Geek Stuff category archive
Geeking Out 0
Running Windows 7 in VirtualBox in seamless mode on Slackware –Current under the KDE desktop environment.
Just the Equifax, Sir 0
Bruce Schneier has posted his written testimony to Congress about the Equifax breach to his blog. Here’s a bit:
2. Equifax was solely at fault.
This was not a sophisticated attack. The security breach was a result of a vulnerability in the software for their websites: a program called Apache Struts. The particular vulnerability was fixed by Apache in a security patch that was made available on March 6, 2017. This was not a minor vulnerability; the computer press at the time called it “critical.” Within days, it was being used by attackers to break into web servers. Equifax was notified by Apache, US CERT, and the Department of Homeland Security about the vulnerability, and was provided instructions to make the fix.
Two months later, Equifax had still failed to patch its systems. It eventually got around to it on July 29. The attackers used the vulnerability to access the company’s databases and steal consumer information on May 13, over two months after Equifax should have patched the vulnerability.
404 0
Tom Lawrence explains what happened to your Comcast internet connection yesterday.
You can hear more from Tom on the Sunday Morning Linux Review.
Geeking Out 0
Running Spybot S&D while listening to Old Time Radio in a VM of Windows 7 in VirtualBox on Slackware –Current.
If you use Windows. you should use Spybot S&D.
Make TWUUG Your LUG 0
Learn about the wonderful world of free and open source. Use computers to do what you want, not what someone else wants you to do. Learn how to use GNU/Linux and its plethora of free and open source software to get stuff done with computers.
It’s not hard; it’s just different.
When: Monthly TWUUG meeting at 7:30 p. m. on the first Thursday of the month (November 2, 2017). Pre-meeting dinner at Chicago Uno, JANAF shopping center, 6:00 p. m. (map)
Who: Everyone in TideWater/Hampton Roads with interest in any/all flavors of Unix/Linux. There are no dues or signup requirements. All are welcome.
Where: Lake Taylor Transitional Care Hospital in Norfolk Training Room (map). (Wireless and wired internet connection available.) Turn right upon entering, then left at the last corridor and look for the open meeting room.
“Because You Can . . . .” Is Not in and of Itself a Reason To Do Something* 0
Using the Amazon Key as a starting point, Christine Emba muses on what passes for innovation (specifically, commercial consumer innovation) in the tech world.
Follow the link to see why she says that.
One small quibble: Amazon is not located in Silicon Valley.
(I wouldn’t get one on a bet.)
_________________
*Unless, of course, you are a 15-year-old boy.
Meta: A Little BASH Script for Scaling Media 0
You may have noticed that I rescale embedded media to 500 pixels in width. When I started blogging, 800×600 monitors were still not uncommon, and 500px seemed a sane choice. I’ve maintained the practice for consistency’s sake.
At one time, I maintained a spreadsheet of common dimensions and their scaled values. I could enter the existing values and it would calculate the scaled ones, then I could save it with the additional data.
Ultimately I replaced the spreadsheet with a command line alternative, which works quite nicely (if you can remember high school math, you’ll recognize the equation; piping the output to bc is necessary because BASH by itself can parse only integers):
Code:
echo 500/[original width]*[original height] | bc -l
This outputs the proportional height.
Here’s an example:
Code:
bash-4.3$ echo 500/640*423 | bc -l
330.46875000000000000000 <---I round the output to the nearest integer
PolitiHack 0
Coin Hive is a legit outfit that offers free JavaScript to web admins . . . .
However, the code hidden on Politifact.com at this moment appears to be malicious: it is completely non-throttled, and kicks off eight instances of the miner, which means it hammers the visiting machine’s processor, taking up 100 per cent of spare processor capacity.
The story goes on to say the malware was removed within hours after discovery.
(Link fixed.)
Geeking Out 0
Listening to Old Time Radio with Real Player in a Virtual Machine of Windows 7 in VirtualBox on Slackware –Current.
The Snaring Economy 0
You’re on the air at your AirBnB:
Sure enough, when the couple got a closer look, what appeared to be a smoke detector was actually a camera pointing directly at the bed, according to ABC Action News.
Details at the link.
AIMless 0
AOL Instant Messenger will be shut down in December.
I still have an AIM account. Mostly I use the associated email account as a spam trap.
I think the last time I used the instant messenger was in 2008.
Facebook Frolics 0
The Register explains why, in the “social” media industry (and it is an industry, not a service), cluelessness is not a bug; it’s a feature. A snippet:
Of course not. Facebook, like its rival Google, thrives on the income of ignorance and contrition.
To prevent money laundering, financial institutions must comply with know-your-customer laws.
Facebook and Google know everything about their product – the people who use their free services – but as little as possible about everything else, because knowledge goes hand-in-hand with liability.