That might work for 6 months of the year, but we get these things called summers... We can hit 100 degrees or more here in Washington State. Even Alaska gets warm in the summer (Fairbanks record high of 99F).
My wife works for a CU, and has been giving me details on this all day. I guess the cats out of the bag now and I can say something:) Your financial institution is not to blame, but in my wife's case they're offering to help clean up infected user's computers.
Anyhow, what I know is that the malware is new and still being analyzed -- they're not fully sure what it's for yet (capturing accounts, spamming, botnet, or probably all of the above). For now they are recommending that people udate their virus scanners and Acrobat Reader. They must suspect Acrobat as an infection vector somehow.
Start small is pretty much what I was going to say. I'm a network admin, almost 20 years in the biz now and I don't have a degree. 4 years of college towards a CS degree, but didn't graduate -- ran out of money and had to get a job, never went back. In fact, if you don't insist on going straight into your dream job I would recommend this route.
I started as a sysop (remember those -- changing reel-to-reel tapes, sorting fanfold printouts), went to net admin of a small company, company grew, now I'm in charge of a small city's network. Help-desk seems to be a dead end for many, so don't start there if you can help it. Try to get one somewhere that needs a Jr. Sysadmin, or get on at a small company. Maybe offer to come in a few hours a week and beat things into shape for a small company that has no IT dept. Maybe look at hosting companies too, working in a data center.
Some tips:
- Like what you do. To be a self-starter you need to really want to understand things and the inner workings, not just memorize what's in a book. You need the drive to be exited about things and want to play with new tech in your spare time in your garage or whatever.
- Get some certifications ASAP -- Cisco, Microsoft, whatever floats your boat. They will help flesh out that resume' and combined with experience will almost always substitute for a degree
- The larger the company the less likely you are to be hired. The larger ones have dedicated HR people who develop standards and such for hiring, which almost always requires a degree (probably to cover HR's butt and justify their existence, not because it's needed for the job)
- Be professional. Goes for any job, really, but showing that you'll do what it takes to get the job done goes a long way.
- Be eager to take opportunities. For example if they want someone to be responsible for changing backup tapes and it's not really your job and seems dreadfully dull, volunteer anyhow. You gain experience and it leads to more opportunities since you're working with those systems and rubbing elbows with the other sysadmins.
- Network! I don't mean ethernet either. A friend's recommendation can open up a lot of doors
- Don't expect your IT-God job right off the bat. Get some experience first. After a few years try for a mid level position, then a few years after that you can go for it.
We've got to stop all of those terrorists from blowing up buildings and kiling kittens with data. Because lord knows that terrorists can't figure out how to email or FTP data across a border.
If data is this dangerous, they should stop all international communications. That next email you get might be a terrorist bomb!
It looks suspiciously like a rebranded MSI Wind (http://msiwind.net/) subnotebook to me. All of the specs are EXACTLY the same. The MSI wind is even available in red...
If you read the article, the top competitor using gasline got 163.5 MPG. It does say they used Internal Combustion Engines, and it doesn't say what they did use but it's not gasoline. It doesn't say whether that 2843 MPG is miles per gallon of some other fuel of if they gave them the engergy equivalent of 1 gas of gasoline in that "some other fuel" and measured how far they went on that. Or maybe it's something else completely. The article is poor on details.
... but can't make it drink. Encryption is only a partial solution. You still need to keep your backup tapes secure (they won't be encrypted by this software, but most higher end backup software will), and you need to keep people from copying files to USB sticks or burning to CD.
My users at least are lazy. They'll just save it in whatever format the software defaults to. They don't know or care about different document formats, they just know they "do this to open a document", "do that to save it", etc. Windows explorer defaults to hiding document extensions, so why should they even bother learning? Default it to save to MS office format and you'll save headaches since it will "just work" when they email it to someone.
As part of reinstating the Shuttle fleet, didn't NASA put a repair kit onboard for just this type of thing?
If they say it's not a big deal I'd have to believe them, it's probably a very common occurrence. However, how hard can it be to go EVA and trowel in some space-spackle just to cover their butts?
"The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no Warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by Oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized."
I wonder how they got that 150M number--if it's the number of Bots out there or the number of infected PCs? If it's the former, and I suspect it is, you can't equate that to the number of PCs. One PC can be a member of several botnets. From what I've seen (and most of you have probably too), a PC either seems to be clean or has 14 bots and 95 pieces of spyware on it depending on the user's habits and training.
Who says extraterrestials limited to sublight speeds?
I do... and so does some Fermi guy;)
If you assume that ET exists, and if you assume by the sheer magnitude of the universe that there's quite a few of them, then by now one of them would have invented FTL. One of those would have been around far longer than mankind. Imagine mankind with FTL travel, we'd have the stars colonized in no time at all. Therefore, if ET exists (I prefer to think it's a safe assumption, otherwise the universe seems like a huge waste of space), and FTL exists, the overwhelming odds are that they would be here.
I prefer to believe that FTL travel is simply not possible, which explains why they're not here. Yeah, I'm a depressing realist.
Daton, Ohio, Dec. 2nd, 2017.
John Smith, a plumber by trade in Ohio, accidentally plugged in his new 20Petabyte iPod into an unfirewalled port on his home router. As a result every video and movie ever made was unintentionally shared out to the Internet. The MPAA is suing for $14 Trillion.
Your locale probably has some issues on the ballot to vote for, it's not just politicians. The issues are generally pretty easy to understand and put forth as such on the ballot.
Then either just don't vote for the rest of the ballot, or just vote for the one or two candidates you do know of, or submit a protest vote--such as voting for only non-Democratic and non-Republican candidates. They don't seriously stand a chance, but you can let the politicians know you want another alternative.
That reminds me of my experience a few months ago. We were in for our Sarbanes-Oxley (SOX) audit. One of the policies to comply with SOX is not to allow any non-company machines on the network (finally! Been wanting that for years.).
Of course the first thing the auditors want to do is plug into our network so they can get their email. I said no, because if we do they it violates SOX and we fail their audit. They asked how they're supposed to audit us then if they can't use their e-mail? Not my problem, refer up to management:)
I actually won this round. We ended up isolating a portion of the network so they could have access straight to the Internet.
the reason people snipe (vs. just bidding their personal maximum to start) is fear of being run up by shills. it's a survival mechanism for your money, if such a thing isn't self-contradicting on eBay...
Another reason is the 'tards who drive up an auction price with multiple incremental bids to find out what your maximum proxy bid was. They then retract their last bid and you're stuck paying close to your maximum (unless you're later sniped).
I agree that e-bay should extend auctions by a set time when there is a last-minute bid.
As mentioned, if you want IT to accomplish certain things, give them the budget to do it. The budget should probably be done via a series of negotiations. We want x. IT says we can do it for $y/year. Well, we can only give $y-100k. IT says they can get you x-10 for that amount...
However, what is just as important and often overlooked is that they need the AUTHORITY to implement it. Otherwise, IT's job is just to be a scapegoat when things DO go wrong.
You want security? Fine, give IT the authority to set password criteria and set system policies accordingly for EVERYONE, not just those people who aren't high enough up in the food chain to request an exception. Give IT the power to reprimand people for obvious and intentional breaches of security (like installing file sharing software against corporate policy, or storing sensitive data on a laptop against policy and then getting it stolen). You want reliability? Fine, give IT a reasonable maintenance window. You want SOX compliance? Give IT the extra time to complete the paper trail. You want system capacity/performance/space? Give IT the power to reprimand those dorks storing their personal MP3 collection on the server or constantly sending back and forth the latest 4MB funny commercial or slowing down your 'net connection by downloading personal stuff.
From the article: But it is unlikely, to say the least, that the provision was intended to authorize him to destroy data that he knew the company had no duplicates of and would have wanted to have
So why the hell was this critical data on a laptop and not backed up or stored somewhere more secure? Their IT guys should be fired...
IANAL, but I think there's his defense right there. If the data was critical, any company worth it's salt has a policy that it needs to be stored (or at least copied) somewhere secure.
Point taken--comparing apples and oranges here. My original point was that 18,000 lbs of fuel just to stay aloft for 72 hours does not seem efficient at all. Anyone know what the normal fuel consumption for an aircraft is?
I did the math (using rough numbers from memory for weight of fuel), and came up with about 41 gallons (US) per hour fuel consumption. We're supposed to be impressed by this? Granted, it doesn't fly (or carry 18,000 lbs of fuel), but my car could run for 30 hours on 41 gallons of fuel.
Slashdot Mirror
That might work for 6 months of the year, but we get these things called summers... We can hit 100 degrees or more here in Washington State. Even Alaska gets warm in the summer (Fairbanks record high of 99F).
Anyhow, what I know is that the malware is new and still being analyzed -- they're not fully sure what it's for yet (capturing accounts, spamming, botnet, or probably all of the above). For now they are recommending that people udate their virus scanners and Acrobat Reader. They must suspect Acrobat as an infection vector somehow.
I started as a sysop (remember those -- changing reel-to-reel tapes, sorting fanfold printouts), went to net admin of a small company, company grew, now I'm in charge of a small city's network. Help-desk seems to be a dead end for many, so don't start there if you can help it. Try to get one somewhere that needs a Jr. Sysadmin, or get on at a small company. Maybe offer to come in a few hours a week and beat things into shape for a small company that has no IT dept. Maybe look at hosting companies too, working in a data center.
Some tips:
- Like what you do. To be a self-starter you need to really want to understand things and the inner workings, not just memorize what's in a book. You need the drive to be exited about things and want to play with new tech in your spare time in your garage or whatever.
- Get some certifications ASAP -- Cisco, Microsoft, whatever floats your boat. They will help flesh out that resume' and combined with experience will almost always substitute for a degree
- The larger the company the less likely you are to be hired. The larger ones have dedicated HR people who develop standards and such for hiring, which almost always requires a degree (probably to cover HR's butt and justify their existence, not because it's needed for the job)
- Be professional. Goes for any job, really, but showing that you'll do what it takes to get the job done goes a long way.
- Be eager to take opportunities. For example if they want someone to be responsible for changing backup tapes and it's not really your job and seems dreadfully dull, volunteer anyhow. You gain experience and it leads to more opportunities since you're working with those systems and rubbing elbows with the other sysadmins.
- Network! I don't mean ethernet either. A friend's recommendation can open up a lot of doors
- Don't expect your IT-God job right off the bat. Get some experience first. After a few years try for a mid level position, then a few years after that you can go for it.
We've got to stop all of those terrorists from blowing up buildings and kiling kittens with data. Because lord knows that terrorists can't figure out how to email or FTP data across a border. If data is this dangerous, they should stop all international communications. That next email you get might be a terrorist bomb!
It looks suspiciously like a rebranded MSI Wind (http://msiwind.net/) subnotebook to me. All of the specs are EXACTLY the same. The MSI wind is even available in red...
Only tactical mall-ninja wannabes use thumb drives. REAL operators send a string of goons there, each with one bit.
If you read the article, the top competitor using gasline got 163.5 MPG. It does say they used Internal Combustion Engines, and it doesn't say what they did use but it's not gasoline. It doesn't say whether that 2843 MPG is miles per gallon of some other fuel of if they gave them the engergy equivalent of 1 gas of gasoline in that "some other fuel" and measured how far they went on that. Or maybe it's something else completely. The article is poor on details.
... but can't make it drink. Encryption is only a partial solution. You still need to keep your backup tapes secure (they won't be encrypted by this software, but most higher end backup software will), and you need to keep people from copying files to USB sticks or burning to CD.
My users at least are lazy. They'll just save it in whatever format the software defaults to. They don't know or care about different document formats, they just know they "do this to open a document", "do that to save it", etc. Windows explorer defaults to hiding document extensions, so why should they even bother learning? Default it to save to MS office format and you'll save headaches since it will "just work" when they email it to someone.
As part of reinstating the Shuttle fleet, didn't NASA put a repair kit onboard for just this type of thing? If they say it's not a big deal I'd have to believe them, it's probably a very common occurrence. However, how hard can it be to go EVA and trowel in some space-spackle just to cover their butts?
"The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no Warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by Oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized."
All of my kid's Goth friends are probably rejoycing and wondering when they can get a t-shirt or trechcoat made of this stuff.
I wonder how they got that 150M number--if it's the number of Bots out there or the number of infected PCs? If it's the former, and I suspect it is, you can't equate that to the number of PCs. One PC can be a member of several botnets. From what I've seen (and most of you have probably too), a PC either seems to be clean or has 14 bots and 95 pieces of spyware on it depending on the user's habits and training.
I do... and so does some Fermi guy
If you assume that ET exists, and if you assume by the sheer magnitude of the universe that there's quite a few of them, then by now one of them would have invented FTL. One of those would have been around far longer than mankind. Imagine mankind with FTL travel, we'd have the stars colonized in no time at all. Therefore, if ET exists (I prefer to think it's a safe assumption, otherwise the universe seems like a huge waste of space), and FTL exists, the overwhelming odds are that they would be here.
I prefer to believe that FTL travel is simply not possible, which explains why they're not here. Yeah, I'm a depressing realist.
Daton, Ohio, Dec. 2nd, 2017. John Smith, a plumber by trade in Ohio, accidentally plugged in his new 20Petabyte iPod into an unfirewalled port on his home router. As a result every video and movie ever made was unintentionally shared out to the Internet. The MPAA is suing for $14 Trillion.
Your locale probably has some issues on the ballot to vote for, it's not just politicians. The issues are generally pretty easy to understand and put forth as such on the ballot. Then either just don't vote for the rest of the ballot, or just vote for the one or two candidates you do know of, or submit a protest vote--such as voting for only non-Democratic and non-Republican candidates. They don't seriously stand a chance, but you can let the politicians know you want another alternative.
Of course the first thing the auditors want to do is plug into our network so they can get their email. I said no, because if we do they it violates SOX and we fail their audit. They asked how they're supposed to audit us then if they can't use their e-mail? Not my problem, refer up to management :)
I actually won this round. We ended up isolating a portion of the network so they could have access straight to the Internet.
Killer
the reason people snipe (vs. just bidding their personal maximum to start) is fear of being run up by shills. it's a survival mechanism for your money, if such a thing isn't self-contradicting on eBay...
Another reason is the 'tards who drive up an auction price with multiple incremental bids to find out what your maximum proxy bid was. They then retract their last bid and you're stuck paying close to your maximum (unless you're later sniped).
I agree that e-bay should extend auctions by a set time when there is a last-minute bid.
However, what is just as important and often overlooked is that they need the AUTHORITY to implement it. Otherwise, IT's job is just to be a scapegoat when things DO go wrong.
You want security? Fine, give IT the authority to set password criteria and set system policies accordingly for EVERYONE, not just those people who aren't high enough up in the food chain to request an exception. Give IT the power to reprimand people for obvious and intentional breaches of security (like installing file sharing software against corporate policy, or storing sensitive data on a laptop against policy and then getting it stolen). You want reliability? Fine, give IT a reasonable maintenance window. You want SOX compliance? Give IT the extra time to complete the paper trail. You want system capacity/performance/space? Give IT the power to reprimand those dorks storing their personal MP3 collection on the server or constantly sending back and forth the latest 4MB funny commercial or slowing down your 'net connection by downloading personal stuff.
From the article: But it is unlikely, to say the least, that the provision was intended to authorize him to destroy data that he knew the company had no duplicates of and would have wanted to have
So why the hell was this critical data on a laptop and not backed up or stored somewhere more secure? Their IT guys should be fired...
IANAL, but I think there's his defense right there. If the data was critical, any company worth it's salt has a policy that it needs to be stored (or at least copied) somewhere secure.
Point taken--comparing apples and oranges here. My original point was that 18,000 lbs of fuel just to stay aloft for 72 hours does not seem efficient at all. Anyone know what the normal fuel consumption for an aircraft is?
In your average car that gets 35mpg, more than 4 times around the earth at the equator, assuming we had a road around there :)
I did the math (using rough numbers from memory for weight of fuel), and came up with about 41 gallons (US) per hour fuel consumption. We're supposed to be impressed by this? Granted, it doesn't fly (or carry 18,000 lbs of fuel), but my car could run for 30 hours on 41 gallons of fuel.
Doesn't Cory live in London anyhow?