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Tech Talk Radio Highlights
This week Tech Talk discussed how and why the
Slammer worm slowed the Internet to a crawl. We
reviewed sites that can be used to track Internet
health and status, University of Maryland students who
used text messaging to cheat, home
networking options, and much more...
Listen now to the latest show using MP3 or RealAudio. Check out all the
links referenced during the show.
Tech Talk airs each Saturday at Noon on WMAL
Radio (AM630) and is sponsored by Stratford
University. WMAL is an ABC affiliate and the number
one AM radio station in the Washington, DC market.
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| Worm Slows Net to a Crawl | | | The internet slowed to a halt Friday night and Saturday
morning as the SQL Slammer worm penetrated over
250,000 computers worldwide. It exploited a buffer
overflow vulnerability on listening port 1434. Each
infected computer sends 376 byte packets to port
1434 of randomly selected IP addresses. At the
peak early Saturday morning, 1434 packets were being
generated at the rate of 1 billion per hour, amounting
to over 60% of all Internet traffic. The worm
effectively disabled 5 of the 13 root servers. This MS
SQL vulnerability has been known since June 2002. A
patch to protect against this exploit has been available
since July 2002. Some SysAdmin heads may roll!
Check
out the BBC Article
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| Track Internet Health on the Web | | |
Many
websites track Internet vulnerabilities, exploits, and health.
The SANS Institute sponsors the Internet Storm Center. The CERT Coordination Center offers
a security alerts and tips, and the National Infrastructure Protection Center
is a government site that offers security advisories.
For a quick and easy reference, the Internet Health Report
provides current internet performance with statistics updated
hourly. This site showed that UUNet was the backbone provider
most severely impacted by the worm.
Check
out the Internet Health Report
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| Text Messaging Enables Cheating | | | Text messaging via cell phones makes crib sheets seem
ancient. The University of Maryland is investigating
twelve students thought to have used text messaging
on their cell phones to receive answers sent by
students with access to answer keys for the tests.
Text messaging has also been used by students to
pass notes (and answers) within class. After
Columbine, cell phones made their way back into
school. Text messaging may make administrators regret
that decision.
Check
out the Full Story
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| Wireless Networking 101 | | | Though wireless home networks do present security
issues, they are increasingly popular with Wi-Fi
(802.11b) leading the pack. To set up a wireless
network in your home, you will need a wireless
access point/router to share one Internet connection
with several computers. Such routers usually come with
built in firewalls (for security) and DHCP (for internal
address assignments), as well as, the wireless access
point.
Place the wireless access point in the middle of your home
to provide coverage and install a wireless network interface
card (NIC) in each computer that will access the wireless
network. Configuration wizards make installation a snap.
Don't forget to enable wireless encryption protocol (WEP)
and change the password to the router.
Check out the
Wi-Fi Industry Alliance
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| Alternatives in Home Networking | | | Not all areas of your home may be appropriate for a
wireless network. The network signal may be
attenuated by walls, distance, or metal venting. There
are other options for home networking that do not
require the installation of new wiring.
Home Phoneline Networks connect computers via the existing
telephone lines without interfering with normal telephone
communication. For areas of the house not serviced by a
telephone line, you can utilize your wall plugs with a Home Powerline Network.
These tend to be more expensive and are less stable than
phone line networks.
If wireless is not an option, Tech Talk recommends home
phone line networks.
Check out
the Home Phoneline Industry Alliance
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