February 1, 2002, 3:32 pm
Interactive Week Feb 1 2002 2:10PM ET
A new service from McAfee will soon let you discover whether anyone is hacking into your system, and if so, let you submit that information to the malicious user’s ISP or local law enforcement officials.
The project, known as HackerWatch.org, is an ambitious attempt by McAfee, a division of Network Associates best known for its antivirus products, to create an interactive anti-hacker community online. But will it make a difference?
Sam Curry, who has overseen firewall development at McAfee for some time, said HackerWatch is intended “not to start any witch hunts, but to get good quality information” from its users. To help it reach that goal, McAfee recently merged with NeoWorx, a company best known for NeoTrace, a product used by law enforcement to trace malicious users.
[via Moreover – Computer security news]
February 1, 2002, 3:27 pm
January 30, 2002, 10:34 am
SecurityFocus:
Understanding IDS Active Response Mechanisms
by Jason Larsen, and Jed Haile
January 28, 2002, 9:01 am
January 27, 2002, 1:18 pm
Lighthouse: A redesign recipe for tough times. The recent boom has ensured that most of the Web sites that are needed have already gone up. The end of that boom has deadened any sense of urgency among organisations still planning their first site. And it’s a rare Web site built in the past four years that couldn’t use substantial improvement. [Tomalak’s Realm]
January 27, 2002, 1:17 pm
devhead: From December 22, 1998; Redesign: When and How. Jakob Nielsen. [Tomalak’s Realm]
January 25, 2002, 12:06 pm
Results, Not Resolutions
A guide to judging Microsoft’s security progress.
By Bruce Schneier and Adam Shostack
Jan 24 2002 3:50AM PT
January 24, 2002, 7:34 pm
Microsoft Network Security Hotfix Checker (HFNetChk) version 3.3
HFNetChk is a command-line tool that enables an administrator to check the patch status of Windows NT 4.0, Windows 2000, and Windows XP machines.
HFNetChk can be run from Windows NT 4.0, Windows 2000, or Windows XP systems, and will scan either the local system or remote ones for patches available for the following products: Windows NT 4.0, Windows 2000, Windows XP, Internet Information Server 4.0 and 5.0, SQL Server 7.0 and 2000 (including Microsoft Data Engine), and Internet Explorer 5.01 and later.
NOTE: Version 3.31 (Nshc331.exe) is an updated version of 3.3 that will properly identify SQL Server 7.0 systems.
January 21, 2002, 8:12 am
Gartner on IT Architecture:
requires a Gartner “seat” — send me mail if you’re at UR and want to see the reports
The Architecture Engagement Process
[PDF]
TU-14-9766,
15 January 2002,
Greta James, John Roberts
What Do IT Architects Do?
[PDF]
COM-13-2153, 8 May 2001,
Nick Jones, Simon Mingay
A perspective on IT architecture as an investment principle helps to define the purpose and role of architects.
January 19, 2002, 12:05 pm
Weakened encryption lays bare al-Qaeda files
Relatively weak encryption appears to have been used to protect files recovered from two computers believed to have belonged to al-Qaeda operatives in Afghanistan.
The files were found on a laptop and desktop computer bought by Wall Street Journal reporters from looters in Kabul a few days after it was captured by Northern Alliance forces on 13 November. The files provide information about reconnaissance missions to Europe and the Middle East.
A report in the UK’s Independent newspaper indicates that the encryption used to protect these files had been significantly weakened by US export restrictions that existed until last year.
The files were reportedly stored using Microsoft’s Windows 2000 operating system and protected from unauthorised access using the Encrypting File System (EFS), which comes as standard on this platform. They were protected with a 40-bit Data Encryption Standard (DES), according to the Independent report. This was the maximum strength encryption allowed for export by US law until March 2001. All systems are now sold with the standard 128-bit key encryption, exponentially stronger than 40-bit.
Wall Street Journal reporters say that they decrypted a number of files using “an array of high-powered computers” to try every possible combination, or “key” in succession, a process that took five days.
