October 2004 - wlug - list.wlug.org.nz

Passwords and SSH
by Perry Lorier 22 Oct '04

22 Oct '04

I have had several people talk to me over the last few days about having their machine compromised. The infection vector appears to be weak ssh passwords. The compromise appears to based on people scanning for open ssh ports then brute forcing passwords before installing a Trojan that connects to IRC and accept commands from a channel (such as .ddos <ip>). Please, make sure you're using a secure password. If passwd warns you that a password is insecure, CHANGE IT. http://www.wlug.org.nz/ChoosingPasswords provides a couple of methods on how to choose a good password. Make sure everything is up to date on your system: for debian: apt-get update apt-get dist-upgrade -u for fedora core click on the blinking red (!) in the corner to get it to do the updates. If you don't use ssh (or don't know what it is) DISABLE IT, or just uninstall it. If you do use ssh, consider using tcpwrappers to lock it to something like "*.nz". See http://www.wlug.org.nz/AdvancedSecurityNotes. To check if you've been compromised, try "locate emech". If it shows up any files (particularly in /tmp or /var/tmp) then you have been compromised. Bugger. If you have, and need help, email me off list and we'll talk about what you can do.

11 17

WLUG Meeting is on monday
by Meeting Reminder bot 21 Oct '04

21 Oct '04

The WLUG meeting is on monday ---------------------------------------------------------------------- !!Live fixup demonstration Monday 25 October (Labour Day) - taking advantage of the holiday, we will start at 4pm, look over a few peoples problems, and run a presentation at 5pm with an introduction on how to find answers to Linux questions online (especially Google and the Wiki), 10 min Q&A and then go over fixing some problems live on a big screen. This one is a great opportunity for new and inexperienced users! Please bring machines. 4pm, 25 October%%% University of Waikato%%% Room: LitB.G.02 Park in Gate 1, Knighton Rd * http://www.waikato.ac.nz/perl-bin/map/tt-map.pl?term=litb * http://www.waikato.ac.nz/contacts/map.pdf

3 2

Re: [wlug] Re Wiki Gentoo notes
by jaytee＠clear.net.nz 21 Oct '04

21 Oct '04

(EDIT) ..have NOT figured out a way to save.. blush: > Regards John.....

2 1

Re: [wlug] Re Wiki Gentoo notes
by jaytee＠clear.net.nz 21 Oct '04

21 Oct '04

Hi All, I have just installed Gentoo On my desktop. I did however, make a few errors on the way to boot time (I can see the surprised looks :-) ) When I created (in Nano)/boot/grub/grub.conf I made an entry of: kernel /kernel-2.4226-gentoo-r6. the correct entry is: kernel /kernel-2.4.26-gentoo-r6. I am able to correct this in grub but I have figured out a way to save the change. ^X does not do it and I am loathe to hit keys at random as I have already had some undesirable results due to this. There are more errors but I thought I would try doing one thing at a time for a change. I think some of my newbiness might have worn off in the last week or so hee hee. Regards John.....

1 0

October committee meeting minutes available
by Craig Box 20 Oct '04

20 Oct '04

Hi everyone, WLUG committee met last night - as usual, our minutes are available on the Wiki, this time at http://www.wlug.org.nz/CommitteeMeetingTopics.2004-10-20. Please remember the upcoming WLUG meeting on Monday is at 4pm and that there will be a presentation at 5pm. Bring things that need fixing! Regards, Craig

1 0

RE: [wlug] MacOS X....
by Matthew Browne (DSL HN) 20 Oct '04

20 Oct '04

> From: Oliver Jones [mailto:oliver(a)deeper.co.nz] > > http://porting.openoffice.org/mac/ooo-osx_downloads.html > <http://porting.openoffice.org/mac/ooo-osx_downloads.html> > > > Hmm. Same place I was looking before. Lots of the mirrors > report 404 errors. I managed to get a copy from one of the > mirrors in the end though. After installing X11 and OOo I > fired it up and it's about as good as you could expect for a > Unix app on a Mac. Ie, not very good. It would do for a > geek like me. I could put up with it being completely > different to everything else. But on reflection I think I > need a more "MacOS" like app for my mother. So I downloaded > the MS Office:Mac 30 day trial. I will give that a going > over and see if it is worth the $700+ it costs.... I don't know much about Mac Office software, I never need anything like that, but from what I hear, many Mac users don't like either of MS Office or Open Office. If word processing is all your mother needs, it might be worth checking out some of these instead... Nisus Writer http://www.nisus.com/Express/ Abiword http://prdownloads.sourceforge.net/abiword/ NeoOffice/J (Open Office with Java UI) http://www.planamesa.com/neojava/en/index.php If you're after any other software, it might be worth having a look through the categories here: http://www.versiontracker.com/macosx/ And http://www.apple.com/downloads/macosx/

4 3

ICS control
by Jared Wigmore 19 Oct '04

19 Oct '04

I'm using Internet Connection Sharing to access the (family) Windows computer's Internet connection from my Linux box. How could it be controlled (eg connect/disconnect) from Linux? ===== -- JaredWigmore -----BEGIN GEEK CODE BLOCK----- Version: 3.12 GCM/CS/S d? s+++:-- a? C++++ UL++ P--- L++ E>+++ W++ N>+ o? K- w--- O? M-- V-- PS-- Y-- PGP- t+++ 5? X R* tv b++ DI D G e- h! !r z- ------END GEEK CODE BLOCK------ http://www.wlug.org.nz/JaredWigmore http://AnswersInGenisis.org/ http://www.againsttcpa.com/ ---------------------------------------- Find local movie times and trailers on Yahoo! Movies. http://au.movies.yahoo.com

2 1

WLUG Meeting is one week away
by Meeting Reminder bot 18 Oct '04

18 Oct '04

The Waikato Linux Users Group have a meeting in one week today. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- !!Live fixup demonstration Monday 25 October (Labour Day) - taking advantage of the holiday, we will start at 4pm, look over a few peoples problems, and run a presentation at 5pm with an introduction on how to find answers to Linux questions online (especially Google and the Wiki), 10 min Q&A and then go over fixing some problems live on a big screen. This one is a great opportunity for new and inexperienced users! Please bring machines. 4pm, 25 October%%% University of Waikato%%% Room: LitB.G.02 Park in Gate 1, Knighton Rd * http://www.waikato.ac.nz/perl-bin/map/tt-map.pl?term=litb * http://www.waikato.ac.nz/contacts/map.pdf

9 9

Re Wiki Gentoo notes
by jaytee＠clear.net.nz 18 Oct '04

18 Oct '04

Hi All I thought I saw some one demonstrate a really easy way of getting files downloaded and installed in the Gentoo distro. As root # up <name_of_package> Computer then searches for and reports back: "I would install Files <name> to <name> If the user was satisfied with the report then the "p" is deleted <enter> and the update goes ahead. I did not put this in the wiki In case I was totally wrong, it did happen once :-) Regards John

5 5

Removing FC2
by Gun Caundle 14 Oct '04

14 Oct '04

I have FC2 on a box that I want to put Windows on. How do I uninstall FC2? Any help would be appreciated.

4 5