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Tuesday, April 18, 2006
[Digital Crap]
We get a copy of "Digital Life" every week with our newspapers. They've been publishing it for as long as I can remember, and used to call it "Computer Times".
I've never liked it. I found the articles lacking in substance on several occasions, and the topics they discussed were neither here nor there. And to top it off, they offer hare-brained computing advice. Take today's edition for example:
There's an article about setting up a wireless network for your home. This isn't the first time they had a write-up about the same topic. Granted, there are always newbies around, but this article is perhaps...1.5 to 2-years too late?
This article talked about the benefits of a wireless network, etc etc. I just scanned through the article, it's pretty elementary. What caught my eye was the "Hot Tip". It's kinda blurry, cause I used the camera on my mobile phone instead of my digital camera (because *somebody* didn't put it back where we agreed it'd be... *glares at sister*). It says: "As you go about setting up your wireless network, be sure to turn on the security features like WEP settings when you install the software. This usually allows you to set a password to keep intruders out." Now, I'm no security expert, but I find it extremely disturbing that a nationwide publication would recommend it's readers to adopt an encryption method that has already been cracked. I've never tried it myself, but I've read articles which claimed that WEP encryption on a wireless network can be cracked in 10 seconds, without the need for a ton of sniffed packets even.
The very bare minimum level of security that you have to enable for your wireless home network is WPA encryption. If your router has WPA2, use that instead. To the best of my knowledge, it's the only thing that protects your network from intruders, and you have to change the pass-phrase often. Other features like MAC address filtering, disabling SSID broadcast, disabling DHCP, etc, offers zero protection whatsoever.
Now that I've got the rant off my chest, I'm in the middle of my study week. My first exam for this semester is this Saturday, and my last the next. I might not post as much during this period, since I'm mostly at home mugging and nothing exciting happens at home. Come April 29th, I'd be done and I'm thinking of finally converting my current fish-tank to a planted tank. One of the main reasons holding me back all this time was the cost of getting a canister filter and a CO2 delivery system, as well as the hassles involved if it didn't go right (not to mention my fishes dying if things really didn't go well). But I think I've figured out a cheaper way of getting things done, and I'd be trying it out after my exams.
I haven't even sat for my first paper, and I'm already thinking of things to do after my exams. Let's see...- Convert my fish-tank.
- Get in shape
 , pass my IPPT before ICT. - ICT in June.
- FOC in June.
- Maybe find some holiday work.
- ..........
^^^ by Locksley @ 10:57 AM.
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