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Showing posts from May, 2024

SVG Prototype

This is a quick prototype of dynamic SVG stuff that I want to use for some other projects. It's mostly left here so I can send it to people who want to see what it looks like.  Here's the image: This is RED and GREEN. And here's the code: < svg height = "200" id = "diagram" width = "250" xmlns:xlink = "http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink"      xmlns = "http://www.w3.org/2000/svg" > < text id = "commbox" x = "0%" y = "85%" > This is RED and GREEN. </ text > < circle cx = "50" cy = "50" fill = "red" id = "circle1"           onmouseout = "evt.target.setAttribute('fill','red');Txt('This is RED and GREEN.')"           onmouseover = "evt.target.setAttribute('fill', 'blue');Txt('This is BLUE and GREEN.');"           r = "20"...

Compromising on the Basics isn't a great idea...

 Recently, we at Quantum Village  disclosed a fairly trivial, but vital bug in the QICK software stack - a relic, in many ways.  What was the bug? Well, it was a default password that can log in over SSH and  has sudo privileges! Kinda neat, if you're a hacker.  The login user:pass? ' xilinx:xilinx '. For real.  Now, they have actually changed it - see here - and their advice is still much much  better than it was - but it falls short on a few points. Firstly, they ask the user to change the password... this isn't a tremendous idea. Users generally choose bad-to-awful passwords. Users choose things that are memorable and as such they can be disclosed in many ways without anyone intending to hand out the keys to the castle.  This is particularly important in the 'quantum controller' space - after all, these things are the true gateway to the quantum world from the classical. They translate the output of quantum algorithms, circuits, and pulse des...