Category: Technology

It’s that time again, time to go to Microsoft’s update page and start updating everything you own from Microsoft. You heard me right everything, well just about everything. It seems that there is a flaw in the way Microsoft products display JPEGs which could allow someone to compromise your system. Yup, that’s right view a picture lose your system. Well the good news is that there is not even a proof of concept yet to exploit the hole. Doesn’t mean their not hard at work at it now since everyone knows it exists now. If your running Windows XP SP2 your not effected for your OS or Browser however your Office products still need to be updated. Follow the link below to view the Microsoft TechNet article.

http://www.microsoft.com/technet/security/bulletin/MS04-028.mspx

You heard me right I’d like a donut to go with my Ipod. There is a new product called a donut to go with Apple’s various Ipods. It is basically a sticker that you place over your scroll wheel and protects it from scratches. The stickers come in different designs and even glow in the dark. Below is a link to the product, enjoy.

iPoDonut

Looks like AOL is moving in the right direction when it comes to security. I don’t know how many of my clients have had their AOL passwords phished in the past. Well AOL is starting an optional service it seems in which it would give customers that opt in, a RSA token. The RSA token is what corporations use to allow users to log into their corporate networks remotely. The item has a sequence of numbers that changes every several seconds. In order to login the end user must type in their password and the number sequence that is displayed on the token.

Below is a link to the GoUpstate.com article on the matter:

http://www.goupstate.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20040920/APF/409200975

How cool would it be to open your laptop anywhere you are and be able to get online wirelessly, that would be a dream come true. We’ll that dream will come true for people in Philadelphia. Seems like the city is going to build one huge wireless mesh network that will cover 135 square miles.

You can read more about the InfoWorld article below:

http://www.infoworld.com/article/04/09/21/HNphillynet_1.html?source=rss&url=http://www.infoworld.com/article/04/09/21/HNphillynet_1.html

It seems that AOL is developing bots for it’s instant messaging service. Similar to bots that have been used on IRC for years, AOL will and vendors will design bots. The user can add the bot to the buddy list. The user than sends a message to the bot and receives information pertinent information back from the bot.

Follow the link below for the InfoWorld article.

http://www.infoworld.com/article/04/09/20/HNaimbots_1.html?source=rss&url=http://www.infoworld.com/article/04/09/20/HNaimbots_1.html

I can’t believe they are giving this guy a job. I know a lot of administrators out there that would like to run into this guy in a dark alley. Way to go Securepoint, you’ve just gave the other social misfits out there that are unemployed to a reason to start coding the next nightmare for us administrators.

The full article can be found here:

http://www.internetweek.com/allStories/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=47900427

I have added an IRC Server to go along with the web site primarily for forum members. There is currently one channel available (#forums) for the public. As the need arises I will add new topic dependant channels as requested. I have also added a web client for the IRC channel in case you are traveling or on a guest system and do not have an IRC client installed. You can get to the web client by clicking on the “IRC Chat” button on the menu bar above. The address for the new IRC Server is irc.pc-doc.com.

I am currently testing the server software and it is currently limited at 10 concurrent users. If all goes well it will be upgraded to 100.

Enjoy.

The Wall Street Journal has an interesting article about hardware hacking. They are talking about extending the funtionality of off the shelf items. It is definetly a good read. The Link is below.
So Your Roomba Vacuums…. Does It Also Take Pictures?

We’ll the good news is that you can disable Windows XP Service Pack2 from being automatically installed on your system for the time being. This is a very good in the midst of a lot of end users complaining of problems encountered after the upgrade. I had to issue warnings to all my clients because Service Pack 2 breaks PPTP (VPN) protocols and there is not a fix for it. The bad news is whether you like it or not after 240 days from August 16th 2004, your system will be forced to install it. I guess that’s a good thing if you look at all the end users that don’™t install security patches and their machines become zombies in Internet attacks. However as I have written in the past it’s a step forward for Microsoft shutting down holes for Trojans but it is only a tiny step. I feel most users will get a false sense of security with all the hype behind this service pack. Truth be told I had a lot of applications that had free run of the Internet without Microsoft’s built in firewall batting an eye let alone asking if I wanted to let the application have internet access. If you would like to read more on about this issue, I have included a link below to Microsoft’s article.

Temporarily Disabling Delivery of Windows XP Service Pack 2