Emmanuel Computer Consulting, L.L.C.

It looks like you have to use wpa2 now with AES.  TKIP was cracked a while ago and it continues to show issues.  Also remember that your passwords need to be a minimum of 16 randomized characters or they are subject to a brute force attack.

WPA data is gone in 60 seconds

Without any car chase

By Nick Farrell

Thursday, 27 August 2009, 10:23

JAPANESE BOFFINS took time out from fighting giant moths to work out how to break the WPA encryption system used in wireless routers in just sixty seconds.

Toshihiro Ohigashi of Hiroshima University and Masakatu Morii of Kobe University plan to tell the world plus dog how to do it at a technical conference set for September 25 in Hiroshima.

The attack gives hackers a way to read encrypted traffic sent between computers and certain types of routers that use the WPA or WiFi Protected Access encryption system.

It has been known that WPA could be broken for some months now, but these researchers have come up with a theoretical attack and made it practical.

An earlier attack technique, developed by researchers Martin Beck and Erik Tews, worked on a smaller range of WPA devices and took between 12 and 15 minutes.

Both attacks work on WPA systems that use the Temporal Key Integrity Protocol (TKIP) algorithm.

To be fair the WPA standard is a bit long in the tooth. It was designed as an interim encryption method as WiFi security was developing and has long since been superseded by WPA2. However there is still a fair bit of WPA with TKIP kit out there since 2006.

Newer WPA2 devices that use the stronger Advanced Encryption Standard (AES) algorithm remain safe for now. µ

via Wpa data is gone in 60 seconds – The Inquirer.

I found this in a google search since i was having issues.

There is a working solution for iTunes 8.2 x64 in combination with Windows 7 x64 and the iPod Shuffle. You will only have to follow the described steps a SINGLE time. Once you did that, you’ll be able to use iTunes again the way you were used to with Vista/XP/etc.

* Disconnect your iPod Shuffle from your PC

* Press CTRL-ALT-DEL, start the Task-Manager, go to Processes and kick out “ITunesHelper.exe” (this will prevent iTunes from starting when you re-connect the Shuffle)

* Now, re-connect the iPod Shuffle – iTunes should NOT start by itself and you should be able to see your Shuffle within the list of your drives (My Computer)

* Next, download SharePod from SharePod – Download extract the .zip file and start the Sharepod.exe

* If everything works out, Sharepod will recognize your iPod Shuffle

The tricky part:

* Sharpod won’t start if iTunes is open but it will work vice-versa. So, start iTunes NOW and keep Sharepod OPEN.

* iTunes will re-detect your Shuffle but it will still be available as a hard-drive afterwards as long as you keep Sharepod OPEN.

* Now go to your iPod Summary in iTunes and DESELECT iTunes autostart, SELECT hard-drive usage and ACCEPT those changes.

* If you want, you can copy and/or delete some music on your Shuffle.

* When you’re done, close iTunes WITHOUT ejecting the iPod.

* Close Sharepod next and simply disconnect your iPod Shuffle.

After the next reboot (ITunesHelper.exe will be running again) you don’t have to care about Sharepod or processes anymore. Simply connect your iPod to the PC, open up iTunes and everything should work as planned. Just don’t eject the iPod from within iTunes, simply disconnecting it from the PC will be handled by Windows 7 automatically.

Hope i could help!

Cheers from Austria

via IPOD shuffle – Page 2 – Windows 7 Forums.

(updated) 4Chan launches embarrassing attack on devout Christians on Facebook – The Next Web.

4chan first went after Scientology…now they are after Christians.  If you have been spoofed on your facebook change your passwords on everything(not just facebook but everything)…yesterday.  I say this because this story is developing quickly.  4chan users are hitting not just facebook but paypal and other sites as well.

as per my earlier post I have now gotten Windows 7 64 bit running on my main desktop.  It’s not as fast as xp but the speed difference between vista and 7 is astonishing.  now to load up the rest of my drivers and see how it works..:)

It’s more a subscription but it still has some good benefits. I am currently downloading the 32 bit and 64 bit versions of Windows 7. I know from the beta and RC that performance is higher. I am anxious to see how it does now that it has been released.

HCS and Gen’s Place » Blog Archive » Looking Deeply Into the Mess That is Windows Vista.

This needs to be refreshed as well as moved to this blog.  This paper was written 3 years ago and detailed the various drm infestations inside of Vista.  Wile some of the assertions(such as HDCP not being available inside of modern video cards) are not valid due to hardware revisions the basic points about DRM inside of Vista standard regardless.  Instead of posting the whole text of the previous post(which is linked above) i am going to link to the pdf he posted on his site.  He has also posted a response to various attacks and attempts at debunking here.

Symantec, 11 others, fail Virus Bulletin’s August 2009 test (Updated) – Ars Technica.

Some of these are the BIG BOYS in the market…:)

Judge: Microsoft can’t sell Word anymore.

I highly doubt this one will hold up on appeal but I’ll keep an eye on it to see what happens.

Disable User Account Control (UAC) the Easy Way on Windows Vista :: the How-To Geek.

That’s right.  Kill UAC.  things like slow network performance, the annoying popups and other arcane bugs go away.  Now if you do not run your computer properly then this leads to a less secure system.  If you run your system according to my podcast episode this is a safe measure.

*UODATE* With Windows 7 out there’s really no need to kill UAC.  I had it running on my laptop for a while and really did not notice it until it popped up for something legitimate.  Turning off UAC for windows 7 is optional..:)

oh boy.

Get your mouse clickers ready and update Windows as this is a nasty bunch of updates.  More than half of the patches are of the type that allow remote system takeover and most of the takeover udpates are in…..Drun Roll Please…..ACTIVEX!