Extreme Tech Analysis by Wolf

Just a quick idea.

Computer security is a habit.  There are a few things that need to be done consistently, and they are not difficult.  They are also not expensive.

• # Use a password on your computer.  These days, the threats you let in on your computer might be just bad habits your friends have.  You probably don’t distribute your car keys to all the people who come over to a party at your house, and you probably don’t want to allow anybody who comes over access to your personal stuff.  It’s none of their business.  The government has approved the airport search team to look at the content of your computer, if you are going on international flights.  This has obvious security and privacy issues, and if you have sensitive business files on your laptop or your home computer, you want them behind a password.  Unexpected users on your home machine might not be as careful as you are and you might collect spyware and worms from them going to unsafe sites. (more…)
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Tech Jobs Outnumber Possible Applicants 4:1

A study in April of 2007 from the non-profit Software Human Resource Council (SHRC) has called attention to the severe gap between the number of job openings in the Canadian ICT sector, 35,000 each year, and the number of students graduating from Canadian universities with computer science or engineering degrees, 7,000 each year. The number of new hires needed is expected to increase to 89,000 over the next three or four years, according to the SHRC. SHRC President Paul Swinwood says, “We’re looking at a maximum of 7,000 coming out of the school system. We’re trying to figure out where the heck the rest of the people are going to come from.” (more…)

Question: I have read that dual-booted Windows and Linux operating systems can make all Linux partitions accessible through the Windows side, and that people could steal the password files from the Linux side this way. Is this true? How could I avoid it?

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The short answer: It is true, but it is not easy.

To actually search your Linux partitions from the Windows side, they would have to add a little application on the windows side that let them access the Linux native EXT2 and EXT2 partition formats. Windows will not recognize the Linux-formatted drives, and so the more likely scenario (if somebody is attacking your computer) is that they will reformat your Linux drives while attempting to hack them.

The good news: the data is still “safe.”

The bad news: now you can’t look at the Linux side either, and it is not easily recovered. (more…)

I recently read a blog that addressed the question, “Can hackers destroy a person’s life for as little as $20 per month“. The blogger responded, “Yes and absolutely.” He apparently gave a very racy account to a Seattle paper that was following up on a story that some hackers are advertising their ability to destroy somebody’s life at a rate of $20 per month because they (the hackers) were going to be “doing it anyway”. The following was my response on his blog. That blog may be behind a registration requirement, so I am putting my response here as well. (more…)

Hi! The purpose of this site is to test interesting, and entertaining technology. As a writer and a technology hacker, I like to play with stuff, test it, break it and put it back together. Sometimes technology designed for one purpose can be put to use for some completely different purpose.