Linux – BTA Blog

MySQL/MariaDB needs upgrading after upgrading

Dirk — Sat, 02 Oct 2021 22:06:12 +0000

Recently I was reviewing log files for one of my servers and came across the following error message: mysqldump: Couldn't execute 'SHOW FUNCTION STATUS WHERE Db = 'mysql'': Cannot load from mysql.proc. The table is probably corrupted (1728) mysqldump: Couldn't execute 'SHOW FUNCTION STATUS WHERE Db = 'mydatabase'': Cannot load from mysql.proc. The table is …

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New Year Resolutions

Dirk — Sat, 03 Jan 2015 23:26:26 +0000

I usually do not make New Year’s resolutions because I mostly forget them by the Super Bowl. But this year I am getting my online life more secure. I will change all my passwords to 20+ random characters. I will store these passwords in a secure format. I will encrypt more email. The first 2 …

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Antivirus is Dead!

Dirk — Mon, 05 May 2014 15:09:43 +0000

So declared Brian Dye, Symantec’s senior vice president for information security. “We don’t think of antivirus as a moneymaker in any way.” Mr. Dye went on to say “antivirus now catches just 45% of cyberattacks.” So because they cannot make money, this segment of the software industry is dead? Maybe they are not any good …

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Heartbleed Bug – End of the World or Non-event?

Dirk — Sat, 12 Apr 2014 14:05:57 +0000

That about covers the risks. Now what can you do about it? First, update your computer (Windows, Mac OS X or Linux/Unix), right now! Before you read the rest of this post. Most software vendors/service providers recognized the serious nature of this bug and updated their software (the easy part). So getting the fix is …

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Microsoft dropping XP support

Dirk — Mon, 07 Apr 2014 19:03:54 +0000

Microsoft has finally made good on their threat to stop supporting Windows XP and on April 8, 2014 will stop providing update and fixes for one of their most popular operating system releases. Microsoft released Windows XP in 2001 and end development of it in 2008. They have continued to provide bug-fixes and minor updates …

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Simple Intrusion Detection

Dirk — Thu, 15 Dec 2011 06:22:59 +0000

Sometimes I want to have a simple way to determine if a file has been changed or has been compromised without the configuration required of a full feature IDS such as AIDE or Tripwire. This technique uses CFV, a free and open-source program written in Python and “has been verified to work on linux, freebsd, …

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Amazon Simple Storage Service (S3)

Dirk — Tue, 19 Jul 2011 17:23:08 +0000

I have been using Amazon Simple Storage Service (S3) for several years to provide off-site backup and synchronizing files on my numerous systems. It is a cloud-based service that provides storage for a very reasonable cost ($0.14 per GB/Month as of 7/19/2011). Access to files on S3 are through web service interfaces (REST, SOAP, and BitTorrent) …

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Keeping track of passwords

Dirk — Fri, 26 Mar 2010 20:53:31 +0000

If you have run out of pets’ or children’s names to use for passwords. Or you have ever misplaced that scrap of paper with your bank PINs and passwords. Or if you have trouble remembering the contrived “passwords” that banks are now asking like “What was your first girl friend’s name?”, then maybe you are …

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