2007-09-28

(security) Adobe gifts internal file permissions to unwashed masses | The Register

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2007/09/27/adobe_website_leak/

Amazing... :-) It seems they didn't even set the permissions right on their SSL private key file, and a "directory traversal" bug allowed pretty much anyone to get this key out, as the screenshot shows!

2007-09-26

(FOSS) SCO and the Three Stooges | Open Source Initiative

http://www.opensource.org/node/197

Very nice article summarising the role and responsibility that the 3 idiots (Dan Lyons of Forbes, no less, Rob Enderle, and Maureen O'Gara) share in perpetuating the SCO saga, when it was clear to almost everyone familiar with the situation that the whole damn lawsuit was fraudulent!

[Dan Lyons is a little cleaner, if just as stupid. Rob claimed some open source people threatened him. Maureen actually did something so horrible that her own editors abandoned her. That is how misguided these pathetic fools were...]

The article closes with a very apt summary of the situation, and I am proud that -- small and insignificant as I am -- I consider myself part of the "hackers and geeks" community described here:

More importantly, I'm left wondering if the trade press at large has learned its lesson from this mess. Yes, we hackers and geeks are passionate and rude and overzealous and routinely violate the conventions of 'polite' business discourse -- but one good thing we almost unfailingly are is honest, not because we're angels but because we're too pigheadedly idealistic not to be true to our craft.

So, the next time we call bullshit on some polished corporate PR type, you journalists out there can save yourselves the embarrassment and grief now coming down on the Three Stooges by believing us to start with, rather than waiting four years to catch up.

2007-09-24

lost my "geek" license yesterday...

...when I plugged a 110-volt adaptor (for a wireless router, if you are wondering) into a 220-volt socket.

And this wasn't even *my* router -- my brother had lent it to me!

2007-09-03

(photography) one more "I wish I had taken that" shot...

...saw this on a page about using overexposure. I think it's one of the most gorgeous photographs I have ever seen. Another sample of the "when I can visualise and take that sort of shot, I'll consider myself an expert" category...

http://www.flickr.com/photos/calliope/112428919/

(security) Attackers turn Bank of India site into malware bazaar | The Register

Even your online bank can be turned against you...

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2007/09/01/bank_of_india_website_takeover/

...unless you're using Linux!