NewsLine 2000: Tips, Tricks and Information | ||
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INTRUDER DETECTION |
THE PROBLEM
Firewalls and stronger authentication are part of the overall solution. But they do little to protect systems from expert hackers or "authorized" users (i.e. customers, partners or even disgruntled employees).
THE SOLUTION
Intruder Detection Systems (IDS) monitor systems for patterns of misuse or abuse can take action before systems are misused or information is stolen.
IDS watch your key network hosts much like a motion detector or security guard watches a building. It detects unauthorized and malicious activity on any host and keeps the system, applications and data secure from misuse and abuse. If your IDS detects a security threat it may raise an alarm, close connections, or even shut down entire systems to stop any loss.
THIS MEANS...
Your internal computer network is hardened from mis-use from both outside and inside the network.
You have protection in areas where your firewall does not provide any security
AXENT INTRUDER ALERT
Intruder Alert comes ready to use out of the box. It has over 180 pre-configured detection signatures and rules covering over 250 anomalies developed for Windows NT, UNIX NetWare and NetWare Directory Services. With these signatures, you can immediately detect password-guessing attacks, administrative changes, failed system events and other critical security related incidents.
Key features include:
* Ships with 180+ signatures and over 250 anomaly rules
* Superior architecture supporting enterprise IDS management and monitoring
* Efficient agent that continuously monitors server activities on servers.
* Easily develop and deploy custom security monitoring policies
* Comprehensive alarms and the ability to execute programmed actions
* Real-time graphical display of host and network IDS activity
Multi-platform support: Intruder Alert provides security monitoring for more systems than any other intrusion detection product. Intruder Alert supports all commercial versions of UNIX (Solaris, SunOS, HPUX, AIX, Digital UNIX, IRIX, NCR and Motorola SRV4), NetWare (3.x, 4.x, 5.x and NDS) and Windows NT 3.51 and 4.0.
Integrates with NetProwler: Intruder Alert and NetProwler can be used in concert with each other to provide the most complete and comprehensive intrusion detection solution available. NetProwler watches network activity for early warning signs of intrusion and Intruder Alert watches key servers and applications for misuse or abuse. A common alerts console collects and displays alerts from both systems. In addition, NetProwler alerts can trigger Intruder Alert rules and actions to provide an even wider range of response options.
See http://www.c2000.com/products/sec_ital.htm for more information
ICANN ANNOUNCES NEW TOP LEVEL DOMAINS |
Well, ICANN, the body that oversees the creation of Internet domain names, has listed the new proposed top level domains to add to .com, net, and .org.
The list is quite long, but here's some of the more interesting ones:
.ads, .books, .sex, .kids, .sucks, .wap, .xxx, .biz, .inc, .firm, .ebiz, .gay, .ecom, .dir, .web, .dubai, .game, .news, .shop, .law, .mobile, .museum, .nom, .pro, .tel and .union.
At the moment ICANN is open for public comment until Oct 27th, if you have a view or or want to check a particular top level domain better get over there now.
Will it help? I can see some names being quite heavily used, but for most commercial operations if you are not a .com then you're fighting an uphill battle.
See http://www.c2000.com/ for more information
TWEAKUI FOR WINDOWS 2000 |
For many Windows fiddlers TweakUI was the man, though officially un-supported by Microsoft nevertheless it did all those things you wanted to do to Windows but couldn't. Useful stuff included security protection, less useful were assorted desktop twiddles.
Anyway, TweakUI for Windows 2000 is now available. It will later ship on the W2K Resource Kit but at the moment you can download the beta from the Microsoft web site.
http://www.windows2000faq.com/download/tweakui2k.zip
See http://www.c2000.com/software for more information
MAKING THE MOST OF FUNCTION KEYS IN WORD |
As you've probably learned by now, I reckon using the keyboard is faster for nearly everything. So of course I just love this feature in Word and wish I had it about 5 years ago!
If you like to use the function keys but can never remember which one does what, then you'll like this hidden toolbar that you can show.
Go to the Tools menu, choose Customize... and click on the Toolbars tab. Tick the checkbox for the Function Key Display. Notice that the function descriptions change when you hold down the Shift, Control or Alt keys! You can use this just as a reference, or you can click on the buttons themselves.
See http://www.c2000.com/mswindow for more information
RANDOM TEXT IN WORD |
Try this one to enter some instant text. On a new line type in =rand() and press enter. To control the amount of text you actually get, type the number of paragraphs you want followed by the number of sentences you want in each paragraph. For example, =rand(6,4) would give you 6 paragraphs each with 4 sentences in. Admittedly, this "feature" has limited use, but it can be handy if you need a quick chunk of text to try out something in Word.
See http://www.c2000.com/mswindow for more information
MEASURING CHANGES IN WORD |
Here's a nifty little feature hidden away in Word. Next time you are adjusting rulers, indents, columns or margins on the ruler, hold down the ALT key while you are doing it.
You get proper dimension markers with the exact measurements displayed. Much better than the guess it approach based on the ruler tick marks. Very neat when you need realy precision placement.
See http://www.c2000.com/mswindow for more information
CUSTOM AUTOEXEC BATCH FILES IN NT |
A nice little utility in the NT Resource Kit is "AUTOEXNT.EXE". This program lets you run a customisable batch file "autoexnt.bat" each time you start the NT computer.
This means you can have your own batched startup commands (maybe file clearup, administrative stuff, security measures, all sorts). The batch is run as a service. It does not require a login, and relogging into NT does not re-run the batch file - it is a proper once only on startup batch.
There is also an /interactive option, to let you see the results of the batch file.
See http://www.c2000.com/mswindow for more information
NT POWERDOWN ON SHUTDOWN |
Just so frustrating, you select to power down your NT machine from the console (or even remotely), but then you've got to wait 10 minutes for it to finally close down so you can flip the power switch. Well, try this registry modification:
In regedit, find HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Winlogon
If the value PowerdownAfterShutdown is there, change the value to "1" (no quotes)
Otherwise add the key, with type REG_SZ and value as "1"
Quit from regedit.
Now, you really need to try this. It seems some machines it makes no difference and some reboot instead of powering down. But worth a try.
See http://www.c2000.com/mswindow for more information
CLEARING ARCHIVE SPACE IN EXCHANGE |
Depending upon your setup you may be keeping an archive of all incoming and outgoing email. Clearly this could be substantial (it could be useful too).
However, there is nothing special about these files, you can clear them out whenever you need to. You can remove files from the following folders without any problem:
\imcdata\in\Archive
\imcdata\out\Archive
\imcdata\logs
If you want to enable or disable loggin, then you will find it on the Internet Mail Service in Exchange Administrator, look for Message Archival Logging. You must stop and restart IMS for this change to take affect.
See http://www.c2000.com/mswindow for more information
CONDITIONAL FORMATTING TRICKS IN ACCESS |
The Format property is often used to set a format for all values in a field, but you can also use it to set conditional values for positive, negative, zero and null values of the field. For example:
$#,##0.00[Green];($#,##0.00)[Red];"Zero";"Null"
Gives:
10,000 shows $10,000 in green
-1,000 shows $1,000) in red
0 shows Zero
NULL shows Null
I often use this variation:
"";-#,##0.00 [Red];""
Which only shows negative figures in red, everything else does not display. This allows me to have a red debits only column for example.
See http://www.c2000.com/mswindow for more information
RUNNING DATABASE FORMS DIRECTLY FROM MENUS |
If you want to database forms directly from the menus, using your own labels etc, rather than having to go to the Database Forms menu, then its easy. Edit UAP/uniplex.menu and add the uform command.
Uform accepts arguments for database, table and form names. You can also specify particular uform menu actions to run on startup as well. So, to run a form directly you need to specify:
uform -d"database" -f"formname" -xc
The "database" is the database name (quotes not required)
The "formname" is the name of the custom form to run
The "-xc" flag tells uform to run the given custom form.
Just one final note. You need to make sure you are either in the correct directory for the database, or the the database folder has been added to your DBPATH environment
See http://www.c2000.com/uniplex for more information
EMAIL A MAP TO YOUR OFFICES. |
Streetmap have a nice little suggestion, if you are inviting people to your offices or a function, you can include a map reference directly in your email so that they know where they are going.
Clicking on this link below will take you to the offices of www.multimap.com, one of my favourite street map sites.
http://uk2.multimap.com/map/browse.cgi?pc=NW3+3EN
All you need do is swap the NW3 3EN (their postcode) for yours.
THE 10 WORST MISTAKES IT STAFF MAKE |
1) Connecting to the Internet without hardening the system.
2) Connecting test systems to the Internet with standard default users accounts and passwords.
3) Not updating systems with the latest patches to fix known security flaws.
4) Using insecure and un-encrypted protocols (such as telnet) for managing systems, routers, firewalls etc.
5) Gives passwords to users over the phone - when the caller has not been authenticated
6) Failing to test backup tapes (and quite often failing to make them!)
7) Not removing services that are not required but leave an open door, such as ftpd, telnetd, finger etc
8) Implementing firewalls without a thorough understanding of what needs to be restricted or not being detailed enough in the firewall control. Because a more open policy is easier to administrate.
9) Not installing anti-virus software on all machines and for all services. For example protecting users PC's but not shared PC's and the email connection.
10) Not helping and educating users on what to look out for and what they should do if they see a security problem.
See http://www.c2000.com/papers for more information
YOU PAID MORE INCOME TAX THAN MICROSOFT LAST YEAR |
(actually, more than Microsoft and Cisco combined)
Just in case you were beginning to feel good about the world and the way it works, you should know that both Microsoft and Cisco, two incredibly profitable companies, paid absolutely nothing in federal income tax last year.
Nothing. Nada. Zip.
Isn't this exactly the kind of monstrous inequality that goads the villagers into lighting up torches and chasing FrankenGate's monster? The fact that these two companies, both of whom made gajillions of dollars last year, paid no federal income tax is a slap in the face of every working individual who regularly sees part of their wages sucked into the government coffers every payday.
Let me quantify my vitriol by stating that I am not anti- business. Businessmen are not evil, demonic bloodsuckers who take great joy in crushing the goodwill of mankind; that function is reserved for human resources personnel. The irrational, knee-jerk hatred that some people have for the business world is usually due to a blanket prejudice based on one bad experience, or a lack of understanding of the business world itself.
There are many businessmen who earn their profits through innovation and hard work--and their products or services benefit the consumers who purchase them.
That being said, no consumer-derived benefit justifies the corrupt, Byzantine system that allows huge companies like Microsoft and Cisco to pay no federal income tax on their earnings. The corporate tax system is as full of holes as a miniature golf course in a Swiss cheese factory built on a gopher-infested field next to an artillery range for astigmatic soldiers.
(gasp...deep breath...deep breath...)
The Kafka-esque tax laws that allow multi-million dollar corporations to manipulate their revenue figures through 'creative accounting' are a discredit to every worker who puts their percentage into the pot. Large companies like Microsoft and Cisco deserve credit for their philanthropic activities, but not to the extent that they are given the ability to make themselves exempt from federal income tax.
The next time you hear Microsoft complaining about software piracy, you should remind them that the hand that they're pointing with has a hook on the end of it. Microsoft and Cisco may not be software pirates, but they are certainly giving legitimate taxpayers a jolly rogering.
Article by A. J. Axline from brainbuzz.com
See http://www.c2000.com/papers for more information
MS OFFICE: QUICK FINDS |
You can use Ctrl-F to open the Find window and get your search started. Then, you can close Find window so you can see what you are doing. You can move to the next found item by press Shift + F4.
Ctrl-F Find
Shift-F4 Repeat Find
See http://www.c2000.com/mswindow for more information
FROM: "MR THE BRAIN" Seen on the internet - a slice of real Net life |
WARNING! WARNING! WARNING!
IF YOU RECEIVE A GIFT IN THE SHAPE OF A LARGE WOODEN HORSE DO NOT DOWNLOAD IT!!!! It is EXTREMELY DESTRUCTIVE and will overwrite your ENTIRE CITY!
The "gift" is disguised as a large wooden horse about two stories tall. It tends to show up outside the city gates and appears to be abandoned.
DO NOT let it through the gates! It contains hardware that is incompatible with Trojan programming, including a crowd of heavily armed Greek warriors that will destroy your army, sack your town, and kill our women and children. If you have already received such a gift, DO NOT OPEN IT! Take it back out of the city unopened and set fire to it by the beach.
FORWARD THIS MESSAGE TO EVERYONE YOU KNOW!
See http://www.c2000.com/fun for more information
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Centreline 2000 - Uniplex, Unix, Windows and Internet FREEPOST, PO BOX 2000, Pershore, Worcs, WR10 1BR Tel: (UK) 08000 772000 - Fax: (UK) 08000 772001 |
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URL: www.c2000.com/papers/nw_000317.htm © 1995-2000 Centreline 2000 Last Updated: 06/08/2001 |
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