- WLUG - wlug.mailman3.com

Re: [Wlug] google video...
by Clint Moyer Jan. 16, 2006

Jan. 16, 2006

Oh god! I thought that had finally died... ---- "Keller wrote: > Last night I had mentioned the Christmas light display. > Open Browser > Goto google video and search for "Christmas Lights" it'll be the first > result returned. > > Tim. > > _______________________________________________ > Wlug mailing list > Wlug(a)mail.wlug.org > http://mail.wlug.org/mailman/listinfo/wlug

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Re: [Wlug] encrypted files
by Stephen C. Daukas Jan. 14, 2006

Jan. 14, 2006

Chuck hit the nail on the head... The general question that is best to begin with is 'what do you want to protect and what is it worth?' The common metaphor used in security is 'how much does it cost to build the wall versus the value of what the wall protects.' In other words, long keys and the time to encrypt/decrypt, etc., etc., is probably not what you want for your everyday files. It this really is required for everyday files, you are into a model similar to what government agencies do (google "Orange Book" - the nickname for the US standards for computing security - at least when I was into this stuff - but the concepts remain the same). If there are a few things that are really vital, then compartmentalize them and apply lots of security to them (i.e., don't keep them on a hard drive that is on a network - physical security - or encrypt them on removable media - soft and physical security). Depending on what the value is, you can start getting into all kinds of systems that are a real pain to use (and that is another reason why they are more secure). There are lots of other ways to make security easier and still useful. Another approach is "something you have and something you know" - that is how ATMs work. You could put your rings on a thumb drive (like the ATM card) that you unlock with a simple key (pin) that gets you to the next step - using the ring for the encryption you were after to begin with. Retinal and finger print scanners (biometrics in general) are essentially this model. If you loose either piece of the system, the other is no longer useful. Another approach is a so-called "smart card" - these are used in Europe for money, but variations are also used to turn the "key" into something approaching a "one time pad"... The card calculates a decay sequence of some sort (a non-linear countdown with a seed you select) that is also calculated on the system you want access to. You type in the calculated value as *part* of the password (valid for say 5 seconds to allow for boundary conditions) and if the system has the same pattern - your are in. I personally think encrypting entire file systems is far less secure than you might think - it is better to protect several areas with several different methods so that compromise of the entire system with one successful attempt doesn't happen. To be honest with you, my bias is towards physical security - I use a thumb drive and then only parts of it are encrypted. Steve Chuck Anderson wrote: >On Wed, Jan 11, 2006 at 06:22:53PM -0500, Bill Mills-Curran wrote: > > >>Symmetric? (gpg -c) This seems the most secure and flexible, but I'm >>getting tired of typing the key so often. >> >>Public/private? This seems enticing, because encryption is done >>without needing to type a password. However, the keyring is on the >>same system as the encrypted file, and thus is vulnerable. >> >> > >Symmetric keys may be more secure with a caveat: you have to pick a >very good key. This is harder than it seems, since it should be long >and have lots of entropy. English text doesn't have much entropy per >character. So in practice, using a passphrase to unlock a good, long, >randomly generated key that you would never remember is better. You >can always store the keyring on a removable device, like a USB flash >drive and keep that in your safe... >_______________________________________________ >Wlug mailing list >Wlug(a)mail.wlug.org >http://mail.wlug.org/mailman/listinfo/wlug > > > >

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encrypted files
by Bill Mills-Curran Jan. 14, 2006

Jan. 14, 2006

I have a question about using gpg to encrypt private files on my system. Which encryption is the preferred for file storage? Symmetric? (gpg -c) This seems the most secure and flexible, but I'm getting tired of typing the key so often. Public/private? This seems enticing, because encryption is done without needing to type a password. However, the keyring is on the same system as the encrypted file, and thus is vulnerable. Thanks, Bill

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google video...
by Keller, Tim Jan. 13, 2006

Jan. 13, 2006

Last night I had mentioned the Christmas light display. Open Browser Goto google video and search for "Christmas Lights" it'll be the first result returned. Tim.

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server outage
by Frank Sweetser Jan. 12, 2006

Jan. 12, 2006

In case anyone noticed any problems with the mailing list, the server hosting it ate yet another hard drive. It's been restored from backups, though (which I may do as a meeting topic one month, if there's interest) and everything should be back up now. -- Frank Sweetser fs at wpi.edu | For every problem, there is a solution that WPI Network Engineer | is simple, elegant, and wrong. - HL Mencken GPG fingerprint = 6174 1257 129E 0D21 D8D4 E8A3 8E39 29E3 E2E8 8CEC

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reminder: meeting thursday january 12 2006 7:00 pm
by Andy Stewart Jan. 11, 2006

Jan. 11, 2006

-----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE----- Hash: SHA1 HI Everybody, We'll be having a WLUG meeting this coming Thursday evening, at 7:00 PM, on January 12, 2006 in the Access Grid room on the WPI campus in Worcester, MA USA. At this meeting, there is currently no single scheduled topic, so this means that ALL topics are freely available for discussion (thanks, Walt). Bring along your questions and maybe somebody in the room will have answers. Bring up any Linux related topic and we can discuss it as a group. Here are some topics we might discuss: Nokia 770 - http://www.nokia.com/770 Linux World Conference and Expo coming to Boston in April 2006 Richard Stallman will speak at WPI on January 13th Xen in the Linux kernel (see also Xenoppix) Next month (Feb 2006), I'll probably put together a presentation discussing my experience using a Routerboard 532 and making a firewall out of it using GPL software which I pieced together. Stay tuned. After the meeting, we'll go out for pizza and soda at our favorite pizza place (Tech Piza) on Highland Street. We always have lively and interesting discussions there. Come one, come all, and bring your friends, too! Andy - -- Andy Stewart, Founder Worcester Linux Users' Group Worcester, MA, USA http://www.wlug.org -----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE----- Version: GnuPG v1.2.5 (GNU/Linux) Comment: Using GnuPG with Thunderbird - http://enigmail.mozdev.org iD8DBQFDxF0+Hl0iXDssISsRAvLOAJ9fl9cSwJxVJ9sRZElNA8OZRm0mRgCdHFrM kCin6TULv47cw6RhqOq6zok= =0lzd -----END PGP SIGNATURE-----

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RE: [Wlug] Stallman at WPI, 1/13 @ 11am
by James Gray Jan. 10, 2006

Jan. 10, 2006

I think my message got lost the first time around. I contacted WPI and got a response that sounded like the event would be open to the public. -----Original Message----- From: wlug-bounces(a)mail.wlug.org on behalf of Jared Greenwald Sent: Mon 1/9/2006 11:51 PM To: Worcester Linux Users Group Subject: Re: [Wlug] Stallman at WPI, 1/13 @ 11am Yea, I can imagine this would bring a packed house... -Jared On 1/9/06, Mike Leo <mleo963(a)yahoo.com> wrote: > any wpi'rs here? > > Do we need tickets? Can the wlug get us "in"? Is > anyone welcome? > > thanks > mike > > --- Theo Van Dinter <felicity(a)kluge.net> wrote: > > > I happened to be poking around and found this off > > the main WPI page. I don't > > remember it coming by here yet, so ... > > > > > http://www.cs.wpi.edu/News/Colloquium/20056/stallman.html > > > > -- > > Randomly Generated Tagline: > > "Leadership is a potent combination of strategy and > > character. > > But if you must be without one, be without > > strategy." > > - General H. Norman Schwarzkopf > > > _______________________________________________ > > Wlug mailing list > > Wlug(a)mail.wlug.org > > http://mail.wlug.org/mailman/listinfo/wlug > > > > _______________________________________________ > Wlug mailing list > Wlug(a)mail.wlug.org > http://mail.wlug.org/mailman/listinfo/wlug > _______________________________________________ Wlug mailing list Wlug(a)mail.wlug.org http://mail.wlug.org/mailman/listinfo/wlug

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RE: [Wlug] Stallman at WPI, 1/13 @ 11am
by James Gray Jan. 10, 2006

Jan. 10, 2006

I found a contact address for events @ wpi and recieved this response, good news. >From Michael C Voorhis <mvoorhis(a)cs.wpi.edu>: I'm not aware of any restrictions on the audience. The event description doesn't imply any restrictions (I just looked) and I would believe RMS to be opposed to any restrictions in any case. James Gray writes: > Hi, is the Stallman event open to the public or are only WPI > students/faculty allowed? I am part of the campus GNU/Linux users > group if that makes any difference. Thanks! On 1/9/06, Mike Leo <mleo963(a)yahoo.com> wrote: > any wpi'rs here? > > Do we need tickets? Can the wlug get us "in"? Is > anyone welcome? > > thanks > mike >

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Stallman at WPI, 1/13 @ 11am
by Theo Van Dinter Jan. 10, 2006

Jan. 10, 2006

I happened to be poking around and found this off the main WPI page. I don't remember it coming by here yet, so ... http://www.cs.wpi.edu/News/Colloquium/20056/stallman.html -- Randomly Generated Tagline: "Leadership is a potent combination of strategy and character. But if you must be without one, be without strategy." - General H. Norman Schwarzkopf

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vcalendar client program
by Chuck Anderson Jan. 7, 2006

Jan. 7, 2006

I've been using KOrganizer from the kdepim package for a couple years now to store my appointments and todo lists, but I've recently been having issues with the timezone not being applied, causing all appointment times to be shifted into the future. The Configure Time & Date option does nothing at all, and the Configure KOrganizer dialog is an Empty Page (it literally says "Empty Page" on it!). Since I'd rather not be without my calendar for long, does anyone have any recommendations for a replacement program that can read the files made by KOrganizer? I gather that it uses a standard file format called "vcalendar".

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