Especially now when Google has decided to pull out. And China does have an urge to control any information that they don't like. Which would be the majority of the internet.
In any case - this will work only when the CA authority is cooperating with the government, but if you are your own CA then you will be in control of the chain.
Of course - your CA server may suffer an intrusion, but it will require a physical attack from an intruder. Especially if your CA server isn't connected to the net. And there are a large number of tricks to pull to detect intrusions in your facilities. Some of them are centuries old.
And this will certainly cause problems for custom applications that are developed for a single customer.
There are cases where it's really of interest to develop an application that are going to be executed on a low number of devices (maybe 50 units). If that has to go through the app store and approval process then Windows Mobile is dead as a dodo for that kind of development.
I have been developing one that also extends the OS platform due to limitations of the Windows Mobile OS. This means that running it in the gaming platform or Silverlight wouldn't be feasible.
It's a lot more problematic to design an OS for multi-core than it is to design an application since you will never really know what kind of application that will run on the operating system.
Of course - Linux has some features today for multi-processors, among them support for NUMA (Non-Uniform Memory Access) architecture.
In a multi-core solution the OS should also take into account how to best utilize different cores for best performance - especially when cache memory for each core and processor comes into account.
New trees are planted all the time, so that's not a big issue.
What is more of an issue is the fact that the electronic storage systems changes so much over time that document formats that were state of the art a decade ago are considered old and those format that were state of the art two decades ago are hard to present in a decent and reliable way.
And to read a document format that was created three decades ago you must have luck, find the right hardware and be able to find a person who understands the hardware and software that did create that document. And it's probably stored on an 8" floppy.
In the event you need to read a document format that's four decades old you will have to start a government project and call in cryptologists from NSA since every piece of that document is probably bit-encoded for optimal use of storage space and is using codes that you on a good day can be lucky to guess what they mean.
But it's still up to the lawyer firm (or whoever the transaction targets) to hold on the repayment until they get information about that the check has cleared.
So if they don't repay the excess until then - it shouldn't be a big problem.
I think that even if you were able to connect the hard disk to a PC you would still need to have a system on that PC that could read the hard disk - and a controller that could understand the formatting of the tracks.
The ST-506 interface was used both for MFM and RLL formatting, and on top of this - this were under an era when every company also was working with varying sector sizes. Not only the 512 byte size we see today, but also 128 byte sectors. Of course - 1024 byte sectors could also be what was used.
Just because the hardware connects doesn't mean that the software is even remotely able to make sense of what it sees.
If you are lucky it would be an 8250. Nothing fancier than that. But never mind that - you are only sending data on that port, not receiving it.
For the hard disk - most likely the ST412/506 interface that's MFM formatted, SASI or first generation SCSI. So I wouldn't dare trying to connect that disk to another computer. Just moving the computer could cause the hard disk to go belly-up.
I would say that it's not only the US power grid that's vulnerable. It's power grids and users all over the world that are vulnerable to threats.
Large exposure - often in inaccessible terrain.
Key points in rural areas with little protection.
Very visible installations makes them easy to map.
Number of persons knowing the large scale circuits in their head are few.
Societies highly dependent on electrical power.
Availability of material (especially large transformers) and competence for repairs of major lines are limited.
Alternate routes may already be running at maximum capacity.
So I would say that the report hardly surprises me. Coordinated attacks on power lines in areas hard to access in a part of a country and then a follow up with some anti-aircraft weapons to take down the maintenance helicopters and you have a big problem. Take out a number of transformers and you can really sit back and see that those oddballs insisting on collecting firewood are the survivors while the rest are running around in circles. Especially tough in the middle of the winter.
Secondary effects of a prolonged power outage would be telecom breakdowns, water and sewage plant failures, failure to get fuels for vehicles etc. Those are just the direct and obvious effects. The economy would be taking a major hit at the same time.
Just figure out if there were a coordinated attack that cut off electricity to many major cities at the same time. It would make what happened in New Orleans when Katrina had struck just an exercise.
That would be great, and in the meantime I would say that a tool that does check the security of web applications is a great idea.
I'm working on a semi-public web application used to handle telecom services in hospitals so it would be a great tool for me to ensure that I have as few holes as possible where malicious persons can cause problems.
Moving away from IE will certainly be the case for more and more users in the future. If that means that they will move away from Windows is a different issue.
Anyway - requirement to use a specific safety solution that's patented is stupid, but some safety solutions should exist.
However as soon as you have a tool intended for cutting&shredding you will also have a tool that is dangerous. Just realize that.
And even if you are aware of the dangers of using a tool you can get hurt. The difference is that if you know that the tool is dangerous you may end up with an injury that's a lot less serious. Who hasn't got a splinter or a bruise now and then when doing woodwork?
This may be a test to see if they get attention for shutting down an open source project they inherited in order to also in the long run do the same to MySQL and possibly also other OpenSource projects.
Slashdot Mirror
1kb = 1024 bits
1kB = 1024 byte
All those changes are only confusing traditional geeks.
Can't say that I'm surprised that it did happen.
Especially now when Google has decided to pull out. And China does have an urge to control any information that they don't like. Which would be the majority of the internet.
In any case - this will work only when the CA authority is cooperating with the government, but if you are your own CA then you will be in control of the chain.
Of course - your CA server may suffer an intrusion, but it will require a physical attack from an intruder. Especially if your CA server isn't connected to the net. And there are a large number of tricks to pull to detect intrusions in your facilities. Some of them are centuries old.
Posts revealing even more patent trolls and how bad they are just makes me upset. Especially right before bedtime.
Only thing that makes it a bit better is that I live in another country.
So then use multiple thresholds in your solution and it's a different thing.
However it is also very obvious, and accelerometer solutions has been around before the smartphones did appear.
In the same way that there is always a bigger fish.
And what you have to fear are overly broad patents and patent trolls.
Many patents are there not for suing the ass off the competition but to protect yourself from getting attacked.
And this will certainly cause problems for custom applications that are developed for a single customer.
There are cases where it's really of interest to develop an application that are going to be executed on a low number of devices (maybe 50 units). If that has to go through the app store and approval process then Windows Mobile is dead as a dodo for that kind of development.
I have been developing one that also extends the OS platform due to limitations of the Windows Mobile OS. This means that running it in the gaming platform or Silverlight wouldn't be feasible.
So next project would probably be Android.
It's not very different from drug addiction then.
First fix may be free (free download of OS) but the following ones will cost you an arm and a leg.
And if you want to be really safe - use Lynx instead. No images, no Flash, no Javascript, No ability to view pr0n.
No - OpenVMS is the ultimate and expensive answer.
It's a lot more problematic to design an OS for multi-core than it is to design an application since you will never really know what kind of application that will run on the operating system.
Of course - Linux has some features today for multi-processors, among them support for NUMA (Non-Uniform Memory Access) architecture.
In a multi-core solution the OS should also take into account how to best utilize different cores for best performance - especially when cache memory for each core and processor comes into account.
New trees are planted all the time, so that's not a big issue.
What is more of an issue is the fact that the electronic storage systems changes so much over time that document formats that were state of the art a decade ago are considered old and those format that were state of the art two decades ago are hard to present in a decent and reliable way.
And to read a document format that was created three decades ago you must have luck, find the right hardware and be able to find a person who understands the hardware and software that did create that document. And it's probably stored on an 8" floppy.
In the event you need to read a document format that's four decades old you will have to start a government project and call in cryptologists from NSA since every piece of that document is probably bit-encoded for optimal use of storage space and is using codes that you on a good day can be lucky to guess what they mean.
Probably.
In simpler words - don't use checks.
OK, I can agree that it's likely to be a MFM drive.
But the Altos 586 wasn't a PC, even though it did use the 8086 processor.
I found this one: http://www.classiccmp.org/dunfield/altos/index.htm, which I think clearly shows that it's not a PC so don't expect anything PC-related to work with it.
And yes - I have used the BIOS low level formatting routines once upon a time too. G=C800:5 was used now and then for a while.
But it's still up to the lawyer firm (or whoever the transaction targets) to hold on the repayment until they get information about that the check has cleared.
So if they don't repay the excess until then - it shouldn't be a big problem.
Doesn't matter what the banks does in that case.
So then there comes this question - why didn't they check if the check bounced before they wired back the excess?
If it didn't bounce then all would be fine and if it did bounce they would just have wasted some time.
Considering the amount of air it takes I would rule out the car scoop from the beginning.
I think that even if you were able to connect the hard disk to a PC you would still need to have a system on that PC that could read the hard disk - and a controller that could understand the formatting of the tracks.
The ST-506 interface was used both for MFM and RLL formatting, and on top of this - this were under an era when every company also was working with varying sector sizes. Not only the 512 byte size we see today, but also 128 byte sectors. Of course - 1024 byte sectors could also be what was used.
Just because the hardware connects doesn't mean that the software is even remotely able to make sense of what it sees.
If you are lucky it would be an 8250. Nothing fancier than that. But never mind that - you are only sending data on that port, not receiving it.
For the hard disk - most likely the ST412/506 interface that's MFM formatted, SASI or first generation SCSI. So I wouldn't dare trying to connect that disk to another computer. Just moving the computer could cause the hard disk to go belly-up.
I would say that it's not only the US power grid that's vulnerable. It's power grids and users all over the world that are vulnerable to threats.
So I would say that the report hardly surprises me. Coordinated attacks on power lines in areas hard to access in a part of a country and then a follow up with some anti-aircraft weapons to take down the maintenance helicopters and you have a big problem. Take out a number of transformers and you can really sit back and see that those oddballs insisting on collecting firewood are the survivors while the rest are running around in circles. Especially tough in the middle of the winter.
Secondary effects of a prolonged power outage would be telecom breakdowns, water and sewage plant failures, failure to get fuels for vehicles etc. Those are just the direct and obvious effects. The economy would be taking a major hit at the same time.
Just figure out if there were a coordinated attack that cut off electricity to many major cities at the same time. It would make what happened in New Orleans when Katrina had struck just an exercise.
That would be great, and in the meantime I would say that a tool that does check the security of web applications is a great idea.
I'm working on a semi-public web application used to handle telecom services in hospitals so it would be a great tool for me to ensure that I have as few holes as possible where malicious persons can cause problems.
Moving away from IE will certainly be the case for more and more users in the future. If that means that they will move away from Windows is a different issue.
Idiots using tools are self-solving.
Anyway - requirement to use a specific safety solution that's patented is stupid, but some safety solutions should exist.
However as soon as you have a tool intended for cutting&shredding you will also have a tool that is dangerous. Just realize that.
And even if you are aware of the dangers of using a tool you can get hurt. The difference is that if you know that the tool is dangerous you may end up with an injury that's a lot less serious. Who hasn't got a splinter or a bruise now and then when doing woodwork?
This may be a test to see if they get attention for shutting down an open source project they inherited in order to also in the long run do the same to MySQL and possibly also other OpenSource projects.