Category: starred

The TSA’s Secure Flight system apparently isn’t all that secure, according to the barely-readable portions of the recently-released Inspector General’s report. The TSA has a Pre-Check program that requires a ton of personal information and $85 to participate in. It also has "Secure Flight," which grants Pre-Check privileges on a case-by-case basis, for which travelers pay nothing. This simply means they won’t always find themselves in the short line, but it does call into question the need to provide a ton of information up front, much less $85 for an experience others are getting for free.

Much like everything else the TSA is nominally in charge of, it has flaws. A whistleblower report to the TSA and the Office of the Inspector General claimed that the use of a "risk-based rule" led to a "vulnerability in aviation security" back in early 2014. (This would be before the Pre-Check system allowed a convicted murder with explosives experience to bypass more rigorous screening, simply because the boarding pass included the "wave me through" checkmark.)

What this "vulnerability" was is never openly explained. There’s plenty of text in the report (28 pages of it, in fact), but everything specific is hidden under a thick layer of black ink. What we do know is that it involved boarding passes and the TSA’s "risk-based assessment" program.

As a result of the report, the TSA suspended the redacted Secure Flight "rule". This rule was apparently linked to passengers’ ability to print out their own boarding passes with the handy Pre-Check checkmark on them. Apparently, someone used someone else’s ticket or found a way to print boarding passes without providing proper ID verification. Either way, this mysterious "rule" went away, and along with it, some Pre-Check passenger privileges.

Now, the TSA is planning to add additional layers of verification to the Pre-Check/Secure Flight system. But this won’t fully go into effect until later this year. In the meantime, the "rule" remains suspended.

As a result of this redacted breach, the OIG’s office made three recommendations — which are also mostly redacted.

The first suggests the nature of the breach (or the problem with the rule) [or both].

Explore the feasibility of encrypting commercial aircraft carrier boarding passes [rest of sentence redacted].

The other two recommendations target the TSA’s upgraded credential authentication program.

The TSA pretty much disagrees with the entirety of the OIG’s assessment. Scattered between heavy redactions are various punchy odes to its pretty-much-infallible coin toss it calls "risk assessment." Scattered between other redactions are assertions that the TSA is pretty good about assessing threats and has been steadily improving for years without the OIG’s constant nagging.

But before it heads into that, the OIG declares the TSA to be "responsive" to its first recommendation, even though it didn’t do anything more than declare the recommendation too expensive and too difficult.

Management Response to Recommendation #1: TSA officials did not concur with Recommendation 1. In its response, TSA said in 2012 it explored the cost and feasibility of encrypting commercial aircraft carrier boarding passes [redacted]. After engaging industry stakeholders, TSA decided not to adopt this approach because of limited data fields in some air carrier systems and encrypting boarding pass barcodes is cost prohibitive. TSA said it decided to pursue a more practical and affordable solution using a digital signature.

Nothing’s too good for the USofA! I mean, nothing’s too practical and affordable. So, let’s just use a "digital signature" because it’s pretty much just as secure, right?

Now, we just have to assess the wisdom of the TSA’s estimation of itself in light of this new (but very limited) information. It thinks it’s doing a bang-up job making flying more secure. TSA head John Pistole frequently mentions the many programs it uses in addition to pre-flight scanning/screening, most of which have been determined by others to have a 50% hit rate.

On one hand, its screeners managed to miss 95 out 100 prohibited items during a recent assessment of its screening protocols. (But, man, it was all over that bag of cash, wasn’t it!) On the other hand, its long-running ineptitude has yet to result in mass hijackings. It fails at the thing it does the most of (patdowns, screenings) and its more intangible efforts (risk assessment) haven’t proven to be any more accurate than its in-person patdowns. In totality, we have a self-important entity whose presence is hardly justified. It appears air travel would be roughly as safe without the TSA’s multiple encroachments. What it argues works well actually doesn’t, and new issues are dismissed as not being worth the effort/expense to fix.

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via Techdirt.
TSA Blows Off Inspector General’s Suggestion Boarding Pass Information Be Encrypted

Have you ever wondered what could happen if your MySQL database goes down?Although it’s evident such a crash will cause downtime – and surely some business impact in terms of revenue – can you do something to reduce this impact?The simple answer is “yes” by doing regular backups (of course) but are you 100% sure that your current backup strategy will really come through when an outage occurs? And how much precious time will pass (and how much revenue will be lost) before you get your business back online?I usually think of backups as the step after HA fails. Let’s say we’re in M<>M replication and something occurs that kills the db but the HA can’t save the day. Let’s pretend that the UPS fails and those servers are completely out. You can’t failover; you have to restore data. Backups are a key piece of “Business Continuity.” Also factor in the frequent need to restore data that’s been altered by mistake. No ‘WHERE’ clause or DROP TABLE in prod instead of DEV. These instances are where backups are invaluable.Let’s take some time and discuss the possible backup strategies with MySQL…  how to make backups efficiently and also examine the different tools that are available. We’ll cover these topics and more during my July 15  webinar: “Creating a Best-in-Class Backup and Recovery System for Your MySQL Environment” starting at 10 a.m. Pacific time.On a related note, did you know that most online backups are possible with mysqldump and you can save some space on backups by using simple Linux tools? I’ll also cover this so be sure to join me next Wednesday. Oh, and it’s a free webinar, too!Stay tuned!The post How to create a rock-solid MySQL database backup & recovery strategy appeared first on MySQL Performance Blog.
via Planet MySQL
How to create a rock-solid MySQL database backup & recovery strategy

At Yahoo, we manage a massive number of MySQL databases spread across multiple data centers. In order to identify and respond to performance issues, we rely on an extremely lightweight and robust web based tool to proactively investigate the issues in them.The tool has real time tracking features and continually gathers the most important performance metrics, provides visualization and statistical analysis for quickly identifying performance patterns, bottlenecks and possible tuning opportunities.FeaturesLightweight Agentless Java Web ApplicationRich User InterfaceGather and Store performance metrics Detect anomalies and send alertsAccess to Real time Performance dataOpen SourceToday, we’re releasing MySQL Performance Analyzer. You can check out the code on GitHub.We’re looking forward to interacting with the MySQL community and continue to develop new features. – MySQL Database Engineering Team, Yahoo
via Planet MySQL
Introducing MySQL Performance Analyzer

A knife is the most essential and useful tool you can take with you into the outdoors. But, do you know how to get the most out of one? Let’s go over the basics and show you all the stuff a knife can do.

Want to get started using a knife outdoors? The basic Mora Companion in carbon steel costs less than $15 and excels at any job described here. Spend more on a knife because you want to, not because you need to. The Mora is also very light, making it a great companion (har) for ultralight backpackers.

I’ll be demonstrating all this with an Esee-6, my favorite bushcraft blade. This is one I’ve owned for eight years or more and which has served well on numerous adventures. For 10 times the price of the Mora, you get a longer, thicker, broader blade made from better steel, as well as a full-tang design that bolts the comfy linen micarta handles to its outside.

Knife Safety

Being in the outdoors creates its own safety concerns. Often, you can find yourself a long ways from medical care or even other people. So getting hurt is a bad idea. And further exacerbating the danger are often fatigue, inclement weather and unfamiliar or tricky terrain. So, it may seem elementary, but using a knife safely is of paramount concern.

For this reason, I strongly recommend you carry a fixed-blade knife in the outdoors. Even the strongest folding mechanisms and locks can break, either leaving you with a non-functional tool or badly cutting your hands.

Always keep a knife in its sheath. Laying it on the ground or stabbing it into a piece of wood can result in injury should you fall onto it or trip over it or otherwise knock into it. Use the knife, then return it to its sheath. Every single time.

Before drawing the knife, ensure you aren’t holding the sheath where the blade could potentially cut through it and into your hand. And, make sure your hand isn’t on the sharp side, where the blade may cut it as it comes free.

Draw the knife in two stages: first loosen the blade in its sheath by taking hold of the handle with a forehand grip and pushing against the sheath with your thumb. Then, wrap your thumb back around the handle and slowly and deliberately pull the knife straight up and out of the sheath, then away from your body.

Always move the knife in a slow, considered and deliberate way. Do so at least an arm’s length from other people, while you have a secure footing or seat. Retain a strong grip on the handle. Make sure any knife movements carry it away from your body and that no limbs or fingers or other body parts will be in the knife’s path should it suddenly break free.

Never stab with a knife. Doing so can cause your hand to slip down onto the blade, cutting it badly. Doing so can also ruin a knife’s tip. If you must perform a stabbing motion (such as to open a can), locate the object being stabbed securely on flat ground, place the knife straight down on top of it, make sure your feet and legs are out of the way, hold its handle securely, then tap its pommel with a piece of wood. With any operation, only use enough force to accomplish the job.

Everyone should carry and use their own blade, that they’re responsible for maintaining, sharpening and caring for. But, if you must pass your knife to someone else, start with a forehand grip and rotate the knife between your forefinger and thumb so its handle faces the other person and the edge is pointed up, away from your arm and hand. Pass it to them and allow them to securely grasp it before releasing. Some acknowledgement from the other party that they now securely have a hold on the knife is a good idea. Just say, “thank you.”

Never throw a knife. Doing so can easily result in a lost or broken blade and they can bounce back towards you with surprising force.

Finally, regularly sharpen your knife to keep it as sharp as possible. Regular maintenance is far easier a task than bringing a dull blade back to life. And, because using it requires far less force, a sharper blade is always going to be a safer blade.

If you’re sitting down while using a knife, place your elbows on your knees to ensure the knife clears your legs.

All this may seem a little pedantic, but being deliberate, considered and careful with how you use a knife is a lot better than hiking back to civilization across multiple days, carrying a lost finger in one of your pockets.

Knife Grips

Outdoors, the vast majority of things you’ll use a knife for will be food prep, opening packages, cutting cord, in assistance of first aid or processing wood for fire or shelter making.

For the vast majority of those tasks, a forehand grip, where the knife is closed in your fist, with the edge facing the first joint on your fingers, is going to be what you use. For fine control during small tasks, moving your thumb or index finger to the top of the blade’s back can help. For power, you’ll want to fully close your fist around the knife’s handle.

It’s a good idea when considering the purchase of a knife to ensure that you can fully close your fist around the handle. Many bullshit tacticool, oversized blades now come with overly large handles. You know, because not being able to hold your knife properly is super manly.

Some knives, as pictured, place a finger choil in front of the handle. You can choke your grip up on the blade to place your forefinger here for added control during fine cutting. Just be warned that you lose some purchase on the knife in doing so; don’t choke up for heavy tasks.

When cutting cordage (rope, vines, paracord, shoe laces, tape, whatever) you may want to use a reverse grip, where the edge points towards the join of your thumb. The key to using this grip safely is to pull with your shoulder (for lesser power) or torso (for more) and not your arm. This moves you with the knife as it comes towards you, allowing your arm to keep it from closing the distance to your body.

Bushcraft experts like Ray Mears are big proponents of the chest lever grip, which facilitates both lots of power and lots of control for difficult cuts, while keeping the knife moving away from your body. To do this, it employs your strong back muscles as you pull your hands apart. Personally, I rarely feel the need, but it’s still a good grip to know. Mears says you should hold the blade with the edge pointed in the reverse direction to the forehand grip, pointed up towards your knuckles.

Knife Uses

Chopping: Using a forehand grip, place the knife against the wood you want to get through, then use a wooden “baton” of about wrist thickness to drive the blade through the wood. Do this in the same wedge pattern you’d use to chop with an axe or hatchet. A knife will take longer to perform this job, but is easier to carry.

Splitting: Again with a forehand grip (make sure your fist is closed), place the knife’s blade over the wood you want to split, in the same direction as the grain and taking advantage of any splits or gaps that may already be there. Then, use that same baton to whack the protruding tip of the knife while exerting equal downward pressure on the handle. The longer a knife is, the larger the wood it will span. To split a large log with a small knife, simply split off little fractions of it, around the edges.

Carving: Want to put a point on a peg? Sit or kneel with one leg raised as a working surface. Hold the wood in one hand, with the hand braced on that leg and using a forehand grip with a closed fist, carve away from your leg and body. Think about the natural path of your forearm as you straighten it and use that natural travel and strength to your advantage. With force, a carve will remove a lot of wood. With care, a carve will remove very thin slices of wood; this is how you make a feather stick for fire starting. Putting the end of the stick against something will help maintain fine control if you’re doing that.

Slicing: First, find a log or similar flat surface on which to cut. Think: cutting board, this is just like food prep at home. Then, using a forehand grip with your thumb or forefinger on top of the blade, hold it at an angle and draw it through the material being sliced. Make sure your body is out of the way.

Cutting With Power: Using the chest lever grip, securely hold the stick or limb being cut and use your back muscles to draw the blade through it. Go hard, making sure your knees and other people are out of the way.

Cutting With Control: Again use the chest lever grip, but instead work your way around the stick being cut, carving a continuous wedge-shaped notch. Your opposite thumb may help there.

Drilling: Need to put a hole in something? Place the object on a secure surface (like a log) that the knife will be ok poking into. Using the forehand grip with a closed fist, place the tip of the knife where you want the hole, apply pressure and twist the knife back and forth. Be very careful not to apply so much pressure that you may lose your grip and cause your hand to slide down onto the blade.

These are the basic moves you’ll use with a knife; combing them gives you the ability perform more complex tasks like fire making, shelter building and food preparation.

What do you use a knife for outdoors and how do you do it?

IndefinitelyWild is a new publication about adventure travel in the outdoors, the vehicles and gear that get us there and the people we meet along the way. Follow us on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.

via Lifehacker
How To Use A Knife Outdoors

Remember that Flux Capacitor USB car charger that kind of turned your ride into the DeLorean from Back to the Future? If for some reason David Hasselhoff is more to your liking, there’s now an alternate version that will turn your vehicle into K.I.T.T. from Knight Rider isntead.

The charger is designed to look exactly like K.I.T.T.’s voice box from the original TV series, complete with flashing LEDs that stay perfectly synced to 11 different phrases it speaks. When plugged into a 12-volt power socket it unfortunately won’t make your ride look like a 1982 Pontiac Trans Am. But it will let you charge a couple of smaller mobile devices like smartphones from its pair of USB ports, so for $30, available starting today, it’s more than just an awesome ‘80s novelty. [ThinkGeek]

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via Gizmodo
Turn Your Car Into Knight Rider’s K.I.T.T. With This Talking USB Charger

Setting up a new computer is hard enough, but if you’re privacy minded, things are even more complicated. This is especially the case with a Mac, which keeps all kinds of stuff behind the scenes. Whether you’re setting up a new system or installing a new version of OS X, now’s a good time to check your privacy settings.

We all need to protect our private data. But when you’re working with sensitive files, pictures, and your passwords, you want to ensure other people can’t easily get to it. Beyond that, with a Mac, even simple things like your text messages can pop up in someone else’s face if you’re not careful. For some of us, this can feel like a huge privacy issue, but thankfully OS X has tons of settings you can tweak to lock down your data, search results, and more.http://ift.tt/1KKpqLh…

Audit OS X’s System Settings

By default, OS X is all about ease of use. This is great, except that it means your private data is general in the open, sitting around for anyone (or any app) to find. Much of the default behavior in OS X is meant to make things easier for you, but it also means that if someone sits down at your computer they can accidentally come across a ton of stuff you might not want them to. Here are a few general settings worth tweaking:

• Tweak your privacy system preferences: OS X has a built-in privacy tool that’s worth customizing.. Head to System Preferences > Security & Privacy and select the Privacy tab. Here, you can set which applications have access to your location data, iCloud data, and what can access deep system stuff (this is listed under Accessibility, but mostly includes apps like application launchers and text expansion programs). You can disable app access in bulk here or on an application-by-application basis.
• Turn on FireVault: OS X comes with built-in encryption software called FireVault. When you turn it on, you’ll need a login password or recovery key to see any data on your computer. Head to System Preferences > Security & Privacy and select the FireVault tab. Turn it on and it’ll encrypt your whole drive. This password protects everything, which makes it a lot harder for prying eyes to access your data without your password. It also means you need your password at all time, so don’t lose it!
• Don’t use Keychain: Keychain is Apple’s built-in password system. You have to use it for your login, but don’t use it for your browser data. With just your login password, someone can access all your other passwords, network drives, encrypted files, app passwords, and more stored on your computer. Instead, use a password manager like LastPass or 1Password that requires a master password (beyond your login password) to use.
• Manage your iCloud settings: iCloud is one of the big selling points with OS X is its integration with iOS. iCloud syncs all your photos, files, and everything else across your devices. If you’re on a shared computer, you might want to disable iCloud entirely. Just hop into System Preferences > iCloud and click the “Sign Out” button. It’ll stop syncing everything (which isn’t as convenient), but at least your data won’t be so easily accessible. That said, if you still really want to use iCloud, at least make sure you have two-factor authentication turned on.
• Disable iMessage and Facetime: “Continuity” is a big selling point for Apple. From your Mac, you can send and receive calls and texts that are synced with your iPhone. One potential problem comes when someone else is using your computer (or peeking over your shoulder) and you receive a text message you don’t want them to see. On top of seeing the notification with the message, they can also access entire conversations in Messages. If this is unsettling to you, you’ll want to disable Messages. Open up Messages, select Message > Preferences and sign out of your Apple ID. You can do the same with Facetime for phone calls.
• Disable Spotlight Web Search: In order for Spotlight to work, it needs to send your search data to Google, Apple, and Bing (whichever you’re using at the time.) That’s okay, but any time you search for something using Spotlight, Apple collects that data, too.. While Apple claims this is anonymized, it still feels a bit creepy.. To turn it off, head to System Preferences > Spotlight > Search Results and uncheck the boxes for Spotlight Suggestions and Bing Web Searches. If you still want the power of Spotlight without the creepiness, we recommend Alfred.
• Hide files from Spotlight: Speaking of Spotlight, you’ll also want to customize where it can search for files. If someone is sitting at your computer, they can tap Command+Space to search for any file on your computer (and search inside files as well). This is awesome when you’re looking for something yourself, but also makes it pretty easy for anyone snooping on you. Luckily, you can customize how this works. Head to System Preferences > Spotlight. Here, you can uncheck any boxes for search results you don’t want Spotlight to show. Spotlight will still index those files, but they won’t show in search results. You can also click the Privacy tab and add any folders that you don’t want Spotlight to index. This way, they won’t show up in search results at all.

Once all of those settings are tweaked, OS X is pretty locked down. . You’ll lose some of the functionality that makes OS X convenient, but at least you won’t just be handing private data over to anyone (or any app) who sits down at your computer.http://ift.tt/1HOdntW…

Protect Your Apps and Your Data

OS X doesn’t protect your data from apps you download, so you’ll need to do that yourself. Apple does try to make sure you don’t install anything without thinking about it, and has tools to restrict you from installing unsigned apps—but once they’re installed, OS X assumes you know what you’re doing. Caring about your privacy online is a big step to making sure you do, but you can do a few other things as well.

• Download privacy-protecting browser extensions: You likely spend a lot of time online, so it’s worth locking down your browsing habits. Install browser extensions like AdBlock Plus, Disconnect, and other privacy-protecting extensions to keep your data safe.
• Use a VPN: Virtual private networks (VPNs) are helpful for protecting your privacy. Setting up a VPN ensures your browsing traffic is encrypted, which is especially important if you’re on a MacBook and working from coffee shops or other places with unsecured Wi-Fi networks.
• Only allow approved apps: The internet’s filled with billions of apps and some of them might come packed with malware, spyware, or other malicious code. Macs are no different. Apple does give the option to only install trustworthy apps that have been submitted, reviewed, and added to the Mac App Store, but if you turn that off you need to be especially careful. To enable this feature, head to System Preferences > Security & Privacy and select the General tab. You’ll see an option for “Allow apps downloaded from.” Check the box next to Mac App Store. This means only approved and signed apps can be installed. If you fancy yourself a bit more savvy than that, you can go with the “Mac App Store and identified developers” option as well.

Of course, that’s just the least you can do. Certain privacy-focused web browsers are also useful because Incognito mode isn’t really the best for privacy. You can also stray away from Google and change your default search engine to something like DuckDuckGo to help keep your browsing a little more private. Installing an anti-virus app is also a good idea. Though we’re all told Macs don’t have virus problems, you’re still at risk of cross-platform browser and web-based exploits (in Flash and Java, for example), and you don’t want to inadvertently spread Windows malware through shared files or attachments, so it’s better to be safe.http://ift.tt/1HOdnu1…

Lock Down Physical Access to Your Computer

Locking down the data on your computer is only half the battle. Apple’s most popular computers are laptops, and that means it’s crucial to lock down physical access to your computer as well.

• Enable your lock screen: Head into System Preferences > Security & Privacy and select the General tab. Check the boxes next to “Require password” and “Disable automatic login” to make sure that a password is required to access your computer.
• Hide user accounts: By default, when you get to the lock screen, you’ll see options for different user accounts on the system. Someone can theoretically sit there and guess your password over and over if they want. If you want another layer of security, you can hide that so you have to enter in both a username and password to login. Once you enable this, you’ll have to login with both every time. From the Terminal, type in: sudo dscl . create /Users/hiddenuser IsHidden 1
• Make a guest user account: When you do need to hand over your computer for a friend to use, it’s best to create a guest account so they don’t accidentally go snooping through your stuff. Head to System Preferences > Users & Groups and click on the Guest User option. Check the box next to “Allow guests to log in to this computer.” If you’ve enabled FireVault, guests can only access Safari, which is likely all they really need.
• Secure your Wi-Fi: Finally, you’ll also want to make sure your home Wi-Fi is secure so neighbors and passersby can’t snoop in on your data. Keeping your Wi-Fi secure is easy and once you’re set up you don’t really need to think about it again.

http://ift.tt/1D0VSB6…

With all that, your computer should be both secure and most of your data private. Of course, there’s no such thing as perfect security, but at the very least you’re making your data harder for people to access. Or, in the case of OS X, you’re making it so some random passerby or untrustworthy app doesn’t just accidentally eavesdrop on you.

via Lifehacker
How to Configure OS X to Protect Your Privacy

The UK has become the first nation to embrace “cased telescoped” ammunition technology*, having announced an order for 515 40mm CTA guns to retrofit the Warrior IFV and arm the new ASCOD-derived Scout SV vehicle, which will replace the long-serving CVR(T) family, including the Scimitar. IHS Janes reports: The UK Ministry of Defence has placed a GBP150 million […]

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The post UK Orders 40mm Cased Telescoped AFV Gun appeared first on The Firearm Blog.

via The Firearm Blog
UK Orders 40mm Cased Telescoped AFV Gun

Our body tends to cool down before we sleep, and our feet and hands have blood vessels close to the surface of the skin. Thus exposing your feet cools your body down relatively quickly and helps signal that it’s time to sleep.
via The Awesomer
How Your Feet Help You Sleep

XUL is on the way out. New features will focus on being "uniquely Firefox."
via Ars Technica
Big changes are coming to Firefox to win back users and developers