Sleepless in Midland

Ubuntu forum hacked

Linux is the free Unix based anti-Microsoft operating system for people who got frustrated with Windows or who just like to tinker around. And Ubuntu is a very popular version that is supposed to be easy enough to bring comfort to non-geeks. (My own experience is that the frustration level is about the same as with Microsoft, but the software is free, so it has that going for it.)

Moving right along, this afternoon I was doing an Ixquick search to try to find out how vulnerable Ubuntu is to hackers. Lo and behold, some of the first results to pop up said that the Ubuntu users forum had been hacked.

Naked Security explains that it was hacked over the weekend and that users saw a picture of a penguin holding an AK-47. At this time UbuntuForums.org shows an announcement explaining that there was a security breach, and the site is down. Also this:

Unfortunately the attackers have gotten every user's local username, password, and email address from the Ubuntu Forums database.

Just what users need to hear. But on the bright side, the breach was on the website, and presumably it doesn't affect any of the individual Ubuntu users' own computers. But who knows what evil lurks in the hearts of hackers?

"You look confused, Dave" -- Computer senses your feelings

As with all technology, there's the good and there's the scary. Facial recognition software can now detect your mood. And one good application would be for teachers to detect when a student is struggling with an onscreen lesson. See Facial Analysis Software Spots Struggling Students -- A computer can learn to recognize, and respond intelligently to, users’ emotional state:

A recent study from North Carolina State University shows how this might work. Researchers there used video cameras to monitor the faces of college students participating in computer tutoring sessions. Using software that had been trained to match facial expressions with different levels of engagement or frustration, the researchers were able to recognize when students were experiencing difficulty and when they were finding the work too easy.

If the technology is available it's probably a safe bet that the casinos are already using it to study the faces of the whales at the tables as they try to maintain their poker faces. Then there's the NSA.  Not only will they know what you're looking at on the 'net, but they'll know how you feel about it.

Oh, do I sound paranoid? Well, let's just say Hal, the space age computer of "2001: A Space Odyssey," made an impression on an impressionable mind.

a smart phone breathalyzer attachment

Now there's an innovation -- a breathalyzer smart phone attachment that will tell you whether or not you're drunk. Actually, a person will likely know when he/she is drunk, but to the law, there's a very clear line between drunk and sober. And the limit is so low that someone slightly over the legal limit might be sober enough to drive but drunk enough to go to jail.

A few years ago breathalyzer manufacturers were fighting tooth and nail to keep the process secret. I had not been paying attention to it, so now I'm Rip Van Winkle waking up to the fact that the cat's out of the bag. And boy, have things changed.

Now there's a big market for the consumer version of portable breathalyzers. TheBreathalyzerStore.com appears to sell nothing but breathalyzers and breathalyzer paraphernalia. They seem to have sold out of the key chain version, but others appear small enough to fit in a purse or pocket.

One drawback is the need for calibration every one to twelve months costing between $20 and $25. That would be a nuisance. But it might be a small price to pay considering the cost of a DUI.

I wonder if the results from one of those consumer products were ever used as a defense against a police breathalyzer that produced an over-the-limit result. "But officer, my phone said I was sober!"

It's a safe bet that a bold print legal disclaimer comes with the consumer version.

Addendum. I was gonna post that crazy mug shot of Nick Nolte here, but I'll just let you click to see it at your option. You can thank me later.

ABC news cites year old internet usage facts as current information

The article, What Happens in 1 Minute on the Internet, is dated Mar 20, 2013, 2:31pm, under the authorship of Alyssa Newcomb. She cites several factoids, including one saying, "More than 1.3 million video clips are watched on YouTube," in that one minute. The source she cites is an article at Intel's blog which is titled What Happens in an Internet Minute? That post links to a very neat looking infographic  -- see on the right -- which contains that same info. But here's the problem. The Intel post is dated March 13, 2012, over one full year ago.

So if the statistics in that infographic were accurate then and are still accurate today, a more appropriate and astonishing headline would have been, "Internet usage stopped growing one year ago."

Note to ABC: That's what happens when you get your news from HuffPo.

Cyber crime and the electrical grid

Earlier this year some details were revealed about the National Security Agency's program to protect the power grid from cyber attacks. But it's probably safe to assume that given the speed at which technology advances, whatever they came up with is not fool proof.

And retired Lt. General James Clapper's recent testimony about the dangers of cyber criminals, which includes terrorists who have indicated interest in developing cyber capabilities, wasn't very reassuring. Cyber criminals are selling tools on the black market, and those tools are falling into the hands of state and non-state actors.

The reason we are talking about this today is because of Irving Lachow's C-Span appearance this morning. Dr. Lachow is Director of the Program on Technology and U.S. National Security at Center for New American Security. Watch it here. It's very informative.

In particular, around about the 19:30 point he addresses the electrical grid. According to him, only nation states currently have the capability of shutting off our electricity and keeping it off for long enough to do us major harm. But their interest in doing that is very low at this time. However there are people -- terrorists groups or nations like North Korea or Iran -- who really do want to hurt us. Fortunately, they don't yet have the capability. Dr. Lachow:

What we're seeing right now is a mismatch between the people who have the capability but right now don't have the intention,which is good, and people who have the intention but not yet have the capability. Which is good. So the worry is when those two lines cross, and the most likely scenario is the people who have the intention to do this will at some point acquire the capability. That is where there is concern. And General Clapper even mentioned the likelihood of that is low for the next couple of years. But looking out for the next five or ten years I think that is a serious concern.

Let's hope our government and the various electricity suppliers use that time wisely.

So now I've got Windows 8

My trusty old HP computer bit the dust the other day. And while it might have been something as simple as replacing the power supply, the easiest route was to buy a new computer – planned obsolescence, you know.

So now I've got Windows 8.

It's much faster, and for that reason it might be worth it, if you don't count the hours and hours spent trying to get everything hooked up to it and all my favorite programs to work. But there are at least two options available on the old operating systems that aren't yet apparent on the new one. There's no “Start” button along with all the options it provided. And there's no “Recent Items” folder which showed a list of the documents and programs recently used. That's a very handy feature when you need to find a half finished blog post.

Maybe those options are still available somewhere, but it's going to take some searching.

UPDATE: There's a work around for both of these deficiencies. First, for the “Start” button, download Classic Shell. Read reviews of it at CNET.com and PCWorld.com.  Once installed, it places a “start” button at the lower left corner of the desktop where it belongs.

As for “Recent items,” open Drive C and search for “Recent Items.” When it shows up, make a shortcut and place it on the desktop or anywhere else it might be convenient.

Now for the important stuff. Where the hell is Solitaire?

SECOND UPDATE: There's a way to get Solitaire. Howtogeek.com tells how to do it either by logging onto Microsoft's site or manually. One way to do it manually is with a patch from a non-Microsoft site. I tried that, but the free trial version of McAfee blocked the patch from downloading. The alternate work-around requires a little adjustment to the exe file with the use of a hex tool – I used HexEdit. It's a little bit more time consuming, but sometimes you have to waste time to waste time.

TrackingPoint high tech rifle and scope

In this era of precision guided military projectiles it was inevitable that someone would apply some of that technology to sporting rifles. Austin based Tracking-Point has done it. And the result is an amazing rifle with integrated scope which does all the work to hit a target 2/3 of a mile away.

The shooter sees a red dot in the scope which he places on the target. Then he pushes a button. The computer in the scope calculates and compensates for wind, temperature, atmospheric pressure, Coriolis effect, spin, drift and other factors. The shooter sees an "X" in the scope along with the red dot. Squeezing the trigger arms the rifle, but it doesn't discharge until the "X" and the red dot are aligned. Then BAM! Bullseye!

There are a couple of videos about it. Here's the company's promotional video. However, this one gives a better overview, in my opinion.

They claim it even works on a moving target, but with prices ranging from $17,500.00 to $22,500.00 it should work on targets that have gone extinct.

Via uberreview.com.

Want to be a rock star but can't sing a lick? No problem, use Auto-Tune.

They make it sound so easy. All you have to do is sing the song, and if you know what key it's in, then let Auto-Tune make it sound pitch perfect. Read all about it at TheVerge.com. Excerpt:

Fix a little backing harmony here, bump a flat note up to diva-worthy heights there: smooth everything over so that it’s perfect. You can even use Auto-Tune live, so an artist can sing totally out of tune in concert and be corrected before their flaws ever reach the ears of an audience. ...

Hmm. Then why are they always lip synching at ball games? More:

But between those two extremes, you have the synthetic middle, where Auto-Tune is used to correct nearly every note, as one integral brick in a thick wall of digitally processed sound. From Justin Bieber to One Direction, from The Weeknd to Chris Brown, most pop music produced today has a slick, synth-y tone that’s partly a result of pitch correction.

Via MissCellania.com.

Someone needs to figure out how to put one in a Karaoke machine.

Modern internet romance -- with blackmail

Graham Cluley's headline explains it all so succinctly: Boy meets girl. Girl strips on webcam. Tells boy to do the same. Girl blackmails boy. Who could resist clicking on that one?

Alternate ending: Boy kept gigantic prosthesis handy for webcam stripping. Told girl, go ahead and post it. Boy inundated with romantic offers.

Protect your computer from the Adobe Reader vulnerability

There are several brands of free PDF readers available, however many of us who started with Adobe prefer its quirks over some of the others' quirks. But the Adobe PDF reader is so prevalent that the malware writers searched for and found a vulnerability.

Get a detailed explanation of the latest vulnerability at Naked Security and Ghacks.net, among other places.

From what I can tell, the malware doesn't just attach itself to a PDF file floating through the email system but actually has to be built into a program disguised as a PDF file. The bad guys send out spam with the disguised PDF file attached, and some unsuspecting email recipients download the disguised PDF files, then when they open it with the Adobe Reader an executable program goes to work.

However, there's a way to avoid it which is explained at the aforementioned Naked Security site. But it only works on Adobe Reader XI, not on earlier versions. Download Adobe Reader XI (11.0.01) (46.74 MB) at that link.

In Adobe Reader XI click "Edit," "Preferences," then "Security (Enhanced)." The resulting screen shows a new feature called "Sandbox Protections." The default has the "Protected View" turned off which, according to the experts, won't protect the user. So turn it on by clicking the "All files" button. See the screen shots of both Adobe X and Adobe XI readers, below to see the difference.

Let's all hope this works until Adobe can figure out a permanent fix. By the way, the fix pertains to computers using the Windows operating system and not Macs.

Protect your computer from the Adobe Reader vulnerability

There are several brands of free PDF readers available, however many of us who started with Adobe prefer its quirks over some of the others' quirks. But the Adobe PDF reader is so prevalent that the malware writers searched for and found a vulnerability.

Get a detailed explanation of the latest vulnerability at Naked Security and Ghacks.net, among other places.

From what I can tell, the malware doesn't just attach itself to a PDF file floating through the email system but actually has to be built into a program disguised as a PDF file. The bad guys send out spam with the disguised PDF file attached, and some unsuspecting email recipients download the disguised PDF files, then when they open it with the Adobe Reader an executable program goes to work.

However, there's a way to avoid it which is explained at the aforementioned Naked Security site. But it only works on Adobe Reader XI, not on earlier versions. Download Adobe Reader XI (11.0.01) (46.74 MB) at that link.

In Adobe Reader XI click "Edit," "Preferences," then "Security (Enhanced)." The resulting screen shows a new feature called "Sandbox Protections." The default has the "Protected View" turned off which, according to the experts, won't protect the user. So turn it on by clicking the "All files" button. See the screen shots of both Adobe X and Adobe XI readers, below to see the difference.

Let's all hope this works until Adobe can figure out a permanent fix. By the way, the fix pertains to computers using the Windows operating system and not Macs.

Hackers got New York Times passwords - China suspected

This comes to us by way of Graham Cluley at Naked Security:

The New York Times has reported that for the last four months Chinese hackers have been infiltrating its networks, broken into the email accounts of senior staff, stolen the corporate passwords for every Times employee and used those to gain access to the personal computers of 53 employees. ...

Malware was planted on users' computers which opened backdoors for the hackers to gain remote access to connected systems - including a domain controller that contained usernames and hashed passwords for all of the New York Times' employees. ...

In all, 45 custom-written malware samples are said to have been found on the network.

The hacking appeared to have begun after reporters started snooping into the wealth accumulations of Chinese government officials. But they can't prove who actually did it at this time.

Surely the New York Time had top-of-the-line security in place. So their vulnerability in spite of that suggests that everyone with access to the internet is vulnerable. I've often wondered if we all have some form of virus on our computers that's invisible to the off-the-shelf antivirus programs but which just sits there like a sleeper cell waiting for instructions.

Sprint tells lost phone owners their phone is at this guy's house, again and again

This is a heck of a problem for one poor fellow. Seems that cell phone companies have a way for customers to find their lost phones. But Sprint's system has a flaw that is sending lost phone owners in a certain region directly to one house in North Las Vegas.

So the home owner gets awakened at all hours of the night by angry phone owners demanding he return a phone he doesn't have. But if technology says it's there, it must be there, right? Not if there's a bug in the program.

He's even gotten police visits responding to misdirected 911 calls. What a headache.

Click for the story. Via Naked Security.

Let's hope Obama's killer drone program doesn't use that locator system.

Whoa, this Java vulnerability must be serious

Seems like everywhere we look people are warning about Java due to a vulnerability that hasn't yet been fixed. So when the Department of Homeland Security is warning about it, maybe it's time to take it seriously. Click that link for instructions for disabling Java.

Via Naked Security which has instructions that are easier to find and follow.

Or, just go to the Java website and follow those instructions for disabling the software. Hopefully, they'll come up with a better fix. Or if enough computer users find they can get along without Java it just might become another dinosaur program.

Cool Computer Stuff -- reuse that old hard drive

I missed an opportunity to dispose of my old Windows ME computer at the Texas Recycles Day last month as I didn't find the time to take out the hard drive beforehand.

That particular endeavor happened today as an Xmas present arrived: A Sabrent HD enclosure with its very own cooling fan. The listed price is $26.99, and Texans get to pay sales tax for Amazon buys (thank you Gov. Perry). And that might be too pricey just to be able to have access to another 20 GB. But there's an obsolete word processor program on that drive that I have hopes of resurrecting to regain access to some old document.

In any event, the drive enclosure came with its own power cord and USB cable plus everything needed to put it all together. It was a snug fit, so it's a good thing the original jumper settings worked as it would be hard to get it back out to make any adjustments.

Anyway, this post probably won't mean much to anyone else but me. But I just wanted to share my enthusiasm for this cool way to recycle a hard drive.

UPDATE:  Photos added.

email irritants

Email isn't dead, it's just gotten irascible in its old age.

William Hanson, a self proclaimed etiquette and protocol expert, lists some characteristics of annoying emails in OMG – are your emails irritating?

His focus is on business correspondence, and here's his sampling of email annoyances:

1. OMG/LOL;
2. Smiley faces;
3. Spelling or grammatical errors;
4. Going AWOL without an auto-reply;
5. XXXs;
6. Terms of endearment like “Honey”, “dear” suggesting the relationship is closer than it is;
7. Corny lines such as “Happy Friday”.

The informality of a friend-to-friend email might excuse some of these. However, #3 really does interfere with the message. Throw in some fractured sentences and several "..."s, and the message can take longer to read than it's worth.

Note this one from the comments: "any e-mail that contains Fw: in the subject line more than twice gets a free ride to the trash folder." Yeah!

I'll add to that one of my own irritants: forwarded emails with a sentence at the top added by a forwarder that says something like this: "I haven't verified any of this, but if it's true, it's really scary!" Then at the bottom it says, "If you really care about the future of this country you'll forward this to ten people." You bet.

Mr. Hanson wrote as if he was (were?) relaying survey results, but there was no link or reference to any real survey. Therefore, I can't verify any of the above. But if you care about the future of this country you'll forward this to ten people.

Passwords smasswords

There's never a shortage of security people telling us to use passwords too complicated to remember.

So when the folks at NakedSecurity yuk it up over the password "password" among the Yahoo Voices passwords stolen and publicized the other day, it's worth remembering that those 450,000 passwords weren't deciphered one by one by some tireless hacker trying to get into those accounts, they were stolen in volume from Yahoo itself regardless how sophisticated or stupid the individual passwords were.

Flame, the spy virus

Getting spyware onto a computer is a trick in itself, and it seems that it would take a little bit of credulity and participation on the part of the victim. Maybe the victim was tempted to download some free, useful software. Or there's the trick of sprinkling infected USB flash drives in the parking lot of a target building and waiting for some curious employee to find one and insert it into a computer.

In any event, the latest cyberspy-craft we've learned about is Flame which was exposed by Kaspersky.ru. Excerpt:

It allows you to steal sensitive information, including the information output to the monitor, information about systems-installations, files stored on your computer, contact information of users and even audio recordings of conversations.

An independent study was initiated on the initiative of ITU and Kaspersky Lab, following a series of incidents on the other, as yet unknown malware, code-named Wiper, which has destroyed data on computers in countries of Western Asia. This malware is yet to be found; However, during the analysis of incidents of Kaspersky Lab specialists in cooperation with the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) have identified a new type of malware, now known as the Flame. According to the preliminary results of this zlovred is actively used for more than two years, from March 2010 onwards. Due to its complexity and focus on specific goals to date, it cannot be detected by any protective product.

It was found in Iran, according to Cnet.com, so one hopes the good guys built it and that any info coming out of it would help the right side. It would also seem to take a rather large computer network to filter and decipher all the raw data that gets collected. Otherwise some poor saps would have the dull job of listening to all the recordings, watching all the videos, and reading all the documents that got captured and transmitted via Flame.

One more interesting item from the Kaspersky article. This line:

However, it is already clear that the Flame may be distributed over a network in several ways, including through the use of the same vulnerability in print spooler service and the same method of infection via the USB device that uses the Stuxnet worm.

Bold added. It seems to confirm that the Stuxnet virus got on board via USB drives that found their way to the hands of the curious.

It's still a mystery as to who initiated Flame. Was it the U.S.? As Andrew Malcolm points out, the Obama campaign has willingly disclosed all sorts of information that should otherwise have been held close to the vest. Silence from the White House suggests there's no credit to be claimed.

What worries this blogger is whether each of our personal and business computers might be infected with some sophisticated virus, undetectable by typical anti-virus programs, just sitting there waiting for a signal from a criminal mastermind or the military of some non-friendly country. If it's just some spy watching all the videos we see on Youtube or reading all the chain letters that circulate through email then that's one thing. But if it's a program that could turn an infected computer into a beacon for killer drones, then that could be problematic.

Kickstarter.com got kicked

Every time we turn around it seems like some company has compromised their user's data. This time it's Kickstarter.com, a site that lets users try to get funding for their projects.

Kickstarter is actually a cool site. Potential investors can glimpse projects ranging from food ideas to technology. Once a project is selected the investor can pledge some sum of money and get a little something in return, though not likely part of any income stream that might result.

A Wall Street Journal writer found (paywall) the glitch. Others spread the word. And it's one more lesson on the vulnerability of online services.

Let's not leave this issue without checking in on Naked Security which provides this warning: "Security tip: When being interviewed on TV, make sure passwords aren't written behind you." Click the link to see the image of a guy talking on camera with legible notes pinned in the background containing two user names and two passwords.

Now this is just what we need -- anti-virus software made in Iran

Graham Cluley at Sophos tells us that Iran has people working on an anti-virus program, quite possibly in reaction to the Stuxnet virus that struck their own computers a couple of years ago.

Cluley asks some pertinent questions, such as how they intend to test it. And this:

But the real question that springs to my mind is this - would you buy an anti-virus program officially written by your own country? How about a foreign country?

No. But the Iranian citizens probably won't have a choice. And the citizens are under such strict rules about what they can do on the internet anyway that they will probably be in the market for an anti-anti-virus.

But you know who would be in the market for it? Osama bin Laden. Damn the odds. The one person who would want it is gone.

Speaking of bin Laden's computer, it would be interesting to know whether there were any viruses in it. If so, hopefully they didn't infect the American computers that are now sharing the files. On the other hand, maybe that's why his files weren't encrypted. Pretty devious, but probably not likely given how a home invasion caught him totally off guard.

Backing up the hard drive

(There's a neat piece of free windows software that makes backing up the hard drive a breeze. If you are interested, and want to skip an editorial about cloud backup storage, roll down to the end. Robo-ed)

Recently there was a prominent cloud computer storage company called Carbonite that seemed to fill the airways with advertisements for their service. And they made a tempting spiel -- pay $59 per year and get your computer files backed up to the cloud automatically. The ads were so prevalent that one had to assume they were getting lots of customers.

There was some controversy, however, when they withdraw their ads from Rush Limbaugh's show. Today Carbonite announced its first quarter results. Bookings and revenue were up. However, "Net loss for the first quarter of 2012 was ($9.1) million, compared to ($5.3) million in the first quarter of 2011." Observers are left wondering who was hurt most by their splashy display of political correctness.

Anyway, the question remains. Which is better, backing up to the cloud or to a local disc? There are advantages and disadvantages to both. And those of us who are skeptical of sending all of our files to heaven knows where and who fear that some electrical or financial calamity might befall the cloud server still use a local storage device. There's the risk that a tornado might send my little backup drive into the clouds. But my insurance company is betting that my house won't get destroyed. And I'll go along with their risk assessment.

While Windows operating systems have built-in backup systems, it's less than ideal. And my preferred method -- copying files from the hard drive to a backup drive -- is cumbersome and tedious. The word processing folder is especially difficult as it contains years old files as well as recent items. And what I did before discovering this little program was simply copy every word processor file onto the backup drive again, overriding the ones that were already there. It took forever.

So here's this nifty free program called RichCopy found at technet.microsoft.com. It lets the user designate which target folders will be copied and which target drive they will be copied to. That's no big deal. More importantly, it lets the user instruct the software how to select which files within a folder to copy. For example, I instruct the program to copy the files that have a different size and different "last change" date. Now only the new word processor files get copied, and the process takes around 30 seconds.

Finally, a note to my fellow procrastinators. If your objective is to back up files on a regular basis, it's much easier to meet that objective when the process is this quick.

Beware of spam bearing malware

Oh those cybercriminals are so tricky. They send a legitimate looking email with an attachment, and the Windows user caught off guard decides to download the attachment to see just what it is. As Dorothy Parker said, there's no cure for curiosity.

Sophos' blog Naked Security alerted readers to two such scams this week. One claims to contain an HP Officejet scan. See samples here.

Attached document was scanned and sent
to you using a Hewlett-Packard HP OfficeJet 81998A.
Sent by: BETTYANN
Images: 0
Attachment Type: .HTML [Internet Explorer]
HP Officejet Location: -

The names and numbers vary, and the attachment looks something like this:

HP_Document_02-22_OFCJET84014.htm

Again, the numbers will vary. But the attachment is an HTM document which contains a malicious script which will send the browser to another site which may contain more malware.

A similar malware scam is in the form of an email claiming to be about a Changelog. That one contains an HTM document, too.

Safest bet, don't download attachments with HTM suffixes.

The case for optimism, with a little pessimism thrown in for good measure

Here's the first paragraph from a review written by Michael Shermer of the book "Abundance: The Future Is Better Than You Think" by Peter H. Diamandis and Steven Kotle:

If every image made and every word written from the earliest stirring of civilization to the year 2003 were converted to digital information, the total would come to five exabytes. An exabyte is one quintillion bytes, or one billion gigabytes—or just think of it as the number one followed by 18 zeros. That's a lot of digital data, but it's nothing compared with what happened from 2003 through 2010: We created five exabytes of digital information every two days. Get ready for what's coming: By next year, we'll be producing five exabytes every 10 minutes. How much information is that? The total for 2010 of 912 exabytes is the equivalent of 18 times the amount of information contained in all the books ever written. The world is not just changing, and the change is not just accelerating; the rate of the acceleration of change is itself accelerating.

That's an astonishing amount of information. Moore's law, the famous 1965 prediction that the number of transistors on a chip would double in 18 months, turned out to be fairly accurate. But now it seems quaintly old fashioned.

The concept of exponential advancement affects everything technology touches. And the message to doomsayers, according to Mr. Shermer, is that technology will raise the standard of living for everyone on the planet. And that's probably right. He's also probably right to say "The biggest hurdles, however, are not scientific or technological but political."

If today more people have access to a cellphone than to a toilet, that suggests it takes less of an investment to get them the cellphones than toilets. If a country doesn't have adequate protection of property rights, there won't be the foundation on which to build the infrastructure necessary to provide them with toilets.

But a bad government is an obstacle that can be overcome. So the glass is half full or half empty, depending on our ability to take a realistic approach to the impediments that appear in the path.

But just so we don't leave too happy, be sure to read the latest piece from Stewart Baker decrying "Moore's Outlaws," cyber-criminals "whose ability to penetrate networks and to cause damage is increasing exponentially thanks to the growing complexity, vulnerability, and ubiquity of insecure networks. If we don’t do something, and soon, we will suffer network failures that dramatically change our lives and futures, both as individuals and as a nation."  Dang.  A half empty glass.

Fighting computer viruses

It seems that every few weeks we hear about some big database getting hacked by villainous characters and their malware viruses. Most individual computer users have some sort of anti-virus program running on their machines. So it's always interesting to see the unique approaches the big guys come up with for computer protection.

According to a January 2012 news report, the Japanese Defense Ministry awarded a three year contract to Fujitsu in 2008 to develop an anti-virus virus. That would be a virus assigned to hop from computer to computer in a search and destroy mission to locate and wipe out an enemy virus. They've tested it on a closed system and concluded that it works. But Sophos Naked Security says that it's a bad idea for a variety of reasons, not least of which might be unintended bugs developing from the fix in all those computers healed by the anti-virus virus.

Here's an approach that looks like more fun -- feed hackers fake info. This protection system sniffs out website users who are using automated tools that look for system weaknesses. Then the system plants a supercookie onto the offender's computer so that it can be identified when the offender returns. According to TechnologyReview.com, the goal is to play tricks on the offender. Excerpt:

Mykonos's software creates the illusion that the hacker is making progress. "We can intercept their scans and inundate them with fake values," says Koretz. "It takes much longer [for an attacker to scan a site], and the results are useless."

A scan that might usually take five hours could take 30, Koretz says. Other tactics include offering up dummy password files, which can help track an attacker when he or she tries to use them. "We'll let them break the encryption and present a false login page. We have the ability to hack the hacker," says Koretz.

As a promotional tool to impress potential clients, Mykonos engineers have built versions of the company's software that taunt attackers. One directs a hacker to a Google Maps search for nearby criminal attorneys. Another parodies Microsoft's now-defunct anthropomorphic paper clip, Clippy, with the message: "It looks like you're an unsophisticated script kiddie. Do you need help writing code?"

One of my childhood friends would like that. He had a clever/cruel trick he would play on passers by. He wrapped a brick in Christmas paper tied with a nice bow which he then placed in the street. We hid and watched as the glee of someone who thought they were getting something for nothing turned to the frustration of being had.

Where do internet users pick up viruses?

The answer Zonealarm.com would give to that question is "Facebook." The infographic found at that link says that Facebook intercepts 600,000 attempts at login hijackings per day.

It also says 20% of Facebook users have been exposed to malware. Although, being exposed to one and downloading one would seem to be two different things. My public email address gets emails with attachments that look very suspicious, but they don't get downloaded. So it's conceivable that the 20% exposure rate doesn't equal the infection rate. People have gotten a lot smarter about clicking suspicious links.

But when the viruses do get attached, the result doesn't look very pretty. Businessinsider.com describes some of the things they can do, installing key-loggers to steal passwords, for example.

Something that should probably worry all of us in the free world is the possibility that some enemy nation has figured out how to infect our computers with their own special virus. If it has not yet been discovered by the anti-virus companies then their protection programs would be useless against it. Then one day someone pushes a button, all of our computers become zombie participants in DDoS attacks, and the internet shuts down.

It's a cyber-jungle out there.

Washing their hands of SOPA

The mass digital demonstration the other day by some of the internet biggies against SOPA and PIPA had stunning results with many in Congress changing their minds about their previous support of those bills. It was an amazing thing to watch.

As for SOPA and PIPA, the proposed laws that would put immense power in the hands of intellectual property owners over anyone they suspected of violating their rights, there's a very rational discussion at Dilbert's, er uh, Scott Adam's website. He notes that Republicans and Ron Paul in particular are responsible for the growing distrust of government. He expands from there ...

It's a simple rule of thumb: The more the government interferes, the worse off we are.

By that filter, the SOPA question boils down to this: What is worse - allowing legitimate businesses to be robbed of their intellectual property, or having the government try to stop it? There is so little trust in government that most people prefer being robbed over the alternative of having the government get involved and making things worse.

Bottom line: If you apply the "more government is bad" rule of thumb, SOPA is a bad idea.

It's hard to argue with that bottom line.

Another interesting aspect of the SOPA deal was the money paid to Congress members for their vote. Maplight.org has a breakdown. Lamar Smith, the Republican Representative from Texas, sponsored SOPA and gets credit from most sources as the spear head of the effort to get the bill passed. How much does it cost to get that kind of support for a bad bill. The aforementioned Maplight.org says he took in $388,599 from interest groups that supported the bill and $27,000 from interest groups opposed to the bill. So it looks like around $400,000 could do it.

But what is the lowest amount that it would take to buy a Congressman? Our own Texas District 11 Representative Mike Conaway hauled in $74,614 from pro-SOPA groups according to the linked source. And he's shown by SOPAtract.com to be undecided, so it must take more than that. But there's a good chance that the bids might stop unless something breathes new life into the bills. So as a cash cow this one may have gone out to pasture.

In any event, this turn of events was an amazing thing to witness. And it makes one wonder what else an organized effort by websites could do. Hopefully, their efforts will be directed toward freedom and liberty not regulation and restraint.

Virus robs bank account, covers tracks

Eat your hearts out, Bonnie and Clyde. There's no bloody trail from these bank robberies.  It's a Trojan type virus that not only steals money but also manipulates the online bank statement to hide the fake transaction.

The Sophos' NakedSecurity alerts us about the discovery by Trusteer of this technique they call a "post transaction attack." It differs from previous robber-viruses in that it hides the theft. From Trusteer:

e. The next time the victim visits their online banking site, the malware hides (“replaces”) the fraudulent transactions in the “view transactions” page, as well as artificially changing the total fraudulent transaction amount to balance the totals. As a result, the deceived customer has no idea that their account has been ‘taken over’, nor that any fraudulent transactions have taken place

Of course, if the victim still receives statements through the mail, the transactions will eventually be detected. However, with many customers encouraged to ‘go paperless’, it could take many months before the fraudulent activity is identified. (Emphasis mine.)

Indeed. Banks, credit card companies, brokerage firms and practically all other entities that handle our money are constantly badgering us to go paperless. Makes a person want to go computerless.

Found a lost memory device? Be careful.

There's an old spy trick whereby the spy places a USB thumb drive in the parking lot of a secured building and waits for some curious person to pick it up, take it inside, and plug it in to see what's on it. And a Trojan virus shoots through the system, steals all the valuable secrets and sends them back to the clever spy.

So a found thumb drive is no treasure.

Paul Ducklin tells about an experiment at Naked Security where they bought a bunch of USB thumb drives at an auction of items lost on the city transit system in Sydney, AU.

And many of them contained malware. Quote:

Two-thirds of the keys (33) were infected. We found 62 infected files in total. The worst key contained six infected files, representing four separate items of malware.

We didn't find any OS X malware. But nine of the keys appeared to belong to Macintosh owners (or at least had been used extensively on Macs); seven of these were infected.

In other words, if you're a Windows user, don't assume that you can automatically trust everything that comes from your Apple-loving friends. And even if you're one of those Mac users who is opposed to the concept of anti-virus software, consider softening your stance as a service to the community as a whole

He made some other interesting observations. Read the article to learn about them.

With the economy being what it is, and with the popularity of those reality TV shows where people collect junk, there must be a lot of scavengers out there looking for useable throw-aways. A USB drive might not be such great find.

Website monitors disruptions at the popular web services

Yahoo email service was down for several hours last week, and as everyone knows, being deprived of email service is a terrible experience. See Internet addiction -- I can quit anytime, previously on these pages. It's probably what it feels like to be in solitary confinement during hard drug addiction withdrawal.

Adding to the anxiety is not knowing whether it's a widespread problem affecting lots of people or an isolated problem only you are experiencing. The first problem may have a staff of techies working on a solution, and the user gets an excuse to complain. The second problem generally requires the user to fix it him/herself and can have varying degrees of success.

As to the widespread problems, the services themselves don't always let their users know there is a problem. And if they do, that info is hard to ferret out. So an enterprising website seeks to do that for us. It's DownRightNow.com where they say they are "combining user reports and official announcements to tell you when there's service trouble." Currently, there are 16 big web services listed along with the time since their last outage. Looks like Facebook was down 25 minutes ago but is up now.

Here's their Twitter link.

There's comfort in a crowd. Yeah, maybe it's the lemming in me, but it feels so much better knowing someone else is experiencing the same problem.

Internet addiction -- I can quit anytime

"I can quit anytime I want." That's the mantra of people in the denial stages of some addictions. We've been hearing about this thing called "internet addiction." Is it real? Nah. Just another made up disease to cover goofing off.

I've been using Yahoo email for a few years and have been quite pleased with it. Caveat: Read the privacy policy and realize that life is an open book. But that's a topic for another day.

But then something happened. For about 18 hours beginning yesterday evening my Yahoo email service ceased functioning. To their credit, that's the longest outage I've experienced since I've been using it. But it's a horrible feeling.

All sorts of things go through my mind. The Chinese test fired their own Stuxnet at our email providers. Yahoo, which has been on the market for a while, got bought out by Google and shut down. A virus!

I'm standing in a crowd. A cloud crowd, but it's still a crowd. Then I try to log in. And the crowd vanishes. I'm all alone in a deserted cellar.

I start getting nervous. There's so much that I need to send out, and so many jokes, photos and links on their way in. My correspondents must think I'm ignoring them. I start getting nervous. I feel aches and chills all over. I begin shaking. Then the delirium tremors set in. Insects start crawling up my legs, and before long they are all over my body. And they are growing! They grow into hideous monsters. I want to email for help, but I'm held down by the monsters. There is no communication with the outside world. The isolation. The smothering isolation. I won't make it through the night. This must be the end.

So, does that happen to you, too?

Anyway, Yahoo is back up, and it's all OK now. And I can quit anytime I want.