As always, news seems to filter in a little more slowly on the weekends when it comes to sites like Digg and Reddit. The majority of the news stories are from the major classic news sites like CNN and MSNBC. It makes sense right? People are enjoying time with their families, working out, watching a sporting event, reading a book, anything. They are simply decompressing from the previous week and re-energizing for the upcoming week that seems to move in too fast!
Well one of the major news site stories yesterday caught my eye. The reason it did so was the due to the way it was written and what it was written about. The story came from CNN.com and it was about a small group of hackers from China (also known as "crackers" for their ability to crack programming languages and code) who were making a bold statement by supposedly infiltrating several very secure mainframes and databases in the U.S., Germany, Britain and France.
Reports keep filing in that the a surprising amount of information has been lost or corrupt since several hits on the Pentagon last year. Now we come find that these hits aren't coming from one single hacker or a massive group of hackers, but rather a couple of young guys sitting in their apartment in China or any number of smaller hacking "units."
But the real question is: IS THIS A BAD THING?
This group of hackers has found "backdoors" and "loopholes" in government and private company firewalls and have been able to access this with little to no formal training. They simply know how a website works, how to do some simple coding for a vast number of program languages and that's it.
This should be the number one indicator for Fortune 500 companies and governments alike; YOUR SECURITY ISN'T GOOD ENOUGH!
So why not use this information and start working with the issue. If these guys can break what you spend millions of dollars on to sleep at night, you better start losing some sleep because they will keep breaking it until you fix. They are handing you opportunities left and right and you better be grabbing them now.
My suggestions:
#1. Take sensitive data offline. The last time I checked, I can't say that I've ever heard of anyone walking about the "TOP SECRET" basement at Langley or the White House with a cart full of files and never returning. (This is similar to the Windows notice this week about not putting a password on your machine to ensure no one hacks you.)
#2. You thought you had the "best" working for you; well you just found out you DON'T! These guys are doing this from their apartment for enjoyment and to make a name for themselves. Why not? I'm pretty if anyone could do it and get away with like they are, everyone would do it! I would!
#3. Take advantage and use common sense. These guys are doing that. They are thinking and behaving like anyone with some basic logical thinking capabilities would do.
I didn't view this article as something to be scared off, but rather as a great warning to the governments of the world, Fortune 500 companies and anyone with a website or blog.
Secure yourself online. Take the appropriate measures to make sure you aren't embarrassed. Be smart. Use common sense. No one is completely anonymous.
Think about it!
Have a great day!
Showing posts with label loophole. Show all posts
Showing posts with label loophole. Show all posts
Sunday, March 9, 2008
Wednesday, August 29, 2007
An Online Music Exploration
In today's world, no one has CD's or albums or cassettes or 8-tracks anymore. That would be a waste, right? We have digital music formats like mp3's and wav's and hard drives that seem to be reaching the infinite amount of storage for these formats! Guess what? That's awesome!
Unfortunately, after the Napster breakdown and an increased awareness of copyright laws and protection, users now have to pay for songs they download from the Internet. But like any good American law, there is a loop hole!
As I hope to attend law school after this academic year, I've taken an interest lately in finding some of the programs that allow users to find those loopholes and use them for their own benefit. My last post is very evident of that with the idea of BitTorrent and easy access to blockbuster movies.
The programs that follow can actually be designated into three groups: programs for users that have a lot of music that they want to access at every computer and programs for users that want to accumulate a lot of music, and lastly a program that does both...kind of.
First, a program for those users who have a ton of music and want it available while they are at work, on vacation or just checking their e-mail from a computer that is not their own.
Personally, I am blessed enough to be dating a wonderful girl who's father happened to attain an external hard drive with more (organized) music than I even knew existed. In turn, I happened to receive a copy of this hard drive as a gift! Unfortunately, I would say it is more than a hassle to try to carry the external hard drive around to listen to the massive variety of music. I was, however, fortunate enough to stumble across an article at Lifehacker that talks about a program that would solve my issues. The program is Anywhere.FM and it is on my list of programs to utilize to the fullest extent. The article explains all that this program can do!
Secondly, the program for those of you who want to create a library and not pay a fortune for it. SpiralFrog is currently in a beta testing program that allows you to download music at no cost to you. I just received confirmation that I am a lucky one to test out the beta and it's great! It's a small, simple download and the database of music is HUGE! Just enter your e-mail address in and hope for an invitation in a week or so.
Warning: make sure you have a big hard drive because there is a lot of music for FREE!
And the last program is called Deezer. I've been using this program for a few days and I love it. This online program allows you to listen to all of your favorite newer songs (1980's until now) without actually downloading them. They are streamed online so you don't have to worry about filling your hard drive (this is great for me!) You must register with Deezer and then let the playlist creation begin! Go nuts!
That's my quick overview of the online music programs that are worth noting! I could be wrong and there could be more! Prove me wrong!
Have a great day!
Unfortunately, after the Napster breakdown and an increased awareness of copyright laws and protection, users now have to pay for songs they download from the Internet. But like any good American law, there is a loop hole!
As I hope to attend law school after this academic year, I've taken an interest lately in finding some of the programs that allow users to find those loopholes and use them for their own benefit. My last post is very evident of that with the idea of BitTorrent and easy access to blockbuster movies.
The programs that follow can actually be designated into three groups: programs for users that have a lot of music that they want to access at every computer and programs for users that want to accumulate a lot of music, and lastly a program that does both...kind of.
First, a program for those users who have a ton of music and want it available while they are at work, on vacation or just checking their e-mail from a computer that is not their own.
Personally, I am blessed enough to be dating a wonderful girl who's father happened to attain an external hard drive with more (organized) music than I even knew existed. In turn, I happened to receive a copy of this hard drive as a gift! Unfortunately, I would say it is more than a hassle to try to carry the external hard drive around to listen to the massive variety of music. I was, however, fortunate enough to stumble across an article at Lifehacker that talks about a program that would solve my issues. The program is Anywhere.FM and it is on my list of programs to utilize to the fullest extent. The article explains all that this program can do!
Secondly, the program for those of you who want to create a library and not pay a fortune for it. SpiralFrog is currently in a beta testing program that allows you to download music at no cost to you. I just received confirmation that I am a lucky one to test out the beta and it's great! It's a small, simple download and the database of music is HUGE! Just enter your e-mail address in and hope for an invitation in a week or so.
Warning: make sure you have a big hard drive because there is a lot of music for FREE!
And the last program is called Deezer. I've been using this program for a few days and I love it. This online program allows you to listen to all of your favorite newer songs (1980's until now) without actually downloading them. They are streamed online so you don't have to worry about filling your hard drive (this is great for me!) You must register with Deezer and then let the playlist creation begin! Go nuts!
That's my quick overview of the online music programs that are worth noting! I could be wrong and there could be more! Prove me wrong!
Have a great day!
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