot Roast' - Security Fix

The Security Fix column at the Washington Post is an excellent column, and today's details an FBI investigation about botnets. The article begins:

The FBI said today it has identified more than 1 million personal
computers that have been infected with computer worms enabling the attackers to control PCs for criminal purposes such as sending spam, spreading spyware and attacking Web sites.

The FBI used details it gleaned from an ongoing investigation called "Operation Bot Roast" to highlight a few recent arrests of individuals accused of running botnets and to raise public awareness about the problem, which the agency called "a growing threat to national security, the national information infrastructure and the economy."

go read the rest of the article and let us know what you think in comments.
--MissM

FBI Unveils Movable Feast with 'Operation Bot Roast' - Security Fix

Larholm.com | Safari for Windows, 0 day exploit in 2 hours

As Aaron poster earlier, Safari browser was announced Monday early, and available for download later in the day. But, it only took 2 hours to find an exploit, as the article below explains.

I downloaded and installed Safari for Windows 2 hours ago, when I started writing this, and I now have a fully functional command execution vulnerability, triggered without user interaction simply by visiting a web site. I will not sell this one to ZDI or iDefense but instead release it here, as I have done lately with a number of 0day vulnerabilities. This place is where you get my latest research [link below or in title]:)


Larholm.com - Me, myself and I � Safari for Windows, 0 day exploit in 2 hours

--MissM
[h/t GeekBrief.tv ]

Tuesday, June 12, 2007

Quick First Review of the Dell Ubuntu Notebook Computer Inspiron E1505N

"Quick First Review" does not really reveal much. No faults and a happy camper on first impressions. I just thought to post this for those who are curious.

My pal George got his Inspiron 1505N the other day. Much to my frustration, he did not unpack it before reporting to the hospital to have his appendix out. Best wishes, George, but my patience is wearing thin and I'm about to break into your house to try the thing out and satisfy my curiosity. (Just kidding.)

Jack

Four Critical Fixes Coming for Windows, IE, Mail

eweek writes:
Microsoft will send out six security bulletins, four of them for problems rated "critical," the company's highest severity rating, on Patch Tuesday, June 12. All four of the most serious vulnerabilities, in Windows and in IE, can lead to systems getting hijacked.

Three of the critical problems are in Windows; one is in Internet Explorer, one is in Outlook Express and Windows Mail, and there is one "important" fix for Visio. Also, a moderate bug has been found in Windows.

Four Critical Fixes Coming for Windows, IE, Mail
--MissM

Monday, June 11, 2007

Safari for Windows

I don't know if this belongs in the "heck" freezes over category, but Apple has released its Safari browser for Windows.

Any takers?

Vista not playing well with IPv6

This has been known for a while, but not widely because it is far from being a problem for everyone. I'm not actually sure how many folks it affects at all. I post this because if you know about it you might be able to solve some otherwise baffling network problems.

Jack

Mac vs. PC cost analysis: How does it all add up?

The "math" in this Computer World article is suspect, in my opinion.

I'd buy a Mac in a heartbeat if I had that sort of money. But I'd run Linux on it. If I left the Mac OS X on it, I'd have to purchase a LOT of software to meet all my needs. There just isn't a lot of freeware or free/open source software (FOSS) for the Mac and the proprietary stuff I would have to purchse is expensive. That's where the big difference lies for me. With the PC and Windows, I can use FOSS to fill out my software needs. With Linux, all my needs are met with FOSS. But with the Mac OS X, I would have to buy a lot of additional software.

Even with all that, this is an interesting comparison. Just don't trust other people's numbers too far.

Jack

OnComputers Radio show Podcast 06-10-07

This is the On Computers Radio show podcast for 06-10-07. You can listen live every Sunday from 10AM to 1PM Pacific thats 1PM to 4PM Eastern. If you prefer, you can download the same MP3 file here via ftp.

Sunday, June 10, 2007

The Gregg Zone !!

1) First up this week I have just run across a computer thing that has me concerned. They are called web beacons, and I’m hoping to generate some discussion on the radio show Sunday about them. I use some yahoo services and when I ran across articles talking about these web beacons I started asking questions, and not liking the answers, at least so far. You might want to “opt out” on these if you yahoo.

http://www.rense.com

http://antivirus.about.com

2) Next up, how about alchemy. This is an interesting site, to read about alchemy, mostly PDF files; it was interesting to me to read the papers originally written a very long time ago. Translated into language of our time, I have to wonder would some one vocalize such concepts, with the limited vocabulary of those days. It would be necessary to express complex ideas in terms of that day. While I’m sure we do a very good job with verbatim translation of the words. I’m not so sure we do well with the innuendo’s and slang of the time, it is difficult enough for me to follow today’s vernacular when there are regional, national, racial, terms and phrases that elude me entirely. For instance I was captivated for a while reading the “Golden chain of Homer” the parallels kept popping into my brain. How would someone of that time describe concepts of modern science? Somehow even if the subject was expressed well for the language of the day, and contained great detail, I fear the translators would favor views that supported their beliefs, they did not have the equipment to run an experiment, therefore they must have meant something else. Anyway if you have ever wondered about alchemy this might be worth checking out. http://www.hermetics.org

3) Just for fun have you ever played at the “Where’s George” site they will track a bill what ever denomination you want, if you get a stamped bill you can see where it has been, or at least where it was recorded by some one like me, I usually go there and write a short note, where I got it. I got one the other day here in Alaska, on the site I found it was last recorded in Vancouver Washington. Where someone had went out on the town with Drake, Larson, and Kristi, to “spend a lot of where’s George bills” it traveled 1,534 miles in 77 days 6 hours and 38 minutes, or 20 miles a day. I can keep a log of various bills. I was doing this when I was in Las Vegas, and found it interesting. http://www.wheresgeorge.com

Symantec tests bot-killer

Here is what seems like a good idea. It's NOT ANTI-VIRUS. It's software that examines the behavior of executables and deals with them if it thinks they're bot controlling software.

It's a free and open beta if you want to give it a shot.

Jack