I was running 2.4.7. I'd made patches to kernel modules, including netfilter, but not the running kernel. I'm certain they didn't gain access to the system through this kernel, but its possible they used it to get root once they had a shell.
Sometimes people have to be burned before they will respect fire extinguishers.
Our main webserver got hacked just last weekend. It was a RedHat 7.2 that was up for about 450 days straight and was kept pretty well patched. Unfortunately, some custom Apache stuff kept us held back on patching httpd. I guess it really does only takes one weak link in the chain. Once they got in, they put in a rootkit called ZK and started setting up a hidden webserver where they were trying to sell web space on MY box.;)
Lucky for me, I had a couple of cron jobs in place that used a hidden copy of tripwire and chkrootkit to check for intrusion and shutdown the network interfaces after they mucked around with sshd and the known hosts file. A cheap trick, but it worked.
I'm actually glad it happened. My boss and all of upper management are finally taking security seriously, and I'm milking it for all its worth. Its basically a blank check to lock down the fort. We've eliminated 75% of static NATs, shoved things off the LAN and onto the DMZ, closed dozens of ports, sprung for RHN subscriptions, eliminated several old NT4 servers, and generally did away with all the "convenient hacks" our engineers insisted on.
I've had a backlit GBA and an AC adapter for a year or so now. I bought a kit for backlighting, and found an AC adapter that fits into the GBA battery well at BestBuy. Is this the most elegant solution? Absolutely not, but its functional, and I really only play GBA on plane trips.
Nintendo intentionally released the non-lit GBA first so people would buy two GBA's. I'm happy with my GBA and I certainly don't intend to buy one twice.
Becaue CD production has gotten so cheap, a staggering amount of jazz is being remastered from the original recordings and reissued on CD lately. Alot of it hasn't been available since the original vinyl release. Even better, alot of previously unheard tunes (and alternate takes) are being included on reissues that were part of the original session but were eliminated due to space limitations of vinyl. I think reissues are alot more important than people ripping their home vinyl collections. Purchasing reissues supports jazz, and encourages more reissues.
I can think of lots of uses for this system (ie. other than MP3 and porn). The gaming community in particular could really benefit. I used to run a review site for user-created Half-Life maps called radium. I would have loved to have this around back then. I could have advertised a kast channel people could subscribe to to receive new maps as they came out. Could even push out a file with a link to the accompanying review, or maybe just send the review itself, or maybe just send a few screenshots and a summary and a download link.
Anyways, I think its a really cool concept. Its been crashing on me a bit though, so hopefully it stabilizes and gains acceptance.:)
For some reason, I like having all the binaries in a known location. There's only a couple PATH entries you need, and its easy to check if a binary is available or not.
I don't think being smart makes you a nerd or vice versa. That's bull. Personally, I think your social demeanor is all that matters. If you don't "fit in" socially (youre inverted, shy, etc) and don't spend alot of time with peers, then you will probably spend alot of your time "selfishly" (in a non-derogatory way). You'll probably read alot more, be more inclined to make an effort in class, be less likely to catch on to trends like clothes and music, and do things that please family (like get good grades, because hey, you have no friends to impress!).
Me and my friends were in a social group between the preppies and the smart people. We were all smart (ie, most on honor roll), funny (ie, smart-assed), and quick-witted. It was great because we were socially cool yet still liked by teachers.
College was entirely useless for me. I learned absolutely nothing the entire time I was there (often having to correct instructors on exams), and instead taught myself when I got home from classes. I hope programs like this choke the ridiculous notion that college makes you smart and successful, because that's absurd. YOU make yourself smart and successful. If college is a place this can happen for you, then great, but I'm all for competition from people who "make it happen" for themselves, so to speak. Its all about ambition.
I find it ironic how most people here are complaining about their lives from 9-5. In my case, its after 5 that sucks. I've apparently sold my 20's.
I lived in New Orleans until I was 21. I always had great friends and a respectable social life. By the time I was a junior in college, I got antsy about the whole "what should I do with my life?" thing we are taught to care about. As a result of some freelance work, I got a job offer in Southern California doing web work. It seemed like a way out of the south and into a career.
I accepted the job, took merely a suitcase and a computer and about $400.00, said goodbye to friends and family, and drove to the west coast. I worked my ass off for the next couple of years, and by the time I was 23, I had tripled my salary.
Fast forward to today. I'm barely 25, I've been at a semi-successful tech startup for three years now, and I make alot of money. But recently, after visiting New Orleans and meeting alot of fun people and having a great time, I realized that my job and a small stack of money are all I have back here in Orange County. I've been so career-oriented, I never noticed that I don't actually like or fit into Southern California (socially anyway).
Now at age 25, I have to decide if I want to cling to the career and salary I've worked hard for, or throw it all away and move somewhere that I can actually procure a social life.
Broke and social versus wealthy and secluded.
So anyways, my advice to you is to look not only at your day job, but what you have outside of that. I love my job, but I was happier before I had it.:)
I'm not very knowledgable of NASA happenings and what not, but it seems like the shuttle design we use has been used for quite some time now. Given everything NASA's learned over the past fifty years, and the advancements in technology since this shuttle design was put into use, maybe its time for something new. It would signify continuance and renew interest in space exploration.
This country's been through a hell of alot the last few years, but we always keep moving forward. Hopefully this tragedy will result in an increase in NASA funding somehow, rather than any sort of penalty.
Sorry, I should have said "most apps that I would need to use" were not very stable. I had stability issues with all the messenging clients I tried. I also had enough problems with Mozilla (this was back at 1.1 though) that it was annoying.
I don't really like any of the Linux mail clients (I've used Calypso for years now).
Handling MS documents (I have to deal with alot of them, although I despise the format) is clunky and time consuming. The just viewers don't have enough support for features my coworkers choose to use in their Word documents, etc. This makes Linux quite useless and annoying for me to have on my desk.
When I said I'd rather SSH from Windows, I mean that I'd rather keep Linux as a server and nothing more. There are really no apps I care to export from X.
As for "feeling unstable", yes that's exactly how I'd describe it. Things render slower and generally feel clumbsier than they do on Windows. Windows is just more responsive and more productive for me.
All of my servers are Linux, and they do great. In fact, I'll turn 1 year uptime on them next week. However, I don't think Linux is ready to be on my desk at work.
Every once in a while, I get this urge to try to dump Windows altogether. I've tried it several times now, but I keep coming back to Windows because of apps like Photoshop and Trillian, and the solid UI. There are X equivalents of most apps, yes, but they just aren't the same, and I'm not as productive with these as I am with the Windows products.
Most Linux desktop apps have not been very stable for me either, and what's worse, they don't FEEL stable. MS Windows has a very solid, polished feel to it. They've dumped tons of money and hours into useability, and they have alot to show for it. I think Linux will get there (its come a LONG way already), but for me, its not there yet.
Last time I ran a Linux desktop, someone asked "why are you running Linux instead of Windows?". I really couldn't come up with a valid answer for him, other than "I just want to!" or "I hate Microsoft!".
The bottomline is, right now I'm the most productive when working from an SSH session on my Windows desktop.
This is all speculation, and Mandrake may be operating out of a cardboard box for all I know. However, I strongly agree that too many companies that haven't made a dime are trying to operate like a traditional corporate behemoth. The big difference is... they can spend because they are bringing in cash! If you aren't making money, then you'd better have a solid plan, which may or may not include you actually working out of said cardboard box.
Personally, I would'nt just give Mandrake unless I knew the company's spending habits. The source is open, yes, but maybe the books should be too, if this is what its come to.
I have PacBell DSL (or SBC... whatever). I've gotten bombarded with things in the mail touting this SBC/Yahoo! thing. I went through the transition process and, after reading some of the license agreement, declined. I'll be switching soon, probably to SpeakEasy. I just don't like, or understand, all of the things going on behind my back here.
Online gaming's changed for the worse, like the entire internet. Back when Quake was king (the original Quake), people had to be somewhat intelligent to even find their way onto the internet, much less figure out how to put Quake on top of it and get into a game.
Fast forward to today, where any child, idiot, or grandmother can (and does) prance casually onto the internet for some gaming. Companies like Valve have worked hard to make sure anyone with a pulse and a PC can play their games (oh, I mean game, they've only made one... in how many years now?).
The older games like Quake, whose fast-paced physics catered to serious gamers, are mostly gone. Companies now aim to attract the demographic us old-timers used to refer to as "campers". Why? Well, there are alot more of them! The games have changed. TFC has its souped-up point-and-kill heavy-weapons guy for losers - very different from its parent, QTF. Counter-strike, the most popular mod ever, is ALL ABOUT camping and waiting to respawn!
And what about the gaming communities? Today's gaming communities are a far cry from those five years ago, filled with squabbling children, general anarchy, and lack of leadership due to a failure to draw anyone with a brain. Even worse, good websites have become expensive to run, and that keeps good websites from being made... unless you get hosted with someone like GameSpy, where your guests get interstitials and a 10 minute wait to download files from you. No thanks.
That being said, GameSpy is just doing what they HAVE to do to stay in business, so good for them. Then again, I'd be the first to say that they're software is absolutely terrible (just use All Seeing Eye instead, its excellent), and alot of their content is absolute quantity-over-quality drivel. I worked for them back when gaming was different, and those were fun times, but it was bound to end some time. At least they managed to keep the doors open.
I think the next step is for some company to figure out how to do what GameSpy does in a high-quality way (some sites are arguably doing it). FilePlanet's a good example. A site like that is SIMPLE to build and operate (believe me). It wouldn't take much effort to make a better one (actually a couple already exist), the problem is getting the money to get it off the ground and pay for bandwidth, etc.
Just curious, do you guys use the thumbs up and thumbs down buttons? I've had my Tivo for a few weeks now, and it seems to randomly choose a topic every few days and go out and grab a ton of programs relevant to that topic. As they are recorded, I run through and hit thumbs up or thumbs down on each one. The more you do this, the better the Tivo Suggestions feature will function. My Tivo's just about figured out things I would like.
Its just a computer. Think about it. If it randomly records Will & Grace, and you play the recording and then say "OMG GAY" and delete it, Tivo can't hear you and probably assumes you watched it. Press thumbs down three times and I guarantee you won't get Will & Grace again.
I really, really hope you're right. I've felt, for a long time, that the effects craze has diminished movies. I go to maybe two or three movies a year now. I think before people will go back to caring more about substance over glitter, it will take a cultural change. The masses generally have terrible taste, but maybe movies like LOTR can help tip the tide. The Star Wars prequel sure won't.;)
I've use this ancient mail client called Calypso for years now. One of the reasons I continue to use it is its filtering capabilities. It has a good interface, its very configurable (you can control if the message is deleted locally, remotely, marked read, lots more), and it has a "Junk Email" button. Click on an email, hit the junk button and it deletes it and creates a filter for any more messages like it. One click and the mail is gone from my mailbox entirely and I dont get any more.
Mozilla Mail has decent filtering, but it needs more options and it needs to be more accessible before I can use it.
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I was running 2.4.7. I'd made patches to kernel modules, including netfilter, but not the running kernel. I'm certain they didn't gain access to the system through this kernel, but its possible they used it to get root once they had a shell.
How do blind people find braille in order to "read" it? I'm not making a joke, I've seriously often wondered this.
Sometimes people have to be burned before they will respect fire extinguishers.
;)
Our main webserver got hacked just last weekend. It was a RedHat 7.2 that was up for about 450 days straight and was kept pretty well patched. Unfortunately, some custom Apache stuff kept us held back on patching httpd. I guess it really does only takes one weak link in the chain. Once they got in, they put in a rootkit called ZK and started setting up a hidden webserver where they were trying to sell web space on MY box.
Lucky for me, I had a couple of cron jobs in place that used a hidden copy of tripwire and chkrootkit to check for intrusion and shutdown the network interfaces after they mucked around with sshd and the known hosts file. A cheap trick, but it worked.
I'm actually glad it happened. My boss and all of upper management are finally taking security seriously, and I'm milking it for all its worth. Its basically a blank check to lock down the fort. We've eliminated 75% of static NATs, shoved things off the LAN and onto the DMZ, closed dozens of ports, sprung for RHN subscriptions, eliminated several old NT4 servers, and generally did away with all the "convenient hacks" our engineers insisted on.
Now all we need is a five megawatt laser and Val Kilmer and the prophecy defined by the 1980's classic Real Genius will finally be fulfilled.
"Globalization got you cheap tennis shoes and you didn't understand that they were going to end up on someone's foot planted in your behind, did you?"
Now THAT'S a good quote.
Nintendo intentionally released the non-lit GBA first so people would buy two GBA's. I'm happy with my GBA and I certainly don't intend to buy one twice.
Becaue CD production has gotten so cheap, a staggering amount of jazz is being remastered from the original recordings and reissued on CD lately. Alot of it hasn't been available since the original vinyl release. Even better, alot of previously unheard tunes (and alternate takes) are being included on reissues that were part of the original session but were eliminated due to space limitations of vinyl. I think reissues are alot more important than people ripping their home vinyl collections. Purchasing reissues supports jazz, and encourages more reissues.
I can think of lots of uses for this system (ie. other than MP3 and porn). The gaming community in particular could really benefit. I used to run a review site for user-created Half-Life maps called radium. I would have loved to have this around back then. I could have advertised a kast channel people could subscribe to to receive new maps as they came out. Could even push out a file with a link to the accompanying review, or maybe just send the review itself, or maybe just send a few screenshots and a summary and a download link.
:)
Anyways, I think its a really cool concept. Its been crashing on me a bit though, so hopefully it stabilizes and gains acceptance.
I cringe when I see an article I want to read is in the Games section. This gaudy purple theme is absolutely horrendous.
For some reason, I like having all the binaries in a known location. There's only a couple PATH entries you need, and its easy to check if a binary is available or not.
I don't think being smart makes you a nerd or vice versa. That's bull. Personally, I think your social demeanor is all that matters. If you don't "fit in" socially (youre inverted, shy, etc) and don't spend alot of time with peers, then you will probably spend alot of your time "selfishly" (in a non-derogatory way). You'll probably read alot more, be more inclined to make an effort in class, be less likely to catch on to trends like clothes and music, and do things that please family (like get good grades, because hey, you have no friends to impress!).
Me and my friends were in a social group between the preppies and the smart people. We were all smart (ie, most on honor roll), funny (ie, smart-assed), and quick-witted. It was great because we were socially cool yet still liked by teachers.
College was entirely useless for me. I learned absolutely nothing the entire time I was there (often having to correct instructors on exams), and instead taught myself when I got home from classes. I hope programs like this choke the ridiculous notion that college makes you smart and successful, because that's absurd. YOU make yourself smart and successful. If college is a place this can happen for you, then great, but I'm all for competition from people who "make it happen" for themselves, so to speak. Its all about ambition.
I find it ironic how most people here are complaining about their lives from 9-5. In my case, its after 5 that sucks. I've apparently sold my 20's.
:)
I lived in New Orleans until I was 21. I always had great friends and a respectable social life. By the time I was a junior in college, I got antsy about the whole "what should I do with my life?" thing we are taught to care about. As a result of some freelance work, I got a job offer in Southern California doing web work. It seemed like a way out of the south and into a career.
I accepted the job, took merely a suitcase and a computer and about $400.00, said goodbye to friends and family, and drove to the west coast. I worked my ass off for the next couple of years, and by the time I was 23, I had tripled my salary.
Fast forward to today. I'm barely 25, I've been at a semi-successful tech startup for three years now, and I make alot of money. But recently, after visiting New Orleans and meeting alot of fun people and having a great time, I realized that my job and a small stack of money are all I have back here in Orange County. I've been so career-oriented, I never noticed that I don't actually like or fit into Southern California (socially anyway).
Now at age 25, I have to decide if I want to cling to the career and salary I've worked hard for, or throw it all away and move somewhere that I can actually procure a social life.
Broke and social versus wealthy and secluded.
So anyways, my advice to you is to look not only at your day job, but what you have outside of that. I love my job, but I was happier before I had it.
I'm not very knowledgable of NASA happenings and what not, but it seems like the shuttle design we use has been used for quite some time now. Given everything NASA's learned over the past fifty years, and the advancements in technology since this shuttle design was put into use, maybe its time for something new. It would signify continuance and renew interest in space exploration.
This country's been through a hell of alot the last few years, but we always keep moving forward. Hopefully this tragedy will result in an increase in NASA funding somehow, rather than any sort of penalty.
Sorry, but GIMP is not quite on par with PhotoShop.
My company owns several licenses for Photoshop, although I would have prefered to break into KMart and steal a copy instead (they wouldn't allow it).
Sorry, I should have said "most apps that I would need to use" were not very stable. I had stability issues with all the messenging clients I tried. I also had enough problems with Mozilla (this was back at 1.1 though) that it was annoying.
I don't really like any of the Linux mail clients (I've used Calypso for years now).
Handling MS documents (I have to deal with alot of them, although I despise the format) is clunky and time consuming. The just viewers don't have enough support for features my coworkers choose to use in their Word documents, etc. This makes Linux quite useless and annoying for me to have on my desk.
When I said I'd rather SSH from Windows, I mean that I'd rather keep Linux as a server and nothing more. There are really no apps I care to export from X.
As for "feeling unstable", yes that's exactly how I'd describe it. Things render slower and generally feel clumbsier than they do on Windows. Windows is just more responsive and more productive for me.
It's not there yet.
All of my servers are Linux, and they do great. In fact, I'll turn 1 year uptime on them next week. However, I don't think Linux is ready to be on my desk at work.
Every once in a while, I get this urge to try to dump Windows altogether. I've tried it several times now, but I keep coming back to Windows because of apps like Photoshop and Trillian, and the solid UI. There are X equivalents of most apps, yes, but they just aren't the same, and I'm not as productive with these as I am with the Windows products.
Most Linux desktop apps have not been very stable for me either, and what's worse, they don't FEEL stable. MS Windows has a very solid, polished feel to it. They've dumped tons of money and hours into useability, and they have alot to show for it. I think Linux will get there (its come a LONG way already), but for me, its not there yet.
Last time I ran a Linux desktop, someone asked "why are you running Linux instead of Windows?". I really couldn't come up with a valid answer for him, other than "I just want to!" or "I hate Microsoft!".
The bottomline is, right now I'm the most productive when working from an SSH session on my Windows desktop.
This is all speculation, and Mandrake may be operating out of a cardboard box for all I know. However, I strongly agree that too many companies that haven't made a dime are trying to operate like a traditional corporate behemoth. The big difference is... they can spend because they are bringing in cash! If you aren't making money, then you'd better have a solid plan, which may or may not include you actually working out of said cardboard box.
Personally, I would'nt just give Mandrake unless I knew the company's spending habits. The source is open, yes, but maybe the books should be too, if this is what its come to.
I have PacBell DSL (or SBC... whatever). I've gotten bombarded with things in the mail touting this SBC/Yahoo! thing. I went through the transition process and, after reading some of the license agreement, declined. I'll be switching soon, probably to SpeakEasy. I just don't like, or understand, all of the things going on behind my back here.
Online gaming's changed for the worse, like the entire internet. Back when Quake was king (the original Quake), people had to be somewhat intelligent to even find their way onto the internet, much less figure out how to put Quake on top of it and get into a game.
:)
Fast forward to today, where any child, idiot, or grandmother can (and does) prance casually onto the internet for some gaming. Companies like Valve have worked hard to make sure anyone with a pulse and a PC can play their games (oh, I mean game, they've only made one... in how many years now?).
The older games like Quake, whose fast-paced physics catered to serious gamers, are mostly gone. Companies now aim to attract the demographic us old-timers used to refer to as "campers". Why? Well, there are alot more of them! The games have changed. TFC has its souped-up point-and-kill heavy-weapons guy for losers - very different from its parent, QTF. Counter-strike, the most popular mod ever, is ALL ABOUT camping and waiting to respawn!
And what about the gaming communities? Today's gaming communities are a far cry from those five years ago, filled with squabbling children, general anarchy, and lack of leadership due to a failure to draw anyone with a brain. Even worse, good websites have become expensive to run, and that keeps good websites from being made... unless you get hosted with someone like GameSpy, where your guests get interstitials and a 10 minute wait to download files from you. No thanks.
That being said, GameSpy is just doing what they HAVE to do to stay in business, so good for them. Then again, I'd be the first to say that they're software is absolutely terrible (just use All Seeing Eye instead, its excellent), and alot of their content is absolute quantity-over-quality drivel. I worked for them back when gaming was different, and those were fun times, but it was bound to end some time. At least they managed to keep the doors open.
I think the next step is for some company to figure out how to do what GameSpy does in a high-quality way (some sites are arguably doing it). FilePlanet's a good example. A site like that is SIMPLE to build and operate (believe me). It wouldn't take much effort to make a better one (actually a couple already exist), the problem is getting the money to get it off the ground and pay for bandwidth, etc.
Anyways, I'm with you... I miss the old days.
Just curious, do you guys use the thumbs up and thumbs down buttons? I've had my Tivo for a few weeks now, and it seems to randomly choose a topic every few days and go out and grab a ton of programs relevant to that topic. As they are recorded, I run through and hit thumbs up or thumbs down on each one. The more you do this, the better the Tivo Suggestions feature will function. My Tivo's just about figured out things I would like.
Its just a computer. Think about it. If it randomly records Will & Grace, and you play the recording and then say "OMG GAY" and delete it, Tivo can't hear you and probably assumes you watched it. Press thumbs down three times and I guarantee you won't get Will & Grace again.
I really, really hope you're right. I've felt, for a long time, that the effects craze has diminished movies. I go to maybe two or three movies a year now. I think before people will go back to caring more about substance over glitter, it will take a cultural change. The masses generally have terrible taste, but maybe movies like LOTR can help tip the tide. The Star Wars prequel sure won't. ;)
I've use this ancient mail client called Calypso for years now. One of the reasons I continue to use it is its filtering capabilities. It has a good interface, its very configurable (you can control if the message is deleted locally, remotely, marked read, lots more), and it has a "Junk Email" button. Click on an email, hit the junk button and it deletes it and creates a filter for any more messages like it. One click and the mail is gone from my mailbox entirely and I dont get any more.
Mozilla Mail has decent filtering, but it needs more options and it needs to be more accessible before I can use it.
I realize that, I just thought it was a funny comment. No offense intended.