If the vulnerability in WPS that I linked and talked about this week wasn’t bad enough, some of the commenters at the always excellent Hackaday found something terrible. Many vendors use a predictable number as the WPS PIN, and don’t even bother to make it unique on a router-by-router basis. So much for it taking [...]
All posts for the month December, 2011
Making this WPS vulnerability even worse
Posted by Dave Farquhar on December 31, 2011
http://dfarq.homeip.net/2011/12/making-this-wps-vulnerability-even-worse/
Is that file safe?
So you’ve downloaded this great new piece of free software, but you’re not sure if it’s safe to install. Your antivirus software says it’s not infected, so you can assume it’s safe, right? Not so fast. Nothing detects everything. Using multiple virus scanners dramatically decreases the chances of something getting through.
Posted by Dave Farquhar on December 30, 2011
http://dfarq.homeip.net/2011/12/is-that-file-safe/
I’m doing my homework
As I continue studying for my CISSP, I’m rebalancing things a little bit. I plan to still post most days (probably weekdays), but until I pass the test, I’m probably going to be posting shorter pieces than I usually do. I don’t know exactly how much time I spend writing every day, but it would [...]
Posted by Dave Farquhar on December 29, 2011
http://dfarq.homeip.net/2011/12/im-doing-my-homework/
My buddy Halon-2402
Some years ago, I saw an old sign in a computer room. The sign had to be old, because smoking in offices has been banned since the 1980s, and the sign appeared to be hand-lettered. It read something like this: No smoking is allowed. Smoke in this room will cause the release of an expensive [...]
Posted by Dave Farquhar on December 29, 2011
http://dfarq.homeip.net/2011/12/my-buddy-halon-2402/
This is why you disable stuff you don’t think you need
This is going to sound like gloating, so I’m going to apologize for that right up front. A few weeks ago, I recommended you keep WPS disabled except for brief intervals for convenience. I had no specific reason in mind. Just in case. Just in case, you know, a vulnerability in WPS got discovered. Well, [...]
Posted by Dave Farquhar on December 28, 2011
http://dfarq.homeip.net/2011/12/this-is-why-you-disable-stuff-you-dont-think-you-need/
Is Anonymous trying to get a CEO jailed or fined?
The hacking group Anonymous hacked security contractor Stratfor, stealing its customer list including names, addresses, and credit card numbers, which they then used to go on a charity shopping spree. My former boss’ wife asked him on Facebook what these guys want. And that brought a CISSP question to mind.
Posted by Dave Farquhar on December 27, 2011
http://dfarq.homeip.net/2011/12/is-anonymous-trying-to-get-a-ceo-jailed-or-fined/
Recovering another USB flash drive
One of my brothers-in-law called Friday. The files on his USB flash drive had vanished. I said I’d do my best. I got his data back–sort of. But I’m getting ahead of myself.
Posted by Dave Farquhar on December 26, 2011
http://dfarq.homeip.net/2011/12/recovering-another-usb-flash-drive/
Is overclocking over?
Extreme Tech (via Slashdot) asks if overclocking is over. It’s an interesting question. I have a 4-core machine whose cores can all run at a top speed of over 3 GHz. And it’s a midrange PC at best, these days. The only time I ever push its CPU usage is when I’m encoding video. Web [...]
Posted by Dave Farquhar on December 24, 2011
http://dfarq.homeip.net/2011/12/is-overclocking-over/
Advice for upgrading from a CRT to an LCD
Like a lot of people are doing these days, my brother- and sister-in-law replaced a CRT TV with an LCD. I helped my brother-in-law hook it up last weekend, and we got it working, but probably could have done things a little bit differently. A lot of inexpensive LCDs have a limited number of inputs [...]
Posted by Dave Farquhar on December 23, 2011
http://dfarq.homeip.net/2011/12/advice-for-upgrading-from-a-crt-to-an-lcd/
Message says Firefox is already running when it isn’t
Earlier this week, when doing an emergency computer upgrade, Firefox gave me a weird problem. I installed Firefox, then when I tried to launch it, I got the popup dialog box stating that Firefox is already running. When, of course, it wasn’t–I’d just installed it. There are a couple of helpful articles on Mozilla’s knowledge [...]
Posted by Dave Farquhar on December 22, 2011
http://dfarq.homeip.net/2011/12/message-says-firefox-is-already-running-when-it-isnt/