Sniffing Fiber Optics!!!

The idea of tapping fiber optic cables aren't new but I was surprised to find out how easy and cheap it was to do from this article. Apparently you can do with less than $1000 of equipment.

The funny thing about it is that I can clearly remember when I did my bachelors degree, lecturers always stress on how secure fibre optics is and that it cannot be tapped like copper wires. This perception sends out a totally wrong message and people tend to forget about the physical security of fibre optics unlike the copper wires. Thus under the wrong assumption, they pay less attention to secure the information sent over fiber channels with encryption.

This articles shows how easy it is to do and also suggests the use of encryption or a fiber intrusion detection device. One particular Fiber Optic IDS stated in the whitepaper is the INTERCEPTOR.

Article: Protect your network against fiber hacks
Whitepaper: Fiber Optic Intrusion Dete ction Systems

Vehicles destroyed

This is a cool story I read on haveeru.

Five vehicles which had been parked illegally and had not been claimed despite being clamped with a wheel lock and impounded have been destroyed by the Male Municipality yesterday.

I say destroy even more... then we will have some space to walk in the already overcrowded Male'.

Linux in every school

Russian OS is to be installed on every school computer in Russia by 2009. Furthermore, every pupil will get the opportunity to operate the applied software produced in Russia, Leonid Reiman, acting Minister of Communication stated at a press conference. Experts and market participants consider the terms within which software is to be developed quite reasonable. According to Mr. Reiman, that might significantly reduce Russian dependence on foreign software.

read the full article

I wonder if we would see similar changes if strict copyright laws come into place in Maldives!!!

25 years since the first smiley :-)

Carnegie Mellon University professor Scott E. Fahlman creator of the emoticon, says that its been 25 years since he first used it @ 11:44 a.m. on Sept. 19, 1982...:-) read more

Build your own desktop-supercomputer

In January 2007, two of us (professor Joel Adams and student Tim Brom) decided to build a personal, portable Beowulf cluster. Like a personal computer, the cost had to be low -- our budget was $2500 -- and its size had to be small enough to sit on a person's desk. Joel and Tim named their system Microwulf, which has broken the $100/GFLOP barrier for double precision, and is remarkably efficient by several measures. You may also want to take a look at the Value Cluster project for more information on $2500 clusters.

As of August 2007, the price to construct the cluster with the same hardware would be $1,255.80

Check out the full article... It really tempts me...:P

Microwulf web site

RAMADAN MUBARIK

I wish you all muslim brothers and sisters a glorious month of Ramadan and pray that you make the best use of it...

IT 7 Wonders

Yes, if you didn't know, here are the seven wonders of the IT world. :)

1. Computer closest to the North pole: Webcam #1
2. Computer farthest from Earth: NASA's Voyager 1 satellite
3. World's most intriguing data center: Google
4. World's largest grid computing project: The E-scienceE II (EGEE-II) project
5. World's fastest supercomputer: IBM BlueGene/L (BGL)
6. Smallest PC to run Windows Vista: OQO, Model o2
7. Biggest paradigm change in enterprise software: Linux Kernel

Read more

Can OpenSolaris compete with Linux?

Sun intends to hook us on OpenSolaris like they hooked us on Java... They plan to serve it in both caffeinated and decaffeinated blends... Read more

I personally don't think they can beat Linux however with the rising popularity, and heaps of experience gained from industry, they will become one of the big players. What is your opinion?

Malware bazaar @ Bank of India Website

Read this article on The Register about how attacker were able to hack the Bank of India website to infect its online customers with malware. You might re-think whether your bank is truly delivering on its promises for safer online banking... go through their policy statements... you might be surprised to find out exactly how much they claim liability if you get compromised while doing an online transaction.