Wednesday, July 21, 2004

U.S. Underestimated War Costs by $12.3 Billion -GAO (Reuters). Reuters - The Bush administration underestimated the 2004 cost of U.S. military operations in Iraq and Afghanistan by $12.3 billion, a report released on Wednesday found, fueling criticism that the war was badly planned. [Yahoo! News - Top Stories] You thought I was kidding didn't you....12 BILLION dollars....what's in your wallet. 7:08:25 PM    comment []

Bagle Variants Gaining Momentum (NewsFactor). NewsFactor - A slew of new variants of the Bagle worm, as well as a new Mydoom worm, are flooding e-mail boxes in both consumer and business computers globally. Experts say the onslaught is a major concern because users may disregard the threat in the mistaken belief that previous security updates will quell the worms. [Yahoo! News - Technology] WHY IS A VIRUS CAUSING ALL THIS HAVOC!  Yes, I am yelling because there is NO REASON why corporations (that actually pay attention) should have a problem with viruses distributed by email.   No, I am not a dreamer.  It takes very little to secure email systems and yet companies refuse to do this - you need a Top Secret clearance to work in most networks anymore, yet the network itself can be crippled by a 15-year old and a set of scripts off the Internet.  Want to stop the spread of viruses?  The follow the bouncing ball: Do NOT open anything that contains a binary file.  Period, end of sentence.  Even if it was someone you know unless you are expecting it explicitly (and then they should have wrapped it in at least a zip file. Do not open ANY file from anyone you don't know.  Delete it, don't pass go, don't collect the virus du jour. Dump Outlook.  Microsoft's email programs are inherently UNSAFE.  There are dozens of better email programs out there - go get one. Buy and install AND KEEP CURRENT an anti-virus software package.  This will keep your machine safe to a certain degree. If you are in a corporate atmosphere, ask about current virus protection software and how it is kept upto date.  If the Computer department expects you to keep it up to date, do it DAILY (most programs can be set to automattically call home for updates - find out how to make yours do that). If you are responsible for a corporate environment, start by refusing to accept OR transmit raw .exe, .pif, or .com files.  They should be zipped up (at least) and scrubbed by server hosted anti-virus programs before the enter the system or leave the system. This is not difficult.  Do not be the source of a virus.  7:04:55 PM    comment []

ICANN adds IPv6 to root servers. In response to the rapid growth in Web use, ICANN has added next-generation IPv6 technology to its root DNS servers, essentially allowing every person and device to have an IP address. [Computerworld News] This is critical - IPv6, or the next generation IP address scheme will allow everyone to have an address (well, almost everyone).  The biggest issue is that the scheme is complicated (very complicated).  Most people can carry around a handful of IPv4 addresses in their head on the off chance that the DNS system is not working (rare), but to carry around an IPv6 address is a LOT of digits and transposing one of them reroutes your service in not nice ways. IPv6 is also supposed to include some security features that prevent or at least reduces packet forging (a serious problem for hijacking web servers) and improving the ability to access web services.  It won't happen tomorrow, but the deployment of IPv6 to the Root Servers, along with Cisco's long time support will slowly start the migration of systems to IPv6...and it is about time too. 6:52:57 PM    comment []

Computer scientist defends security community stance on e-voting. Allowing e-voting to take place this fall without addressing related security concerns would be "irresponsible," Aviel Rubin, the computer scientist who first raised questions about e-voting system security, told a House subcommittee. [Computerworld News] I believe I covered this already...nice to know I was right... 6:47:43 PM    comment []

Bush's NASA Plan Hits Speed Bump. A House panel votes to slash NASA's budget by $1.1 billion, a move that could delay the president's dreams of putting humans on Mars. Fortunately for him -- and NASA -- some Senate bills could come to the rescue. By Amit Asaravala. [Wired News] Let me see if I am getting this right, George Bush wants to put a man on Mars when there are terrorists inside the borders, a 12 BILLION dollar under funding for the troops in Iraq, troops STILL in a half-a-dozen countries and satellites that track things like rainforest deforestation dropping out of the sky?  Oh and the Space Shuttle is sitting on the tarmac at Kennedy Space Centre?  Why are we looking at Mars?  Yes, I know it's our nearest neighbour and I fully appreciate the great things that come out of the space program but MARS?  We still really haven't fully discovered the moon and it is a lot closer to home.  There are no little green men on Mars, much as we would like to think there are.  The odds of little green men anywhere in the existing solar system is a stretch.  Man should turn his thoughts to producing a vehicle that gets more than 10 miles to the gallon (or the litre), rather than trying to park some poor soul on the surface of Mars.  Let the unmanned probes do the work until we figure out the secret of light speed engines. 6:38:43 PM    comment []

© Copyright 2004 David Lane.