A couple of days ago, word came around that Governor Sarah Palin’s personal email at Yahoo! had been infiltrated by hackers who post on the internet website 4chan. Through some methodology, they had been able to compromise her email, take screenshots, and then post them before a conscientious objector to the activity changed the password back.
The invasion of the Governor’s privacy has raised a number of questions about the privacy & security of public email providers, furthering concern and speculation that such use by government officials to conduct official government business would fall outside the realms of disclosure.
Months ago, Governor Palin admitted openly to routinely having used public email, even prided herself on the choice. Now that the email has been compromised, people on all sides were given a clear, if momentary, glimpse into what amounts to, essentially, very little: nothing untoward was revealed whatsoever. Quite the contrary: it bolstered confidences of people who supported Governor Palin, both sympathetically and contextually, for using public email in her practice as governor of Alaska.
Meanwhile, the CIA and the FBI appear to have become directly involved in tracking down the people (or persons) who infiltrated the governor’s privacy, a completely appropriate action in light of who, and what, was being tampered with. Blame has been placed on someone who, in the eyes of some, must clearly be an Obama supporter — someone who wanted to blow the whistle on some form of corruption. It has stimulated response from both Republicans and Democrats, denouncing the fiendish motivations behind such actions, creating increased finger-pointing by people who were already looking for reasons to chastise one side or the other.
The media has wondered, publicly, how such an attack could have occurred. But in the media’s coverage of this debacle, a series of critical reasoning flaws and motives have been overlooked.
Chief among these logic problems, to this writer, seems simple: what if it was merely an “inside job” by the McCain camp meant to discredit Obama supporters and create a firestorm of controversy?
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It appears that I was not alone in my desire to quit blogging. I got sick of it, it became frustrating and task-oriented. Then I found (thanks to Maura the joys of Tumblr, a social networking and fully interactive answer to blogging that brings back a lot of the lost joy of basic blogging.
I highly recommend you check out this article on Webmonkey so you can get your groove back, too.
(Get Started With Tumblr – Webmonkey.)
Well, Mac users, now you can find out what we PC users have been going thru for years. Congratulations, baby. It’s not the first Mac virus, but it’s the first Mac OSX one. It’s a great reminder that not everything that glitters is gold (or titanium), right?
Virus attacking Apple Macintosh PCs found-experts
Thu Feb 16, 2006 8:29 PM ET166
SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) – A malicious computer worm has been found that targets Apple Computer Inc.’s Mac OS X operating system, believed to be the first such virus aimed specifically at the Mac platform.
The worm is called OSX/Leap-A, according to a posting on the Web site of antivirus software company Sophos, which said the worm is spread via instant messaging programs.
The worm attempts to spread via Apple’s iChat instant messaging program, which is compatible with America Online’s popular AIM instant messaging program, according to the Sophos Web site.
The worm sends itself to available contacts on the infected users’ buddy list in a file called “latestpics.tgz,” according to the Sophos Web site.
The vast majority of malicious hacks are aimed at Microsoft Corp.’s Windows operating system and some of its products, largely because Microsoft has more than 90 percent of the market for computer operating systems.
“This first Macintosh OS X threat is an example of the continuing spread of malicious code on to other platforms,” said Vincent Weafer, senior director at Symantec Security Response, in a statement.
The worm will not automatically infect Mac computers, but will ask users to accept the file, Weafer said.
Symantec ranked the new worm as a Level 1 threat (with 5 being the most severe).
An Apple spokesperson was not immediately available to comment.
I want to thank Tasha for this, I fell out of my chair laughing. Welcome to MySpace: The Movie.
You’ve probably already heard about a dangerous vulnerability in Windows that affects every version of Microsoft Windows made since 1990. This is a dangerous and serious exploit which is currently making its way through the internet. You don’t even have to open anything in order to have the exploit mess with your computer. Here’s the byline courtesy of Microsoft:
Executive Summary:
This update resolves a newly-discovered, public vulnerability. The vulnerability is documented in the “Vulnerability Details” section of this bulletin.
Note This vulnerability is currently being exploited and was previously discussed by Microsoft in Microsoft Security Advisory 912840.
If a user is logged on with administrative user rights, an attacker who successfully exploited this vulnerability could take complete control of an affected system. An attacker could then install programs; view, change, or delete data; or create new accounts with full user rights. Users whose accounts are configured to have fewer user rights on the system could be less impacted than users who operate with administrative user rights.
We recommend that customers apply the update immediately.
Graphics Rendering Engine Vulnerability – CVE-2005-4560
Click here to get the vulnerability patch now, and tell a friend. This is some serious stuff.
Amazon.Com currently has the Apple iBook G4 Notebook 12.1″ with a 40GB HD, 512MB DDR SDRAM, a Combo-Drive and built-in AirPort Extreme Wireless/Bluetooth for the astoundingly low price of $899 + a $100 mail-in rebate from Amazon — total price: $799.
Oh my God, this is the one. Must have it! Must have it!! Click here for the deal, it will disappear fast.
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According to Wired News, not just anyone can update Wikipedia anymore. The rules for submitting entries to the online encyclopedia now require registration, a change implemented by the site’s founder, Jimmy Wales. The change follows a debacle involving the publishing on Wikipedia of an article that falsely implicated a man in the Kennedy assasinations.
The change comes less than a week after John Seigenthaler Sr., who was Robert Kennedy’s administrative assistant in the early 1960s, wrote an op-ed article revealing that Wikipedia had run a biography claiming Seigenthaler had been suspected in the assassinations of the former Attorney General and his brother, President John F. Kennedy.
Wikipedia, which on Monday offered more than 850,000 articles in English, has grown into a storehouse of pieces on topics ranging from medieval art to nanotechnology. The volume of content is possible because the site relies on volunteers, including many experts in their fields, to submit entries and edit previously submitted articles.
Sorry, hipsters in districts. You’ll just have to live with knowing where you reside is cool in your own mind.
