ubuntu
Detecting a Security Breach – Ubuntu and Linux Machine
Jan 25th
Detecting a security breech is sometimes as easy as logging into the machine, using ssh, and viewing the last login attempt from a completely unrecognized ip address or domain. Subsequently check your auth.log file, in /var/log, for login attempts. If you see countless failed login attempts you have been the victim of a brute from attack. In gedit, or nano you can search for “attempt” or “access”. When several failed login attempts occur a log entry saying “possible breaking attempt” is posted. The first think a hacker will do, on a Linux machine, is attempt to change the root password, which will lock down the machine completely. If they cannot change the root password, they may just try and install a backdoor to the particular user that was breached. A backdoor can be a daemon running on any port, so check with “ps aux | grep user”. Grepping the ps command will bring up all of your active processes and if any process name looks funny you have identified a concern. You can also check what ports are accepting communication (open). A backdoor can also be an installed authorized key, which will allow password-less ssh access to the system.
Ultimately if a hacker changes the root password of your machine, there is nothing you can do. You must either restore from a backup, or rebuild the entire machine. No questions asked.
Clean Up Ubuntu
Dec 25th
There are two commands that clean thing up nicely. Apt-get autoclean and localepurge, which is in sbin. Also a graphical utility to cleanup the kernel and other caches. Install localpurge and bleachbit:
sudo apt-get install localpurge bleachbit
The run terminal cleaning:
sudo apt-get autoclean && sudo localepurge
Then open the graphical utility:
sudo bleachbit
Ubuntu Karmic – Mac Mini – MythTV
Dec 15th
I gave up on OSX. I could not get the media center working the way I wanted. Plex and XBMC have their bugs, as previously posted, twice, preventing predictable functionality. MythTV for OSX simply is not as refined as its native Linux counterpart. It feels like running Windows applications via wine. I just scrapped OSX for Ubuntu Karmic. Out of the box, off of the cd, things work great. Audio works perfect. What didn’t work? The Mac Mini remote control. I tried for a day to get it to work the hard way. I saw that /dev/usb/hiddev1 was working and displaying data; shown with cat. But lirc would not bind to the device. Ultimately I removed the program, and ran a system update. Problem resolved; clearly a bug report was filed and a resolution provided.
Fanart and coverart work fine. The Linux based fronted is seamless compatible with the Linux based MythTV server. I didn’t even need to input the servers ip information manually. I did have to set the repeat feature, for each key in ~/.lirc/mythtv.
Now all I want is to have MythTV sleep the system and wake the system. I get it to sleep the system by making the halt script sudo pm-suspend. Adjust your /etc/sudoers files to allow passwordless sudo for /usr/sbin/pm-suspend. The halt script is configured in setup-general settings. Waking the computer is another thing that I have yet to get working.
Microsoft Windows – New OS Why? People Don’t Update Either Way
Nov 22nd
The problem with Internet security nowadays is largely in part because people do not know how to update their computers. I fix computers as a side job, and you’d be surprised that many people have told me they don’t click the Microsoft gold shield in their system tray because there is a virus going around. What absolute ignorance. The Gold shield will update your computer to protect you as much as possible with critical updates. I am continuously flabbergasted with genuine stupidity. The default setting in all MS Windows products should be to automatically install updates, because the general public simply does not understand the importance of keeping their software shiny new.
Every time you see the gold shield in the bottom right hand corner of your computer, it is your obligation to click it and process the updates. As a Windows user, if you have a virus, a Trojan, or anything in between you are contributing to the massive problems that plague the Internet nowadays. Spam, phishing and lots of other things are predominantly broadcast from exploited machines.
Recent exploits in old versions of Internet Explorer have resurfaced this very issue of security.
“Symantec has conducted further tests and confirmed that it affects Internet Explorer versions 6 and 7,” the company wrote on its Web site Saturday. “We expect that a fully-functional reliable exploit will be available in the near future.”[Source]
People have relatively new installations of Windows Vista and they are using Internet Explorer 6 and 7. Why? There is Internet Explorer 8? “Ohhh, I don’t like the new version”, they say. But the new version is more secure, and more up to date. Get used to change; accept change for the better. It is necessary.
There is another major problem. PC manufacturers like to sell antivirus software packages. They preinstall them on machines, and give 60 free trials, and then expect people to pay the subscription fees to keep them active. This is absurd. Who in their right mind will pay those fees? By far the vast majority of people do not pay those fees and are using high vulnerable, non up to date software. This is a shame because AVG, and other companies, offer free anti virus that is continuously updated! Yes, I said continuously updated. New updates are issued all the time for free; do you understand free does not cost money?
If you are using a Windows computer update your antivirus right now. Do the world a favor and remove that botnet from your computer. Stop sending out mass spam emails right now. Run S right now. Install it from www.spybot.com. Install the apps, update them, then reboot your computer in safe mode. Hold f8 when your booting and select safe mode! Run AVG, then Spybot, then AVG, and Spybot again. Clean your machine now!
Now this will take some time to clean your virus infested Windows machine thoroughly. Maybe a day or two. Maybe you will have to reinstall the entire OS alltogether. Either do this now, or download Ubuntu and never think about antivirus again.
Ubuntu Karmic – Codecs for DVD, MPG, AVI, and All the Rest
Nov 1st
I’ve hit this topic before, but nowadays its become much more simpler. In older releases of Ubuntu you needed to add the codecs separately, and sometimes even add a third party repository. No you just have to install the restricted extras package.
sudo apt-get install ubuntu-restricted-extras
Now you can play for music, your videos, and watch your oldschool DVD if you still have them. I recommend using the default video player totem, but there are others. The popular ones are:
totem-gstreamer
totem-xine
gxine
VLC
Each one has its feature, but ultimately each will do the same thing; play your files. I used VLC for a while, but totem-gstreamer is will integrated into Ubuntu, and seems to work just fine.
5 Ways to Save Businesses Big Bucks, Enhance Security and Evolve
Oct 28th
Electricity is one of the biggest expenditures in the business world. Surpassed only by procurement, and human resources; reducing the amount of power consumed by electrical appliances can save a company millions. The first thing to do is configure your computers as thin clients. A computer can consume 30 or more watts each. If a Corporation has thousands of computers, and a thin client uses 50-75% less energy, then that translates directly to a 50-75% reduction in the utility bill. There might be a setup cost associated with 10,000 new thin client terminal, but that will be made back within the first year of use.
1) To implement a thin client setup the Corporation can use a Microsoft Windows product, which would cost money and be counter productive. The economical choice is to use Linux, and an out of the box setup can be achieved using Ubuntu. Talk about killing two birds with one stone; using Linux will eliminate the costly expenditure of anti virus subscriptions that all corporations have.
2) By implementing Linux the cost of maintenance will be dramatically reduced. You can have Linux machine running for years without serious security problems, and the entire update process can be completely automated and centralized to the thin client server. A corporation can significantly cut their maintenance costs with a thin client setup.
Most database applications nowadays are browser based therefore Linux is perfectly compatible with most existing systems. Firefox works on all Linux systems.
3) After switching to a Linux thin client server, all those pesky Windows license keys can be resold to needy customers. Theoretically the corporation can recoup several thousands of dollars, if not 10’s.
4) Then the old energy inefficient hardware can be resold, or donated to a organization of good will. Either an economical or philanthropic plus.
5) Then security can be enhanced by enforcing an outbound firewall to block all but the needed ports. Theoretically only several ports, clearly port 80, port 25, and several others need to be open. This will dramatically reduce the risks even if a computer becomes infected with a virus. Bye bye Norton, or Symantec. Save that 10-50k per year subscription fee.
Overall there are many reason to convert to Linux and some of the reasons are priceless. You really cannot put a cost savings on potential security risks, which is one of the biggest selling points of Linux. Ubuntu is free, how can that be beaten?
So all you tech savvy, under appreciated employees out there start dreaming up ways to approach the right people in your company with a way to save them million. If thousands of you draft presentations and attempt to talk to higher ups, at least one of you will hit a jackpot. Why not let that one person be you.
