One last security post

I don't know if any of you are still following along, but I wanted to share one last security related story for you. I have often been asked if Macs, cel phones, ATMs, tablets, and a host of other digital devices can be infected with viruses or other malicious software.

The answer is yes. Once again - YES. No digital device is safe from exploit, and while some are more susceptible than others simply because of their market share (Windows machines are still the most frequently targeted), any machine can be targeted. Even dedicated systems like those used to run power plants are vulnerable. Remember, you can't have 100% security.

Keeping that in mind, here is a fascinating yet technical article about watching attackers take over a Linux-based machine, Linux being an open-source alternative to Windows. It was often considered invulnerable, but it appears that's not the case.  Be sure to note that the researcher who has set up this machine has configured it as what is known as a honey-pot server which is used as a fake target to entice attackers and trap or at least misdirect them. So the box was set up specifically to trap and monitor the activities of attackers.

And as a final holiday send-off, here are a bunch of robots dancing to Christmas songs. Happy holidays!


Robot Christmas dance by kj1983

Related to our discussion of cookies

If you recall, we talked about small text files called cookies that websites will leave on your machine to track you, or remember you, or serve ads to you, or a host of other tasks. Now, to feed in to the hysteria about government spying, it appears that the NSA and GCHQ (Britain's version of the NSA) have been using those cookies to monitor those individuals that were already under suspicion.

Remember, cookies can be very useful; they are used to remember who you are when you visit websites and serve up relevant ads. They are also benign in and of themselves, text files are not natively harmful. But they do contain a lot of information about you and your behavior, and that is very valuable to, well, everyone. Also, if you're being good, then nothing to worry about, right?

Right?

If you're interested in seeing some of your cookies (or 'Temporary Internet Files' as IE likes to call them) in Windows you can navigate to the Temporary Internet Files folder on your hard drive, although the options menu in most browsers should give you a view of the ones you have. Here is the folder showing a few of mine, and it shows what your path would be, without the 'Darren' of course. There are other files in there, but the image is an example of what cookies look like - and they are *all* from sites that serve up advertising!

Did you notice the Google thingy today?

Today is the 107th birthday of one of the most important people in computing history. Grace Hopper, the Navy Rear Admiral, mathematician and computer scientist was the first ever to write a compiler (the process that converts your programs into machine language, or ones and zeros), one of the first to see computers as something other than gigantic calculators, and even coined the term 'debugging' for removing problems within a machine. Of course, it was literally debugging in her case, since a moth had flown into relay 70 of the massive - and I mean massive; that's a picture of it below and all it did were calculations since it used mechanical relays as opposed to circuits - Mark II Aiken Relay Calculator at Harvard University causing the system to experience operational problems. I have also included a picture of the bug itself, which is in the collection of the Smithsonian's Museum of American History. She admits she didn't actually find it, but her name is most often associated with it.

The above is just a small sample of her accomplishments, she really was a pioneer in the then-emerging world of computing capabilities. (One other thing that deserves mention - the site gracehopper.org, ostensibly for celebrating women in computing, never actually mentions or discusses Grace Hopper!)

The bug

This is what it's come to.

Remember writing Christmas lists? You have a list, sometimes a really long list, but there's stuff you want! You write it all down, or word process it (although it's nice to know that in the future, robot Santa still uses a scroll and parchment), and send it off.

But we can also assume that Santa has a sizable enterprise-wide back end with distributed front-end processing for all his elves, right? If he wants to keep up and be able to continuously distribute gifts to all the good boys and girls, and a few adults as well, he needs to computerize. And that's exactly what this kid is assuming. I think it's a safe assumption, and I have to give him credit for writing all that out! A regular list would have been easier.

Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn passwords stolen

There were some other sites as well, but these were the big ones. The article I'm linking below talks a lot about Botnets and Keyloggers and what makes a good password and things such as that, and we'll be discussing all of that as we wrap up the semester (although if you want to read a scary story about new types of BotNets, just head over to this story on Ars Technica). But just be aware that although the list of stolen passwords from these sites that originated in the U.S. is very small, you should always use robust passwords when first creating them.

How exactly do you do that? There's a hint right here on this page, but I'll just tell you anyway.

Later.

Two million stolen Facebook, Twitter, Yahoo, ADP passwords found on Pony Botnet server

Since it's cyber monday...

...here's an interesting clip from last night's 60 minutes interview with Jeff Bezos that I found quite interesting. Although I personally find him evil and heartless, this was so off the wall I had to share it. Apparently, Amazon is experimenting with drones that will airlift packages right to your door. It seems overkill, but if it works then you know what the next step will be - that's right, just beam them directly in to your living room like Star Trek. You know it will happen.