Author: vdebolt

July 9: Is it Doomsday for the Internet?

The reports about the July 9 virus, which affects both Windows and Mac, are calling it “Internet Doomsday” and Internet Blackout. A virus that could shut down thousands of Internet users certainly should make headlines. More important news is there is a way to check your computer to see if you are at risk.

dns changer test results
Image from DNS Changer test site

The malware that could do all the damage is called “DNS Changer.” DNS stands for Domain Name Service. It’s the system for how the Internet keeps track of where servers and files are located. According to a report on Mashable, this malware . . .

redirects your computer’s DNS queries from your ISP’s server to one created by the trojan’s creators — essentially hijacking all Internet traffic from your machine. That way, the bad guys can send you to hacker-created websites filled with ads whenever they want.

The FBI Works with DCWG on Fixes

The FBI has set up a web site with security firm DCWG to help to determine whether your computer is at risk. There’s a description of what lead up to the situation and what the malware does:

The botnet operated by Rove Digital altered user DNS settings, pointing victims to malicious DNS in data centers in Estonia, New York, and Chicago. The malicious DNS servers would give fake, malicious answers, altering user searches, and promoting fake and dangerous products. Because every web search starts with DNS, the malware showed users an altered version of the Internet.

Under a court order, expiring July 9, the Internet Systems Consortium is operating replacement DNS servers for the Rove Digital network. This will allow affected networks time to identify infected hosts, and avoid sudden disruption of services to victim machines.

The DCWG site includes options for you to detect the malware on your computer, fix it if you are infected, and protect yourself from further infection with the DNS Changer.

You may also be able to find helpful information from your own internet service provided. I use Comcast for my Internet service, and found this page for Comcast users.

Both the DCWG site and the Comcast help page send you to dns-ok.us which runs a check to see if your computer is okay. This page is for English results. If you are not in the U.S., you can find a list of similar sites for other languages at DCWG/detect.

All the test involves is for you to click on the link. You don’t download anything.

Should your computer fail this quick detection test, there are instructions on what to do next. If you are okay, you see a cheerful green background with a message that you are okay. If you see a red background, you are given information about a fix. Be aware of the message below the fold on the page, however, even if you get the happy green okay message:

Had your computer been infected with DNS changer malware you would have seen a red background. Please note, however, that if your ISP is redirecting DNS traffic for its customers you would have reached this site even though you are infected. For additional information regarding the DNS changer malware, please visit the FBI’s website at: www.fbi.gov/news/stories/2011/november/malware_110911.

Do It

Run the test, make sure you’re computer is safe. If not, use the instructions at DCWG to fix it. As the lady so eloquently said, “Check yourself before you wreck yourself.”

Note: Cross-posted at BlogHer.

Are money and power the only value?

I want to talk about politics and human nature today, not tech.

I read a tweet from Liz Strauss about an article she read. I read  the article as well and responded. Here are the tweets,

The Business Insider article Liz and I read proclaims itself gossipy in the first sentence, attributes the gossip to Jennifer Van Grove at Venture Beat, but goes on to repeat the information. I have no idea if any of the story is true. But the idea of paranoia in the halls of money and power does ring true to many in the 99% in these days of occupy movements.

Is holding on to money and power is the only thing that matters to those who have it? Is that why millionaires and billionaires give themselves huge bonuses while taking away pension benefits from their workers?  Is that why companies that start out with intentions to be good and do good in the world turn into soulless machines with only profit in mind? Is there some dollar amount – say $2 million or maybe $10 million – beyond which you cease to care what happens to anyone else and only want to protect yourself?

Does this I only care about protecting my own attitude apply to companies but not to individuals? Why are corporations like CitiBank ruthless but individuals like Bill Gates or Oprah Winfrey philanthropic? What about corporations headed by women – do they exhibit the same greedy all the money flows to the top of the organization thinking as companies headed by men? Or are women led companies still making sure their employees have health insurance and paid vacations? (I’d really like to see some studies on this, if there are any.)

To get back to the point I made in my tweet, is there some point in life when holding on to what you have despite everything becomes your only thought? Because if there is, then there is no bandwidth left in your brain to explore new thoughts, new creativity, new directions. You don’t huddle in your bunker and think expansive thoughts.

Maybe it’s all ego. Emily Lewis wrote about how ego can damage progress at The Pastry Box Project. She said,

Egos don’t care about requirements, timelines, budgets, user needs, limited resources or legacy systems. They don’t care about other opinions or ideas. They are roadblocks to everything essential to making a project successful, especially compromise, collaboration and communication. And, worst of all, ego keeps you from growing. Your ego won’t let you learn something new. Or see a different perspective. Or even get inspired.

Is being rich and powerful an ego issue? Delusions of grandeur? God complex holding you in its greedy clutches?

If there is something inevitable in human nature that makes us become less caring about others’ well-being as our own excess reaches a certain point, then nothing can be done to change things. But if the situation is an artifact of our time, of capitalism, of corporate culture, of runaway power, then something can be done to change the situation. I don’t want to sound like a bumper sticker philosopher, but I’ll quote a bumper sticker: “The world changes at the speed of thought.”

Changing the way we think about money, power, governance, human rights, and the rule of law changes everything. Nobody with gazillions of dollars is going to listen to me, but if they did, I would suggest that more time spent thinking about how to do great things in the world would be better for the company and its users in the long run.

 

6 Best Plugins For Securing Your WordPress Based Website From Hackers

Master lock, "r00t" password
Photo by Schill via Flickr

Most everyone that has a WordPress website or blog does so out of the necessity to be creative and to generally express the thoughts that are screaming to dome out of your head onto paper (or in this case the screen). That effort to be me is where I get most of my fuel to carry on even on the worst days of cyber-attacks. A favorite quote comes from henry Ward Beecher, – In himself is a man’s true state of riches and power.

As most of you know WordPress is the very popular software that allows each of us to be who we perceive ourselves to be. With its ease of use and versatile approach to fulfilling each individual’s needs WordPress opens the doors to the virtual universe.

Thesis WordPress themes are responsible for that seamless creative time that you spend when setting up your site. But users beware! As great as this software is for the majority of people who are not techies, WordPress offers a wide open opportunity for hackers.

Thesis WordPress themes are great software products and it is an absolute necessity that you spend the little extra time that it requires to secure your blog or website against invasion by the cyber scum that inhabits our planet! With its vast library of plugins users can seamlessly manage their website without the added expense of a webmaster.

My Top 6 Selections for 2012 Best WordPress Security Plugins

1.  Akismet is a program that checks comments left on your blog or website to see if they appear to be spam and then allows you to review the spam it does catch through the blog “Comments” admin screen. Akismet comes pre-installed with Thesis WordPress themes, and once you apply for and install your API key you will find the controls for it in your options panel in your Dashboard.

2.  Website Defender WordPress Security plug-in is a free and comprehensive security tool that helps you secure your Thesis WordPress themes installation and offers suggestions for strengthening your passwords, securing your database, and lots more.

3.  BackWPUp is a plugin that backs up your Thesis WordPress themes files and database and store them wherever you decide.  You can schedule automatic backups and pick out which folders and tables you want to backup.

4.  WP Security Scan raises the level of the security for your Thesis WordPress themes installation. It does this by scanning your site for security issues then suggests the methods you can use to fix them.

5.  WP Secure plug-in provides security for your Thesis WordPress themes installation by hiding your plug-in directory and WP version from hackers and others. This is important to do because the cyber scum that inhabits our virtual world use the version and the list of plugins to locate one that they have hacked before to hack their way into your blog!  Add this plug-in to protect your website or blog.

6.  WP-MalWatch is designed to alert you when hackers have invaded your blog. When hackers do get into your Thesis WordPress themes blog site, they infest your site or blog with links to their sites. When you know they have invaded you can take the necessary actions to remove them from your world.

It is very advisable that you only use the plugins that are approved by the WordPress folks. They always test each plugin prior to posting it as available on their website. This is in no way speaking ill of the third party plugins that abound on the internet. It does suggest that you must do your own investigation of third party products so that you get a feeling of trust from the vendor.

Worrying about the safety of your site is not nearly as productive as installing the proper plugins to ensure that safety. Spend the time that it takes you to install the plugins that will protect your site!  Like William Plomer once said, – The power to connect the seemingly unconnected lied within creativity.

Guest Author Bio: As a freelance writer and research hound Jason Monroe is a young (mid 20’s) single man adding content for clients from within the WordPress Dashboard.  Jason has been online since 2003 and has been a huge fan of WordPress and the StudioPress themes since their inception. When he’s not writing premium WordPress Genesis themes reviews you might find him spending quality time with nature by walking the nearby mountain trails.

Moore’s Law and Responsive Design Breakpoints

Ray Kurzweil

Since hearing Ray Kurzweil talk about Moore’s Law at SXSW Interactive this year, I keep thinking about how it applies to web education and web design best practices. Yesterday, Jeremy Keith was talking about breakpoints at Adactio.

Jeremy’s point (with lots of excellent references) is that there is no longer a set pixel value that we can consider “common breakpoints” for responsive design. Device size is changing too rapidly to have a handful of numbers that can become exact values for breakpoints in @media queries. One of Jeremy’s comments:

I think our collective obsession with trying to nail down “common” breakpoints has led to a fundamental misunderstanding about the nature of responsive design: it’s not about what happens at the breakpoints—it’s about what happens betweenthe breakpoints.

You’ve probably seen the news about Google Glasses. If Moore’s Law tells us anything, it tells us that Google Glasses are not an oddity, but an inevitable application of technological progress.

In terms of responsive design, what’s the breakpoint for Google Glasses? Or what’s the breakpoint for a web browser embedded in your eye or your brain? A technology like that is probably on the way.

I’m really excited about responsive design. I think it’s brilliant and necessary in the current state of web education and web design. But it isn’t the last thing that designers need to learn or think about when looking to the future size of web accessible devices.

 

TechWomen: An example of success

TechWomen is hard to describe in just a few words. The purpose is to bring tech women from mostly Muslim countries to the Silicon Valley, where they work with female mentors from the tech industry. But it’s more than that: it’s an exchange of culture, technology, friendship, and knowledge that improves the lives of both the mentors and mentees.

I’ll let some of the women who have participated explain it.

TechWomen is an initiative of the U.S. Department of State’s Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs. It was formed under Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton’s leadership. It is managed by the Institute of International Education (IIE), and implemented in partnership with the Anita Borg Institute for Women and Technology.

A new group of mentees will arrive in San Francisco in September. The 2012 group has already been selected. BlogHer’s Elisa Camahort Page is a member of the selection committee. She’s worked with TechWomen for the past two years helping select leaders in technology from various countries who would benefit from a month with a Silicon Valley mentor.

There is still a need for mentors for this September. Women who would like to participate as either techological or cultural mentors can apply online. Professional mentors must be women working in technology fields in the San Francisco Bay Area. Cultural mentors are there to support the mentee’s personal growth and adjustment to living and working in the San Francisco Bay Area.

In a situation like this, both the mentor and the mentee get a lot out of the exchange. Here’s one pair talking about the program.

You can learn more at the TechWomen website. There’s much more background information and facts there than what I’m giving you in this brief overview. You can also keep track of this program through their Facebook Page and Twitter.

There is a TechWomen blog at techwomenmena.wordpress.com where you can find articles such as TechWomen Mentees Reconnect at E-Mediat Networking Conference in Jordan and Eradicating the Booth Babe Phenomenon.

I would like to congratulate everyone involved in creating this wonderful program for women in tech, and everyone who participates as a mentor or mentee.

This post was cross-posted at BlogHer.

Useful links: website cost, Big Web Show, Ed TED

How much should a website cost? Excellent post spelling out how much different types of websites cost and why. Helpful to both web designers running a business or to students just learning the business.

The Big Web Show moves to an audio only format.

TED gives teachers keys to a flipped classroom. It’s all at a new site ed.ted.com.

Useful links: YouTube Clips, iPads in Edu, CS6 is coming

Teachers will love this post that tells you how to find the exact part of a YouTube video you want to show and create a link to just that section. Finding the right moment (and many more YouTube tricks).

How the iPad is Changing Education. From ReadWriteWeb.

I’m seeing a few rumors about what’s coming in Dreamweaver in Adobe CS6. Looks like more support for HTML5 and mobile design, including integrated PhoneGap. Adobe has a new HTML site at html.adobe.com.