Technology and Other Stuff

Open Source Software

2009-06-17T02:26:00Z

There are so many great software developers out there who are not charging for their work. A great example of this is Mozilla Firefox web browser. If you are not using this browser you are missing out on a superb web experience!

Over the next few weeks of blogs I want to showcase some of my favorite software. Not only is it free; it's awesome! This week it is Audacity the music editor. Have you ever wondered how dj's mix their music? Now you can take your favorite mp3's and create something unique.

Here is a screen shot:

http://audacity.sourceforge.net/about/images/audacity-linux.png

Worried about Conficker on April 1?

2009-04-01T05:25:22Z

If you are worried about Conficker then you should check out OpenDns.

WHAT IS CONFICKER ANYWAY? Here is what Microsoft said regarding Conficker...

"On October 23, 2008, Microsoft released a critical security update, MS08-067, to resolve a vulnerability in the Server service of Windows that, at the time of release, was facing targeted, limited attack. The vulnerability could allow an anonymous attacker to successfully take full control of a vulnerable system through a network-based attack, the sort of vectors typically associated with network "worms."

Since the release of MS08-067, the Microsoft Malware Protection Center (MMPC) has identified the following variants of Win32/Conficker:

Worm:Win32/Conficker.A: identified by the MMPC on November 21, 2008
Worm:Win32/Conficker.B: identified by the MMPC on December 29, 2008
Worm:Win32/Conficker.C: identified by the MMPC on February 20, 2009*
Worm:Win32/Conficker.D: identified by the MMPC on March 4, 2009** "

--Microsoft

What to do?

Start using OpenDns Here are the directions-- http://www.opendns.com/support/videos
Update your Anti Virus program
Install Microsoft Updates from windowsupdate.microsoft.com/
Install windows Defender from Microsoft. Download here.

Or you can install Linux or buy a Apple computer. If you cannot do this then follow the four steps.

Happy April Fool's Day!

Twitter

2009-02-25T18:22:00Z

What is twitter? That's what I said when I ran across someone on a website mentioning the site. I started using it the other day--just to try it. Twitter is actually a micro blog. You are limited to 140 characters or less for each post; but there are no limits to the amount of posts you can write.

You can follow your friends or stangers. One person I started to follow is the Shaq. His real name is Shaquille Rashaun O'Neal . You may even find the real Britney Spears here. There appears to be some other famous people using this blogger as well.

I was suprised to find someone as famous as Shaq using this public blogger. Shaq is actually taking twitter to a new level. For example here is his last post on twitter: "I'm at the fashion sq mall, any1 touches me gets 2 tickets, tag me and say yur twit u hv 20 min".

This may take social networking to a new level. With the advent of smart phones/pocket pc's privacy may be hard to find and no longer sought by this generation of techno geeks.

If you say you don't have time to write try this micro blogger on for size. You at least be entertained by Shaq! Here is the video from youtube that explains the twitter concept. You can check it out at twitter.com.

See you in Twitteronia!

SWATTING

2009-02-08T11:10:00Z

"Doug Bates and his wife, Stacey, were in bed around 10 p.m., their 2-year-old daughters asleep in a nearby room. Suddenly they were shaken awake by the wail of police sirens and the rumble of a helicopter above their suburban Southern California home. A criminal must be on the loose, they thought." Source

"Doug Bates got up to lock the doors and grabbed a knife. A beam from a flashlight hit him. He peeked into the backyard. A swarm of police, assault rifles drawn, ordered him out of the house. Bates emerged, frightened and with the knife in his hand, as his wife frantically dialed 911. They were handcuffed and ordered to the ground while officers stormed the house." Source

"...an Associated Press investigation found that budget-strapped 911 centers are essentially defenseless without an overhaul of their computer systems." Source

The biggest difference today is that 911 calls are coming from cell phones, computers and landlines. A computer's geographic location can be spoofed or disguised by the attacker. Voip phone systems are part of this problem. On voip systems the caller's address are entered or given verbally by the customer. The reason for this is because voip stands for Voice-over-Internet protocol. Voip is a protocol optimized for voice to travel over the internet. When voip systems were new there was no 911 service. Now there is; but the challenge is accurately reporting the location of the 911 call.

Mr. Bates and his family were victims of what has now been coined as SWATTING. Essentially, swatting is the act of spoofing the actual location of the 911 call.

Criminals have been employing disguises to mask their true identities for centuries. Criminals also use false names when dealing with the police. The internet has given many criminals a magic cloak of invisibility. Everyone needs to get a hold of their local politicians and demand the 911 systems get upgraded before innocent people are hurt by police.

What is being done right now to upgrade the 911 systems?

"Canada's cellphone companies have been given a year to upgrade the country's 911 system, and to install technology that can locate wireless 911 callers within as little as a few car lengths in some cases." Source

This is what the CRTC has said regarding 911 calls.

"The primary means of identifying the location of a 9-1-1 caller is by verbally determining the caller's location; if a 9-1-1 call is disconnected before the operator can verbally determine a caller's location, the operator must attempt to call back in order to determine the caller's location; and the registered service address should be used only when the 9-1-1 caller cannot communicate his or her location or when a 9-1-1 call is disconnected before the 9-1-1 caller's location can be determined, and the operator cannot re-establish contact with the caller."

Telecom Circular CRTC 2008-2

I cannot believe there are people out there that get a kick out of putting lives of innocent people at risk. The 911 systems around the world need to be upgraded immediately before innocent people get injured by police officers doing their job in good faith. Swatting is a dangerous game that should never be played.

Child Sex Pervert Discovered

2009-02-03T09:14:00Z

"A CHILD sex pervert was discovered when he sold a second hand memory stick containing indecent images of boys for £3 on ebay."
--Source

It is disgusting to be reminded on a daily basis of how many sick people are out there in cyberspace. I am glad this guy was caught; but how many are still out there preying on the innocent like a wolf waiting for the stray lamb.

"The images of boys, aged 12 and 13, had been deleted, but were found still hidden on it...However, it was bought by a Mr Braithwaite in Lancashire, a computer security specialist. " --Source

The interesting point here is the way this man was caught...

If this person had not of sold his stick on ebay he would not have been caught. And if the stick were not sold to a computer security specialist the images would have just been written over with the new owner's data. Don't get me wrong; I am glad he was caught! This data could have been somebody's financial data. A crook could get your personal information and steal your identity.

Now think about this when you replace your computer or usb flash drive or throw away old discs. Make sure there is no data on it you don't want prying eyes to see. So what’s wrong with just deleting a file or directory? Nothing--except for the fact that you haven’t actually removed if from your hard drive. The file is still there waiting to be written over with new data. When you delete a file the operating system knows it can use that space now. That's it! The file is still there. So what can you do about it? You can start with downloading a program like SDelete . Don't throw your data away--delete it away!