[now fixed] Facebook refuses to fix obvious security flaw

[ UPDATE:  Facebook has reversed itself and fixed this vulnerability ]

ZDNet.com reports:

The Register’s Dan Goodin has the scoop on an obvious security vulnerability that’s being ignored by the powers at Facebook.

The issue, as demonstrated by this proof-of-concept, shows how a social network application can be rigged to hijack a Facebook user’s session identification cookies, deliver pop-up messages or change the color of Facebook pages.  Continue reading “[now fixed] Facebook refuses to fix obvious security flaw”

So You Got a Message from an Angel?

J. Lee Grady gives some good advice for folks ready to proclaim the message they got from “an angel of light”:

When I look at what the New Testament teaches us about angels, and specifically what the book of Acts shows us about them, here’s what I find:

  • Angels who looked like men told the early disciples that Jesus would return one day (see Acts 1:11)
  • Angels are actively working behind the scenes to minister to the saints, especially to offer protection (see Acts 12:7-11)
  • In one case an angel directed Philip where to preach (see Acts 8:26)
  • Angels sometimes appeared in visions to give instructions, as one did for Cornelius (see Acts 10:3,7,22)
  • An angel came to Paul to strengthen him and to assure him that he would preach to Caesar (see Acts 27:23-24).

If we look at Paul’s epistles, we find only a few references to angels—and most are actually warnings to the early church about a wrong emphasis on angels:

  • Paul warned the Galatians that false angels can bring deception (see Gal. 1:8)
  • Paul warned the Corinthians about “angels of light” that are messengers of Satan (see 2 Cor. 11:14)
  • Paul warned the Colossians about misguided people who worship angels and deceive people with their emphasis on mystical experiences that are rooted in their hyperinflated egos (see Col. 2:18).

Continue reading “Fire In My Bones”.

The ugly truth: Satan, social networks and security

This is mostly a geek-read, so let me sum it up for you.  The more apps you add to facebook and myspace, the less safe you are.  Don’t add people you don’t know well (ouch, log in my own eye) and use unique passwords for each account. This or this may help.

“A quick (and very much incomplete) hall of shame here includes MySpace, LiveJournal, and Hi5, all of which we’re surprised haven’t sunk into the East Bay under the weight of their own pwnability.”

More here >> The ugly truth: Satan, social networks and security.

The Fall of Todd Bentley

J. Lee Grady, the editor of Charisma magazine, wrote this (and more)…

Though America needs true revival, any leaders who wholeheartedly endorsed Bentley promoted heresy rather than revival, according to Grady.

“Godly leaders are supposed to protect the sheep from heresy,” he wrote, “not spoon feed deception to them. Only God knows how far this poison traveled from Lakeland to take root elsewhere. May God forgive us for allowing His Word to be so flippantly contaminated.”

Charisma publisher Stephen Strang also took aim in a column at Bentley and those who supported him. Strang said the charismatic leaders to whom Bentley submitted himself in an accountability relationship — John Arnott, Ché Ahn and Bill Johnson — “should have seen it coming.” He listed several indications that Bentley’s ministry was not of God.

“Anyone who is in services 4 to 6 hours a day, 7 days a week for weeks on end is bound to have some type of breakdown,” Strang wrote. “Anyone who covers himself with tattoos while in the ministry raises questions about his stability.

“Anyone who talks about the ‘Angel of the Healing Revival’ that ministered to A.A. Allen and William Branham must have overlooked the fact that Allen and Branham both were discredited with moral shortcomings. Anyone who baptizes people in the name of the Father, the Son ‘and BAM’ is playing lightly with the Holy Spirit and is bordering on blasphemy.”

More of this must read is at Townhall.com

Top 4 Alternatives to Ubuntu Linux

If you stop by here often or get my feed, it is probably no secret, I like Ubuntu.  One of the great things about Linux is that it comes in other flavors and even people using the same distribution (“distro”) as you may have loaded a theme or customized it (see my last post) so that it look very little like your own.

If Ubuntu is not your thing, that’s fine.  But don’t give up on Linux because of one experience with one distro.  E-Linux.it has some (4) good Ubuntu alternatives they like along with the pros and cons they saw.