Month: October 2005

WarXing — accessing publicly accessible networks or systems. You scan for a wifi access point… and come up with your neighbor’s… What are the legal implications?

Attorney Robert Hale has just written an extensive piece on the subject:

Suppose you turn on your laptop while sitting at the kitchen table at home and respond OK to a prompt about accessing a nearby wireless Internet access point owned and operated by a neighbor. What potential liability may ensue from accessing someone else’s wireless access point? How about intercepting wireless connection signals? What about setting up an open or unsecured wireless access point in your house or business? Attorneys can expect to grapple with these issues and other related questions as the popularity of wireless technology continues to increase.

This paper explores several theories of liability involving both the accessing and operating of wireless Internet, including the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act, wiretap laws, as well as trespass to chattels and other areas of common law. The paper concludes with a brief discussion of key policy considerations.

The conclusion?

As a general matter, until the courts and legislatures better define the legal status of Wi-Fi arrangements, the piggy-backing Wi-Fi user should simply stop the practice of accessing others’ open WLANs, absent an explicit agreement or notice. If a Wi-Fi interloper must continue, he or she should avoid heavy downloading activity (music, games, movies, etc.) that has a tendency to overburden the network and may amount to recoverable damages. Similarly, sapping a residential neighbor’s Internet service in lieu of paying for one’s own seems potentially more culpable than accessing signals in a business area while on a lunch break. On the other hand, those for whom piggy-backing supplies the only practicable means of obtaining residential high-speed Internet access may want to seek out services that provide Wi-Fi sharing arrangements, through which ISPs pass through service payments from end users on to WAP operators.

(There’s more in the document — the “conclusion” section starts at page 557)

Link here via beSpacific.

What do you think?

 

Alex

 

The St. Pete Times came down and interviewed a bunch of people here, including spending time with Patrick Jordan.  Link here.

Steve Bass writes about an MS KB article that explains why XP SP 2 might slow your system down.  Steve Bass link here, Microsoft link here.

Microsoft’s reasons why you may have a slowdown:

• You have spyware or malware running on the computer.
• You have viruses that are running on the computer.
• You do not have sufficient free space on the hard disk.
• You do not have sufficient random access memory (RAM) installed on the computer.
• You have corrupted or outdated drivers.
• You have too many files in the Recycle Bin or temporary folders

In other words, a general statement of the obvious to any reasonably technical computer user.

As I’ve said before, there is no excuse these days not to have XP SP 2 on your system.  From a security standpoint, it’s absolutely essential.  For example, we have never been able to infect an XP SP 2 system with the keyloggers we’ve found through an exploit.  But do you know that one of the people we found infected with that Winldra keylogger back in August was a security professional?  It was on his laptop and he hadn’t bothered to get SP 2.  I think he was more of a Linux guy at work and his laptop was not his primary work system, maybe used for personal stuff. He had just never applied SP 2.    

Alex Eckelberry 

Got this off Xavier’s blog.  AirMagnet just released a new free Bluetooth tool.

Bluetooth technology is here to stay and can be found almost everywhere. Mobile phones, PDAs, laptops, and hundreds of smaller peripheral devices have made Bluetooth a part of everyday life both for consumers and the enterprise. However, an omnipresent, unmanaged networking technology can have a serious downside in terms of security. With this in mind, AirMagnet has developed AirMagnet® BlueSweep™, an easy-to-use freeware utility to identify and analyze any nearby Bluetooth device. With AirMagnet BlueSweep, users can:

• Identify every local Bluetooth device
• See interconnections between Bluetooth devices
• Identify all services available on each device

This provides a simple way to gain visibility into your Bluetooth environment and identify related security issues that otherwise would go unnoticed. To insure ubiquitous access to this tool, AirMagnet is providing BlueSweep at no charge, and without technical support.

You can download BlueSweep here.

AirMagnet looks like it does some nice stuff, and incidentally their marketing veep, Rich, is a sort of guru of product management (he was once nice enough to let me use one of his requirements document templates). 

Alex Eckelberry

Seen today by Adam Thomas in spyware research on a naked (completely unpatched) Windows XP system.

 

Alex Eckelberry

We’ve been running a Sunpoll on our corporate site last week, asking the following questions:

What’s your position on Desktop Firewalls on all your user’s workstations?

	WinXP SP2 is good enough for me
	Already run a third party firewall on the desktop
	Don’t have one, but want to/should have one
	Don’t have one, not interested
	Other

The results were as follows:

WinXP SP2 is good enough for me
	28%	403 votes
Already run a third party firewall on the desktop
	51%	725 votes
Don’t have one, but want to/should have one
	4%	70 votes
Don’t have one, not interested
	9%	133 votes
Other
	5%	76 votes
Total: 1407 votes

Note that we think that these results would bias toward IT managers, because a) the way the question was asked and b) because a lot of IT people come to our site.  Again, without putting more science out there, it’s really more of a gimmick.  

But that leads to the next question — what’s your favorite software firewall?

I got a list off of www.antionline.com and started culling it to represent current popular products:

• Sygate  (recently acquired by Symantec)
• Zone Alarm 
• Outpost 
• Kerio 
• Tiny 
• Norton 
• BlackIce
• McAfee

Let me know your thoughts.

 

Alex Eckelberry

Link here

AOL’s instant messaging service has been hit by a virus which downloads spyware onto computers via a special website.

The virus spreads via messages on AOL’s AIM software, either saying HILARIOUS!!! Or see thing!!!, with a URL. Clicking on the link takes the user to a web page that attempts to download a Trojan onto the computer using patchable flaws in the browser.

AIM Fixes here.

AIM Fix was created to remove all known AIM viruses in one consolidated removal tool. It is designed to end the virus processes, delete the files, and remove registry keys created by the virus. I update the fix tool very frequently, and try to make sure it removes all AIM viruses. As long as I am aware of the virus, it is removed by AIM Fix. 

Alex Eckelberry
(Thanks Jarrett)

Good stuff in here for the security professional. 

This issue:

• Structured traffic analysis
• Access Control Lists in Tiger and Tiger Server – true permission management
• Automating I.T. security audits
• Biometric security
• PDA attacks, part 2: airborne viruses – evolution of the latest threats
• Build a custom firewall computer
• Lock down your kernel with grsecurity
• Interview with Sergey Ryzhikov, director of Bitrix
• Best practices for database encryption solutions

Link here via ToaSecurity

 

Alex Eckelberry

Yesterday, I blogged about a new Linksys wifi finder/adapter.

Faithful blog reader Angus emailed me with another one:

“Have you seen this one?  About the same price, and it looks like it does more than the Linksys, since it supports WPA2 which the Linksys does not.

ZyXEL AG-225H USB 2.0 802.11a/b/g WiFi Finder & USB Adapter.  Link here.”

 

Fwiw.

Alex Eckelberry

Coming to a casino near you!

Cash Systems has announced patent number 6951302, “covering the Company’s technology that immediately captures and transfers data from a drivers license to a customer database. This technology allows a casino to swipe a patron’s drivers license to complete a credit card cash advance transaction in under 60 seconds, while immediately populating a casino’s customer database.”

But mega casino chain Harrah’s apparently yawns about it, according to an article in CIO Insight.  They already know what’s going on with 80% of their “revenues”:

“Fully 80 percent of our revenues are tracked,” Stanley said. “These individuals generally do need and want to be known.” 

But what about the customer who truly want to remain hidden? The Harrah’s CIO said he didn’t see that being a sufficiently large group to care about.

In Stanley’s experience, he said, most customers will simply play on casino credit rather than go for credit card advances requiring driver’s licenses.

…”If somebody is trying that hard to be anonymous,” Stanley said, his voice trailing. “I just think they’re chasing a pretty small number of people.”

He has a point.  You get those casino cards so you can rack up points for the player clubs — maybe get comped something.  So you acquiesce to spyware in a sense, but I doubt most people even understand that they are being tracked with those player cards.  

Well, with this technology you want a cash advance on your credit card, you give your driver’s license and get put into the casino’s CRM system.

Personally, I generally pay cash for my chips.  Hey, use the ATM machine, get the cash, spend it.  That’s not because I’m paranoid.  I just could care less about using those “player cards” (when/if I become a high-roller, I will certainly make it known to the casino ;-)) and don’t get cash advances off my credit card for gambling! 

 

Alex Eckelberry
(Hat tip to Fergie)

From the New Scientist::

Both Charles Darwin and Albert Einstein relied on pen, paper, and the postal service to communicate with correspondents around the world. But researchers have now found the pattern of their replies is the same as that of computer users answering email today, with both following the same mathematical formula.

…In previous work, Barab�si looked at how long it took people to answer their email, and found a “bursty” pattern – most emails are answered fairly quickly, but a few sit around for a long time, and some sit around for a very long time.

Although I do think that their hypothesis that this behavior is related to some kind of biological encoding is silly.  It’s simple:  You get an important email, you jump on it.  Duh!

Link here via Corey

Alex Eckelberry

 

 

I have only two toolbars on my home system:  the Google Toolbar and a beta of Dealio that I’ve been playing with.

Google gives me pop-up blocking and Autofill.  Dealio helps me when I’m shopping for electronics.

That’s it.  The other day, I downloaded the MSN toolbar, and it actually looked pretty cool.  But I’m a Google acolyte, and I stick with that.  – Start/Control Panel/Add/Remove/MSN Toolbar –

Of course, you could install all the toolbars you want, and then unselect the ones you don’t need right away.  That’s what I do with Dealio — I don’t need it all the time, just when I’m shopping online.

But it’s not the healthiest thing in the world to have too much crap on your system, is it…

The only other one I might consider would be SideStep, but it’s not like I travel so much that I really need that.    At work, I do have the Developer Toolbar Beta which is nice for HTML editing and stuff, but I never use it, it’s unselected and I only have it there because I might “one day” need it (or more realistically, blog on it).

Brian Smith, a former WhenU employee, thinks that the problem is related to toolbars being associated with spyware (link): 

“The problem with these new shopping toolbars is that in my mind, they are readily associated with Adware/Spyware. Most people have multiple spyware blockers on their computers and when you download the Dealio, SquareTrade, ActiveShopper, or NexTag toolbar (or when you run a scan) you’re told that it’s potentially a threat. Does the Dealio toolbar actually do sinister things like keystroke logging? No. Does it give you pop ups? No. But that’s no longer the point. It’s still a downloadable application which, in the mind of the consumer, could be doing sinister things. I think that people are now hyper-sensitive to spyware and take few chances. I trust Yahoo! I trust Google. I trust SideStep. I trust Southest Airlines [maker of DING!]. I probably trust these companies a LOT more than I should. Google, for one, tracks a LOT of information.”

Yes and no.  One big question is: Who in the heck actually wants all this clutter?   What do you really need? I love my browser to be pure and pristine.   

So I’m curious, what are the toolbars you think are really needed?  What is your must-have? Are toolbars toast?

Alex Eckelberry
(Thanks Ben)

 

There is a hilarious video out about Microsoft’s new quality initiative — Microsoft We Share Your Pain, or WSYP.

From Steve’s blog (a good one, btw):

Have you heard about Microsoft’s WE-SYP program? Their goal is to eliminate bugs in every MS product by helping developers feel our pain. Literally.

This is the funniest, ROTFLOL, tears-in-my-eyes video I’ve seen in a long time. Thanks to snipurl.com’s Shashank Tripathi for this lead.

Direct link here. Main link here.

 

Alex Eckelberry 

From Mark Edwards:

This is a really slick innovation: The Linksys Wireless-G USB Network Adapter with Wi-Fi Finder (model number WUSBF54G). It’s a wireless network adapter with a built-in wireless scanner to detect available networks, and it works as a standalone unit so you can detect 802.11b/g networks before you power up your laptop. Having one of these is sort of like having Netstumbler in device the size of a pack of gum!

  

Mark’s blog here.  Product link here.

 

Living in Florida, you become a bit of a weather junkie. 

So, it looks like a broad area of low pressure off of Panama might turn into a tropical depression (the first key stage before becoming a tropical storm). 

As Dan, our webmaster points out, in the event that more than 21 named tropical cyclones occur in the Atlantic basin in a season, additional storms will take names from the Greek alphabet: Alpha, Beta, Gamma, Delta, and so on.

A storm called beta?    Sounds all too familiar…

Anyway, this would be beyond amazing if it happens.  We’ll all be watching it 😉

Alex Eckelberry

iMesh claims it’s going to move all users to a paid p2p model — sort of.   $.99 per song or $6.95 a month to access a couple of million music files.   But apparently you can continue to use iMesh to download another 15 million songs because “copyright holders have not asked iMesh to block them.”  Phil Leigh told me that “the 15 million tracks that are free is composed of stuff that is not very popular or stuff that is not available in the legitimate online catalogs yet.”

San Jose Mercury News reports:

The service offers access to 17 million music files. About 15 million will be available for free because copyright holders have not asked iMesh to block them.

Another two million protected releases will be sold for 99 cents per song or a $6.95 monthly fee. The company will pay record labels a portion of the revenue for each song downloaded or shared.

According to digital analyst Phil Leigh:

The new iMesh will seek to migrate its users up to a new version of the software. Initially, users will merely be prompted that a new version is available. But ultimately, they will be told that if they do not upgrade from version 5.0 (which accounts for the vast majority of legacy iMesh users) then their iMesh program will no longer function as they are accustomed to. Bottom line is that without the new version of iMesh software, the version 5.0 users will no longer be able to trade files. …iMesh management believes that by gradually migrating its users to the new version, that they will be able to get “double-digits percentages” of them to pay for content.

“Double-digit percentages” of conversion?  So at least 10% of iMesh users will opt to pay for some type of download?  I’ll be curious to see how this pans out.

Phil Leigh has an interview with iMesh president Talmon Marco, here.

Alex Eckelberry

Microsoft has posted all of its sessions and presentations from the Professional Developers Conference (PDC) online.  Link here.

This was a good PDC and the Sunbelt developers who went there were impressed.  The new stuff in Vista and Office 12 is pretty cool.

For example, to see one of Microsoft’s presentations on aspects of Vista security, click here.  And IE guy Chris Wilson gave the presentation on what’s new in IE 7.  You can see it here.

The site is being pounded and some of the downloads are huge, so the site requires some patience.Also, the material is highly technical in nature.

 

Alex Eckelberry
(Thanks Mathew)

According to this article in TechWeb, SSL is to be axed in IE 7, replaced by TLS, a stronger version of SSL.

Also, 

“IE 7 will also block access to Web sites that offer up a problematical digital certificate. If a certificate’s been issued to a host name other than the URL’s actual hostname, or the certificate was issued by an untrusted root domain, IE 7 will put up a message that explains the problem. If the user chooses to proceed, IE 7 will tint the address bar red as an additional warning.

Additionally, said IE program manager Eric Lawrence in the group’s official blog, the Windows Vista version of IE 7 — the browser will come in two editions, one for Vista, the other for the current Windows XP SP2 operating system — will include new encryption algorithms, such as AES (Advanced Encryption Standard).”

Alex Eckelberry

Get this:  Microsoft has a bus cruising around Germany helping people with spyware and viruses. Link here via Catherine.

The security initiative has also included a “security truck,” which visited 18 cities over the past few weeks and attracted about 15,000 people. Of those, more than 600 came with their computers, of which 95 percent were desktops and 5 percent notebooks, according to Baumgärtner. Experts in the truck found 1,371 viruses, 307 Trojans and 1,585 spyware bugs.

“We had one 80-year old woman come with an infected notebook,” the spokesman said. “But what really surprised us is that so many people were willing to lug their desktops to the truck.”

But what does it look like?  Our concept below:

Alex Eckelberry
[Props to RockShop for the pic—buy the official poster (without the Microsoft logo)]

According to various sources, Google is testing something called “Google Base”, which according to early screenshots, is “a database into which you can add all types of content”.

Maybe like a Craigslist? Google eBay? Or a hoax? Who knows.

A screen shot here (where I took the above snippet).

Some links discussing Google Base:

SearchEngineWatch
John Battelle

Alex Eckelberry