In every single one of the "reviews" of this card the "reviewer" has been a complete idiot.
Having never tested a network card (except to stress the maximum bandwidth of on-board solutions), especially one with claims of gaming benefits like this, I spent a long time finding a testing method that I was comfortable with.
Why not just setup a test network with a workstation with that NIC, a test server, a sniffer and some test scripts?
You image the workstation so you can start clean with each NIC you're testing.
You use the sniffer so you can see what is actually on the wire.
You use the scripts instead of doing anything manually because you want to remove the human factor as much as possible.
Online gaming is notoriously unreliable and unrepeatable as we all should know by now. Servers can be slower or faster based on the time of day, number of users online at the time; personal ISP connections can vary based on line quality, number of users in the area online at the time; global networks can go up and down and stream traffic anywhere at any time!
YES! Those are all the reasons why you run your own test server instead of adding additional variables to a test. So, are you going to do the test correctly?
For WoW, I selected a busy server, and attempted to play at the same time during a week day to try and always have a similar traffic level.
I guess not. Even with knowing every reason NOT to do that, you went ahead anyway.
I then used FRAPS to monitor our frame rates during the online game play and used the in-game ping monitoring for each title, reported every 10 seconds or so to another person writing the answers down. Each test was run 10 TIMES; nope, not kidding here. I wanted to be VERY sure that our results weren't a fluke, in either the Killer NIC's favor or not.
So what I'm wondering is why haven't we seen any REAL evaluations by people who know what they're doing? Do the Killer NIC people simply refuse to provide hardware to anyone who has a clue?
The on-board networking on the 975XBX2 motherboard was used for the non Killer NIC tests.
So you didn't even bother to test against a mid-range card? You used the chip on your motherboard.
Here is the torrent FNApp at work! You can see I have four files being downloaded at one time, though only two are transferring at the time. One of the things I wish BigFoot Networks had included was a transfer rate and maybe a way to see what you are actually uploading.
That's why you would use a sniffer.
In Day of Defeat: Source, I saw a 5% frame rate increase when using the Killer NIC versus the on-board networking on the Intel 975XBX2 motherboard.
And, once again, you didn't even go out and pick up a $50 NIC to compare it against.
The game did "feel" a bit faster, just as I reported in my testing under Windows XP, but once again, I am hesitant to put too much weight on that claim as it is such a vague and hard to verify point.
That's why you script the tests.
Under FEAR, I saw even more impressive results, especially considering that in Windows XP I saw NO change in performance.
And that didn't tell you something?
The model that supports FNApps is going to cost you around $179 retail, and Newegg.com has it for sale for $178 as of this publication date.
I had a sad realization today, reading an earlier Slashdot post. To beat Windows (much less Mac OS) on the desktop of people who are not early adopters, Linux does not have to be as good -- as I believe it is, on balance. Rather, it has to be better, and conspicuously better.
Don't be sad. Look at it from a corporation's point of view.
#1. FREE!!!!! #1a. No more money spent tracking licenses #1b. No more time spent tracking licenses #1c. No more threats of "license compliance audits".
#2. The package system means that upgrades are even easier than on Windows.
#3. Text-based config files means it's EASY to troubleshoot problems. Diff the files between a working box and the problem box.
and so on and so forth.
People will become familiar with Linux when it starts to replace their existing desktops where they work. That's going to take some time (years).
That will get the hardware support which is the REAL issue.
We're seeing this in some companies and governments. It's only going to accelerate over time.
PC is easy. Have the Man in Black doing the routine from the regular commercials. MiB: "Message inbound, it says it's from Mom." PC: "Mom? Great! Let me read it." PC then switches voice and gestures (like in the "identity theft" commercials).
Mac: "Wow, that was weird. His security guy didn't save him."
Linux appears as cute woman in normal attire. Linux's clothes morph into Agent clothes from The Matrix.
Mac: "How did you do that?"
Linux: "External security is not sufficient. You must become the security."
1st ad: Linux has been a viable alternative for quite some time. Just because you don't hear about it all the time doesn't mean it's new or that your company shouldn't use it.
Cheese has been around for a long time, too. Don't be a wuss. Say why you're better than the other two.
2nd ad: Linux changes to suit the times. There's no waiting around for years for a new version.
Putting on a jacket isn't that impressive. Particularly when Linux is behind Windows in new hardware support. If Vista hasn't been replaced by 2010, a new toy I buy then will still work with Vista. But may not work with Linux.
3rd ad: Linux can do the things that Mac and Windows can. And can do it on any hardware.
This is the worst of the lot.
Given that interpretation, you end up with two Linux's on the screen (cute woman and fat guy) and one Mac. Not a good message there.
The point of the original series of ads was to show how PC's (and Windows) SUCKED compared to a Mac.
Emphasize Linux's strong points. Show how Windows and Macs suck when compared to Linux.
Mac drives onscreen in some trendy car (bug, hybrid, whatever). Pop music.
PC drives onscreen in a wood paneled station wagon with a bicycle the back and a pile of luggage strapped on top (with bits of shirt flapping in the breeze). Music plays, but cuts out and comes back in at the wrong speed.
Linux drives onscreen in a jeep.
Cut to Mac "Nice jeep".
Cut back to Linux in a limo. "I liked it, but right now I want this."
PC "How do you change so fast?"
Cut to Linux on a racing cycle, "I have lots of configuration options."
If you've used EasyUbuntu or something like that, you may have problems.
If you're not sure of your comfort level with fixing something like that (or if you depend upon a wireless NIC for connectivity) then you should just go with a clean install.
People with more experience will be able to identify possible problems BEFORE upgrading and also be able to handle them AFTER the upgrade.
I've had no problems but then I use an old NIC and I have a decent amount of Linux experience.
Recently there has been an issue where "hda" suddenly became "sda" and caused some issues for people. Ubuntu changed the way the IDE systems were labeled to make things easier in the future. I noticed when my USB drive changed. This could be a problem for someone with less experience.
The net result will be identically configured computers with fewer applications, a bot maker's paradise.
Yep. That's one way to look at it.
A different way to look at it is that a known, reduced configuration allows vulnerabilities to be patched (government-wide) at the lowest level possible with minimum code necessary.
I for one fuckingHATE the 500MB "service packs" that are released. It is far easier to test frequent, minor changes than infrequent MASSIVE changes. And it looks as if the Federal Government is finally catching on to that fact.
#1. There is no security without physical security. #2. Run only what you absolutely need. #3. Run it with the minimum possible rights.
How dare these companies target markets where they know they can make money!!
I think the point might have eluded you.
No one is saying that broadband providers CANNOT send an ad to people who make over $100,000. That would be an example of targeting a specific market. That is why your attempt at flippancy missed.
What is actually happening is that someone making over $100,000 is trying to find where he can purchase a specific product. And that information is being denied to him. By the companies providing product. And those companies are also trying legal maneuvers to prevent him from finding the product via other channels.
That's very strange behaviour for a company. Usually companies WANT to sell their products.
That behaviour becomes understandable when you look at it from the perspective of trying to extract as much money as possible from the existing infrastructure.
We're supposed to believe in competition and bringing more/better/cheaper products to the consumer. That's not what is happening here.
I wish that people wouldn't be such leftist nidjits (but I repeat myself).
And how is any of this "leftist"?
The way that technology becomes available is that it is first offered to the rich.
This may be news to you, but the technology is rather old. Look at other countries that have deployed better tech than this YEARS ago.
This is all about squeezing the maximum profit from the minimum investment... and hiding the information so that the consumers CANNOT make informed choices.
Asked for their favourite type of music, 39 per cent said rock, 18 per cent R&B and 14 per cent pop. Six per cent said heavy metal and a third rated it in their top five genres.
6% - Heavy Metal 14% - Pop
More of them listed the Britney Spears genre than the Angus Young genre.
I'd say there might be some flaws in this "study".:)
They did not understand Free / Open Source software.
They paid $210 million for SuSE. Why?
The more intelligent approach would be to hire developers who would submit patches that you wanted to the various projects that you're interested in.
Then you Open the protocols that you control that you want to see more widely adopted. And pay developers to incorporate those protocols.
Novell had the idea that it can acquire Linux by buying Linux distributions and projects. When this didn't pay out, Novell decided to "partner" with Microsoft in search of some more money.
I know it's not a new problem, but I've never worked out a good way to handle folks like this.
Okay, you've found the people that aren't complying with the project.
Now, find out why they aren't. This can be tricky. You don't want to TELL them that they have to (the implication being that they'll be fired, because they're probably pretty sure that they won't be). But you want to find out why they aren't using it.
I've gone through similar instances and it was usually about protecting turf.
Knowledge is power.
Knowledge shared is power lost.
Are they insecure about their skills? About their job? About the market? Or something else? Is it some reason other than insecurity? Is there a conflict in the department? Something else? Find out and keep an open mind about solutions.
Ubuntu is pretty sweet for the desktop, but there's too much desktop-y stuff involved in it. Without doing some research, I wouldn't even know how to do an Ubuntu install completely free from any window manager whatsoever.
Boot the install CD and choose "Install a LAMP server" at the menu.
Other than that it's almost identical to Debian. And it doesn't get any easier than Debian.
Games are written. Just as books are written. And the writer has his/her own biases.
If you read a book, you can read two books. You can read a dozen books. You can find the biases.
If you play one "educational" video game, you've pretty much played them all. There aren't very many. So you'll be stuck with whatever bias the person who wrote it had.
Walk to the subway station, and there are about 5 vendors who will happily sell you pirated version of any music CD, most DVDs, and almost any software for $5.
I think what you really meant to say was "most popular" and "newly released".
The same in China. They bootleg whatever sells well... right now.
But they don't keep massive databanks of every DVD / CD / software ever produced. Ready to be burned, printed and sold to you.
How could you tell the difference between pirated CD's and non-pirated CD's in a store? The ones I see appear identical to me.
Sure you have one. Everyone nowadays has at least one wireless router at home, be it Linksys, NetGear, D-Link, or Buffalo. With new wireless products being released nearly every month, I am willing to bet that some of you even have a couple of the older wireless routers collecting dust in your closet. Well, it's time to take them out and put them to good use.
Check out the OpenWRT project. OpenWRT is a Linux distribution for embedded devices, and it brings a lot of exciting possibilities to your humble wireless router. Although still in its release candidate stage (currently at RC6), OpenWRT is very usable and feature-rich right out of the box. Be warned, you could void your manufacturer warranty by installing OpenWRT on your wireless routers.
So what can you do with an embedded Linux device running on limited RAM and very small storage? As it turns out, quite a lot actually. You can install asterisk, and have your personal, customizable PBX (private branch exchange). If you already have a SIP phone or some kind of VoIP phone interface (such as the Cisco ATA 186 adapter), you can have your very own VoIP system at home, all running out of your low power-consumption embedded hardware.
Put your router/firewall on steroids by installing packages like nmap (network security scanner), snort (intrusion detection), and tcpdump (packet sniffer). Together with iptables (which comes with the Linux kernel), you can turn your OpenWRT box into a powerful security tool. Install openvpn, and you have a very affordable VPN device. And if it strikes your fancy, you can install quagga and turn your dusty little Linksys into an OSPF and BGP-capable router.
Want to provide your own wireless hotspot? No problem. Install chillispot, and you are ready to go. You can even install FreeRADIUS on the OpenWRT for the authentication back-end, and WPA (wifi protected access) for the added security.
You can turn it into an all purpose office server by installing DHCP, cups (print server), lighthttpd (web server), NTP (time server) and OpenSSH or dropbear (secure remote administration). If your router has a USB port, you can also turn it into a file server by hooking it up with a USB hard drive and installing NFS.
And don't forget that this is a wireless router. It has a wireless card, so take advantage of it! Install kismet on it, and you have a wireless sniffer. This can prove to be invaluable if you ever need to analyze the airwaves at a remote location, but don't want to leave your expensive laptop on-site. Drop in place a $50 OpenWRT box loaded with kismet instead.
Here is one way to use your old wireless router: In the past, I had setup a few cheap Linksys WRT54g boxes with OpenWRT and vtun, and dropped one at each of our remote locations. This gave me the ability to have layer 2 tunnels to each of the remote sites. I kept one in my house, and if I ever needed to troubleshoot a remote network problem, I just setup the tunnel between the two OpenWRT boxes, connected my laptop or testing equipment to the OpenWRT sitting on my desk, and it was like being on the remote physical network! This saved me a number of times, being able to perform packet capturing on the remote network, observing the network traffic in real-time, requesting and obtaining DHCP addresses... essentially, I could experience exactly what the remote user was experiencing, all from the comfort of my own home. This is just the beginning of what embedded Linux can do for you. To find out more what embedded Linux can do fo r your enterprise, check out Secure Linux Appliances in Your Enterprise. So dig up your old wireless router, check it against the hardware compatibility list, and see if your router is OpenWRT compatible, and open yourself up to a wrt of possibilities!
Not to mention that the students were not trained in network security.
So, you give someone who isn't trained in network security... give him an unsecured network... with default passwords and such... and a time limit of less than a week... with the restriction that he cannot just unhook his network... and his network gets cracked.
You're the Hero. Of course your code will work... you're the Hero.
When a problem pops up, you slay it. You're the Hero.
People seldom ask why the problem popped up. They're too happy to have it removed. And the next one. And the next one. And the next one.
Simply put, bad practices result in bad code. So the Hero becomes the firefighter. Unless s/he moves up or onward.
The easy solution to this is not socially acceptable (unless instituted by a savvy boss). Signs indicating "X days since server crash" or such tend to divide the department between the Hero's and the Thinkers. And that creates its own problems.
People do not value things that they do not have to think about. Until they are forced to think about them. If you're doing a great job and all the updates are transparent to the users... you might as well not be there at all for all they know. You have to find some way to keep reminding people that you are the one handling the problems BEFORE the problems become problems.
The MAC address and ARP broadcasts are only used for local delivery. Some machine on that local segment had to have already been cracked.
There was a cracked machine sitting inside your firewall and broadcasting on your internal network.
How it was cracked is the first issue.
Using it as a proxy is just weird. It would be more efficient and effective to use it to scan other machines to see if they're vulnerable and to run attacks on your administrator passwords.
Better yet, upload the BIOS info and see if a rootkit can be installed on the motherboard.
It is a strange attack because it doesn't match any of the standard reasons for attacking.
#1. Bandwidth - this for for spam and DDoS attacks.
1a. Crack one machine and upload the address book and anything that appears to be an email address so infected emails can be sent to those addresses.
1b. Crack one machine and scan that range to see if any other machines are vulnerable.
#2. Information - compromise one machine / router / whatever and use that to attack important internal machines via worms or password attacks.
The attack you describe is just... weird. Why attempt to compromise multiple workstations via an outside site? That is too easily noticed. Suddenly all of your workstations are hitting this one site? That's a huge flag in the logs. Even if you hadn't noticed it on the workstations.
And they wouldn't get any more bandwidth from the attack (case #1) nor would they get information that wasn't more easily available (and less noticeable) via other routes (case #2).
Your comment about "Joe User" is accurate... but premature.
The group that will initially drive Linux adoption (whether *buntu or other) will be governments and businesses.
The majority (99.9%+) of workers in those two categories will not be focused on the latest hardware and toys. They use wired connections, 2D graphics and save their data onto a central server. Their users do not maintain nor upgrade their boxes. They have experts who do that for them. And being Debian-based, *buntu is very easy to upgrade/maintain.
The only features missing for those categories are email / calendaring / scheduling (similar to Outlook/Exchange, GroupWise or Lotus Notes) and directory services (similar to Active Directory or eDirectory). The directory services may be here soon from Red Hat's Directory Server http://www.redhat.com/software/rha/directory. But the email segment is taking a bit longer. Eventually that will be here also.
At which point, non-US governments will be heavily pushing to get off the Microsoft upgrade treadmill. Particularly since they'll be able to invest in their LOCAL developers to polish Linux for their specific needs.
As the government / business workers gain familiarity with Linux at work, they'll be more comfortable using Linux at home. But the home market will be the LAST market that Linux will crack. And it will take YEARS (literally).
If you want to bring the home market around quicker, you need to focus on bringing WINE up to speed for their applications (and the home users have a LOT of different apps, each with slightly different requirements and almost NONE of them written in an easily portable fashion). Or you can work on near identical apps for them (which addresses your point about them "learning" by rote).
Slashdot Mirror
Why not just setup a test network with a workstation with that NIC, a test server, a sniffer and some test scripts?
You image the workstation so you can start clean with each NIC you're testing.
You use the sniffer so you can see what is actually on the wire.
You use the scripts instead of doing anything manually because you want to remove the human factor as much as possible.
YES! Those are all the reasons why you run your own test server instead of adding additional variables to a test. So, are you going to do the test correctly?
I guess not. Even with knowing every reason NOT to do that, you went ahead anyway.
So what I'm wondering is why haven't we seen any REAL evaluations by people who know what they're doing? Do the Killer NIC people simply refuse to provide hardware to anyone who has a clue?
So you didn't even bother to test against a mid-range card? You used the chip on your motherboard.
That's why you would use a sniffer.
And, once again, you didn't even go out and pick up a $50 NIC to compare it against.
That's why you script the tests.
And that didn't tell you something?
Seriously, you didn't test against a $50 NIC?
Don't be sad. Look at it from a corporation's point of view.
#1. FREE!!!!!
#1a. No more money spent tracking licenses
#1b. No more time spent tracking licenses
#1c. No more threats of "license compliance audits".
#2. The package system means that upgrades are even easier than on Windows.
#3. Text-based config files means it's EASY to troubleshoot problems. Diff the files between a working box and the problem box.
and so on and so forth.
People will become familiar with Linux when it starts to replace their existing desktops where they work. That's going to take some time (years).
That will get the hardware support which is the REAL issue.
We're seeing this in some companies and governments. It's only going to accelerate over time.
A little bit tougher ...
PC is easy. Have the Man in Black doing the routine from the regular commercials.
MiB: "Message inbound, it says it's from Mom."
PC: "Mom? Great! Let me read it."
PC then switches voice and gestures (like in the "identity theft" commercials).
Mac: "Wow, that was weird. His security guy didn't save him."
Linux appears as cute woman in normal attire.
Linux's clothes morph into Agent clothes from The Matrix.
Mac: "How did you do that?"
Linux: "External security is not sufficient. You must become the security."
Cheese has been around for a long time, too. Don't be a wuss. Say why you're better than the other two.
Putting on a jacket isn't that impressive. Particularly when Linux is behind Windows in new hardware support. If Vista hasn't been replaced by 2010, a new toy I buy then will still work with Vista. But may not work with Linux.
This is the worst of the lot.
Given that interpretation, you end up with two Linux's on the screen (cute woman and fat guy) and one Mac. Not a good message there.
The point of the original series of ads was to show how PC's (and Windows) SUCKED compared to a Mac.
Emphasize Linux's strong points. Show how Windows and Macs suck when compared to Linux.
Mac drives onscreen in some trendy car (bug, hybrid, whatever). Pop music.
PC drives onscreen in a wood paneled station wagon with a bicycle the back and a pile of luggage strapped on top (with bits of shirt flapping in the breeze). Music plays, but cuts out and comes back in at the wrong speed.
Linux drives onscreen in a jeep.
Cut to Mac "Nice jeep".
Cut back to Linux in a limo. "I liked it, but right now I want this."
PC "How do you change so fast?"
Cut to Linux on a racing cycle, "I have lots of configuration options."
PC "I wish I did."
Linux (now driving a semi) "One day you might."
You really need better writers. Just putting a cute woman on screen is not enough.
... Linux is a 3rd choice?
... no license requirements? PC and Mac both dig into their wallets ... Linux invites all her friends along.
Look at what each of the other commercials is about. Each has a point.
Macs are easy to setup - PC's are not.
Macs are secure - PC's keep asking you to confirm each action.
Your point is
Why not focus on something like
The updates are NOT always perfect.
If you've used EasyUbuntu or something like that, you may have problems.
If you're not sure of your comfort level with fixing something like that (or if you depend upon a wireless NIC for connectivity) then you should just go with a clean install.
People with more experience will be able to identify possible problems BEFORE upgrading and also be able to handle them AFTER the upgrade.
I've had no problems but then I use an old NIC and I have a decent amount of Linux experience.
Recently there has been an issue where "hda" suddenly became "sda" and caused some issues for people. Ubuntu changed the way the IDE systems were labeled to make things easier in the future. I noticed when my USB drive changed. This could be a problem for someone with less experience.
One of the better movies.
And don't just look at Hollywood. There's some great Science Fiction coming out of Japan. Such as Ghost in the Shell.
Yep. That's one way to look at it.
A different way to look at it is that a known, reduced configuration allows vulnerabilities to be patched (government-wide) at the lowest level possible with minimum code necessary.
I for one fucking HATE the 500MB "service packs" that are released. It is far easier to test frequent, minor changes than infrequent MASSIVE changes. And it looks as if the Federal Government is finally catching on to that fact.
#1. There is no security without physical security.
#2. Run only what you absolutely need.
#3. Run it with the minimum possible rights.
I think the point might have eluded you.
No one is saying that broadband providers CANNOT send an ad to people who make over $100,000. That would be an example of targeting a specific market. That is why your attempt at flippancy missed.
What is actually happening is that someone making over $100,000 is trying to find where he can purchase a specific product. And that information is being denied to him. By the companies providing product. And those companies are also trying legal maneuvers to prevent him from finding the product via other channels.
That's very strange behaviour for a company. Usually companies WANT to sell their products.
That behaviour becomes understandable when you look at it from the perspective of trying to extract as much money as possible from the existing infrastructure.
We're supposed to believe in competition and bringing more/better/cheaper products to the consumer. That's not what is happening here.
And how is any of this "leftist"?
This may be news to you, but the technology is rather old. Look at other countries that have deployed better tech than this YEARS ago.
This is all about squeezing the maximum profit from the minimum investment
6% - Heavy Metal
14% - Pop
More of them listed the Britney Spears genre than the Angus Young genre.
I'd say there might be some flaws in this "study".
They did not understand Free / Open Source software.
They paid $210 million for SuSE. Why?
The more intelligent approach would be to hire developers who would submit patches that you wanted to the various projects that you're interested in.
Then you Open the protocols that you control that you want to see more widely adopted. And pay developers to incorporate those protocols.
Novell had the idea that it can acquire Linux by buying Linux distributions and projects. When this didn't pay out, Novell decided to "partner" with Microsoft in search of some more money.
No, this is abuse of authority.
This is about removing accountability.
We don't need a paper trail just for a paper trail. We need one to make sure that the requests are legitimate and fair.
Okay, you've found the people that aren't complying with the project.
Now, find out why they aren't. This can be tricky. You don't want to TELL them that they have to (the implication being that they'll be fired, because they're probably pretty sure that they won't be). But you want to find out why they aren't using it.
I've gone through similar instances and it was usually about protecting turf.
Knowledge is power.
Knowledge shared is power lost.
Are they insecure about their skills? About their job? About the market? Or something else? Is it some reason other than insecurity? Is there a conflict in the department? Something else? Find out and keep an open mind about solutions.
Boot the install CD and choose "Install a LAMP server" at the menu.
Other than that it's almost identical to Debian. And it doesn't get any easier than Debian.
And who, according to insurance companies, is the riskiest group? Teenage boys.
Next study! People who date teenage girls are risky drivers!
Games are written. Just as books are written. And the writer has his/her own biases.
If you read a book, you can read two books. You can read a dozen books. You can find the biases.
If you play one "educational" video game, you've pretty much played them all. There aren't very many. So you'll be stuck with whatever bias the person who wrote it had.
That's not education. That's programming.
I think what you really meant to say was "most popular" and "newly released".
The same in China. They bootleg whatever sells well
But they don't keep massive databanks of every DVD / CD / software ever produced. Ready to be burned, printed and sold to you.
How could you tell the difference between pirated CD's and non-pirated CD's in a store? The ones I see appear identical to me.
Sure you have one. Everyone nowadays has at least one wireless router at home, be it Linksys, NetGear, D-Link, or Buffalo. With new wireless products being released nearly every month, I am willing to bet that some of you even have a couple of the older wireless routers collecting dust in your closet. Well, it's time to take them out and put them to good use.
Check out the OpenWRT project. OpenWRT is a Linux distribution for embedded devices, and it brings a lot of exciting possibilities to your humble wireless router. Although still in its release candidate stage (currently at RC6), OpenWRT is very usable and feature-rich right out of the box. Be warned, you could void your manufacturer warranty by installing OpenWRT on your wireless routers.
So what can you do with an embedded Linux device running on limited RAM and very small storage? As it turns out, quite a lot actually. You can install asterisk, and have your personal, customizable PBX (private branch exchange). If you already have a SIP phone or some kind of VoIP phone interface (such as the Cisco ATA 186 adapter), you can have your very own VoIP system at home, all running out of your low power-consumption embedded hardware.
Put your router/firewall on steroids by installing packages like nmap (network security scanner), snort (intrusion detection), and tcpdump (packet sniffer). Together with iptables (which comes with the Linux kernel), you can turn your OpenWRT box into a powerful security tool. Install openvpn, and you have a very affordable VPN device. And if it strikes your fancy, you can install quagga and turn your dusty little Linksys into an OSPF and BGP-capable router.
Want to provide your own wireless hotspot? No problem. Install chillispot, and you are ready to go. You can even install FreeRADIUS on the OpenWRT for the authentication back-end, and WPA (wifi protected access) for the added security.
You can turn it into an all purpose office server by installing DHCP, cups (print server), lighthttpd (web server), NTP (time server) and OpenSSH or dropbear (secure remote administration). If your router has a USB port, you can also turn it into a file server by hooking it up with a USB hard drive and installing NFS.
And don't forget that this is a wireless router. It has a wireless card, so take advantage of it! Install kismet on it, and you have a wireless sniffer. This can prove to be invaluable if you ever need to analyze the airwaves at a remote location, but don't want to leave your expensive laptop on-site. Drop in place a $50 OpenWRT box loaded with kismet instead.
Here is one way to use your old wireless router: In the past, I had setup a few cheap Linksys WRT54g boxes with OpenWRT and vtun, and dropped one at each of our remote locations. This gave me the ability to have layer 2 tunnels to each of the remote sites. I kept one in my house, and if I ever needed to troubleshoot a remote network problem, I just setup the tunnel between the two OpenWRT boxes, connected my laptop or testing equipment to the OpenWRT sitting on my desk, and it was like being on the remote physical network! This saved me a number of times, being able to perform packet capturing on the remote network, observing the network traffic in real-time, requesting and obtaining DHCP addresses... essentially, I could experience exactly what the remote user was experiencing, all from the comfort of my own home.
This is just the beginning of what embedded Linux can do for you. To find out more what embedded Linux can do fo r your enterprise, check out Secure Linux Appliances in Your Enterprise. So dig up your old wireless router, check it against the hardware compatibility list, and see if your router is OpenWRT compatible, and open yourself up to a wrt of possibilities!
Josh Kuo
Co-Owner of q!Bang Solutions
Not to mention that the students were not trained in network security.
... give him an unsecured network ... with default passwords and such ... and a time limit of less than a week ... with the restriction that he cannot just unhook his network ... and his network gets cracked.
So, you give someone who isn't trained in network security
Big fucking surprise.
You're the Hero. Of course your code will work ... you're the Hero.
... you might as well not be there at all for all they know. You have to find some way to keep reminding people that you are the one handling the problems BEFORE the problems become problems.
When a problem pops up, you slay it. You're the Hero.
People seldom ask why the problem popped up. They're too happy to have it removed. And the next one. And the next one. And the next one.
Simply put, bad practices result in bad code. So the Hero becomes the firefighter. Unless s/he moves up or onward.
The easy solution to this is not socially acceptable (unless instituted by a savvy boss). Signs indicating "X days since server crash" or such tend to divide the department between the Hero's and the Thinkers. And that creates its own problems.
People do not value things that they do not have to think about. Until they are forced to think about them. If you're doing a great job and all the updates are transparent to the users
The MAC address and ARP broadcasts are only used for local delivery. Some machine on that local segment had to have already been cracked.
... weird. Why attempt to compromise multiple workstations via an outside site? That is too easily noticed. Suddenly all of your workstations are hitting this one site? That's a huge flag in the logs. Even if you hadn't noticed it on the workstations.
There was a cracked machine sitting inside your firewall and broadcasting on your internal network.
How it was cracked is the first issue.
Using it as a proxy is just weird. It would be more efficient and effective to use it to scan other machines to see if they're vulnerable and to run attacks on your administrator passwords.
Better yet, upload the BIOS info and see if a rootkit can be installed on the motherboard.
It is a strange attack because it doesn't match any of the standard reasons for attacking.
#1. Bandwidth - this for for spam and DDoS attacks.
1a. Crack one machine and upload the address book and anything that appears to be an email address so infected emails can be sent to those addresses.
1b. Crack one machine and scan that range to see if any other machines are vulnerable.
#2. Information - compromise one machine / router / whatever and use that to attack important internal machines via worms or password attacks.
The attack you describe is just
And they wouldn't get any more bandwidth from the attack (case #1) nor would they get information that wasn't more easily available (and less noticeable) via other routes (case #2).
The MAC addresses of your router shouldn't matter. They're LOCAL machines.
So the "proxy" you describe would have to have been a local machine, too.
How did they get through your firewall to establish a local proxy?
Your comment about "Joe User" is accurate ... but premature.
The group that will initially drive Linux adoption (whether *buntu or other) will be governments and businesses.
The majority (99.9%+) of workers in those two categories will not be focused on the latest hardware and toys. They use wired connections, 2D graphics and save their data onto a central server. Their users do not maintain nor upgrade their boxes. They have experts who do that for them. And being Debian-based, *buntu is very easy to upgrade/maintain.
The only features missing for those categories are email / calendaring / scheduling (similar to Outlook/Exchange, GroupWise or Lotus Notes) and directory services (similar to Active Directory or eDirectory). The directory services may be here soon from Red Hat's Directory Server http://www.redhat.com/software/rha/directory. But the email segment is taking a bit longer. Eventually that will be here also.
At which point, non-US governments will be heavily pushing to get off the Microsoft upgrade treadmill. Particularly since they'll be able to invest in their LOCAL developers to polish Linux for their specific needs.
As the government / business workers gain familiarity with Linux at work, they'll be more comfortable using Linux at home. But the home market will be the LAST market that Linux will crack. And it will take YEARS (literally).
If you want to bring the home market around quicker, you need to focus on bringing WINE up to speed for their applications (and the home users have a LOT of different apps, each with slightly different requirements and almost NONE of them written in an easily portable fashion). Or you can work on near identical apps for them (which addresses your point about them "learning" by rote).