Posts Tagged: internet

news — 1 Comment
2
Aug 10

Now comes in .com flavor

Some time ago, I was emailed by a gentleman who wanted to sell me the .com version of this domain.  This guy was with a group called Flex Media.  He sent me a link to click on if I was interested.  Suspicious of fraud, I copied the URL and pasted in a browser that I never login to any other services in.  I was sent to a page where I could make an offer.  I offered $30.

About 4 days go by and I’m thinking they laughed at my offer.  But then I got an email back from him.  This time instead of asking for an offer, he is offering the domain @ $205.  This is a hobbyest site.  I do not make any money from it at all.  I could not justify this much money for a new domain, so I replied back offering $30 again.

The very next day I get another email from him.  This time the offer has been “temporally reduced” to the low low price of $155.  This email notes that he is also open to “reasonable offers”.  So, I reply back offering $30 again.

The next day I get another email from him.  This time he pulled some strings and was able to offer the domain to me for the price of $105.  He noted this time that this was his final offer.  So I replied back offering $30 again.

I don’t hear back for a couple days, then I get a new email from him.  This time he wants to know why I have not bought the domain that I showed interest in.  I replied back in a very briefly “Because you did not accept my $30 offer.”.  The next day I had the final email from him “We will accept your offer, just go here to purchase the domain”.  Then there was another one of those one-time URLs.  I clicked on it and it was a page allowing me to purchase it for $30.

So, I bought it and waited the 6 weeks required before transferring the domain.  Transfered it to my normal registrar and here it is.  For here on out, the site will default to the .com flavor.  However, the old links will still work.  Just goes to show that sometimes, you just have to stick to your guns.

Cheers,
Jonathan

geek porn / technical / video — No Comments
13
May 09

This video makes my soul smile

:)

geek porn / technical / video — No Comments
13
May 09

How will we ever keep up?

We are living in exponential times.

news / technical — No Comments
31
Dec 08

Embarq does not care about your safety

Last month I was able to finesse my way into naked DSL. I know, a lot of ISPs offer this but here in Jefferson City Missouri, no one openly admits that it is possible. In fact, you have to talk to a special level of customer support called the “save desk” to get it. But this article is not about naked DSL. This article is about Embarq’s inadequate security measures.

In my prior DSL usages, the ADSL modem has more or less behaved as a bridge by default. This sucks because most users will just plug the device directly into their windows based PC, thus allowing the world to view their C$ share or other obvious Microsoft vulnerabilities (assuming you use Microsoft Windows). But Embarq did something different. Their device came configured more as a router. Typically, I would praise this type of behavior. However, I would soon change my mind.

I host this website over my DSL connection. So, I needed to test my configuration under the new ISP. I found my public IP and navigated to it. To my disgust this form came up.

embarq-1

Wow, this is bad. So, it appears that I have a remotely accessible administrative console on my new ADSL modem. So, I’m already pretty upset. But then I notice that the password is PRE-POPULATED for me. So without changing the password, I click “Login”. , I am now presented with a screen that tells me what the default password is (“1234″). This screen also prompts me to change my password. So, I change my password and press “Login”.

embarq-2

So, lets see what we can do now…

embarq-3

Ok, it looks like I can now modify any of the settings that a normal consumer grade router provides me.

There are many attacks that may be performed with this console, so many that I can not even begin to think about the possibilities.

After a beer or 2, I calmed down and convinced myself that a warning to change your password must have been included in the documentation. So, I read though all the documents that came with the ADSL router. Sure enough, there is no mention of this administrative console, nor is there mention that you need to change this password.

This all leads me to one conclusion… Embarq does not care about your safety.

Cheers,
Jonathan Forck

geek porn — No Comments
16
Jun 08

Visualizing the Eclipse IDE project

This visualization, called code_swarm, shows the history of commits in a software project. A commit happens when a developer makes changes to the code or documents and transfers them into the central project repository. Both developers and files are represented as moving elements. When a developer commits a file, it lights up and flies towards that developer. Files are colored according to their purpose, such as whether they are source code or a document. If files or developers have not been active for a while, they will fade away. A histogram at the bottom keeps a reminder of what has come before.


code_swarm – Eclipse (short ver.) from Michael Ogawa on Vimeo.

Cheers,
Jonathan