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Online Exam Requires Microsoft Office 365, Laptops, No Chargers Allowed
by Lawrence D'Oliveiro 20 Aug '18

20 Aug '18

Some students are Botany Downs Secondary College are upset at their school’s requirements for them to set the NCEA Level 1 science exam <https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=12110032>. Their problem is with the ban on chargers, because the school says they cannot provide outlets for 450 students. So laptops have to have a 5-hour battery life to make it through the exam. Which leaves out older machines with batteries in less-than-tiptop condition. Would there be a problem allowing them spare batteries? (And temporary use of an outlet while switching over, to avoid the need to power down?) Come to think of it, do they know they can buy spare batteries?

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Slides Worth Viewing
by Lawrence D'Oliveiro 15 Aug '18

15 Aug '18

Followed this link <https://twitter.com/thepacketrat/status/1029728686734565382> which doesn’t seem to relate to the article that included it, but which has some gems on IoT security worth repeating: Assumptions of Technological Manifest Destiny: 1. Technology is value-neutral and thus will automatically help everyone 2. Technology should be deployed as quickly as possible 3. History is uninteresting and unhelpful The Value of Scepticism In three words: Think before deploying. In two words: Think first. In one word: Don’t. Q: Why Do Keynote Speakers Keep Suggesting That Improving Security Is Possible? A: Because Keynote Speakers Make Bad Life Decisions And Are Poor Role Models.

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Standardizing The Legalities Of Reporting Security Bugs
by Lawrence D'Oliveiro 03 Aug '18

03 Aug '18

Security researchers often find themselves in for a rough ride (legally speaking) when they try to report holes that they have found. This new effort <https://arstechnica.com/information-technology/2018/08/new-open-source-effo…> tries to put together a clear framework so everybody knows exactly where they stand. Of course, the next step is to get various organizations to adopt it.

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Hāwera High School Hit By Ransomware Attack
by Lawrence D'Oliveiro 02 Aug '18

02 Aug '18

Some students have lost access to their coursework <https://www.theregister.co.uk/2018/08/02/new_zealand_school_hit_by_ransomwa…>.

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Reddit Breached Via Two-Factor Authentication Vulnerability
by Lawrence D'Oliveiro 02 Aug '18

02 Aug '18

Two-factor authentication, using a phone call or SMS text as the second factor, seemed like such a neat idea. But it turned out to be far too easy to hack. And here’s the proof <https://arstechnica.com/information-technology/2018/08/password-breach-teac…>: The 2FA protecting the Reddit accounts, however, relied on OTPs sent through SMS messages, despite reports over the years (such as this one <https://arstechnica.com/information-technology/2017/05/thieves-drain-2fa-pr…>) that make it amply clear they are susceptible to interception. Seems like the only reasonable option for a second authentication factor is dedicated hardware security keys.

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sudo Or su?
by Lawrence D'Oliveiro 01 Aug '18

01 Aug '18

Found this piece <https://www.pclinuxos.com/forum/index.php/topic,90479.0.html> in the PCLinuxOS forums, courtesy of a reader link from <https://www.theregister.co.uk/2018/08/01/ncsc_ubuntu/>. Basically it says that “sudo”, when used “In The Manner Of the Buntus”, i.e. to be able to run arbitrary commands as root, is a bad idea. Instead, it should be carefully restricted to allow access only to functions needed by a particular user. To get blanket root access, it is better to use “su”, which means having a separate root password. Actually, it goes further than that: it decrees that anybody posting instructions on the PCLinuxOS forums involving “irresponsible” use of sudo (i.e. contrary to the philosophy above) is subject to having their posts deleted, being reprimanded, and ultimately having their account cancelled altogether. Thoughts?

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UK’s National Cyber Security Centre Weighs In On Ubuntu
by Lawrence D'Oliveiro 01 Aug '18

01 Aug '18

Advice for both users and admins about Ubuntu 18.04 LTS <https://www.ncsc.gov.uk/guidance/eud-security-guidance-ubuntu-1804-lts>, from the arm of the GCHQ charged with looking after the security of the computers of ordinary mortals. Points out some gaps in software-only disk encryption, and recommends enabling Secure Boot, among a remarkable amount of other detail. Found from <https://www.theregister.co.uk/2018/08/01/ncsc_ubuntu/>.

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If You Buy Something, Do You Own It?
by Lawrence D'Oliveiro 31 Jul '18

31 Jul '18

Raglan man Niall Darwin discovers that assurances by electric-car company Tesla’s own official representatives aren’t worth a darn. And so, the question needs to be asked for the hundredth or thousandth time: when you buy a consumer item with essential proprietary software at its heart, what actually do you own? <https://www.newshub.co.nz/home/new-zealand/2018/07/waikato-man-suing-tesla-…>

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Now They Need To Fix The TV Sets ...
by Lawrence D'Oliveiro 31 Jul '18

31 Jul '18

YouTube has adopted a more responsive page layout to cope with videos having different aspect ratios <https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2018/07/youtube-picks-up-dark-mode-on-andro…>. To no-one’s surprise, this has annoyed a few people who have become accustomed to the old design. When 16:9 widescreen TVs were being conceived way back in the 1990s, the aim clearly was to allow us all to view cinematic movies full-screen, making maximum use of available screen area with minimal or no black bars. Nobody foresaw the widespread popularity of smartphones with built-in cameras, and of the common use of footage captured with such devices in TV broadcasts. But while such phones commonly have 16:9 screens and their cameras capture 16:9 footage, their users often hold them vertically, so the image ends up in just about the worst shape for display on a regular widescreen TV. There seems to be a common convention nowadays of filling in the gaps with blurred portions of the actual image -- which I agree looks less jarring than black bars. Hmmm ... there have been computer monitors that can be rotated to portrait or landscape orientations, with automatic adjustment of the display to match (aka “xrandr” <https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/xrandr>). Wouldn’t it be useful if a TV could do the same...?

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Ubuntu 18.04.01 now released for most flavours
by Ian Stewart 30 Jul '18

30 Jul '18

Hi, A few days ago Ubuntu 18.04.01 was released for most flavours (e.g. Desktop, Server, Mate, Budgie, Kylin, Xubuntu, Kubuntu) You can get your flavour, in 32 or 64 bit, from here... https://www.ubuntu.com/download/desktop <https://www.ubuntu.com/download/desktop> http://cdimage.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/releases/18.04.1/release/ <http://cdimage.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/releases/18.04.1/release/> http://cdimage.ubuntu.com/ubuntu-mate/releases/18.04.1/release/ http://cdimage.ubuntu.com/ubuntu-budgie/releases/18.04.1/release/ http://cdimage.ubuntu.com/ubuntukylin/releases/18.04.1/release/ http://cdimage.ubuntu.com/xubuntu/releases/18.04.1/release/ http://cdimage.ubuntu.com/kubuntu/releases/18.04.1/release/ My understanding is that if you are running 16.04.xx LTS and you have enabled "Notify me of a new updated version of Ubuntu", then you should now start to get pop-up's prompting you to do an on-line update to 18.04.01. I'm hopeful that it will bring some stability to Mate that seemed to be lacking in 18.04.00. cheers, Ian.

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