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!
More like - was done without authorization, and was shut down. From the site linked:
Yesterday we discovered the Mac OSX "challenge" was not an activity authorized by the UW-Madison. Once the test came to the attention of our CIO, she ended it. The site, test.doit.wisc.edu, will be removed from the network tonight.
Our primary concern is for security and network access for UW services. We are sorry for any inconvenience this has caused to the community.
Still, shut down or 'ended,' not being hacked is a good show. Congrats to OS X.
I think Apple would be well-served by having a continously running OS X security challenge, for both OS X and OS X Server. Offer a reward every time you demonstrate a hole, and fix them fast.
I dunno. I would think a massive, pipe-clogging bandwidth spike, which resulted in the removal of said site, would qualify as a successful attack.
I guess it all just depends on exactly what you want to do.
Chas - The one, the only.
THANK GOD!!!
Software researchers are the most impacted by this, as it's hard for a PhD to claim natural stupidity as a defense. It's expected of most end-users (even when that is unfair) so they can get away with it.
It's a small world and it smells funny; I'd buy another if it wasn't for the money; Take back what I paid (SoM)
For those who don't want to read the entire article, here is the cliffsnote version.
I understand operating systems and am very smart and I have 20 computers and a dog named spot.
linux power.
Vista will suck because it won't be free.
linux power.
The graphics will suck because it takes an expensive computer to run Aeroglass.
linux power.
Memory management will suck because linux has had good memory management for years.
linux power.
Superfetch will suck because GCC has had it for years, and your dog can run off with your USB card. (Never mind that it's just a *cache*, and it won't do anything but slow your computer down again after your dog starts chewing on it)
linux power.
TCP/IP improvements will suck because it's been in other OS's for years.
linux power.
Security will be bad because they found a bug in vista.
linux power.
I'm sorry. The number you have reached is imaginary. Please rotate your phone 90 degrees and try again.
I would like to point out that those people who state that MacOS X hacking is of little interest to the hacking community because the Mac has little market presence should pay attention to the draw this challenge precipitated.
Looks like every hacker and their uncle had a go at this one. I wonder how many unique IP addresses were used to access the challenge.
It's not about left-wing or right-wing or centrist or any of that. It's about money and power just as it has always been. Play the follow-the-money game (and hone some research skills too, woohoo!) more often and you will come to see this.
Left, right today. God, Satan yesterday. You notice it's always two, and only two, diametrically opposed ideas that can be compromised but cannot be reconciled (with other ideas existing only in an extremely marginalized form that is unlikely to be implemented, such as libertarianism). Your basic divide-and-conquer strategy. The left-wing vs. right-wing is an idealistic clash that does a great job of distracting people from basic critical thinking skills and a willingness to stick to the facts as determined by evidence when making decisions. It's a distraction, and it's a deliberate and effective one.
I'll give an example. Generally a left-winger is for greater personal freedom and more economic restrictions (particularly income redistribution, but there are others). Generally a right-winger is for greater economic freedom (tax cuts and the like) but more restrictions on personal freedom. Well, guess what? Both require a rather large government to properly realize their stated goals. So you have everyone squabbling over which set of restrictions they prefer, meanwhile, the elected officials continue to enjoy an ever-increasing national budget and more and more laws to appease their campaign contributors (recent changes to copyright law, anyone?). No matter how you carry out the left vs. right debate, a minimal government will never be the result. As stated above, a very effective distraction. For the people who stand to gain from less real freedom, and this subset of the population includes the major media outlets, it has served its purpose well. You don't need a conspiracy of any sort either; all that is required is that those who desire power act in their own interests while no one does anything to check them because they're too concerned about who will win the next American Idol.
It has always amazed me how so many people would agree that throughout history, religion has been used to control people by keeping them ignorant and willing to obey, but the same folks who will agree with that find it absurd that media and propaganda and creature comforts and an overemphasis on work/business can be used the same way.
It is a miracle that curiosity survives formal education. - Einstein