Thursday, July 31, 2008
Wednesday, July 30, 2008
SONGS-The Good, The Bad, and The Unknown
"On this site, I will be making lists. But where most lists go to ten, I'll do them one better and go to eleven. Some of the lists will be a "best of" (the good), some will be a "worst of" (the bad), and some lists will focus on unknown bands and music (the unknown)". http://goodbadunknown.blogspot.com/
Tuesday, July 29, 2008
'Hacker' warns of online risks
Internet users exposed, expert says
Darren Bernhardt, The StarPhoenix
Published: Tuesday, July 29, 2008
Justin Seitz will make you feel scared, vulnerable and invaded. It's his job.
The Saskatoon-based computer genius is a security researcher or, in more familiar terms, a hacker. He gets inside the brain of a system, rewires it, makes it crash and steals its information. In little time at all, he could destroy someone's life.
And there's not much you can do about it. If you're online, you're at risk. It's as simple as that.
Justin Seitz, a security researcher, uses his knowledge for good
Richard Marjan, The StarPhoenix
The global embrace of the Internet and the capability to turn everything digital -- pictures, text and vital information -- has resulted in an ease of doing business and communicating. But it has also created a world that is capable of being exploited by the most malevolent of people.
"The bad guys are lurking in everybody's network. You're between six and 20 milliseconds from every creep and criminal on the Internet," Seitz said.
"When people ask me what the safest computer to buy is, I tell them one that you don't plug in. That's the current state of computer security for the average business and home user."
In the pre-Internet days of the 1980s, the only way for someone to affect your computer would be to install an infected floppy disc.
"The stakes are much higher today," said Seitz. "It would blow your mind if you knew what people could do to you."
Hackers have managed to break into the systems of electricity companies or betting houses and demand money to keep the system from being shut down.
In March 2007, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security conducted a test that proved a cyber attack could cause municipal power generators to self-destruct.
In 2000, a disgruntled former employee of an Australian computer company hacked into a sewage control system and flooded parks, rivers and a hotel with a million gallons of raw sewage. And in 2003, a computer virus disabled a safety monitoring system at an inactive Ohio nuclear plant for nearly five hours.
"So if you weren't afraid before, you should be now," said Seitz, who fortunately uses his powers for good.
He makes a living thinking like a criminal hacker, worming into the network. If he can expose a system's weakness, the holes can be patched.
Even the anti-virus programs that offer supposed security are susceptible. A file can be created that, when scanned by the virus detector, gets pulled into the system and takes it all down. Then the door is open, like a cracked safe, for raiding.
Seitz got into the hacking world while testing software to find the "weird bugs," or conditions that made it crash. Then one of the bugs bit and he was hooked. He researched and read voraciously. For kicks, he analyzed common software products for problems, which he would bring to the attention of the developers.
One discovery was a severe flaw in a business networking site. When the company refused to acknowledge the problem, Seitz and a partner posted the exploit code. It was their way of forcing the company to make a fix to protect thousands of vulnerable users.
The discovery was published in industry magazines and was listed for a week as the most critically dangerous bug on the Internet. Seitz followed that up a few months later by winning an international hacking competition.
The contest was sponsored by Immunity Inc., a Miami-based company considered to be the pre-eminent developer of attack-focused software. It also provides training to all kinds of clients, including major corporations and government agencies.
"If you get hired by them, you are set. You can live wherever you want and do the work from home," said Seitz, adding Immunity's employees, which span North and South America, "are the hand-picked, best hackers in the world."
Seitz's stellar showing in the contest made him one of them. Shortly after, he was recruited by Immunity and has been with the company since January. He is the lone Canadian member of the elite team.
"I'm humbled by those people. I'm definitely the dumb guy on the team," he said. "These are some of the scariest people I've met in my life, in terms of what they can do."
Being on that team is akin to a Prairie kid watching his hockey heroes on TV, and then one day playing on the same line, Seitz said. "I still feel giddy working with these guys."
That's a modest statement for the lead developer of Immunity's flagship product, Canvas. The software program is the first to conduct exploitation tests automatically on a system, which makes it ideal for non-programmers.
Seitz, who is writing a type of hacker handbook to be published in the fall, also analyzes the behaviour of viruses through reverse engineering. He deciphers the garbled data that invades a computer to determine its intent: To steal information or passwords, monitor keyboard strokes or access a specific website.
His career may seem far from his original goal of being a doctor, but they are related. Both involve viruses that cause severe illnesses and can involve emergency transplants of hardware.
"There is a great deal of forensic science to it," said Seitz, who admits there is a temptation to use his abilities for unsavoury pursuits.
"There are times when someone cuts me off in traffic and I just think, 'Oh, buddy, if you only knew,' " he added with a chuckle. "But I know if I went to the dark side, I would get busted the same way we bust people."
http://www.canada.com/saskatoonstarphoenix/news/story.html?id=245399a8-9d27-4e15-ae59-a9d6b0708002&p=1
Darren Bernhardt, The StarPhoenix
Published: Tuesday, July 29, 2008
Justin Seitz will make you feel scared, vulnerable and invaded. It's his job.
The Saskatoon-based computer genius is a security researcher or, in more familiar terms, a hacker. He gets inside the brain of a system, rewires it, makes it crash and steals its information. In little time at all, he could destroy someone's life.
And there's not much you can do about it. If you're online, you're at risk. It's as simple as that.
Justin Seitz, a security researcher, uses his knowledge for good
Richard Marjan, The StarPhoenix
The global embrace of the Internet and the capability to turn everything digital -- pictures, text and vital information -- has resulted in an ease of doing business and communicating. But it has also created a world that is capable of being exploited by the most malevolent of people.
"The bad guys are lurking in everybody's network. You're between six and 20 milliseconds from every creep and criminal on the Internet," Seitz said.
"When people ask me what the safest computer to buy is, I tell them one that you don't plug in. That's the current state of computer security for the average business and home user."
In the pre-Internet days of the 1980s, the only way for someone to affect your computer would be to install an infected floppy disc.
"The stakes are much higher today," said Seitz. "It would blow your mind if you knew what people could do to you."
Hackers have managed to break into the systems of electricity companies or betting houses and demand money to keep the system from being shut down.
In March 2007, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security conducted a test that proved a cyber attack could cause municipal power generators to self-destruct.
In 2000, a disgruntled former employee of an Australian computer company hacked into a sewage control system and flooded parks, rivers and a hotel with a million gallons of raw sewage. And in 2003, a computer virus disabled a safety monitoring system at an inactive Ohio nuclear plant for nearly five hours.
"So if you weren't afraid before, you should be now," said Seitz, who fortunately uses his powers for good.
He makes a living thinking like a criminal hacker, worming into the network. If he can expose a system's weakness, the holes can be patched.
Even the anti-virus programs that offer supposed security are susceptible. A file can be created that, when scanned by the virus detector, gets pulled into the system and takes it all down. Then the door is open, like a cracked safe, for raiding.
Seitz got into the hacking world while testing software to find the "weird bugs," or conditions that made it crash. Then one of the bugs bit and he was hooked. He researched and read voraciously. For kicks, he analyzed common software products for problems, which he would bring to the attention of the developers.
One discovery was a severe flaw in a business networking site. When the company refused to acknowledge the problem, Seitz and a partner posted the exploit code. It was their way of forcing the company to make a fix to protect thousands of vulnerable users.
The discovery was published in industry magazines and was listed for a week as the most critically dangerous bug on the Internet. Seitz followed that up a few months later by winning an international hacking competition.
The contest was sponsored by Immunity Inc., a Miami-based company considered to be the pre-eminent developer of attack-focused software. It also provides training to all kinds of clients, including major corporations and government agencies.
"If you get hired by them, you are set. You can live wherever you want and do the work from home," said Seitz, adding Immunity's employees, which span North and South America, "are the hand-picked, best hackers in the world."
Seitz's stellar showing in the contest made him one of them. Shortly after, he was recruited by Immunity and has been with the company since January. He is the lone Canadian member of the elite team.
"I'm humbled by those people. I'm definitely the dumb guy on the team," he said. "These are some of the scariest people I've met in my life, in terms of what they can do."
Being on that team is akin to a Prairie kid watching his hockey heroes on TV, and then one day playing on the same line, Seitz said. "I still feel giddy working with these guys."
That's a modest statement for the lead developer of Immunity's flagship product, Canvas. The software program is the first to conduct exploitation tests automatically on a system, which makes it ideal for non-programmers.
Seitz, who is writing a type of hacker handbook to be published in the fall, also analyzes the behaviour of viruses through reverse engineering. He deciphers the garbled data that invades a computer to determine its intent: To steal information or passwords, monitor keyboard strokes or access a specific website.
His career may seem far from his original goal of being a doctor, but they are related. Both involve viruses that cause severe illnesses and can involve emergency transplants of hardware.
"There is a great deal of forensic science to it," said Seitz, who admits there is a temptation to use his abilities for unsavoury pursuits.
"There are times when someone cuts me off in traffic and I just think, 'Oh, buddy, if you only knew,' " he added with a chuckle. "But I know if I went to the dark side, I would get busted the same way we bust people."
http://www.canada.com/saskatoonstarphoenix/news/story.html?id=245399a8-9d27-4e15-ae59-a9d6b0708002&p=1
Woman, 44, gives birth to her 18th child in Canada
Mon Jul 28, 10:32 PM ET
ABBOTSFORD, British Columbia - A Romanian immigrant has given birth to her 18th child in British Columbia, making her the province's most prolific mother in 20 years.
Proud dad Alexandru Ionce said Saturday that his 44-year-old wife, Livia, gave birth on Tuesday. Their daughter Abigail weighed in at seven pounds, 12 ounces.
"We never planned how many children to have. We just let God guide our lives, you know, because we strongly believe life comes from God and that's the reason we did not stop the life," said Alexandru Ionce.
The couple immigrated to Canada from Romania in 1990 and now live in Abbotsford, British Columbia. Their 17 other children range in age from 20 months to 23 years old.
Ionce said he did not know if the couple would have more children. The family now has 10 girls and eight boys.
"We would have liked a boy to be even," he said. "We thank God all of them are healthy and happy."
Ionce said the family has received calls from Germany, Romania and England, as well as from media outlets across Canada. http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080729/ap_on_fe_st/odd_canada_large_family
Wednesday, July 23, 2008
The Bin Ladens of the Balkans, Part I
http://www.michaeltotten.com/archives/2008/07/the-bin-ladens.php I started to reading last nite, could not finish. It is well written and informative, therefore I will bookmark the article and come back and read it when I am in a healthier frame of mind. Found at: http://smalldeadanimals.com/
Nana Mouskouri - I Have A Dream
This tune is a repost, but I enjoy this tune, and it makes me feel like not giving up. Thomas is still hanging in, but he has not beat the pain yet. I will be back blogging every day when I can move my head without pain and can overcome some emotional problems that attack me. I am getting a wee tad worried, that I may end up in hospital and because I have spent so much time there I have grown to dislike the thought. The old doc is on holidays until August so will hold out until he gets back. "The Good Lord willing and the creek don't rise" that is. Now I am going to listen to Nana.Friday, July 11, 2008
Anonymous Internet Surfing HOWTO
Hiding Your IP Address Using HTTP, CONNECT, CGI/PHP/WEB, SOCKS proxies http://tools.rosinstrument.com/proxy/howto.htm
I will be back posting in the fall.
Dynamic Optical Illusions
An intriguing selection of old, new and exclusive optical illusions.Many pictures are enhanced via the use of 3D and animation. http://www.skytopia.com/project/illusion/illusion.html
John McCain, Prisoner of War: A First-Person Account
John McCain spent 5½ years in captivity as a POW in North Vietnam. His first-person account of that harrowing ordeal was published in U.S. News in May 1973. Shot down in his Skyhawk dive bomber on Oct. 26, 1967, Navy flier McCain was taken prisoner with fractures in his right leg and both arms. He received minimal care and was kept in wretched conditions that he describes vividly in the U.S. News special report: http://www.usnews.com/articles/news/2008/01/28/john-mccain-prisoner-of-war-a-first-person-account.htmlWednesday, July 2, 2008
Pain
I was coming home in the dark, going down a steep hill with no helmet on, on my bike. All of a sudden I was on the ground. I think I have a concussion. I went flying into some bushes and broke my middle toe. My hands, knees and elbows are badly scraped and sore. I am too old for this pain. It is a good thing I hit the pavement with my forehead. It good have been worse. I have been in bed for two days and only moving to the fridge for something cold to drink. That is enough whining for now. I will be back when I am feeling better. I may go out of town. Things are not going well for me. It is like when you think things can't get any worse, sure enough things do get worse. This is a picture of my friend's cat.
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