Uncategorized

Word got out this weekend that a fairly prominent member of my profession is a pedophile. Fortunately I don’t know the guy. But this is hardly the first time this happened. A fairly prominent tech journalist turned out to be a pedophile a couple years ago too. Unfortunately this happens, and unfortunately I came into some experience in this area early in life.

I know from experience, you don’t always know until afterward. If it were easy to know, these people wouldn’t get away with it for so long.

Read more

Dave Farquhar

David Farquhar is a computer security professional, entrepreneur, and author. He has written professionally about computers since 1991, so he was writing about retro computers when they were still new. He has been working in IT professionally since 1994 and has specialized in vulnerability management since 2013. He holds Security+ and CISSP certifications. Today he blogs five times a week, mostly about retro computers and retro gaming covering the time period from 1975 to 2000.

dfarq.homeip.net

On Thursday, November 12, 2020, I migrated to a new host. My old host was a bit too far behind on some of the major software required to run current WordPress builds correctly. I decided that building a new server and migrating my 20+ years of content to it was my best option.

It should be a lot faster. The new hardware is faster. The new software would be faster even if it were running on the same hardware. And I found and fixed a couple of problems along the way. But if you notice something not working, please post a comment to let me know.

And if you noticed the server was up and down a lot on November 12, that’s why. The new server didn’t work on the first try, and it takes about two minutes to change the firewall rule to point to a different server.

Dave Farquhar

David Farquhar is a computer security professional, entrepreneur, and author. He has written professionally about computers since 1991, so he was writing about retro computers when they were still new. He has been working in IT professionally since 1994 and has specialized in vulnerability management since 2013. He holds Security+ and CISSP certifications. Today he blogs five times a week, mostly about retro computers and retro gaming covering the time period from 1975 to 2000.

dfarq.homeip.net

There’s a new vulnerability du jour in Linux called Segment Smack. The early writeups about it were really confusing, so I sorted it out and wrote it up for my employer. You can read it here.

The key takeaways, in my opinion: You’re almost guaranteed to have to reboot for this to take effect. Also, most of the writeups say there’s nothing you can do to mitigate except patch. Not quite true. I show you in the writeup how to block the attack long enough to free resources so you can patch. There’s nothing good you can do, but there is a quick fix available to you if you need it.

Dave Farquhar

David Farquhar is a computer security professional, entrepreneur, and author. He has written professionally about computers since 1991, so he was writing about retro computers when they were still new. He has been working in IT professionally since 1994 and has specialized in vulnerability management since 2013. He holds Security+ and CISSP certifications. Today he blogs five times a week, mostly about retro computers and retro gaming covering the time period from 1975 to 2000.

dfarq.homeip.net

Effective Aug 1, I won’t be able to post updates from the blog to my Facebook profile automatically. So if you follow me on Facebook, you won’t see blog posts after Aug 1. I have set up a Facebook page where I will be able to continue to post updates. If you’re interested in following this blog on Facebook, follow this page instead of me. If you want to watch me rant with my journalism school classmates from the 1990s, follow me.

And now I have two days to get posting to that page working. Wish me luck.

Dave Farquhar

David Farquhar is a computer security professional, entrepreneur, and author. He has written professionally about computers since 1991, so he was writing about retro computers when they were still new. He has been working in IT professionally since 1994 and has specialized in vulnerability management since 2013. He holds Security+ and CISSP certifications. Today he blogs five times a week, mostly about retro computers and retro gaming covering the time period from 1975 to 2000.

dfarq.homeip.net

Tootsietoy wheels frequently go missing. Sometimes they dry-rot away. Sometimes kids played with them to death. Tootsietoys with missing wheels usually sell cheaply. Unused, old factory-stock Midgetoy tires are readily available and fit perfectly. But it can be fun to make your own. Here’s how to make your own Tootsietoy tires.

Read more

Dave Farquhar

David Farquhar is a computer security professional, entrepreneur, and author. He has written professionally about computers since 1991, so he was writing about retro computers when they were still new. He has been working in IT professionally since 1994 and has specialized in vulnerability management since 2013. He holds Security+ and CISSP certifications. Today he blogs five times a week, mostly about retro computers and retro gaming covering the time period from 1975 to 2000.

dfarq.homeip.net