Well, enough people have said "read the source yourself", so I won't go into that.
Here's the other way to look at it... as in "why would they do this?". If you consider the security of the servers used by american businesses as a national concern (and remember that the US Govt has a LONG history of getting involved JUST to help businesses), then helping make a stronger, more secure Linux kernel *IS* a national security issue.
I'd go on in more detail but it's 3:20 AM and my wife is complaining.:)
Good point on the disruption of non-sysadmins, don't know why I blanked on that one. Probably because I've been damn lucky, and the one time we got tagged, it happened late late at night and I was able to fix it with no disruption to the users.
The cost of defacement one is a fuzzy one to determine, that's why I was asking.:)
Not saying "how on earth can you say it costs", just "how do you determine your costs?".:)
The cost in real dollars (not "gartner dollars" or "TCO dollars) to clean it up was around $25,000. For one small manufacturing company.
I've always been curious - exactly how was this value arrived at?
I know that one of the major factors that goes into the usual "damage" estimates is actually people's time, but if you have a sysadmin on staff, it's not costing anything real, it's just changing his tasks for the day (to arguably do something he should have done already).
Not meaning to flame you, I've missed my share of security bulletins too. I'm just honestly interested in where that figure comes from. I understand if you don't want to mention specifics due to corporate interest, but even a rough breakdown would be enlightening.
Re:CmdrTaco, please...
on
VIM 6.0 is Out
·
· Score: 5, Insightful
I do believe it's called "humor", as in VIM vs EMACS is a geek injoke....
Of course, the holy wars start because people have no sense of humor about this stuff.:(
True, all analogies fall apart in one way or another....
The other replier got it, though. It's a completely unrealistic problem for a HSF to completely fall off, unless it's poorly made (one clip per side), the nubs on the CPU mount are weak, AND the box is subjected to a severe jolt, enough to make the HSF rip off.
As I said before, you can choose to limit your performance in fear of such a situation, that's the benefit of multiple processor makers. I think it's a ludicrous concern, and am glad for the extra performance, especially in SMP conditions (yes, I admin a SMP TBird, specifically an APPRO 1124 1U dual tbird, http://www.appro.com - and it's mindblowingly fast).
Also, that chip of yours is just as you said - faulty. Doesn't matter for PIV vs TBird, any subcomponent is as (un)likely to fail on either brand's mobos. Nobody ever said life was safe.:)
How many servers are subjected to shocks that will make the heatsink FALL OFF?
None. Unless you're in an earthquake zone, and then I rather suspect you have more important things to worry about.
Spend five bucks more, get a decent HSF with more than one clip per side, and you never need worry about this ludicrous situation, even if you regularly lug your system to LAN parties.
In related news, a test of automobile engines showed poor design, as they all seized when the oil was drained out while they were running...
Sure, the TBirds cook off without a heatsink. However, you can get two, maybe three, TBirds for the price of one PIV, and they'll still kick it's ass. ESPECIALLY in multiprocessor systems.
So, do you want that safety limiter on your speed, in the bizarre case that your heatsink FALLS OFF, or do you really want to floor it?
I think that all around, this is the most effective tactic that can be done.
It's fair - if you're not a problem, you don't get affected. If you are a problem, you're neutralized. No collateral damage.
It works for novice and techie alike - no matter what your experience level, you WILL notice your connection no longer works! And all customers know how to call in to support... and then they can get help at an appropriate skill level, along with some well-deserved admonishment.
It's effective - you don't leave people with really nasty infectious diseases out in the general population, you isolate them. You don't ignore the drunk driver, you slam the sucker in the drunk tank overnight. No, computers do not compare to real lives - but neither does losing your ability to websurf compare to losing your car for a year! In relative terms, it's about equivalent.
It also keeps the infected systems from attacking their neighbors - egress filtering, etc, won't do diddly at the local segment, and I can assure you the routers that cablemodems or DSL modems hook into do NOT have enough brains to act as firewalls as well.
There is indeed a problem with getting patches after... perhaps the best implementation of the cutoff would be to reassign their IP into a quarantine range, which can only access the ISP's fixit site (or other people in the quarantine range).
How you can prove you're properly patched, though, is a tough one. I removed several people from an email list I run because they had Sircam, and I simply had to trust them when they said they'd fixed their systems....
Probably depends where most of your collisions take place, but I do know that when you have multiple Pentiums (not sure on Xeon based), that when one CPU is accessing the memory or I/O, the other has to sit and wait. That's one of the big benefits of a multiple Athlon system - both CPU's can access memory simultaneously.
We bought one of the APPRO 1U dual TBirds, and this thing -screams-. It also howls, but that's the four big blower fans.:)
Just about every major antivirus maker has Linux versions - you're just going to have to pay for a lot of them for the time being.
However, Trend Micro does have FileScan available, I believe for free, on their FTP site (note, the link is missing on their site, and wrong on the amavis site).
ftp://ftp.antivirus.com/products/freetools/
You want "filescanlinux.tar". Works alright, although you may want to disable the webadmin page.
They're just an odd variety - although as some other posters have mentioned, purple potatoes are not completely unknown. These purple potatoes are special because of their disease resistance, that's all.
I'm not sure if it's the skin, though, or the entire potato that's purple. The article wasn't very clear.
But in any case, the article is talking about how these will be a boon for ORGANIC farmers. I've not heard of a real organic farmer that used GM species, they tend to hate that more than pesticides!
Unless you can actually find a timestamp string inside, I suspect it's just that - a coincidence.
And for it to reach fullbore speed, like it is, it has likely been spreading for a couple hours before this from the time of initial infection. It takes a while for a new attack to get so many hosts to make it stand out from the background noise like this (overlooking the academic exercise done a couple weeks ago where it was figured the entire 'net could be compromised inside an hour).
And, ironically enough, Switzerland (where CERN is, if I remember correctly) is a major feature in Earth. Mostly as glow-in-the-dark melted mountains, admittedly.:)
A fascinating book, very depressing view of the future that is probably all too accurate.
I cannibalize like mad. Power supply fans are often good for supplemental case ventilation... provided the reason the PSU is dead is something OTHER than the fan was crap and it overheated.
For complete systems, though, I generally send them to places that ship them off to disadvantaged areas (like Cuba). You don't run up against snooty "What? A PII is way too slow" from there, that's for certain.
Wasn't Bill Gates the richest man in the US for a good long while?
What BETTER person would a comment about frivolous spending by the rich be targeted at, than the richest one?
(Omitting, of course, that one rarely becomes rich by spending frivolously, but rather by hoarding and spending only where there's a return on investment)
Not quite correct. He was a very highly placed officer in the Pacific Fleet (perhaps the top brass, I can't remember for certain).
What happened was a lower ranking officer was busted for using an on-base computer for "questionable" activities, and the commander was in the line for possibly passing judgement. Since he felt he had done a similar action, he believed he should indicate he was in conflict of interest, as passing judgement on the junior officer would bias his own case if it ever came to light.
But since the laptop was used from a hotel room, and the connection was not made via DND networks, but rather a private ISP account, and given that we Canadians aren't quite as uptight about normal porn (don't ask our border guys about lesbian porn, though) or nudity, it was basically dropped.
Quite possibly. I read the book back when I was eight, the details have become quite fuzzy, and I haven't touched anything chem-related in over eight years.
True, but you get other gasses being released as well at the same time. I recall this experiment was to get (basically) pure chlorine gas, in a controlled manner.
I remember finding a book of chemistry experiments, and being fascinated with what I could do with just mixing a couple things.
Not simple stuff like "wow, vinegar and baking soda" (although kitchen chemistry is very cool), but "wow, battery acid, zinc and limestone will make lethal chlorine gas! cool!". (iirc)
While I don't want MOST kids getting that spin on it (:D), some golly-gee-whiz experiments at a YOUNG age, with some more every year, will help keep them interested in learning. And up here in Canada, at least, we've got a big problem with keeping boys interested in learning. But boys like things that go bang. Simple solution.:)
Slashdot Mirror
Well, enough people have said "read the source yourself", so I won't go into that.
:)
Here's the other way to look at it... as in "why would they do this?". If you consider the security of the servers used by american businesses as a national concern (and remember that the US Govt has a LONG history of getting involved JUST to help businesses), then helping make a stronger, more secure Linux kernel *IS* a national security issue.
I'd go on in more detail but it's 3:20 AM and my wife is complaining.
Good point on the disruption of non-sysadmins, don't know why I blanked on that one. Probably because I've been damn lucky, and the one time we got tagged, it happened late late at night and I was able to fix it with no disruption to the users.
:)
:)
The cost of defacement one is a fuzzy one to determine, that's why I was asking.
Not saying "how on earth can you say it costs", just "how do you determine your costs?".
I've always been curious - exactly how was this value arrived at?
I know that one of the major factors that goes into the usual "damage" estimates is actually people's time, but if you have a sysadmin on staff, it's not costing anything real, it's just changing his tasks for the day (to arguably do something he should have done already).
Not meaning to flame you, I've missed my share of security bulletins too. I'm just honestly interested in where that figure comes from. I understand if you don't want to mention specifics due to corporate interest, but even a rough breakdown would be enlightening.
I do believe it's called "humor", as in VIM vs EMACS is a geek injoke....
:(
Of course, the holy wars start because people have no sense of humor about this stuff.
True, all analogies fall apart in one way or another....
:)
The other replier got it, though. It's a completely unrealistic problem for a HSF to completely fall off, unless it's poorly made (one clip per side), the nubs on the CPU mount are weak, AND the box is subjected to a severe jolt, enough to make the HSF rip off.
As I said before, you can choose to limit your performance in fear of such a situation, that's the benefit of multiple processor makers. I think it's a ludicrous concern, and am glad for the extra performance, especially in SMP conditions (yes, I admin a SMP TBird, specifically an APPRO 1124 1U dual tbird, http://www.appro.com - and it's mindblowingly fast).
Also, that chip of yours is just as you said - faulty. Doesn't matter for PIV vs TBird, any subcomponent is as (un)likely to fail on either brand's mobos. Nobody ever said life was safe.
How many servers are subjected to shocks that will make the heatsink FALL OFF?
None. Unless you're in an earthquake zone, and then I rather suspect you have more important things to worry about.
Spend five bucks more, get a decent HSF with more than one clip per side, and you never need worry about this ludicrous situation, even if you regularly lug your system to LAN parties.
In related news, a test of automobile engines showed poor design, as they all seized when the oil was drained out while they were running...
Sure, the TBirds cook off without a heatsink. However, you can get two, maybe three, TBirds for the price of one PIV, and they'll still kick it's ass. ESPECIALLY in multiprocessor systems.
So, do you want that safety limiter on your speed, in the bizarre case that your heatsink FALLS OFF, or do you really want to floor it?
I think that all around, this is the most effective tactic that can be done.
It's fair - if you're not a problem, you don't get affected. If you are a problem, you're neutralized. No collateral damage.
It works for novice and techie alike - no matter what your experience level, you WILL notice your connection no longer works! And all customers know how to call in to support... and then they can get help at an appropriate skill level, along with some well-deserved admonishment.
It's effective - you don't leave people with really nasty infectious diseases out in the general population, you isolate them. You don't ignore the drunk driver, you slam the sucker in the drunk tank overnight. No, computers do not compare to real lives - but neither does losing your ability to websurf compare to losing your car for a year! In relative terms, it's about equivalent.
It also keeps the infected systems from attacking their neighbors - egress filtering, etc, won't do diddly at the local segment, and I can assure you the routers that cablemodems or DSL modems hook into do NOT have enough brains to act as firewalls as well.
There is indeed a problem with getting patches after... perhaps the best implementation of the cutoff would be to reassign their IP into a quarantine range, which can only access the ISP's fixit site (or other people in the quarantine range).
How you can prove you're properly patched, though, is a tough one. I removed several people from an email list I run because they had Sircam, and I simply had to trust them when they said they'd fixed their systems....
Text in italics = story submitter
Text NOT in italics = Cmdr Taco or other staff
Is it really that hard to understand?
Repeat ten times every morning...
"Text in italics in a Slashdot story is written by the submitter, not Slashdot staff"
:P
Probably depends where most of your collisions take place, but I do know that when you have multiple Pentiums (not sure on Xeon based), that when one CPU is accessing the memory or I/O, the other has to sit and wait. That's one of the big benefits of a multiple Athlon system - both CPU's can access memory simultaneously.
:)
We bought one of the APPRO 1U dual TBirds, and this thing -screams-. It also howls, but that's the four big blower fans.
APPRO is at http://www.appro.com, and Anandtech had a writeup on the server.
Just about every major antivirus maker has Linux versions - you're just going to have to pay for a lot of them for the time being.
However, Trend Micro does have FileScan available, I believe for free, on their FTP site (note, the link is missing on their site, and wrong on the amavis site).
ftp://ftp.antivirus.com/products/freetools/
You want "filescanlinux.tar". Works alright, although you may want to disable the webadmin page.
They're just an odd variety - although as some other posters have mentioned, purple potatoes are not completely unknown. These purple potatoes are special because of their disease resistance, that's all.
I'm not sure if it's the skin, though, or the entire potato that's purple. The article wasn't very clear.
But in any case, the article is talking about how these will be a boon for ORGANIC farmers. I've not heard of a real organic farmer that used GM species, they tend to hate that more than pesticides!
Probably because Pud at FC already verified it? Or did you bother to go to FC to verify it?
And why can't you respond in THAT story, rather than here?
Unless you can actually find a timestamp string inside, I suspect it's just that - a coincidence.
And for it to reach fullbore speed, like it is, it has likely been spreading for a couple hours before this from the time of initial infection. It takes a while for a new attack to get so many hosts to make it stand out from the background noise like this (overlooking the academic exercise done a couple weeks ago where it was figured the entire 'net could be compromised inside an hour).
And, ironically enough, Switzerland (where CERN is, if I remember correctly) is a major feature in Earth. Mostly as glow-in-the-dark melted mountains, admittedly. :)
A fascinating book, very depressing view of the future that is probably all too accurate.
Glad to be of service. :)
True, they are better targets for those in the know, because they actually are more frivolous than Bill (based on that info).
:)
I guess I'm just saying that it's not always MS bashing when BillG gets mentioned. There's other reasons to select him as examples.
I cannibalize like mad. Power supply fans are often good for supplemental case ventilation... provided the reason the PSU is dead is something OTHER than the fan was crap and it overheated.
For complete systems, though, I generally send them to places that ship them off to disadvantaged areas (like Cuba). You don't run up against snooty "What? A PII is way too slow" from there, that's for certain.
Wasn't Bill Gates the richest man in the US for a good long while?
What BETTER person would a comment about frivolous spending by the rich be targeted at, than the richest one?
(Omitting, of course, that one rarely becomes rich by spending frivolously, but rather by hoarding and spending only where there's a return on investment)
Not quite correct. He was a very highly placed officer in the Pacific Fleet (perhaps the top brass, I can't remember for certain).
What happened was a lower ranking officer was busted for using an on-base computer for "questionable" activities, and the commander was in the line for possibly passing judgement. Since he felt he had done a similar action, he believed he should indicate he was in conflict of interest, as passing judgement on the junior officer would bias his own case if it ever came to light.
But since the laptop was used from a hotel room, and the connection was not made via DND networks, but rather a private ISP account, and given that we Canadians aren't quite as uptight about normal porn (don't ask our border guys about lesbian porn, though) or nudity, it was basically dropped.
Quite possibly. I read the book back when I was eight, the details have become quite fuzzy, and I haven't touched anything chem-related in over eight years.
True, but you get other gasses being released as well at the same time. I recall this experiment was to get (basically) pure chlorine gas, in a controlled manner.
I remember finding a book of chemistry experiments, and being fascinated with what I could do with just mixing a couple things.
:)
Not simple stuff like "wow, vinegar and baking soda" (although kitchen chemistry is very cool), but "wow, battery acid, zinc and limestone will make lethal chlorine gas! cool!". (iirc)
While I don't want MOST kids getting that spin on it (:D), some golly-gee-whiz experiments at a YOUNG age, with some more every year, will help keep them interested in learning. And up here in Canada, at least, we've got a big problem with keeping boys interested in learning. But boys like things that go bang. Simple solution.
Yeesh, and here I thought I was picking something arbitrarily low enough to basically make the cost of them meaningless! :)