SPACE Newsletter

NEWSLETTER for December, 2005 President’s Corner by Michael Current December, 2005 Happy Holidays, it's time for a SPACE Christmas Party / Auction! That's right, this month we will be holding another auction, a continuation of the auction started in October. A lot of good stuff will be available, so you won't want to miss it. And if that's not enough enticement, we will also be holding our annual Christmas Party! Potluck is the plan, so bring a dish, and come enjoy good food, win some Atari loot in the auction, and enjoy all the fun and festivities among your Atari friends! At last month's Annual Meeting the entire SPACE Executive Board was re-elected for another year-long term. Thank you to Greg and Nolan for their continued service to the club. Likewise, the entire slate of volunteer positions will continue to be filled by the same, incredibly loyal crew. Glen, Mike, and Nolan, where would we be without you?? Digitizing of old SPACE Newsletters continues at the pace of about one issue per week. At this writing, the SPACE web site now includes online full-text SPACE Newsletters back to April of 1990. SPACE home page counter update: as of 11/25/05, 8:30pm: 4,580 page views since June 7, 2003. Thanks, keep using that Atari, and come to your next SPACE meeting, Friday December 9, 2005.

For our Xmas dinner we decided not to use Club funds but rather we do a pot-luck just like we did for the July birthday party. It worked out quite well then and I am sure it will work just fine for our Xmas party. I will bring the pop, plates, silverware, napkins and another dish. You can bring just about anything form a main dish to chips to a dessert. I am hoping that we will have at least twelve people for the December Xmas party. Don't forget that we will be having another auction after our Xmas meeting. There was still more than enough items for this auction, and I will let the members decide how much we should auction off next month. We will have our regular but shorter than normal meeting in December followed by our potluck Xmas meal and then we will have the auction. My thought was that we auction off the normal 30 or so items that we would normally have and have another auction in the first quarter of 2006. I think the Club would take in more revenue this way, and the members wouldn't get bored with repetitious items being auctioned. You can decide next month. Here is the Treasury report for the month ended Nov 2005: Beginning Space balance for Nov 1, 2005: Receipts for November 2005: Memberships Doms

45.00 9.00

Total receipts for November 2005:

54.00

Expense for November 2005: BBS

10.00

Ending Space balance for Nov 30, 2005:

Treasurer's Report by Greg Leitner For November, 2005

On a warmer than usual November day, six Space members were present for our election meeting. I want to personally thank Mike and Nolan for continuing their positions for another year, and also Glen for his agreeing to be Dom and Membership chairman, and Mike Schmidt who we all are very thankful for being our Space editor. I am more than willing to be your Treasurer and Vice-president in 2006. Because there is no other members to come forward and run for these positions it would be a major blow to Space if one of us had to leave the Club. So for another year it looks like we are status quo.

655.73

699.73

We haven't seen $700.00 since December of 2004 and with the auction next month we may see our Treasury grow a little more. The next big hit will probably come in January 2006 when we get the second half room rental for 2005 of $150.00, but for this year we bask in our success. Thanks to all of our Space members who made this happen. Earlier this year it was looking rather lean but the resilience of this Club shows that we want Atari to be part of our lives for many years to come. My son may be joining next month or the early part of 2006 depending on his schedule, but he made this decision by just attending one Space meeting in October 2005. He even bought some auction items and has an 800xl up and running as we speak. So I have a good feeling about this Club's future and I hope you all do too.

See you all next month for the December Xmas Space meeting and dinner, and please bring a dish for all to share. Let's end this year with a bang! **********************************************

Secretary's Report By Nolan Friedland For Oct & Nov, 2005

The October 2005 SPACE Meeting began at 7:30 p.m. I was a few minutes late to the meeting but the minutes submitted to the newsletter were reviewed in lieu of my absence. Michael was able to make it this month. There was another great DOM - Side #1 contains board games and side #2 strategy games. There are currently 10 paid up members. For the SPACE Treasury, we sold (2) ST CD-ROMs @ $20 each and (5) DOMs @ $3 each. In addition, $10 was paid out for the BBS giving us a $25 gain for the month at $565.73. Greg noted that the room rental fee probably will not arrive until sometime January 2006. In BBS News.... The new forum was changed back to what we had before. Website hits on the SPACE BBS website are at 2,862 - Telnet BBS Listing 2,723 - Dialup BBS Listing 1,353. There was no activity on the BBS this month but hits are coming in to those lists and the Forum. Last month's meeting audio was uploaded along with a special auction edition. In Old Business.... We briefly discussed a new ST system and also the ongoing 8-Bit CD Project. In New Business.... Our annual elections are next month. We are having an auction after this meeting. Meeting adjourned at 8:00 p.m.

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The current membership count is 10 paid-up members. In BBS News.... The SPACE BBS website continues to get hits. Website counters are as follows: SPACE BBS website 2,928; Telnet BBS Listing - 2,841; Dialup BBS Listing 1,404. The SPACE Forum was switched back to what we had originally. Also, manual verification is planned on both the Dialup and Telnet BBS listings to provide more accurate information. Last month's meeting audio was uploaded to the BBS website along with a separate upload for the auction that was held. In Old Business.... The members present at tonight's meeting decided to hold a potluck for the Christmas party next month. Greg is supplying the pop, plates, forks, and napkins. There is also another auction planned for next month. In New Business.... It was reported that a new game called "Total Carnage" is out for the Atari Jaguar. There is also an ethernet card upgrade available for the Falcon 60. The vote was unanimous for the current SPACE Officers to remain at their current positions for another year. Also, all those holding a volunteer position have agreed to stay on as well. The meeting adjourned at 8:04 p.m.

BBS Corner By Nolan Friedland For December, 2005

************************************************** If anyone has any comments, suggestions, ideas, or submissions for the BBS Corner column or the SPACE BBS web site, you may email them to me, Nolan Friedland, at the address shown on the back of this newsletter under the "CLUB OFFICIALS" section.

******************************************** A-T-A-R-I Answers, Tips And Relevant Information by: Paul V. Alhart 1991.1

The November 2005 SPACE Meeting began at 7:32 p.m. CALL WAITING verses. TELECOMMUNICATIONS Greg welcomed everyone to the meeting and then Nolan read the Secretary's Report for last month. Last month for the SPACE Treasury there were 2 membership renewals, 9 DOMs sold and $43 taken in for the auction. The only thing paid out was $10 for the BBS. After all receipts were totaled the SPACE bank balance is up to $655.73. There was another great DOM put together by Glen for this month. Side A contains 10 machine language games and Side B has 8 BASIC games.

Some time ago, at the insistence of my wife and two teenage daughters, I subscribed to CALL WAITING. This is an option offered by the phone company that lets you know if someone is trying to call you while you are already on the phone. Kind of like having a two line phone. You are signaled of the second call by a short tone. While this tone is rather unobtrusive during a voice conversation, it is murder to a modem link. Your modem will think that the carrier has been lost and will immediately hang up. Imagine you have almost completed a 20 minute download (long distance) and your

friend calls you to chat. Oops. No successful download and maybe no more friends. There is an answer to this problem. Another option offered by the phone company is CANCEL CALL WAITING which allows you to disables Call Waiting on a call by call basis. In my area this is a separate service. I was tired of limiting my modem use to 1 or 2 in the morning to avoid getting bumped off line, so I ordered CANCEL CALL WAITING. MORE PROBLEMS Now, all I needed to do was tone dial 70# before placing my call and I wouldn't be interrupted by the Call Waiting tone. I couldn't wait to try it out. I booted 1030 Express ver.2.1 and started dialing. Oh Oh. Express wouldn't even let me enter # using the manual dial option. I could include # via the menu dial option, but it didn't generate the proper dialing tone. It dialed a 3 instead. Not one to give up, I started trying every key on my Atari till I got one that gave the right dialing tone. The ^ key was the one that worked. Now every number in my dial list starts with 70^, to CANCEL CALL WAITING. Still, this won't work for the manual dial option of 1030 Express unless make this sequence your Long Distance code as described below. THERE'S MORE Not long ago I upgraded to a 2400 baud modem and started using 850 Express ver.3. With 850 Express # dials properly. You do not have to substitute the ^ key. You still can not directly enter # using the manual dial option, but there is a way around this. Make 70#, your Long Distance code. Then if you need to dial manually, precede the number you are dialing with ! which will cause your CANCEL CALL WAITING code to be dialed. NOTE There are several versions of 850 Express & 1030 Express as well as several other terminal programs to choose from. Also, some phone companies have different options and different codes for using them. You may have to experiment a little for your particular situation, but you should NEVER have to loose a 20 minute download or a good friend because of CALL WAITING. **********************************************

From: Michael Current [hunmanik@earthlink.net] Sent: Friday, November 25, 2005 8:04 PM Subject: ST>Desktop Configurator released --Date: Wed, 23 Nov 2005 08:56:32 -0800 Simon Sunnyboy / Paradize has announced: The Desktop Configurator has been released. A small utility which allows you to select one of up to 10 individual DESKTOP.INF (or NEWDESK.INF) files

from the AUTO folder of your hard disk so you can boot into a custom tailored desktop, e.q. one for games, one for coding, one for tools,etc.. Check http://paradize.atari.org/ This tool only manages selection of the DESKTOP.INF and nothing more. Most AUTO folder and DESKTOP.INF management tools offered too many unneeded features for me so I wrote this one. If it is of any use, feel free. [This news item courtesy of Atari.org http://www.atari.org] ********************************************* * From: Michael Current [hunmanik@earthlink.net] Sent: Monday, November 14, 2005 9:50 PM Subject: 8BIT>"TRON" released on cartridge "TRON" is a little 2-player game I wrote 20 years ago. This year, 2005, it has been published on cartridge by Video 61. The package comes in a box that includes the cartridge with a nice label, along with an instructions sheet. (I wrote the instructions earlier this year.) The game itself is a very simple programming effort, yet I still think it's quite fun. A classic genre. Requires: a 48K 800/XL/XE computer and 2 joysticks. Available from: Video 61 & Atari Sales 22735 Congo St NE Stacy MN 55079-9356 USA tel: (651) 462-2500 http://www.atarisales.com/

Michael Current, mailto:hunmanik@earthlink.net 8-bit Atari FAQs, http://www.cs.uu.nl/wais/html/na-dir/atari8-bit/.html St. Paul Atari Computer Enthusiasts, http://space.atari.org/ **********************************************

From: Michael Current [hunmanik@earthlink.net] Sent: Friday, November 25, 2005 8:09 PM Subject: Hackers Hitting Popular Apps Volume 7, Issue 48 November 25, 2005

Atari Online News, Etc.

Hackers Hitting Popular Apps Cyber criminals are stepping up their efforts to hack popular software applications and network devices, where efforts to close operating system vulnerabilities have had little impact. At a London press conference on Tuesday, the SANS Institute and government representatives from the U.S. and the U.K. plan to release a report on the 20 most critical Internet security vulnerabilities for 2005. The computer security research organization's report reveals that cyber criminals have shifted targets. Over the past five years, most hackers went after operating systems and Internet services like Web servers and Email servers. In 2005, they took aim at software applications. The applications under fire span a variety of operating systems. They include enterprise backup software, antivirus software, PHP applications, database software, peer-to-peer file sharing software, DNS software, media player software, IM software, and Internet browsers. The second major finding of the report is that vulnerabilities in network operating systems such as Cisco’s Internetwork Operating System (IOS), which powers most of the routers and switches on the Internet, represent a significant threat. "The bottom line is that security has been set back nearly six years in the past 18 months," Alan Paller, director of research for the SANS Institute, wrote in an E-mail. "Six years ago, attackers targeted operating systems and the operating system vendors didn't do automated patching. In the intervening years, automated patching protected everyone from government to grandma. Now the attackers are targeting popular applications, and the vendors of those applications do not do automated patching." Security experts credit Microsoft's efforts to improve its software with forcing hackers to look for lower hanging fruit. "Part of the reason we're seeing a more of the attacks go against things other than the Windows operating system is that the Windows operating system has gotten better," says John Pescatore, VP and research

fellow for information security at market research firm Gartner, Inc. Gerhard Eschelbeck, CTO and VP of engineering of vulnerability management company Qualys, Inc. says some credit goes to Microsoft and some goes to overall improvements in patching behavior. Patching as soon as possible is critical: As Eschelbeck notes in "The Laws of Vulnerabilities," a study released by Qualys in November, 80% of exploits are available within the first 19 days after the disclosure of a critical vulnerability. Patching has its limits, however. Ira Winkler, author of "Spies Among Us" and global security strategist with CSC Consulting, says attacks against vulnerabilities that can be repaired by patching represent less than a third of hacking attacks. "When the Department of Defense did studies on the matter, they found that actually these attacks account for only 30% of hacking," he says. "Attacks against configurations, essentially poor system hardening, account for 70% of successful attacks. And that means that automated patching probably won't help." The vulnerability of backup systems, in particular, puts businesses at great risk because backup software provides one-stop shopping for critical corporate data. As the SANS report points out, "An attacker can leverage these flaws for an enterprise-wide compromise and obtain access to the sensitive backed-up data." And criminals are doing just that: Exploits for many of these vulnerabilities have been publicly posted and are in use today. What's significant about the SANS report, says Pescatore, "is that the most dangerous attacks are the targeted attacks that are going after specific vulnerabilities at specific companies." Mark Richmond, network systems engineer for U.S. District Court, Eastern District of California, says it is widely recognized that cyber crime has been become increasingly professional. "The coordination of attacks over the last few years seems to be increasing," he says. "There are cooperative arrangements between various groups, formal or information, that seem to be facilitating the use of networks and computers for criminal activities." Nonetheless, Richmond feels he has the situation in hand. "As part of the federal government and the judiciary, security is and always has been a very, very important concern, both physical security and data security," he says. "We limit access to our systems beyond the point of inconvenience. We use a private

network. We're gated to the Internet in very narrow gates that are very tightly controlled, partly because of security concerns and partly to protect the performance that we need to get out work done."

Information Act - there's a chance tight-lipped companies may staunch the hemorrhage of online shoppers with silence, under the theory that what they don't know won't deter them.

Despite such attention to security, targeted attacks can test even the most security-conscious organizations. In mid-July, the Department of Energy Computer Incident Advisory Capability issued a warning about a rise in targeted attacks. "We are seeing more targeted attacks both within and outside of the DOE," the bulletin says

But silence also makes it harder for security professionals to make the case for increased investment in security. "[Targeted attacks] don't generate press, so they don t encourage other companies to prepare for them," Pescatore explains.

Recent revelations about Titan Rain demonstrate that sometimes targeted attacks are successful. "Titan Rain is the code term that the U.S. government has assigned a series of coordinated attacks against a variety of government and commercial systems that contain, at the very least, sensitive data," explains Winkler. He notes that these attacks - conducted though Chinese Web sites and believed by some U.S. officials to be directed by the Chinese government - have been going on for years, and have been escalating recently. According to Winkler, data on satellite systems, space exploration, and other export controlled technologies have been taken in these attacks. But it's not just companies with advanced technology being targeted. Pretty much any organization with sensitive personal or financial data represents a potential target. Pescatore points to recent reports of credit card identity theft, some of which have involved the installation of a rootkit - the hacking tool that recently got Sony sued - on a specific server in order to harvest databases and send them to criminals. "There's just so much more financially motivated attacking going on," he says. "People are stealing these credit card databases not just to have fun and say, 'Look what I did.' They're stealing them because they can sell the credit card numbers." The success of hacking attacks is having a dramatic impact on consumers. Two recent studies, one by the Pew Internet & American Life Project and the other by Consumer Reports WebWatch, find that over 90% Internet users say they have adjusted their online behavior out of fear of cyber crime. The Consumer Reports WebWatch study indicates that fully a quarter of U.S.-based Internet users have stopped buying things online. Pescatore and others note that fear of online victimization has curtailed the growth of electronic bill presentment and payment, which offer companies significant savings over paper payment processing. Because targeted attacks don't typically get reported unless required by a law like California Security Breach

In an e-mail, Howard Schmidt, a noted cyber-security expert and former CSO for both Microsoft and eBay, said the SANS report highlights the utility of hardening the presentation and application layers as a means to reduce cyber security events. "The first stop on the way to fix this is through secure coding and better QA of development processes, penetration testing on compiled code as well as vulnerability testing of integrated deployed applications via Web front ends," he wrote. Pescatore says that companies in general are better prepared to deal with security issues than they were a few years ago. But criminal hackers are better prepared too. "The good news is the termites are no longer eating the bottom floor of your house," he says. "The bad news is they're eating top floor." **********************************************

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