* Posts by Velv

2756 publicly visible posts • joined 21 Jan 2010

HORROR! Imagine if anyone could find out EVERYTHING you EVER tweeted

Velv
Black Helicopters

Hmmmm, Twitter setting itself up for a fight with the EU then? Right to be forgotten? Right to privacy? Ability to delete what has been published?

Mozilla, EFF, Cisco back free-as-in-FREE-BEER SSL cert authority

Velv

FFS people, this is not meant to be a panacea for all situations, it's a way to encourage the simple configurations on a large number of simple websites to switch on encryption. It's as much about educating world+dog on making communication secured as it is about the actual securing of those channels.

There are always going to be more complex configurations that will still require you to get your certs from the existing CAs.

Velv
Pirate

Then don't use the service and either:

A) Manually configure and maintain your own certificates; or

B) Keep running unencrypted.

For the millions of website admins out there who haven't got a clue, this will be a good thing.

Quebec's latest bid to break away from Canada HALTED by a single dot

Velv
Childcatcher

Too expensive to rename?

This from a region that has a fast food outlet renamed to PFK

That's "Poulet Frit Kentucky"

Even in France they call it KFC!!!

Gee THANKS: Cryptoscum offer a free decrypt in latest ransomware racket

Velv

Yes, yes, everyone should backup, and we have no sympathy for those that don't.

But seriously! Most people I know don't have the skills or technology to recover their data. The machine will need wiped and reinstalled. Maybe they made those recovery disks that never actually work, or maybe they need a pristine ISO. Chances are they'll need to take it to somebody who'll charge to rebuild.

Just to recover the data they'll probably need a second machine, but still will need help with the recovery.

if the governments can't act against the criminals, perhaps it's time to let Bryan Mills loose...

Feds to auction off second tranche of Silk Road Bitcoins worth $19 MEEELLION

Velv
Big Brother

Don't tell America it's now a Communist state...

You have some assets. The government needs some cash, so they seize your assets and accuse you of a crime. If you're found not guilty you still don't get anything back. Instead you need to find more money to take the government to court. Which will take years.

Fasthosts goes titsup, blames DNS blunder

Velv
Facepalm

"Inevitably, some folk were already demanding compensation for the loss of service, which has probably hit some Blighty businesses hard at the start of a working week."

I'm sure the compensation rates are fully documented in the Service Level Agreement you signed between your company and the outsource supplier and that the insurance policy you took out to cover your business critical infrastructure failures will cover any further shortfall due to the outage.

Sorry, what's that? You haven't got an SLA? You didn't insure your outsourced service?

Perhaps the insurance won't pay if you didn't have a Business Continuity Plan (or failed to adequately test it).

LSI driver bug is breaking VSANs, endangering data

Velv
Boffin

It might not be VMWares fault, but it is VMWares problem if it affects a substantial proportion of the installed estate.

One can only hope that VMWare is working very closely with LSI to help resolve the issue.

Oi, Europe! Tell US feds to GTFO of our servers, say Microsoft and pals

Velv
Pirate

Perhaps it's time for the tech giants to relocate their headquarters and company registration to a more friendly jurisdiction. Most of their tax affairs are already there...

Apple: Want a PATCH for iOS Masque attack? TOUGH LUCK, FANBOI

Velv
Facepalm

Why do I have a feeling of déjà vu?

"It's theoretical, it'll never happen". And then it did.

Bible THUMP: Good Book beats Darwin to most influential tome title

Velv
Flame

Good to see that four fictional works are considered so important (sarcastic smiley).

Given YouGov's reach I'm surprised they were only surveying 2,000. Doesn't strike me as likely to be representative of the UK as a whole. Do it again with 20,000 and I'll bet the bible and qur'an slip down the list.

ISPs are stripping encryption from netizens' email – EFF

Velv
Headmaster

Re: Pedant alert

No, it's more a case of ISPs deliberately preventing an encrypted channel from being formed between the two servers so that the subsequent communication is unencrypted.

MOULDY DICK: France aims to snatch EXPLODING WHALE crown from U.S.

Velv
Childcatcher

What ever they decided to do, we want video!

EU Ryanair 'screen-scraping' case could affect biz models

Velv

Re: Click through

"By clicking Find Flights IAgree to website terms of use" in tiny faint letters above the huge Ryanair blue Find Flights button

So not even a tick box.

SO LONELY: Woman DARED to get rid of her iPHONE - Apple DUMPED all her TXTS

Velv

Never mind failed messages after leaving Apple, when iMessage first appeared I found regular delays and failed messages. Rarely did it "fall back to SMS".

iMessage was disabled pretty sharpish and has never been turned on since.

Are open Wi-Fi network bods liable for users' copyright badness?

Velv
Facepalm

D'oh!

Don't know about your model of hardware, but mine still allows a password on the "guest wifi". Guest wifi simply provides Internet access and blocks local network access.

Velv

Is the cafe providing commercial (albeit free) access to a private broadband connection (in breach of contract), or providing commercial access to a business broadband service that permits it to be resold (which is being done if it's a cafe, you're buying the coffee to get free access)?

If it's full commercial broadband you'll probably find its already covered by the ISP regulations and contract. If it's a private connection you are sharing, you're probably going to find you are responsible for its illegal use.

Velv
Pirate

Re: So all that's required is that you set a password ?

You've missed the point. It's not about anonymity, it's about copyright theft - if I permit someone to use my wifi and they steal movies and music, am I liable for their actions. If they download illegal material, am I liable?

By setting a password you will be deemed to be "in control" of the wifi network and therefore (rightly or wrongly) liable for illegal activity. If you log who uses it (and they can be traced by the authorities), that becomes evidence it wasn't you directly who breached copyright. With no password, you currently have no defence.

'Tech giants who encrypt comms are unwittingly aiding terrorists', claims ex-Home Sec Blunkett

Velv
Big Brother

Perhaps since nobody other than terrorists has anything to hide the government should remove all encryption from all government traffic - keep it free and open for us honest good citizens to read since it won't contain anything that is at all controversial, commercial or personal.

No? Thought not. Muppet!

Apple on the art of the deal: 'Put on your big boy pants and accept the agreement'

Velv

Re: Being made to put on Apple's big boy pants

No, you're just wearing them wrong

HP emails personal data of 1,000 CDS workers to 3rd party

Velv
Facepalm

"It is understood that the incident was caused by human error, but HP has processes in place to prevent these types of outcomes, and it is not known why the person did not follow them."

Which is why you take precautions to prevent human error from causing major problems. Like Data Leakage Protection between your internal and external connections. Something that detects things like National Insurance Numbers and PAN details in an email and blocks it from being sent outside the company without additional authorisation.

FFS Exchange 2013 has some of this built in already, its not hard you know!!!

ONE FIFTH of Win Server 2003 users to miss support cutoff date

Velv
Facepalm

Re: The last Windows Server Operating System

Don't need tape drives anymore...

... until you need to recover something from an old tape.

Velv
Boffin

Re: Crevice

Intergluteal cleft

Velv

Re: The major problem with W2003

@LDS

"As MS is the only "enterprise" thas ask you to upgrade its product once every eleven year"

Er, no. Most industrial plant equipment is capitalised over 10-20 years and expected to last longer. Several factories I visit still use lathes and similar equipment that are 40 years old. Only consumer grade shit has built in obsolescence. (Cue comments about Windows being consumer grade).

Eye laser surgery campaigner burned by Facebook takedown

Velv
Boffin

Since the campaign is allegedly about regulation for laser eye surgery in the UK I would expect the campaigner to have websites and social media pages that do not name any particular supplier of the service. Or is that not the point...

I guess that wouldn't garner as many column inches in the press if there was no "big business stopped me complaining".

(Safety glasses on)

Who wants to be a millionaire? Not so fast, Visa tells wannabe pay-by-bonk thieves

Velv
Pirate

"We spent £78m on security so we're safe" said some mouthpiece who clearly knows nothing about Security.

It's not what you spend that counts, it's what you implement. Some of the most secure systems on the planet are dirt cheap, just not particular convenient to use. And there in lies the rub. Contactless is about convenience at the expense of some of the security controls.

UK.gov mulls what to do about digital currencies

Velv
Boffin

Putting an alternative spin on it, regulation will strengthen the adoption of digital currencies.

I'm not going to convert my savings to a format where I could lose the lot, but if digital banks are required to have guarantees and protection in the event of collapse then more people will use them. This will then make it harder to track the criminals. At the moment BitCoin is pretty much only used by criminals (joke) thus making it a nice easy way to track "dodgy geezers". Once Mrs Miggins in the high street starts playing Bingo with BitCoin the legitimate noise will increase masking the transactions of laundry.

Data protection laws come to the rescue of poor, underpaid UK MPs

Velv
Big Brother

Re: HMRC

CH14800 - Record Keeping

HMRC can specify in writing that records can be retained for shorter periods. It does (as of 03/11/14) state they "have not specified any shorter periods so far". Perhaps a retrospective award is about to be granted

Would you recognise the Vans shoes logo? Neither would Euro trademark bods

Velv

Clearly the judges don't wear "sneakers"

If Vans can't have their version of the word Vans with a line then surely Coca-Cola can't have their comic sans logo? There are plenty of other similar word based logos that would also fail.

Google’s dot-com forget-me-not bomb: EU court still aiming at giant

Velv
Coffee/keyboard

This shows just how flawed the ECJ ruling is.

The ECJ want the results filtered based on where the search takes place (I.e.inside Europe). So I'm sitting physically in Singapore but using my corporate provided laptop that is VPN'd into my US company and I exit the company to the Internet in New York. I'm doing research on behalf of a French company, so I use google.fr. Should the results be filtered?

Search results should not be filtered. If there is material published that is out of date then the OUT OF DATE material should be removed.

Apple CEO Tim Cook: My well-known gayness is 'a gift from God'

Velv

Re: Get ready for..

Too late, didn't you realise Apple now have the patent...

Velv
Joke

"the greatest gifts God has given me"

I congratulate him on his honesty and wish him continued success, but I'm slightly troubled by his belief it came from Steve Jobs

Apple spent just ONE DOLLAR beefing up the latest iPad Air 2

Velv

Re: What about the VAT?

Nothing mentioned about Import Duty, that has different rules again and will be factored into the retail price. Then there's Import VAT to the EU since the goods aren't made inside the EU (and that is different from the retail VAT the consumer has paid)

Velv

@Credas

The article states " this would mean Apple is raking in £230 on the sale of every slab."

"Raking in" is common slang for profit, but leaving that aside, as has been pointed out Apple aren't the only retailer, so they aren't even turning over the retail price of each slab. And the Gross Profit Margin is an estimate by an external company quoted to two decimal places, something I doubt even Apple knows internally. Lies, damned lies and journalism that belongs in The Sun.

Apple to PROTECT YOU from dreaded TROUSER EXPLOSIONS

Velv

Re: What about latex ...

Neither are particularly fire retardant. They might withstand some mistreatment from candle wax, but get the flame too close and you can end up with problems. Or so I'm told. No first hand experience. Honest.

Storage array giants can use Azure to evacuate their back ends

Velv

Re: "planned failover that guarantees zero data loss"

If it's properly planned then there's no reason to have data loss.

Microsoft can guarantee their part, what the user fucks up remains the users problem.

Verizon bankrolls tech news site, bans tech's biggest stories

Velv

Could be worse

Normally there's a non disclosure clause on the existence of these types of rules, so at least we know up front what's being hidden.

Big red flashing lights and sirens pointing to "THERE'S A NEWS STORY HERE, BUT WE'RE NOT ALLOWED TO TELL YOU ABOUT IT"

Tim Cook: The classic iPod HAD TO DIE, and this is WHY

Velv
Facepalm

D'oh!

So that would be the iPod Nano then

Microsoft has Windows Server running on ARM: report

Velv
Joke

Depends if You can get the pod bay doors open...

Now: The REAL APPLE NEWS you need to know

Velv
Devil

While not a tree in Britain, has anyone put the original apple tree on a map yet?

You know, the one Eve took an apple from 9,000 years ago. Must be quite a tourist attraction, the source of everything we are and know...

UK.gov pushes for SWIFT ACTION against nuisance calls, threatens £500k fines

Velv
Pirate

Nuisance calls are one reason the recipient must never be required to pay any part of any termination charge. There's regular rumblings in the industry about changing the model, but until the telcos can properly control the source customer the source telco must be fully responsible for all costs.

DOUBLE BONK: Fanbois catch Apple Pay picking pockets

Velv
Gimp

If you've just slept outside an Apple Store for 5 days to get yourself an iPhone 6 you want every excuse possible to take it out of your pocket and flash it in front of people.

APPLE support doc CONFIRMS 'ORGANIZED NETWORK ATTACKS'

Velv

Now we know how all those dodgy nude selfies made it to the wider world of 4chan...

Google puts Chrome credentials on USB drives for two-factor authentication

Velv

Re: Kind of nice

My Yubikey on Windows 8.1 is pretty much instant. It's only a keyboard after all, it just "keys" a 40 character one time string for you.

Velv
Flame

Re: BadUSB

I think you need to go away and do a bit more sensible research before you post wide conspiracy theories about what will happen.

While it's not entirely impossible the NSA or other security service might be able to "inject" or otherwise compromise some of these secure physical keys, the safeguards and checksums make it highly unlikely.

Start by reading up on Yubico, their manufacturing plant in a forest in Sweden, and the processes surrounding the securing of each transaction. Not perfect, but doing multiples of the right things in security layers to prevent tampering.

And (almost) anything is better than a single password entered on a web page...

Apple flings iOS 8.1 at world+dog: Our AMAZEBALLS 9-step installation guide

Velv
Gimp

Call me cynical, but a release of 8.1 just a month after 8.0 means that 8 wasn't going to be ready for public consumption by the original "announcement" data. But we'll fudge it.

I hope they've fixed all the niggles, 8.0.x has been disappointing with all the little things I've found its broken. If this was a school report card it would be "must try harder" Apple. You can be good, you dropped the ball on this one.

Hey, iPhone 6 fanbois: Apple's bonk to 'Pay' app IS GO

Velv
Gimp

Not even available in Apple Stores in the UK?

If you can't get your own house in order its a pretty poor show.

Sysadmin with EBOLA? Gartner's issued advice to debug your biz

Velv
Pirate

Re: I love Gartner

Much as you may mock them and the content, history has shown us time and time again that the world is populated with people who have no common sense.

So Ebola isn't really a threat. But as part of your business continuity plans do you have something written down on the measures you'd take for a bad flu? Thought not.

Apple's new iPADS have begun the WAR that will OVERTURN the NETWORK WORLD

Velv

Since the SIM forms part of the GSM standard it's not going away in the immediate future, and the carriers are better represented on the board than Apple or Google

Data cops in charge of Facebook, LinkedIn, Google get a new office

Velv

Sums up perfectly Ireland's attitude to legality as described by Dara O'Briain.

There are three states of legality in Irish law. There's "that's grand", "ah, now, don't push it" and "right, you're taking the piss", none of which actually result in any action by the authorities.