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Friday, November 21, 2003

High Speed Networks : Train Spotting Wi-Fi Style

GNER Logo A high speed wireless hot-spot - GNER are presently trialling a mobile WI-FI technology that is set to change the face of 1st class rail travel on the East Coast main line between Edinburgh and London Kings Cross.
In ecommnet's experience the myth of working on the train is just that; a myth, the network coverage of O2's GPRS wireless network is so poor that even collecting the odd email has been almost impossible. We were involved in the O2 beta test program for their XMAIL service, in principle an excellent concept. Being able to read one's exchange email on a pocket PC / XDA handset meant dumping the laptop on those long journeys from Newcastle to London, traveling light really making a difference to the fatigue value of a day trip to the 'smoke'.
trainGNER are advertising the service and suggesting that the use of VPN software will enable users to connect to the corporate network. The system is powered by satellite, and the problem will be to make standard IPSec VPN technology work over the high latency satellite bridge. In our experience this is not possible. There is however one VPN technology that will work in such an environment; that is SmartGate from V-One Sytems.
Related Links
Broadband boost for train travellers
WI-FI Trial - The Time Table - Take Part

posted by Robert Campbell 8:46 PM

Virus Update

mxtreme email firewall
Top Virus List Our BorderWare MXtreme Email Firewall is getting a fair pasting the running totals now are shown in the table . I think this customer is getting their money's worth out of this evaluation.

Virus NameNumber
I-Worm.Dumaru.a169
I-Worm.Mimail.c94
Exploit.IFrame.FileDownload94
I-Worm.Mimail.txt60
I-Worm.Mimail.g31
I-Worm.Mimail.j31
I-Worm.Swen30
I-Worm.Sober28
I-Worm.Klez.h17
I-Worm.Mimail.h15

Related Links
BorderWare Email Firewall and anti SPAM Appliance
MXtreme : Microsoft Exchange & Outlook Web Access security vulnerabilities
posted by Robert Campbell 6:25 PM

DIY Hacking

B and QB&Q the DIY store took it's advertising motto to heart the other day and left its online customers exposed. The 'You Can Do IT when you B&Q IT' strapline could come back to haunt them after it was revealed earlier this week that anyone, even those without any real IT knowledge could bypass the store's security measures and gain access to another's users details. Likewise too Argos seems to have failed at the same hurdle and similarly demonstrated any real understanding of either the technical issues or the seriousness of their actions.
The two vulnerabilities were revealed at the beginning of this week, (17th Nov 2003) by Silicon.com, and related to the way a user of either site could gain access to another users account just by guessing a likely username and answering what appears to be a simple reminder question.
True the users themselves are implicated in this particular instance, they should have some responsibility to make their password reminder questions more difficult and the answer less obvious, but the manner in which this password reminder system was implemented by both sites is, frankly, appalling.
Perhaps the fines imposed by the FTC for similar lax behaviour by GUESS and Victoria's Secret should be imposed on these two too.
Related Links
Now Argos exposes customer account details online - November 17 2003 by Will Sturgeon
How many times do shops have to be warned? November 17 2003 by silicon.com

posted by Robert Campbell 6:14 PM


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