All you need to do is verify that the files on the drive are the files released by the vendor(s). An extra step would be to make sure that they're the most recently patched versions as well.
That can be done with a bootable Linux CD and a list of the various files, their locations and different checksums of each of them.
Anything that isn't on that list is suspect and can be quarantined.
The advantage of a system like that is that it is easy to use to spot even unknown rootkits.
It is the fact that they allowed someone to modify their core OS system in this way to begin with. The world has the development and technology to make the OS at that level "tamper proof" but why hasn't been done yet?
Now look at what the ideal "best practices" would be for an OS.
Then look at Windows 2000 (all versions). How did that differ from the "best practices".
Now look at every version since. In theory, each version SHOULD be getting closer to "best practices".
In reality, Microsoft has done nothing to improve the security of their systems. Even though they've had 20+ years of real world data about how their systems are cracked.
But when taken with Microsoft's entire approach, no.
Microsoft has always chosen "ease of use" over security. And then their licenses are constructed so that a large segment of the machines out there don't even have clean-bootable media to resolve issues like this.
In your pot hole analogy, Microsoft didn't build the road... and then then pot holes appeared. Microsoft built the road with the holes... and then even more appeared and they're doing nothing to mitigate the situation and they're still building the roads the same way.
But if you are a black hat (or a government: same thing) you want exclusive ownership.
:) And that is part of the problem when you choose to be one of the bad guys. You cannot trust the other bad guys to be honest in their deals.
And that doesn't bother me. If anything, it should drive down the prices as none of the bad guys are going to invest a lot of money on something that they cannot be sure they have an exclusive option on.
Remember, we're not talking about the farmers being the equal of the distributors.
If you start taking away a source of revenue, you had better be able to defend that with violence of your own.
And anyway, if the farmers are growing dope, they're not growing food. How about offer to buy the food that the farmers grow at a higher rate than the processors pay for the dope?
More to the point, a specialist knows MORE about the ENTIRE subject.
If people are choosing only to read what reinforces their current opinion then they are indeed idiots.
Think about how "educated" an average person would be if they were allowed that choice at age 8 instead of being taught subjects that they had no interest in at that age.
Google is attempting to re-create "public domain" in an industry where Disney is trying to kill it.
In this instance I'm in favour of Google as being the "lesser" evil.
Because Disney is still raking in the revenues on old works, they will continue to pay Congress to extend the copyright period. Public Domain will die. At least this way SOME works will still be available.
Not "why is everything a crutch to the story" but "why does the story NEED to rely upon fantasy crutches".
Why did the writer write the story so that it NEEDED a fantasy UI for a computer? Why not some other crutch? One that is more realistic?
The answer is, of course, simple. The writers don't know anything except how to get a job writing for Hollywood. Therefore, ANYTHING that they put in the story will be their personal interpretation of systems that they probably only know through other Hollywood movies written by writers just like them.
Which is one of the reasons why we get so much crap out of Hollywood.
Supposing they need to drum up revenue to support doing the research once done by thousands of others, so as to give us accurate and factual news, they might consider charging for their content.
The problem is that there the "research" is not being done in the first place.
That's why all those paper re-print the same material as every other paper.
The Daily Show is the last honest news organization and they have to sell themselves on comedy.
When was the last time that you saw the NYT do a comparison between a politician's current statements and his previous statements?
Bono wants that future artist to be able to turn a profit by selling the rights to their artistic creations to a large corporation which will have absolute control of those rights indefinitely.
And the only cost will be the "outing" of every political dissident anywhere in the world.
They'll have nothing that isn't available to anyone who would spend the time to go to the courthouse and look up the legal documents.
So yes, the information that LexisNexis has about me is voluntarily provided EXCEPT in the cases where the disclosure was mandated by law (legal records).
Why does the US have this fetish with keeping the government out of their private lives, yet allow corporations free reign to use, misuse, misplace and basically be asses with the same information?
At the most basic, it is a difference between voluntarily sharing the information versus involuntarily having it collected.
Corporations compile the information about your purchases and such in order to persuade you to purchase their products.
Governments compile the information about you in order to limit your freedom.
As soon as he voluntarily removes himself from the running. Actions have consequences. Once you make a decision of that magnitude to violate the ethics of your job, you SHOULD know that you are no longer eligible to manage other people who might be under similar stress with similar responsibilities.
No one is qualified to handle the impossible task of 100% safety/security on airlines.
Is that really the job, though? Aside from improving the flight deck door, there isn't anything that the DHS or TSA has done for safety or security.
But they have constantly reminded us of how scared we should be about the bad "terrorists" who are everywhere "out there". Just go to a major airport and listen to the constant litany of "watch your luggage" / "report suspicious people" / "stand in line and take off your shoes" / "liquids are dangerous".
THAT is what terrorists really want, mass panic, marshal law, the suspension of human rights, because THEN they have a victory over our system of freedom, once they take away the SENSE of freedom there is no need to destroy Democracy, you just let it crumble.
I don't agree with that.
Yes they will win, I agree.
But it will be because we'll be spending so much money on "security" that we will either have to give up whatever operations we have that they disagree with or we'll go bankrupt (well on our way to that right now).
And the attacks don't have to be that damaging. Look at what a nutcase did with a rifle in DC. An entire city paralyzed because a sniper killed 10 people. And rifles are very easy get here.
Explosive goes into condoms which are then stored in your body cavities.
Show up for the flight very early.
During that time, recover the explosives and PREP THE BOMB BEFORE HAND IN THE PUBLIC BATHROOM. You've already cleared security. They don't care about you anymore (until the headlines hit).
So far, our best defense against terrorism seems to be that they're all rather dumb.
No, I'm saying that you're a complete twit, and that I'm done wasting my time.
So you agree that on a honey net I do control the routing.
And the IP addresses and the machines.
Yet you seemed to be claiming that it isn't possible for me to:
3. You're able to isolate the infected machines and feed them whatever data you want.
And now you admit that I can do that.:)
I am such a great teacher! I have taught you that. It probably gives you a very warm feeling in your heart to have me teach you things that you did not know.
One day you will realize how much I have taught you and you will thank me.
So, shall we review what I have taught you? On a honey net, I control the routing and the machines and the IP addresses. Can you say that with me?
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All you need to do is verify that the files on the drive are the files released by the vendor(s). An extra step would be to make sure that they're the most recently patched versions as well.
That can be done with a bootable Linux CD and a list of the various files, their locations and different checksums of each of them.
Anything that isn't on that list is suspect and can be quarantined.
The advantage of a system like that is that it is easy to use to spot even unknown rootkits.
The other companies are looking to get a slice of Google's profits.
Fuck them.
The day Google offers fiber in my neighborhood I am going to sign up with them.
Now look at what the ideal "best practices" would be for an OS.
Then look at Windows 2000 (all versions). How did that differ from the "best practices".
Now look at every version since. In theory, each version SHOULD be getting closer to "best practices".
In reality, Microsoft has done nothing to improve the security of their systems. Even though they've had 20+ years of real world data about how their systems are cracked.
But when taken with Microsoft's entire approach, no.
Microsoft has always chosen "ease of use" over security. And then their licenses are constructed so that a large segment of the machines out there don't even have clean-bootable media to resolve issues like this.
In your pot hole analogy, Microsoft didn't build the road ... and then then pot holes appeared. Microsoft built the road with the holes ... and then even more appeared and they're doing nothing to mitigate the situation and they're still building the roads the same way.
ANY company replacing files on your drive should be checking to make sure that those are the exact files that it wants to replace.
If there's any difference in the files the installer should exit with a nice error message AND LEAVE EVERYTHING THE FUCKING SAME WAY IT FOUND IT.
Yes, this was from a virus/trojan/worm/whatever. Who cares? It could just as easily have been a custom file for custom hardware.
:) And that is part of the problem when you choose to be one of the bad guys. You cannot trust the other bad guys to be honest in their deals.
And that doesn't bother me. If anything, it should drive down the prices as none of the bad guys are going to invest a lot of money on something that they cannot be sure they have an exclusive option on.
If you are the company who wrote the software, you now know where the flaw is and can fix it.
If you release a patch, that could be reverse engineered and the bad guys would find the flaw anyway.
Remember, we're not talking about the farmers being the equal of the distributors.
If you start taking away a source of revenue, you had better be able to defend that with violence of your own.
And anyway, if the farmers are growing dope, they're not growing food. How about offer to buy the food that the farmers grow at a higher rate than the processors pay for the dope?
Maybe this will be the kicker needed to get businesses and such to really use encryption in their Internet traffic.
More to the point, a specialist knows MORE about the ENTIRE subject.
If people are choosing only to read what reinforces their current opinion then they are indeed idiots.
Think about how "educated" an average person would be if they were allowed that choice at age 8 instead of being taught subjects that they had no interest in at that age.
Growth requires that you leave your comfort zone.
Google is attempting to re-create "public domain" in an industry where Disney is trying to kill it.
In this instance I'm in favour of Google as being the "lesser" evil.
Because Disney is still raking in the revenues on old works, they will continue to pay Congress to extend the copyright period. Public Domain will die. At least this way SOME works will still be available.
Not "why is everything a crutch to the story" but "why does the story NEED to rely upon fantasy crutches".
Why did the writer write the story so that it NEEDED a fantasy UI for a computer? Why not some other crutch? One that is more realistic?
The answer is, of course, simple. The writers don't know anything except how to get a job writing for Hollywood. Therefore, ANYTHING that they put in the story will be their personal interpretation of systems that they probably only know through other Hollywood movies written by writers just like them.
Which is one of the reasons why we get so much crap out of Hollywood.
So, you're surfing from home and you go to a site with a banner and you get a drive by infection.
Now that app can find and configure your firewall to open the port and map it back to you so that you can be used to spread more infections.
Who the fuck thought it would be a good idea to allow other apps to open the firewall?
The problem is that there the "research" is not being done in the first place.
That's why all those paper re-print the same material as every other paper.
The Daily Show is the last honest news organization and they have to sell themselves on comedy.
When was the last time that you saw the NYT do a comparison between a politician's current statements and his previous statements?
Bono is thinking about the future artist.
Bono wants that future artist to be able to turn a profit by selling the rights to their artistic creations to a large corporation which will have absolute control of those rights indefinitely.
And the only cost will be the "outing" of every political dissident anywhere in the world.
Fuck you, Bono.
It's a competition and lately we've been hobbling ourselves trying to protect the income of existing corporations by killing new businesses.
Software / business model patents are not helping us compete. They're crippling our new businesses.
They'll have nothing that isn't available to anyone who would spend the time to go to the courthouse and look up the legal documents.
So yes, the information that LexisNexis has about me is voluntarily provided EXCEPT in the cases where the disclosure was mandated by law (legal records).
At the most basic, it is a difference between voluntarily sharing the information versus involuntarily having it collected.
Corporations compile the information about your purchases and such in order to persuade you to purchase their products.
Governments compile the information about you in order to limit your freedom.
And he was under a lot of stress.
Sure. I'll give him a pass on this also.
As soon as he voluntarily removes himself from the running. Actions have consequences. Once you make a decision of that magnitude to violate the ethics of your job, you SHOULD know that you are no longer eligible to manage other people who might be under similar stress with similar responsibilities.
No one is qualified to handle the impossible task of 100% safety/security on airlines.
Is that really the job, though? Aside from improving the flight deck door, there isn't anything that the DHS or TSA has done for safety or security.
But they have constantly reminded us of how scared we should be about the bad "terrorists" who are everywhere "out there". Just go to a major airport and listen to the constant litany of "watch your luggage" / "report suspicious people" / "stand in line and take off your shoes" / "liquids are dangerous".
I don't agree with that.
Yes they will win, I agree.
But it will be because we'll be spending so much money on "security" that we will either have to give up whatever operations we have that they disagree with or we'll go bankrupt (well on our way to that right now).
And the attacks don't have to be that damaging. Look at what a nutcase did with a rifle in DC. An entire city paralyzed because a sniper killed 10 people. And rifles are very easy get here.
Explosive goes into condoms which are then stored in your body cavities.
Show up for the flight very early.
During that time, recover the explosives and PREP THE BOMB BEFORE HAND IN THE PUBLIC BATHROOM. You've already cleared security. They don't care about you anymore (until the headlines hit).
So far, our best defense against terrorism seems to be that they're all rather dumb.
And it will find the nearest Starbucks for me and tell me if they're open.
Yeah! Why isn't GPS on that list?
This is nothing more than extracting stats and then placing them in pre-generated sentences.
In sports, this is okay. Except when something interesting happens like someone head-butting another player.
Anyone want to place a bet on how long before companies are accused of "gaming" the financial reporting system with their press releases?
So you agree that on a honey net I do control the routing.
And the IP addresses and the machines.
Yet you seemed to be claiming that it isn't possible for me to:
And now you admit that I can do that. :)
I am such a great teacher! I have taught you that. It probably gives you a very warm feeling in your heart to have me teach you things that you did not know.
One day you will realize how much I have taught you and you will thank me.
So, shall we review what I have taught you? On a honey net, I control the routing and the machines and the IP addresses. Can you say that with me?