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Entire cities dead on some World of Warcraft realms

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Re: Entire cities dead on some World of Warcraft realms

#91
post #13

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's what makes EVE so much more interesting to me. There's only one server. The monthly fee can be earned in-game. The economy is tied to actual dollars because it's so reliable. There have been plenty of universe-spanning conflicts that impact the entire game with genuine political drama, and the dev team steps back to let it unfold with minimal intervention.

Can someone explain what EVE is? And explain it like I don't know anything about it (and I don't). Wikipedia, etc. don't cut it and I still don't understand what EVE is and why people like it. Thanks a lot!

Do you remember how Excel 97 included an easter egg flight simulator? It's like that, only inverted.

Re: Entire cities dead on some World of Warcraft realms

#92
post #24

Admin consoles: the soft underbelly of billion dollar software operations since... Seriously, though: you almost certainly have one if you run a software business. Client side SSH certificates are your friend. If you're not able to do that, because it is really annoying, separate it from the main app and lock it down as much as possible. (Separate authentication from the main site/app's authentication scheme. Lock do…

There are a few scenarios in which client-side certificates just aren't good enough by themselves. So you have folks administering the servers. A certain percentage of them need root access. One of them gets his certificate revoked and then laid off -- in that order -- but he already installed a back door account. Okay, so you're a good admin and you check the logs and make everyone use "sudo" for everything. * But m…

... or maybe the WoW servers run on Windows luke the clients do.

Re: Entire cities dead on some World of Warcraft realms

#93
post #24

Admin consoles: the soft underbelly of billion dollar software operations since... Seriously, though: you almost certainly have one if you run a software business. Client side SSH certificates are your friend. If you're not able to do that, because it is really annoying, separate it from the main app and lock it down as much as possible. (Separate authentication from the main site/app's authentication scheme. Lock do…

> Client side SSH certificates

What are those? We're talking key-based ssh authentication? Or something else?

Re: Entire cities dead on some World of Warcraft realms

#94

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There are a few scenarios in which client-side certificates just aren't good enough by themselves. So you have folks administering the servers. A certain percentage of them need root access. One of them gets his certificate revoked and then laid off -- in that order -- but he already installed a back door account. Okay, so you're a good admin and you check the logs and make everyone use "sudo" for everything. * But m…

"Maybe he was editing a file in sudo with vi and ran ":! bash"" Ah, yes, works on a default Ubuntu desktop install provided you have vim installed (not the usual tiny-vim package that uses nano for visudo editing).

When in elementary school I would use a similar technique to get a command line: Word Perfect for DOS could launch command.com.

Re: Entire cities dead on some World of Warcraft realms

#95
post #64

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Can someone explain what EVE is? And explain it like I don't know anything about it (and I don't). Wikipedia, etc. don't cut it and I still don't understand what EVE is and why people like it. Thanks a lot!

EVE is a MMORPG, where people fly around a galaxy (this one: http://go-dl1.eve-files.com/media/corp/Verite/influence.png ), in spaceships. Unlike WoW, there are no player classes (warrior, shaman, mage, etc), there are just different spaceships you can fly. You can't jump into any spaceship you want right off the bat though, you have to spend skill points in order to have the skill "Pilot spaceships of type X". Also,…

I just read through that entire EVE post and WOW was it long. It was a really good read, even if somewhat repetitive, and just wanted to say thanks for linking to it!

Re: Entire cities dead on some World of Warcraft realms

#96

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Can someone explain what EVE is? And explain it like I don't know anything about it (and I don't). Wikipedia, etc. don't cut it and I still don't understand what EVE is and why people like it. Thanks a lot!

Let's slingshot you into the future, where empires span hundreds of solar systems, spaceships abound everywhere, cloning technology is available to an elite class called capsuleers, and human beings still act human. You're a capsuleer. A capsuleer is someone who can pilot certain specially designed ships. As someone who has ascended into virtual godhood by the benefit of effective immortality, you have entered a new…

Thanks a lot. It suddenly seems so clear.

But I wish you hadn't responded! I suddenly want to be 14 again so bad it's hard to get back to work on the app I'm building ;-(

EVE will be around for a few years, I hope. And by then I should be able to play it.

Re: Entire cities dead on some World of Warcraft realms

#97
post #24

Admin consoles: the soft underbelly of billion dollar software operations since... Seriously, though: you almost certainly have one if you run a software business. Client side SSH certificates are your friend. If you're not able to do that, because it is really annoying, separate it from the main app and lock it down as much as possible. (Separate authentication from the main site/app's authentication scheme. Lock do…

There are a few scenarios in which client-side certificates just aren't good enough by themselves. So you have folks administering the servers. A certain percentage of them need root access. One of them gets his certificate revoked and then laid off -- in that order -- but he already installed a back door account. Okay, so you're a good admin and you check the logs and make everyone use "sudo" for everything. * But m…

One defense strategy that mitigates some of these threats is requiring all "back-door" access from the public internet to go through a few minimally-configured, easily audited bastion hosts. (As in, packets from outside to port 22 on machines other than the bastion hosts just get black-holed.) After which, of course, an audit is part of the process of locking people out, along with cancelling credentials on the bastion hosts specifically.

This doesn't cure everything, of course. There are a lot of places in many server environments where a determined miscreant can hide time bombs. (Oracle DBMS_JOBs anyone?) But it can be a useful component of defense in depth...

Re: Entire cities dead on some World of Warcraft realms

#98
post #70

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Take a look at Authy for a reasonably easy way to add two-factor auth to your normal SSH login. It's intended for website authentication, but there is a Github project for adding it to sshd. https://www.authy.com/ https://github.com/authy/authy-ssh

I thought that was a great idea but it broke scp when I tried it. Is there a way around that?

Duo-unix from Duo security [1] works with scp as long as you install duo-push on your cell phone.

[1] http://www.duosecurity.com/

Re: Entire cities dead on some World of Warcraft realms

#99
post #76
post #72

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That is properly one of the most arrogant comments I have seen here recently. Who the fuck are you to tell people how they get their enjoyment out of life?

It comes not from arrogance but from an apparent difference in how you perceive addictive video games: harmless entertainment, or harmful addictive substances? I'm not going to put my chips down here, but the point is the original poster sees WoW on par with cigarettes and I think even many smokers themselves would wish they didn't get "enjoyment" out of smoking, but are trapped in an addiction.

I think it derives more from a too-expansive definition of addiction that serves only to provide a self-justifying platform for prejudice.

Re: Entire cities dead on some World of Warcraft realms

#100
post #97

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There are a few scenarios in which client-side certificates just aren't good enough by themselves. So you have folks administering the servers. A certain percentage of them need root access. One of them gets his certificate revoked and then laid off -- in that order -- but he already installed a back door account. Okay, so you're a good admin and you check the logs and make everyone use "sudo" for everything. * But m…

One defense strategy that mitigates some of these threats is requiring all "back-door" access from the public internet to go through a few minimally-configured, easily audited bastion hosts. (As in, packets from outside to port 22 on machines other than the bastion hosts just get black-holed.) After which, of course, an audit is part of the process of locking people out, along with cancelling credentials on the basti…

Agree strongly, and recommend this architecture to clients. If you can, get all this stuff behind a VPN too, so that the address of the bastion host is nonroutable.
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