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Soap BoxAnnouncementsMeanderings
[ Soap Box | Announcements | Meanderings ]

26 January Happy Birthday Australia

Posted by: Samiuela LV Taufa on February 02, 2010 12:18:28 AM

The 26th of January is a public holiday in Australia to celebrate the Nation. Unlikely Americans who have a thirst for the selection of their national day, those I’ve met in Australia just take it as a day off to have a party or break.

Sione Halasika, our youngest son, fourth in the tree, had his birthday on the 25th, just shy of the national holiday. But as we wanted to have some close friends over, we had the national holiday as an excuse to share his birthday with family and friends.

Of course, since we were a bit mamio in getting things planned we didn’t get to invite people until the week before hand. Some made it, others didn’t.

‘Ofa made some wonderful dishes, which I complemented with seriously paku BBQ (pa pa kiu.) Obviously the English phase/word BBQ derives from the Tongan papaku meaning seriously burnt from existence.

‘Ofa put her hands up and made some Lu Kapapulu, Sea-food salad, potatoe salad, while I managed to add on burnt lamb chops, and burnt beef sausages, burnt winglets, burnt drumsticks topped with burnt chicken kebabs. The onions were good though, but unfortunately we forgot it and didn’t put it out on the table.

Grandpa Sisi prayed for the young man’s well being while we gathered with family and friends to wish the old fella a happy birthday and best wishes for his life.

From your mum, dad, siblings, family and friends,

Happy Birthday Sione Halasika.


Soap BoxLow No Cost Tech
[ Soap Box | Low No Cost Tech ]

Khanacademy.org where to be

Posted by: Samiuela LV Taufa on February 01, 2010 11:56:02 PM

With four little kids running around screaming their heads off, it’s time to really get down and look at how are we going to help with these kid’s education.

Strangely enough there’s a youtube story to that.

http://www.khanacademy.org

The Khan Academy is a not-for-profit organization with the mission of providing a high quality education to anyone, anywhere.

We have 1000+ videos on YouTube covering everything from basic arithmetic and algebra to differential equations, physics, chemistry, biology and finance which have been recorded by Salman Khan.

Looked at one of his videos and they really are good!!!

It’s not a classroom teaching video, it’s about using the video technology as appropriate for the material being taught (oh what a strange concept?)

I’ve watched, listened to a lot of University Course Videos/Audios and they are horrendous except for the diehard fanatic. Salman Khan’s videos is something that would be interesting and participatory to the learner, not just informational.

Grab a copy, go online.


Soap BoxLow No Cost TechMeanderings
[ Soap Box | Low No Cost Tech | Meanderings ]

IE Bashing obscuring real security issues

Posted by: Samiuela LV Taufa on January 20, 2010 10:05:01 AM

Summary:

If you believe all the hype that spins around about network/internet security, especially coming out of politicians kept in office through exposing their “hands on technology” or espoused by news/forums that get their money by the ‘eye balls count’ then I have some beach front property in Tofoa to sell you.

If you believe, then you need a course in Media Studies 101, how to sell junk while making people believe you’ve served them well.

More Details:

There’s a little storm in a teacup brewing around the blogosphere, news outlets pushing for IE to be replaced because it’s been used (and identified) by Google as a vector for stealing intellectual property from corporates such as themselves.

Apart from the obvious self-serving nature of the “information release.”

Two immediate questions come to mind.

Are Google desktops running Windows 98 or Windows 2000 ? It’s pretty hard to ignore (not get updated) IE7 on Windows XP, and if you’re workstation is kept up to date, then it’s most likely got IE8.

The attack targeted IE6 and Adobe Acrobat(?) so how are these vanguards of technology to be trusted if they’re critical infrastructures are run on 10 year-old software.

I can’t really see how IE6 could be used against Google unless they really hate their own browser (what’s it’s name?) that they would have IE6 still running on their corporate network equipment.

Or, maybe Google have all their accounting systems running on Windows NT or Windows 2000 servers, and no-one secured them properly (why is the administrator on that box doing e-mail and browsing the internet on the server?)

Don’t trust Windows for what you show the world, but run all your internal critical stuff on it?

Google used to be the see no evil, do no evil, company, but they sure like to play tight with announcements and the repercussions of those statements.

If you want to educate yourself instead of trash talking, I suggest the following reads:

Google, China, Chicken Little and Cyber Armageddon. at TrendMicro by Rik Ferguson

China vs. Google (et al) via MSIE... – Stop the Bus at Preach Security by Rafal Los


Soap BoxChaosMeanderings
[ Soap Box | Chaos | Meanderings ]

Social Dilemma

Posted by: Samiuela LV Taufa on January 20, 2010 9:47:31 AM

Interesting dilemma on the train this morning, and it didn’t have anything to do with the route being changed from the timetable route, nor that it had fewer carriages than what is the schedule.

No the dilemma has nothing to do with State Rail still fiddling with their broken timetable 4 months after introducing it and spending more of our money on their celebration parties.

On the ride this morning we enjoyed another passenger who was walking up and down the carriages begging for some of our ‘spare change.’ with the Guard station cutting the carriages into two disconnected cars, that’s 2 carriages he wandered up and down.

In the hustle and bustle of our lives, what do we have to offer those less fortunate. In what manner can we meaningfully contribute? Would giving cash hand outs contribute, or is it more practical to do something else.

The old guy seems lucid enough and isn’t seeking anything but money (and he knows his time on the train is limited until a guard finds out he’s riding free.) He’s bundled warm enough for the weather, for now during the day, but he’s got to have a base somewhere or he’s freezing at night. (Freezing to death at night seems more likely?)

Is our personal standards for ‘contribution’ too rigid a system, or do we just not have the flexibility to consider each applicant as they come?

Which homeless centre cares for this man? Which Church or private organisation disassociated from me helps this man? What will he have to eat this morning, day. Will he eat at all?

While we listen and focus on the human tragedy that is Haiti, what would you do on an encounter like this much closer to home?


Soap BoxIn Tonga
[ Soap Box | In Tonga ]

Feiloaki mo e 2010

Posted by: Samiuela LV Taufa on January 18, 2010 12:55:02 AM

Malo ‘a e kei ‘ofa mai ‘a e ‘Otua ‘o tau to e a’usia mai ‘a e 2010.

Ko ‘eni ‘oku mau mo’ui lelei pea ‘o ‘ikai ha me’a feefee fau ko e toki lava ‘eni ha faingamalie ‘eva ki he kainga he ‘aho ni pea lava atu ‘a e a’u kia Samiu mo Mele, pea mo ‘Amelia mo ‘Akanesi. Tu’o ‘a e viviku ee vala ‘o ‘Ofa ‘ia sione Halasika pea mau fe’unga aipe he ongo ua koi a ki he ‘aho ni ka e toki vakai atu ‘a e toenga ‘o e uike lotu.

2010-01-02 Family Visits 004

2010-01-02 Family Visits 005

Holo ‘aupito ‘a Samiu, peau fanongo pe ne a’u kia Lisita lahi ki ‘Amelika.

‘Alu tokotoko holo pe ‘a Samiu, pea ko Mele ia ko e ‘alu saliote holo pe, ka ‘oku ne lava pe ‘o teke holo pe ia.

2010-01-02 Family Visits 006

Sai ‘aupito pe ‘a e ki’i ‘api ‘i Kapetaa

2010-01-02 Family Visits 007

2010-01-02 Family Visits 012

Nau ‘ofa atu ‘aupito kia Neomai mo ‘Amelia, ko e toki ‘osi pe ‘eni ‘enau vali mo ‘emau a’u atu mo e take-away ‘a e kids ‘o mau tangutu hifo aipe mo ‘enau haka la’i pele ‘o lunch fakataha.

2010-01-02 Family Visits 022

2010-01-02 Family Visits 025


Soap BoxIn TongaMeanderings
[ Soap Box | In Tonga | Meanderings ]

Tonga – Week 1

Posted by: Samiuela LV Taufa on January 18, 2010 12:32:45 AM

Kuo kamata maheni mai ange ‘a e fefine ko Sesilia, ka e pehee ‘a Sione Halasika mo e kau me’a ni, pea kalasi kehe atu pe foki ee funny ia ‘a e ongo ua ni.

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Faingofua ange pe foki ‘a e ongo ua lalahi iaa, kuo nau ‘osi maheni pea na pa ngofua pe foki ko e fekauatu p eke ‘uma mo fe’iloaki kuo na laine mei ke fai ‘a e ‘uma, fe’iloaki ‘o vave ange aipe ‘a e to e maheni mo e ngaahi fofonga ne ‘osi kamata ke ngaloo.

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Lava aipe ‘a e kaukau tahi ia ‘ane afi mo e hake mai pe kuo ‘osi kamata ke tete ee loungutu he mokosia ka e ‘ikai ke fie mokosiaa.

Ko e ‘aho ni, fai ‘enau va’inga soccer pe ‘i tu’a pea faka’osi ‘aki pe ‘enau kaka holo he ‘ulu’i ‘akau he tomui ‘o Misi.

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Ko ho’o siana ‘eni kuo kamata ‘ene tesi ‘a engaahi sitepu heni,

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Ka ke fakatokanga’i atu, ‘aonga ange pe ke tukunoa’i ‘a e ngaahi sitepu ia heni ‘oku ‘ange ‘ange ‘ene fefeka ange ka fai ha fall.


Soap BoxIn TongaMeanderings
[ Soap Box | In Tonga | Meanderings ]

Katinia sioto sei manakoa

Posted by: Samiuela LV Taufa on January 18, 2010 12:31:07 AM

Lava ‘a e katoanga fakamanatu ‘aho ee kui ‘a ‘ofa, ka e toki to’o hake ‘e Sesilia ia mo Selemana (ta’ahine ‘a Kafo’atu) ‘a e veve teunga tau’olunga ‘a e tamaiki lalahi ‘o fai ‘ena show makehe ia ‘anaua he ‘aho hoko.

2009-12-30 Dancing up a Storm 003

2009-12-30 Dancing up a Storm 006

2009-12-30 Dancing up a Storm 010

Ko e malie atu ‘ena ki’i to’onga pea mio ange ‘a Sesilia ia he kuo ‘osi sio foki ia ‘ia ‘amelia he me’a ko e mio.

‘Ofa atu


Soap BoxIn TongaMeanderings
[ Soap Box | In Tonga | Meanderings ]

Sapate ki he kai umu

Posted by: Samiuela LV Taufa on January 18, 2010 12:29:49 AM

Ko e Sapate foki ko e ‘aho kai ‘umuu ia homau fonua ni.

2009-12-27 023

2009-12-27 025

Ka e faka’ofa atu pe Sisitoutai, kuo ma to e hu maua ki peito ke ngaahi ha’ane sandwich. ‘Oku holo ‘aupito ‘a e kai ‘a e siana he ‘oku fu’u vahavaha ‘a e ma’u ‘a e me’a ‘oku loto lelei ki ai.

2009-12-27 027

Mahalo ‘e ki’i taloa ha toe ha’u ‘a Sisitoutai ki Tonga ni ka e ‘oua kuo ki’i hiki ‘ene kai ‘o toe tali ha me’a kehe mei he ma mo e cereal.


Soap BoxMeanderings
[ Soap Box | Meanderings ]

2009 Christmas trip to Tonga

Posted by: Samiuela LV Taufa on January 18, 2010 12:28:28 AM

‘Ofa’s populating her Bebo page, but for those not on Bebo, the clan bake photos are up online courtesy of Microsoft Live.


Soap BoxMeanderingsPropaGanda
[ Soap Box | Meanderings | PropaGanda ]

Even in China – a little Tongan culture

Posted by: Samiuela LV Taufa on December 26, 2009 7:50:48 PM

From: SIONE LAMIPETI TUIHALANGINGIE [mailto:panatonga@hotmail.com]
Sent: Saturday, December 26, 2009 2:58 PM
To: samt@nomoa.com
Subject: Mr Curtis Tuihalangingie First Tongan to attend Beijing University interview with Global time

. Below is the link to the article:

http://www.globaltimes.cn/www/english/metro-beijing/people/profile/2009-12/490777.html

and you're even on the main online Metro page too:

http://www.globaltimes.cn/www/english/metro-beijing/index.html


Curtis Leonard Tu'ihalangingie wearing the Tongan ta'ovala. Photo: courtesy of Tu'ihalangingie

It's not often that The Kingdom of Tonga has been honored in a ceremony at Peking University. Most of the student body might not even know where this island nation is located, not to mention what a Tongan looks like.

 

Good luck with the effort CLT and best wishes this Christmas and the following new year.

 

Sam T


Soap BoxChaos
[ Soap Box | Chaos ]

Economic downturn

Posted by: Samiuela LV Taufa on December 24, 2009 5:52:18 PM

The world economic crisis led by Bankers’ greed must have hit Tonga pretty badly this year.

The past week led to 2 visits by Tupou College ex-Students, apparently representing interests of another college in Tonga (Mo’unga’olive.)

Our first guests visited upon us a bag/tangai full of frozen cassave/manioke.

The economic downturn must really be bad in Tonga, ‘cause I can assure you that after hours of cooking that manioke, the thing was still as solid as a block of ice. I hope my dad didn’t pay as much for it as I expected.

Ko e manioke ni ia na’a mo e puaka ‘e hehengi ke kai mei ai.

The bag is in the deep freezer while we gradually whittle it down into our rubbish pick-up.

Our second visit was from a senior member of the Mo’unga’olive College, enroute to pester and bribe someone else.

Unfortunately for us he offloaded some smoked fish / ika masima, and dried octopi, feke momoa. To add salt to the injury, insult, he then turned around and said:

‘Oku fiema’u ‘eku Powerpoint, projector ke ngaue’aki. Keke feinga’i mai ee?

Tali: Mahalo ko ha lea ena ke ke fai ki ha’o fa’ee tangata ?

It’s a good thing the Minister came with others who respected him or he would have gotten a significantly disrespectful mouthful. By all accounts, something this Minister needs in quantity.

Food not fit for pigs = $100+

1 dried octopi, 5 smoked fish = 1 computer projector =~ $600 ?

How expensive has life become in Tonga, or more importantly how much is the cost of honesty?

If the church leads in amoral behaviour in Tonga, is the economic crisis, or political crisis less a danger?


Soap BoxChaosIn Tonga
[ Soap Box | Chaos | In Tonga ]

Back in the Kingdom

Posted by: Samiuela LV Taufa on December 24, 2009 5:40:18 PM

The flight route was a little awry, handling four little kids at the airport means whatever time you have left to get to the gate, isn’t enough.

At Sydney airport Sesilia wanted to go to the toilets, so we split up after customs and ‘Ofa took off with Sesilia to find the toilets while I gathered what was left of the unpacked carry-on and shuttled the two elder ones to our gate (and geezzz how far away it was.)

2009-12-23 Umusii 004

Renovation work at Sydney International meant that we entered the ‘system’ at one end, to find the gate was at the ‘other’ end of the gate system.

They closed the boarding gate behind us, as the last travellers down the ramp.

In Auckland.

2009-12-23 Umusii 095

Disembarking in Auckland was another adventure with Sisitoutai needing to go to the toilet so we split again, going separate ways to find toilets.

After those niceties out of the way, the gate allocation doesn’t exist for the flight from Auckland to Tonga, but we observe a number of the ‘mob’ hanging around a general area.

Aahhh, this must be where the frequent flyers hang-out.

1st Night.

One has  but to experience each time, reminders are not enough.

2009-12-23 Umusii 081

Other than meeting the clan again, having a huge ‘umu dinner at 10:00 at night (wonder why Tongans are big?,) the memorable thing about returning was that first night-time shower.

I near dislocated my shoulders flapping my hands scrubbing like mad in the vain hope to fool my body into thinking that we were actually warm and the buttocks et. al. were not really freezing cold from the water.

There was a quick cure to laziness. Note to self: for the rest of the stay, revert to the hot water in bucket to warm up the cold water and bath from the bucket.

Lesson #1: Learn how to bath from a bucket in the comfort of your shower with running hot-water.

1st Day.

Were we supposed to have done something today ? Most things disappeared in a haze since we’re quite jet lagged from caring for the kids and the mad rush.

 

2009-12-22 Houmakelikao 016

Had the obligatory visit to the clan coinciding with (surprise?) a huge ‘umu lunch and the obligatory spit-pig. Whilst those who can control themselves waited for lunch, the younger generation mum’s gorged themselves on the poor pig, leaving the other meat nice and intact.

The young kids were practising their dance for the gathering, although it seemed that at this rate, 100 dances will have been tried, and none known by the day. Music was hip to listen to.

 2009-12-24 003

We have the obligatory banana under the mango tree, and Sesilia was on our third trip to get more bananas when we had the uncomfortable experience of being snapped by one of the dogs. Mangy mutt masquerading as a nice dog snuck up quietly and took a big bite on my leg. Mangy critter didn’t even growl until after he’d taken his bite.

2009-12-23 Umusii 068

Fortunately the bite went on two layers of pants cloth and didn’t draw blood (or infect) but geezzz dogs have a strong jaw snap.

Lesson #2: Dogs that bite don’t always growl before they bite you.

2nd Day.

Quick Note: We’re tying up the dogs, and in the process we get a daylight snap.

Dog #2 takes another snap. Broad daylight attack, we’ve finished tying up the placid nice dog when another dog walks around me quietly and takes a snap.

Not as good a grab at me as the previous bite, but no pants in the way so this bite took some blood if not flesh.

Lesson #3: Wear long pants around dogs, something strong like corduroy/denim seems a good idea.


Soap BoxMeanderings
[ Soap Box | Meanderings ]

Bringing Forth the Ancestors

Posted by: Samiuela LV Taufa on December 19, 2009 3:09:08 PM

From: Jione Havea [mailto:jioneh@nsw.uca.org.au]
Sent: Friday, December 18, 2009 2:25 PM
To: Talanoa Oceania
Subject: PI event in Syd

Talanoa friends, please note this coming event, on behalf of Katerina

Just wanted to alert you to Lemi Ponifasio and the Mau Dance Company's "Pacific Thought Symposium" as part of the Sydney Festival, Jan 10. The theme is "Bringing Forth the Ancestors."
It will be at the Seymour Center 3-6pm at Uni Sydney and performances of Tempest at 1pm and 8pm. The production includes I-Kiribati male dancers.
More info at: http://www.sydneyfestival.org.au/2010/Free/The-Scope-5th-Pacific-Thought-Symposium/


Soap BoxChaosMeanderings
[ Soap Box | Chaos | Meanderings ]

An Old Monkey Story With A New Ending

Posted by: Samiuela LV Taufa on December 06, 2009 1:33:11 AM

From: Talanoa Oceania [mailto:talanoaoceania@gmail.com]
Sent: Saturday, December 05, 2009 10:40 AM
To: Tasilisili
Cc: jione havea
Subject: FW: An Old Monkey Story With A New Ending

Hange eni ha talanoa mei Initia!

A hat-seller who was passing by a forest decided to take a nap under one of the trees, so he left his whole basket of hats by the side. A few hours later, he woke up and realized that all his hats were gone.. He looked up and to his  surprise, the tree was full of monkeys and they had taken all his hats.


The hat seller sits down and thinks of how he can get the hats down. While thinking he started to scratch his head. The next moment, the monkeys were doing the same.


Next, he took down his own hat, the monkeys did exactly the same. An idea came to his mind.

He took his hat and threw it on the floor and the monkeys did that too. So he finally managed to get all his hats back.


Fifty years later, his grandson, also became a hat-seller
and had heard this monkey story from his grandfather.


One day, just like his grandfather, he passed by the same forest. It was very hot, and he took a nap under the same tree and left the hats on the floor.

He woke up and realized that all his hats were taken by the monkeys on the tree. He remembered his grandfather’s words, started scratching his head and the monkeys followed. He took down his hat and fanned himself and again the monkeys followed.

Now, very convinced of his grandfather's idea, he threw his hat on the floor but to his surprise, the monkeys still held on to all the hats..

Then one monkey climbed down the tree,


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Soap BoxChaosLow No Cost TechMeanderings
[ Soap Box | Chaos | Low No Cost Tech | Meanderings ]

Tonga more Online

Posted by: Samiuela LV Taufa on December 02, 2009 12:38:00 AM

An interesting announcement in Tonga letting organisations register themselves online. Great new service feature although of what little I know of the business’ in Tonga the number of organisations who are capable of taking advantage of this new service has to be significantly and there are a number of alternative IT services that could have been instigated (at a lower cost) with higher value for both the Government and Private Sector.

Tonga’s Electronic Company Registry, 1st in the Pacific Goes Live Today

Tuesday, 01 December 2009 14:36 administrator GOVERNMENT - Ministries & Departments

1 December 2009

Today, the Ministry for Labour, Commerce & Industries announced …the launching of the new electronic company registry. The Registry, the first of its kind for a sovereign nation in the Pacific, simplifies business registration procedures and reduces the time it takes to start a business.

"The system makes it easier for business to register and, once they do, will house their records securely and safely online," …

Tonga is the first nation in the Pacific to have such an electronic registry, and this system is based on the same software used in the New Zealand Companies Office. Firms bringing in their registration documents will have the paperwork entered into the electronic system by Ministry staff …

To ensure all records are transferred online, the Tongan government requires all companies to re-register within six months. …

ENDS

Issued by the: Ministry of Labour, Commerce and Industries, Nuku'alofa.

Just to be pedantic.

IFC, financed by the World Bank and New Zealand, modifies software the New Zealand Government has already paid for. Implements this in Tonga as part of New Zealand’s and WB general Pacific Aid program. I hope this was a ‘grant.’

It’s good to see they’ve gone for implementing something that already ‘works’ and hopefully there were enough skills on both sides (from their side and our side, [however that’s defined]) to make sure the idiosyncrasies of the local populace are adapted into the ‘system.’ (And I don’t mean liliu faka-tonga ee ngaahi fo’i lea fakapapalangii.)

Security ? Did anyone mention Security ?

It seems the above package is such a great deal, they the Government of Tonga has to relinquish all control of the system and let it be operated in “New Zealand.” The press releases aren’t too clear on the details, but for some absurd reason recent hacks on Australian Government websites do not preclude me from thinking that just because the stupid thing is in New Zealand isn’t going to make it any more secure than the Tongans in New Zealand?

Did we not just get a security alert this month regarding Man in the Middle Hijack’s of HTTPS (SSL) connections ? Warnings only came out last month (November) has the ‘system’ been updated and tested.

OpenSSL TLS Session Renegotiation Plaintext Injection Vulnerability

A vulnerability has been reported in OpenSSL, which can be exploited by malicious people to manipulate certain data.

The vulnerability is caused due to an error in the TLS protocol while handling session re-negotiations. This can be exploited to insert arbitrary plaintext before data sent by a legitimate client in an existing TLS session via Man-in-the-Middle (MitM) attacks.

Successful exploitation may allow e.g. sending an arbitrary HTTP request under an authenticated context if certificate-based authentication is used by the server.

English Translation: Secured web access is a fat dream until this is fixed.

When the next big vulnerability occurs, is there a reputable process for reviewing the risks and implementing a change process, or do we just cross our fingers and hope the whackers go somewhere else?

It would be sad to hear that Tonga also becomes the 1st country in the Pacific with it’s electronic Company Registry republished out of Russia.

Not that we’re too used with Government sharing information about the risks they' are taking with our private data, but this project is rather extensive in the private information they store and make available on the Internet. It may have been a good time to be ahead of the game in having some processes and audit systems in place ?

Australia and New Zealand have their ISO standard 27001:2006 that provides a framework to maximise security of the service and your private data. Do Tonga corporations deserve the same level of protection, or is it OK to let it slide in the Pacific?

Don’t worry, they won’t notice.

Very near and recent security breaches include:

Hacked: Ministry of Information, Tonga (Today Dec 1st) – Joomla website (nice and beautiful Web Content Management System, but seems to be high on the list of hackable systems with plenty of security alerts every week.)

hack-minfo.gov.toJoomla seems to be the flavour of the month with the Government of Tonga at the moment (“it’s easy”) so hopefully the crude, rude statement above doesn’t start showing up on the rest of the unpatched systems for Tonga.

And don’t even go to one of those links to the site, just don’t do it until the site is fixed.

Hacked: Australian Prime Minister’s Website (September, 2009)

The prime minister's website has been hacked into in protest over proposed reforms of internet censorship.

The website, www.pm.gov.au, was brought down at about 7.20pm (AEST) on Wednesday night along with that of the Australian Communications and Media Authority, but both were back online about an hour later.

Hacked: JB Hifi (Today Dec 1st, 2009)

JB Hi-Fi's websites in Australia and New Zealand were redirecting customers to malicious web pages over the weekend in a cyber attack in the lead-up to Christmas.

The exact details of the attack are not yet clear as the retailer has refused to comment but users first started reporting problems on Friday night.

Visitors to jbhifi.com.au reported being automatically redirected to Chinese websites carrying malware. Similar issues affected JB Hi-Fi's New Zealand website, which is hosted on the same server.

Those with anti-virus software and fully patched internet browsers would have been alerted to the security issue upon visiting the page but people without up-to-date protection could be infected without even knowing.

Liability, Culpability

And what happens when after repeated concerns from company clients, data loss continues to leak and damage occurs to the a company through this data loss?

News this week points at Restaurants in the USA suing the vendor of a credit payment point of sale device that allowed identities of clients to be stolen costing these restaurants millions in penalties, operational reviews,

Threat Level Privacy, Crime and Security Online

Restaurants Sue Vendor for Unsecured Card Processor

Seven restaurants have sued the maker of a bank card-processing system for failing to secure the product from a Romanian hacker who breached their systems.

The restaurants, located in Louisiana and Mississippi, have filed a class-action suit against Georgia-based Radiant Systems for producing a point-of-sale (POS) system that they say was not compliant with payment card industry security standards and resulted in an undetermined number of customers having their debit and credit card numbers stolen.


Soap BoxChaosIn Tonga
[ Soap Box | Chaos | In Tonga ]

How to extend a service

Posted by: Samiuela LV Taufa on November 24, 2009 10:30:05 AM

We got late to church by about 10 minutes on Sunday so whilst we walked in the congregation and choir finished off the 1st hymn and we walk into the introductory/evocation(?) prayer.

Looking around, it looks as if we are early with nearly half the space still available.

The ‘setuata’ (head steward) starts his prayer and after a few nods, he’s still going. At the end of the program, it seems quite real that this prayer was the longest thing out.

I remember, in an earlier life, walking into another church service, in another town. The congregation were ‘tardy’ in getting to the service, I think we had visiting speakers that day, and when the chair of the program started with prayer, he prayed on and on and on, until the church was filled up.

Must have been some powerful prayers that day. This day, no one came in after us. God must have been out ?


Soap BoxLow No Cost TechMeanderings
[ Soap Box | Low No Cost Tech | Meanderings ]

If you can’t handle the heat

Posted by: Samiuela LV Taufa on November 24, 2009 10:29:32 AM

Oh boy, is Sydney going through a heat wave or what.

Today it’s raining which hopefully means a little reprieve from the heart. Fortunately in this 21st century many can ignore the heat, because we’re contributing to it with all the electricity being burned to keep us cool in our offices.

But, let’s blame the Indians without air-conditioning for causing global warming!!!

Definitely the type of weather that can be fatal for the elderly, not well, without air-conditioning.

Sydney heat is very different than Tonga heat. The heat in Tonga is consistently higher than Sydney, but it is also mixed with a high humidity. In Sydney the heat waves are very dry, suffocating.

The old back-up solution for dry weather is the trusty wet blanket hanging in the wind. Speaking with my Burmese village friend. The practise in his village was to hang up wet blankets to help put back moisture into the air.

We had an old fan, back in the day, that looked like an air-conditioning window unit, except all it was was a boxed fan with a large tray of water underneath.

Hope all is well with you and yours.


Soap BoxChaosPropaGanda
[ Soap Box | Chaos | PropaGanda ]

Flashy Windows Mobile 6.5 build 23075

Posted by: Samiuela LV Taufa on October 25, 2009 1:47:41 AM

Something seems to have gone without mention on the globe. Windows Mobile 6.5 build 23075, as accounted for in the cooked roms from xda-developers.com … supports flash!!

Woo hoo, now I can just click through on my mobile to flash video content and just watch it there on my phone.

 

  • Windows Mobile 6.5 build 23075
  • Internet Explorer

No one seems to have made any noise about this, but the Zune HD browser doesn’t support watching videos (strange for a music/video/entertainment device) so here’s hoping that Microsoft will soon release a firmware update to resolve this abnormality.

Edit, (cue: some hours later) I guess I should get more intimate with mobile tech. It seems that what I am observing is not flash players, but some sort of integration of Youtube Player and IE. I tried one of my other online video haunts (http://www.stupidvideos.com) and things weren’t so moviesh.


Soap BoxMeanderings
[ Soap Box | Meanderings ]

As we grow older

Posted by: Samiuela LV Taufa on August 24, 2009 12:28:15 PM

Happy Birthday Auntie Lita.

 


Soap BoxChaosLow No Cost Tech
[ Soap Box | Chaos | Low No Cost Tech ]

OpenBSD Fanboys feel justified

Posted by: Samiuela LV Taufa on August 19, 2009 3:34:45 PM

OpenBSD Fanboys woke up to this year’s NOC report from Defcon 2009 with some vindication, validation, and just general “whooo haaaaa”

Wired Magazine recently updated their ‘coverage’ of the network construction for Defcon 2009 Las Vegas under the title “Inside the worlds most hostile network”, a follow-up to 2008’s “A First ever look inside the Defcon Network Operations Center” with a clientele that lists:

* circa 10,000 hackers, crackers, feds, spies, corporates, and noobs

* 100 GB Internet download traffic in 2 days

To cater for the connectivity requirements of this hostile collection (excluding voice services, presumably.) The Goons set up:

* 50 wireless access points, each in their VLAN

* 25 wired VLANs

* Mirrored ports for general access to monitoring traffic

* Secured Toilet and Sink (critical)

* Physical separation of sensitive equipment

* Ceiling access (to place and secure the wireless access points)

* Cables

* Booz (better known as liquid refreshments)

The amazing thing are the people/Goons who put the system together, and their choice of tools shortlisted to being:

* 50 wireless access points, Aruba (AP-70 noted as the model for 2008)

* Aruba Rack (handles encryption et. al. for access points)

* OpenBSD pf – firewall

* Cacti for GUI monitoring

Whoo haaa



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