none-2000-01-25-none-Arthur Bebak and Lawrence Nyveen

Testing your Computer for Hacker Access

If you're like us, you ask, "What could they possibly want with the dreary little treasures cluttering my humble hard drive?" Still, especially since crackers value the conquest more than the spoils, software programmer Steve Gibson's site lets you test your ports for vulnerability to online invasion (it assumes you use Windows, but works fine on Macs, too). Should you walk away feeling as if the back of your britches has been torn away, Gibson has good advice about how to stitch those breaches. He kindly offers to sell you a firewall product of his very own. No matter what, consider storing those erotic love letters in the folder sedately marked "Conjugating Irregular Latin Verbs." grc.com/x/ne.dll?bh0bkyd2

Zero-Knowledge's Online Anonymity Service Goes Live

After a successful beta test period, the Zero-Knowledge's Freedom anonymizer service has opened for business. Freedom, currently the most robust method by far of assuring your Net anonymity, prevents anybody from tracing the source or destination of your communication. The system consists of e-mail, Web, Usenet, and IRC proxy servers around the world linked by strong encryption software. The Freedom client software, currently available only for Windows, accesses the Net through this anonymizing network and provides you with an untraceable anonymous pseudonym. Not even Zero-Knowledge itself can link you to your pseudonym, called in Freedom-speak a "nym." Zero-Knowledge charges $50 for five nym-years--in other words, one nym you can use for five years or five nyms you can use for one year. They also offer a free trial. As with most things, if you don't use Freedom wisely you could get into trouble, so check the documentation on vulnerabilities in the Support section. Use it or lose it. www.freedom.net

Bastille Linux Automatically Secures Your RedHat 6 Linux Box

This nifty open source project is a script that will automatically configure your RedHat Linux system to be as secure as possible. One of the virtues of the script is that it strives to educate the user about the significance of each security step it takes. This useful tool should be used by anyone who sets up a Linux box. Note that RedHat Linux 6.1, the latest release, is not yet supported, though it probably won't be long before it is. www.bastillelinux.org

Just What Are Certificates of Authority Good for Anyway?

That, in a nutshell, is asked by Carl Ellison and Bruce Schneier in an essay that throws some embarrassing questions at Certificates of Authority (CA). E-commerce sites buy these certificates from companies known as "Authorities" to ostensibly prove to consumers that the site is legit and can be trusted with credit card numbers. Ellison and Schneier point out that such certificates are meaningless due to numerous security holes in the entire CA infrastructure. They also note that you demonstrably don't need a robust CA infrastructure for e-commerce--after all, many of us already madly shop online without being defrauded and, frankly, when's the last time you searched a site for a CA? Add the awkwardness in administering CAs and you can make a case that they are good for nothing more than making money for CA Authorities. The article raises many provocative questions. www.counterpane.com/pkirisks.html

SourceXchange Goes Live

This new portal seeks to hook up open source programmers with outfits that need their services. The idea is pretty simple: Companies toss out the programming projects that they need done, and SourceXchange's member programmers submit bids for the job. The parties involved release the source code of completed projects under standard open source licenses. The latest site stats tell the story: 3,792 registered users, 152 wish projects, eight serious requests for proposals, and 27 proposals. One lucky programmer already snagged $5,000 to write a test suite for the Apache Web server. This clever idea will not only increase the number of open source software packages, but will also make some money for all you midnight hackers. www.sourcexchange.com

Web Design Training

A neighbor of ours declared not so long ago, "I've been a typesetter for 20 years. What else is there to learn?" Plenty, if she wants to work on the Web. Typesetters and desktop publishers can upgrade their skills at the Free Web Design Training Course given by Victoria Ring, a design instructor at Ohio State University. After a quick introduction to get neophyte page builders thinking in broad strokes, Ring uses text and screenshots to outline hardware and software requirements, Net access and providers, and page composition. At the end of your first lesson, you can prepare to decorate your site by downloading a banner: "Registered Web Designer for the New Millennium." Ring's site will help a lot of people who are intimidated by four-inch-thick paperbacks in the computer sections of brick-and-mortar bookstores, whether or not they can spell. victoriaring.com/business/training/index.html

Netscape Browser Archive

If you have a hankering for Netscape 2, 3.04, 4.06, or even Gecko M11, the developer pre-release, this is the place for you. In fact, you'll find links to just about every Netscape that's ever been released for any OS. Only the 128-bit encryption versions are not listed, because of downloading restrictions outside the United States and Canada. Getting a browser here, even the latest one, is a hundredfold easier than doing the same at Netscape's own site. sillydog.webhanger.com/narchive/

A Stroll in the Park

The Park, a global Net community, came on the scene in 1994--it's nearly as old as NSD. The community has since attracted over 40 million visitors. At any given moment, the Park is said to be home to a few thousand people taking part in the 133 chat rooms, window-shopping in the mall, or reading their encrypted e-mail. www.thepark.com

Riding Duct Tape to the White House

Furniture Guys, enough with the spit coats. We've found a better way to protect Great Grandma's antique dining room set. Resplendent in silver, just barely keeping it together but bound by love of the universal fix-it, Tim and Jim invite you into the wonderful world of duct tape. They offer their own suggestions for re-pointing the pyramids with the stuff, and protecting the White House from acid rain. It's a major plank in their mutual candidacy for the highest office in the land. These guys have actually written books about duct tape--and we'll wager George W. Bush hasn't read those, either. This is a deceptive site; you suspect you've stumbled onto another of those one-joke wonders. But its sophisticated design and good-natured invention just keep surprising you. There's even a teacher's guide, for crying out loud. You'll want to stick around. www.octane.com/ducttape/

The full text of Netsurfer Digest and free subscription information can be found at www.netsurf.com/nsd/. Netsurfer Digest is edited by Arthur Bebak (arthur@netsurf.com) and Lawrence Nyveen (editor@netsurf.com).

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