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World Community Grid Forums
Category: Support
Forum: Suggestions / Feedback
Thread: Security Assurance by IBM Partners and Team Captains |
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Thread Status: Active Total posts in this thread: 9
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Former Member
Cruncher Joined: May 22, 2018 Post Count: 0 Status: Offline |
My non-profit organization recently became a partner with IBM to promote the World Community Grid. More than 4,000 computer volunteer instructors and coaches were contacted via email with the full details of what I personally consider the most important no-brainer humanitarian effort in the 21st century.
I closely follow security issues published by many sources, so I suspect that opening entry to one's computer is daunting. I go so far as to advise all our students to not use IM for that reason. To make a long story even longer, my team has only 10 members since its inception on Oct 26, 2006--one full month--my points generated by 3 high-end computers running 24/7 represent more than 40% of the team's totals, for which I'm more embarrassed than proud, yet pride of my "donation" is rewarding! Given the fact that 4,000 computer literate people were contacted, I stongly suspect there is a security concern. I believe that all Team Captains and partners advise their members of the security features of the grid, endorsed by IBM. It may not impact the security hardliners, but maybe we can influence those users on the fence. Sid Gibson, retired executive and now volunteer computer instructor. |
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Former Member
Cruncher Joined: May 22, 2018 Post Count: 0 Status: Offline |
good post.
----------------------------------------there's a lot of left-over worries from the days somebody would hijack your homepage!  not to mention spam, identity theft etc.i think pointing out these forums is a good indicator to people that it is safe. heck even i don't know what the security is, lol [Edit 1 times, last edit by Former Member at Nov 26, 2006 5:28:18 AM] |
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Former Member
Cruncher Joined: May 22, 2018 Post Count: 0 Status: Offline |
The tragedy is, 0.25% is actually quite a good result. Don't give up though. Repeated information about WCG should keep a trickle of new volunteers coming in. Just be careful not to spam.
A summary of security features: Code is security audited by IBM Executables are virus scanned by IBM All server communications are encrypted And perhaps most important of all: in the event that a vulnerability is detected, IBM are on hand and ready to act, responsibly and quickly. |
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Former Member
Cruncher Joined: May 22, 2018 Post Count: 0 Status: Offline |
Hello Sid Gibson,
I can only repeat Didactylos. All communication links with the WCG server are initiated by the client. The firewall can reject any and all external messages. The communication link is encrypted, which means it can not be hijacked. The software downloaded over the secure link is security-audited by IBM at the source code level and then compiled by IBM. The servers are secured by IBM. This is about as secure as things can get. Here is a 2004 interview on Grid Today with Al Bunshaft, IBM's vice president of Grid computing, in which he mentions the security checking that IBM did before okaying the use of the WCG client within IBM's corporate computers: http://www.gridtoday.com/04/1122/104295.html Lawrence |
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Former Member
Cruncher Joined: May 22, 2018 Post Count: 0 Status: Offline |
Hi
I have been crunching w/WCD since May of 05, and b4, the UD Grid. My personal experience has been that security scares people more than crunching, so the lack of interest. I'm w/Team Andrax, and though small, it does have some of the most experienced people on the grid..I suggest u throw some questions their way... I run a fully cloaked system, a single PC w/ Norton INT. 2006, Spybot S&D, Java Cools Spyware Blaster, and Java Cools MRU Blaster, as well as having SUN Java as my interpreter. Firefox is my browser, and my system does NOT interact w Microsoft Internet Explorer in any way, shape, or form. Also, Microsoft has a general solution, coming in Vista, but available from one of their VP's right now as a private solution. Log into their MSDN site to get details. It does require some Command Line Savvy, so new users beware. It has to do with using XP without Administrator priveliges online. Thr general weakness with Windows is it's restrictions on system use and access when not running as an Administrator, and yet, running online with an an Administrator account is the biggest openig to exploiters everywhere. But do not give up, as this is an important thing for all of us to keep doing!  |
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Former Member
Cruncher Joined: May 22, 2018 Post Count: 0 Status: Offline |
snip ... Given the fact that 4,000 computer literate people were contacted, I stongly suspect there is a security concern. ... snip Sid, I have had similar experiences. Just recently posted an invitation on a 6,000+ CANCER group ... asking them to listen to Dr. Foran's podcast about the New Jersey CANCER Institute, and I haven't gotten so much as a single inquiry or comment in 10 days. I mean, this group consists of people who presumably are dying of cancer or know someone who is, and they STILL don't express any interest. Very frustrating. Sid, and others here, if you haven't already done so, please see how I'm trying to approach this very problem via my Project 2plus2is4 Cheers. |
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Former Member
Cruncher Joined: May 22, 2018 Post Count: 0 Status: Offline |
Bill,
I have a security rule of not clicking on links in forums, but I couldn't resist your persuasive comments. The site and links demonstrate the ultimate as a source of information and resources. The amount of work you did is evident from your site. I strongly recommend anyone reading these posts to visit your site--it is truly a work of love. I hope you don't mind if I clip a few quotes to reach my team of volunteers. Now I'm heading over to your Yahoo group for more inspiration. Happy Holidays, Sid |
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Former Member
Cruncher Joined: May 22, 2018 Post Count: 0 Status: Offline |
Bill, .... I strongly recommend anyone reading these posts to visit your site--it is truly a work of love. .... Happy Holidays, Sid For Bill Velek , Greenbrier, Arkansas I did. Great stuff. I copied out two pages ( .../schools.html and .../224.html) that I would like to bring to several Universities here in the Nashville, TN area to promote WCG participation. With your permission I would like to reproduce the pages on to hard copy for the non-profit purpose mentioned above and within. The three front pages on .../schools.html hopefully will say: they do where is your Unversity's name. The four front pages of .../224.html does/says it all. Paul Tabolinsky, Orlinda, Tennessee Out in the Sticks :>) Standing on the shoulders of giants ! |
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Former Member
Cruncher Joined: May 22, 2018 Post Count: 0 Status: Offline |
bill,
could i interest you in uploading your podcast to google base? it might be a long shot that a lot of people find it, but hey......you never know and it's free.  |
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