'Jump boxes' improve security, if you set them up right

With malicious hackers and malware infesting nearly every enterprise network these days, "jump boxes" have become very popular. A jump box is a specially secured computer that administrators must (or should) log on to in order to gain access to other computers and administrate them. The hope is that these jump boxes are specially secured -- and are less likely to get exploited by hackers or malware.

Jump boxes can decrease risk, but you need to implement their special protections properly. Many enterprises start with the best of intentions, but when I audit jump boxes, I often see a jumble of weak security policies and high-risk behaviors that make them just as insecure as a regular user's PC.

[ Take a tour of the latest threats and what you can do to stop them in InfoWorld's Malware Deep Dive Report. | Learn how to secure your systems with InfoWorld's Security Central newsletter. ]

In the computer security world, a basic premise underlies setting up a "secure environment": Systems of lower trust should never be able to modify or control systems of higher trust or importance. Most jump boxes tend to break this basic rule because the computers people use to connect to jump boxes are less trustworthy than the jump boxes themselves.

Often, PCs that connect to jump boxes are open to the Internet all day long and can be as infected and exploited as any other computer in your environment. What good is a jump box if the computer connecting to it has a keylogging Trojan copying every password or smartcard token you use? Your jump box and the computer linking to it -- let's call it the "originating computer" for this discussion -- should both be highly secure systems.

Here are the protective measures you should take for jump boxes and the systems that connect to them.

Security hardened
Most of today's operating systems and applications come fairly well secured. Don't mess it up. Consider configuring the originating computer and jump server with the "high security" settings if they exist. You want to enforce only the best and most secure protocols and options.

Strong authentication
If you use regular passwords, they should be long and complex (15 characters or more). Try to require smartcards or other two-factor authentication methods for all elevated users. If you're managing multiple environments (that is, different forests), make sure logon credentials are not shared among environments. If you use smartcards, key fobs, or other two-factor authentication, make sure those aren't shared, either. Yes, it'll be harder to administrate multiple environments. But if you share that stuff, why have different environments in the first place?

No browsing the Internet
If I check your jump box and see it has a browser installed or can browse to the Internet unhindered, then you've failed the audit. Browsing the Internet is a high-risk activity that should not be allowed either on the jump box or the originating computer. I know many of you probably use your regular workstation to connect to jump boxes. This is a bad idea. Use a separate computer (or VM) to connect to your jump box. That originating computer should not be able to browse the Internet to any site; if you allow it to connect only to vendor sites and legitimate driver download sites, that's OK.

Source: http://www.infoworld.com/d/security/jump-boxes-improve-security-if-you-set-them-right-228742?source=rss_infoworld_blogs
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Pa. Caterpillars Predict Wet, Cold Winter

Over the weekend, people in Lewisburg, Pa., gathered for a weather forecast from caterpillars. Woolly bear caterpillars are black, with a brown stripe down the middle. Folklore says the larger the stripe, the milder the winter.

Copyright © 2013 NPR. For personal, noncommercial use only. See Terms of Use. For other uses, prior permission required.

DAVID GREENE, HOST:

Good morning. I'm David Greene. Sit down, Punxsutawney Phil. Over the weekend, people in Lewisburg, Pennsylvania, gathered for a weather forecast from caterpillars. Woolly bear caterpillars are black, with a brown stripe down the middle and folklore says the larger the stripe, the milder the winter. At the 17th annual Woolly Worm Winter Weather Prognostication Festival - say that twice - several woolly bears predicted a wet, cold winter ahead. Of course, they were wrong last year. It's MORNING EDITION.

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NPR transcripts are created on a rush deadline by a contractor for NPR, and accuracy and availability may vary. This text may not be in its final form and may be updated or revised in the future. Please be aware that the authoritative record of NPR's programming is the audio.

Source: http://www.npr.org/2013/10/15/234638758/pennsylvania-caterpillars-predict-wet-cold-winter?ft=1&f=3
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Chrome OS 30 stable build adds select, drag-and-drop features for touchscreens

Adventurous folks running Chrome OS beta have been enjoying the platform's new touchscreen functions since September, assuming they have a Pixel. Now, touchscreen text selection and drag and drop support is arriving to the operating system's stable build aboard the latest software update. While ...

Source: http://feeds.engadget.com/~r/weblogsinc/engadget/~3/gvx6sismuOw/
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Canadian Alice Munro Wins Nobel's Literature Prize

Alice Munro, "master of the contemporary short story," has won the Nobel Prize in Literature," the Royal Swedish Academy announced Thursday morning. In 2009, she won the Man Booker International Prize for her lifetime work.

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Source: http://www.npr.org/2013/10/10/231352197/canadian-alice-munro-wins-nobel-s-literature-prize?ft=1&f=1032
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Hajj pilgrims set for Eid al-Adha feast

Muzdalifah (Saudi Arabia) (AFP) - Throngs of Muslim pilgrims converged Monday on Muzdalifah to prepare for Eid al-Adha feast after a day of prayer on Mount Arafat for an end to disputes and bloodshed.

The faithful will spend the night in Muzdalifah to collect stones which they will use a symbolic ritual of stoning the devil in nearby Mina on Tuesday, the first day of the feast of sacrifice.

Most of the pilgrims taking part in the annual hajj to Islam's holiest sites in Saudi Arabia travelled from Arafat to Muzdalifah on foot, while others took buses and trains, some riding on the roofs.

Thousands of security men were deployed to organise the traffic flowing into Muzdalifah, which only comes to life during the five days of the hajj.

Earlier in the day men, women and children from across the Muslim world flooded the roads to Arafat chanting "Labaik Allahum Labaik" (I am responding to your call, God), as they observed the peak of the hajj.

Helicopters hovered overhead and thousands of Saudi troops stood guard.

Many pilgrims camped in small colourful tents or took shelter under trees to escape temperatures of around 40 degrees Celsius (104 Fahrenheit). Special sprinklers were set up to ward off the heat.

In his annual sermon, top Saudi cleric Sheikh Abdulaziz al-Sheikh urged Muslims to avoid divisions, chaos and sectarianism, without explicitly speaking of the turmoil unleashed by the Arab Spring.

"Your nation is a trust with you. You must safeguard its security, stability and resources," he said.

"You should know that you are targeted by your enemy... who wants to spread chaos among you... It's time to confront this."

The cleric did not speak specifically of the deadly war wracking Syria, where Sunni-led rebels backed by Saudi Arabia are at war with a regime led by Alawites -- an offshoot of Shiite Islam -- and closely allied with Shiite Iran and Hezbollah.

The cleric insisted that Islam prohibits killing and aggression and said there is "no salvation or happiness for the Muslim nation without adhering to the teachings of the religion."

Attendance is sharply down from last year, due to fears of the MERS virus which has killed 60 people worldwide, including 51 in Saudi Arabia, and to expansion work at the Grand Mosque in Mecca.

Prince Khaled al-Faisal, the governor of Mecca province who heads the central hajj committee, said 1.38 million pilgrims had come from outside the kingdom while 117,000 permits were issued for locals.

This puts the total number of pilgrims at almost 1.5 million, less than half of last year's 3.2 million, after Riyadh slashed hajj quotas.

Prince Khaled said authorities had turned back 70,000 nationals and expatriates for not carrying legal permits and had arrested 38,000 others for performing the hajj without a permit.

Authorities have also seized as many as 138,000 vehicles for violating the hajj rules, and owners would be penalised, he said.

Saudi health authorities have stressed that no cases of the Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS) virus have been detected so far this pilgrimage.

Prayers for peace in troubled times

Many pilgrims said they were praying for peace in Muslim nations mired in sectarian and political strife.

"I will pray the whole day for God to improve the situation for Muslims worldwide and for an end to disputes and bloodshed in Arab countries," said 61-year-old Algerian pensioner Saeed Dherari.

"I hope that God will grace all Muslims with security and stability," said 75-year-old Ahmad Khader, who hails from the southern Syrian province of Daraa, where the country's uprising began.

"The regime is tyrannical and I pray for God to help the oppressed people," he said, referring to Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's embattled government.

Egyptian Ahmad Ali, who is performing hajj for the first time, prayed for peace in his country where hundreds have been killed in fighting between security forces and Islamist supporters of ousted president Mohamed Morsi.

"I pray for Egypt to enjoy security and stability and for the people to reach understanding and reconciliation," Ali said.

The hajj, which officially ends on Friday, is one of the five pillars of Islam that every capable Muslim must perform at least once.

The pilgrims started the hajj journey on Sunday, moving out of the holy city of Mecca to nearby Mina, where most of them spent the night following the traditions of the Prophet Mohammed, who performed the rituals 14 centuries ago.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/muslim-pilgrims-throng-mount-arafat-hajj-climax-065848537.html
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Automatic cuts re-emerge as budget battle issue

WASHINGTON (AP) — The broad, automatic spending cuts known as sequestration have re-emerged as a central issue in efforts to end the partial government shutdown and avert a federal default.

Many conservatives view the past seven months of lower spending levels as one of their rare accomplishments in dealing with President Barack Obama and want to continue them.

But GOP defense hawks complain that the next round of automatic cuts falls almost entirely on the Pentagon, and many Republicans want to shift that burden to domestic programs.

Obama and Democrats would do away with them altogether, substituting new taxes and maybe some spending cuts elsewhere in their place. Republicans are agreeable — Democrats much less so — to trimming future Social Security benefits or making wealthier retirees pay higher premiums for Medicare in place of the automatic cuts.

Sequestration deals mostly with the day-to-day operating budgets of federal agencies. The Veterans Administration is exempt, as are the biggest "mandatory" benefit programs like Social Security, food stamps and Medicaid. The president's health care program — "Obamacare" —also is exempt.

The impact of the automatic cuts that went into effect in March was not as harsh as many people feared. Some agencies were able to move money around to prevent or reduce furloughs.

For many Americans, however, the impacts have been real. Health research has slowed, thousands of Head Start slots have been eliminated and poor people have been left hanging on waiting lists for housing subsidy vouchers.

The future is uncertain but easing or eliminating a new round of automatic spending cuts in January is likely to be a focus of any budget talks once the government reopens fully. Giving agencies more flexibility to adjust to reduced funding levels also is being discussed.

A brief primer on the automatic spending cuts and what might happen next:

—Sequestration was established by the 2011 Budget Control Act to reduce government spending by $1.2 trillion over 10 years. The cuts were to be divided between defense and domestic programs and achieved through caps on the money Congress can appropriate each year.

—For fiscal 2013 ending Sept. 30, sequestration lowered Congress' spending cap from $1.043 trillion to $988 billion. Of the $55 billion in spending cuts, $22 billion was from a 4.5 percent cut in domestic programs and $33 billion was from a 6 percent cut in military spending. That reduced the Pentagon's budget this past year from $552 billion to $519 billion. In addition, benefit programs were cut $17 billion. Of that, $11 billion was from fee reductions for Medicare providers like doctors and hospitals. The other $6 billion was spread among smaller programs like farm subsidies. Altogether the sequester produced total budget savings of $72 billion in 2013.

—For fiscal 2014, the sequester lowers the cap on what Congress can spend to $967 billion. Virtually all of the additional savings would come from new and deeper cuts to the military. The Pentagon's budget would drop from $519 billion to $498 billion.

—The debate: House Republicans want to maintain the $967 billion cap for fiscal 2014 but shift all the sequester cuts from the Pentagon to domestic programs. Democrats want to do away with the sequester entirely and set the spending cap at $1.06 trillion.

Congressional leaders tentatively have agreed to extend the 2013 cap of $988 billion for three months while they attempt to negotiate a broader deal for easing or replacing the automatic spending cuts.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/automatic-cuts-emerge-budget-battle-issue-060358892--finance.html
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NC Chamber to help with health insurance | CharlotteObserver.com

The N.C. Chamber, the state’s powerful business lobby, is setting up a private statewide insurance exchange to sell health policies to people whose employers drop health coverage for their workers.

It’s a first for North Carolina and is scheduled to go public next week, offering a glimpse into the nation’s emerging insurance landscape. It will be one of a number similar private exchanges being prepared in about 18 states, said Jim Simpson, chief operating officer of the N.C. Chamber.

Chamber officials expect a significant healthcare shift in which companies stop offering insurance in a move to manage healthcare costs. Instead, employers will opt to pay workers a cash allowance so they can shop for their own policies.

The shift is expected to spread among small employers across the country; larger businesses, meanwhile, will be required to provide insurance under the nation’s healthcare law, the Affordable Care Act.

The Chamber’s exchange is designed to function much like the federal insurance exchange, www.healthcare.gov, that was launched Oct. 1 to sell subsidized policies to the uninsured. But the Chamber’s version will not offer federally subsidized insurance, and many of those who shop on the private exchange will be employees accustomed to workplace coverage who will be purchasing an individual insurance policy for the first time.

“The employee will have a heck of a lot more choice in what they actually need,” Simpson said. “This will be an option where they can get a full-suite package.”

Private insurance exchanges have recently been introduced by IBM, Time Warner and other large corporations as a means of providing supplemental Medicare coverage to retirees. Private exchanges make it easier to compare prices because they include policies from multiple insurers on one website.

Such exchanges are sometimes greeted with skepticism because companies use them to control runaway healthcare costs. But many also prefer the wider range of options than workplace coverage, which typically involves a single insurer.

“My only concern is consumer confusion,” said Adam Linker, a policy analyst with the N.C. Justice Center in Raleigh. “I don’t think it’s a bad thing as long as people aren’t confused about the fact that there’s only one federal exchange where you can get your subsidy.”

The Chamber will offer its private exchange through CieloStar, a nationwide health benefits technology company. The private exchange will offer at least three insurers, including the state’s biggest, Blue Cross Blue Shield.

CieloChoice will offer health, dental, vision, Medicare supplemental and other types of policies. The policies can be purchased from multiple insures but will be bundled on one bill, Simpson said.

With regard to learning about insurance policies, the other options for insurance shoppers who lose coverage at the office will be talking to an insurance agent or navigating websites of insurance companies that sell policies here. Some independent agents, however, represent only one insurer.

Simpson said the Chamber’s private exchange will also receive a “small royalty” for every policy sold through the exchange. He expects many other private exchanges to become available in North Carolina — some created by insurance companies, insurance agents and other organizations — but not all providing information about all available insurance options.

The number of private exchanges will reflect the number of employees who lose workplace coverage and are forced to buy their own policies.

“The potential pool is huge,” Simpson said.

Source: http://www.charlotteobserver.com/2013/10/11/4381668/nc-chamber-to-create-health-insurance.html
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