IE6 Was Unsafe 284 Days In 2006

Slashdot yesterday on a Washington Post's Security Fix blog, where Brian Krebs has toted up the total vulnerability days for IE6 users in 2006. From the article:

For a total 284 days in 2006 (or more than nine months out of the year), exploit code for known, unpatched critical flaws in pre-IE7 versions of the browser was publicly available on the Internet. Likewise, there were at least 98 days last year in which no software fixes from Microsoft were available to fix IE flaws that criminals were actively using to steal personal and financial data from users... In contrast, Internet Explorer's closest competitor in terms of market share — Mozilla's Firefox browser — experienced a single period lasting just nine days last year in which exploit code for a serious security hole was posted online before Mozilla shipped a patch to remedy the problem.

So the questions remains, why would you still be using IE and not Firefox?

The Man in the Hat Returns

Lucas, Ford to Start Filming New Indiana Jones Film 2007.01.02 11:36

George Lucas has announced that the script for the long-rumored fourth Indiana Jones film has been finalized and is to begin filming this year, with Harrison Ford once again in front of the camera. From the article:

In a statement, the 64-year-old Ford said he was ready for another turn as the globe-trotting archaeologist. "I'm delighted to be back in business with my old friends," he said. "I don't know if the pants still fit, but I know the hat will."

Woohoo! I know the question was raised, can Indy still be relevant (as the first three were made in the 80's) but come on, they were set in early WWII era anyways. I think the whole good-vs-evil theme is more relevant now than ever. I'm curious as to what storyline they'll follow, would they try to tie in to contemporary themes such as terrorism or can we just expect a good old fashioned, pistol-and-whip slingin' time...

New Year's Weekend Roundup

Happy New Year! Hope you had an enjoyable weekend and got to spend it with friends and family. I actually got to spend Saturday alone with my wife, whilst the girls spent the night at their friends' house. We had a relaxing dinner at Mealey's in New Market MD (awesome crab dip) and then caught a late show of Casino Royale. Little bit long, but highly enjoyable, I look forward to the new Bond franchise.

Today I started taking the train from Monocacy direct to Silver Spring. Since most of DC is off today (but not me, natch) the commute was extraordinarily light. We'll see how it goes tomorrow, but it still seems a much, much better choice than the bus/metro combo.

So, on to the stories from Slashdot.

The NSFW HTML Attribute 2006.12.29 8:32

Over at The Frosty Mug Revolution, PJ Doland makes a compelling case for a new HTML attribute in the spirit of the highly-regarded 'nofollow' attribute promoted by Google — the NSFW attribute (rel='nsfw'). His original idea has been refined and expanded by positive comments from readers, resulting in a semantic solution to the issue he raises in the original post. From the article: 'Content creators can apply the attribute to paragraph tags, div tags, or any other block-level element. Doing so will indicate that the enclosed content is not safe for work. Visitors will be able to configure their browsers to block display of just the content enclosed by the flagged block-level element. This isn't about censorship. It is about making us all less likely to accidentally click on a goatse.cx link when our boss is standing behind us. It is also about making us feel more comfortable posting possibly objectionable content by giving visitors a means of easily filtering that content.'

Slashdot's Games of the Year 2006.12.29 14:25

Not everyone who works on Slashdot plays games. Enough of us do, though, that I thought it would be interesting to tap my co-workers to see what folks would call their 'game of the year'. Below are comments on the best gaming of 2006 from Chris Nandor, CmdrTaco, Chris Brown, Scuttlemonkey, and myself. Then, once you've read that, we need your help in the comments. What was the game you couldn't put down? Perhaps it was over quickly, but you know you'll be thinking about it in the future? Was it a next-gen title, or something for the good old PlayStation 2? In your opinion, what was the best game of the year?

Darwin Awards 2006 2006.12.31 10:23

The year is coming to and end so it is time to see how our genepool is doing. Darwin Awards 2006 includes everything from whacking RPGs with hammers to recreating experiments by Franklin.

GMail Vulnerable To Contact List Hijacking 2007.01.01 10:09

By simply logging in to GMail and visiting a website, a malicious website can steal your contact list, and all their details. The problem occurs because Google stores the contact list data in a Javascript file. So far the attack only works on Firefox, and doesn't appear to work in Opera or Internet explorer 7. IE6 was un-tested as of now.

Awesome sig tag

Some times you're reading a post on a forum and you find just the perfect gem of a signature line. Like this one.

For you Unix geeks: chown -R us ./base

And it's all mine now, ya hear me? All mine!!!! :-D

Ubuntu 6.10 (Edgy Eft) LAMP Server Installation

Automatic LAMP (Linux, Apache, MySQL and PHP) In about 15 minutes, the time it takes to install Ubuntu Edgy Server Edition, you can have a LAMP server up and ready to go. This feature, exclusive to Ubuntu Server Edition, is available at the time of installation.

The LAMP option saves the trouble of installing and integrating each of the four separate LAMP components, a process which can take hours and requires someone who is skilled in the installation and configuration of the individual applications. You get increased security, reduced time to install, and reduced risk of misconfiguration, all of which results in a lower cost of ownership.

Ubuntu LAMP server Install the following Versions

Ubuntu Edgy Eft 6.10
Apache 2.0.55
Mysql 5.0.24a
PHP 5.1.6

First you need to download server version of Ubuntu version from here...

Read the rest of the article.

CERTStation Threat-Level Aggregator

Just spotted, the CERTStation Threat level Aggregator displays the current threat level, in real-time, as assessed by 8 of the Internet's leading vulnerability watch services such as Symantec Threatcon, ISS Alertcon and SANS Infocon on one publically accessible Web page. Well, that saves a lot of daily trudging! (Warning - site is heavy on the flash...)

PC World's 20 Most Innovative Products of 2006

PC World has put together a list of their choices for the 20 Most Innovative Products of 2006. The List includes Office 2007, Nintendo Wii, Sony Reader, Sony PlayStation 3, the BlackBerry Pearl, and some other interesting choices.

Battlestar Galactica vs. Star Wars