* Posts by GarethB

27 publicly visible posts • joined 14 Sep 2010

150 infosec bods now know who they're up against thanks to BT Security cc/bcc snafu

GarethB

Not at all suprised

We had a BT Eco Repair account created for us today. For those who don't know this is used to report faults on BT lines and circuits.

Logged in and could immediately see fault reports for lines which didn't belong to us. Took a look at one and it contained the contact name, mobile phone number and installation address at the British Transport Police.

Boss regrets pointing finger at chilled out techie who finished upgrade early

GarethB

Re: Oh so familiar

Not much use if the supplier is not UK based though.

Laos bans Galaxy Note 7

GarethB

S7 != Note 7

Galaxy S7 != Galaxy Note 7

Beleaguered 123-reg customers spot price hike

GarethB

Re: Ahahahaha!

+1 for Gandi

They have a nice easy to use and well documented API which makes things easier if you have a lot of domains to manage.

Work from home when the next big Windows 10 installation arrives

GarethB

Even happier I chose a PS4

That makes me even happier I chose to upgrade my old Xbox360 by getting a PS4.

LenovOUCH expands bits-blistering bodgy battery boomerang

GarethB

Re: Low risk?

> I think they might have used something other than regular Li-Ion because it is a lot heavier than the original and looks better constructed.

Sounds like they are using a safer chemical composition assuming the capacity is the same.

Not all Li-Ion are the same. There are much safer types available but they are bigger and heavier.

http://batteryuniversity.com/learn/article/types_of_lithium_ion

Virgin Media goes TITSUP, RUINS Tuesday evening

GarethB

Strange when I checked the status page it was showing the problem although it did say it was an issue with the TV interactive service and broadband was ok. Both clearly use the same network. ETA for completion was 10:55.

Ten things you always wanted to know about IP Voice

GarethB

Needs better information on faxing

Trying to fax over a voip connection is a bit of a minefield. It can be done and works reliable over a good connection using G711. However using other codecs or a poor connection and it won't work.

You would be better off porting the fax number to a provider which offers a fax to email and email to fax service.

Trousers down for six of the best affordable Androids

GarethB

Re: Not mentioned: Moto G v2 also has Dual SIM

I have a cheap Cubot android phone which is dual sim.

Both sims are active for incoming calls.

Two signal strength indications are shown in the top bar.

When you use the dailler you have two dial buttons.

If a 3rd party app dials a number you get a pupup asking you which you wish to use.

You can select which sim to use for data however only the first sim is enabled for 3g.

Reg probe bombshell: How we HACKED mobile voicemail without a PIN

GarethB

A voip provider unless its a very small one is highly unlikely to be using ISDN connections. Most likely they are using a SS7 interconnect so the voip provider is able to provide whatever network number and callerid they wish when placing the outbound call.

There are services such as skype which allow a mobile number to be used as the callerid but these are always first validated. There is an ofcom guideline NICC ND1016 which states that a callerid which is set by the carrier should be correct so that a call made back to that number should reach the original caller. So whatever telco the register used for this testing was technically in breach of this regulation. They probably got permission to provide the particular number in their testing but the fact remains whichever telco is allowing other to hack voicemail using this method could get into trouble.

Dimwit hackers use security camera DVRs as SUPER-SLOW Bitcoin-mining rig

GarethB

Re: Using someone else's hardware and electricity?

Except that the difficulty of Litecoin mining is about 1000 (I think from memory - may be more) times lower than Bitcoin but Bitcoins are only worth about 40x more. So they would make 25 times more profit if they mined Litecoins instead.

ISPs' pirate-choking blocking measures ARE effective – music body

GarethB

Dropped 11% in countries with blocking

Any mention of how much it dropped in other countries or what the trend was in total?

It sounds to me like they are just manipulating the stats to make it look like what they are doing is having an effect.

In reality people who's ISP blocks access will just use something like TOR which will make them appear to come from a different country most likely anyway. So it will make it look like people accessing it within the UK are fewer but greater in other countries.

MtGox has VANISHED. So where have all the Bitcoins gone?

GarethB

Re: Were people really stupid enough to use MtGox as a bitcoin wallet

Yes but at least with a bank account if the bank goes bust the first 50K or whatever is covered by the state.

GarethB

Were people really stupid enough to use MtGox as a bitcoin wallet

Were people really that stupid?

Its an exchange so you put money in, exchange it for bitcoins and then take them out as soon as you can. If you have a large transactions then break them up into smaller ones and let one complete before starting another.

Leaving money in there was always asking for trouble. http://www.antipope.org/charlie/blog-static/2014/02/schadenfreude-1.html gives a good summary.

Silk Road reboot claims: Hacker STOLE all our Bitcoin funds

GarethB

Sounds fishy

The "transaction malleability" just allows you to perform a transaction and then when it had been confirmed change the details of that transaction id so that when the sender goes back and looks at it, it appears as though it didn't get confirmed. That cant be used to steal money from an account which you have no authority to send bitcoins from to start with.

Five UK banks sign up to hook up customers' ACCOUNTS to their MOBILE DEVICES

GarethB

Cashback

I get cashback if I pay via a credit card so there is a definite benefit to continuing to use a credit card compared to Zapp

Spanish boffins increase GPS accuracy by 90%

GarethB

Re: Patent? prior art?

When I was with Roke Manor Research back in 1993 while at uni I was working on a similar system they were developing so its certainly not new

A load of Tosh: External hard drives the new 'personal clouds'

GarethB
Facepalm

Wait I have a better option...

"The box only holds 3TB - USB sticks will hold more and you can carry them in your pocket"

I have seen 64MB USB sticks at a reasonable speed for just under £25 each. So you would need about 50 of them costing about £1200.

I have a better idea which is cheaper and takes up less space. Its called an external hard disk...

Belkin Power Pack 4000

GarethB
Thumb Down

Overpriced and small

Around 4Ah for £55?

The New Trent IMP1000 that I have has a £10 cheaper RRP and a 10Ah capacity. It can fully charge an ipad without problem although its output is limited to 1A so it doesnt charge it very quick.

No mention of the max current the Belkin unit can deliver.

GarethB

Probably 4AH

Its probably a 4Ah battery. Going by the 4000 model name and the fact that an ipad battery is around 10Ah and the reviewer said it will charge an ipad by about 40% (will actually be less due to inefficiencies).

New Trojan routes your bank's calls to CROOKS

GarethB

First Direct will text you daily if there are any debits over a preset threshold. The minimum threshold is £10. They used to charge for the service but its free now but I think if you dont have your salary paid into the account there is a monthly charge.

Kindle beats Apple's closed book on choice

GarethB

drm free epub not an issue

Who cares if the kindle doesnt support drm free epubs. Just run it through Calibre and convert it to .mobi.

Red Dwarf to blast off on new adventure

GarethB

marooned series 3 not 2

Marooned was series 3 not 2. However I agree that series was probably the best and just went downhill from there.

April Fools Day's Finest

GarethB

Angry Nerds

http://www.atlassian.com/en/angrynerds

Amazon Kindle 3 e-book reader

GarethB
FAIL

Kindle books are cheaper

Dont know what books you are looking at. Look at the top 10 amazon.co.uk paper book chart and 9 of them are available on kindle and of those the kindle edition is always the cheapest.

GarethB
Thumb Up

epub not a problem

The lack of epub format is really a non issue. Download http://calibre-ebook.com/ and you can convert from many formats. Converting from pdf even works very well. You can also convert sites such as the bbc news and theregister to a magazine and have it sent via email automatically.

School worker jailed for abuse images

GarethB
FAIL

Very talented NOT

"very talented young man"

Obviously not that talented if he didnt even use something like truecrypt.