Networking Forum

Linux distributions could use a boost in a few different areas, specifically these five: Virtualization, Graphics, Games, Point-of-Sale and Education. Some significant progress has been made in the past year or so in virtualization and graphics but there's still more to do. Everyone has their own set of ideals for …

Gary McKinnon is either a UFO-obsessed nerd who happens to suffer from a form of autism, or a fugitive from justice who was responsible for the biggest military hack of all time. The description varies depending upon whether you are a balanced individual with no axe to grind or the …

The High Court in the UK will this Friday decide if an appeal against the Home Office backed decision to extradite Gary McKinnon on hacking charges to the US is to be upheld or, as seems likely, not. McKinnon has been accused of what US prosecutors refer to the [URL="http://www.daniweb.com/blogs/entry2863.html"]biggest …

So Google reckons that it can provide [URL="http://www.itwire.com/content/view/26281/53/"]the perfect operating system[/URL] in Chrome, even to the point where according to Google's Engineering Director, Linus Upson, it will herald the end of malware. That's what he went [URL="http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2009/07/introducing-google-chrome-os.html"]on the record[/URL] to say, promising that Google was "completely redesigning the underlying security …

Adobe has issued a security advisory following the discovery of what it describes as a "critical vulnerability" which exists within the current versions of Flash Player (v9.0.159.0 and v10.0.22.87) across all platforms, Windows, Macintosh and Linux operating systems, The same vulnerability can be found within the authplay.dll component that ships …

Some users discovered last week that Amazon has the capability to remove books from their Kindle electronic reading devices, even though they were bought, paid for, downloaded, and in the users' possession. Ironically, among the books with which this was discovered was George Orwell's [I]1984[/I], which postulated a society where …

Anyone else getting pretty fed up with the number of headlines both online and in the print media which have been exclaiming 'Twitter hacked' this week? I have even just got a press release, from a storage systems company of all things, that has the strap line of "Twitter hack …

If I hadn't already known--or at least had some idea of the religious zeal I was about to face, I would have been more shocked at the response to my [URL="http://www.daniweb.com/blogs/entry4525.html"]2009's 10 Worst Linux Distributions[/URL] post from the other day. I now have definitive evidence that Linux is a religion--a …

Lawrence 'Larry' Roberts is something of an Internet legend, and for good reason: he helped build it. Way back in 1967 Roberts not only drew up the plans for the Advanced Research Projects Agency Network (ARPANET) which would eventually lead to the Internet, but he also headed up the team …

[URL="www.facebook.com"]Facebook[/URL]'s page on which the location of the head of MI6's flat was available has been taken down. You also can no longer find information about his family and their whereabouts, which you could on the site previously. There has been a debate about this, of course. For Americans who …

Prejudices and opinions aside, at some point in your career you'll be asked to select a viable Linux distribution for your corporate network. How will you choose? Will you use the same distribution that you use at home or will you do some research and find something that's corporate-ready? Are …

I've been in discussions with a group of other writers, Linux distribution watchers, Linux community leaders and developers in the past few days concerning Linux commercial vs. Linux community versions and some of us came to the conclusion that [URL="http://www.fedoraproject.org"]Fedora[/URL]'s relevance has waned. In fact, it might be time to …

Today, I'm announcing my new Linux company, HookLineNSinker, Inc. (HLNS) which will produce a new commercial Linux distribution: Pricey Linux. HLNS products include Pricey Linux Enterprise, Pricey Linux Small Business Server and The Pricey Linux Desktop. There are also Pricey Linux Support options for those of you who need 24x7 …

Hackers managed to get root access to a large Internet Service Provider, reportedly via a zero day vulnerability over the weekend, and destroy data from 100,000 websites as a result. The UK-based ISP, VAServ, has [URL="http://www.theregister.co.uk/2009/06/08/webhost_attack/"]stated[/URL] that the attackers apparently exploited a vulnerability in virtualisation software called HyperTM in order …

Ever wondered just how big the Internet is? I know I have, and during my search for an answer I have discovered along the way [URL="http://www.daniweb.com/blogs/entry1437.html"]how fast it is[/URL] and [URL="http://www.daniweb.com/blogs/entry4387.html"]how much spam it produces[/URL]. But now I know how big it is as well. When it comes to size, …

Where would we be without the hole in the wall, that magical machine that provides us with cash whenever we need it? Where would we be without online banking, that magical system that lets us pay our bills via the Web? Customers of the HSBC bank in the UK found …

A new [URL="http://www.daniweb.com/blogs/entry4387.html"]Symantec[/URL] survey has discovered that people are more likely to check the oil in their car than they are to back up valuable data. When you consider that our computers are so much more than mere work machines, that they have become very much woven into the fabric …

The FBI has confirmed reports that it was forced to shut down it's external unclassified email network "as a precautionary measure" following the discovery of a virus infection. I am led to understand that the particular virus concerned has been identified by the FBI but this information has yet to …

This is a good idea. Not for the first time the American President is keeping his earlier word. This time he is appointing a [URL="http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/americas/8073654.stm"]Cyber Tsar[/URL]. This, it strikes me, is an excellent idea. In the UK we have a data protection commission and a commissioner in charge of that. …

The latest Symantec [URL="http://www.messagelabs.com/intelligence.aspx"]MessageLabs Intelligence Report[/URL] has landed on my desk and makes for the usual rather depressing reading. I guess that most depressing of all, if not surprising when you take a look at your inbox or worse still your junk folder, are the figures relating to spam activity …

InterOp 2009 is a success by anyone's measure but it's been a mixed bag for me so far. Internet access on the show floor is almost non-existent. For a major tech show like this, it's absolutely ridiculous. You'd think that Internet access would be a standard feature of any technical …

Kaspersky Lab has successfully [URL="http://www.itpro.co.uk/blogs/daveyw/2009/02/23/kaspersky-patents-malware-removal/"]patented yet another bit[/URL] of security technology. This time it is a new heuristic analysis technology which allows security ratings to be assigned to software based entirely upon behaviour patterns during emulation. Is this something to get excited about? Well, yes, if you look beyond the …

Virgin Media has released the results of research carried out into just how much the British actually understand the Internet, and those results show that on the whole the nation is pretty much baffled by broadband. The study, which quizzed more than 3000 internet users, discovered that broadband jargon confuses …

Last week, former UK Prime Minister and current Quartet Envoy to the Middle East on behalf of the EU, UN, US and Russia, [URL="http://www.tonyblairoffice.org/"]Tony Blair[/URL] was hacked. Well, the [URL="http://www.facebook.com/pages/The-Tony-Blair-Faith-Foundation/53370916629"]Tony Blair Faith Foundation on Facebook[/URL] was hacked according to reports at any rate. It seems that the site was flooded …

As I've written before ([URL="http://www.daniweb.com/blogs/entry2335.html"]here[/URL] and [URL="http://www.daniweb.com/blogs/entry4177.html"]here[/URL]), the Linux desktop in danger of extinction. If operating systems could be placed on the Endangered Species list, I'd lobby for it. Perhaps this is a legitmate task for the [URL="http://www.linuxfoundation.org"]Linux Foundation[/URL]: Preserve the Linux desktop. I'm not quite ready to give up …

A [URL="http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyID=aa6e0660-dc24-4930-affd-e33572ccb91f&displaylang=en"]Microsoft security report[/URL] has 'revealed' that some 97 percent of the emails travelling across the Internet are actually unwanted spam. Well duh, like I didn't realise it was such a big problem. Actually, I didn't, to be fair. Mainly because just about every other security report I have read …

It has not exactly been the best of weekends for [URL="http://www.itpro.co.uk/blogs/daveyw/2009/04/03/google-to-buy-twitter/"]Twitter[/URL], and for those whose tweeting has been hijacked by not one but two worms it could easily be considered the worst of times. It all started when people noticed that a lot of their followers seemed to be recommending …

Almost a year has passed since I wrote, [URL="http://www.daniweb.com/blogs/entry2329.html"]Novell CEO Disses Embrace of Desktop Linux[/URL] where I told you how Ron Hovsepian, Novell CEO, totally slammed Linux as a desktop operating system and now another major CEO comes out publicly against Linux on the desktop. Red Hat's CEO, Jim Whitehurst, …

Although the kind of 1Gbit/s broadband service that is [URL="http://www.daniweb.com/blogs/entry3250.html"]a reality in Japan[/URL] remains but a pipe dream for most people, the Brits can look forward to super-fast 60Mbit/s broadband real soon now. National telecoms carrier BT has announced that it will be installing upgrades to no less than 29 …

Crikey! And there I was thinking we were slap bang in the middle of a global recession. Things can't be that bad, I guess, if a retailer can find $5.1 million to pay for a new domain name. Yet that is exactly what Toys R Us has paid out in …

Reports suggest that Google Earth might have put the top secret British nuclear defence headquarters, at the Faslane HM Naval Base Clyde in Scotland, at risk from terrorist attack after the satellite mapping shows clear images of the facility. The images are highly detailed and even show a couple of …

Some school kids in Louisiana got a surprise last Monday when sitting at their computers: the floating head of Barack Obama on-screen. They were amongst the first to be infected with the Obama-head worm which spreads via USB memory sticks courtesy of the Windows Autorun feature which is causing widespread …

According to the [URL="http://www.dcexaminer.com/local/012909-Ex-Fannie_Mae_worker_charged_with_planting_computer_virus.html"]DC Examiner[/URL] a former contract worker with Fannie Mae has been indicted, and bailed, on charges of computer intrusion. It is alleged that Rajendrasinh Makwana dropped a virus into Fannie Mae software which had the potential to cause millions of dollars worth of damage if it had …

The Mayor of London, the totally eccentric Boris Johnson, has written a column in a national newspaper in which he champions fellow loon [URL="http://www.daniweb.com/blogs/entry2863.html"]Gary McKinnon[/URL], the [URL="http://www.itwire.com/content/view/20017/53/"]NASA UFO hacker[/URL]. Currently busy fighting extradition to the USA on the grounds that, essentially, to do so would not be fair to someone …

I'm not talking about openssl, PHP, or even the Linux kernel but all the above plus every other program or bit of code on a Linux system. It's vulnerable. It's hackable. It can be changed at will by anyone because the source is open and freely available (the definition of …

What's more stable than a rock, faster than a spinning disk, more powerful than a Windows system twice its size, and able to leap platforms like no other operating system? Surprise! It's Linux. It's also recession proof. Can that be true? Yes, and here are the 5 reasons why: [B]1. …

How many passwords do you have to remember? The common answer is either too many and I sometimes forget them, or alternatively just the one as I use it for everything. Both options are bad in terms of security. Which is where password management systems come in, and these can …

It looks ever more likely that 2009 could indeed be the [URL="http://www.daniweb.com/blogs/entry3781.html"]year of the scam[/URL]. Symantec owned MessageLabs is warning that cases of advance fee [URL="http://www.daniweb.com/blogs/entry1198.html"]419 fraud[/URL], along with other financial scams, have spiked as we enter 2009. From December 22nd 2008, through into January 2009, the number of scams …

If you work in IT support you pretty much learn to expect the unexpected, but nobody could have seen some of these little gems, just [URL="http://www.pandalabs.com"]revealed[/URL] by the Panda Security tech support team, coming. For example, how about the customer who wondered if Panda antivirus software could be blowing the …

The [URL="http://www.e-victims.org"]E-Victims Organisation[/URL], a non-for-profit UK community interest company set up to benefit Internet users by assisting the victims of e-crime after the event, has released a top 10 Internet Scams of 2009 predictions list. Indeed, E-Victims.Org goes as far as to suggest that with new scams appearing almost daily, …

Ever wondered what the most popular passwords being used are? Ever wondered what the crappiest, most insecure passwords being used are? Hey, you are in luck as it seems the two lists are exactly the same. The What's My Pass 'Top 500 Worst Passwords of All Time' [URL="http://www.whatsmypass.com/?p=415"]list[/URL] makes for …

Joe "Zonker"Brockmeier is the Community Manager for openSUSE. He has been involved with Free and Open Source Software (FOSS) since 1996 when he discovered FOSS while a college student and was hooked. For most of his career he has worked as a technology journalist covering Linux and open source topics. …

The IBM Internet Security Systems division, better known simply as ISS, has today warned of the 'perfect storm' of security threats which has been created by the global economic slowdown, an unprecedented level of cybercrime activity and both the cost and complexity of legal security infrastructures. ISS announced a set …

Ever had some computer malware spit a bunch of porn onto your screen? Now imagine it happening in a roomful of schoolchildren. Now imagine it could send you to jail -- for forty years. That's what happened to Julie Amero, a substitute teacher in Norwich, Conn., in 2004. Using a …

If you ever had a big brother, you know that the same guy who gave you noogies could also protect you from a bully at school -- but you had to take the bad with the good. 'Big Brother,' in surveillance, is the same way. Government surveillance is getting easier …

Ubuntu and CentOS are now in the [url=http://www.rpath.com/corp/]rPath[/url]. The company yesterday began shipping a version of its [url=http://www.rpath.com/corp/products/rbuilder]rBuilder[/url] build and release management system for Linux that adds those distros; the tool previously worked only with [url=http://www.novell.com/linux/]Novell SUSE Linux Enterprise[/url] and its own [url=http://www.rpath.com/rbuilder/project/rpath/]rPath Linux[/url]. rBuilder packages a Linux application with …

Isn't anything safe from hackers? Now they've apparently found a way to hack into systems through a media stream, threatening users with denial of service attacks that can bring down servers and desktops alike. The vulnerability was reported yesterday by VoIPshield Laboratories, a security tools maker in Canada. The flaws …

There are 5 things that every good Linux Administrator knows. Do you know what they are? They are in no particular order of importance: [B]1. Users are a Necessary Evil[/B] - Do you ever wonder why System Administrators seem so annoyed by you and your questions? It's because you are, …

There are three Linux distributions that didn't make it into my [URL="http://www.daniweb.com/blogs/entry3322.html"]top 10 list[/URL] of best Linux distributions but they are ones to watch. These three distributions are all aimed at the Desktop, are simple to install and use, and they're free. [URL="http://www.linuxmint.com"]Linux Mint[/URL], [URL="http://www.thinkgos.com"]gOS[/URL], and [URL="http://www.opensuse.org"]OpenSuSE[/URL] are the three …

According to Russian forensic security experts and 'password recovery' specialists ElcomSoft, the days of protecting documents and files with 40-bit encryption are now officially over. It has now released a product which uses Thunder Tables technology to unlock password-protected documents that have been created using Microsoft Word. In fact, it …