Kristian Fiskerstrand Web services

Lacking any other article added the past year, the OpenPGP key has yet again been updated, this time for 2009 . This now has the following key data

pub 4096R/6B0B9508 created: 2005-02-21 expires: never usage: SC
sub 4096g/9888FB03 created: 2005-02-21 expired: 2005-12-31 usage: E
sub 4096g/DC95F9F6 created: 2005-11-09 expired: 2006-12-30 usage: E
sub 4096g/FD83BAC5 created: 2006-11-01 expired: 2007-12-29 usage: E
sub 4096g/2BCE5B4B created: 2007-10-07 expires: 2008-12-30 usage: E
sub 4096g/18C0B580 created: 2008-10-27 expires: 2009-12-30 usage: E

In preparation for 2008 a new encryption subkey has been added to my PGP key 0x6b0b9508. This now has the following key data

pub 4096R/6B0B9508 created: 2005-02-21 expires: never usage: CS
Primary key fingerprint: 65F1 73BE C045 0DA0 7A58 6197 16E0 CF8D 6B0B 9508
sub 4096g/9888FB03 created: 2005-02-21 expires: 2005-12-31 usage: E
sub 4096g/DC95F9F6 created: 2005-11-09 expires: 2006-12-30 usage: E
sub 4096g/FD83BAC5 created: 2006-11-01 expires: 2007-12-29 usage: E
sub 4096g/2BCE5B4B created: 2007-10-07 expires: 2008-12-30 usage: E

The updated key is available on the public keyservers ( www.sks-keyservers.net )

Backups are vital to sustainable behavior, yet a scary majority fail to maintain proper backups.

Perhaps you know that sinking feeling when a single keystroke accidentally destroys hours of work. Now imagine wiping out a disk drive containing an account worth $38 billion.

There have been similar situations before, and I've mentioned it here at e.g. www.kfwebs.net

Hopefully they haven't done the same as in August 2001 there was full chaos for nearly two weeks after the storage solution messed up, or rather, a human working on it did while they were installing new Hard Disk drives and got ready to format the new drives. The only problem was that they ran it on the operational drives instead of the new ones.

The difference, however, starts at "and mistakenly reformatted the backup drive, as well.". Ok, so this still shouldn't be an issue, right? because there are obviously offline backups for this kind of information: "There was still hope, until the department discovered its third line of defense, backup tapes, were unreadable."

If you haven't slapped your forehead already, this is the time to do so. The full story can be read at www.msnbc.msn.com , and folks: remember to back up your data.

As a result of Registerfly loosing ICANN accreditation, ICANN directed Registerfly — between now and March 31st — to unlock all domain names and provide all necessary authorization codes to allow domains to be transferred to other registrars.

At which point current customers of registerfly will have to move to another domain registrar.

People wanting to transfer their domain to KF Webs sibling site www.passive12.net can do so at www.passive12.net . New customers are always welcome.

A chain is only as strong as its weakest link. When it come down to it, the weakest link in security is often men itself.

This was recently experienced by ABN Amro bank in Antwerp's diamond quarter where a thief has evaded one of the world's most expensive hi-tech security systems, and made off with €21m (£14.5m) worth of diamonds - thanks to a secret weapon rarely used on bank staff: personal charm.

The phenomenon in question is commonly known as Social Engineering and this example out of many shows that human behaviour often understate the threat in order to satisfy their own safety needs. However, often falsely. One example is purchasing an expensive pick-proof lock at your home door, and thereby feeling comfortable that you have made the home safer for your family and yourself. However, the windows are still just as easy to break through.

In this case it was not only a pick-proof lock, but a security system costing more than €1m. The lesson, he [Philip Claes, spokesman for the Diamond High Council in Antwerp] said, was that "despite all the efforts one makes in investing in security, when a human error is made nothing can help".

Read more at news.independent.co.uk