Spammers kill Blue Frog! Now we know who runs the internet!

Wednesday, May 17, 2006

http://www.broadbandreports.com/shownews/74524

Spammers Defeat Blue Security
Shutting down operations after Russian DDoS attack
Posted 2006-05-17 11:44:57

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Anti-Spam outfit Blue Security posted a statement on their currently off-line website stating they were ceasing their war on spam and shutting down, after a Russian spammer essentially DDoS'd the company to death. The outfit had some half-a-million of their members recently bombard spammers with e-mails requesting they cease operations. While some spammers complied, one outfit launched a denial of service attack on the company they simply couldn't overcome, claims the company in a statement:
"Over the past few months we were able to leverage the power of the Blue Community and convince top spammers responsible for sending over 25% of the world's spam to comply with our users' opt-out list. We were making real progress in eliminating spam from the lives of our users.

However, several leading spammers viewed this change as a strategic threat to their spam business. The week before last, these spammers launched a series of attacks against us, taking down hundreds of thousands of other websites via a massive Denial-of-Service attack and causing damage to ISPs, website owners and Internet users worldwide. They also began a relentless campaign of email intimidation against many members of the Blue Community.

After recovering from the attack, we determined that once we reactivated the Blue Community, spammers would resume their attacks. We cannot take the responsibility for an ever-escalating cyber war through our continued operations."
The Washington Post has a good read on the company's lost battle against spam.
***End Quote***

Well, I think we now know who runs the internet. It's not the ISPs, the gummamint, or the users. It's the spammers!

We have to very quickly get a strategy that works — verified senders, a mail "tax", or whatever. 

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Posted by reinkefj

Visual Basic version of the confederate coding mechanism

Monday, May 15, 2006

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Recently read the frontpage story of breaking the confederate code 137 years late… Figured I would write a visual basic version for fellow VB nerds to play with on digg.

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Adds on to the interesting story with a resurgence in private cryptology. Like brain surgery for amatuers. :-)

read more | digg story

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Posted by reinkefj

Cracking an old code! AND an implication in today’s news.

Monday, May 15, 2006

http://rz1.razorpoint.com/index.html

How I Broke The Confederate Code (137 Years Too Late)

*** Quoted from DUGG *** 

A very interesting read about a former NSA cryptologist cracking a confederate code from the Civil War. Rather topical in light of the recent cracking of some WWII enigma codes, the current NSA stories in the news and, of course, all the "cryptography" in the imminent release of the Da Vinci Code. Interesting stuff.

*** End Quote ***

Having certified as crypto geek at NSA, I thoroughly enjoyed reading this crack. Note the extensive use of history, knowledge, geography, feel, emotion, and hunches. This demonstrates how far we have come. Once has to be extremely careful in any crypto operation. I am amused that PA has adopted eNotary. I'd be much more circumspec about the widespread deployment of cypto.  

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Electronic Notarization Comes to Pennsylvania!On January 3, 2006, the Secretary of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania began accepting applications from currently commissioned notaries in the state for becoming approved electronic notaries (eNotaries). eNotaries are permitted to engage in electronic notarizations after receiving approval from the secretary. An application may be filled out online and printed from the secretary's Web site at http://www.dos.state.pa.us/bcel. Complete instructions and more information are also available on the Web site. 

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HMmmm? 

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Posted by reinkefj

When networking, write personalize emails.

Monday, May 15, 2006

I try to keep a large number of plates spinning in a whole variety of activities. I really would like to "network" with all 8k of people that I have in my rolodex. But, that ain't humanly possible. And, certainly not by a lazy guy like me.

I ty to give something to my networking contacts that they will find useful. Quick answers to questions. Leads. Sources of further information. Ideas. Everything but money. I need all I have for myself. And, my favorite charities.

So, from time to time, when I have something I think is useful, I send it to them. Like most people that have taken a marketing course at one time or another, I try to segment my effort. What portion of that 8k might find it more useful than others. A sample! 

Now how will I "do" it. Email. Has to be. It fast, cheap, and is "do-able". 

In the past, I'd send an email to myself and bcc my sample.  Last time, one of my "stuckees" called me and sounded slightly miffed at my approach. I was taken aback. I had never thought anyone would be insulted or hurt. So, I took the idea back to the drawing board.

This time, and probably from hence forth and ever more, I'll send each one a unique individual email.

It still will be a bunch. But it will appear one2one. It that cheating?

I don't have that many good ideas that that I could have 8k of them. I'm lucky if I have one a month. It'd would take me 8,000 months to get to every contact. Arggh! 

SO, I used Word to do an email merge. It produces a unique email customized to each recipient.

Yell if you want more details.

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Posted by reinkefj

Taking Inventory of Program Files

Monday, May 15, 2006

Easy to start

Open dos window

cd /program files

dir *.* > /dirprog.txt

edit dirprog.txt

trim the extra

CNTL-A CNTL-C

Open excel CNTL-V 

Add some headings

Then the hard work begins.

Categorize: Huh?, Utility, Application

Arghh! 

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Posted by reinkefj

Medicare Rx Plan Deadline

Monday, May 15, 2006

Arghhh, I had to sign up three old folks for Medicare Part D today. PIA! I used the AARP plan since it seemed the "best". Not that I understand the nuances of what's going on. $25.month is like playing the lotto. And, they were talkign about paying penalties if you didn't pick one by today. So it's done. All the old folks hate taking drugs anyway. What part of "non compliant" do these docs not understand. If'n' I was a doc and I had one of these geezers I was tryin' to help, I would not prescribe anything other than once a day in the morning pills. No joke, I had one doc rx my mom with a sequence of pills during the day. First up take a 25, at 11am take a 50, at 3pm take 25, and at bedtime take a 50. I know fromt he drug bills that she's taking ~ one 50 a day. When I brought it do the doc's attention, "no big deal" and "any improvement from the drugs would be marginal at best". Arghhh, I should have made the doc take the pills. Another quick horror story. Another geezer, my aunt, love dearly but would love to strangle sometimes, goes to her regular doc, who KNOWS how she hides pills under her toungue to spit out later. He rxs her with 90 day supply rx that cost 800 $!!!! Those pills are STILL sitting on top the refigerator. Arghhhh!! I hate: the gummamint, docs, and pharmacies! It's a conspiracy. Why do I need to pay a doctor to get a drug. The drug war. It's absurd. It's like having to bring a note from your parents. Mommy Gummamint! What a system.

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Posted by reinkefj

Flood Insurance is welfare for rich people!

Sunday, May 14, 2006

http://www.boston.com/business/personalfinance/articles/2006/05/14/cover_yourself_against_flooding
THE COLOR OF MONEY
Cover yourself against flooding
By Michelle Singletary  |  May 14, 2006

***Begin Quote***

It's hard to forget last year's hurricane season and the lessons we all should have learned from it.

One of the chief lessons for both homeowners and renters: Consider getting flood insurance.

Here are two facts I bet you didn't know: Floods occur in all 50 states. And most homeowners insurance does not cover flood damage.

***End Quote***

Aghhh! One lesson we need to learn is that we are STUPID!

OK, follow along kiddies. Hey Mommy Government treats like you are too stupid to run your own life. Why shouldn't everyone?

Where does most flood damage occur?

For those who went to gummamint skoolz, it's the coast line.

Who lives on the water?

For those of you who have not looked into or dreamt about buying something on the "water", it's rich people.

What happens when a disaster happens?

For those of you lucky enough to not to have had this happen, the government cuts a check and you rebuild.

What happens after you rebuild?

Get another flood insurance policy and wait for another disaster. Most people when they rebuild build something better.

Who pays for the flood insurance program?

Everyone who buys it and the taxpayers.

What if you never have a loss?

You're among the losers in this game of rich people's roulette!

What if you're a poor slob, who can just barely afford life?

You might not buy flood insurance and cross your fingers.

So the taxpayer and the dummies who buy flood insurance and never collect pay for rich people to build and rebuild every better houses in dangerous areas.

Solution is simple. End this form of welfare. End federal flood insurance. If insurance is desired, the marketplace will provide it. If no one wants to insure that risk, (i.e., a New Orleans mansion next to the old flood wall), then why should the taxpayer.

If you can't end it — government programs never die — like a vampire they're eternal, then restrict it to one check per location. Rebuild in the same spot at your own risk!

Seems simple to me? 

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Posted by reinkefj

A Libertarian solution to the “illegal immigrant problem”!

Sunday, May 14, 2006

http://www.ncc-1776.org/tle2006/tle367-20060514-03.html  

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The simple solution is to require welfare recipients, public school students and recipients of government medical care handouts to PROVE that they are US Citizens.
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It's obvious to any Libertarian (defined as: I don't support the use of force to achieve social or political goals.) that the problem is the government "services". You know those things that they do TO us for our own good that we'd rather they not do. I find it amusing that I can't opt out of their "services". And, that I am force to pay for them.

One quick example. I use sugar. The government "protects" the sugar growers in the US with a high tariff which is essential a tax on me. I don't want to protect sugar growers. Look at a truly free market. Division of labor. The cheapest producer is the best producer. If I wanted to "protect" US Sugar Grower, then I could just "Buy American". My choice. If "protecting" US Sugar Growers was important, I coudl do it. I'm sure some smart advertiser could announce "made with only the best US sugar". They could put little American flags on the boxes. But in the end the US consumers woudl vote with their pocketbook imho. Government "protection" at the point of a gun. Government protection = no freedom; market protection = you choose. 

So when someone says  "illegal immigration problem, we have to immediately fire back "end government welfare". The freedom solution.

But if we eliminate welfare (i.e., checks; publik skooolz; hospital subsidy), everyone will starve, be stupid, and die! Yeah right. There will be no charities: feeding those that deserve help,  helping the poor, teaching those who want to learn, or caring for the sick. Hey gang, wake up, those things were originally done by other than the government before some one fell for the idea that the gummamint could do it better.

We have to recognize that Government Socialism kills. It did in the Soviet Union, a 70 year experiment in misery. Greed is good. It motivates people to help each other. We are a good and charitable people. Look at the 911 fund, the tusamni, and the Katrina efforts. The Government is inept, corrupt, and stupid. Let's trust ourselves. Who do you want to rely on WalMart or FEMA?

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Posted by reinkefj

Strange things happen to my linksys network this moring

Sunday, May 14, 2006

When I arrived on duty this morning (i.e., got up and went to check my email), I discovered that LUGGABLE was disconnected from my wifi net. First thing I did a repair and opened up wifi icon. My faithful OREGON wasn't there. Hmm. I wnt to OLDLAP and it do was disconnected. Now I know Comcast is in their Mother's Day freeze so it's unlikely that it was them. SO I went and restarted the linksys wap.

I checked my UDP forwards that Azureus was griping about while I was there. They all were all their as I thought. udp 5000 – 5099 maps to 100, 5100 – 5199 maps to 101, you get the idea.

WAP restarts and I see the blinking lights on the WAP, the WAN, and the cable modem. SO I return OLDLAP is now connected. AND now to LUGGABLE, it too has reconnected.

Sort of. Look around and everything seems OK but it's running like mud. Lookout seems to be taking all the cycles. Blue Frog is offline and won't come back. Azureus is griping about UDP settings. No choice reboot. Argh! Reboot takes for ever because nothing is shutting down. Everything has to be closed out. Rebooted.

All coming up OK. Except blue frog. It takes a runtime error and says call hq. Call hq and they are offline for maintenance. Good service blue frog! There's a strike against them. Argh.

Everything else seems RTN (returned to normal) but how can you ever know with windows.

Takeaway: I would like to find a Flight Data Recorder for the PC. Something as trivial as ping a know good site (i.e., yahoo, google) say every 15 minutes and record the results. It runs routinely and logs when external connectivity is lost. If I had that on all my boxes, I might be able to trace the culprit. By know precisely when connectivity was lost, you'd at least have a fact. Now all I know is that it dies between bedtime and wakeup. Arghh, arghh!

Takeaway: Blug Frog still down. 

Comments? Ideas? 

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Posted by reinkefj

If you can’t afford a T1, maybe you can get by with two residential services?

Saturday, May 13, 2006

http://t1rex.blogspot.com/2006/05/when-cheap-broadband-becomes-too.html

***Begin Quote***

The professional Internet service you want, regardless of whether your office is a spare bedroom or a storefront, is called T1 Internet or Dedicated Internet.
 
***End Quote***

Thought I might contribute an anecdote and an idea.

Anecdotally, I ran a home based consulting business twice – first time for four years and the second time for two years – I used cable residential service and a dial account for backup. While I’m not consulting now, I have moved from the dial account to verizon wireless broad band.

An idea for some one who needs a better (i.e., cheaper) solution than that a 500 $ per month T1, which sounds great, might be — if available — two combine TWO high speed residential services (e.g.: DSL and Cable) for say 200 $ month. Not the greatest solution, but it would be cheaper that a T1. You’d have to put in a real router and do some configuration to ensure that you’re not becoming a peer in between two isps. BUT, 300 $ per month  might be good enough.

That doesn't solve your disaster recovery issues. What happens if you lose power? A "Katrina" might force you to abandon your location, what happens then?

I think that servers belong in datacenters; not homes. When I look at pricing, it seems cheap enough.

Comments?

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Posted by reinkefj

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