August 20, 2008 | TrackBacks: (0)

Network Solutions under attack

It appears that Network Solutions is the target of a large-scale, prolonged DDoS attack, and the company has been blocking large ranges of public IP addresses from accessing any of their resources in order to fight the attack more

TAGS: Networks, Other stuff, Problems

August 20, 2008 | TrackBacks: (0)

More on Network Solutions and their world-wide woes

Several weeks ago, I posted about apparent problems with customer access to Network Solutions resources. I asked for comments and emails from folks having problems with their Network Solutions accounts. I got dozens and dozens, from all across the globe. I'm sure that a few of these could be corner cases, or exceptions, maybe momentary outages, but after nearly a month since I first posted about this problem, I continue to get emails and comments on that post describing basically the same thing: No access to email, hosting, or even Network Solutions' website from outside the US borders. Most respondents... more

TAGS: Networks, Problems

August 17, 2008 | TrackBacks: (0)

San Francisco adds to new gaffe, password-protects previously open internal site, but not all of it.

After I reported on the publicly-visible internal DR site for San Francisco's IT department, they added authentication requirements. Sort of. It's a Microsoft SharePoint site, and the SharePoint extensions are still visible. If it were me, I'd just take the site off the air.... more

TAGS: Problems, San Francisco's FiberWAN, Terry Childs

August 15, 2008 | TrackBacks: (0)

The Terry Childs case on pause, and an apparent new security issue for the city of San Francisco

I've been receiving numerous emails asking about the status of the Terry Childs case over the past week. As far as I know, there's not much to report. The city and Childs' lawyer are in their respective corners, preparing for the upcoming trial. Childs still sits in jail, being blamed for the delay in San Francisco's planned expansion of their ShotSpotter service. I suppose that's a subjective view. Also, a reader hipped me to a very strange site. I won't release the URL here, since it appears to be part of a disaster recovery effort for the San Francisco IT... more

TAGS: Problems, San Francisco's FiberWAN, Terry Childs

August 12, 2008 | TrackBacks: (0)

This is why we have labs

If you haven't heard that VMware ESX 3.5 U2 inadvertently expires globally today, you probably aren't running VMware. It appears that VMware mistakenly left a hardcoded timeout in the U2 code. It should have been stripped before the code went out the door, but it wasn't -- so anyone running ESX 3.5 U2 as of today will not be able to migrate or power on any VMs. If they're running, they'll stay running, but if they go down, they won't come back up. There's still no fix available, though VMware now thinks they'll have one ready for this evening, around... more

TAGS: Other stuff, Problems, Systems, Virtualization

August 12, 2008 | TrackBacks: (0)

Working with Vista, revisited

So after spending a week tied to an HP Compaq 2710p tablet running Vista Business Edition, I can say that it's actually quite usable and that overall, I've enjoyed the experience. Vista on this laptop has been relatively stable, able to handle my workload well, and though it's not as polished as Mac OS X, it's not terrible. There are more than a few things that irritate me about the OS, but it's not dog slow on this system, the sleep/wake cycles do work (most of the time) and hibernation works fairly well too. The lack of a native shell is... more

TAGS: Other stuff, Systems, Windows

August 08, 2008

Some advice for Microsoft: Dump Windows

If Microsoft really wants to get a firm handle on security and shore up their OS offerings, they need to jettison nearly everything under the covers in Windows, and basically write a windowing shell on top of a UNIX-based core, much like Mac OS X. Make it pretty, make it fast, and make it backwards compatible with existing Windows applications via virtualization. more

TAGS: Suggestion Box, Windows

August 06, 2008

The iPhone, Exchange, ActiveSync, security, and some serious annoyances

If you want ActiveSync and a secure OWA implementation, you'll be putting up another Exchange front-end server just for that, or living with the fact that you can't require SSL connections or use forms-based auth with OWA, opening up some holes you'd rather not have open. more

TAGS: Problems

August 04, 2008

Vista on a smaller scale

I recently posted about getting back in touch with Vista after a rocky start almost a year and a half ago. My conclusions were then (and are now) that Vista isn't the terrible disgrace that some might think. It's definitely not perfect, but it's not that bad. Of course, I was also running it on an extremely high-end IBM Intellistation zPro with 8GB RAM and a few dual-core CPUs. This is far above the spec that most Vista users enjoy. So, I decided to scale back a bit, and switch form factors. I'm writing this post on an HP Compaq... more

TAGS: Other stuff, Systems

August 04, 2008 | TrackBacks: (0)

What in the world is wrong with Network Solutions?

I've posted a few notes on Network Solutions the past week or so, after a reader sent me an email saying that the resolvers he was given on a cut sheet were returning invalid answers. In the wake of the DNS bug, I speculated that these servers may have fallen prey to an attack. Not so, says Network Solutions -- they configured them to return invalid results, violating the RFC. Since then, several comments on those posts, and even more emails sent to me from around the globe have stated that suddenly, they cannot access Network Solutions' site. These notes... more

TAGS: Problems, Systems

July 31, 2008 | TrackBacks: (0)

Maybe I'm not alone. Google goes after the Library of Congress

For those who read about my trials and tribulations with Google... it appears that after they let me off the hook, they've taken on the Library of Congress. Dave Bowman: Hello, HAL. Do you read me, HAL? HAL: Affirmative, Dave, I read you. Dave Bowman: Open the pod bay door, HAL. HAL: I'm sorry Dave, I'm afraid I can't do that. Dave Bowman: What's the problem? HAL: I think you know what the problem is just as well as I do. Dave Bowman: What are you talking about, HAL? HAL: This mission is too important for me to allow you... more

TAGS: Life, the Universe and Everything, Other stuff, Problems

July 31, 2008 | TrackBacks: (0)

Some reflections and a reader's observations on the Terry Childs case

My main concern on the Childs matter is that the case against Childs may be built around a profound lack of understanding of the technology involved. To those outside of IT, a statement in court that the defendant "was watching everything on the network, including information regarding city government, the police, and private emails between government officials" sounds extremely sinister. However, the reality of that statement is far more likely to be that the defendant operated an IDS on the network for security purposes. Nobody in IT would think twice about it, but a jury packed with people that have... more

TAGS: Networks, Other stuff, Problems, San Francisco's FiberWAN, Terry Childs

July 30, 2008 | TrackBacks: (0)

A primer on the Terry Childs case for the non-technical

Since I continue to read, see, and hear news stories on the Childs case that depart from reality, I figured I'd put together this handy primer for anyone non-techical who wants to really understand the case. This may or may not apply to many mainstream journalists. I hope it does. Also, please forgive me for the car analogies I'm about to use. • The "network" as used to describe this case is defined as the hardware used to connect computers to other computers. It is not, and never was, intended to be construed as any form of data, applications, resources,... more

TAGS: Other stuff, Problems, San Francisco's FiberWAN, Terry Childs

July 30, 2008 | TrackBacks: (0)

Anton Chuvakin is not an idiot

I remarked on a blog post by Anton Chuvakin a little while ago, discussing his apparent anti-admin stance. His post in response is quite entertaining, and no, he's not an idiot. His points on logging and auditing are spot on. If I had a dollar for every syslog server I've installed, or every time I was heartily thankful that centralized logging was running, I'd... well, I think I do have a dollar for each one of those. Anyway, to me, this isn't the issue. Good admins log. Great admins log paranoiacally. Bad admins don't bother. His point on the "bus... more

TAGS: Life, the Universe and Everything, Networks, Other stuff, Problems

July 29, 2008

The Terry Childs case in its own words

Some documents from the public record of the Terry Childs v City of San Francisco case more

TAGS: Networks, Problems, San Francisco's FiberWAN, Terry Childs

July 28, 2008 | TrackBacks: (0)

The Terry Childs case cacophony

I've been reading some reports on the Childs' case in the mainstream and IT media today, and I'm fairly amazed at the level of misinformation out there right now. Everything from articles stating that Childs' locked the city out of their WLAN, to claims that he had locked all the users out of the network, to claims that the press just this morning discovered the fact that the city of San Francisco entered unredacted lists of VPN groupnames and passwords into the public record. I posted about it last Thursday, the morning after it happened, and at least a day... more

TAGS: Networks, Problems, San Francisco's FiberWAN, Terry Childs

July 28, 2008 | TrackBacks: (0)

A little note to Network Solutions

A few days ago, I posted an entry where I pointed out that two Network Solutions DNS servers were returning incorrect answers for non-authoritative domains. Matt Ho, a representative for Network Solutions posted two comments on that post stating that they weren't hacked, and that they were configured to return incorrect answers. He noted that Sedo, the domain parking company, and GoDaddy also do this, and that these servers are not meant to be resolvers. He was very gracious, and even noted that "We've debated time and time again internally about both whether this type of practice is ethical and... more

TAGS: Networks, Other stuff, Problems

July 27, 2008 | TrackBacks: (0)

Did San Francisco undermine its own case in the Childs matter?

The court filings' allegations against Terry Childs don't make sense. If the network was open, then why couldn't the City of San Francisco gain access in the first place? more

TAGS: Networks, Problems, San Francisco's FiberWAN, Terry Childs

July 26, 2008 | TrackBacks: (0)

Quickie on the SF Public VPN passwords story

I've received several anonymous (yet highly detailed) emails from people claiming to work for the City of San Francisco informing me that suddenly, their VPN access does not work. This would seem to corroborate my earlier post that the city did, in fact, put their current list of VPN group names and passwords into the public record when filing a motion on the Childs case. The idea that they would claim that Childs was a danger to the security of the city infrastructure, and then put documents into the public record that seriously undermine the security of that very network... more

TAGS: Networks, San Francisco's FiberWAN, Systems, Terry Childs

July 25, 2008 | TrackBacks: (2)

The anti-admin stance and the Childs case

In my reading of a few blogs and articles regarding the Childs case, I keep coming across statements that seem to be extremely anti-administrator. For instance, Anton Chuvakin seems to think that all admins should be kept underneath management's boot at all times. [ Follow the Terry Childs saga with InfoWorld special report: Terry Childs: Admin gone rogue. ] He references this blog, and specifically a statement I quoted from Richard Childers: ... search Craigslist's 'Jobs' section for the keyword "ownership". I see 674 references to the word, the majority of them in the IT-related industries. Sure, it's a buzzword,... more

TAGS: Networks, Other stuff, Problems, San Francisco's FiberWAN, Terry Childs

July 24, 2008 | TrackBacks: (0)

Finally, some actual information on the Childs case

I've finally received some information from the city's court filing opposing the reduction in bail for Terry Childs. It's a frankly disturbing account of events and scenarios. [ Follow the Terry Childs saga with InfoWorld special report: Terry Childs: Admin gone rogue. ] First, according to the city, Childs did configure some number of routers and switches with 'no service password-recovery', which would prevent anyone from recovering the passwords on those devices without losing the IOS image and configuration. In addition, he also removed the startup configuration from some number of devices, leaving them operational via the running config, but... more

TAGS: Networks, Problems, San Francisco's FiberWAN, Terry Childs

July 24, 2008 | TrackBacks: (0)

Network Solutions DNS Servers hacked already?

moreI was just hipped to the fact that two DNS servers apparently operated by Network Solutions aren't returning valid results for some domains, notably www.google.com: [pvenezia@mba ~]$ nslookup www.google.com Server: 172.16.32.10 Address: 172.16.32.10#53 Non-authoritative answer: www.google.com canonical name = www.l.google.com. Name: www.l.google.com Address: 64.233.169.147 Name: www.l.google.com Address: 64.233.169.99 Name: www.l.google.com Address: 64.233.169.103 Name: www.l.google.com Address: 64.233.169.104 [pvenezia@mba ~]$ nslookup www.google.com 205.178.190.32 Server: 205.178.190.32 Address: 205.178.190.32#53 Name: www.google.com Address: 205.178.145.65 [pvenezia@mba ~]$ whois 205.178.190.32 InQuent Technologies Inc. INQUENT-2 (NET-205-178-128-0-1) 205.178.128.0 - 205.178.191.255 Network Solutions, LLC NTSL-02 (NET-205-178-184-0-1) 205.178.184.0 - 205.178.191.255 # ARIN WHOIS database, last updated 2008-07-23 19:10 # Enter ?...

TAGS: Networks, Problems, Systems

July 24, 2008 | TrackBacks: (0)

Did Childs really install 1,100 modems?

I can't believe I missed this in the San Francisco Chronicle article yesterday: "Investigators say they are still worried about the modems hidden away in locked filing cabinets in public buildings around the city. Maupin told prosecutors that city officials estimate there are 1,100 such modems. Childs could still gain access to the network through any of them and create more mischief, prosecutors say." 1,100 modems? One thousand, one hundred modems. One thousand, one hundred analog phone lines at roughly $40 a pop. $44,000 a month in phone lines. Assuming $30 per modem, that's $33,000 in modems. What were they... more

TAGS: Networks, Problems, San Francisco's FiberWAN, Terry Childs

July 23, 2008 | TrackBacks: (0)

A thousand thoughts on the iPhone

Okay, so I've been using an iPhone for a week now. I previously posted seven reasons why the iPhone wasn't for me, and now that I've had a chance to use one, I have to say that all of them still apply, with the possible exception of the fact that AT&T doesn't offer service in my area. I jailbroke and unlocked an original iPhone in order to use it with my GSM carrier. I ran the old firmware (1.1.4) and upgraded to the v2.0 firmware on Sunday, the day the 2.0 jailbreak iPwnage app was released. But the rest of... more

TAGS: Gear, Other stuff

July 23, 2008 | TrackBacks: (0)

Another dissection of reports on the Terry Childs case

In another San Francisco Chronicle article today, there are some quotes and summarizations from this morning's bail hearing: A judge refused today to lower the $5 million bail for a San Francisco computer engineer accused of hijacking the city's network, after prosecutors said he had rigged the system to melt down during routine maintenance. Prosecutor Conrad del Rosario said Childs had arranged the system so that key programs were held in temporary memory files that would evaporate when the network was shut down during routine maintenance or any unexpected power failure. [ Follow the Terry Childs saga with InfoWorld special... more

TAGS: Networks, Problems, San Francisco's FiberWAN, Terry Childs

July 23, 2008 | TrackBacks: (0)

Childs' motion for reduced bail has been denied

Terry Childs remains in jail for lack of $5 million bail. Apparently, the city claims that there are still three networks that remain "locked", and bullets were found in Childs' home during the police search. The city also brought up his 25-year-old felony conviction. But to keep him on $5 million bail, there has to be more to this story. Has to be. [ Follow the Terry Childs saga with InfoWorld special report: Terry Childs: Admin gone rogue. ]... more

TAGS: Problems, Terry Childs

July 23, 2008 | TrackBacks: (0)

Media still not getting it right in Childs case

The San Francisco Chronicle ran a story today on Mayor Newsom's intervention in the Terry Childs case. Unfortunately, they continued the spate of inaccuracies surrounding this case: "But there was a snag, Ballard said - the code that Childs supplied to Newsom didn't function immediately. Newsom had to call back the attorney, who provided more information, and the system started working, officials say." It's reasonably likely that the reason it didn't immediately work was that there were ACLs on the vty consoles for each router, and they had to telnet/ssh in from a specific subnet. But I think it should... more

TAGS: Problems, Terry Childs

July 23, 2008 | TrackBacks: (0)

Beyond the Childs case: The network as art, and why managers need to get that

More information coming to light shows just how in the dark Terry Childs' managers really are. more

TAGS: Other stuff, Problems, Terry Childs

July 23, 2008 | TrackBacks: (0)

This?! This is the DNS flaw?

I casually read Halvar Flake's post speculating on the nature of the DNS flaw this evening. Everyone and their brother appears to be in panic mode over this, but I was blown away by the simplicity. Halvar might have missed a small detail or two, but apparently, he got it more or less correct. But there must be more to it than this, right? If not, then could it be that such an obvious flaw has been overlooked for more than twenty years because it's so ridiculously simple? Everyone that should have known and/or fixed this missed it due to... more

TAGS: Problems, Systems

July 22, 2008 | TrackBacks: (0)

Some interesting points on the Childs case

As I mentioned in my post on Sunday, my inbox has been quite busy recently. I've received several notes from past colleagues of Terry Childs, some who worked with him well before he was employed by the City of San Francisco, some more recently. Each one of them portray him in a positive light, and universally refer to him as a gifted network engineer. Other emails offer some other interesting points of view. I received note from Richard Childers that definitely struck a chord. In pondering this situation, he reflected that most organizations actually demand an above-and-beyond attitude from their... more

TAGS: Networks, Problems, Terry Childs