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Showing posts from January, 2012

DNSSEC Error Caused NASA Website To Be Blocked

DNSSEC Error Caused NASA Website To Be Blocked Comcast's new DNSSEC-based service detected improper signing of NASA site Jan 25, 2012 | 03:30 PM By Kelly Jackson Higgins Dark Reading The hazards of early DNSSEC adoption: A misconfiguration in NASA's Domain Name System Security Extensions (DNSSEC) implementation on its website caused Comcast's network to block users from the site last week. This is a glaring example of the difficulties in today's mostly manual process of configuring DNS servers to support the new security protocol that prevents attacks that redirect users to malicious websites. The DNSSEC protocol basically ensures DNS entries remain unchanged in transit and are digitally signed to ensure their authenticity. NASA had incorrectly signed DNSSEC in its implementation of the new security protocol last week, causing Comcast's newly DNSSEC-enabled service to automatically block access to the site. Comcast earlier this month became one of the first ma

Google looks to speed up the Internet

The search giant proposes enhancements for the Web's TCP transport layer to reduce latency By Paul Krill, InfoWorld January 24, 2012 06:20 AM ET Google technicians want an overhaul of the Web's TCP (Transmission Control Protocol) transport layer and are suggesting ways to reduce latency and make the Web faster. The company's "Make the Web Faster" team is making several recommendations to improve TCP speed, including increasing the TCP initial congestion window. In a blog post on Monday, team member Yuchung Cheng called TCP "the workhorse of the Internet," designed to deliver Web content and operate over a range of network types. Web browsers, he said, typically open up parallel TCP connections ahead of making actual requests." This strategy overcomes inherent TCP limitations but results in high latency in many situations and is not scalable," he said. "Our research shows that the key to reducing latency is saving round trips. We'

Obama Signs Global Internet Treaty Worse Than SOPA

White House bypasses Senate to ink agreement that could allow Chinese companies to demand ISPs remove web content in US with no legal oversight Paul Joseph Watson Infowars.com Thursday, January 26, 2012 Months before the debate about Internet censorship raged as SOPA and PIPA dominated the concerns of web users, President Obama signed an international treaty that would allow companies in China or any other country in the world to demand ISPs remove web content in the US with no legal oversight whatsoever. The   Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement   was signed by Obama on October 1 2011, yet is currently the subject of a White House petition demanding Senators be forced to ratify the treaty. The White House has circumvented the necessity to have the treaty confirmed by lawmakers by presenting it an as “executive agreement,” although legal scholars have highlighted the dubious nature of this characterization. The hacktivist group Anonymous   attacked and took offline the Federal T

Symantec Advises Users To Update Or Disable PcAnywhere

"I use and recommend  logmein.com," Ken Garen. Read this article online here:  http://on.wsj.com/z2DMIN Symantec Advises Users To Update Or Disable PcAnywhere JANUARY 26, 2012, 1:03 P.M. ET. --Threat to remote-access software only --Updates fix vulnerability --No reports of customer data loss By Steven D. Jones DOW JONES NEWSWIRES Symantec Corp. (SYMC) is advising customers to immediately update or disable its pcAnywhere software following the exposure earlier this month of source code stolen six years ago. The company is notifying customers of potential problems and advising them to immediately update pcAnywhere software or disable it, said Cris Paden, a company spokesman. The product's roughly 50,000 users, most of which are businesses, haven't reported suspicious activity or penetration of network security, he said. On Monday, the Cupertino, Calif., company began distributing updates to pcAnywhere version 12.5. The updates will continue through Friday. &

Google announces privacy changes across products; users can't opt out

By Cecilia Kang, Published: January 24 Google will soon know far more about who you are and what you do on the Web. The Web giant announced Tuesday that it plans to follow the activities of users across nearly all of its ubiquitous sites, including YouTube, Gmail and its leading search engine. Google has already been collecting some of this information. But for the first time, it is combining data across its Web sites to stitch together a fuller portrait of users. Consumers who are logged into Google services won't be able to opt out of the changes, which take effect March 1. And experts say the policy shift will invite greater scrutiny from federal regulators of the company's privacy and competitive practices. The move will help Google better tailor its ads to people's tastes. If someone watches an NBA clip online and lives in Washington, the firm could advertise Washington Wizards tickets in that person's Gmail account. Consumers could also benefit, the compa