That's why I said "research". When you take possession of a house after foreclosure or seizure, sometimes you have to take some time to pick the locks.
The bots will contact their C&C servers. Find one a bot that you can get client-side access to. Study the malware from both ends. Reverse-engineer the crypto.
At a minimum, there's a list of bot clients you can work thru to de-fang and clean up.
What MS should do is to re-register the domain names and point them to a C&C server they host. Then they have a wild botnet in a cage to be researched until they can find the best way to eradicate the thing, and others like it.
MS is visibly arrogant and arguably evil, but stupid? Nyet. Count on their legal eagles making DAMN sure the little fiasco outlined in the linked article never happens again. They may be inclined to do anything they think they can get away with, but this is something they understand they can't get away with.
Social networks are about pseudo-connectedness. Yes, they facilitate (i.e., make easier) real existing connections of actual social value, but they also enable (i.e., make possible) false connections with no actual underlying social significance. Witness Facebookers who have literally 4-5 digit numbers of "friends", or who "friend" commercial and marketing entities, or who have dozens of friends they've never met IRL and never will.
Let's face it, RL is all that actually matters.
That said, it's almost impossible to trivialize those "communities" beyond their inherent triviality. Furthermore, baseless and ad-hominem accusations of ignorance is not merely defense, but fanboi-level defense, and is probably one of the few things which can make the shallow inanity of these social networks glaringly obvious.
Seriously... if you want connectedness and socialization, get out of Mom's basement. Or write a letter. You know, pen on paper? Or get together with real human beings.
"So if you're worried about your data on MySpace being sold off to anybody with a few hundred dollars, now's the time to hop into the time machine and stop yourself in the past from ever opening that little-used account."
Antisocial non-networking me and other curmudgeons will try very hard to not gloat.
It's been a few (~ 3) years since I last worked with space weather types, but the technical term they tended to use for the phenomenon was "relativistic electron". That phrase gets the idea across that the electrons are bad because they're haulin' ass at significant fractions of lightspeed.
Natural relativistic electron flux measurements and predictions are some of the most important forecast products of military space weather, just because astronauts and other "high fliers" could suffer health effects (like, die) from it. And also because the military has lots of sensitive orbital assets that can be ordered to shut down and harden themselves if their ground controllers can get enough advance warning.
All of that said, I think that "killer electrons" is a good PR name for the phenomenon. Not even the hardest science is immune to the siren call of public relations, especially if funding and awards can be on the line.
As far as I can tell, the technique requires that you postulate the existence of some element of the system which operates completely outside of system memory and OS image space, with complete incorruptibility and inviolability, and with complete authority to examine the entire contents of the system at any time necessary.
Terrific. The closest we have ever come to that is native-processor hypervisors, and they can be escaped using current malware techniques; or external security chips.
The former is already busted. And the latter? If industry trends can be trusted, such technology will not be primarily used to protect users against malware, but to protect content providers from users.
It doesn't matter. It won't work. The Chinese are ready for Al Gore.
They're going to "innocently" take him past some of their industrial facilities and let him "accidentally" see their emission-spewing CO2-dumping factories. He'll go off on a AGW Manbearpig rant and be rendered immobile and twitching with righteous fury. He'll forget all about Google and the Internet all all that.
And it is only for a short term. Sorta like eating your seed cord.
That's a lot of wood to be trying to eat. Although I don't think planting it in the ground would be any more productive.
As to whether a business strategy is damaging in the long term versus helpful in the short term, and whether that effect figures into actual business decisions... it's been pretty clearly demonstrated for years now that making this quarter's numbers is vastly more important than future survival of the company, as long as someone else can be credibly blamed for the ultimate failure.
Your comment reminds me how truly and deeply I miss AOR.
Chillin' out with my boombox in my lounge chair in my lawn with a tall cool drink listening to Alan Parsons Project or Yes.... I wouldn't even feel the need to yell at you to get off, you young kids...
Then why would Pink Floyd ask for royalties as damages?
Because you're not allowed to sue for the right to beat the loveless everliving shit out of your opponent. (God only knows how often I'd be in court if that were allowed!)
It's a contract. The label's alleged acts in bad faith constitute a breach of contract, which is an instrument of monetary consideration. That's the scorecard. That's the stick. Cease-and-desist is temporary. Termination of contract is the nuclear option. What's left?
For all you know, PF might donate all their damages to charity, or hire the very best contract assassins to finish the job that the courts could only start, or burn the entire windfall in a huge bonfire in EMI's parking lot.
No, I'm not a lawyer. Yes, I know the customary abbreviation. No, I don't care.
Slashdot Mirror
That's why I said "research". When you take possession of a house after foreclosure or seizure, sometimes you have to take some time to pick the locks.
The bots will contact their C&C servers. Find one a bot that you can get client-side access to. Study the malware from both ends. Reverse-engineer the crypto.
At a minimum, there's a list of bot clients you can work thru to de-fang and clean up.
What MS should do is to re-register the domain names and point them to a C&C server they host. Then they have a wild botnet in a cage to be researched until they can find the best way to eradicate the thing, and others like it.
Or else command it to DDOS their foes. MWAHAHAHA!
That's just an idle rumor.
lol @ Chromefanbois
By "everyone" you mean "everyone except for 4 times as many as Chrome.
Or perhaps you're using a non-standard definition of "everyone" or "left?"
What happens if they cut-and-paste OS into their commercial products?
They get busted and have to release their formerly closed source product into OS.
Problem solved.
MS is visibly arrogant and arguably evil, but stupid? Nyet. Count on their legal eagles making DAMN sure the little fiasco outlined in the linked article never happens again. They may be inclined to do anything they think they can get away with, but this is something they understand they can't get away with.
Actually, the comparison I'm thinking of is Spike (or Alfie, depends on the cartoon) and Chester.
I wonder who gets to play the role of Sylvester the Cat in this situation?
The effect is a long-standing and well documented observation about this industry. I guess Moore's Law is antithetical to satori.
Dude, haven't you heard? It's really insecure to use such a short password. And yours is surely the shortest EVAR.
It's funny to me that the often pro-choice Slashdot crowd sees these features as a bad thing.
<blink> was a choice. 'Nuff sed.
Social networks are about pseudo-connectedness. Yes, they facilitate (i.e., make easier) real existing connections of actual social value, but they also enable (i.e., make possible) false connections with no actual underlying social significance. Witness Facebookers who have literally 4-5 digit numbers of "friends", or who "friend" commercial and marketing entities, or who have dozens of friends they've never met IRL and never will.
Let's face it, RL is all that actually matters.
That said, it's almost impossible to trivialize those "communities" beyond their inherent triviality. Furthermore, baseless and ad-hominem accusations of ignorance is not merely defense, but fanboi-level defense, and is probably one of the few things which can make the shallow inanity of these social networks glaringly obvious.
Seriously... if you want connectedness and socialization, get out of Mom's basement. Or write a letter. You know, pen on paper? Or get together with real human beings.
"So if you're worried about your data on MySpace being sold off to anybody with a few hundred dollars, now's the time to hop into the time machine and stop yourself in the past from ever opening that little-used account."
Antisocial non-networking me and other curmudgeons will try very hard to not gloat.
"DNS" was a "HOSTS.TXT" file FTP'd down from ISI.
Now stop doing zone transfers across my lawn, you punks!
It's been a few (~ 3) years since I last worked with space weather types, but the technical term they tended to use for the phenomenon was "relativistic electron". That phrase gets the idea across that the electrons are bad because they're haulin' ass at significant fractions of lightspeed.
Natural relativistic electron flux measurements and predictions are some of the most important forecast products of military space weather, just because astronauts and other "high fliers" could suffer health effects (like, die) from it. And also because the military has lots of sensitive orbital assets that can be ordered to shut down and harden themselves if their ground controllers can get enough advance warning.
All of that said, I think that "killer electrons" is a good PR name for the phenomenon. Not even the hardest science is immune to the siren call of public relations, especially if funding and awards can be on the line.
Sad.
Spherical Cow
As far as I can tell, the technique requires that you postulate the existence of some element of the system which operates completely outside of system memory and OS image space, with complete incorruptibility and inviolability, and with complete authority to examine the entire contents of the system at any time necessary.
Terrific. The closest we have ever come to that is native-processor hypervisors, and they can be escaped using current malware techniques; or external security chips.
The former is already busted. And the latter? If industry trends can be trusted, such technology will not be primarily used to protect users against malware, but to protect content providers from users.
Actually, it's snot as bad as that.
Sorry, it had to be said.
Today's report:
"There's a little black spot on the sun today...it's the same old thing as yesterday...."
It doesn't matter. It won't work. The Chinese are ready for Al Gore.
They're going to "innocently" take him past some of their industrial facilities and let him "accidentally" see their emission-spewing CO2-dumping factories. He'll go off on a AGW Manbearpig rant and be rendered immobile and twitching with righteous fury. He'll forget all about Google and the Internet all all that.
It is not in their interest to have an eductaed populace.
OMG, it's an assertion that comes with its own evidence!
And it is only for a short term. Sorta like eating your seed cord.
That's a lot of wood to be trying to eat. Although I don't think planting it in the ground would be any more productive.
As to whether a business strategy is damaging in the long term versus helpful in the short term, and whether that effect figures into actual business decisions... it's been pretty clearly demonstrated for years now that making this quarter's numbers is vastly more important than future survival of the company, as long as someone else can be credibly blamed for the ultimate failure.
All of a sudden Newegg's "counterfeit Intel i7" with its plastic "cooler" makes sense!
And junkie dolphins can have forehead communications lasers as well as SQuIDs!
Perfect!
Your comment reminds me how truly and deeply I miss AOR.
Chillin' out with my boombox in my lounge chair in my lawn with a tall cool drink listening to Alan Parsons Project or Yes.... I wouldn't even feel the need to yell at you to get off, you young kids...
Then why would Pink Floyd ask for royalties as damages?
Because you're not allowed to sue for the right to beat the loveless everliving shit out of your opponent. (God only knows how often I'd be in court if that were allowed!)
It's a contract. The label's alleged acts in bad faith constitute a breach of contract, which is an instrument of monetary consideration. That's the scorecard. That's the stick. Cease-and-desist is temporary. Termination of contract is the nuclear option. What's left?
For all you know, PF might donate all their damages to charity, or hire the very best contract assassins to finish the job that the courts could only start, or burn the entire windfall in a huge bonfire in EMI's parking lot.
No, I'm not a lawyer. Yes, I know the customary abbreviation. No, I don't care.
but the major benefit of iodized salt is the near-elimination of cretinism
With a few notable exceptions...
No, actually, one of NewEgg's distros threatened to sue the bloggers. And justifiably, since the accusation as made was mistaken.
Oh, in related news, NewEgg threatened to sue YOU for falsely accusing them of suing journalists.
Ok, no, not really.
But it's pretty obvious a LOT of people need to be more careful tossing around accusations.