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Apr

Register.com Nameservers Suffered DOS Attacks

Rai

News

attack, DDOS, domain, dos, name servers, register.com, resolve

Infosec.org News reports that Register.com suffered yet another DDOS attack last April 2 that has a wide-scale effect on its critical operations. Nameservers are down so not one domain that uses Register.com’s nameservers can be resolved, resulting to downtime and to most customers, loss of income. Even the domain registrar’s official website cannot be accessed during the time of the attacks.

I managed to get through their clogged phone lines and the customer service representative assured that their engineers are working hard to bring the servers back to operation.

Hopefully after this unfortunate event, which surely cost them valuable customers, has taught them to be more pro-active against potential attacks to their networks.

Update:

Register.com formed an official announcement regarding their service disruption during the DDOS attacks on their network infrastructure. Here is the official statement:

As we previously communicated, Register.com has been experiencing intermittent service disruptions as a result of a distributed denial of service (DDoS) attack.

We want to update you on where things stand.

As of now, all web services are operational. If you are experiencing any issues please call 1-888-734-4783. We have support teams standing by to respond immediately.

Please note we are not discounting the possibility of an escalated DDoS attack. We are taking every possible precaution to protect our infrastructure and our customers. In response we have:

* Deployed counter-measures to mitigate the attack and added capacity across the company’s network
* Setup special channels with major ISPs to re-enable customers’ services
* Isolated the profile of the attack through forensic data analysis
* Engaged the FBI and The Department of Homeland Security

We promise to update you if there is any change to the situation.

Throughout this attack we have received incredible support from our customers and want to thank you for your understanding and continued loyalty. We recognize these attacks create significant hardships for our customers and will continue to work to maintain and earn your trust.

Sep

Google Chrome: Fresh Take on Browser

Rai

News

browser, chrome, email, firefox, google, google chrome, Internet, internet explorer, surfing

The Battle of the Browsers will revive again as the new contender joins in. If you think that we have enough Internet browsers as it is, think again. Google is not going to let Mozilla and Microsoft take all the glory for themselves.

Google Chrome is ready to be released from Google’s arsenal of fast apps on September 2, 2008. This new browser from Google is designed to be fast, simple and clean, just like the Google Homepage. The philosophy behind the development of this new browser is to make things clean and simple, take away all the unnecessary stuff and let the user do the important stuff like browsing, chatting and sending emails. Google Chrome gets out of the way so you can surf the Internet or write those emails. Most of the components in Chrome is from Mozilla Firefox and Apple Webkit, but will remain open-source, and participation from community to help build this new browser is encouraged.

From Chrome’s official blog:

Under the hood, we were able to build the foundation of a browser that runs today’s complex web applications much better. By keeping each tab in an isolated “sandbox”, we were able to prevent one tab from crashing another and provide improved protection from rogue sites. We improved speed and responsiveness across the board. We also built a more powerful JavaScript engine, V8, to power the next generation of web applications that aren’t even possible in today’s browsers.

Google also takes the road less traveled in introducing their new app – this time they have used comics in introducing their new open-source browser. Not very typical way of introducing a new app but indeed very unique. The comics about Google Chrome can be found here.

For now, Google Chrome is available only for Windows but time will only tell when there is going to be a version for Linux, which I am willing to wait patiently. As for the number of choices that we have for browsers, all I can say is we can’t have too many browsers. Tell that to web developers as they have another browser to test their sites on.

Author’s Note:

I will update this post once the browser is released. I will also include the link to the download site as well.

Download Google Chome for Windows XP/Vista here.

Aug

Michael Phelps Wins 8th Gold Medal in Beijing Olympics

Rai

Linux, News Tags

beijing, gold, mark spitz, michael phelps, olympics, swimming, winner, world record

The US swimming team has made history in Olympics with Michael Phelps winning his 8th Gold Medal defeating Mark Spitz’s 7 Gold Medal record since 1972.

23-year old Michael Phelps consistently performed his best during the 2008 Olympics, proven by record-breaking speed at different swimming events. Eight times a winner, Phelps finally broke Mark Spitz’s record which remained untouched until now.

Phelp’s winning events include:

400 m individual medley 4:03.84 World record
4 x 100 m freestyle relay 3:08.24 World record
200 m freestyle 1:42.96 World record
200 m butterfly 1:52.03 World record
4 x 200 m freestyle relay 6:58.56 World record
200 m individual medley 1:54.23 World record
100 m butterfly 50.58 Olympic record
4 x 100 m medley relay 3:29.34 World record

Congratulations to Michael Phelps!

Jul

Hans Reiser Led Police to Wife’s Body

Rai

News

conviction, death, hans reiser, murder, nina reiser, prison, reiserfs

It is now official that Hans Reiser, the brains behind the popular filesystem ReiserFS, had admitted to killing his wife Nina Reiser, by leading the policemen to his wife’s body days before facing the court for his sentence.

The said body of Nina Reiser was found buried in 4-feet by 4-feet grave in Redwood Regional Park, less than a mile from Hans Reiser’s home, and was identified through dental records, jewelry and clothing. Nina was believed to be strangled by Hans Reiser leading to her death.

The discovery of the body was part of the deal that might reduce Reiser’s conviction from first to second degree murder.

Source: cnn.com

Jun