Since it seems this article is primarily about me, I felt it was necessary to post here. My name is Eric McCarty and you can read up on the case from my perspective on my website:
I am not a malicious hacker, i am not even a hacker, I am a security researcher who wanted to goto USC to get my degree, nothing more, nothing less. If you think about it, I am one person, if I goto prison for the offense I am accused of commiting then I can still look in the mirror and know that because of my action over 200,000 people won't be victims of identity theft.
Thats the whole point of security research in my opinion, making the internet safer, not for notariety, not for fame, or for money. Please take a look at my website and feel free to contact me directly with any comments, suggestions or if you are willing to assist my case.
Power over Wireless, call it 802.11P or something similar. Imagine a time where we no longer need power cords, plugs or even power poles.
I know this is probably a dream that won't come to pass anytime soon, yet still it facinates me as a possibility. Too bad the inventors keep vaporizing themselves...
In other News, IE 7 will utilize Mozilla's Tabber Browsing, Improved Pop-up Blocker and security model...... In-house inovation from microsoft includes... um.... um.... An improved looking Blue E. More details to follow.
Hybrid vehicles are often difficult to work on, non-serviceable (if something breaks it must be replaced rather then fixed) and the training offered by the factory on performing the work is long and in my opinion not enough qualified mechanics to provide quality service in reasonable time and at a cost consumers can afford.
While there are a significant amount of trained mechanics/technicians, an influx of 2.6 millions possible new consumers might very well lead to a shortage of skilled labor in this field. Imagine bringing your hybrid car in for service and being told you can have it back in a month due to a backlog of work. You take it to dealer #2, and he says a month and a half, now you bring it back to dealer #1 the next day just to find out the wait list turned into 2 months...
I've been using a laptop in some fashion for the past 5 years. Honestly to me power and peformance are significantly more important than battery life. While I may stand alone or even stand with a small crowd of like minded people, I believe that current battery life is sufficient. Honestly I can't imagine sitting anywhere for more then 2 hours (roughly my Inspiron 9300's battery life) and if I did find myself in that situation I'd just power down, pop in my spare battery and go about my business for another two hours.
What I believe is important and newsworthy is the introduction of Dual-Core Laptops and Dual-Dual-Core Laptops which may not get 2-3 hours battery life, but can be used by power users to get close to desktop performance out of their laptop. When I'm onsite at a clients and need to run John the Ripper or encrypt/decrypt some folders in Windows, I really really wish my notebook had more raw processing power.
In a Press Conference regarding Canada's hasty agreement to change their clocks when the US changes the clocks, President George Bush issued the following statement...
Bush : "Uh huh, thats what I thought"
Followed by a resounding:
Bush : "Who's the bitch Noooowwww?!?!?"
In Other News...
on
Quake 4 Linux
·
· Score: 5, Funny
Jack Thompson today publically voiced his opinion against Linux and against Quake in all shapes and forms... quoted specifically he said:
"Any group of people who advocate giving a Penguin a helmet and a rocket launcher are a bunch of sick fucks..."
So instead of Apu the Quik-E Mart guy you have...
Joe... The Scumy cashier at the Adult Bookstore...
Omar : Yes I'd like some lube, gay porn magazines, vibrating finger rings, Goatse DVD 2 and some Illegal fireworks..
Joe : Sir, we don't have any fucking illegal fireworks... *whispers* right this way... */whispers*
A metric that I've always used to guess how well a company pays its employees is the cars in the parking lot. I work at a major game company that produces 20 million dollar games. In our parking lot out of about 100 cars there are no Bmw's, one mercedes, one or two high end sports cars and the majority are grocery getter low end compacts.
The only people getting rich are the high up exec's, one of which rolls up in his bentley once a month or so for a few hours then leaves the office again.
From an end user perspective, IE7, Opera and Firefox are ALL THE SAME. Why?
1). All feature integrated pop-up blocking
2). All feature Tabbed browsing
3). All open webpages.
4). All have their own specific security holes
So why would I spend the time to download firefox or opera or any other browser for that matter if the one that comes with my OS does what I need. I use IE when I use windows (1% of the time) and firefox when Im in Linux (99% of the time). I'm glad the media hype has gotten Firefox in the mainstream, now can we please work on features for the average non-web programmer that make one browser better then another?.
FTA:
"and also to lessen the likelihood that public information will not become inaccessible in the future"
lessen the likelihood..... that public information... *will not become inaccessible*
-- 2010 --
User : "I can't access Files on the Server"
Admin: "Yeah thats just part of the IT Policy"
User : "WTF?!?"
Admin: "Yeah I know, it's fucked up but I didn't write it..."
I dont think I understand the witch hunt lately with regards to violence/nudity in video games. Lets say that violence in video games is designed to mimic real life (which IMO it's not), is that saying that we should not accept real life?, or expose our kids to it?.
A 17 year old can goto the middle east and take someone's head off in real life but can't do it in a video game?. 13 year olds (and younger prolly) are having sex, but they can't buy a game with a pixelated breast in it?. Perhaps we should censor classic paintings depicting naked breasts with 18+ ratings, and make you show ID to buy the newspaper?.
Lets face it, real life is NOT sunshine and roses, lets not force video games to try to be either....
If you look at solutions like pivx ( PivX.com ) you will see that such software is already on the Market. I believe Microsoft could provide such a product and with access to their own source, possibly provide it in an integrated and far superior form (A/V, Spyware, Sig and Heuristic based IPS, Stack overflow/BoF protection, etc.) form.
I think the idea is not so much about making money or fixing code, its about offering protection to users of Microsoft Products. If you can protect against vulnerabilities via a software package that allows for Buffer Overflows, Stack Overflows and any common exploit to be detected and blocked, this is far superior then pushing out one or two patches (or 9 this week) to fix a problem.
Also there are exploits in the wild that are never reported, no disclosure, no fixed code. Thus if you can work around this by offering a software package to protect you, by all means Microsoft should go this route.
Also why is this retard writing about Security?? [ quote ] "I forgot to turn off my CUTEftp client and left it running all night. In the morning some system had loaded some weird software called "active skin," and I had to use SpySubtract to remove 26 Registry entries" [/quote ]
With the importance of education that is relevant to the real world I wish there was software which would integrate outside resources (google, wikipedia, etc.) and provide students with easily accessible information via a search engine as well as relevant to the classroom. I can't remember how many times in my CS classes the professor would post an assignment up with little or no instruction "Create a database program in C that stores and retrieves values with a non-graphical user interface", would have been awesome to have access to some helpfull functions, code snippets etc.
Perhaps with this merger they can toss more resources towards R&D and focus on what students need and not just create a way for college prof's to be lazy....
I feel bad for Creative, they are pretty much the one and only sound card manufacturer (yes I know there are others but they are the most popular IMO). But is there really a demand for a bigger and better sound card from the average consumer?. How often are you in the middle of playing [insert game name here] and found yourself saying "man, I need a sound card upgrade, I'm just not getting the performance i need!!". In addition, when was the last time you thought of water cooling your sound card?.
My point is merely that sound cards provide great sound, but if your not in the Music industry, all the cards sound pretty much the same.
Did he run an exploit, did he test for the vulnerability of the system against an exploit?
Was it SQL Injection, Java Injection or just plain login abuse?.
Hard to determine whether he was truly attempting to gain "unauthorized access" without knowing more details, but what I can say is that this is a cut and dry text book case.
1). Attacker attempts to exploit vulnerability (regardless of how/why)
2). IDS Detects and Logs Attacker
3). Law Enforcement is contacted and provided with logs and asked to act
4). Law Enforcement acts, legal system convicts attacker
Just when I had hope that this cool new venture might hold water I read they were from Florida....
On a side note, the colonization of Mars makes sense, if we can turn a desert into the city of Sin, we can probably turn Mars into the Planet of Sin and turn a profit...
1). Colonize Planet
2). Open Casino's
3). ????
4). Profit !!!
There was a time before Microskills, boot camps, etc. when certifications were hard and took skill and lots of studying time to acquire.
When I was 16 I got my MCSE on NT4, it took me three tries to pass the IIS 4 exam. But it got my foot in the door for a helpdesk job making 30K. Since then my cert count has grown to 12 and I've been in the IT field since then.
It got my foot in the door when I needed it to, that was the point of my certification. Today, it just looks good on a Resume.
[ name here]
CISSP, CCNA, CCDA, CNA, CCA, A+, Net+, Server+, I-Net+, MCSE, MCP+I, MCP, WGSE
Looks better than
[ name here ].....
Slashdot Mirror
Since it seems this article is primarily about me, I felt it was necessary to post here. My name is Eric McCarty and you can read up on the case from my perspective on my website :
http://www.freemccarty.com/
I am not a malicious hacker, i am not even a hacker, I am a security researcher who wanted to goto USC to get my degree, nothing more, nothing less. If you think about it, I am one person, if I goto prison for the offense I am accused of commiting then I can still look in the mirror and know that because of my action over 200,000 people won't be victims of identity theft.
Thats the whole point of security research in my opinion, making the internet safer, not for notariety, not for fame, or for money. Please take a look at my website and feel free to contact me directly with any comments, suggestions or if you are willing to assist my case.
Thanks,
Eric C. McCarty
admin@freemccarty.com
http://www.freemccarty.com/
Power over Wireless, call it 802.11P or something similar. Imagine a time where we no longer need power cords, plugs or even power poles. I know this is probably a dream that won't come to pass anytime soon, yet still it facinates me as a possibility. Too bad the inventors keep vaporizing themselves...
Just legalize it for cryin' out loud.... * Sparks a J*, must be 4:20 somewhere....
In other News, IE 7 will utilize Mozilla's Tabber Browsing, Improved Pop-up Blocker and security model... ... In-house inovation from microsoft includes... um.... um.... An improved looking Blue E. More details to follow.
Hybrid vehicles are often difficult to work on, non-serviceable (if something breaks it must be replaced rather then fixed) and the training offered by the factory on performing the work is long and in my opinion not enough qualified mechanics to provide quality service in reasonable time and at a cost consumers can afford.
While there are a significant amount of trained mechanics/technicians, an influx of 2.6 millions possible new consumers might very well lead to a shortage of skilled labor in this field. Imagine bringing your hybrid car in for service and being told you can have it back in a month due to a backlog of work. You take it to dealer #2, and he says a month and a half, now you bring it back to dealer #1 the next day just to find out the wait list turned into 2 months...
*Runs out to buy gas, matches and bundles of wood*...
Fuck it, if hells freezing over I'm gonna be prepared
I've been using a laptop in some fashion for the past 5 years. Honestly to me power and peformance are significantly more important than battery life. While I may stand alone or even stand with a small crowd of like minded people, I believe that current battery life is sufficient. Honestly I can't imagine sitting anywhere for more then 2 hours (roughly my Inspiron 9300's battery life) and if I did find myself in that situation I'd just power down, pop in my spare battery and go about my business for another two hours.
What I believe is important and newsworthy is the introduction of Dual-Core Laptops and Dual-Dual-Core Laptops which may not get 2-3 hours battery life, but can be used by power users to get close to desktop performance out of their laptop. When I'm onsite at a clients and need to run John the Ripper or encrypt/decrypt some folders in Windows, I really really wish my notebook had more raw processing power.
In a Press Conference regarding Canada's hasty agreement to change their clocks when the US changes the clocks, President George Bush issued the following statement...
:
Bush : "Uh huh, thats what I thought"
Followed by a resounding
Bush : "Who's the bitch Noooowwww?!?!?"
Jack Thompson today publically voiced his opinion against Linux and against Quake in all shapes and forms... quoted specifically he said :
"Any group of people who advocate giving a Penguin a helmet and a rocket launcher are a bunch of sick fucks..."
News at 10!
So instead of Apu the Quik-E Mart guy you have... Joe... The Scumy cashier at the Adult Bookstore... Omar : Yes I'd like some lube, gay porn magazines, vibrating finger rings, Goatse DVD 2 and some Illegal fireworks.. Joe : Sir, we don't have any fucking illegal fireworks... *whispers* right this way... */whispers*
A metric that I've always used to guess how well a company pays its employees is the cars in the parking lot. I work at a major game company that produces 20 million dollar games. In our parking lot out of about 100 cars there are no Bmw's, one mercedes, one or two high end sports cars and the majority are grocery getter low end compacts.
The only people getting rich are the high up exec's, one of which rolls up in his bentley once a month or so for a few hours then leaves the office again.
From an end user perspective, IE7, Opera and Firefox are ALL THE SAME. Why?
1). All feature integrated pop-up blocking
2). All feature Tabbed browsing
3). All open webpages.
4). All have their own specific security holes
So why would I spend the time to download firefox or opera or any other browser for that matter if the one that comes with my OS does what I need. I use IE when I use windows (1% of the time) and firefox when Im in Linux (99% of the time). I'm glad the media hype has gotten Firefox in the mainstream, now can we please work on features for the average non-web programmer that make one browser better then another?.
I've learned more from wikipedia in the last few weeks then I learned in 4 years of high school...
But then again I wasn't drunk and high while I was reading wikipedia....
FTA :
"and also to lessen the likelihood that public information will not become inaccessible in the future"
lessen the likelihood..... that public information... *will not become inaccessible*
-- 2010 --
User : "I can't access Files on the Server"
Admin: "Yeah thats just part of the IT Policy"
User : "WTF?!?"
Admin: "Yeah I know, it's fucked up but I didn't write it..."
I dont think I understand the witch hunt lately with regards to violence/nudity in video games. Lets say that violence in video games is designed to mimic real life (which IMO it's not), is that saying that we should not accept real life?, or expose our kids to it?.
A 17 year old can goto the middle east and take someone's head off in real life but can't do it in a video game?. 13 year olds (and younger prolly) are having sex, but they can't buy a game with a pixelated breast in it?. Perhaps we should censor classic paintings depicting naked breasts with 18+ ratings, and make you show ID to buy the newspaper?.
Lets face it, real life is NOT sunshine and roses, lets not force video games to try to be either....
If you look at solutions like pivx ( PivX.com ) you will see that such software is already on the Market. I believe Microsoft could provide such a product and with access to their own source, possibly provide it in an integrated and far superior form (A/V, Spyware, Sig and Heuristic based IPS, Stack overflow/BoF protection, etc.) form.
I think the idea is not so much about making money or fixing code, its about offering protection to users of Microsoft Products. If you can protect against vulnerabilities via a software package that allows for Buffer Overflows, Stack Overflows and any common exploit to be detected and blocked, this is far superior then pushing out one or two patches (or 9 this week) to fix a problem.
/quote ]
Also there are exploits in the wild that are never reported, no disclosure, no fixed code. Thus if you can work around this by offering a software package to protect you, by all means Microsoft should go this route.
Also why is this retard writing about Security??
[ quote ] "I forgot to turn off my CUTEftp client and left it running all night. In the morning some system had loaded some weird software called "active skin," and I had to use SpySubtract to remove 26 Registry entries" [
Your f'ing joking right?.
With the importance of education that is relevant to the real world I wish there was software which would integrate outside resources (google, wikipedia, etc.) and provide students with easily accessible information via a search engine as well as relevant to the classroom. I can't remember how many times in my CS classes the professor would post an assignment up with little or no instruction "Create a database program in C that stores and retrieves values with a non-graphical user interface", would have been awesome to have access to some helpfull functions, code snippets etc. Perhaps with this merger they can toss more resources towards R&D and focus on what students need and not just create a way for college prof's to be lazy....
I feel bad for Creative, they are pretty much the one and only sound card manufacturer (yes I know there are others but they are the most popular IMO). But is there really a demand for a bigger and better sound card from the average consumer?. How often are you in the middle of playing [insert game name here] and found yourself saying "man, I need a sound card upgrade, I'm just not getting the performance i need!!". In addition, when was the last time you thought of water cooling your sound card?.
My point is merely that sound cards provide great sound, but if your not in the Music industry, all the cards sound pretty much the same.
It would be helpfull to know exactly what he did.
Did he run an exploit, did he test for the vulnerability of the system against an exploit?
Was it SQL Injection, Java Injection or just plain login abuse?.
Hard to determine whether he was truly attempting to gain "unauthorized access" without knowing more details, but what I can say is that this is a cut and dry text book case.
1). Attacker attempts to exploit vulnerability (regardless of how/why)
2). IDS Detects and Logs Attacker
3). Law Enforcement is contacted and provided with logs and asked to act
4). Law Enforcement acts, legal system convicts attacker
Anyone have any "Official" links, I can't find anything on Microsoft's site, MSDN Subscriber Downloads or via Google.
At this point I call bull, especially since if it was a Microsoft announcement it would be easy to find. . .
Sweet, a few million in research and a co-op of vendor neutral organizations and we'll have the Virii vs. Viruses debate figured out in no time !!!
By Selling them my girlfriend, some off-green paint and helium tanks!!!!
Just when I had hope that this cool new venture might hold water I read they were from Florida.... On a side note, the colonization of Mars makes sense, if we can turn a desert into the city of Sin, we can probably turn Mars into the Planet of Sin and turn a profit... 1). Colonize Planet 2). Open Casino's 3). ???? 4). Profit !!!
There was a time before Microskills, boot camps, etc. when certifications were hard and took skill and lots of studying time to acquire. When I was 16 I got my MCSE on NT4, it took me three tries to pass the IIS 4 exam. But it got my foot in the door for a helpdesk job making 30K. Since then my cert count has grown to 12 and I've been in the IT field since then. It got my foot in the door when I needed it to, that was the point of my certification. Today, it just looks good on a Resume. [ name here] CISSP, CCNA, CCDA, CNA, CCA, A+, Net+, Server+, I-Net+, MCSE, MCP+I, MCP, WGSE Looks better than [ name here ] .....