Changes are your computer is hardly the bastion of computing systems. But it's naive to believe that there will not be major increases in computing capabilities, even within the next few years. What today seems impossible with regards to computing will be sitting on your desk. And a couple of years later it will be in your closet collecting dust, replaced by the next computing innovation. Soon enough, a child will have a toy portable gaming system that is powerful enough to crack 1024-bit keys within seconds.
Social engineering will most likely remain constant. Hence the increase in key size will only serve to increase security, at least for the time being.
Re:Why you shouldn't use OpenSSH
on
OpenSSH 4.2 released
·
· Score: 5, Insightful
There is no question that Mr. deRaadt is quite outspoken. But he can produce some damn fine and mighty secure code. I have nothing but the utmost respect for his coding abilities, even if his public relations skill are lacking.
Frankly, I'd rather put up with arrogance and have access to amazing code, rather than dealing with a nice person who can't write code worthy of a cockfool.
Speaking of X11-related improvements...
on
OpenSSH 4.2 released
·
· Score: 4, Informative
From the changelog: - Implemented support for X11 and agent forwarding over multiplexed connections. Because of protocol limitations, the slave connections inherit the master's DISPLAY and SSH_AUTH_SOCK rather than distinctly forwarding their own.
This bugfix may very well affect the performance of OpenSSH when used to encrypt communications with a remote X11 server.
From the changelog: - Portable OpenSSH: Added support for long passwords (> 8-char) on UnixWare 7.
I'm surprised that it has taken them this long to add support for long passwords to UnixWare 7. UnixWare 7 is a modern UNIX by all means, considering it is still being updated frequently. Can anybody shed some light as to why it took so long for this fairly rudimentary support to be added to the portable version of OpenSSH?
From the changelog: "- Increase the default size of new RSA/DSA keys generated by ssh-keygen from 1024 to 2048 bits."
It's good to see that the default size of the keys had been increased. It's only a matter of time before modern systems (or clusters of modern systems) are capable of defeating even 1024 bit keys routinely. This proactive doubling of the default keysize is sure to increase the overall security for OpenSSH users for some time.
The new compression method is pretty fantastic.
on
OpenSSH 4.2 released
·
· Score: 4, Informative
I've found that it offers a good 10% to 15% decrease in data size compared to the previous method.
It really doesn't matter if Intel would prefer some open source OS or Windows running on their chips. What matters is what the customers want. If the customers want Windows, even if they must wait several years for Microsoft to offer such support, then that is what Intel will have to live with.
It'll do no good for Intel if open source OSes support their chips years before Windows does, but relatively few people want to use the non-Windows operating systems.
It is widely acknowledged that Windows ME was a step back in quality and usability. While Longhorn/Vista may not be as great of a leap forward as it was originally portrayed to be, there is little to suggest it will suffer from the massive flaws that Windows ME did.
That's the problem with using codenames for products, especially in these circumstances. The codenames often become far more widely known and used than the product name.
When it comes to this software, many techies will continue to refer to Windows Vista as "Longhorn", which will no doubt confuse many regular users.
Now instead of having one coherent name known throughout the marketplace (ie. Windows Vista), the name has been fragmented (ie. Longhorn, Windows NT 6.0, etc.).
Can anyone provide technical information regarding what software this probe is running? The article itself is very vague (but not surprising, since it's a general-consumption BBC article).
Which embedded OS is it running? What language and programming system was used to develop the application software for it? Details, please.
Had I run into such a scenario, when I cannot find information regarding the product within a reasonable amount of time, I would have decided not to buy the product.
No. People were not saying that, especially when you consider that photocopiers inherently consume paper for each copy that is made. It did reduce the need for carbon copies in many cases, but no sensible person ever claimed it would reduce overall paper usage.
What would you do if you ran across a digital picture of another man's cock in your mouth, taken while you were piss drunk at a college party? Would you really want it to be digital? At least you could destroy a physical picture, and there's a fair chance the picture might be gone forever. But with a digital image it could have spread to numerous sites before you learn about it, and may be virtually impossible to eliminate.
Well, you could do your part by informing your non-technical relatives and friends about the dangers of DRM. Even making an effort to tell three people, who in turn tell three people, etc., will lead to the knowledge progressing.
Best of all, most people have experienced DRM, be it in the inability to play a CD in certain players or the inability to fast forward through commercials on a DVD. They'll know what you're talking about, and may even be more than willing to learn and then spread that knowledge.
Here in Britain, what are high petrol prices for you North Americans are normal petrol prices for us. As such we've adapted. Many people here ride bikes. It's not uncommon to see somebody riding a bike with a wagon on the back, used to cart groceries.
So while there will be some people who will try to limit their movement in order to reduce petrol costs, most people will adapt. They will bike to the cinema or to the video shoppe. They will bike to their local rugby or cricket game. In the end, they will often be far healthier than those who would seek to download all of their entertainment.
Only a foolish customer would allow themself to be defrauded. An intelligent, wise consumer always investigates before making purchases. And such a consumer would very likely run into discussion concerning such DRM. Thus, such a consumer would not purchase said product. If this happens on a large scale, then the producer will not do well financially. They will either fold, or produce an unencumbered product.
You raise an interesting point: the secure storage of digital data over long periods of time.
Indeed, traditionally when one must store a paper document of value (ie. a will, a deed, bonds, etc.) they are deposited in a bank's safety deposit box. There would have to be an equivalent for the digital world.
While the data could be dropped onto a tape or a hard drive, which is then deposited into an existing safety deposit box, such a solution would be less than ideal. Future technology may not be able to interact with the tape or drive. The storage device may degrade over time. Indeed, there are many problems.
We are now finding out that CD-R's do not last more than a few years before they start losing data, if not becoming completely unreadable. So while a financially viable solution, and most likely future-compatible, they are unable to offer the durability required for archiving important digital documentation of an individual or even a small business.
Is the paper/plastic industry putting up any sort of a battle against these media giants who wish to move away from the use of paper/plastic? Unless these paper/plastic companies successfully transition themselves into manufacturers of these devices meant to replace paper/plastic, they may take a significant financial hit.
For this non-paper media to truly catch on, we need digital devices that offer all of the benefits of paper: flexibility, portability, and inexpensiveness. While such devices exist, they are currently not widespread enough.
These all-digital office will truly catch on once people have a piece of digital "paper" that they can use to send emails from, read specifications with, and even watch a movie with on the way home. Laptops are just too bulky for such tasks.
You're right. Science is everything except infallible. That is why when new discoveries arise, there may be a change in general scientific opinion. That's is just the basic process of science heading towards the truth, and correcting itself if necessary.
Hollywood movies are made to generate profit. They are usually not made to be very scientifically accurate. And in this case, it seems that even the scientists themselves aren't all that sure about what they're talking about.
Slashdot Mirror
Changes are your computer is hardly the bastion of computing systems. But it's naive to believe that there will not be major increases in computing capabilities, even within the next few years. What today seems impossible with regards to computing will be sitting on your desk. And a couple of years later it will be in your closet collecting dust, replaced by the next computing innovation. Soon enough, a child will have a toy portable gaming system that is powerful enough to crack 1024-bit keys within seconds.
Social engineering will most likely remain constant. Hence the increase in key size will only serve to increase security, at least for the time being.
There is no question that Mr. deRaadt is quite outspoken. But he can produce some damn fine and mighty secure code. I have nothing but the utmost respect for his coding abilities, even if his public relations skill are lacking.
Frankly, I'd rather put up with arrogance and have access to amazing code, rather than dealing with a nice person who can't write code worthy of a cockfool.
From the changelog:
- Implemented support for X11 and agent forwarding over multiplexed connections. Because of protocol limitations, the slave connections inherit the master's DISPLAY and SSH_AUTH_SOCK rather than distinctly forwarding their own.
This bugfix may very well affect the performance of OpenSSH when used to encrypt communications with a remote X11 server.
From the changelog:
- Portable OpenSSH: Added support for long passwords (> 8-char) on UnixWare 7.
I'm surprised that it has taken them this long to add support for long passwords to UnixWare 7. UnixWare 7 is a modern UNIX by all means, considering it is still being updated frequently. Can anybody shed some light as to why it took so long for this fairly rudimentary support to be added to the portable version of OpenSSH?
From the changelog:
"- Increase the default size of new RSA/DSA keys generated by ssh-keygen from 1024 to 2048 bits."
It's good to see that the default size of the keys had been increased. It's only a matter of time before modern systems (or clusters of modern systems) are capable of defeating even 1024 bit keys routinely. This proactive doubling of the default keysize is sure to increase the overall security for OpenSSH users for some time.
I've found that it offers a good 10% to 15% decrease in data size compared to the previous method.
It really doesn't matter if Intel would prefer some open source OS or Windows running on their chips. What matters is what the customers want. If the customers want Windows, even if they must wait several years for Microsoft to offer such support, then that is what Intel will have to live with.
It'll do no good for Intel if open source OSes support their chips years before Windows does, but relatively few people want to use the non-Windows operating systems.
They had the Intel i860 architecture fail in the 1990s. Remember, Windows NT originally targetted those chips.
But they're a big company. They will overcome such failures.
It is widely acknowledged that Windows ME was a step back in quality and usability. While Longhorn/Vista may not be as great of a leap forward as it was originally portrayed to be, there is little to suggest it will suffer from the massive flaws that Windows ME did.
That's the problem with using codenames for products, especially in these circumstances. The codenames often become far more widely known and used than the product name.
When it comes to this software, many techies will continue to refer to Windows Vista as "Longhorn", which will no doubt confuse many regular users.
Now instead of having one coherent name known throughout the marketplace (ie. Windows Vista), the name has been fragmented (ie. Longhorn, Windows NT 6.0, etc.).
What the fuck is OS x86?
Was her last name pronounced as "Cosh", or as "Cock"?
Can anyone provide technical information regarding what software this probe is running? The article itself is very vague (but not surprising, since it's a general-consumption BBC article).
Which embedded OS is it running? What language and programming system was used to develop the application software for it? Details, please.
Had I run into such a scenario, when I cannot find information regarding the product within a reasonable amount of time, I would have decided not to buy the product.
No. People were not saying that, especially when you consider that photocopiers inherently consume paper for each copy that is made. It did reduce the need for carbon copies in many cases, but no sensible person ever claimed it would reduce overall paper usage.
The only way to be completely certain that a consumer does not have to worry about DRM-related problems is to not use DRM at all.
What would you do if you ran across a digital picture of another man's cock in your mouth, taken while you were piss drunk at a college party? Would you really want it to be digital? At least you could destroy a physical picture, and there's a fair chance the picture might be gone forever. But with a digital image it could have spread to numerous sites before you learn about it, and may be virtually impossible to eliminate.
Well, you could do your part by informing your non-technical relatives and friends about the dangers of DRM. Even making an effort to tell three people, who in turn tell three people, etc., will lead to the knowledge progressing.
Best of all, most people have experienced DRM, be it in the inability to play a CD in certain players or the inability to fast forward through commercials on a DVD. They'll know what you're talking about, and may even be more than willing to learn and then spread that knowledge.
Teach!
Here in Britain, what are high petrol prices for you North Americans are normal petrol prices for us. As such we've adapted. Many people here ride bikes. It's not uncommon to see somebody riding a bike with a wagon on the back, used to cart groceries.
So while there will be some people who will try to limit their movement in order to reduce petrol costs, most people will adapt. They will bike to the cinema or to the video shoppe. They will bike to their local rugby or cricket game. In the end, they will often be far healthier than those who would seek to download all of their entertainment.
Only a foolish customer would allow themself to be defrauded. An intelligent, wise consumer always investigates before making purchases. And such a consumer would very likely run into discussion concerning such DRM. Thus, such a consumer would not purchase said product. If this happens on a large scale, then the producer will not do well financially. They will either fold, or produce an unencumbered product.
You raise an interesting point: the secure storage of digital data over long periods of time.
Indeed, traditionally when one must store a paper document of value (ie. a will, a deed, bonds, etc.) they are deposited in a bank's safety deposit box. There would have to be an equivalent for the digital world.
While the data could be dropped onto a tape or a hard drive, which is then deposited into an existing safety deposit box, such a solution would be less than ideal. Future technology may not be able to interact with the tape or drive. The storage device may degrade over time. Indeed, there are many problems.
We are now finding out that CD-R's do not last more than a few years before they start losing data, if not becoming completely unreadable. So while a financially viable solution, and most likely future-compatible, they are unable to offer the durability required for archiving important digital documentation of an individual or even a small business.
Is the paper/plastic industry putting up any sort of a battle against these media giants who wish to move away from the use of paper/plastic? Unless these paper/plastic companies successfully transition themselves into manufacturers of these devices meant to replace paper/plastic, they may take a significant financial hit.
For this non-paper media to truly catch on, we need digital devices that offer all of the benefits of paper: flexibility, portability, and inexpensiveness. While such devices exist, they are currently not widespread enough.
These all-digital office will truly catch on once people have a piece of digital "paper" that they can use to send emails from, read specifications with, and even watch a movie with on the way home. Laptops are just too bulky for such tasks.
You're right. Science is everything except infallible. That is why when new discoveries arise, there may be a change in general scientific opinion. That's is just the basic process of science heading towards the truth, and correcting itself if necessary.
Hollywood movies are made to generate profit. They are usually not made to be very scientifically accurate. And in this case, it seems that even the scientists themselves aren't all that sure about what they're talking about.