The past week we’ve spent a lot of time around the office doing security testing of our network and passwords. We’ve been using the BackTrack LiveCD to crack our WEP key and some of our passwords. Our main passwords have all stood up to the test, but a few ancillary ones were easily deciphered. In fact, anything less than 8 characters that did not contain numbers, letters, AND symbols was cracked in less than 10 minutes. ANY 128 bit WEP key was cracked in under 5 minutes. Take this as one more reason why everyone should be generating passwords using a Schema as I recommended. It’s also a reason that any Wireless network that needs to be secured should be using WPA2. There’s a ton of great info over at InfoSecInstitute about ethical hacking in general so if you want to learn more I highly recommend them. Insecure.org also has a massive array of hacking tools available for your security testing needs. And if you’ve pointed a few of these tools at your own network and are shocked by how insecure it is head over to WindowsSecurity.com and start reading.

This marks a return to my regular update schedule after a couple of weeks of crazy.

This week in technology news marks several groundbreaking events, the first of which is the end of the 700mhz  spectrum auctio. AT&T and Verizon ended up with huge chunks of the spectrum with a few bit players getting pieces as well. Google pumped the bid up to the minimum 4.9 billion dollars to ensure that the spectrum was required to be open access. This means that Verizon and AT&T will have to allow users with any compatible device for any carrier to use the network. Yay for device portability! The next big news item was the official release of Windows Vista SP1 to universal disdain. The update is incompatible with a major Intel chipset and seems to be causing as many or more problems than it fixes. The verdict still seems to be to pass on Vista and stick to XP.  Technology and politics intersected this week when a major voting machine vendor threatened to sue a university professor and the state of new jersey if they performed an audit of the vendors machines. Now, maybe it’s just me, but I’d prefer to know exactly what’s going on inside the box that determines who the next president of the United States is. And last but not least the Blu-Ray DVD encryption which the makers claimed would take a decade to crack has been shattered in a mere 8 months. And that’s the news in Technology for this week. In Tech Empire news I’m planning my inaugural PodCast for sometime this weekend and it’s going to be all about Voting Machines. Stay tuned!

In honor of the passing of one of the greatest science fiction writers of all time there will be no update today. A moment of silence for the architect of our dreams of space exploration. The man who envisioned a day when the globe would be encircled by satellites beaming information around the world. The man for whom the space elevator was not just a fanciful dream but a mans fast track to the stars just around the corner. Take this moment to step outside wherever you are and look to the stars in wonderment at the possibilities laid out before you.

Many people have shared computers either in their homes or in managed labs. Securing these can be a huge pain and the users always manage to find some way to wreck them up no matter how hard you try to stop them. This is especially true if we’re talking about a family PC that the kids use. Solution? Windows SteadyState.

SteadyState is software that runs in the background of the PC and not only locks down the user interface if desired, but can return the system to a previously determined state with a simple reboot. What does this mean? It means no more viruses, no more spyware, no more costly computer repairs because someone deleted a system file or installed some harmful software. Just reboot and go on as usual. SteadyState even has a builtin mechanism for applying Windows Updates to ensure that  the system is up to date.

To get started with SteadyState first get your PC to the state you want it, all software installed, all user accounts created, everything setup just the way you want it. Now head over to Microsoft and download SteadyState. Next follow the instructions below:

1. Log on as Administrator or as a member of the Administrators group on the
shared computer.
2. Start Setup.exe from the installation disc or from the computer. To start
Setup.exe, double-click the file icon.
3. Click Validate to verify your copy of Windows is genuine. You can click
Cancel to exit the Windows SteadyState Installation Wizard.
4. When the verification has successfully completed, you will see the
Microsoft Software License Terms page.
5. If you agree to the terms, click I accept the license terms, and then click
Next to install Windows SteadyState.
6. Click Finish to complete the Windows SteadyState installation.

It’s that simple.

Now you can configure SteadyState for the amount of protection you want.  For more details the complete guide to SteadyState can be had from microsoft through this link. It includes step by step directions for configuring Shared Users, hard disk protection, and everything else related to SteadyState.

Now you can forge on knowing your PC is safe from harm.

So the last week I’ve run across quite a few interesting websites that offer ways to make money online via clicking on ads for a penny at a time, and then giving you another penny or so whenever one of your referrals clicks on one. I figure, what the heck, I spend a lot of time sitting around on my laptop. I have time to click on a few dozen ads a day for a couple bucks. So without further fanfare, here’s a list of the sites I’ve found for this: Dailyclicks, MySearchFunds, Bux.To, SmoothLinks, SebasBux, and WordLinx. To go with these silly money making sites I found a classic pyramid scheme traffic building site as well. It’s the old list method, you sign up by clicking on every link on a page to get a little code then your website gets put at the top of the list. The idea is that you refer 10 people, each one refers 10 people, etc… etc.. and by the time it’s over you have 1 million hits to your website. Check it out at FreeViral. And now to make up for all of these ridiculous sites I give you SurfTheChannel, the best online TV site I’ve found yet. Very well organized HUNDREDS of shows and movies, full seasons of almost everything and movies the DAY OF release. This site is awesome. And that’s been your Monday Morning Link Blast ( a little late but worth the wait) for Monday, March 17th.