Home Vulnerabilities Exploits Hacking IT Security Malware
Twitter
RSS

Archive for July 2nd, 2010

« Older Entries

Virtual Machines For Fun, Profit, & Pwnage

By admin on Friday, July 2nd, 2010 | No Comments

Virtualization has turned the IT world upside down. It is used everywhere these days from desktops to servers and datacenters to the “cloud”. It’s also presented itself as a double-edged sword to security professionals.

On one hand, it makes building a lab and testing things easier; on the other, it’s letting sysadmins deploy many servers of varying security silos on one hardware platform exposing a secure server to more risk. While it’s easy to go on and on about the security issues surrounding virtualization, I’d rather focus on something more positive that I’m working on right now–custom virtual machines for penetration testing.

I’ve extolled the virtues of using virtual machines for creating test labs in the past. It makes it easy to have different operating systems with snapshots at differing patch levels to test exploits out to make sure they work as expected. If the virtual machine… Read the rest

Read More...

How dumb is the government when it comes to technology?

By admin on Friday, July 2nd, 2010 | No Comments

Computerworld - Back when I was a younger man, I was a Beltway Bandit. What that means is that I worked as a technical contractor for the federal government. In my case, I worked for several years for NASA and NAVSEA (Naval Sea Systems Command). Then, I worked with numerous bright developers, network engineers and system administrators. Unfortunately, we often worked with federal staffers who were often, ah, clueless. Since then, things have only gotten worse. Much worse.

Then, we usually only had to contend with managers who didn’t understand the technology, but were capable of giving us realistic goals. For example, one NASA executive knew that the agency wanted a way to keep track of the current status of all telecom and datacom links to the STS (Space Transportation System, or space shuttle to you), but he didn’t

… Read the rest

Read More...

iPhone 4 antenna woes prompt Apple to dump return fee

By admin on Friday, July 2nd, 2010 | No Comments

Computerworld - Apple has dropped the usual restocking fee for iPhone customers who want to return their smartphones, the company confirmed on Friday.

In a statement posted earlier today to its Web site that blamed reception problems on a flawed signal strength indicator, Apple said that buyers could return their iPhone for “a full refund” within 30 days of the purchase if they weren’t satisfied.

That’s a change from the company’s normal policy, which demands a 10% restocking fee for returned iPhones. According to the company’s Web site, Apple typically charges $19.90 for a returned 16GB iPhone 4 model, and $29.90 for a 32GB device.

An AppleCare support representative who gave her name as “Erica” confirmed that the restocking fee had been ditched.

The restocking fee is also central to at least one of several lawsuits that consumers have filed

… Read the rest

Read More...

Is Google Stealing Our Digital Freedom?

By admin on Friday, July 2nd, 2010 | No Comments

With the Fourth Of July a few days away, we should focus on freedom. It seems that often when new technology and new ways of getting revenue advance in an industry, those that don’t understand that technology are exploited by those that do. Google’s model seems to increasingly fit this mold, and the example it is setting is driving others down the same path.

Now while I continue to talk about Google, it is because they are the leading user of the advertising revenue model and because they are the leader in search which makes that model dangerous. They are far from the only company doing this, however they are the company that is driving the behavior.

Google’s financial model has bothered me for a long time primarily because 97 percent of its money comes from advertising revenue yet it behaves as if they were… Read the rest

Read More...

How effective is your file transfer strategy?

By admin on Friday, July 2nd, 2010 | No Comments

Network World - The world of file transfer has changed dramatically over the last decade. A growing mobile workforce, increased business-to-business interactions and more stringent security and privacy requirements are causing many organizations to re-evaluate their current file transfer technologies.

Today, organizations require tools that can handle more files, larger file sizes and files traveling to locations around the world. In addition, the solution must comply with rigorous security regulations, and it must do all these things without draining IT resources.

File transfer is often part of a larger enterprise workflow, and is essential to most IT operations. If file transfer is insecure or inefficient, it can disrupt operations and lead to significant security breaches. While file transfer is one of the most commonly adopted software technologies, many organizations are finding that homegrown or basic file transfer technologies are limiting, and the capabilities are fundamentally

… Read the rest

Read More...
« Older Entries