Although I really liked this detail found on a store window, I must confess that when I read or hear Leonard Cohen it always reminds me of his tawdry quip in The Energy of Slaves:
I did not know until you walked away
you had the perfect ass
Forgive me
for not falling in love
with your face or your conversation
Apparently he was seeking a different sort of evidence of life back in 1972. Now I think I will mix the two works and instead think of it as “you had the perfect ash…”
Looks like another vulnerability gone automated. Symantec AntiVirus and Client Security Software had a serious security issue announced on May 24, 2006 but a patch was released by June 12, 2006. Public exploits just started appearing around the end of November, perhaps as prototype attacks, and have now achieved self-propagation status. Symantec software, and especially antivirus software, is usually pretty good at staying up to date if configured properly. Unfortunately, it appears many thousands of systems are vulnerable and spreading the infection and thus we have the Big Yellow Worm. The software at risk only runs on Windows (any version):
The countermeasure to prevent infection is trivial — update to the latest version. In the meantime blocking port tcp/2967 where practical (it’s the default used by Symantec to update) might help stop the worm spread. And of course the other anti-virus vendors can identify the botnet trojan that the worm installs so if you happen to have a second set running alongside Symantec, you should be covered. Of course, that also requires the latest update/signature to be installed.
Abstract
Attacks by scammers appear to make sophisticated use of language ideology to abuse trust relationships. Language that indexes Africans allows perceived “authenticity” to be constructed in a way that breaks down a victims’ defenses — a variety of linguistic devices are used as attack tools.
Much of the success of a cross-cultural scam therefore comes from the ways in which attackers seem able to take advantage of victims’ ethnic, racial, religious, and especially linguistic stereotypes. The scams invite people to empathize and assist someone foreign in a struggle to save their heritage or their health. Victims are lured into the most remarkable investment opportunities as scammers portray themselves as hapless victims of interethnic warfare, or as simple bank clerks who have discovered unclaimed fortunes. The trusting individuals who embark on interethnic adventures soon find their bank accounts plundered, their life savings gone.
We propose use of language pattern analysis to help. Applying the tools of linguistic anthropology to a collection of five years’ worth of “African” scam email messages, we believe we have discovered a pattern for many of the linguistic and cultural devices through which the relevant stereotypes are accessed.
This paper discusses the linguistic pattern used by scammers, revealing language ideologies in question. It also demonstrates how linguistic anthropology can be applied to the challenge of developing linguistically and culturally adaptive controls for communication security.
Full 2006 paper (PDF updated Nov 2021): ottenheimer_Urgent-Confidential
I was evaluating a Wii and was getting all excited about the new system (boxing is a real workout — I think they should have called it “unboxing”) until I ran into this little detail:
The Wii console can communicate with the Internet even when the power is turned off. The WiiConnect24 service delivers a new surprise or game update, even if the system is idle.
Another case where power-down means that your screen goes dark, but the system keeps its links alive and might send/receive data or updates without your approval or knowledge. Wonder how much testing they did through filters. Is your network ready for controlling these Wii packets? And that’s not to mention the future VoIP plans rumored for the Wii.