ME: wow, Luke Skywalker in Episode IV seems like such a pansy CW: what do you expect, the dude made out with his sister, wore a white karate outfit and got advice from Gonzo.

Here's a good PC Weenie's Comic From today... classic

Here is a response from the security-basics list-serv that I posted. The original person's email is at the bottom

Just my thoughts...

Being one of the 'Under 30' Crowd I have determined that this segment of 'my generation' comes down to lack of respect for authority and the whole "ME ME ME" complex. Many 'kids' my age do not have an any interest in anything other than social networking sites, and wasting time. Time management skills are nowhere to be found within this segment of the population. Now, don't think that I believe that ALL of the 'under 30' crowd is irresponsible and do not have any respect, I do know a fair number of people who do respect authority, and do know the consequences of their actions.

The biggest issue I see is the lack of education amongst the 'under 30' group. Many believe as though 'it'll never happen to me'. Therefore they don't care what happens to them, their computer or their property. In Regards to the anti-virus or anti-spyware sentiments I myself do not run anti-virus on my home computer, but then again I don't use limewire, click on spam links in email and I know where everything I download is coming from. Most of the 'under 30' group tend to click on everything that pops up on their computer screen. Therefore when they get the 'A Virus has been detected click to download 'Trojan.exe' to clean it up.' appears, they'll click and download it, because they do not have any idea how to be security conscience.

The ability to disable AV should be removed within these companies, this is just good security practice. The blame for the AV slowing down the computers comes down the vendors. They tend to pile more and more 'features' instead of attempting to educate their users with proper security practices. I find that products like Norton 360 are a complete waste and cause more hassles than they are worth. Don't try running any modern 'updated' version of an AV on an older computer, it spells trouble. For instance, we were running some 1.8GHz PCs with 256MB of RAM, and we couldn't use Trend Micro on these because as soon as you load up Trend it shoots the memory usage up to 350MB, and this was just anti-virus, not including the firewall. So I can understand this sentiment of AV slowing down systems.

The claim of key logging is something to worry about, but usually you almost never download a key logger without some other form of malware already infecting your computer.

On the subject of banks, I would refuse to pay $5 to $25 per transaction to combat fraud, that's too high. Why don't banks just implement multi-factor authentication. As in username (1), password (2), security question (3) and a security dongle (4). I realize that from a technical standpoint it is not simple nor is it inexpensive, but if it will combat fraud shouldn't it be implemented?

As for the web content filtering, those who quit will only find that most employers do this (if they allow any internet access) and eventually they will have to either just deal with it or go to flipping burgers. Although part of me also thinks that the way that the 'under 30' crowd consumes media is an 'instant gratification' result and they may feel as though they are being singled out in that area. Many of the 'under 30' crowd tend to use RSS feeds to aggregate content instead of going to individual websites like CNN, MSNBC, or ABC. So blocking of certain types of content can be construed to be singling out a certain segment of the population. I myself prefer to have constant communication with people, and luckily I work in an environment where my boss does not argue with what I do and my employer and our board do not believe in filtering. (My boss knows the work will get done). Some of my own general thoughts.

First being that this attitude stems from the lack of education, and funding for said education. Mainly, in the realm of Internet and computer security for the home user. Many users do not want to become security experts when dealing with their own home computers and they are increasingly becoming reliant on those of us who do know what is going and do keep up with the changes in technologies. So we become the first line of defense when something does happen. Great example is I went to my parents house for Super Bowl Sunday, and I spent half my time cleaning up computers and fixing their issues.

Secondly many of the 'under 30' crowd do not care if their computer becomes infected with spyware/malware because it's not their own computer. They didn't purchase it with their own money, their parents did, therefore they do not feel compelled to take responsibility with it. They do not value items, it's all considered throw-away to them.

Thirdly, while Email and phone calls are the 'norm' for the 'over 30' crowd, Text message, sending messages on either myspace, facebook, and more recently, twitter and like platforms, are the norm for the 'under 30' crowd. I myself do not talk on my cell phone that often. I text message more than I talk, I don't use myspace since it's a cesspool, and I'm constantly seeing what is going on with facebook and twitter.

Finally, as a rant, I've heard many 'security experts' claim that libraries are a haven for 'hackers' and key loggers. While this may be true in some libraries, it is not the case is most libraries. Libraries are severely aware of security and do take steps to combat keystroke loggers, running of 'unapproved programs' and are very security conscience.

The views that I have given are a generalization, not every 'under 30' person does all of this, I know many who do not. Feel free to contact me if you have a counterpoint or would like to challenge something I've stated. --------------------------------------------- Hi,

First, the disclaimer: I am over 40, have never been 'cool' and I have always been considered 'the tall, lanky, four-eyed geek.' But I don't get the under-30 crowd's attitude towards IT security. Can someone please give me a clue? I am at a loss how to respond to the attitude I hear, and it impacts my client's security and my credibility.

I have been doing network security consulting for over 15 years. I also do several public service IT security presentations to community and professional groups each month. In either environment, I consistently get a hostile reception from those under 30. The attitude I get is "IT security is a bunch of moronic bull (expletive deleted) dreamed up by paranoid moronic geezers to justify their existence."

I my consulting practice, I often find where under 30 users either don't have anti-virus or anti-spyware installed. Or, if their company has installed it, they have disabled it. They label the AV concept 'stupid' and believe that malware is just a fact of life and you should 'get over it', and that it really isn't as bad as 'people like me' claim it is. I also find that the majority of the younger crowd has either disabled the anti-virus that came with their personal computer or did not renew the subscription when it expired.

You mention key stoke loggers and other spyware, the attitude I get is "If you don't have anything to hide, then you have nothing to worry about." Or, "Why should I worry about privacy? Every aspect of my life is already out there for anyone to read in my blog on MySpace."

If you bring up all the malware slowing down their computer, you get arguments that AV software slows it down worse. I also get the attitude that "Everything I need to keep is on my flash drive, so what whenever my performance starts to (expletive deleted), I just blow away the hard drive and reinstall."

Mention Joe Lopez and his loss of bank funds, and the attitude is that his case is an anomaly; "Why haven't other cases made the news? He must have done something to p-o BoA." And it never fails that someone claims to have a friend that had money stolen from their bank account or credit card, and the bank put the money back. I bring up that we are all paying for such losses by lower interest rates on savings and higher credit card and bank free rates, they could care less. (A couple of side note to banks: 1) I have had many people claim that they would be willing to pay $5 to $25 per transaction just to be able to continue to use online banking if that was what was required to offset the fraud costs. When probing deeper, the per transaction cost appears to be about one-half hour's pay. Just for the convenience of not having to write a check or use snail mail. 2) I have heard several of the younger crowd claim that it is common practice that when you get mad at your bank, just post your credit card information on-line so that the bank gets a bunch of fraudulent charges against the card and cancels it. They see it as a way to punish the bank for upping their interest rate or imposing late fees.)

In the corporate world, the attitude is even worse. I have a client that recently implemented web content filtering that blocks the social networking sites, blogs, chat rooms, and other non-business content. That resulted in the mass resignation of under 30 staff, because "I can't work here if I can't keep in contact with my friends while I work." Some are even screaming "age discrimination" because sites like FoxNews or CNN 'that the old geezers use' were not blocked.

Can someone please explain this attitude? Why the fierce resistance to anything relating to security? Why the "I don't care about privacy" attitude? Why do they have to be in constant communication with their friends, to the point they would rather be unemployed than out of contact?

I do not understand and cannot comprehend these attitudes!

Please enlighten me!

Thanks.

In case you don't know who Merlin Mann is, he is considered the productivity guru for getting things done (also known as GTD). He runs the website 43folders.com. Here's a talk he gave at Macworld about Living with Data.

This guy is an absolute fucking riot.

Blue Stop Sign
Originally uploaded by l0ckergn0me

Could this be so that people can differentiate between lava and the stop sign? I guess it just seems odd considering all we ever see here in the 'mainland' is an octagonal Red stop sign. I wonder if their streets lights are Blue Yellow and Green instead of Red. hmm... ponderable....

Here's a good description of SLUSH from Leo Laporte via Twitter... "S.L.U.S.H.: Simply Loathsome Urban Snow Hazard." see original here

I had this ad and RSS story in my google reader just a few minutes ago... found it quite odd.. I'm not sure if there are HP Drivers to work with the linux laptop, maybe, maybe not.

Virgin redwood, 864 years old (LOC)
Originally uploaded by The Library of Congress

Really cool picture from 1942 about a 864 Redwood with a few tags of timelines...

Today was the keynote for MacWorld San Francisco 2008. Steve Jobs announced several things today.. Here's the run down:

Leopard has sold over 5 million copies so far, that's 20% of them have upgraded their computers to Leopard. It's the most successful launch of an Operating System that they've had.

Apple introduced a new product today, Time Capsule. To describe it, it's basically an Airport Extreme wireless base station with either a 500 Gigabyte or 1 Terabyte hard drive built in. It will allow for syncing over Wireless, and will work with Time Machine wirelessly.

Just like the Airport Extreme it comes with gigabit networking on all of the ports, and 802.11N (draft). The prices are as follows. For the 500GB model it will cost you $299, while the 1 Terabyte model will cost you $499. You can pre-order today, and it will be shipping in February.

The Second thing that Steve Jobs presented was on the iPhone. Within the first quarter the iPhone has grown to consume 19.5% of the smartphone market. It has been 200 days since the iPhone started shipping and over 4 million iPhones have been sold.

The new release of the firmware (version 1.1.3) was released. The new features are...

• Maps with location push pins. This will allow you to keep track of favorite locations and subsequently move the pins around.

• Webclips are website bookmarks on your home screen. They will remember the location on the screen where you zoomed/panned to. You can create up to 9 of them.

• The ability to customize the home screen. You can click and drag the icons around on the screen, put different items within the dock.

• SMS to multiple people (No mention of MMS, but we'll take what we can get). This should have been included in the initial release.

• Lastly, the ability to see the lyrics within a song. The lyrics are within the ID3 tags (if you've added them or used Harmonic to automatically add them).

The software update is available today as a free update to all existing iPhone users.

There are also 5 new applications for the iPod touch. These are already on the iPhone. They are: Maps, Mail, Stocks, Notes, and Weather. They will cost $20 for iPod Touch users (presumably through iTunes).

---Now, can somebody tell me why the hell iPod touch users should have to pay for a firmware update? iPhone users do not, and no previous versions of the iPod have had to pay for firmware upgrades. It seems a bit odd to me.

iTunes was the third thing on the agenda.

So far 4 billion songs sold (as of last week), there were 20 million songs sold in one day on Christmas day. New one-day record for iTunes. 125 million TV shows sold. 7 million movies. Both are way above competitors, but did not meet expectations of projected downloads.

A new feature is available, iTunes Movie Rentals. Touchstone, Miramax, MGM, Lionsgate, Newline, Fox, Warner Brothers, Disney, Paramount, Universal, and Sony are all on board, that is every major movie studio. There are currently over 1000 movies available for rental. New titles will be available 30 days after the DVD release. (This is so they don't cannibalize DVD sales [for now]). You will be able to watch anywhere on your Macs, PCs, all current iPods and the iPhone.

The rules for rentals are as follows, once you rent a movie you have 30 days to start watching it. Once you start watching it, you have 24 hours to finish it. Then the rental expires.

You will be able to watch the rentals instantaneously (approximately 30 seconds). iTunes Movie Rentals launches today in the U.S. International will launch later this year. Software updates for iPods and iTunes will be forthcoming. the iTunes update is available now, you can get it here.

You ask, what about my nice new HD TV? Steve has taken care of that too...

Apple TV Take 2. You do not need a computer. You'll be able to Rent movies from your Apple TV. DVD quality AND HD + Dolby 5.1 surround sound. You can listen or watch podcasts. You can browse through your photos from Flickr and Apple's .Mac service. You can watch YouTube videos, Synching with iTunes (no mention of streaming). You will be able to also rent High Definition movies (Same resolution as DVD, 720 x 480p). They will cost $4.99. 100 titles are available today. You can also preview movies from the interface, and see what other users who have rented that movie have rented.

Photo screensavers can be retrieved from .Mac web galleries. (why not flickr?). You can purchase music right from Apple TV. The new Apple TV is a free software update for owners of the current apple TV. The New software will be out in 2 weeks. And Apple TV has a new price starting at $229 (down from $299). The 160GB Model is now $329.

The fourth, and final, thing: There's something in the air. Apple introduced a new product called the Macbook Air (MBA). Apple thought 3 lbs is a good target weight, but there was too much compromise with the other features. The MacBook Air is 0.16" to 0.76" thick. The thickest part of the MacBook Air is thinner than the thinnest part of the Sony TZ. It fits entirely inside a envelope. The MBA has a Magnetic latch and a 13.3" widescreen display (same as the Macbook). The display is LED backlit. There is an iSight built-in. MacBook-like keyboard, but with an ambient light sensor. There is also a Multi-touch trackpad. To move a window by double-tap and move. Rotate a photo by pivoting your index finger around your thumb. Of course, pinch-zoom (like on the iPod Touch and iPhone).

Detailed Specs: 1.8" Hard Drive, in either 80 GB hard disk standard, or an option oif 64 GB SSD ($999). 1.6 GHz Standard, 1.8 GHz Option -- Intel Core 2 Duo Apple asked Intel to shrink the Core 2 Duo. Intel shrunk the processor by 60%. Paul Otellini stated the processor is as thick as a nickle and as wide as a dime.

45 Watt MagSafe, 1 USB 2.0 port, Micro-DVI, Audio Out. 802.11n + Bluetooth 2.1/EDR. No optical drive, but a Superdrive accessory is available for $99. There's also software comes with the MacBook Air that allows you to "borrow" a Mac or PCs optical drive. 5 hours of Battery Life 2 GB Memory standard $1799 Pre-orders today, shipping in two weeks

Environmental highlights: fully aluminum case (good for recycling), first fully mercury and lead free display, circuit boards are BFR free, retail packaging are 56% less volume than MacBook.

Just a thought on my part, this is only one step away from a tablet mac computer. Just a thought.

In just the first 2 weeks of 2008, apple has updated the Mac Pro, introduced Time Capsule, software updates for iPhone and iPod Touch, Movie Rentals for iTunes, Apple TV software updates, and MacBook Air.