Sean Michael Kerner

From the ‘time limited offers‘ files: If you’re running an open source Asterisk PBX and you want to integrate it with Skype, you need to move fast – the open public beta availability of Skype for Asterisk closed on August 7th. The way I understand it is with Skype for Asterisk you could use Skype […]

From the ‘why buy the cow when you can get the milk for free?‘ files: Microsoft has listed in its 10-K, open source software and specifically Linux as one of the risk factors that could negatively impact Microsoft’s revenues. This shouldn’t be a surprise, but it’s interesting to look at the specific language and the […]

From the ‘pimping your browser‘ files: Google is out with a new Themes Gallery site for Chrome users – but not all Chrome users. The new Themes Gallery currently is only for dev and beta channel users running Chrome 3.x.  So for stable Windows users, you’re out of luck. For Linux and Mac users, there […]

From the ‘they have a store?‘ files: Mozilla is reporting that its Mozilla Store (which sells Mozilla ‘stuff’) was hit by a security breach, by way of their backend payment gateway provider, GatewayCDI. Mozilla notes that once they found out GatewayCDI had a security breach, they shut down the store. As of 9:30 AM ET […]

From the ‘hostile Wi-Fi network‘ files: The Wi-Fi network at last week’s Black Hat conference in Las Vegas was pummeled by multiple types of attacks — but the network held (at least that was my experience). The stats are now out on the security status of the Wi-Fi network at Black Hat, which was run […]

While there is a mad rush toward putting more IT resources in the cloud, not everything belongs in the cloud — just ask Ubuntu Linux vendor Canonical. The Canonical Landscape Ubuntu systems management server is now moving in from the cloud with a new dedicated, on-site offering. Previously, the Landscape service was only available as […]

One of the biggest threats to emerge out of the recent Black Hat security conference was a pair of weaknesses that attackers could use to undermine Secure Socket Layer, or SSL . Open source browser vendor Mozilla is now updating its Firefox 3.0.x browser for the Black Hat flaws, while updating its Firefox 3.5.x browser […]

From the ‘yeaaah companies use Twitter’ files: Twitter is not just something people use at home, it’s being used by business and that’s why enterprise IT needs to know about Twitter – from a network traffic perspective. Network optimization vendor Blue Coat (Nasdaq:BCSI), now has the ability to detect Twitter traffic with its PacketShaper WAN […]

From the ‘late advisory’ files: One of the biggest stories out of last week’s Black Hat event was the disclosure that Firefox and other web browsers were at risk from  SSL man in the middle attacks. The attacks which were discussed (and reported by) Dan Kaminsky and Moxie Marlinspike involve null wildcards for SSL certificates […]

Updating your software is a good thing, right? Not necessarily, according to one security researcher. Radware‘s Itzik Kotler presented new research over the weekend at the Defcon conference detailing weaknesses in the update mechanism for hundreds of applications. The update weaknesses could enable an attacker to hijack the update process and deliver infected updates to […]

From the ‘Chrome OS’s browser‘ files: Google Chrome 3.0.196.2 is now out, but trying to figure out what’s new in it is more difficult that previous releases. Up until version 3.0.195.1 Google provided release notes for most Chrome updates – that’s not the case with the 3.0.196.x series (yet). Instead Google points users to the […]

From the ‘carbon receipts‘ files: Over the weekend, there were multiple reports of a rogue ATM machine at the Defcon conference in Las Vegas. The story is that there was some kind of fake ATM machine that was allegedly skimming users info. Defcon attendees spotted the rogue and it got removed.  Goes to show that […]