From paul.suh at ps-enable.com Tue Dec 11 23:20:27 2007 From: paul.suh at ps-enable.com (Paul Suh) Date: Tue Dec 11 23:21:06 2007 Subject: [Newsletter] MacWorld, Information Source Credibility, Tiger Client networksetup and AirPort Bug Message-ID: <9A14F24A-DC43-47A6-9A90-27A396BC540B@ps-enable.com> Folks, MacWorld 2008 ------------------------- Just a little plug, I'm going to be speaking at a session on Application Sandboxing on Friday, January 18 at 10:45 AM. I'll be covering why you would want to do this, how it's done, and how you can take advantage of sandboxes. A kind gentleman has actually put the entire MacWorld schedule up in iCal form at: Also, the IDG folks have put up a social networking page on Ning: If you're coming, I'll see you there! Information Source Credibility --------------------------------------------- While we're on the subject of security, it seems like a good time to step back and take a look at how you might evaluate the credibility of an information source. I read an Op-Ed by Joshua Bolton (the former U.S. ambassador to the U.N) this morning that was attempting to minimize the impact of the National Intelligence Estimate that stated that Iran had suspended its nuclear weapons program two years ago. I have to say that I can't believe a word that he says, based on his previously expressed views and statements. This got me to thinking: what are some useful criteria for evaluating new security information, such as warnings about new attacks on your computer systems. When you run into any information about an issue (any issue really, but especially security), it's useful to ask: 1) What are the incentives of the source? 2) What is the source's track record? What biases has the source shown in the past? 3) What elements of the story can you corroborate? What elements of the story has the source omitted? If you assume the opposite of these elements from what the source states or presumes, how would that change your conclusions? 4) What do you know about the technical feasibility of the story? 5) What are the opinions of other knowledgeable people? Looked from this angle, a lot of the security warnings about Mac viruses and worms from the past couple of years are of dubious value. That said, some of the more recent holes, especially the current QuickTime RTSP header vulnerability, really are worth serious concern. Tiger Client networksetup and AirPort Bug --------------------------------------------------- Buried deep in the System folder is the networksetup command line tool, part of the Apple Remote Desktop client package. It's at: /System/Library/CoreServices/RemoteManagement/ARDAgent.app/Contents/ Support/networksetup This allows you to change any of the network settings from the command line -- like from a shell script. Run it with the flag --help to see all of the dozens of options. On Tiger client systems only, there is bug in this tool. (It does not apply to Tiger server, which has its own separate networksetup tool in /usr/sbin, and it's fixed in Leopard.) No matter what command you give it relative to the AirPort settings, it always comes back with the error message: AirPort Power: Off However, there's a separate, equally undocumented binary at: /System/Library/PrivateFrameworks/Apple80211.framework/Resources/ airport This will let you manipulate the AirPort settings from the command line, and has even more options than the networksetup command. If you use the --password option with the --associate= command, it will put the network password into the System keychain. --Paul Paul Suh http://www.ps-enable.com/ paul.suh@ps-enable.com (240) 672-4212 -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: smime.p7s Type: application/pkcs7-signature Size: 2615 bytes Desc: not available Url : http://lists.ps-enable.com/pipermail/newsletter/attachments/20071211/8785bb98/smime.bin