Slashdot is powered by your submissions, so send in your scoop


Forgot your password?

Comment: Re:How to mitigate similar UDP port DDOS attack (Score 1) 47

by Gumbercules!! (#48679449) Attached to: Rackspace Restored After DDOS Takes Out DNS
I don't see how throttling works in a UDP reflection attack, from the perspective of the intended target? Sure you can throttle the number of requests per minute you answer from your DNS server - but if someone is requesting DNS packets from you, you're not likely the target (so it works for you, the DNS server owner but doesn't help the attack victim, in short, unless every DNS server does it - and there's a hell of a lot of IPs in the open resolver project).

What's far more likely is that they'd be using one of the multitudes of locations that allows spoofed IP addresses, and then requesting a 50x amplified DNS dump from you back to a spoofed address - and that address it the real target. Plus they'd be hitting up 100 other DNS servers at the same time.

Collectively, that spoofed IP address can be made to cop a 100gbps attack with virtually no effort and then those poor bastards basically can't do a thing about it. They can throttle or firewall anything they like but unless their router and pipe can handle 100gbps - and chances are it can't - they're screwed.


by Gumbercules!! (#48674513) Attached to: Rackspace Restored After DDOS Takes Out DNS
People generally use UDP because it doesn't require a handshake and the amplification attacks are generally UDP (time server or DNS server amplification attacks can go as high as 200x - i.e. you can send 1mb outbound and get 200mb back; so with address spoofing, it's easy to overwhelm someone with such an attack).

What can you do about it to protect yourself? Stuff all, I am afraid. At the end of the day, if you cop a 100gbps attack on a 100mbps pipe, it's game over, no matter what you try to pull. All you can do is beg for help upstream, where someone can handle that traffic.

If you're talking about websites, I guess CloudFlare would help - and it's basically free (and no, I don't work for them or have any association with them) but that pretty much only works for websites, I think - not other services.

Comment: Meanwhile, in Western Australia (Score 1) 110

by Gumbercules!! (#48672193) Attached to: US Internet Offers 10Gbps Fiber In Minneapolis
...we just write out the individual bits on a post it note, throw it out the window and let the wind blow it to the nearest exchange, where trained koalas use 1800's era telegraph equipment to re-encode the traffic onto the Internet, for us. Because that's faster than the best Internet most of us will ever see.

Comment: Re:LOTRO clone, but with more bugs (Score 1) 91

by Gumbercules!! (#48520069) Attached to: <em>Dragon Age: Inquisition</em> Reviewed and Benchmarked
^^ This.

The interface is terrible. It's a very clear console port. For the first time in a BioWare game, the interface with kb+mouse is completely different and pretty universally regarded as worse. I can live with it, though. The constant crashing, on the other hand...

Comment: Re:Slashvertisment (Score 1) 91

by Gumbercules!! (#48520063) Attached to: <em>Dragon Age: Inquisition</em> Reviewed and Benchmarked
I have say, I've only played the game for say 12 -14 hours so far but the gameplay is very different to anything I've played for that long, before. For example, most other games I play don't involve constant freezing, crash to desktop and full reboots every hours or so, to allow gameplay to continue. Judging by the hundreds and hundreds of people complaining of the same thing, on their own forums, I know I am not alone. A very different direction to take games in, indeed!

Comment: Re:How much is that doggy in the window? (song lin (Score 1) 153

by Gumbercules!! (#48026519) Attached to: LTE Upgrade Will Let Phones Connect To Nearby Devices Without Towers
Which is exactly what I thought, the second I read it. A perfect way to insert yourself in the middle of other people's privileged communications. There is no way in fuck this can't be exploited. Fake certs, sslsniff and I guarantee you we're going to find a whole new realm of exploits, with this.

I wonder what it says about people like you and me that everyone else posting sees a wonderful opportunity for better networks and we see an obvious security risk? :-P

Comment: Re:KIlling off the Microsoft Store Name Too (Score 1) 352

I actually have one - and (feel free to check my comment history on this) - I'm a long time Android fan (including running a pro-Android blog). I just got a bit bored and wanted to play with something else - also I finally cracked the shits at the lag on my Android.

Will my next phone be Windows Phone (or Windows or whatever)? Probably not - I'll probably go back to Android - but I won't rule out staying on Windows. I've promised myself to give it a genuine go. So far, it's only been a month and it's been not bad. Not great but not bad, either. The phone is like 85% of the way there - but that final 15% matters and it's a nuisance. Apps are poorly covered and there's lots of stupid querks, such as all the eBook readers need the eBooks in One Drive, not the local disk, which is annoying when you're on a slow link. And you absolutely cannot download from the store if a file is bigger than 50mb unless you're on wifi. This is a hard coded OS fact - not an option. But my wifi is hooked up to my DSL and in Australia, DSL is slow as hell and 4g is fast. So that's annoying as shit, too. Lots of things like that are annoying but overall, I am working on it (it's a Nokia 930 btw). The camera is beautiful and the build quality is great (I'm used to Samsung, mind you). Still... those Moto X's are looking pretty nice and I'm really missing my Google Maps.

We'll see where I go in a few months time.

Comment: It's not the worst idea (Score 1) 365

I actually did switch from a 2011 Macbook Air (the dual core 2GB RAM, 13" model) to a Surface Pro 1, a little while before the Surface Pro 2 came out. Why? Because, through gradual changes in my client base and their worlds, I found myself spending more and more time in powershell, Hyper-V management and other purely Microsoft centric tasks. So I ended up Bootcamping my MBA to Windows 8 (required for Hyper-V 2012+ management), so it was now basically a PC, anyway. Then, once a guy next to me got a DynaDock with his Surface Pro, I realised I could dock it to a couple of nice, big monitors and keyboard and mouse and it's frankly more powerful than my 2011 MBA was.

So I sold my MBA on eBay (at almost as much as I paid for it, amazingly - incredible resale value) and switched to the SP1, which I am still using. I have pre-ordered a SP3, in fact, because I have been so happy with it (we don't get the Surface Pro 3 in Australia until September). It's smaller, lighter, faster and better suited to my current working life. I also love the pen, as I now spend about 40% of my week in meetings.

So overall, I don't think this is a bad thing - I just don't expect it to get heavily taken up. I think most MBA and MBP users will prefer to stick with what they have. The trust is, I use my Surface Pro like a desktop or a notepad (a literal, paper notepad, not a laptop notepad). I basically never use it as an actual laptop unless I have no alternative but then again, I pretty much hate all laptops, compared to the desktop experience.
