February
15, 2003
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<Newsletter>
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- Bush
Unveils Final Cybersecurity Plan
- Plan
emphasizes voluntary government-industry cooperation
- Among
specific recommendations, the plan calls for
- Adoption
of a warning and incident information network
- A
single Department of Homeland Security contact for the federal
government and industry to report incidents
- Cyberattack
exercises on government agencies to gauge the impact of such
attacks
- The
Department of Commerce to examine security issues related to
IPv6
- The
Department of Homeland Security to recommend that ISPs adopt
a "code of good conduct"
- The
Department of Energy and other concerned agencies to develop
best practices for securing distributed control systems, such
as SCADA
- The
strategy document still doesn't address
criticism that its lack of regulations render it toothless.
- FTD.com
Security Flaws Leaks Personal Information
- A
security flaw at FTD.com left private information open to harvesting
this week
- The
flaw allowed a person to use a modified "cookie" to easily
access customer information from the company's servers, said Gerald
Quakenbush, an information security analyst for Internet and e-business
consulting service Fusion Alliance.
- Cookies
are snippets of data that reside on a person's computer, linking
that PC to information and personalized sites on the Web
- "You
can steal any customer's information from the site," Quakenbush
said in an interview with CNET News.com on Thursday
- The
security problem exposed customer billing records, including name,
address and phone number, by changing a simple number, he added.
A specific customer couldn't be targeted by name, only randomly
by changing numbers in an FTD.com cookie.
- FTD.com
confirmed the problem late Thursday
- NIPC
Encourages Heightened Cyber Security as Iraq-US Tensions Increase
- The
National Infrastructure Protection Center (NIPC) is issuing this
advisory (03-002) to heighten the awareness of an increase in global
hacking activities as a result of the increasing tensions between
the United States and Iraq.
- Recent
experience has shown that during a time of increased international
tension, illegal cyber activity: spamming, web defacements, denial
of service attacks, etc., often escalates.
- Recommended
practices
- Increase
user awareness
- Update
anti-virus software
- Stop
potentially hostile/suspicious attachments at the E-Mail server
- Utilize
filtering to maximize security
- Establish
policies and procedures for responding and recovery
- Warns
US hackers to leave Iraq alone. Such actions may backfire.
- Valentines
Dating Guidelines Online
- Guy’s
Guide to dating Geek Girls
- They
are more attracted to intelligence than testosterone; they don't
need football players - in fact, most of them find them to be
a turnoff.
- Most
importantly, they like fellow geeks - prefer them, even.
- With
a geek girl, a geek guy has a decided advantage.
- Most
geek girls have a very active online life; that may be the only
part of their life that is active right now.
- Look
for them on the 'net, or even, if you're brave, in the lab;
but be careful. A geek girl might not be as comfortable with
you in person as she is online; sometimes it's best to try the
'impersonal' route first.
- Girl’s
Guide to dating Geek Guys
- Advantages
- They
are generally available.
- Other
women will tend not to steal them.
- They
can fix things.
- Your
parents will love them.
- They're
smart.
- The
geek dude has long work habits and tends to bring his work home
with him.
- He
seems permanently connected to his hard disk. You must at least
appear interested in his work.
- Generally,
a solid understanding of the computer is a must; if you cannot
master this, you should at least be able to talk the talk.
- Remember
most geeks are anal and they get stressed about details which
appear insignificant. Be understanding.
- Dating
Guide for Geeks
- How
to know if you are a geek
- You're
currently wearing pants which rise above your ankles when
you stand up.
- Your
last haircut was more than six weeks ago.
- You
read slashdot
daily.
- You
find this funny: "Knock knock." "Who's there?"
"Recurse." "Recurse who?" "Knock
knock..."
- Your
music collection hasn't been updated since Bananarama and
the Ramones were in.
- You
upgrade your computer more often than you go out on dates.
- The
last movie you saw was a scrambled porno on Pay-Per-View.
- Your
idea of human contact is IRC.
- You
are listed on Dogman's List Of AOL Geeks
- You
don't know what antiperspirant is.
- Other
tips include personal hygiene, smiling, interactive
- Senate
Agrees Not To Allow Email Surveillance
- House
and Senate negotiators have agreed that a Pentagon project intended
to detect terrorists by monitoring e-mail and commercial databases
for health, financial and travel information cannot be used against
Americans.
- The
conferees also agreed to restrict further research on the program
without extensive consultation with Congress.
- House
leaders agreed with Senate fears about the threat to personal privacy
posed by the Pentagon program, known as Total Information Awareness
(TIA).
- So
they accepted a Senate provision in the omnibus spending bill passed
last month, said Rep. Jerry Lewis, R-Calif., who heads the defense
appropriations subcommittee.
- Everest
Cyber Café
- Use
VSAT Satallite link connection with wireless to base station
- Use
proceeds for solid waste disposal
- Tsering
Gyalzen hopes the internet facility at Mount Everest base camp will
open by March.
- Mr
Gyalzen, a 33-year-old science graduate, says he is financing nearly
half of the estimated $40,000 project himself.
- Moore’s
May Hold Another Decade
- No
exponential is forever. Your job is to delay forever."
- In
1965 Gordon Moore stated that the number of transistors on a semiconductor
would double roughly every two years, as would overall chip performance.
- Gordon
Moore is co-founder of Intel
- Main
challenge is leakage and heat dissipation
- In
1968 a transistor was $1, now $1 buys 50 million transistors
- Intel
to Launch Cell Phone Chip
- Intel
formally announced the details of its "Internet on a chip"
device, which will be officially known as Intel PXA800F.
- The
cellular processor includes a 312MHz XScale processor, 4MB of flash
memory and a 104MHz digital signal processor
- it
will be available to phone makers in the third quarter for $35 each
in volume.
- New
chip is intended to make built-in digital cameras,
Web surfing,
e-mail and color screens available to the mainstream market
- Saving
Digital History
- Here's
the flip side of the digital age's magic act: It's also making information
disappear.
- "The
digital history of this nation is imperiled by the very technology
that is used to create it," said Librarian of Congress James
H. Billington.
- Library
of Congress announced the National Digital Information Infrastructure
and Preservation Program (NDIIPP). The $100 million initiative was
launched by Congress in 2000 to do for digital media what the world's
largest library already does for printed matter.
- "This
plan is the beginning of the creation of a national network to preserve
the digital memory of our country," said Laura Campbell, associate
librarian for strategic initiatives.
- The
average Web page has a lifespan of just a couple of months. Of all
the Web content made in 1998, nearly half had disappeared by 1999.
- "Much
of what has been created is no longer accessible," Billington
said. "And much of what disappears is important, one-of-a-kind
material that can never be recovered, but will be desperately looked
for."
- More
Career Advice
- From
Washington Post online event, January 19th, 2003
- Selected
Questions
- Do
employers weigh education at all?
- How
would you mentor a young team member?
- Is
it realistic to get hired at 55 for help desk?
- How
much college training do you need to become a Web Designer
- Graduating
in two years. What are the chances of landing a tech job.
- Mailbag
- Windows
98 slows when I leave it on.
- Hard
drive size limit. Update from Chip Dodge, Capitol PC Users Group
- Very
slow download speed with Cox Internet
- Why
type of computer would you buy
- Stratford
News
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Start March 17th
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Degree, Associates Degrees, Masters Degrees
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