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Security Enhancements for Dummies

I read a thread over on linuxquestions.org recently about server “hardening” and got thinking about my own security measures and the lack there of. Here’s an example of the content of /var/log/auth on the machine this site is hosted on:
Jan 24 13:43:33 substance sshd[14182]: Invalid user test from 203.242.160.193
Jan 24 13:43:33 substance sshd[14182]: error: [...]

2007 01 25 Linux
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Ninan 1.0.5 on Slackware 11.0

A couple of weekends ago I decided to reconstruct the system I use for downloading from Usenet: I had been using a Debian machine which I had setup back when I was still trying to get into using Linux on my desktop and as such it was massively over-powered for the task at hand, namely, [...]

2007 01 18 Linux Comments (1)

Friday Funk

I got into the office this morning and went through my usual routine; I’d put in a good workout and the weekend is fast approaching: life seemed good. I was logged on to my workstation, launched Outlook (I know, I know) and attempted to connect to substance via Jabber and SSH. My heart fell.
That Slackware [...]

2006 12 15 Linux
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XP on Kubuntu via VMware via VNC

I finally got around to doing something today that I had been meaning to do since I got Kubuntu installed on my home desktop, namely, setting up a virtual machine running Windows XP so I can perform DVD encoding/editing/authoring. I’m a relative novice when it comes to these techniques and I haven’t put enough effort [...]

2006 10 26 Linux
Screenshot
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Firefox 2

I’ve just installed Firefox 2 on my XP workstation at the office, a week after my colleague Kevin installed IE7.
The installation went smoothly and my extensions copied across ok and eventually got updated, but the theme I had been using wasn’t compatible, a new version of it wasn’t found by the add-ons manager and I [...]

2006 10 25 Screenshot Comments (2)

First Post From Kubuntu

I finally installed Kubuntu on my desktop machine at home at the weekend and I must say I am impressed so far. From my first experience with Red Hat 5.x in early 1999 (I’m guessing the version number from the date, I bought my first Linux book just before the exams of the first semester [...]

2006 09 13 Linux Comments (1)

Here Lies Belfast

I was out and about with my sponsor on Saturday and we were walking up Stranmillis Ave and Friars Bush happened to be open for tours. My good friend Nicky K lives in one of the gate-keeper’s cottage, but in all my time living in Belfast I don’t think I’ve seen the place open to [...]

2006 09 12 Linux
Me
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Pink Is The Colour

I was reading a discussion on Lifehacker this morning about listening to music while studying, whcih mentioned an earlier post about pink noise. Between the guy on the radio and one of my coworkers I knew I had to take action or suffer the consequences. I felt a MacGyver moment coming on.
One of the comments [...]

2006 09 06 Clerical
Distractions
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Out With The Old, In With The New

I thought I’d keep myself current and so I’ve just upgraded my installation of WordPress from 2.0.2 to 2.0.4.
I was a bit reluctant to do so as I was happy with what the software was doing, but I remember reading some mention of security updates, so I went for the plunge. The log files on [...]

2006 08 24 Linux
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I For One Welcome Our New Version 2 Overlords

Yesterday, my copy of Firefox updated itself (to version 1.5.0.6 no less) and when it restarted I was reminded about the upcoming World Firefox Day. I’d read about this on Slashdot a while back and just forgot about it.
I checked out the site and immediately thought of my colleage, Kevin. The $ORGANISATION’s a Microsoft shop [...]

2006 08 04 Clerical Comments (0)