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Written by Charles Mok
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Tuesday, 26 August 2008 07:44 |
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The election is entering the final two weeks. I go to at least two locations a day at least – in person – to distribute leaflets and meet voters, plus more visits to companies and organizations. There are also many election forums organized by the media and industry groups. However, I am a lonely attendee for several of these forums, including one by Commercial Radio, one held by information security professionals, and another one organized by several trade associations. If one exhibits such favoritism and cronyism behavior even before being elected, what will happen if he has to face controversial matters in Legco? Where will he be?
We often say that truth comes out from more debates. But would a lie become true, the more one says it? Many misleading statements were made about me in these forums. I was accused to be wavering on my democratic stance, by someone with zero communications with the pan-democratic camp – despite the fact that I was supported by the major pan-democratic parties as well as Mrs Anson Chan. He also criticized that there was nothing new in our “new professional core values” -- to that I had no choice but to say that we had to re-emphasize these values because of “political chameleons” like his good self.
The following are online links to the media forums. Please do not miss them, as you can see and hear the differences. Please also look at the smearing that was applied on me, as I really have nothing to hide.
Slogans are after all just slogans, even after one repeats it a hundred times. Should we do it, can we do it, these are the more important questions to ponder. So, comparing the slogans is not the point. Compare us as persons! [21 Aug] InfoSec Forum (My opponent absent)
[15 Aug] Cable TV [view] [New!]
[14 Aug] Hong Kong Computer Society
[14 Aug] Commercial Radio – On a Clear Day [listen] [New!]
[9 Aug] RTHK Radio 1 [listen]
[7 Aug] Appleactionnews.com [view] |
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Written by Charles Mok
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Wednesday, 13 August 2008 02:38 |
I went to listen to Bill Gates' talk in Hong Kong last night. It must have been a long time since Bill was last in Hong Kong. Most of the about 1,500 attendees were actually students. In fact, I have listened to Bill, live, years ago in a large conference in Las Vegas. Of course he was more talking about his company's products then, but since he is now "retired," he now focuses on technology advancement, innovation and the operation of his Gates Foundation.
The "creative capitalism" concept that Bill has been proposing in recent years is something I really like. Creative capitalism extends the spirit of social enterprises to all companies; it transform corporate social responsibility from being passive to being active. Bill also said tonight, "innovation, properly managed, can change the world." As you may know, "change the world" is what I believe we as IT professionals have the means and the responsibilities to do.
We complain in Hong Kong that the self-image of IT people here is unsatisfactory. Indeed, we need more young people to see the role models of someone like Bill, who at the height of his career and wealth, would instead devote his energy and money to causes like fighting diseases and providing education to poor people. I hope Bill's speech will become the "must-see" materials for all students in Hong Kong.
Further readings (in Chinese only)
Creative Capitalism Changes the World (2008.02.18)
Bill Gates retires (2007.07.01)
Change the World (2007.06.16) |
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Written by Charles Mok
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Friday, 08 August 2008 08:38 |
Kammuri just passed by Hong Kong, but do you know that a cyber storm is around to blow us away?
The domain name system (DNS) has some vulnerabilities that can allow hackers to inject forged domain name records. DNS is responsible of translating the domain names into IP addresses. If a hacker compromises DNS via the vulnerabilities, they can either paralyze the network, or redirect users to spoofed web sites without them noticing. If you cannot ensure the identity of the web sites, how can you trust the information on them and perform online transactions confidently?
Most Internet users uses DNS provided by their ISPs. Most users and SMEs simply make DNS queries to the upstream DNS of their ISPs. So patching the ISPs' DNS is a critical task. Some ISPs really had their job done well swiftly, but others might not have sufficient awareness of this rare occasion requiring DNS patching. My worry is, given that the security alert have been published for a whole month, and now that exploit tools are widely available, with even hacking demonstration video, the chance for us to pull into the cyber storm is becoming higher and higher.
Is it that difficult to verify if your DNS is vulnerable? No, just try the online DNS Checker. If the result is "safe", fine. Otherwise, "vulnerable" means you have to get network engineers or your ISP to fix the DNS server as soon as possible.
Hong Kong must do a good job in fixing this vulnerability, as our international reputation is at risk. Our regulatory body have taken notice but more awareness is needed. I hereby call for all ISPs and corporate users to act immediately for our cyber space safety. |
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