KW1501 – 10 Geeky Projects for 2020

Welcome to 2020!
This week Knightwise takes us through a list of projects to help stretch our geek muscles and maybe try out some new ways to use or think about technology as we slide into the new decade. We’ve got, things to learn, ways to protect your privacy and your data, projects to try and services you might want to support.

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Connect with the Community

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KW1108 Protecting your Privacy at Work

With all the news lately about the risks to your online privacy and personal information knowing how to look after your data has become an essential skill. It’s not too difficult to do this at home where you have full control of your environment, but what do you do when you’re at work?

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  • Борисов Евгений– Trance [Jamendo]

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KW1105 60 Minutes of Common Sense

The knightwise.com podcast is back this week with a splash of cold water and a dose of plain old common sense. This week we talk about some strategies to keep you, your devices and your data out of nefarious hands. Vigilance, my friends.

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Server week : Why not “roll your own private little cloud”.

Cloud services. We love them ! All you need to do is hand over your email address, use the same password you have everywhere and sito presto : Before you know it you are using yet another free service that does whatever you require. From handling your email, to storing your documents, from chatting with your friends to keeping track of all the Care-Bear stuff you track on line .. there is a cloud service for everything.

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We are not always the customer, sometimes we are the product.

What most of us forget is that, unless you are paying for said service, you are not a customer, but a product. If your free cloud service has any plans about staying in business and paying that giant hosting bill for that ‘free storage’, it’ll better have a business plan. Most cloud services make money by selling you adds that you click on. The people who PLACE the adds are the actual customers of the service ..  YOU .. are the product. This might not be true with a paid service ( Another way of working for a cloud service might be to get you hooked with a free account and then make you UPGRADE into a subscription plan). So if you are using that favourite cloud service of yours, ask yourself : Am I ok with being “The Product” ?

Just “Who IS” the cloud ?

Behind every fancy logo or snazzy name is a company. That company can be  a multi brazillian dollar company who buys up instant messaging clients for sixteen billion the way you buy new socks. It might also be two crummy guys sitting in their moms basement remote controlling their servers somewhere else. You  only see the flashy logo,  you never read the terms of service (just click agree-agree-agree) and have no idea of who might be looking at your data. Who knows you may have signed over the creative rights of your summer snapshots to the cloud company that turns it into a “Free online picture-slideshow”.. because you never read the terms of service.  And for the sake of argument : What if there is a problem you can’t fix ? Who are you gonna call … Chances are you will probably get to talk to the REAL Ghostbusters before you get a living person on the other end of the line at your “free cloud service”.  So are you safe ? Is the data yours ? What happens if the bubble bursts and the service goes away  ? 

So what if you rolled your own ?

If you make it really simple you can say that cloud services are just servers running on applications. ( But they are actually spread out on servers all over the world and are optimised for coping with a LOT of simultaneous users). But what if you don’t need that ? What if its just you and your dog using them ? Then you could basically run them yourself right ?  The answer is : YES. It takes some tinkering and having at least one machine that is online for most of the time to make sure your “private cloud” is accessible but aside from a little patience, a spare machine and an internet connection, its about ALL you need.

I don’t trust cloudy skies.

This week we boldly choose to chose “DISAGREE” on the terms of service of the cloud providers, we decide NOT to trust their free business model and we venture out on our own little geeky adventure : Rolling our own private cloud. The luxury of a cloud service, but being run on your own hardware, in your own home (or on YOUR webspace) with YOU in control. We will try to show you some great examples of just how much fun you can have while being your personal cloud provider. Most if not all services we will setup can be hosted on a Linux virtual machine and are accessible from any operating system (or device) that is capable of connecting to the internet.

Enjoy.

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kw801 : Cross platform security.

We start off season 8 with a great topic on Cross platform security. Many of us think that we are safe from mall ware or viruses because we don’t use vulnerable operating systems. Good friend of the show Emmet Steward is here to tell us, that this is not the case. We talk about cross-platform security hazards and, more importantly, how to protect your system and be safe.
 
Emmet also talks about a great course called ‘Hackitplus’ where you can enrol to be a white hat hacker and learn all about penetration testing, security and … ethical hacking. 
 
We also have Konrad Dwojaks weekly photography tip : This time on keeping your gear safe in cold weather.
All in all : a great show to kick off season 8 of Knightwise.com
 
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kw602 : Life on a Stick.

Do you have any USB Thumbdrives lying around collecting dust or data that you haven’t used in quite a while ? Those days are gone after you listen to this weeks episode of the Knightwise.com podcast. We show you how to “live of a stick” and have both your data, your applications and even your complete operating system .. running on a stick.

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Do we need cyber-locksmiths?

 

By Daniel "Captain Command Line" Turner. (more at http://dannyturner.dyndns.org/ )

DanComputerized.

Everything today is computerized, your comunications, you finances, many people's enjoyment, travel, even friendships! And all of this is passworded. Imagine, having to recite a secret code just to talk to a friend, it sounds stupid, but millions of people are doing it every day, with MySpace, Instant Messaging and VoIP. But what about the things that hide below, the things that no-one talks about–the OS. Mac, Windows, Linux and BSD, They all now have the capability to require a password to login. Linux, Mac and BSD are the worst here, password this, password that. Root to install this, root to tweak that, root to fix something. What happens when end users use this passwording capability? Windows has it covered, with the "Forgot Password" button, that shows a preset hint. But what of Linux, Mac and BSD? Is their security too strong? Say I give a Ubuntu or PC-BSD desktop to a family, give them all a username and a password, but not root priviledges. I wisper the root password in old dad's ear, tell him it's special, to change it, to remember it well.Fast forward 2 weeks, or a month or what ever, and little Johnny wants to install program xyz for his homework (especially easy for  PC-BSD), but keeps getting the dialogue box "Please input root password" What's he to do? He's confused. He goes and asks dear ol' Dad, who by now, having no need for the root password has completely forgotten it, he didn't even change it. Oh dear, they're locked out of their own PC.

Lost.

They've effectivley lost they keys to their virtual home.Who do they call? Where's a locksmith when you need one. Get a LiveCD you say, change the GRUB kernel arguments you say, use John the Ripper you cry? Sure, this non-techie family is going to know exactly what to do, where to get a live CD, how to find the shadowed password, what program to put it in, how long to wait, what to look for. Yes, they're going to  know all of this. Sure. To them, this magic black box that holds all that is dear to them is refusing to play nice.So, pick up the phone they do, phone up the computer support guy and ask "What's the root password, and why do I need it?" Many computer support operations are Windows-only (not the one in my home town, but many that I know of). So they get the answer back "The what password?" Oh dear, now they're in deep doo-doos. They take it to PC World, who last time I checked in Britain, is a Windows only operation. So what to they see? They see PC-BSD or Ubuntu boot. They see a different login window. They have no idea what "root" is, or why it's asking for his password. If you're lucky, a Linux or BSD 'nerd' might work there, and immediately know what to do, pulling a LiveCD from his kit, loading BackTrack, going straight for /etc/passwd and then the shadow, if there is one. Pulling a seemingly random string of characters, and loading it into John the Ripper. Sure, that might happen, but it might not. So you're back to square one, a 'broken' but some how functional PC.
Who do you call when you're locked out of your virtual house? Grab the yellow pages and look under "Cyber Locksmiths"? No, there's no one, unless you are lucky when you walk through the door of PC World, your home-grown computer support shop round the corner, or you have an extremely techie friend. Failing this, you are done for.

Where is the button ?

So where's the reset password button, I ask, When's the password hint going to make it into Linux and BSD, or is this just to stupid, to question the security of the OS, just for the user to actually be able to use the OS? So far, this has been fine (well, almost) for Microsoft. Microsoft have been to busy putting out patches of XP to even get an OS out in 5 Years, where as Linux and BSD have grown by leaps and bounds, grabbing market share in government and school computers. Even in the developing world, Linux is taking hold. Linux has had a hold for years in the hobbyist, enthusiast market since it was born as a terminal emulator that ran off a floppy so that Linus Torvalds could use his university account, and learn to use the 386 instruction set. By it's very nature, it's heavily technical.So,  I call unto the gods of the copmuter world (Jobs, Torvlads and Gates) create Cyber-Locksmiths!

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