Weaponized software

OK, so the Conficker worm was smart and scary (though it ultimately appeared to fizzle; there is still speculation that it was a proof-of-concept).  It looks like Stuxnet might be scarier, in its own way.

Stuxnet makes use of two compromised digital certificates and four known zero-day Windows vulnerabilities; selectively uses a fifth vulnerability (the same one exploited by Conficker) on its target systems, where they're likely to be unpatched; it can infect a system running any version of Windows from a USB stick, upon insertion, with no additional user action required whatsoever; it limits the number of systems it infects, to try to avoid attracting attention; it specifically looks for SCADA systems to take over; and it knows how to reprogram SCADA systems.  The term "cyber missile" is being used to describe it.  It appears to be incredibly specifically targeted; it "fingerprints" systems that it infects in order to identify its target, looking for specific code in specific locations on specific programmable logic controllers, but there are no clear indications whether it has found its target yet.  It leaves systems that have the wrong "fingerprint" alone and doesn't interfere with them.  There is apparently speculation that (a) it's too sophisticated to be an "amateur" effort, (b) that it's possibly targeted at Iran's Bushehr nuclear reactor, and (c) that it may have already done its work — as Bushehr did not come online in August as it was supposed to, which Iran has explained away as "hot weather".  (Hot weather preventing a facility in Iran from coming online?  That sounds a bit like a ship not being launched on schedule because the ocean was wet.)

Links: Computerworld, Christian Science Monitor, a second CSM article, NetworkWorld, and Knowledge Brings Fear (blog; the author thinks it is targeted at Iran's uranium-enrichment centrifuges rather than at Bushehr itself, and cites Wikileaks and the BBC for supporting evidence).

(via bruce_schneier_feed)

Keyboards: Do Not Buy (V7 Comfort Keyboard)

I'd hoped this keyboard might make an inexpensive replacement for my buggy Microsoft Natural Keyboard 4000 and its astoundingly fast-wearing key caps (which aren't a defect, because Microsoft has cunningly redefined keys wearing completely blank within a few months of use as "normal wear").

No such luck.  "Comfort" and "ergonomic" on this keyboard are bad jokes.  Cheap construction, appallingly poor key feel, almost nonexistent height adjusters, and so flat that it actually feels dished in the middle.  It probably comes as no surprise that, just like the MS Natural 4000, it's made in China.

So is this one, of course, the only other Natural-style wired ergonomic keyboard I could find that's not made by Microsoft (since all the ergonomic keyboards Microsoft currently sells are, frankly, garbage).  The hard part, of course, is finding one that ISN'T made in China.

If only Microsoft would start selling the Natural Keyboard Pro again... that was the best keyboard I've ever used.  Dell even sold black ones with their name on them.  But they haven't been made in at least ten years (manufacturing cost was too high, apparently, because they were decently made), and are pure unobtainium now.  You might occasionally come across a refurbished one selling for almost as-new price.

Sometimes I regret ever getting used to this style of ergonomic keyboard.  But then I remember the wrist pain I used to get from using traditional straight keyboards...  it gets pretty hard to write code when it hurts to type.  I suppose I can try the Adesso PCK-208; of course, it's Chinese too, but looks as though it may be a lot closer to the Natural Pro model.  I just have to pray I never need tech support, because when I tried to ask Adesso about how the key caps are marked, the answers I got back were completely incomprehensible.  All I can manage to recall is something incoherent¹ about "not possible laser".

[1]  If you'll pardon the pun...

A simple proposal

Proposed 28th Amendment to the United States Constitution:

Congress shall make no law that applies to the citizens of the United States that does not apply equally to the Senators and/or Representatives;  and, Congress shall make no law that applies to the Senators and/or Representatives that does not apply equally to the citizens of the United States.

Sounds pretty good to me.  Spread it around.