The Crossroad Part II

I finally made up my choice. Its one of the sunnier path I took. Despite the fact that I will get less in material returns, I hope the experience and satisfaction gain will out weight the others. Its time for me to 从出江湖... :) Seriously, security is not something you can hide behind some cubicles and read or learn. You have to put it to use. If not it does get rusty. Which comes to the point that what if someday I rise high enough to stop getting handons? Is that what I wish for? For now, this question will haunt me, but until that day comes, I do not have to worry about it. I just need to concentrate and make sure I reach higher ground and gain more skills.

Printers - The Weakest Node

I had seen companies which invested heavily on security. They had some of the best firewalls, hardened all their servers and conducted regular security assessments on their internal and external applications. It is often rare enough to find some of these companies actually patches the firmware of their routers, switches and network devices. However I had almost never come across one that patches their printers as part of their security practice. Most of these companies does not even set any passwords on their printers or even know that they can do so.

Printer hacking is not something new and has been introduced years ago. With modern multifunction printers, it is often common to find embedded operating systems with full networking support and removable storages devices hidden inside. Most of these printers have build in applications serving web portal, ftp and telnet services to enhance productivity. This opens up new opportunities for creative attacks against the printers.

Dumpster driving (retrieval of information from paper waste) is no longer necessary when hackers can simply pull information out from the removable storage. While companies have enforced policies on storage media disposal, the printer is often overlooked. Often printers are sent in for repair or even sold or donated as it is. Some of the mini hard disks were found to contain fax history and some even fax images. Classified information may have been stored and if it falls into the wrong hands, it can may a lot of damages to the companies.

Some of the services of these printers may also pose security risk to the company. Unsecured communication through telnet or ftp which are unencrypted may reveal control passwords and printer configurations. Print jobs can also be easily sniffed out by anyone on the network when they are sent through unencrypted channels. Unauthorized users can easily abused the printers by sending job through direct printing ports or via the web interface which usually requires no authentication. These services can assist authorized users from bypassing printing quotas and often allows these users to avoid leaving audit trails in the system.

However, the printer posed the most risk when it has been taken over. Clever hackers may be able to launch scans or attacks into the company network or other networks. The printer storage may be used to store hacking tools for deployment on other servers. Through the configurations, some printers may even allow duplicate copies of all documents to be fax or email out to other locations. Printers can also be taken down by putting in a bad firmware or locking the printing ports. The list goes on. It is all up to hackers to get creative on how much the printers can do for them once they have control of them.

Printers should no longer be treated as dumb devices on the network. Security practice should extend to cover printers because they are as capable as workstations today. While not many printer manufacturers are providing security support to these devices, consumers should take proactive actions to pressure them. Start protecting your printers and not let them become the weakest nodes in your network.

WHS - Files that are compressed by NTFS compression may not be backed up correctly by WHS

This issue may also affect CAB, ZIP, JPG, PNG, RAR and all sort of compressed files. Microsoft has details the problem at :
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/950190/en-us

Good news is that there is a fix available at :
http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=117355

Although MS has stated it should be updated via Windows Update, this did not appear on my list. However, a point to know is that most people thought you had to install this on the Server. Well, no. You will end up with some errors because you do not have the WHS Connector software on your server. (You do? Why would you install it on the server? :P)

Anyway, this is for all PC who send backup to the server using the WHS Connector.

Mayo Sapphire Pudding

I thought Mayo was a boy and had her named Peanut initially. But soon discovered she is a gal afterall, thus hte name Mayo. But alas, she just doesn't get along. Like to bite me, jump out of my hand etc... I am worried I couldn't take good care of her and in the end had to hand her over to J. However, she is really evil. When she is outside or at her place, she is super nice and well behaved. She is not like hte little devil at home jumping up and down and biting cages.

I hope she is happy there. Maybe I am just not the woman's guy.

Enter Hiro

Yeap, this is the Moated Pudding, Hiro. I had given Maya to J because she really doesn't like me. She have a very good life there now. Hiro is so far friendlier and I guess we wil lget along well. He loved food... which is very similar to Xiao P, but Hiro is greedy... He will ask for more unlike Xiao P whom never do so until he finishes what he started eating.

Xiao P needs Beijing 101?

Despite the hair drop, I had confidence with Xiao P. He has bene losing near his eyes and face. Due to his age, which is about 2 years old give or take, I know some things I may not have control over. however, he is active and plays, eat, sleep well. I supposed I did not haveto worry too much.

I had tried giving cod liver oil as what I had read and also give up all the sands and beddings. Instead I had replace it with organic beddings from Japan. Hopwfully this will make he better. As for his food, I can't help stopping his snack. After all, whats there in life if you cannot enjoy it. But I had to seriously cut down on salty stuff and sunflower seeds. There is a debate whether sunflower seeds are indeed bad for hamster. So far, I take a neutral stand, but perhaps changing to a more neutral diet with less sunflower seeds may be better. But again, Xiao P is a very picky hamster who knows good food.

Despite the hair lost, Xiao P does not attract any less animosity from Hiro, my other male moated Pudding. With only a face look, Hiro charges at the cage in an attempt to (attack/give a very violent welcome to) Xiao P. Of course, Xiao P cannot be bothered as usual. He lies safe in his side protected by the cage. That comes ot conclusion that I should not let these 2 come into anymore contact in the future. 1 Hill doesn't hides 2 Tigers as some would say.

Now, all I can do is take good care of them, play with them when I can and hope for the best.

The Crossroad

It comes to a point in time, that there are many paths to take and some of these reaches where I had not been before. Before I thought it does not matter to me. I should take whichever take me the furthest. Seems like I cannot make that decision when I come to it.

Against all odds, I had turned down an opportunity to work oversea with a major telco. This could had been my break in life, but I realized what I wanted was much more simplier. Some things I could give up. Some responsibility I would want to bear. So this was the decision made. I probably will wondered for he rest of my life what would had happened if I had taken that step. I know I will never know.

Ther eare still many paths ahead here locally. Some are darker than others. I am sure for the sake of my responsibility, I would had chosen a much darker path should the opportunity arised, but for now, I think I should stick to the brighter side of life and hope one of these path will lead somewhere...

R4 NDS V1.18

Another kernel updates bringing the kernel to V1.18. Mainly fixes support for a few games in particular.

Updates :
1）Solved 2203, 2219, 2240, 2250 problem

Again, I had repacked and included the latest AR Code as of 3 May 2008 in this package. I had include all the games from EU and US. The reason I opt out the JP codes is because mainly the display may have issues and how it handles the duplicate with JP and other code may have issue. If there is a high demand for JP Code, do comment here and I may include this as a addon package in the future.

Simple install. Unpack everything into your R4 main directory overwriting all.

Download :
http://rapidshare.com/files/112138546/R4DS-118.RAR

Happy Birthday 2008

I finally took my Bday present home... Its huge. But he is very cute...

Goodbye SingTel! Hello Starhub

Let me share a story. I love the LG Viewty Phone, well for the price vs function anyway. I had been a SinTel Page, Mobile, Landline user for like since they started. So when my contract is ending, I gave them a call to see if they can work something out for me.

On the phone, I speak with the operator for hte latest promotion to renew. They apparently had nothing much. Their LG Viewty is $250 more than Starhub. So after some ping pong, she directed me to the manager. I asked her again to see if they can do something to keep a old customer. Guess what? She told me to go to a fair somewhere in Parkway Parade where they can give me further discount... I asked how much? She replied $50 less. OK, maybe their maths is not very good or they think my maths is not very good.

So, it was Starhub for me. I called them as well. I told them straight I am with SinTel and I asked if they can make me an offer I cannot reject. Straight away, they gave me $100 voucher for ANY plan with them for 2 years. Great, that makes a $350 difference with SinTel now. Ok, if consider the Parkway fair, $300 difference. Then the operator was pretty nice. I swear I did not sweet talk her, but she suggested I check the newpaper... There is a better offer... Oh, OK. So I did. One of Starhub's reseller was offering a further discount and package which is another $50 less plus free gifts. Emm, so there I was, grabbing my phone and line. Total. I saved $350 compare to if I stick with SinTel. But SingTel I had Caller-ID for Free due to the SingTel-UOB Card. So, in a way its kinda $60 more per year for me. But Starhub was willing to give me 3 months for free which means its $60 + $60 - $15 = $105 more for the whole 2 years contract. Big deal.

At this point, I need to stress that SingTel-UOB has scrapped that benefits without warning and its no longer FREE. And on top of this, Starhub has extended my 3 months to 1 year of FREE Caller-ID. That means that comparing SinTel and Starhub, I had a savings of $60 instead. Totalling my savings from the start to $410.

Niow, about the FREE gift. As I was no big fan of Jeff Chang, I gladly sold away the pair of tickets at low cost taking back another $120. Total, that means $530. Ok, I wont say how much I pay for the Viewwty, but apparently if you maths is not too bad, you will know its not just free. I have nett profit instead for changing a new phone...

You guys in the red, I don't know what else is holding you, but the patch is definitely greener here.

I DO NOT work for Starhub nor SingTel. This is totally based on my own experience and is not fictionous.

SingTel - UOB Card Caller ID is no longer FREE

There were some good reasons to switch over to the other providers. I had the SingTel-UOB Card who promises as long as you hold the card, your Caller-ID will be FREE. I guess contract means nothing to these corp nowadays. They can change it whenever they like it.

If you cannot read the babove, you can always read it here:
http://home.singtel.com/upload_hub/consumer/st-uob_promo08.asp

Its funny why this is even put inside PROMOTION... Apparently, if you are not using Classic, Premium 700, Premium 1500 or mio plan, they will CHARGE you for Caller ID without warning from 1st April onwards. I mean, WTF? At least they should have the courtesy to tell me in advance in Feb or March about this change. All a sudden you will all receive a phonebill with charges for Caller ID. Then I seriously doubt whats the whole point of holding this card? Or for that matters stucking up Red's ass.

There is always a Greener patch out there... I will leave that in another article. P.S. The Green company gives you Caller ID for free for 1 year. In your face, SinTel.

Long Khong 2 aka Art of the Devil 3

There isn't many impressive Thailand movies, except a few. Art of the Devil 2 is really impressive and shocking. Part 3 will not disappoint since this is the No 1 movie in Thailand.

A BIG BIG WARNING to you before you click on watch on the following trailer. Although unrated, I strongly suggest you DO NOT watch it before meal or sleep. Also, If you are under 18, please do not watch this as well. You have a happy life, don't let me ruin it for you by showing you the dark side of humanity. :)

CWCheat V0.22B

Once again, there are some updates. I had ripped the original 4MB package as usual to this 130k file for the PSP Slim only. This is meant to be an upgrade if you had followed my post. If you have other version installed, just overwrite them with this package. I hadalso included the latest CheatDB as of today 21 Apr 08. So you will need to download that again. I had spoken before that I wil not update the POPS CheatDB unless there is a need to, and the original package actually does not contain a newer POPS CheatDB from don't know when.

Unpack everything to /seplugins :
http://rapidshare.com/files/109264484/cwcheatslim022b.rar

Once again, you will need take note if you have other plugins, you will need to edit the 3 txt files. Otherwise, overwrite is fine.

真正的正义只有一个 End of Streetdirectory.com

Why I am so happy when such a useful website went down? I must be mad or I just can't have the world in peace for a day. If you recall, Streetdirectory was going around suing other companys for use of their map (which LTA has proven was stolen without paying for copyright).

A company that makes money out of other's work without paying for it. This is piracy if you ask me.

A company that makes money suing people for what they do not own. This is Odex, if you remember.

And streetdirectory.com was actually like Odex. This is the very reason why we should be happy. That the true justice can be served and the deceiver can be taken down accordingly.

Hooray.

But there was a darker story to this. Many many years ago, I actuall wrote to street directory and give nthem advice on how to protect their maps with digital signature and other means of copyrights. For all you know, the root of these problem could had been me. But I was dead certain I was helping the good guys then. This world is truly dynamic. You can never be sure who you in turn help or harm in the end.

Nevertheless, Singaporean will have to learn how to live without streetdirectory from now onwards and get a GPS phone. Now, this does sound like a conspiracy...

Free Hamster Stuff Giveaway

Its not everyday you get a decent contest which doesn't steal some info from you to use for mass marketing. Let alone a contest that even is genuine. But here is one decent one that probably only applies for people who love hamster. Great stuff she is giving away. Check it out.

Visit :
http://sheylara.com/2008/04/13/sheylara-great-hamster-giveaway

Bitlocker Drive Prepartion Tool

In the early days of Windows Vista. Bitlocker is so much work, most people will give up before completing it (and end up with a corrupted HDD maybe). The problem IS (yes, still there because Microsoft has not really address it) nobody told you how the HDD should be properly partitioned for Bitlocker. This was not even mentioned in the Windows Vista installation. You will only come to realized this after fully installed and you tried to enable Bitlocker. Back then, the only answer (unless you ahve Partition Magic, Partition Manager etc) wil lbe to reformat you Windows Vista and restart.

The ideal installation should consist of these (to be politically correct, I lifted these from Microsoft) :

1. Have at least two partitions. One partition must include the drive Windows is installed on. This is the drive that BitLocker will encrypt. The other partition is the active partition, which must remain unencrypted so that the computer can be started. Once you've encrypted the drive Windows is installed on, you can also encrypt additional data drives on the same computer.
2. Be formatted with the NTFS file system.
3. Have a BIOS that is compatible with TPM and supports USB devices during computer startup. If this is not the case, you will need to update the BIOS before using BitLocker. For more information on updating your BIOS, see Update the BIOS for BitLocker Drive Encryption.

Take note of point 3. Thats hardware limitation. Most laptop can do it. If yours can't and it says Vista Ultimate compatible, sue them.

Now, let's talk about present day. There is hope. Just download something known as Bitlocker Drive Prepartion Tool. It will shift you partition and create the additional partition required for Bitlocker. You can either split or merge to make the space. This tool handles it pretty well. After a reboot, you will be ready to enable it. Make sure you follow the steps to save BOTH the key and the recovery key. Make copies of it in as many places as possible and stored them security. Storing it with your dog, for example, will not be "securely".

So, here is the full details and how you can get the tool. Basically, Windows Update :
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/930063

Rice Store At Bukit Timah Plaza

I had to make a trip to Bukit Timah Plaza which is located out in nowhere a few weeks ago. My primary reason was to pick up some hamster supplies there. However, beside than what I wanted, I found something else. There is this "food court" right at the corner. There is only a few store and I ordered Cha Siew Rice with added rice. Guess what? No extra charges. $2.50 straight. And they gave me 1 full bowl of extra rice.

The rice is brownish... emm, my fear is that it doesn't not taste good. Luckily I only order 1 bowl to share with J. Well, I order another again later. It was fantastic. Like nothing you had taken before. They had a special way to prepare it and it is really good. The soup was ok, better than most place, but not fantastic. The Cha Siew was good. Cantonese style, not much fat. The Roast Pork was great too. The skin still crispy at 4pm.

However, for $2.50. I ate until I am full. J was full. We did not have a proper lunch due to travel, but this certainly finished our dinner as well.

Facebook Security - Limited Profile and Privacy

Ok, instead of writing a formal paper and publish it, I prefer to do this here at my blog. Facebook greatest secret by far is how to properly configure it so that it protects your privacy. I had seen many badly designed GUI and this is not one of them, but yet the GUI does not allow you to find what you want to do easily. Could this be a defact by design?


What I am going to talk about here is what will make Facebook safer. But by no means safe. Because there are still some loopholes here and there for social engineers. My advice would be if you do not need to tell anyone something, do not put them there in Facebook. That would be a better security then using the Facebook function to hide them.

First off, there is limited profile. One way or another, you may or may not have it set up. In this article, lets presume Facebook did not set it up properly for you.

Settting up a Limited Profile Friend List:

1. From main menu, go to Friends Tab.
2. Under Friend Lists on the right, see if you have Limited Profile. If so, you can skip this rest of this section.
3. If not, click Make a New List
4. Name it Limited Profile

You have created your limited profile. While we are here, lets go through the confusing steps to add a friend to the Limited Profile before we move on.

Adding friend to Limited Profile:

1. Click on Limited Profile under Friend Lists on the right.
2. Click on Everyone tab (if not highlighted) on the left.
3. You can see a list of friends in your Limited Profile now if you have any.
4. Type in name or click Select Multiple Friends beside the search box to add them.

Now you have someone inside (you should add at least 1 to test out) the Limited Profile, but if you actually surf and try you will not see any difference at all. This is the stage where most people scream that Limited Profiles does not work! What's the point?

OK, to solve this, we need to actually make Limited Profile different. How? It's time to edit your privacy.

Defining Limited Profile:

1. Go to privacy on the top right.
2. Select Profile.
3. You will see a lot of boxes and mostly they will be set to Only Friend (I hope). but that is not the setting we want either.
4. Choose one box and select Customize from the list. You can't do it with the first box label Profile though.
5. You should see a screen like this below.
6. You will need to use the Except These People box. I suggest you set most of the option (if not all) to Friends Only. This is true especially for the network settings. If you join a "OI hate linux" network, its fun but you probably doesn't want everyone in the network to see your information. Set it to no information for network.
7. Then type in Limited Profile into the Except These People box.
8. Click Okay. You should end up with something like the following:
9. Do this for both your Basic and Contact Information tab.

Now, if you go and view your profile through a Limited Profile friend, you will see that the information you chosen are not hidden. This is how the Limited Profile should be configured.

By now, you will realized that Limited Profile is actually just a list. You can call it ABC for all I care. You can create more list and set then in the same way too, giving each of them some differences. For example, you may not want your colledge to know your work history, but allow them to see your contact number etc...

Next step, lets move on to blocking people. I love this one. There are many myth about how you can block people especially those whom are not even your friend. I had issue with this too maybe due to the API... It does not find the user using the search at all. Anyway, here are the instructions.

Blocking user:

1. Go to privacy on the top right.
2. At the bottom right, you should see this.
3. Now you will need to enter the full name of the person you wish to block. The limitation however is if you cannot find the user, you cannot block the user.
4. If you find the user, just click Block Person on the right of his profile and you are done. If not, I suggest you try finding a few times. It took me a while to find some people.
5. After blocking them, go back to privacy and you should see them on the Block List like the picture above(ok, without the mozaic).

So, we settled the human issue. What about apps? Some apps might be taking information away from Facebook just because I installed it. My advice is, do not install any application that ask for excessive information. If you are playing a flash game and it ask for you credit card, thats definitely something wrong with it. However, you can control some of it here.

Limiting Applications:

1. Go to privacy on the top right.
2. Select Application.
3. You should see a list of application you trust. This list better be good. Remove any suspicious ones immediately from here.
4. Click on the Other Application tab.
5. You should read through the wordly page, but the meat is as shown below.
6. My advice would be to disable all options here. I find very little reasons I would want to share information out to applications.

Now, that settles the applications settings.

Despite all the above settings I recommened, the best security is still up to you. Always play safe and do not enter or reveal unnecessary information on Facebook. also know that some information can be leakedthrough your friends as well, so keep them up to date and advice them to "harden" their Facebook settings.

Have a great time playing games and joining networks in Facebook without losing your job!

PSP 3.90M33-3 released

3.90M33-3 is out. All you need to do is to extract to /PSP/GAME/ and then just run the update, reboot and you are good. Of course, make sure you are on 3.90M33 (doesn't matter 3.90M33-1 or 3.90M33-2) first. If not, read my previous post to upgrade to 3.90M33 before going ahead with this.

Changes:
- March33 noumd driver compatibiilty has increased to support games like Coded Arms, Patapon, Harvest Moon Innocent Life and probably others affected by same errors.

Download :
http://rapidshare.com/files/105323033/390M33-3.rar

Enable Vista Bitlocker Today!

Before there was BitLocker Drive Preparation Tool, life was hell with Bitlocker. Its only after installation of Vista completed you release that the only way to enable Bitlocker was to format and reinstall. Well, BS or not, those days are gone. Actually you can technically do some tricks using partioning software and copying files in protected mode...

Anyway, with BitLocker Drive Preparation Tool now, all you need to is to run through the wizard and it will merge or split up a 1.5GB free space for Bitlocker. If you dun use TPM, you need 1 more step to edit the Global Policy. After that, reboot and you can enable Bitlocker. Its also wizard based helping you make your keys and print your recovery codes.

So, what are you waiting for? Wait, before rushing in, do a full backup. JIC.

BitLocker Drive Preparation Tool :
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/930063