113964914
submission
StonyCreekBare writes:
At least 23 municipal Texas governments have been hit by a Ransomware attack. From the Texas Department of Information Resources (Dir) press release:
AUSTIN – The Texas Department of Information Resources (DIR) is leading the response to a ransomware attack against entities across Texas. Below is an update as of August 17, 2019, at approximately 5:00 p.m. central time.
On the morning of August 16, 2019, more than 20 entities in Texas reported a ransomware attack. The majority of these entities were smaller local governments.
Later that morning, the State Operations Center (SOC) was activated with a day and night shift.
At this time, the evidence gathered indicates the attacks came from one single threat actor.
Investigations into the origin of this attack are ongoing; however, response and recovery are the priority at this time.
It appears all entities that were actually or potentially impacted have been identified and notified.
Twenty-three entities have been confirmed as impacted.
Responders are actively working with these entities to bring their systems back online.
The State of Texas systems and networks have not been impacted.
The following agencies are supporting this incident:
Texas Department of Information Resources
Texas Division of Emergency Management
Texas Military Department
The Texas A&M University System’s Security Operations Center/Critical Incident Response Team
Texas Department of Public Safety
Computer Information Technology and Electronic Crime (CITEC) Unit
Cybersecurity
Intelligence and Counter Terrorism
Texas Public Utility Commission
Department of Homeland Security
Federal Bureau of Investigation – Cyber
Federal Emergency Management Agency
Other Federal cybersecurity partners
82576259
submission
StonyCreekBare writes:
From the Blog at osvdb.org "As of today, a decision has been made to shut down the Open Sourced Vulnerability Database (OSVDB), and will not return. We are not looking for anyone to offer assistance at this point, and it will not be resurrected in its previous form. This was not an easy decision, and several of us struggled for well over ten years trying to make it work at great personal expense. The industry simply did not want to contribute and support such an effort."
56478955
submission
StonyCreekBare writes:
What options are available for distributed storage for families?
My two brothers, my daughter and her husband, and his mother all have homes in various parts of the country. We use various cloud storage providers to keep our shared data. This has numerous limitations and we are starting to think maybe we can do it better ourselves. We all have decent Internet connections, are all somewhat tech savvy, and think that by leveraging the Internet we can maybe provide for our needs better and at lower cost by buying some hardware and doing it ourselves.
How would Slashdotters go about implementing such a family-oriented, distributed cloud platform? What hardware? What applications, beyond simply the preservation and sharing of family data, (grandkids photos, home videos and more) would be good to leverage such a platform? Security Cameras? HTPC? VoIP? Home Automation?
Primary requirements are Cheap, Secure, Reliable.
47852675
submission
StonyCreekBare writes:
How can an autodidact get past the jobs screening process?
I have a long track record of success, despite limited formal education. Despite many accomplishments, published papers, and more, I cannot seem to get past the canned hiring process and actually get before a hiring manager. Traditional hiring processes seem to revolve around the education and degrees one holds, not one's track record and accomplishments. Now as an older tech-worker I seem to encounter a double barrier by being gray-haired as well. All prospective employers seem to see is a gray-haired old guy with no formal degrees. The jobs always seem to go to the younger guys with impressive degrees, despite a total lack of accomplishment. How can an accomplished, if gray-haired, self-educated techie get a foot in the door?
38682643
submission
StonyCreekBare writes:
I stared out programming in Z80 assembler in the 1970's. Then I programmed in Pascal. Then x86 Assembler in the early 90's. Over time I did a smattering of C, Basic, Visual C++, Visual Basic, and even played at Smalltalk. Most recently I settled on Perl, and Perl/Tk as the favorite "Swiss army Chainsaw" tool set, and modestly consider myself reasonably competent with that. But suddenly, in this tight financial environment I need to find a way to get paid for programming, and perl seems so "yesterday". The two hot areas I see are IOS programming and Python, perhaps to a lesser extent, Java. I need to modernize my skill-set and make myself attractive to employers. I recently started the CS193P Stanford course on iTunesU to learn iPad programming, but am finding it tough going. I think I can crack it, but it will take some time, and I need a paycheck sooner rather than later. What does the Slashdot crowd see as the best path to fame, wealth and full employment for gray-haired old coots who love to program?
7730826
submission
StonyCreekBare writes:
I am wondering what slashdotters have to offer on the idea of Linux based security systems, especially DVR software. I am aware of Zoneminder, but wonder what else is out there? Are there applications that will not only monitor video cameras, but motion sensors and contact closure alarms? What is state of the art in this area, and how do the various Linux platforms stack up in comparison to dedicated embedded solutions? Will these "play nice" with other software, such as Asterisk, and Misterhouse? Can one server host three or four services applications of this nature, assuming CPU/memory/disk resources are sufficient?
6926008
submission
StonyCreekBare writes:
Lately I've been re-thinking my personal security practices. Somehow having my Firefox "fill in" passwords automatically for me when I go to my bank's site seems sub-optimal should my laptop be stolen. Keeping passwords for all the varied sites on the computer in a plain-text file seems unwise as well. Keeping them in my brain is a prescription for disaster, as my brain is increasingly leaky. A paper notepad likewise has it's disadvantages.
I have looked at a number of password managers, password "vaults" and so on. The number of tools out there is a bit overwhelming. Magic Password Generator add-in for Firefox seems competent but is tied to Firefox, and I have other places and applications I want passwords. Plus I might be accessing my sites from other computers which do not have it installed.
The ideal tool in my mind should be something that is independent of any application, browser or computer, something that is easily carried, but which if lost poses no risk of compromise.
What does the Slashdot crowd like in Password tools?
6615567
submission
StonyCreekBare writes:
What does the Slashdot crowd say about the current state of Home Automation software. Preferably Linux based, but mainly the field in general, and principally the DIY flavors as opposed to the upscale turnkey systems. I am familiar with Misterhouse, HomeSeer and Automated Living's HAL2000, all of which have serious flaws and weaknesses, but which sometimes succeed well in specific areas. But in all cases, the state of the art seems to have moved little in the last decade.
Is any interesting work being done in this space? Or should I just grab one of the three and try to mold it to fit my vision of what it should be? Misterhouse at least is open source so I can add new features, but it has not had an update in a long long time and seems to be missing some modern stuff. The other two are expensive and closed source, and from all I can see, quite flawed, not the least by their dependence on intimate ties to Microsoft. Yet they seem to offer a lot more than Misterhouse despite their weaknesses.
Is the Home Automation field as bleak as it appears? Or have I missed the forest for the trees?
Stony
