Linux is generally perceived to be a fairly secure operating system. In fact
many of its advocates claim with almost religious zeal that it is vastly
more secure than anything Microsoft has to offer.
However, a chink in the armor of one Linux implementation has shown that
good security is a lot more than just sensible software design.
Red Hat's Linux is in the news today because of a worm known as "Ramen" which
has become a self-propagating annoyance to system administrators across the globe.
While the destructive effects of the worm are limited -- the mere fact that it
exists and has been able to infect thousands of servers is yet another wake-up
call for everyone who has a computer connected to the Net.
Speaking Of Security...
Sometimes I get the impression that the Internet industry is really maturing
and that the day when anyone could grab a PC, a digital camera, a copy of
FrontPage and call themselves a web-designer is over.
And then I discover something like
this site.
The presentation is not that bad (although nothing to write home about) -- but
just try going straight to the button at the bottom of the page and clicking
it without filling out any fields.
Just in case they've fixed it --
here's what I got this morning.
The web designers
Channel-10.com,
who seemingly produced this masterpiece also seem to have a few more problems elsewhere
on the Web.
On this site they
have included their little logo and self-promotion -- but clicking on it
takes you to the westglide.co.nz domain, which in turn performs a redirect
immediately to www.rave2.com -- an voice over IP provider.
Holster those shootin irons pardner!
Sorry... (Free) Lunch Is Off
It looks like free Internet access is rapidly becoming a thing of the past as
yet another of the country's free ISPs announces a change to its terms.
FreeNet has decided
to axe its unlimited free service in favour of generating some revenues.
The ISP says that it will continue to provide free Internet access -- but
only for the first 10 hours of use each month. After that you'll have to pay
up for a flat-rate account.
It appears that those who were lucky enough to get a
ZFree account before
they stopped accepting new users are the only ones who can (for the time being)
look forward to enjoying a reasonable lunch for free. I have a suspicion
however that ZFree won't be too far behind in trimming the quality or
quantity of free service on offer.
The Weekly Trickles Out
This week's edition of the Weekly has started trickling out. It will probably
take a day or so before they're all sent but they're on their way.
As always, your feedback is welcomed and...
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