All Shows

Show of 1-31-2004

  • Email of the Week
    • Great show. Love the career advice here in California ? Kao Saelee
    • Very informative and organized. I am interested in security ? Espahrom
    • You?re wrong about Kodak not producing film anymore — Jean Jolkovski
    • How can I pull audio track from DVD? Loyal listener since 2000 ? Jumboshrimp
  • Ode to the Tech Talk Listener
    • A tribute to the listener who thinks that things are changing too fast
    • A tribute to the listener who likes film, plain old telephones, and the Sears catalog
    • Get ready for a dose of pure nostalgia
  • MyDoom Worm Installs Backdoor and Targets SCO and Microsoft
      • Most commonly named: W32/Mydoom.A-mm
      • Tracked on InternetStormCenter (http://isc.incidents.org/)
      • F-Secure estimates that 20 to 30% of all email traffic is MyDoom. In just three days, Mydoom blew past SoBig to become the worst worm in virus history. Infected 500,000 systems on Wednesday alone.
      • My personal mailbox has been hit hard (Zero on the Sunday ( 25th), 9 on Monday, 27 on Tuesday, 53 on Wednesday, 45 on Thursday, 41 on Friday)
      • Mydoom is a mass-mailing worm that attempts to spread via email and by copying itself to any available shared directories used by Kazaa.
        • The worm harvests addresses from infected machines and targets files with the following extensions: .wab, .adb, .tbb, .dbx, .asp, .php, .sht, .htm, .txt.
        • Mydoom also tries to randomly generate or guess likely email addresses to send itself to.
        • In addition, Mydoom opens a connection on TCP port 3127-3198, an indication of a backdoor for subsequent actions by hackers.
        • Programmed to start a DDOS attack February 1st thru 12th on SCO (Version A) and February 3rd thru 12th on Microsoft (Version B)
      • Linux lovers jubilant about SCO attack. On Slashdot.org, ?Finally a worthwhile virus. Where can I download a copy??
      • Microsoft and SCO have both offered $250,000 rewards for a tip that leads to the capture of author.
      • Port scan on 3127 increased sharply Thursday and Friday as hackers try to exploit the MyDoom backdoor, according to InternetStormCenter.
      • Email characteristics
        • From: Random, spoofed email address
        • Subject: Random
        • Text: Various, including:
        • The message cannot be represented in 7-bit ASCII encoding and has been sent as a binary attachment.
        • The message contains Unicode characters and has been sent as a binary attachment.
        • Mail transaction failed. Partial message is available.
        • Attached file: Various, with extensions including .exe, .pif, .cmd, .scr. The attachment often arrives in a zip archive, and is also represented by what appears to be a text file icon, but is in fact an executable.
      • Actions you should take: Update Virus scan with latest signatures and use a firewall. If infected download a program to clean your machine. Most anti-virus companies have posted this program as a public service. Stinger by McAfee is a good removal tool.
  • Website of the Week: www.wififreespot.com
    • Site includes a nationwide listing of all retail outlets that offer free wi-fi
    • District of Columbia has 7
    • Maryland has 4
    • Virginia has 35 with 50% in Northern Virginia
    • Check out the vendors who offer free wi-fi and use their services
  • Local Hackers Group: DC2600
    • The DC Chapter of 2600
    • 2600 (The Hacker Quarterly) has inspired over 100 such clubs
    • The magazine is named after 2600 Hz, the tone to secure free long distance calls.
    • Monthly Meeting: First Friday of each month
    • Meeting Place: The Fashion Centre at Pentagon City. Food Court on bottom level near Ruby Tuesdays
  • 2004 ? The Year of the Upgrade
    • Processor Chips
        • Intel and AMD will deploy 90 nm chip technology in second half of 2004 with evolutionary improvement in clock speed and efficiency
          • Intel (Prescott) 90 nm strained silicon
            • 1 MB L2 cache, improved threading
          • AMD 90 nm technology
            • Athens (Opteron)
            • San Deigo (Ahtlon 64)
        • It will replace the current 130 nm technology? (Pentium 4 and AthlonXP)
    • Supporting Technology
        • PCI Express (3GIO) (800MHz to 2 GHz bus technology)
        • Replaces 133 MHz PCI
        • High speed memory (DDR?II)
        • Dual layer optical media and blue laser light technology
      • New form factors
    • If you want the latest don?t buy until third or fourth quarter of this year
    • For most of us, use the Minus One Rule for best Price/Performance ratio
  • MikeRoweSoft.com Litigation Settled
    • Mike Rowe is 17 year old high school student
    • Started a website that highlights his programming skills
    • www.mikerowesoft.com was viewed by MS as a trademark infringement
    • Microsoft sued for rights to name and offered $10.
    • Mike Rowe went to the press. MS admitted being heavy handed and has now settled with Mike for an undisclosed amount (training, Xbox, hosting)
  • Bill Gates To Be Knighted
    • Buckingham Palace has announced that Bill Gates will knighted in recognition of his contribution to enterprise in Britain.
    • Because he is not a British citizen, the Microsoft Corp. chairman cannot use "Sir" in front of his name
    • He can put the letters KBE — Knight Commander of the British Empire — after it.
    • Honor to be conferred at earliest time of convenience
  • Playboy and AOL Settle Keyword Advertising Case
    • Playboy accused Netscape of trademark infringement through its "keying" ad system that offered advertisers a list of more than 400 keywords
    • Keywords included the two trademarked Playboy terms, which would trigger adult-oriented ads.
    • Unlike Google and Overture, Netscape did not offer companies recourse to remove their trademarked terms.
    • Terms of settlement, which will presented to the courts next week, were not disclosed
    • Buying keywords has become an important search engine advertising revenue source
  • Stratford News
    • IT Professional Courses sequences (2 to 3 day courses) available
    • Wireless security classes designing Wi-Fi link between Tysons and Woodbridge campus
    • Next Start: February 9th, 2003
    • Open House: February 7th, 2003
    • Masters Degrees e-Business, Telecommunications
    • Bachelor Degrees in IT, Business Administration, and Hospitality
    • Associated Degrees in Digital Design and Animation, Web Services and e-Business, Networking and Security, Culinary Arts, Hospitality, and Business Administration
    • Website: www.stratford.edu
    • Phone number: 800-444-0804