|
|
Index: Home | What Is Izumi | Misc Links | Random Thoughts | Too Much To Read | The Rant Vault | Quotes
Once I finished dusting the source code, I finally "closed" RIG 0.6.5 and uploaded it as 0.7 stable on sourceforge.
I've started working on RIG 0.8.
Sounds like each time I look at the logs on the server I find something new.
This morning I found this:
Sep 24 11:17:34 seven sshd[12998]: Failed password for root from 218.146.238.190 port 4601 ssh2 Sep 24 11:17:36 seven sshd[13000]: Failed password for root from 218.146.238.190 port 4661 ssh2 Sep 24 11:17:38 seven sshd[13003]: Failed password for root from 218.146.238.190 port 4727 ssh2 Sep 24 11:17:40 seven sshd[13005]: Failed password for root from 218.146.238.190 port 4792 ssh2 [...] Sep 24 12:39:37 seven sshd[20161]: Illegal user boon from 218.146.238.190 Sep 24 12:39:37 seven sshd[20161]: error: Could not get shadow information for NOUSER Sep 24 12:39:37 seven sshd[20161]: Failed password for illegal user boon from 218.146.238.190 port 2033 ssh2 Sep 24 12:39:39 seven sshd[20166]: Illegal user dexter from 218.146.238.190 Sep 24 12:39:39 seven sshd[20166]: error: Could not get shadow information for NOUSER Sep 24 12:39:39 seven sshd[20166]: Failed password for illegal user dexter from 218.146.238.190 port 2104 ssh2
There are 2573 attempts to break in in a laps of one hour and twenty two minutes. That's one tentative every 1.9 seconds. Oh and by the way the host is registered by http://www.asadal.com.
Looking more carefully, I have such attacks in my log dating back up to September 21, 2004. 76187 attacks to be precise in about one year (that's how far this log goes.)
Turns out SSH brute force attacks are nothing new. Obviously the attack starts with a password dictionary on root (which I have disabled in ssh, of course.) Then a dictionary of users is tried and if one matches a dictionary of password is tried on valid users. It's not exactly subtle and has the pejorative label "script kiddie" written all over it.
It also turns out there are simple ways to get rid of them, for example by parsing the ssh log, noticing the obvious pattern and filtering out the IP immediately. sshdfilter does all that for you.
If anything, this should be a good reminder that having good passwords is necessary (and actually changing them once in a while) and when I say that I'm thinking of anyone I ever heard telling me passwords are annoying.
I finally got to update the project list with links to view sources via ViewCVS.
I've been willing to say a word or two on my diet a couple of times. So today I'll stop procrastinating on this and actually write about it.
I lost about 15 pounds over the last year (from 175 to 160 lb) by "simply" reading the South Beach Diet and exercising (15 mn light weights and 30-45 mn elliptical, 3-5 times a week.)
There's a bit more to it than just this summary.
First it started at the end of 2003.
I had started running early in the year in the park nearby yet had been really inconsistent about it. I wouldn't run sometimes because I was busy working, or not feeling motivated, or it was too foggy, or it was too sunny, or it was too early or it was too late. Then at some point my knee started acting up again and I found a close relationship with the act of running. That kind of killed the little motivation I had left.
By the end of 2003 I was looking at options to exercise again in a way that I would actually like. I finally settled on buying an elliptical trainer for use at home which I got in February 2004 and found that it was really nice to use, especially if I combined exercising with watching television. No kidding: I started watching shows such as Babylon 5 on DVD and exercising at the same time. This was entertaining enough that I would want to watch one show per day, thus motivating me to continue the next day and at the same time it was making those 40-45 minutes a lot more attractive than just spinning around...
Mid-2004, I got an extra motivation boost when my doctor told me I had a potential cholesterol and high blood pressure problem if I were not to watch my diet. The exercise was good yet useless if I was to continue eating pizzas and other fat foods at home. She recommended to read the South Beach Diet, which I had never heard of earlier when reading on the various diets on the web.
When it comes to diets, for some reason all the hype was on Atkins for 2004. After reading about Atkins' diet, I was less than impressed. A low-carb diet? On the other hand, the South Beach Diet has a radically different approach: carbs are good (if not in excess) and what you want to learn is good vs bad fats & carbs. What's the point of going low-carb food if that brings you lots of trans fat which are bad for your cholesterol?
So my doctor had actually recommended me to read the guidelines of the South Beach Diet book to understand the issue, not to actually follow the diet to the letter.
And I did exactly that -- read the first chapter of the book which explains a lot and ignore the rest. The diet itself with its three steps looked less than appealing.
Another book I found most interesting is a small reference book that lists all existing foods and shows better alternatives. The recipes didn't look that appealing either.
I slowly made a list of the all what I was eating and compared it to the list. Most of the time I had it all wrong and there were easy replacements, such as brown rice instead of white rice, or whole grain bread instead of wheat bread. Most important, it helped me read better the labels, avoid processed food with trans fat and reduce food with saturated fats in favor of mono or poly-saturated.
Later on, that list I had made proved useful. My doctor had recommend me to visited a nutritionist at the Community Health Resource Center of CPMC in San Francisco. The nutritionist asked me to bring a list of what I was typically eating so having taken notes made that very easy. She then gave me lots of interesting ideas and helpful advice. I highly recommend that.
So I still follow this route: control what I eat and exercise some, regularly. I'm not into "power exercising", I am sure not trying to kill myself of exhaustion and the whole thing works relatively well for me. I stabilized to a good weight and I feel better overall, what else can I ask? :-)
Now the reason I wanted to write about this is because a couple of times I've heard people around me complaining about their weight. So they try to exercise. Very hard sometimes. The problem is that when I see what they eat, I wonder what's the point? I'm sure not the macho type that wants to look strong so light exercising is just good enough for me. On the other hand it bugs me that people blow me away when I try to mention healthier alternative foods.
To be a bit cynical, I have a simple theory on why this works for me yet everyone else I talk to doesn't care: I just tried to learn and adapt to what needs to be done. That means yes I had to do some homework, see what I was really eating and try different approaches. I had to break my habits and select other foods. I'm not exactly picky when it comes to food and I'm always up to experiment new things. Oh my, I even like tofu and vegetarian foods, that can't be normal! The rest of the population just wants read-to-serve meals: no need to think, just follow the book as advertised on TV and stop spending so much energy understanding why it's good or bad.
ASOT 127
playing on the stereo, from the laptop.
Her, laying on the bed looking at web sites on her laptop.
Me, sitting in a chair by the end of the bed, typing this.
And the instant messages over wifi.
So cool.
Perpetual motion. Things change, yet remain the same. Sort of.
I need to bring some coding back in my life.
I stopped playing Wow.
I'm starring at the screen now.
Must... reactivate... brain.
Differential planes.
Images of cars passing by.
Landscape moving slowly on the background.
Images of a pond. Water moving slowly.
Coastal fog flowing over the mountain.
Nice shades of white in the blue sky.
And the music]. Infinite. Beautiful.
As much as I love Linux on my server, I hate it on my desktop.
Here's yet another rant on Windows crashing.
I realize my linux server as been installed around June 2000 I think. It's been online all these 5 years and in between:
And it's running better than ever.
On the other hand, on my desktop or laptop, I have reinstalled Windows from scratch a countless number of times. I really couldn't count how many times:
Somehow each time I need to do a full reinstall of Windows, I try of course to "repair" Windows. Many times that is not enough and it is necessary to reinstall. Many times this is not enough and it must be done from a fresh disk.
In these occasions I take the opportunity to try some Linux distro on the desktop yet so far that has been less than satisfactory. Neither KDE nor Gnome cut it for me, and apparently I'm not the only one (and don't even get me started with Enlightenment, brr!)
Had a nice party at home yesterday.
It was nice to see all these friends whom I rarely see since they are
so far away... like the other side of the bay and busy working :-)
Or maybe I'm the one who's far away :-p.
Anyway apparently everyone had plenty of fun and that's what matters.
Blog Archives:
Most recent posts
2005/08/28 - 2005/06/14
2005/06/11 - 2005/05/24
2005/05/17 - 2005/04/22
2005/04/14 - 2005/03/22
2005/03/18 - 2005/01/15
2005/01/13 - 2004/12/17
2004/12/16 - 2004/12/03
2004/12/02 - 2004/11/21
2004/11/21 - 2004/06/20
[RSS]
|
|
This work is licensed by Raphaël Moll under a Creative Commons License.
|
|
| Color Theme: | Gray | Blue | Black | Sand | Khaki | Egg | None |
|
|
|
|