WI-FI SECURITY - Advice From The FBI

You’re at the airport waiting for your flight. With time to kill,
you’re thinking of connecting your laptop to the airport's Wi-Fi to
check your office e-mail...do some personal banking...or shop for a
gift for your spouse.


But first, consider this: odds are there’s a hacker nearby, with his
own laptop, attempting to "eavesdrop" on your computer to obtain
personal data that will provide access to your money or even to your
company's sensitive information.


http://theciscocommunity.com/forums/t/21.aspx

On May 9, 4:11 pm, "web2.0" <rwest.ea...@gmail.com> wrote:
> You’re at the airport waiting for your flight. With time to kill,
> you’re thinking of connecting your laptop to the airport's Wi-Fi to
> check your office e-mail...do some personal banking...or shop for a
> gift for your spouse.
>
> But first, consider this: odds are there’s a hacker nearby, with his
> own laptop, attempting to "eavesdrop" on your computer to obtain
> personal data that will provide access to your money or even to your
> company's sensitive information.
>
> http://theciscocommunity.com/forums/t/21.aspx

If you're using windows XP, know that the geniuses at Redmond let the
server function running by default at start up on end-user computers
Advice from me: Disable it!

In message
<3160599f-cfe4-484a-8a32-a69e9fa1c3b5@26g2000hsk.googlegroups.com>
bi241@scn.org wrote:

>If you're using windows XP, know that the geniuses at Redmond let the
>server function running by default at start up on end-user computers
>Advice from me: Disable it!

Advice from me: Patch your damn system. If you've installed an XP
service pack any time in the last four years, your server service is not
listening by default unless you have joined a domain.

On May 9, 8:37 pm, DevilsPGD <spam_narf_s...@crazyhat.net> wrote:
> In message
> <3160599f-cfe4-484a-8a32-a69e9fa1c...@26g2000hsk.googlegroups.com>
>
> bi...@scn.org wrote:
> >If you're using windows XP, know that the geniuses at Redmond let the
> >server function running by default at start up on end-user computers
> >Advice from me: Disable it!
>
> Advice from me: Patch your damn system. If you've installed an XP
> service pack any time in the last four years, your server service is not
> listening by default unless you have joined a domain.

thanks! but no thanks! my shit is doing just fine without "stop
leaks", "hot fixes", "first aid", "patches" and the likes

any one who trusts microsoft is an imbecile!

bwahahaha....

On Sat, 10 May 2008 01:52:03 -0700 (PDT), bi241@scn.org wrote:

>any one who trusts microsoft is an imbecile!

Microsoft is not worthy of trust? They own TrustWorthy Computing:
<http://www.microsoft.com/mscorp/twc/default.mspx>
What more could you want?

>bwahahaha....

Would you prefer to trust the FBI, which still can't get their own
computer systems to do what they need/want/pay-for?

Somewhat old, but lots of detail on what happened:
<http://www.spectrum.ieee.org/sep05/1455> (11 pages)

New, improved, and overpriced at 5 times the cost of the one that
didn't work:
<http://www.govexec.com/dailyfed/1207/122707n1.htm>
When in doubt, throw (your) money at the problem.

Microsoft is almost looking good by comparison.

--
Jeff Liebermann jeffl@cruzio.com
150 Felker St #D http://www.LearnByDestroying.com
Santa Cruz CA 95060 http://802.11junk.com
Skype: JeffLiebermann AE6KS 831-336-2558

> Would you prefer to trust the FBI, which still can't get their own
> computer systems to do what they need/want/pay-for?

Would you prefer they did know how to do it? Better to have them
incompetent, eh?

In message
<3f8123b7-d8da-4ff9-b089-ae97624b3092@34g2000hsf.googlegroups.com>
bi241@scn.org wrote:

>On May 9, 8:37 pm, DevilsPGD <spam_narf_s...@crazyhat.net> wrote:
>> In message
>> <3160599f-cfe4-484a-8a32-a69e9fa1c...@26g2000hsk.googlegroups.com>
>>
>> bi...@scn.org wrote:
>> >If you're using windows XP, know that the geniuses at Redmond let the
>> >server function running by default at start up on end-user computers
>> >Advice from me: Disable it!
>>
>> Advice from me: Patch your damn system. If you've installed an XP
>> service pack any time in the last four years, your server service is not
>> listening by default unless you have joined a domain.
>
>thanks! but no thanks! my shit is doing just fine without "stop
>leaks", "hot fixes", "first aid", "patches" and the likes
>
>any one who trusts microsoft is an imbecile!
>
>bwahahaha....

If you're going to run Windows, you may as well patch it. If you don't
trust patches, you shouldn't trust the base OS either, and should move
on.

On Sat, 10 May 2008 21:21:33 -0400, "Bill Kearney"
<wkearney99@hotmail.com> wrote:

>> Would you prefer to trust the FBI, which still can't get their own
>> computer systems to do what they need/want/pay-for?
>
>Would you prefer they did know how to do it? Better to have them
>incompetent, eh?

That's a no win question for me. I straddle the fence between card
carrying member of the establishment and computah criminal[1]. I
think the best compromise is the current situation, where the FBI is
doing an amazingly good job without proper computer records, but where
a suitable computer system is somewhere between science fiction and a
budgetary nightmare.

Crime doesn't pay, but fighting crime does.

Wanna help the FBI catch evil internet crooks like me? Just apply
here:
<http://www.infragard.net>
There's even a web page where you can denounce your friends and
neighbors:
<http://www.ic3.gov>
Maybe outsourcing national security to Microsoft might be an
improvement.


[1] In my mis-spent past, my goal in life was to commit an original
crime. Preferably one that was not classified as a crime at the time.
The problem is that if I succeed, I can't really tell anyone or do a
web page on the subject. So, I've moved on to supplying wrong answers
to usenet news questions, which is not exactly original or a crime,
but will suffice.

--
Jeff Liebermann jeffl@cruzio.com
150 Felker St #D http://www.LearnByDestroying.com
Santa Cruz CA 95060 http://802.11junk.com
Skype: JeffLiebermann AE6KS 831-336-2558

Jeff Liebermann wrote:
>
> [1] In my mis-spent past, my goal in life was to commit an original
> crime. Preferably one that was not classified as a crime at the time.
> The problem is that if I succeed, I can't really tell anyone or do a
> web page on the subject. So, I've moved on to supplying wrong answers
> to usenet news questions, which is not exactly original or a crime,
> but will suffice.
>

From what I can tell, you seem to be extraordinarily successful at what you
do. Most of the time I cannot tell what is wrong with your answers.

Larry

On Sun, 11 May 2008 02:44:55 GMT, Larry Finger
<Larry.Finger@lwfinger.net> wrote:

>Jeff Liebermann wrote:
>>
>> [1] In my mis-spent past, my goal in life was to commit an original
>> crime. Preferably one that was not classified as a crime at the time.
>> The problem is that if I succeed, I can't really tell anyone or do a
>> web page on the subject. So, I've moved on to supplying wrong answers
>> to usenet news questions, which is not exactly original or a crime,
>> but will suffice.

>From what I can tell, you seem to be extraordinarily successful at what you
>do. Most of the time I cannot tell what is wrong with your answers.
>Larry

Not really. I've made more money with stock and real estate
speculation than with RF engineering. If it wasn't for a few major
medical adventures, I would be retired by now, and living off the
taxpayers. I keep myself busy fixing computers and doing consulting,
but I certainly can't claim to be financially successful.

Note that I don't really answer questions directly. What I try to do
is explain how it works so that the person asking can make their own
decisions and/or do their own troubleshooting. Some people resist
this method, which is when most of the debates and argument ensue.
Sometimes (like today), I get bored and just supply anecdotes from my
checkered past and those of friends and associates. Sometimes, I
supply answers that are sufficiently rediculous to be entertaining.

I also have the amazing ability to sound like an authority on
literally any subject, while not having a clue as to what I'm doing. I
think I learned the trick in school on various debating teams and from
hanging around too many courtrooms playing expert witness. This is
where I really get into trouble. A little knowledge is dangerous and
there are a few real experts around to remind me to stay within my
area of expertise. I make plenty of mistakes, but that's normal
considering the number of questions and diverse topics I try to
answer. I'm also rather sloppy as you may notice by the number of
stupid spelling and grammar errors. That's usually because I'm on the
phone while typing or in a hurry and don't have time to proofread my
posting.


Some software to keep you occupied:

Microsoft SteadyState. Suitable for protecting a computer at an
Internet cafe or hotel:
<http://www.microsoft.com/windows/products/winfamily/sharedaccess/default.mspx>
Version 2.0 is good enough, but 2.5 beta looks much nicer and easier
to configure. This came in really handy when I loaned a friend my
laptop.

If you like IPeft for wireless benchmarking, you'll probably like
JPerf, which adds a GUI front end to IPerf:
<http://www.openmaniak.com/iperf.php> (near bottom)
<http://code.google.com/p/xjperf/>
<http://xjperf.googlecode.com/files/jperf2.0.0.zip>


--
Jeff Liebermann jeffl@cruzio.com
150 Felker St #D http://www.LearnByDestroying.com
Santa Cruz CA 95060 http://802.11junk.com
Skype: JeffLiebermann AE6KS 831-336-2558