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Thursday, May 22, 2008 8:02 PM

Searching for Weak Debian / Ubuntu SSL Certificates

I've seen a number of people promote packages that have shipped for Debian and Ubuntu, which allow users to scan their collected keys - OpenSSH or OpenSSL or OpenVPN, to discover whether they're too weak to be of any functional use. [See my earlier...
Posted by Alun Jones | 2 comment(s)
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Thursday, May 15, 2008 5:55 PM

Debian and the OpenSSL PRNG

[PRNG is an abbreviation for "Pseudo-Random Number Generator", a key core component of the key-generation in any cryptographic library.] A few people have already commented on the issue itself - Debian issued, in 2006, a version of their Linux...
Posted by Alun Jones | 10 comment(s)
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Friday, May 09, 2008 9:32 PM

Apple Changes Update Policies - Still No Biscuit

As I have mentioned in other posts ( Retro-bundling - another suck of the Apple , MacBook Air debuts; iTunes Pesters Me Again , Removing Apple Mobile Device Support , I didn't want iTunes - now I've got iPod, too? , etc, etc), this has long since...
Posted by Alun Jones | with no comments
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Tuesday, May 06, 2008 5:33 PM

Think like a bad guy? It's a start.

Cool new site (and blog ) from Microsoft - http://securedeveloper.com - and it has a tag line I've heard many times before: Like that old maxim that "you need to stop fighting fires long enough to tell the architects to stop building things out...
Posted by Alun Jones | 1 comment(s)
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Saturday, May 03, 2008 4:57 PM

Can You Write Good Code for an OS you Despise?

No, this isn't another of my anti-Mac frothing rants. This is one of my "here's what I hate about many of the open-source projects I deal with" rants. I'm trying to find an SFTP client for Windows that works the way I want it to...
Posted by Alun Jones | 1 comment(s)
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Friday, March 21, 2008 9:15 PM

Retro-bundling - another suck of the Apple

I thought I was done blogging about Apple Software Update, having removed QuickTime from my system completely, and sworn never to install it again or watch another QT or MOV file. But nooo, someone had to spoil it by telling me what Apple Software Update...
Posted by Alun Jones | 8 comment(s)
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Tuesday, February 26, 2008 11:55 AM

CS-RCS Pro on Vista

I've been trying back and forth to get CS-RCS Pro , a version control suite, to work on Windows Vista. I like CS-RCS Pro for a number of reasons: Files stored in CS-RCS Pro are kept in a simple format, open and well-documented. As a result, if I ever...
Posted by Alun Jones | with no comments
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Saturday, January 19, 2008 6:09 PM

MacBook Air debuts; iTunes Pesters Me Again

The big news from Apple this week was that they have a flatter laptop than anyone else (except Intel, who have a "Lorado" concept model that is much cooler, is demonstrated with Vista, and comes with an optional sleeve that has a Sideshow display...
Posted by Alun Jones | 3 comment(s)
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Monday, December 17, 2007 5:38 PM

Removing Apple Mobile Device Support

As mentioned before, I'm not a fan of Appple 's, particularly because they tend to impose crap on me that I'm not interested in having. I've been trying to figure out how to remove iTunes , iPod and Aple Mobile Device Support on and off...
Posted by Alun Jones | 36 comment(s)
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Saturday, December 15, 2007 12:25 PM

Microsoft Support Switches to Live Search

In the spirit of the famous review of Spinal Tap's album "Shark Sandwich", I was tempted to post a two-word review,the first word of which is "Advanced". My three-word review, then - "Worst. Search. Ever". But, just in...
Posted by Alun Jones | 5 comment(s)
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Tuesday, November 27, 2007 6:41 PM

I didn't want iTunes - now I've got iPod, too?

So, in my last post " Can the EU get me QuickTime N? ", I noted that my installation of QuickTime (because I had a .MOV file I want to see) led to Apple Software Update offering me "iTunes + QuickTime 7.5", despite my removing iTunes...
Posted by Alun Jones | 9 comment(s)
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Tuesday, November 27, 2007 5:52 PM

Can the EU get me QuickTime N?

So, a long time ago, in a continent not so far away, the European Union required Microsoft to ship a version of Windows without Media Player , called Windows XP N. Now, here's a follow-up to my previous articles: Programmer Hubris Part 1 - He's...
Posted by Alun Jones | 4 comment(s)
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Friday, November 23, 2007 10:38 PM

Why is DR and process documentation so bad?

Given stories of people who have failed DR tests because they fail to document the processes that are required to recover systems, it's clear that the missing link is documentation and process. Why are systems so poorly documented? I see two reasons...
Posted by Alun Jones | with no comments
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Tuesday, October 02, 2007 9:35 PM

DRM should always be a choice

Jesper's recent frustration with a bug in the DRM support on his Windows Media Center Edition (MCE) system demonstrates a couple of basic truths in system reliability: Complexity negatively impacts reliability. DRM contributes to complexity. Clearly...
Posted by Alun Jones | with no comments
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Monday, September 03, 2007 8:51 PM

Why complain about UAC prompts?

Jesper's article in TechNet Magazine on the purpose and future of UAC in Windows Vista and beyond reminded me that there's a whole slew of behaviours more annoying than UAC's prompting (which, as Jesper points out, is only the most visible...
Posted by Alun Jones | 2 comment(s)
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Wednesday, August 22, 2007 9:53 PM

Larry Osterman isn't that into you, either.

In previous articles, I've pointed out: Programmer Hubris - He's just not that into you Programmer Hubris - I don't run your software all the time Programmer Hubris Part 3 - Microsoft Knows I'm Not That Into Them I'm still not that...
Posted by Alun Jones | with no comments
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Thursday, July 26, 2007 9:05 PM

firefoxURL:%03

Part 3 - and I promise that's the lot for now, because it's starting to look like I'm obsessed or something. Over the past week or so, you've read me talking about vulnerabilities in Fire fox's protocol handlers, and how my perception...
Posted by Alun Jones | 4 comment(s)
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Monday, July 23, 2007 10:51 PM

FirefoxURL - potshots part deux

I've been encouraged to collect together some comments that I've made over on other people's blogs about the firefoxurl: vulnerability. First, I do have to note with a little embarrassing schadenfreude that Mozilla's Window Snyder, Chief...
Posted by Alun Jones | 21 comment(s)
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Sunday, July 22, 2007 1:57 PM

firefoxurl: URL vulnerability

Heard about the firefoxurl vulnerability? It turns out that you can exploit Firefox by having Internet Explorer visit a link to a URL that starts with "firefoxurl:" (and a bunch of other code). [Assuming you have Firefox on your computer along...
Posted by Alun Jones | 5 comment(s)
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Tuesday, July 10, 2007 7:08 AM

Aitel's "Immunity" keeps bugs alive?

A couple of telling paragraphs from a story on Justine Aitel , CEO of Immunity, Inc. (nice to know Dave's keeping it all in the family, just like we do at Texas Imperial Software ): Immunity, which buys but does not disclose zero-day bugs, keeps tabs...
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