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Securing your web site or your MTA with SSL encryption (i.e. HTTPS traffic) can be a daunting task if you’ve never worked with it before. The following steps assume that you’ll be working from a Linux server running Apache web server and/or postfix.
To understand how the whole SSL encryption process works, check out this article here.
From the server you’re going to install the ssl certificate onto, do the following:
If you want a better understanding of how TCP Windows work and how they interact with round trip time to contribute to delays that you may experience with network communications, I recommend reading this newsletter by Mark Minasi, specifically the ‘Vista and 2008’s New TCP Windows’ section.
I knew the day would come when they’d have laptops with art on them - and it’s about time! HP has a new notebook featuring the artwork of some winner in a Global Design Competition. I’ve wondered for a long time why more companies didn’t at least offer more colors in their laptop models. I’ve always wanted chartreuese (actually I don’t even know what that color is, I just think the word sounds cool).
I think this is just the beginning - we’re going to see a lot more options become available in the choice of color and design that can be configured into a laptop.
Mark my words, 2 years from now you’ll be hard pressed to find a laptop computer that isn’t sporting at least one symbol or image meant to convey our independence and unique spirit (as long as you choose from one of 10 available models). Then we’ll start talking like we’re some kind of elitists, “Check it out dude, see the latest tattoo I got for my tablet?”
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If you’ve ever tried to audit the speed and duplex settings of NICs in a windows environment, I’ll bet you’ve been frustrated by the fact that you can’t seem to find the answer to this anywhere in the registry or WMI, etc. etc. Yet you know it has to be recorded somewhere because the little icon at the bottom right of you screen displays it just fine. You essentially have two choices: 1) look up the card settings in the registry - the specific settings will differ depending on what hardware you actually have installed. I’ll show you how to find out what settings to audit for your particular card and where they’re located in the registry. 2) Utilize WMI to query the current bandwidth usage of the card. This generally gives you a fairly accurate way of determining whether you’re operating at 10 or 100 Mbps, and whether you’re at full or half duplex. It’s a good thing to audit in tandem with the item above. |
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If you’ve ever tried to audit the speed and duplex settings of NICs in a windows environment, I’ll bet you’ve been frustrated by the fact that you can’t seem to find the answer to this anywhere in the registry or WMI, etc. etc. Yet you know it has to be recorded somewhere because the little icon at the bottom right of you screen displays it just fine. You essentially have two choices: 1) look up the card settings in the registry - the specific settings will differ depending on what hardware you actually have installed. I’ll show you how to find out what settings to audit for your particular card and where they’re located in the registry. 2) Utilize WMI to query the current bandwidth usage of the card. This generally gives you a fairly accurate way of determining whether you’re operating at 10 or 100 Mbps, and whether you’re at full or half duplex. It’s a good thing to audit in tandem with the item above. |
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Be who you are and say what you feel, because those who mind don’t matter and those who matter don’t mind. - Dr. Suess
As an aside, am I the only one who ever thought that Dr. Suess was pronounced more like ‘Swiss’? I guess it’s kind of like how I used to think hors d’ouevres had something to do with horses.
If you administer more than, say, 3 computers in your network, you’ve probably wanted to perform some operation against all of them in quick fashion. For example, you may get a frantic call some morning from your IT manager that goes something like this:
IT Manager: “I just got a call from my friend Bob, one of their users has just infected their network with the ReallyNastyPayload_WithAStupidName virus. He’s telling me that it targets the SuperExposed service on all Windows Servers, and that we need to shut it down ASAP! How long would it take you to do that?”
You: “That will take me about 10 min. I’ll let you know when I’m done.”
IT Manager: “Really? But we have 200 servers!! How can you get it done so fast?!”
You: “It’s kind of like magic, but I’ll explain later. Oh, and I’ll also want to discuss that raise I mentioned last week.”
IT Manager: “Okay, but are you really sure you can do this? I mean, I don’t want to tell anyone we’re covered unless you’re sure.”
You: “Don’t worry, I’ve done this before, it’ll be a piece of cake.”
IT Manager: “Man, Bob is going to think I’m so cool …”
You: “You know, now it’s going to be fifteen minutes till I’m done because we’re spending so much time on the phone.”
IT Manager: <Click> (hangs up phone)
Now you open a command prompt and you change to the directory where you have a plain text file with each of your servers on a separate line, which you created using the steps found here. Then you crack your knuckles and prepare to run a command against all of your servers which will stop and disable the SuperExposed service. Read more »
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Some researchers found a way to steal encrypted data off of hard disks by freezing the RAM in a computer - allowing them to read the keys used to encrypt the data out of RAM. Apparently this can be accomplished using nothing more than a can of compressed air to chill the chips and freeze the data in place - then afterwards putting the chips into another computer and using an advanced program to sift through all of the ones and zeros to extract the keys needed to unlock data on the original machine’s hard drive.
I wonder how many cans of compressed air Mr. Freeze will be able to fit on his utility belt? |
I don’t know how many of you have been following the story over at CanGoogleHearMe.com. It’s about a guy, Aaron, who has an idea and decided it was important enough to him that it be heard, so he flew to California with the intent of camping out in Google’s lobby until someone agreed to hear him out. Well, he actually got a meeting with them, and they liked the idea enough to tell him to put some proof of concept together and come back. That started a year long adventure where Aaron and some programmers he recruited met regularly and worked late into the night on many occasions to be ready to go back to Google to show their stuff. Well, it’s been a year and now they’re on their way back to California to meet with Google again.
I am located in Idaho and know two of the programmers on Aaron’s team really well - which is how I first heard about the experiment and met Aaron. I’m amazed at what they’ve accomplished and at their ability to realize an idea. Wish I could be with them this week in California as a fly on the wall - it’ll be fun to hear their stories first-hand when they return.
Good luck guys! I like the pseudo-realistic plastic airplanes they sell in the airplane gift shops, if you’re bringing back souvenirs 
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It’s a wonder more people don’t steal bags of ice from the storage lockers outside convenience stores. I guess they don’t worry about those dishonest few who would snark a bag, since it’s so easy to make more.
Or, more likely, they know that the percentage of bags stolen will be more than made up for by those who forget they purchased a bag of ice by the time they walk outside. Retail genius, if you ask me.Those poor saps drive home and then realize afterwards that they forgot their key to icy cool refreshment. Then they probably sit and wonder whether anyone would think they’re stealing if they returned to make good on their purchase … (sigh) I guess I’ll end up paying double for that bag of ice … again. |
