Thursday, April 14, 2011

The Hacker Spirit Alive in Lybia..."How Libya’s Rebels Got Their Cell Service Back"

This is so very cool!

"The rebels effectively stole the Libyana cellphone network, which services over 2 million Libyans, out from under a Tripoli-based corporation run by one of the dictator’s sons. Their sponsors trucked telecom equipment across the Egyptian border and set up new infrastructure, allegedly thanks to the Emirati communications company Etisalat, and stole a database of phone numbers from Libyana so its customers could make and receive calls on the new “Free Libyana” network."

"Wired: How Libya’s Rebels Got Their Cell Service Back"

Wednesday, April 13, 2011

To the CLOUD!

Working with smaller companies and non-profits recently has sent me into the "cloud" to look for affordable solutions for a variety of services. Shared file storage is one of those. S

Specifically I have been comparing SugarSync and Dropbox. On one project we went with SugarSync, the other Dropbox. They are pretty similar in functionality. SugarSync adds some flexibility in what is shared that I really like. However, this added flexibility comes at the cost of usability for extremely non-technical users.

When considering cloud storage, one of the things you have to balance is security vs. cost and convenience. I would never recommend cloud storage for highly sensitive data, but it is secure enough for most of the needs I have currently.

However, it may not be as secure as some think...

In an article in Inforworld they point out a fairly rudimentary design flaw, or perhaps intentional oversite (or perhaps even simple laziness) that conceivably compromises Dropbox even more than many are comfortable with. Check it out, it's worth the read, if you too are looking towards the cloud for your storage needs...

Popular cloud sync app raises security fears