New WEP cracking record

60 seconds to crack WEP of a wireless network (read article here)! I remember back in 2005 when I've heard about WEP cracking for the first time when FBI's agents publicly demonstrated the cracking process. They broke the protection in 3 minutes by sniffing RF packets for long enough to be able to decode the key. Now, 60 seconds is an improvement!

That's another reminder to be aware of vulnerabilities of WiFi. And as one of the reasons, unless situation really requires it, I am trying to stay away from enabling my wireless network. I keep it disabled almost all of the time unless someone with a laptop comes to my place and specifically asks for access. The main reason is to prevent some sneaky grandfathers who live in my building from breaking into my network. ---> see pic on the right.

FBI demo: read it on Slashdot
I think they've used Air Snort or some other tool or a combination of them, I cannot recall now.

Critical Windows XP path for WiFi (not automatically updated)

As suggested by linksys.org and originally by Wi-fiplanet.com. It enhances support for WPA2.

The patch can be downloaded from here: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/917021

Web 2.0

What is really a Web 2.0 that everyone is talking about? Here is the article by Tim O'Reilly: http://www.oreillynet.com/pub/a/oreilly/tim/news/2005/09/30/what-is-web-20.html

Paul Graham's essay: http://www.paulgraham.com/web20.html

Usenet Etiquette

I've been using news groups for quite a while now. Out there people are quite picky about the format the messages are submitted in. Since there are a lot of 'newbies' in this area, there are quite a few webpages summarizing Usenet Etiquette. If you are not using it, once in while you'll get slapped back with a message suggesting you to do so, which becomes annoying in a sense as well. In my opinion, most of them make sense, giving you a better efficiency and making your point clear to everyone.

Here are couple of guides. If you go to one page, most likely it will link you to another one.

• Why is Bottom-posting better than Top-posting
• The art of Quoting (good manners in posting on Usenet)