EBay Shuts Down All Virtual Property Auctions
Topic: Online Gaming
EbaylogoZonk, over at Slashdot, called up eBay and got confirmation on a rumor that’s been going around: henceforth, eBay will be delisting all auctions for virtual in-game property. Want to sell that horse armor you’ve got lying around? You’re not gonna do it on eBay anymore. Not even “neopoints” from NeoPets are safe, says Zenke.
The reason? EBay doesn’t want to get tied up in the ‘legal complexities’ of the selling of virtual property when it’s unclear as to who actually owns the intellectual rights to the property in question. It makes sense, really: if an MMO publisher ever decided that players were infringing their rights by selling in-game items outside the game, eBay has lots and lots of money and would be a prime lawsuit target.
Googbomb Earlier today, Matt Cutts and the Google software engineering team posted an update citing the progress they’ve been making fighting Google bombs. Back in the old days, these pranks were common practice, but they’ve become less prevalent thanks to Google’s diligence.
A Google bomb (also called a link bomb) is a technique where somebody uses a specific term to link to another page, usually a personal web page. Search for that specific and often humorous term, and you’ll see the victim’s web page as the first hit in your results. This has to do with the way Google’s search algorithm weighs link anchor text, or the text that’s hyperlinked on a page.
This should be filed under Mad Magazine’s “What Me Worry?” section. If “Only Specialized Knowledge and Equipment is Needed to Break Your Bank”… who has that? Only the bad guys I guess.
January 24, 2007
Kansas City Loses IRS Tapes
Second in our series of stupid comments to the press, here’s Kansas City’s assistant city manager commenting on the fact that they lost 26 computer tapes containing personal information:
“It’s not a situation that if you had a laptop you could access,” Noll said. “You would need some specialized equipment and some specialized knowledge in order to read these tapes.”
While you may be concerned the missing tapes contain your personal information, Cindy Richey, a financial planner, said don’t be too alarmed.
“I think people might be surprised at how much of that is already floating around out there,” Richey said.
Got that? Don’t worry because 1) someone would need a tape drive to read those tapes, and 2) your personal information is all over the net anyway.
My comment is that it appears Mr. Schneier is saying that there is “security primarily designed to make you feel more secure”. I think the reality is that people understand the difference between real and apparent security and are willing to pay for REAL security.
In Praise of Security Theater- Wired Online
By Bruce Schneier| Also by this reporter
02:00 AM Jan, 25, 2007
While visiting some friends and their new baby in the hospital last week, I noticed an interesting bit of security. To prevent infant abduction, all babies had RFID tags attached to their ankles by a bracelet. There are sensors on the doors to the maternity ward, and if a baby passes through, an alarm goes off.
Infant abduction is rare, but still a risk. In the last 22 years, about 233 such abductions have occurred in the United States. About 4 million babies are born each year, which means that a baby has a 1-in-375,000 chance of being abducted. Compare this with the infant mortality rate in the U.S. — one in 145 — and it becomes clear where the real risks are.
And the 1-in-375,000 chance is not today’s risk. Infant abduction rates have plummeted in recent years, mostly due to education programs at hospitals.
According to a recent report titled “Security Threat Report 2007″ released by Sophos, an IT security firm, the U.S. and China host the most sites containing malware and relay the most spam.
When it comes to Web sites containing malware, the U.S. (34.2%) and China (31.0%) account for almost two-thirds of the total worldwide figure. Russia was third with a 9.5% share.
Despite efforts to counter these harmful sites, Carole Theriault, senior security consultant for Sophos, says that “web hosting companies in the U.S. and elsewhere need to step up their policing of published content, and ensure that malicious code is quickly removed, before innocent users get hit.”
Top 10 Reasons that Small to Medium Businesses Need Intrusion Prevention Services (IPS)
From PRWeb.com. To review the press release on PRWeb, click here.
What the heck is Intrusion Prevention Services??? And then the next thought might be … And why do companies need it?
Intrusion Prevention Services (IPS) resides in front of your firewall, thus preventing hackers from getting through your firewall and finding that open portal.
So here are the top 10 reasons small and medium sized businesses need Intrusion Prevention Services:
1. Internet based Intrusion attempts are increasing yearly at an almost exponential rate.
CERT (computer emergency response team – Carnegie Mellon University) stated in 2002 that by the end of 2006 hackers and malicious attempts to penetrating corporate networks would become the single largest problem on the internet. As users and uses become more sophisticated, so will the threats to the security of your data.
Many of you might be thinking… What the heck is Intrusion Prevention Services??? And then the next thought might be … And why do I need it?
The Internet has become critical to us in all aspects of our daily lives. That’s a fact. And with the convenience of the Internet, comes the increasingly daunting concern over internet fraud, identity theft, medical records getting into the wrong hands, Social Security numbers being breached on computers, military records getting hacked into and a myriad of other woes. Almost daily we read in the headlines of some 12 year old hacking into business computers, compromising financial and personnel records that could cause unlimited damage over the long term.
While some of this intrusion might be from disgruntled employees, the vast majority is being done by hackers using random algorithms to shotgun the internet with numeric combinations in the hopes of pinging a live address. These programs create millions of random combinations of numeric addresses in the hopes that they will be able to penetrate an open portal on a firewall.
Many companies mistakenly believe that implementing a firewall will protect them and the corporate data from hacking threats. Good in theory…. But it doesn’t work that way. The reason why is that in order to allow corporate communication, data or emails, to leave the corporate Intranet and move into the Internet, a window must be opened in the secure firewall. Think of building a secure wall around a fortress, but then creating an open door from which to leave. And once you open that portal or door, not only can communications leave, but hackers can come into your Intranet.
Before answering the question, let’s define some terms. A LAN rack is a series of surfaces with certain structural supports. The supports can be of varying styles like cantilever or four post, and the rack itself can be mobile or fixed in place. LAN racks can do double duty as work stations or tech benches while providing additional surfaces for the placement of servers and peripherals. In a LAN rack, most items are shelf mounted.
LAN racks are different from computer cabinets. Cabinets are usually fixed in position, and provide a frame which supports moveable rack rails. In a cabinet, most items are rack mounted.
Each type of structure has advantages and disadvantages.
Note that the two “hottest� issues for data center managers today are thermal management and remote management. The trend in data centers is to go with higher density, more power, and fewer people (and their work stations which take up space). The amount of heat being generated in a data center is extreme, and keeping all the servers cool is a major challenge. Cabinets are ideally suited to this environment as cold air can be supplied at the front of the cabinets (where most servers pull in the cooling air) while warm air is kept away from this area. Regrettably, LAN racks have no provision for ensuring cold air is available to provide optimal cooling of servers. In addition, LAN racks, while capable of hosting remote power and environmental monitoring, go against the trend of having fewer people at work in the data center. Data center managers want to remotely control and reboot servers, while remotely monitoring critical environmental factors such as temperature and humidity. This capability is not a LAN Rack strength.
So for data center applications, my assessment would be that LAN Racks are dead. However, for smaller applications where a more efficient use of space is important, and where thermal management is not such a challenge, today’s LAN Racks can fit in perfectly.
My servers run very hot and are in an unmanned location. I have provided air-conditioning but I am still worried about potential failure due to heat. Also, it is located in a very humid area. I would like some way of being notified when the temperature or humidity exceeds a certain level. The solutions I have looked are very expensive. Do you know of a low cost method of achieving this?
The SH-2+ sensor hub with temperature and humidity sensors could work very well for you. When the unit is installed, you assign an IP address to it that is on your network. You can then set the thresholds you want so that when a particular mark is exceeded, then the unit emails you an alert. There are two upper and two lower thresholds that can be set for both the temperature and humidity parameters. The sensor hub has a modem port so that it can also call you as well as email you. There are many other features included in the sensor hub, including the ability to track the history of any parameter. This is an easy and inexpensive way to assure yourself your high dollar components are not overheating or exceeding other environmental parameters. If you want to be able to do something about an abnormal temperature or humidity situation, the sensor hub works well with the RPM 1601 family of remote power managers.
