There is a bill now being written behind closed doors that would give the President the power to exert emergency control of the internet in times of emergency. If you are fortunate enough to be a company that is designated as a critical interest you could be subjected to forced removal from the internet when an emergency strikes. Why is the government trying to get into the business of controlling these companies? Shouldn’t they be cleaning up their own house first? These companies hire entire departments of people who are in charge of protecting their digital assets. It’s their job. Why is the government concerned with the operation of private property? It frankly is none of their business how large companies operate their networks. Who thinks this is a good idea?
Internet companies and civil liberties groups were alarmed this spring when a U.S. Senate bill proposed handing the White House the power to disconnect private-sector computers from the Internet.
They’re not much happier about a revised version that aides to Sen. Jay Rockefeller, a West Virginia Democrat, have spent months drafting behind closed doors. CNET News has obtained a copy of the 55-page draft of S.773 (excerpt), which still appears to permit the president to seize temporary control of private-sector networks during a so-called cybersecurity emergency.
The new version would allow the president to “declare a cybersecurity emergency” relating to “non-governmental” computer networks and do what’s necessary to respond to the threat. Other sections of the proposal include a federal certification program for “cybersecurity professionals,” and a requirement that certain computer systems and networks in the private sector be managed by people who have been awarded that license.
Here’s the real kicker:
Probably the most controversial language begins in Section 201, which permits the president to “direct the national response to the cyber threat” if necessary for “the national defense and security.” The White House is supposed to engage in “periodic mapping” of private networks deemed to be critical, and those companies “shall share” requested information with the federal government. (“Cyber” is defined as anything having to do with the Internet, telecommunications, computers, or computer networks.)
Now we see the true purpose of this bill. The government wants to know what is on our computer networks. Imagine the possibilities for a moment. Let’s say there is another (God forbid) terrorist attack. The government already has the power to ground all air travel. Now they can pull the plug on the internet as well. What better way to suppress dissent could their be? The government already effectively controls the majority of the mass media. Oh wait, this is for our safety. There I go being paranoid again…
Great video from the NC State Office of Information Technology on the need to purchase complete care coverage on your computer equipment. We purchase it on all of our new computers at work!
The NC State Office of Information Technology has produced a video outlining the importance of installing antivirus software on your computer. You may not qualify for their software but you should run something!
My friend Evan Carroll is working on an interesting project called The Digital Beyond. This project seeks to explore what happens to our online data after we die. We spend a lot of time creating gigabytes worth of data on all of our favorite social networks. What happens to that data when we pass on? I’ll be watching this project to see what they come up with. Here’s a good introductory video:
I saw this presentation live at Ignite Raleigh a few weeks ago. When the speaker comes out the crowd gave an audible groan. When he was finished he got one of the best ovations of the evening! The crowd reaction doesn’t show up as good as I wished it did. Trust me, I was there!
One of the nice things about my job is that I often get to participate in events that are not always held in our main office. Technology doesn’t always stay bottled up in the Methodist Building. One of these remote events is a Grant Writing Workshop. Dr. Annette Greer is hosting a workshop for people in our local churches who are interested in learning about best practices and methodologies for successful grant writing. This event is being hosted at Westminster UMC in Kinston, NC over three successive Mondays (this being the second day).
We are responsible for providing audio/video/web streaming support for the workshop. Derek Leek (Conference Webmaster), Steve Taylor (Missions Director), Bill Norton (Communications Director), Dennis Peay (clergy volunteer) and I are running all of the different equipment necessary for pulling off an event of this size. We have approximately 20-25 people here on-site and another 10-15 watching remotely via the web stream.
The technology behind this event is fairly straightforward. Steve and Derek are running our two cameras. Bill is running the sound board and video switcher. Dennis is running the Powerpoint laptop and I am watching over the video stream and handling incoming e-mail questions/comments. The video switching equipment can display video from the two cameras, the presenter’s laptop and the Powerpoint laptop. The audio board is handling input from four wireless microphones and a lavalier microphone (worn by the presenter).
640 x 480 Video!
We have also made significant changes to our web video stream. We have been streaming our major events on-line for several years now we have always had to work around a nagging Mac/Linux incompatibility. We were also streaming out a high bandwidth and a low bandwidth stream simultaneously.
Since our dial-up usage has fallen to almost zero, we decided to do away with the low bandwidth stream altogether. We changed our outgoing video stream from 320 x 240 to 640 x 480. We also changed the streaming coded from Windows Media version eight to version nine. Mac/Linux users should be able to use this newer codec without any of the issues that they encountered when we were using the older one. We upgraded the audio output to 192 kbps (cd audio quality). All of these changes were squeezed into an extra 100 kbps or so of upload stream bandwidth. Today is the first day that we have tried streaming live with these changes, so we’ll see how it goes. I’m looking forward to great results!
A good friend of mine invited me to attend the Ignite Raleigh event this week. Neither of us really knew what to expect but we decided to go anyway. We had a blast! The Lincoln Theater was packed with over 500 attendees. Everyone was walking around with their smart phones out, Facebooking and Twittering the event live as it happened. It was techie paradise. Of course yours truly rolled in with a nearly dead Blackberry battery…
The presentation format was the best part of the evening. All presenters were limited to five minutes. They could use 20 slides that automatically rotated every 15 seconds. Anyone that went over their time limit was instantly Rick Rolled. The presentations were varied and, of course, straight to the point. The theme for the evening was “enlighten us, but make it quick!” The tight time limit guaranteed a succinct presentation. It was refreshing to not get bogged down in details. We saw some very clever powerpoint presentations.
Some of my favorites:
19 Reasons Why Raleigh Is Better Than the Silicon Valley by Wayne Sutton. Wayne laid many of the reasons why Raleigh is better than our west coast friends. Turns out one of the reasons is because we have big nuts!
What Would Jesus Tweet? by Derek Brown. This was a pleasant surprise. There was an audible groan from the audience when the topic was introduced. He killed it. By the end of the presentation he had the attention of everyone in the building. This one was my favorite of the night. I hope this video goes online. If it does I am going to download it and keep it for later.
All of the presenters did a great job. I hope video will be posted shortly. When it is I will share some of my favorites here. You should follow their Facebook page or Twitter page. I’ll definitely be attending this next time!
PC Mag Editor Lance Ulanoff writes about who killed Twitter. The answer is that we are the ones killing it through a DDoS (Distributed Denial of Service) attack.
The DDoS problem is a whale of a different color, however. All you people who I’ve warned over and over again to install or update your security software, everyone who can’t stop visiting HotSexyLibrarians.com or downloading music and movies from Igotyourfiles.com, and all those noobs who insist on opening every single e-mail attachment they get—you did this. You and your zombie PCs are to blame.
Many of the news reports I read yesterday used the phrase “denial of service attack” and then the acronym “DDoS.” So, what’s the extra “D” mean? Turns out it stands for “distributed,” which, in this case, means the attack does not originate from one place. Instead, it comes from millions of places. Put simply, a denial of service attack is not come from one big server somewhere in Russia, China, or North Korea that attacks a commercial enterprise’s servers here in the U.S. or elsewhere in the world. If it was, companies could find it easier to block, or at least stop, the attacks when they begin. A DDoS is different. Yes, it’s coordinated, but the coordination is spread across thousands, if not millions, of PCs around the world.
Yes, that’s right. It’s all our fault. All of us that are operating infected computers. Please be sure to updateyour software and run a strongantivirusprogram. There will always be someone out there writing malware, attempting to trick us into installing it. It’s up to us, however, to make sure that we have fully patched and protected computers. Let’s hope Twitter comes back soon. Be sure to take this offline time to patch your computer(s)!
I received this e-mail today from Shavlik Technologies. This is a very interesting twist on the government automobile stimulus program. It’s a shame we already use this product…
Shavlik Technologies is offering customers 1 million reasons to dump their resource-guzzling patch management, configuration management, and antivirus solutions with a rebate program that provides a cash incentive to customers who trade up to a more efficient way to manage these critical IT tasks.
In a play on the US Federal Government’s Car Allowance Rebate System (CARS) program, Shavlik is announcing its own “Cash for Clunkers” promotion.
IT security and operations news outlets are filled with stories of the impact (down time, reduced productivity, sensitive data compromise, breaches) of these rusted out clunkers on your business. Just last week Microsoft released two out-of-band patches. The Microsoft WU/MU team spent the week in a full scramble to correct bad data that left Windows Update and WSUS users thinking they were patched when, in fact, they were not patched and vulnerable to exploit.
Join thousands of your peers who turned to Shavlik because they are:
Frustrated by unreliable, patch management lemons that leave you stranded beside the Internet freeway unprotected.
Fed up with the reduced mileage they get from WSUS because it doesn’t address non-Microsoft applications from Adobe (Acrobat, Flash, Shockwave), Apple (iTunes, Quicktime, Safari) or Mozilla (Firefox); combined these products have had 26 security patches released since January 1, 2009. In comparison, Internet Explorer has had 4 security bulletins since January 1, 2009.
Tired of antivirus bloatware solutions that guzzle system resources but don’t stop today’s malware.
Weary of writing scripts or battling temperamental Active Directory and Group Policy to locate gaps between the desired configuration policy and the reality of systems on the network.
Tired of trying to coax overblown systems management “suites” into doing a job they were not designed to do and whose bolt-together mentality means you spend more time tweaking and tinkering than getting work done.
Here’s how it works:
If you own an existing antivirus, patch management, or configuration management product or systems management suite that is forcing you to spend too much time, money, and IT staff on these critical tasks, go to this website and determine your eligibility for Shavlik’s Cash for Clunkers program. If you qualify, Shavlik will forgive up to $4,500 of the purchase price on a Shavlik product to replace your existing solution.
But you must act quickly. Cash for Clunkers is a limited time promotion. When those first $1 million reasons to dump your existing clunker solution are gone, so is the promotion.
Go green with Shavlik. Reduce your spend. Repurpose your staff on initiatives that grow your business. Recycle those resource-hogging, bloated, and buggy AV products for a solution that is fast, light on system resources and stops today’s malware.
To learn more and to sign up, click here to see if you qualify.
RT @Pontifex: Miracles happen. But prayer is needed! Prayer that is courageous, struggling and persevering, not prayer that is a mere forma… 3 hours ago
RT @RoadID: It's troubling to be riding my bike next to a car & see the driver so focused on his phone he doesn't notice me staring....3ft … 1 week ago
There is a bill now being written behind closed doors that would give the President the power to exert emergency control of the internet in times of emergency. If you are fortunate enough to be a company that is designated as a critical interest you could be subjected to forced removal from the internet when an emergency strikes. Why is the government trying to get into the business of controlling these companies? Shouldn’t they be cleaning up their own house first? These companies hire entire departments of people who are in charge of protecting their digital assets. It’s their job. Why is the government concerned with the operation of private property? It frankly is none of their business how large companies operate their networks. Who thinks this is a good idea?
