Liudvikas Bukys

Internet Week: Arrest Of Computer Researcher Is Arrest Of First Amendment Rights. Bruce Schneier. Yet now here we are in 21st-century America, where the profits of the major record labels, movie houses and publishing companies are more important than First Amendment rights. In many ways, we’re seeing the legacy of the NSA’s long war against cryptographic information. [Tomalak’s Realm]

EE Times: Intern proves WLAN encryption protocol vulnerable. Stubblefield, working as an intern at AT&T Labs with AT&T research staff members John Ioannidis and Aviel Rubin, used the $100 Prism II-based Linksys PC card and a Linux driver that could capture encrypted WEP packets to perform the attack.

Links:

• The attack, described in a recent paper by Fluhrer, Mantin & Shamir , is the most deadly to date on the embattled protocol, allowing for the rapid retrieval of the network key through passive means — regardless of the key bit length.
• A copy of Stubblefield’s report can be found online through the Rice University Web site.

Quote from Stubblefield’s report:

Given this attack, we believe that 802.11 networks should be viewed as insecure.
We recommend the following for people using such wireless networks.

• Assume that the link layer offers no security.
• Use higher-level security mechanisms such as IPsec [3] and SSH [8] for
  security, instead of relying on WEP.

• Treat all systems that are connected via 802.11 as external. Place all access
  points outside the firewall.

• Assume that anyone within physical range can communicate on the network
  as a valid user. Keep in mind that an adversary may utilize a sophisticated
  antenna with much longer range than found on a typical 802.11 PC card.

[via Tomalak’s Realm]

Coyote Linux 2.0.2 (GUI Disk Creator). A single-floppy distribution for sharing an Internet connection. [freshmeat.net]

FBI chief Mueller lied to Senate about key-logging. Off to a great start [The Register]

Trophie 1.01. A daemon which uses TrendMicro libvsapi for virus scanning. [freshmeat.net]

I found a great resource for someone like me who knows how to design a software product and get it built, but doesn’t know the first thing about marketing it. Luckily I found Rick Chapman. We arranged for a quick book swap — I sent him a copy of UI for Programmers, and he sent me a copy of his book, The Product Marketing Handbook for Software. I read the whole book in one weekend. This book is fantastic. It’s the education you would receive if you captured a veteran of channel marketing and gave him a truth drug. Hours of nonstop, extremely useful info. What’s a SPIF? Do you need a UPC? How do you get into the channel? Should you bother? What kind of deals will you have to cut to get retailers to stock and promote your software? It’s a complete braindump covering just about everything you should know if you’re thinking of creating shrink-wrap software. Priceless.

There’s a web site that goes along with it called SoftwareMarketSolution.com (I know, that’s a mouthful.) Check it out, it’s the Joel On Software of marketing.

New York Times:
Federal Judges Take a Stance Against Workplace Monitoring [Slashdot: News for nerds, stuff that matters]

IPTables-tutorial 1.0.4. A tutorial which explains how to install and set up iptables and netfilters. [freshmeat.net]

MS Sends Listbot to the Heap. Wired News Aug 6 2001 5:44AM ET [Tech latest]

The Man Who Debunks Virus Myths. Rob Rosenberger runs a website that rails against the hysteria surrounding Internet diseases. He’s funny, biting, takes no prisoners, and has top CIA security clearance to boot. By Michelle Delio. [Wired News]