Posts Tagged ‘computers’
Record Skype Calls with Pamela
As mentioned previously, I am starting a How to do Podcasting Series on tylersmiller.com. This is the first installment of such series. In this video, I show you how to record your Skype calls in order to produce them into podcasts. I am assuming you have Skype installed…if not, I did a few videos on Skype and they can be found here. Alright, so here is the first video, showing how to record Skype calls.
Hope that was a helpful first video. Keep watching through the month on more videos. The next one will be on editing your podcast.
Stay tuned, and let me know if you have ANY questions on this first video or anything related to podcasting!
Secure Your Home Wireless Network
I posted a few days ago about Germany requiring people to secure their home wireless networks. In this HOWTO, I show you how to do the same at home.
I use a Linksys router with a custom firmware called DDWRT. Any other router configuration will look about the same, so just follow along and remember the key points I list at the end of this video. So, enjoy:
httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WTa_3zYAdjs
Key points:
- Router IP address is usually on 192.168.1.1 or 192.168.0.1
- Change your SSID
- Enable WPA Personal encryption
- Choose a STRONG password
Who’s Your Favorite Computer Manufacturer?
I buy and use computers from all different types of companies. Apple, HP, Dell, Gateway, IBM, etc.
What is your favorite computer manufacturer and why?
Mine…well, definitely HP or Hewlett-Packard. The company’s products are amazing. I am currently typing this post on an HP Pavilion dv9000 laptop. It’s 17 inch screen, full size keyboard and other internals make it a beast. My netbook is a Gateway. Yes, I did say Gateway. The reason I went Gateway is because that’s all Best Buy had at the time…but I am happy with my investment and am overall satisfied with their product.
So, your favorite computer manufacturer, and why…GO!
Microsoft Mouse Mischief
Hey guys. I posted a while ago on Microsoft Mouse Mischief…check it out here: http://www.tylersmiller.com/microsoft-mouse-mischief/
I recieved an email from an Microsoft Online Community Manager for Mouse Mischief, and I am going to include his press release, along with my thoughts in this post.
Press release: Microsoft has listened to and engaged with educators to find out what they need. For some time now, Microsoft has been involved in an ongoing dialogue with educators, students, and others in the education space to explore how we can best provide experiences with technology that will engage classrooms and enhance learning experiences.
My thoughts: Awesome! Thank you Microsoft for going to schools and listening to educators. I think it is essential that they included students, which they did. Mouse Mischief will give students the opportunity to interact together as a class, and in a way, learn more and become more social with classmates and learning. Great move!
Press release: But, response has been that not enough students can engage directly with technology. Many classrooms—especially those without the resources or budget—can’t give all students the opportunity to engage directly with technology. Additionally, we discovered that many teachers already use and love PowerPoint, but it made students passive observers—they needed to be active participants.
My thoughts: Totally agreed. As I stated above, students need to be active and more interactive. Mischief works with PowerPoint…a program that almost every school has installed on their machines and servers, and it easily integrates with technology already in place.
Press release: Now, Microsoft is announcing the release of Mouse Mischief—a solution that lets teachers create interactive presentations making classroom learning engaging. Mouse Mischief integrates with PowerPoint, allowing teachers to create multiple-choice, matching and drawing question slides that students, each with their own computer mouse, can answer on a shared screen.
My thoughts: FINALLY! Each student can become interactive and learn without having a $2000 computer on their desk. All they need is a mouse and some knowledge to answer and participate with classmates.
Press release: Benefits to Mouse Mischief are: The availability and low cost of mice makes Mouse Mischief a cost-effective solution, especially for tight classroom budgets. With Mouse Mischief, there’s no need to for teachers to learn a new application – the seamless PowerPoint integration lets teachers use technology they’re already comfortable with.
My thoughts: Like I said, this solution is very cost effective and still effective to students. Think of how happy school administrator’s will feel when they know the money in their school’s wallets can go to other causes within the district, and the students are still learning at the same time.
Press release: Mouse Mischief allows educators to share their own lessons and learn from others. Through the Mouse Mischief community page we have created on Office.com, teachers can easily distribute and explore Mouse Mischief presentations. This can create a global social network of sharing and learning for educators around the world, giving educators access to best practices and new curriculum ideas.
My final thoughts: Excellent…an all around excellent product. The download is free, and is available here: http://www.microsoft.com/multipoint/mouse-mischief/default.aspx. It is definitely worth checking it out, since most people already have PowerPoint installed. Test it out on your classroom, and let me and Microsoft know how it works. I think this is going to be BIG in future classrooms.
They are also doing a Twitter giveaway. We are running a Re-Tweet contest starting tomorrow. Each week, for 4 weeks, we will be giving away a bundle of 5 wireless mice & a 4-port HiSpeed USB 2.0 hub for use with MM in the classroom. (this is valued at $175). Tweet the following: Follow @MouseMischief for a chance at winning a Mischief Classroom Kit. Re-Tweet to be entered! http://bit.ly/9rqS1m #mischiefcontest.”
Mouse Mischief can be found on numerous places on the Internet as well, including:
Website – http://microsoft.com/mousemischief Blog – http://blogs.msdn.com/mousemischiefTwitter – http://twitter.com/mousemischief
Facebook – http://facebook.com/mousemischief Youtube – http://youtube.com/mousemischief Slideshare – http://slideshare.net/mousemischief
Want to give a big shout out to Eric Burgess, the Online Community Manager for Microsoft’s Mouse Mischief program. Thanks for keeping me in the loop, and best of luck with the program and service!
IsoHunt to Go Offline (BitTorrent)
Credit: Technabob.com
IsoHunt…a popular torrent site, has been requested to either bring down all .torrent files or to shut down the website all together. If the .torrent files are legal or not, they have to be brought down. This comes after an order from the MPAA last week. The site’s owner tried to rebuke the takedown by stating that his site is another “search engine” that picked up copyrighted material. But, it has been revealed that his searching code is specifically tuned to find copyrighted material within the website.
This means that the basic search functionality of IsoHunt, Torrentbox, or Podtropolis would no longer be permissible under the injunction, not to mention that it would be nearly impossible for Fung to actively investigate every single file to see whether it’s legal or not. Fung believes this goes outside of the DMCA and that the MPAA should provide a list of links to files that it wants taken down instead. “We’re discussing the mechanics, the process that is reasonable for an injunction. We’re still trying to hope that the judge will do the right thing,” Fung told Wired.
The MPAA returned a call to Ars Technica stating that Fung needs to take down the site to comply with their demands.
Read the official post here: Ars Technica
BitTorrent Users Sued
You’ve surely heard of the RIAA, right? If not…the RIAA is a corporation that deals in lawsuits against people pirating software, music and movies. In six years, they have sued 30,000 people over illegally downloaded content. But now, Indie recorders and producers are being more harsh than the RIAA. Indie filmmakers are suing 10,000 people over illegally downloaded content and are adding another 30,000 users to that list very soon. All of this taking place THIS YEAR alone. The RIAA is no one’s friend, but now the no-name movies you are downloading could land you in jail or with a big fine.
A consortium of independent filmmakers has launched an RIAA-style mass-litigation campaign, suing thousands of individual BitTorrent users whose IP addresses were detected feeding and seeding films like Steam Experiment, Far Cry, Uncross the Stars, Gray Man and Call of the Wild 3D.
Read More http://www.wired.com/threatlevel/2010/03/bittorrent-legal-attack/#ixzz0jpFgJanm
Another difference between the RIAA and the Indie filmmakers is that the RIAA does more old-school lawsuits, reports Wired. Software like Limewire usually got people put into jail because they might not have known that while they were downloading music, they were also uploading and sharing the music as a side effect.
BitTorrent file sharing is more complicated, with downloaders and uploaders collecting in transient swarms of so-called feeders and seeders. ”Bits and pieces are contributed by many users of the swarm,” said said Ira Rothken, a California lawyer who is representing TorrentSpy and Isohunt in lawsuits brought by the MPAA. ”To me, that seems like a harder case for content owners to bring. But it’s still doable.”
Read More http://www.wired.com/threatlevel/2010/03/bittorrent-legal-attack/#ixzz0jpGHUxEl
Hopefully all these 40,000 cases can be settled out of court…meaning you delete your content, promise to never illegally download again and then you are monitored by your ISP for a few years to see if you break your promise. ISP’s are being requested to hand over identities of it’s IP users soon and court hearings will begin with some users filing back at the Indie filmmakers.
Stay tuned, I intend to keep you updated as more on this massive lawsuit develops.
Side note…don’t pirate 
Website Security
A new program came across my wandering eyes today that tests the security of a website. The name: Websecurify. It resides on the Google Code servers and is for webmasters of any kind to keep tabs on their website security. Along with keeping blog content up to date, chiming in on community discussion and tweaking things behind the scenes, website security can sometimes be overlooked. For me, security is a big priority. I have several WordPress plugins that scan my servers for any vulnerabilities in my website and with WordPress. This is another tool to assist you in the process, and it is fairly simple to operate.
Websecurify is a powerful web application security testing environment designed from the ground up to provide the best combination of automatic and manual vulnerability testing technologies.
Upon installation, you are greeted with this simple welcome screen and logo:
Clicking the Launch Test text will direct you to another screen, prompting you for a website and a name to call the report. See, simple. Once all that info is collected, hit next a few times, and the scan begins: Note that the scan does take 30-45 minutes or longer.
When the scan is complete, a big report is displayed:
So, you got a website? Test its security with this new freeware tool! Download here.
IE 8 Hacked
Internet Explorer has been hacked…and whats even better…in 2 minutes. The Pwn2Own Hacking contest was held last week, and two hackers took home $10,000 prizes after exploiting Internet Explorer 8 on a Windows 7 64 -bit machine.
Both Peter Vreugdenhil of the Netherlands and a German researcher who would only identify himself by the first name Nils found ways to disable DEP (data execution prevention) and ASLR (address space layout randomization), which are two of Windows 7′s most vaunted anti-exploit features. Each contestant faced down the fully-patched 64-bit version of Windows 7 and came out a winner.
Vreugdenhil used a two-exploit combination to circumvent first ASLR and then DEP to successfully hack IE8. A half-hour later, Nils bypassed the same defensive mechanisms to exploit Mozilla’s Firefox 3.6. For their efforts, each was awarded the notebook they attacked, $10,000 in cash and a paid trip to the DefCon hackers conference in Las Vegas this July.
Vreugdenhil, a freelance vulnerability researcher, explained how he bypassed DEP and ASLR. To outwit ASLR — which randomly shuffles the positions of key memory areas to make it much more difficult for hackers to predict whether their attack code will actually run — Vreugdenhil used a heap overflow vulnerability that allowed him to obtain the base address of a .dll module that IE8 loads into memory. He then used that to run his DEP-skirting exploit.
DEP, which Microsoft introduced in 2004 with Windows XP Service Pack 2, prevents malicious code from executing in sections of memory not intended for code execution and is a defense against, among other things, buffer-overflow attacks.
If you want to know more about the attack, Vreugdenhil posted a paper a few days ago and can be found here in PDF form.
If you think you can do this type of hacking, you could win $10,000 and even attend DefCon, which is a hackers paradise.
For more information on this story, see the awesome post by Computer World.
Original Post / Quotes: Computer World
AVG Rescue CD Review
Ever had a virus infected computer? If so, then you probably know that when you try to run your antivirus program, the virus will automatically close or crash the program. We have all run into this….including me fixing client machines. Here is a simple fix to getting rid of a virus without having to reformat.
It’s called AVG Rescue CD and is a linux operating system you boot from a CD or flash drive that allows you to remove viruses from the disk.
Directly from the AVG Website:
The AVG Rescue CD is a powerful must-have toolkit for the rescue and repair of infected machines. It provides essential utilities for system administrators and other IT professionals and includes the following features:
- Comprehensive administration toolkit
- System recovery from virus and spyware infections
- Suitable for recovering MS Windows and Linux operating systems (FAT32 and NTFS file systems)
- Ability to perform a clean boot from CD or USB stick
Key technologies
- Anti-virus: protection against viruses, worms and Trojans
- Anti-spyware: protection against spyware, adware and identity theft
- Administration toolkit: system recovery tools
With this program you can edit your hard drive’s files, edit the registry and do system checks. Its not a full all-in-one boot disk but it definitely will do the job to get rid of viruses and spyware.
Credit: Lifehacker
Apart from the usual AVG functions (malware detection and removal, updates from internet or external device, etc.), the AVG Rescue CD also contains the following set of administration tools:
- Midnight Commander – a two-panel file manager
- Windows Registry Editor– simple registry editor for more experienced users
- TestDisk – powerful hard drive recovery tool
- Ping – to test the availability of network resources (servers, domains, IP addresses)
- Common Linux programs and services– vi text editor, OpenSSH daemon, ntfsprogs etc.
If you have a virus infected computer, check out AVG Rescue CD.
Quotes taken from AVG.com
Never Hack the President
The FBI and French authorities have released a statement saying that they have found the man that hacked into President Barack Obama’s Twitter account, along with other celebrity accounts on Twitter and other social networks. ”Hacker Croll” was being tracked by the Federal Bureau of Investigation for months leading to his arrest. The hacker implemented more social engineering techniques than hacking, however. He utilized the “security question” to gain access to the accounts and reset the password. A security question is a question and answer you define on websites in the event you forget your password. Hopefully you remember your wife’s maiden name or first dog’s name… The downside to this is that many other people online can find the answer to that question as well. So, some questions are not secure and don’t protect your account, rather make them more vulnerable.
The hacker is out on bail at the moment and his maximum sentence in France is two years in prison.
The FBI notified French authorities of the hacker’s activities in July after a leading US technology blog, TechCrunch.com, reported that it had received a file containing 310 confidential corporate and personal documents from Hacker Croll about Twitter and its staff.
These included executive meeting notes, partner agreements, financial projections, calendars, phone logs and office plans. The San Francisco-based company at the time confirmed that some documents had been seized but insisted the hacker had not gained access to any of its user accounts.
Reminder, make secure passwords:
Cyber security experts said that Hacker Croll’s success should act as a wake-up call to users whose passwords are too short or easy to predict.
Bernard Ourghanlian, cyber security chief of Microsoft France, said a password should be long and contain “at least eight characters and ideally 14 or more”. Mixing small and capital letters, numbers and signs such as a question mark make a password almost impossible to crack, he said.
Another good rule of thumb…don’t try to hack the President or any other high power officials…or anyone in general. Be well.
Original Post: Telegraph
Hulu Review
If you miss out on watching a TV show on the actual TV…chances are that the show is on Hulu. Hulu is a free service in the United States that allows you to watch ad supported TV shows and movies. I watch Hulu, sadly, every single day. It is a great service to get caught up on shows as well. Say you miss three episodes of LOST and there is absolutely NO way to watch the current episode without getting confused or lost, so you should choose Hulu to watch all back episodes.
TV shows are usually released one day after the air date on networks except in some few cases where there are different copyright restrictions.
My favorite shows that I watch on Hulu are as follows: LOST, House, Family Guy, Castle, The Office, 30 Rock, The Biggest Loser, and many more. I also frequent their movie section, although movies are not updated as often as TV shows and are usually pretty old. Most movies are ones from before 2000, again, for copyright reasons.
Hulu…try it out. More reviews coming soon.
Business Network Security
Feds Prowl on Social Networks
The United States government might be trying to friend you on sites like Facebook and MySpace in hopes to uncover information about you including photos, messages and get information on your family.
A 33 page document available shows that local law enforcement, Secret Service and the FBI have been logging into social network sites to uncover information about people. They add the suspect as a friend and can then see otherwise restricted content, such as photos and contact information.
The government officials logging into the systems also state that they use status updates and tweets as alibis. Finding when and where people are and who they are with and using otherwise private information to convict people.
According to Wired Threat Level:
The document says evidence from social networking sites can:
Read More http://www.wired.com/threatlevel/#ixzz0iXjAlUKG
The deputy chief of the Justice Departments Computer Division gave a PowerPoint presentation to officers stating that they should start to use social networks to uncover private information about suspects and how this can help them in cases.
The cops can also map social relationships and networks, among other things. The document does not include guidance or cautionary notes on how to conduct an investigation responsibly using these services, though it acknowledges the problematic nature of using an assumed identity to open an account with a social networking site.
“Can failure to follow [terms of service] render access unauthorized?” the document asks. “If agents violate terms of service, is that ‘otherwise illegal activity’?”
In short…do not add anyone on Facebook or MySpace unless you know who they actually are. The random person you choose to add next time might just be with the FBI or Secret Service.
Hacker Disables Cars Remotely
Originally posted by Wired
More than 100 drivers in Austin, Texas found their cars disabled or the horns honking out of control, after an intruder ran amok in a web-based vehicle-immobilization system normally used to get the attention of consumers delinquent in their auto payments.
Read More http://www.wired.com/threatlevel/2010/03/hacker-bricks-cars/#ixzz0iXfLGh18
Omar Ramos-Lopez was arrested by police and was a former worker at the Austin Auto Center. He was laid off and was seeking revenge…so he hacked into cars and either disabled them or made them do odd things.
Texas Auto Center’s manager, Martin Garcia, stated: “We started having a rash of up to a hundred customers at one time complaining. Some customers complained of the horns going off in the middle of the night. The only option they had was to remove the battery.”
The dealership used a system called Webtech Plus as an alternative to repossessing vehicles that haven’t been paid for. Operated by Cleveland-based Pay Technologies, the system lets car dealers install a small black box under vehicle dashboards that responds to commands issued through a central website, and relayed over a wireless pager network. The dealer can disable a car’s ignition system, or trigger the horn to begin honking, as a reminder that a payment is due. The system will not stop a running vehicle.
Read More http://www.wired.com/threatlevel/2010/03/hacker-bricks-cars/#ixzz0iXg8mj3m
Garcia says that Ramos-Lopez’s network account was disabled and that he was good with computers.
More on immobilization of cars:
First rolled out about 10 years ago, remote immobilization systems are a controversial answer to delinquent car payments, with critics voicing concerns that debtors could suffer needless humiliation, or find themselves stranded during an emergency. Proponents say the systems let financers extend credit to consumers who might otherwise be ineligible for an auto loan.
Read More http://www.wired.com/threatlevel/2010/03/hacker-bricks-cars/#ixzz0iXgggWPb
Secure Your Internet Wi-Fi
Most Internet Service Providers send along a built in wireless router with their modems when you order a new Internet subscription. Or maybe you need to connect two computers to one Internet connection and you buy a router. Most of the time, these new router or router/modem combos have unencrypted wifi upon installation. First, let’s discuss why this is bad to have an unencrypted SSID or wifi connection:
- Anyone in the area of the router can connect to your router and use your Internet and have access to all your network resources.
- If people other than you have access to your Internet they can do the following:
- Sniff your packets and gather login information for websites and even crack your passwords
- Use your network to pirate movies, music or TV shows without getting caught
- Slow your network down
- Ban you from your own network
- Infect insecure computers with malware
So, now do you see why it’s VERY important to encrypt your router with a password?
There are many ways to do this on a router…to make it secure. There is an old fashioned WEP key encryption, which is NOT recommended. WEP can be cracked very easily. Just to test out its strength, I created my own WEP network and was able to crack the WEP key within ten minutes. So, DO NOT go the WEP route. Instead, chose the more secure and less crackable WPA method. WPA is also better because you can specify any password over 8 characters, rather than having a 64bit key in WEP.
To set up WPA, open your router control panel, usually located at http://192.168.1.1 or http://192.168.0.1. If you have not set up your router before, the username and password are usually “admin” for both fields. However, this is not always the case, so consult your router documentation for more.
Next, find Wireless settings and turn wireless access points on. The SSID is the name of your network. For this example, I will use tylersmiller as my SSID. Save those settings and then find Wireless Security. On this page, select WPA Personal encryption method and create a password. Any characters, numbers and symbols work. My WIFI password is over 40 characters…so make it secure!
Next, save those settings and head to your nearest laptop or wireless device. Scan for wireless networks and find your SSID or tylersmiller in my case. Enter the password you chose and now, you are browsing securely and only people with that specific password can access your network.
This is a brief overview of wireless network security, I have a wealth of information on network security, and would be glad to share it with you free of charge. If you have questions, comment on this post, email me or contact me on Twitter.
Be well.
Digg Revamped
CEO Jay Adelson announced yesterday that Digg is getting a new look, feel and speed boost. Digg leaderboards are coming back as well as personalized feeds. In one post I read, any keyword can now be a category of its own. So, right now there is the digg.com/technology category, but with this revamp, digg.com/tylersmiller could be a category. Sweet!
This new Digg system, which is five years in the making, is currently not available for public viewing, but you can sign up at new.digg.com and receive email updates when it is available. It is currently in alpha mode, and when you visit new.digg.com you see a sneak peek of the new Digg in the background image.
New improvements tout the ability for one-click digging and one-click submissions. Adelson stated that users do not need to log in anymore to Digg or submit. To me, this is great! It allows more interaction and I think it is better for those one time user submissions. Many people maybe just want to submit one thing in their entire life, and might not do so if they need to create an account or connect with Facebook. This opens up so many more possibilities with user interaction.
Along with the one-click system, Adelson said that the new site will be faster than ever. No more MySQL back-end, rather something completely new.
Digg’s submission and Digg website widgets are also getting a revamp. Basically, in the coming months, look for a totally new Digg.com coming to the Internet. Digg has already changed the way we share information and connect with people, but expect them to gain more momentum if this new system works as planned.
DropBox
Need to sync files between multiple computers on different platforms with ease? If so, I recommend and use DropBox. This free service allows you to sync or backup files from one computer to another registered to you. On computer A you add a file called drop.txt and on computer B, the file instantly shows up.
They have various account options, but I stuck to the free one. The free version offers you 2GB of space. You may wonder why you need a GB limit…and thats because your files are also stored in the cloud and not just on your registered computers. This is a makeshift backup program as well and you can access all your files from their account back-end. Basically, your files are everywhere there is an Internet connection and are stored in a very secure format.
Touching on the other account options; there is a massive 50 GB version for only $9.99 a month or $99.00 a year. Also, the Pro 100 account that offers 100 GB of online storage for $19.99 a month or $199.00 a year. But, for my minimal use, I am sticking with the free account. Plus, for every new customer you recommend with a special URL, you get an added 512 MB to your account.
DropBox is a great service to either use free for paid and can easily sync files between computers and keep them backed up on the Internet. Give DropBox a try and let me know what you think.
I will be doing a post in the coming weeks discussing more backup methods and best practices, so stay tuned for that.
Enjoy the weekend all.
iPad Pre-orders Reach Over 50,000
As reported by Mashable, in just two hours of iPad pre-ordering, over 51,000 iPads have been ordered.
“51,000 orders in two hours,” announced Victor Castroll shortly after noon. He’s an analyst with Valcent Financial Group and an AAPL Sanity member who, with the blogger-analyst who calls himself deagol, has been monitoring the spreadsheet.
This matches other estimates from blogger Andrew Erlichson who wrote:
“We just bought two iPads, about 30 minutes apart. Our order IDs are 10,000 apart. Assuming those order IDs are sequential, and they appear to be, then Apple is selling 20,000 iPads per hour.”
This is not confirmed, and the ID system may not be in order of numbers, but if its correct, then Apple is turning a pretty penny today. It goes to show how dedicated their fans are and makes the term “Apple fan-boy” true.
Are you ordering an iPad?
Original Post: Mashable
TSA Hacking
The TSA has discovered an internal breach of security, according to Wired.com.
A former Transportation Security Administration contractor is being charged in Colorado for allegedly injecting malicious code into a government network used for screening airport security workers and others.
The code that was input into the system was a logic bomb, programmed to go off at a certain time and date. Either deleting data or deeming servers unusable at that specified time. More information on the hacker and the system he infected.
Douglas James Duchak, 46, had worked as a data analyst at the TSA’s Colorado Springs Operations Center, or CSOC, since 2004. The CSOC is used to vet people who have “access to sensitive information and secure areas of the nation’s transportation network,” according to the indictment. A source involved in the case said this involved screening of both passengers and workers at airports and other transportation facilities.
Duchak’s job was to update the CSOC database as new information arrived from these two sources. But on Oct. 15, he was given two weeks’ notice that his job would be terminated.
The man pleaded not guilty and was released on a $25,000 bond.
Duchak has been charged in the U.S. District of Colorado with two counts of attempting to cause damage to a protected computer. If convicted, he faces a possible prison sentence of 10 years and a $250,000 fine for each count.
David Lindsey is Duchak’s attorney and had the following statement:
“It wasn’t connected to anything that had to do with security,” Lindsey said. “Before anything he had his hands on left, it went to another system before it got into any live system that did screening. As I understand it, it is a system that does statistical analyses on the systems that are up and running. And when the tests are run, those are done at one level and then [go to] a second level and then at a final level before the analyses are verified and passed onto anything you would call a live system.”
I will keep you updated with new results on this TSA hacking.
Think government networks are insecure?
Think government networking should not be outsourced to a third party?
Piracy Gets an Antivirus
Most people on the Internet have heard of LimeWire…which is a free file sharing software that allows users to share any file. The majority of the LimeWire network is pirated works of music, pictures and movies. There is a small percent of information that is legal, but most users are not looking for that information. There are a lot of issues with sharing information over the internet because a lot of people out there share information with malware or viruses attached. The end user downloads a movie and also gets a backdoor to their system open and allows for a lot of compromise within their system. Their computer can now be used as a botnet or spamming computer.
LimeWire announced that for it’s paid subscribers they will be offering a built in AVG virus scanner upon completion of downloads.
By integrating AVG’s antivirus SDK engine, all files that LimeWire Pro users download will now be scanned before they run. A pop-up will appear letting users know when a file has been scanned or blocked.
So, this is a great idea for LimeWire to put to work. Many users do not download their files before running an obscure executable or opening a ZIP folder. Congrats to LimeWire for adding this feature, but they still need to control their network more and take away all copyrighted material. I know that won’t happen, but piracy is not the right way to get free stuff. Think about it…$30 for a movie or 15 years in jail. You do the math and rethink if you use LimeWire or another file sharing site.
Original Post: CNET
School Webcam Spying Continues
Two IT employees at Pennsylvania’s Lower Merion School District have been put on administrative leave, and pictures taken from Webcams on school-issued computers have been turned over to the local police department, according to the attorney of one of the employees now on leave.
I have posted numerous times on the school spying incident, and if you are not clued in, check these posts out:
http://www.tylersmiller.com/fbi-webcam-spying-continued/
http://www.tylersmiller.com/school-webcams-fbi-involved/
http://www.tylersmiller.com/school-spying/
Alright, after doing that and getting caught up, lets move on to the new information released.
The IT Staff said that it was their job to turn on the webcam and monitor who had the laptop. They said that every fifteen minutes the laptop would snap a picture of who had it…to track where it was and if it was in the wrong hands.
Every time a tracking device was activated, it was activated at the request of an administrator or another IT person. The district has admitted activating the Webcam tracking system 42 times.
The school has stopped using the software and has removed the ability all together to remotely activate the webcam. So, good move on their end…too bad its a little too late.
I plan to keep my readers up to date with more information on this. My school district is adopting the 1:1 Laptop program, and I am interested in this completely. Your thoughts on webcam spying and 1:1 Laptops in school…
Original Post: CNET
Video: TrueCrypt
TrueCrypt Review
You may think that your data is safe when you use a password to protect your user account, but in reality, that is a horrible line of defense against hackers. If the hacker has physical access to your machine, he can easily bypass your login and get to your information anyway. Bookmarks, documents, pictures, financial data can all be accessed if you do not protect it properly.
In this post, I am going to tell you about TrueCrypt…a free and open source program to protect your data from prying eyes. As said, TrueCrypt is free and to me, easy to use. Let’s talk about how TrueCrypt works. You can do one of two things with TrueCrypt initially. One of the things is creating a file container to drop documents into. This encrypted container is mounted like a normal drive in Windows and shows up in My Computer. The other thing you can do is encrypt half or all of your operating system. When you boot to Windows, you are prompted for a password and if the password is incorrect, the system will not boot. Either way your data is safe and only the person with the password can access it.
I will do a video post on how to set up TrueCrypt on systems, but I just wanted to release this brief overview before I dive into the video. The video will be released in a few days and if you want to try TrueCrypt, go check it out. Just don’t start encrypting your operating system without consulting the documentation.
Do you use TrueCrypt? And what do you use the program for…meaning file container or operating system encryption?
Video will be comings soon.
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