Slashdot Mirror
Slashback: OSX Security, DoD Filtering, Anonymous Posting
University of Wisconsin's Mac OS X Challenge. HABITcky writes "The University of Wisconsin Security Challenge has ended after 38 hours, intermittent DoS attacks, 4000 ssh login attempts, a bandwidth spike of 30 Mbps, and 6 million logged ipfw events. During this time there were 'no successful access attempts, nor any claims of a successful attempt.' You may remember this challenge was proposed in response to the 'woefully misleading' ZDnet article, Mac OS X hacked under 30 minutes, which was previously discussed here on Slashdot."
Skeptics investigate cold fusion.smooth wombat writes "As a follow-up to a previous Slashdot posting, Purdue University is investigating the claims of Rusi Taleyarkhan who claimed in 2004 to have created nuclear fusion at room temperature. The investigation came about from complaints from colleagues who suspect something is amiss. Taleyarkhan, who used to work at Oak Ridge National Laboratory, has, since working at Perdue, removed the equipment the co-workers were using to try and replicate the results, claimed results for experimental runs were positive for fusion despite the co-workers never seeing the raw data and opposed the publication of results which contradicted his findings."
More on DoD web filtering. timetrap writes "I work in a mobile combat communications unit, while I'm not in the sandbox right now, I can attest to the DoD policy on blocking web access. First of all when you are down range don't expect to even get DSL speeds from a satellite, we usually roll with about 256kbs for the data side of our trunk. So blocking sites is very important, otherwise 4 or 5 people could start streaming audio and pretty much knock down any legitimate use of the network. We filter websites with smartfilter and yes the military system admins in the IPO office will unblock any web site that isn't blocked by local policy (no pr0n, no streaming audio, no civilian web mail: both the hot and the g varieties, and no chat programs; although irc is used by the DoD) This is no Orwellian conspiracy, but quick and easy system administration; apply smartfilter: check! If you want to check the current smartfilter blocked sites goto: securecomputing and submit some sites to check." Slashdot's own Jamie took a look at Smartfilter back in '99 as a part of the Censorware project and it still remains a mysterious black box to this day. While some would advocate full disclosure using censorware still appears to be merely passing the buck.
AT&T cuts 10,000 jobs after BellSouth merger. mytrip writes to tell us that immediately following their $67 billion acquisition of BellSouth, AT&T plans on cutting about 10,000 jobs.
More child-proofing efforts for MySpace. conq writes "BusinessWeek has an interview with Connecticut Attorney General Richard Blumenthalin in which he describes measures MySpace and other similar sites should take to protect children. From the article: 'We're going to be suggesting some very specific measures that MySpace can take based on our conversations with MySpace as well as with other law enforcement authorities at the state and local levels. We've received hundreds of complaints from parents who are concerned about these issues, and we want to be sure that the measures we propose are technologically feasible and financially viable.'"
Why Windows Vista will Suck: a rebuttal. shrapnull writes "Hot on the heels of Extreme Tech's 'Why Windows Vista Won't Suck', Steven J. Vaughan-Nichols has an alternate position posted on DesktopLinux, and sent to subscribers of Novell's 'Suse Linux Cool Solutions' newsletter."
Harvard researcher punished for reporting bugs. Guillermito writes "A story previously discussed came to a sad conclusion two weeks ago. The bottom line is this means that it is forbidden to use reverse engineering tools to find bugs in a software. You also have to prove that you own a valid license for each version of the tested software. To publish a proof of concept that contains a few dozens of copyrighted bytes is also forbidden. It's a nice precedent for any company selling a defective product."
Assemblyman Biondi backpedals on NJ anonymous posting bill. Quadraginta writes "Earlier, denizens of Slashdot reacted to a story about a bill to be introduced to the New Jersey legislature that would require hosts of forums, bulletin boards and the like to keep track of the real identity of anonymous posters. Seems like there was a strong reaction all over. Assemblyman Biondi now appears to be backpedalling furiously. From a letter quoted after the link: 'I am getting inundated with responses which I will review and use to better educate myself on the implications of this bill. If, after reviewing all of the correspondence and the opinion of OLS, it turns out that the bill is, in fact, unworkable, I will certainly reconsider and withdraw it.'"
A followup on Chinese TLDs. nqz writes "In this story on ComputerWorld, ICANN and the China Internet Network Information Center (CNNIC) both dispute a previous story discussing China's new top-level domains containing Chinese characters."
CIO = Chief Information Officer
[Fuck Beta]
o0t!
It did, in the old days. They rewrote it a long time ago, I think in the jump to Nt 4.0. The userspace command line tools are still BSD based in XP though.
It's not.
Part 1: Taleyarkhan, who used to work at Oak Ridge National Laboratory, has, since working at Perdue, removed the equipment the co-workers were using to try and replicate the results
, (comma)
Part 2: claimed results for experimental runs were positive for fusion despite the co-workers never seeing the raw data
and (Proper use of a conjunction in a sentence containing a list of verb phrases)
Part 3: opposed the publication of results which contradicted his findings.
Each part of this sentence is not a sentence in and of itself (with the exception of part one, which is completely acceptable), which would constitute a run-on sentence. It is grammatically correct even though it is quite surprising and irregular, being the work of a Slashdot editor. This sentence is logically equivalent to:
Joe, who used to manage Cisco-based networks at Sandia National Labs, has, since completing his dissertation, published papers on network topologies, lectured at various institutions and released software to aid in the management of large-scale networks.
Sure, its clumsy and difficult to read, but still valid.
AFAIK, there are no voices giving out any other viewpoint(s).
You can read an in-depth review of the matter here:
http://www.petitiononline.com/mmfa2/petition.html
The petition was created by the people at Media Matters
[Fuck Beta]
o0t!
"I work in a mobile combat communications unit, while I'm not in the sandbox right now, I can attest to the DoD policy on blocking web access.
There are several levels of DoD blocking. First, the DoD policy on web access, policy, and security in general, very broad, next is the Departments level, i.e. Army, Navy, etc, then there is the base policy and then the command policy and unit policy all the way down to the company. The "general rule" is that no one can have policy rules lower then that of above. This means a platoons policy can not be more lax then the base policy. This sort of transitive policy based appliance leaves much room for interpretation at all levels of policy implementation. Every service is different, every level is different and every network right down to the hardware is different. So, when you talk about blocking you have to be very specific as it is nearly impossible to just nail down an exact, cut and dry policy. Web content filtering, ACL's and the likes are different from service to service and mission to mission.
First of all when you are down range don't expect to even get DSL speeds from a satellite, we usually roll with about 256kbs for the data side of our trunk.
This is too far from the truth depending on the environment. The Ku band in Iraq is quite substantial in fact the smallest direct BGP Sat link might be a T-1 up to 8 and 32Meg or so via a Sat package called the DKET. This is speaking for the Marine side by the way. Also lateral links are about 3Meg at the smallest level via another Ku Sat package. This of course has its caveats. At this level we are talking about a non-mobile infrastructure were as a mobile infrastructure would be a Microware shot thru a TSR or MUX link at anywhere from 96k to 512k or more depending on voice needs and breakdown of classified to unclassified network needs. (Data bandwidth is shared between the two types of DoD networks when multiplexed, voice generally rides its own trunk card thru the multiplexer, typically a Promina node does this multiplexing or at lower levels in the unit they have what is called an FCC multiplexer)
So blocking sites is very important, otherwise 4 or 5 people could start streaming audio and pretty much knock down any legitimate use of the network. We filter websites with smartfilter and yes the military system admins in the IPO office will unblock any web site that isn't blocked by local policy (no pr0n, no streaming audio, no civilian web mail: both the hot and the g varieties, and no chat programs; although irc is used by the DoD)
This is somewhat accurate. From the Corps standpoint, when I first went to Iraq this was not the case. We could chat all day long until it was "locked down". This is done at the BGP point via the highest headquarters out there, CentCom etc. Even then it isn't full proof, I found ways around it, i.e. bypass or just good ole bribing the E-3 at the terminal.
This is no Orwellian conspiracy, but quick and easy system administration; apply smartfilter: check! If you want to check the current smartfilter blocked sites goto: securecomputing and submit some sites to check."
Once again, take this with a grain of salt. Though this seems like it applies to all agencies and to all services at all times it really doesn't. The mobile and deployed units are in constant flex so nothing is really ever solidified when it comes to policy. The ONLY real way to know for sure is to go out there and site down behind their network and try it yourself, or ask someone you know out there to do it. I have a couple dozen friends out there right now on the Net Admin side so if you have a specific inquiry post it and I will see what I can come up with.
1700 PACIFIC U.S. MON - FRI TOP
00:00 AP Newscast
03:00 Sporting News Radio Sports
06:00 The Al Franken Show
Would be nice to see something like this for all platforms.
Well it's not exactly identical, but one of the people who works on SELinux has been running a test machine on and off since Fedora Core 2. Details are here. Similar to the OS X box that was hacked in 30 minutes he does have SSH open and provides you with local account access, the local account being root. I wouls suggest that that shows a certain amount of confidence in its security. Also note that SELinux is coming to Ubuntu soon.
Jedidiah.
Craft Beer Programming T-shirts
The fact that this piece of flamebait trolling got modded up shows exactly the one way Digg is superior to /. - no idiot mods. On Digg, the moderation now works by voting so the registered readers as a whole mod, not just a select few.
Don't think I'm bitching because I don't have mod points; I used my last earlier today and I've lost count of how many times I've received mod points. I meta-mod almost every day too. Yes, someone who mods is saying how much the mod system sucks! But I see this kind of crap here all the time and it's getting to where it just makes me sick. Trolls get modded up by those who agree with them and good posts modded down because the mod disagrees with the poster or was too dumb to understand the joke (or perhaps was simply a humorless jerk). THIS is what /. has to be embarassed aobut, more than anything else. How do you think a newcomer reacts when he sees some bigoted troll flaming a certain group of people modded up to +2 or even higher while insightful and genuinely funny posts are modded down?
Oh, by the way, you're an arrogant asshole. There, maybe now that I've flamed someone this post will get modded up too.
I dream of a better world... one in which chickens can cross roads without their motives being questioned.
This is no Orwellian conspiracy, but quick and easy system administration; apply smartfilter: check!
Well, then the issue is the contents of the block list. According to a guy behind the filter:
There are two Vista concepts at play here, SuperFetch and External Memory Devices (EMDs).
r everyone/performance.mspx
0 100).
"Windows Vista introduces a new concept in adding memory to a system. USB flash drives can be used as External Memory Devices (EMDs) to extend system memory and improve performance without opening the box. Your computer is able to access memory from an EMD device much more quickly than it can access data on the hard drive, boosting system performance. When combined with SuperFetch technology, this can help drive impressive improvement in system responsiveness."
http://www.microsoft.com/windowsvista/features/fo
SuperFetch can apparently use an EMD as additional ram and "A unique algorithm optimizes wear patterns, so that a USB device can run as an EMD for many years, even when heavily used.". I think that I'd take it with a grain of salt until I saw it working, this is still marketing fluff as the USB support won't be available until a later preview version of Vista (http://www.itnews.com.au/newsstory.aspx?CIaNID=2
I am curious about the Hybrid Hard Drives mentioned in the article on the Microsoft site. Anyone know which manufacturers are developing hard drives with a large flash cache?
While I'm as big a fan of conspiracy theories as the next guy, I'm sorry to say that no such speculation is neccessary in this case.
The guy just cannot write.
Seriously, check out Linux Desktop or Linux Watch and check out other articles by this guy (his name is Steven J. Vaughan-Nichols). It's all the same story: flawed, simpleton logic; egregious typos (he must hate copy editors, because he's obviously never let one near one of his articles); sentences so poorly constructed that although you know you're reading English you can't figure out for the life of you what the guy is saying.
Even when he's not that bad, he's bad...
DSL, for those of you who don't know it, is one of several "mini-Linux" distributions. Of the set, it's probably the most well thought of since it actually manages to pick a GUI into its goodness and, having turned version 2.0 recently, it's the most mature of the mini-Linuxes.
See, he's just a bit off-kilter; it's not that you can't parse the sentence, it just gives you that queezy feeling in your stomach that you can't explain. I don't know where this guy learned to write, but I can tell you that I won't be reading any more of his "articles."
Ok, I don't agree with the 'counter' article on why Vista will suck, as we have also been using it, and there are some rough edges, but even at this beta point it is more stable and mature than some other 'full scale' shipping OSes.
/. community truly use this article as a 'definitive' answer of what Vista will or won't do.
/. quality? And yes, that is kind of a loaded question as some of the stuff we see is questionable anyway.
However, I had to go WTH when I read the article. How can anyone here in the
#1) The person writing the article doesn't even have a video card that does Vista Glass, that means, they don't have a video Card made in the last 4 years, all it takes is a Pixel Shader 2.0 on the card, that NVidia debuted years ago at Comdex with the GeforceFX 5200 for 80 bucks.
#2) Did anyone else catch this line about his reference to the Vista video requirements, " would only add that if you expect to see the fancy desktop, you need to invest in, say, an ATI Radeon XPress 200, an Nvidia nForce4, or a high-end graphics card."
Ok, hold your hand up if you know the difference between Video and Mainboard chipsets? nForce/Geforce anyone? I know 10 year olds that would laugh at this. And the ATI Radeon Xpress 200 as a base line? An integrated ATI Chipset that debuted last year? That is even crazy.
How about an NVidia PCI 5200 Graphics card made several years ago as the baseline, and Vista does Glass quite well on it even. Even generic notebooks baseline for Video anymore is ATI or Nvidia chipsets that include Pixel Shader 2.0 technology or basically hardware DirectX 9 support as others would call it.
I don't fully disagree with this person's article either, but really, is this
Make your own judgements on this, even as the article says, Vista seems to be better than XP, and who knows for sure how it will turn out...
Normally I read digg entirely by RSS. Predictably, if you want any content, they want you to click through, since they haven't figured out how to transfer their ad-serving tech to RSS.
Recently, I *did* click through to something sufficiently enticing, and started reading. Woah.
They suddenly have nesting discussions (ok, only 2-level), comment rating, *and* filtering based on aggregate rating. As far as I can tell, they're only a few weeks away from the full-grown trolling ecology that is slashdot.
Don't think I'm just dissing slashdot. You should consider that this very message is pandering to you. It's a troll, albeit a troll with actual content. Despite my ph33rsom3 50 karma, I just can't resist writing a message that's informative and trying to get a good audience response.
Before you write off digg as a bunch of fucking loser teenagers who wouldn't know a VAX if somebody dropped it on their WRX (admittedly true), you should consider that they just grabbed what are probably the two most important feature from slashdot for fostering a culture encouraging intelligent commentary.
Meanwhile, slashcode in response picks up its first new features in *ages*.
Competition is goooooooooood.