Category Archives: Technology

HP Stabs Microsoft in the Back: Dumps Windows, Prepares Linux-Based Operating System

The current two dimensional HP logo used on co...

Tux, the Linux penguin

Could this be a sign of an exodus away from Windows-based environments? The cost of having to upgrade many machines to Windows 7 or Windows 8, not to mention support and licensing, or the premium support cost required to continue supporting Windows XP would not go down well at any sensible company’s finance/accounting department.

 

 

 

Linux is free, open-sourced (see this link for a video explanation of what the term “open-sourced” means), and if a user doesn’t like how it works, they can add/remove or tweak it completely to their liking. They can even build their own kernel to handle bespoke hardware if they wished.

It should be noted that HP teamed up with Bell Labs in the past (who developed the original UNIX OS, on which Linux was inspired from), and built HP-UX (source here), so it isn’t like HP haven’t got some *nix-like environment already under the hood. In fact, WebOS  (now looked after by LG, but originally developed by Palm, which was then acquired by HP, then sold to LG) was Linux-based (source here).

 

HP, which was actually one of Microsoft’s key partners in the last decade, is trying to move away from Windows in a move that would clearly turn the company into a direct competitor for the Redmond-based software giant.

HP Stabs Microsoft in the Back: Dumps Windows, Prepares Linux-Based Operating System.

 

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Evernote and Feedly Hit by Cyberattacks, Held for Ransom

Feedly is up now, but some sites still haven’t updated their articles yet:

Popular note-taking app Evernote and RSS reader Feedly have been hit with major cyberattacks as hackers demand ransom from the latter site to get it back online.

Both Evernote and Feedly, two services that work together, confirmed they suffered DDoS (distributed denial of service) attacks, a type of cybercrime that kicks sites offline and is meant to disrupt usage (not steal user data). But Feedly, which is still down, detailed in a blog post that hackers are holding the site up for ransom. It’s unknown as of now if the cyber criminals asked for ransom from Evernote too.

Evernote and Feedly Hit by Cyberattacks, Held for Ransom.

Denial of service attack | Building Feedly

Feedly is being hit by a DDoS. Feedly was touted as the replacement to Google Reader when Google decided to pull the plug on it. And a lot of people moved over to Feedly as a result. I was one of them.

Criminals are attacking feedly with a distributed denial of service attack (DDoS). The attacker is trying to extort us money to make it stop. We refused to give in and are working with our network providers to mitigate the attack as best as we can.

We are working in parallel with other victims of the same group and with law enforcement.

We want to apologize for the inconvenience. Please know that you data is safe and you will be able to re-access your feedly as soon as the attack is neutralized

Denial of service attack | Building Feedly.

Snippet: NTP Syncing (Windows/Linux)

Tux, the Linux penguin

English: M in blue square (similar to seen on )

A quick snippet for syncing your date and time via NTP. I have noticed that Windows and Linux do not follow the same convention by standard, and are always an hour out from each other, even though both claim to follow the same time zone. So, what I am having to do is sync via NTP each time I dual boot.

In Linux, this can be done using cron jobs or using the NTP daemon, but that does not do it frequently enough for my liking. So here is a bash snippet for it:

sudo service ntp stop
sudo ntpdate 0.ubuntu.pool.ntp.org 1.ubuntu.pool.ntp.org 2.ubuntu.pool.ntp.org 3.ubuntu.pool.ntp.org 0.uk.pool.ntp.org 1.uk.pool.ntp.org 2.uk.pool.ntp.org 3.uk.pool.ntp.org ntp.ubuntu.com
sudo service ntp start

The first line stops the NTP daemon, since the ntpdate command does not like it when it is running (port in use). The second command uses a server in the selected list to sync with. The final line restarts the NTP daemon.

The Windows (Windows 7) equivalent is very similar. Like with linux, it has an in-built sync facility, but it again does not sync often enough for my liking. Like with the bash script, the commands must be run with elevated rights, so you must “Run as Administrator“, or run from an elevated rights command prompt, which you do as follows:

  1. Click Start, type “cmd” into the command window (do NOT use Windows+R)
  2. Hold down CTRL+SHIFT, then press ENTER
  3. You will be prompted (if you have UAC active), OK it and you will get a command prompt with “Administrator” in the title.

net stop "Windows Time"
net start "Windows Time"
w32tm /config /manualpeerlist:"0.ubuntu.pool.ntp.org 1.ubuntu.pool.ntp.org 2.ubuntu.pool.ntp.org 3.ubuntu.pool.ntp.org 0.uk.pool.ntp.org 1.uk.pool.ntp.org 2.uk.pool.ntp.org 3.uk.pool.ntp.org ntp.ubuntu.com" /syncfromflags:ALL /update
w32tm /resync

This code starts/restarts the Windows Time service then configures it with a pool of NTP servers, before asking the service to update itself and then resync. The resync action is what adjusts the time.

iPhones frozen by hackers demanding ransom – Telegraph

Owners of iPhones and iPads have been targeted by a hacker who is freezing iOS devices and demanding a ransom of up to £55 to unlock them.

The majority of the attacks have taken place in Australia although there are also reports of Britons being affected.

iPhones frozen by hackers demanding ransom – Telegraph.

Student Loan Company rapped after data breaches

 

The Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) has criticised the Student Loans Company Limited after a series of data breaches involving customers’ records.

The business reported several incidents where information held about customers, including medical details and a psychological assessment, had been sent to the wrong people.

 

An ICO investigation found that not enough checks were carried out when documents were being scanned to add to customer accounts, and more sensitive documents actually received fewer checks.

Student Loan Company rapped after data breaches.

The IE flaw that Microsoft refuses to patch – Telegraph

And why are you still using Windows?

A flaw in Microsoft’s Internet Explorer which leaves users vulnerable to hackers has not been fixed, despite its discoverer giving the company six months grace to do so before publishing details.

The IE flaw that Microsoft refuses to patch – Telegraph.

Video: eBay cyber attack: why you should change your password now – Telegraph

Auction site eBay asked all its 233m users to change their passwords following a “cyber attack” that saw their names, email and postal addresses, phone numbers and dates of birth fall into the hands of hackers.

(Video inside link)

Video: eBay cyber attack: why you should change your password now – Telegraph.

Google overtakes Apple as world’s most valuable brand – Telegraph

 

Google has been named ahead of Apple as the world’s most valuable brand, according to a new survey.

Google overtakes Apple as world’s most valuable brand – Telegraph.