Posts by Steve---d

Feds spank Asus with 20-year audit probe for router security blunder

> Ummm. I use an ASUS router, the RT-N66U - AKA the black knight. Best ADSL router I have ever owned - never drops, never goes MS 365 and just works.

What does this have to do with security? And I don't understand the MS 365 ref..

> I use Merlin's firmware though. BUT the first thing you (or anybody should do) is change the default user name/password, make sure the WAN is not open to the Internet, and if you are paranoid, set up a DMZ to 0.0.0.0 to forward all requests to that (unless you have other things to do with it).

The average user shouldn't have to do any of these things. Especially change to a 3rd party firmware. If the web UI or any other service is available over the WAN interface, the firmware is already shit. A strong wifi security configuration should be configured out-of-the-box, with the randomized SSID and password printed on the packaging, along with randomized admin ui creds. Changing default passwords on any device is common sense, but the vast majority of people with internet access are far from being technophiles.

> OK, the software that comes with these routers is pretty crap sometimes, but I would say a lot of the time it the end user at fault.

> I mean, for a new router, you have to have default admin/password to allow the user to get going...

You just contradicted yourself, is it the users fault, or the crap firmware that has non-randomized default credentials?

I seriously hope your handle isn't a spin on Linux... or at least that it's not your profession.

BlackBerry axes 200 jobs – including a third of its HQ staff

From the Globe article:

"On Friday, Blackberry issued two statements, the first denied media reports that 35 per cent of its work force was being cut by describing the affected as a “small number of employees.” The second clarified further, and confirmed “approximately 200” employees were being laid off."

So, no, not laying of 35% of its work force in Waterloo.

If you're going to list your source, you should at least copy their info properly?

How to get root on a Linux box, step 1: Make four billion system calls

typo

"Oh look, it's another Linux kernel bug that allows a local user to escalate themselves to root. In exploiting CVE-2016-0278, discovered by Perception Point..."

Should be CVE-2016-0728 ... did you type that in by hand?

World Bank: What do the poor need – clean water, or email ... take a guess

So basically; application of technology and automation have the same effect on 3rd world counties as they do on 1st world counties...

'Powerful blast' at Glasgow City Council data centre prompts IT meltdown

Not sure I see what the big deal is here...

Seeing as emergency services weren't affected, I'm not sure what all the hoopla is about.

Just because a DR/BC plan is in place, doesn't mean its been designed for maximum uptime. It could have been designed around minimal cost, or somewhere in-between. They do mention they have backups. Seeing as gov't tends to burn money rather than make money, their planning around uptime is likely going to be considerably lower than a profit oriented corporation where downtime is actually reducing revenue, or reducing the twattering customers can do with their thumbs.

Assuming that the mentioned services they can still perform manually comprise their list of 'critical services' then it sounds like they're doing ok.

As for the boom/shaking; this should be expected if a halon system went off. A canister went boom when I dropped it on a concrete floor, and I went about 2ft up in the air, so I'd guess if they all went off in an enclosed environment, you might get some feedback.

Does Linux need a new file system? Ex-Google engineer thinks so

Re: "Does Windows need a new file system? Too bad, deal with it."

"...and of course NTFS is the only real option."

Samba, NFS, sshfs, ftp, all come to mind.

Budge up VMware, array upstart Tintri's ramming in Red Hat Linux KVM

RHEV / OVirt storage domains are a bit more complicated...

... then vmware data stores. The concept of having plainly labelled disk images in a folder doesn't apply.

What this sounds like is the Tintri guys are either using RHEV's API's from their storage side, or they've created a plugin for RHEV manager. In other words, storage integration for RHEV, which is actually a pretty big deal for a new virtualization platform without massive market share.