Digital Common Sense

We all encounter twists and turns in the road - changes that lead us to new paths. In ‘99 I was offered two very different positions on the same day. One paid 1/3 of the other, yet took us on a path to Vermont for 5 years. Being a Los Angles native, the shift to country living and the pace of life was a very easy adaptation. Even northern New England winter was surprisingly easy to adjust to and live with.

That move to Vermont was driven by a one-word life philosophy — simplify. It was time to leave the rat race, because even when you win, you’re still a rat. A time to savor simpler things with less stress. Sure simplicity comes at a price, but the rewards are more than worth the cost. But simplicity has to be maintained. In today’s society, it takes a real focus to not be distracted back into the hustle and bustle of high-speed life.

My online writing has diminished the last few months, really since moving to Washington. Every now and then I find myself motivated to get engaged again, but not often. I still read voraciously, albeit a differend set of places than I read even a year ago. There’s a large number of “A-list meta-bloggers” that I honestly don’t even read today. People so inwardly focused on something they think is a phenomena that they became pedantic voices (sometimes both shrill and pedantic simultaneously) that just said nothing new. When you have nothing new to say in a year, it’s time to revisit your priorities and interests. I found myself becoming one of them, and lost interest to a large degree.

About a week ago, I started writing this after Halley posted this -

You really don’t need much.
You need someone to love — hug, kiss, sleep with.
You need food.
You need exercise.
What else?
Oh, yeah, some clothes.
Some shoes.
Some pocket money.

It struck close to home, because it echoes what I’ve been feeling myself for the last 2-3 months. I’ve recognized that distraction away from the simple pleasures and that pull back into the workaholic, rat race tendencies. It’s always interesting when you consciously find yourself pulled in two directions in life at the same time. So often we’re oblivious when we’re in that situation.

One thing I’ve noticed the last few months is that I miss living on a dirt road. If you don’t know where that comes from, I wrote about it here back a couple years ago.

Dirt Roads

What’s mainly wrong with society today is that too many Dirt Roads have been paved.

There’s not a problem in America today, crime, drugs, education, divorce, delinquency that wouldn’t be remedied, if we just had more Dirt Roads, because Dirt Roads give character.

People that live at the end of Dirt Roads learn early on that life is a bumpy ride.

That it can jar you right down to your teeth sometimes, but it’s worth it, if at the end is home…a loving spouse, happy kids and a dog.

We wouldn’t have near the trouble with our educational system if our kids got their exercise walking a Dirt Road with other kids, from whom they learn how to get along.

There was less crime in our streets before they were paved.

Criminals didn’t walk two dusty miles to rob or rape, if they knew they’d be welcomed by 5 barking dogs and a double barrel shotgun.

And there were no drive by shootings.

Our values were better when our roads were worse!

People did not worship their cars more than their kids, and motorists were more courteous, they didn’t tailgate by riding the bumper or the guy in front would choke you with dust & bust your windshield with rocks.

Dirt Roads taught patience.

Dirt Roads were environmentally friendly, you didn’t hop in your car for a quart of milk you walked to the barn for your milk.

For your mail, you walked to the mail box.

What if it rained and the Dirt Road got washed out? That was the best part, then you stayed home and had some family time, roasted marshmallows and popped popcorn and pony rode on Daddy’s shoulders and learned how to make prettier quilts than anybody.

At the end of Dirt Roads, you soon learned that bad words tasted like soap.

Most paved roads lead to trouble, Dirt Roads more likely lead to a fishing creek or a swimming hole.

At the end of a Dirt Road, the only time we even locked our car was in August, because if we didn’t some neighbor would fill it with too much zucchini.

At the end of a Dirt Road, there was always extra springtime income, from when city dudes would get stuck, you’d have to hitch up a team and pull them out.

Usually you got a dollar…always you got a new friend…at the end of a Dirt Road!

So yes, I miss living on a dirt road. And then there’s life in general. Work pulls harder than any of us like, but we adjust and adapt. Don reminds me of this 2-3 times a week lately as I read about his biking and the trip he’s off on. It made me feel guilty enough that I dragged my own bike back out. Even his gearing up for a trip makes me feel like I need to do the same. And with luck, if he finds his way through Vancouver, maybe he’ll be near enough can meet and grab lunch or coffee or something .

A couple of months ago, I bought a new truck. I don’t “need” a truck to get by. The socially responsible thing would be to drive a Prius or some other environmentally friendly car. OTOH, our other car is a Honda Civic, which is pretty low impact. I bought the truck because other places call to me — places just off the edge of the map. Places with historical or human significance. Places where life isn’t or wasn’t driven by technology. To that end, I’ve been looking at a variety of trailers, 5th wheels and such. I found one that I really like that’s quite small and modest. I find that my traveling approach is somewhat like my approach to fishing. Lightweight in some fashion. I also found a real affinity for the 5th wheel trailers they use down under. Since they’re designed to pull behind the Australion ute, they are small, light, and can go anywhere, especially behind my truck. I haven’t heard back on whether they’ve exported many or there’s one in the western US somewhere I can see firsthand.

These things…dirt roads, simplicity, places off the edge of the map, plans and explorations…call louder lately. And I’ve been listening to the call more. I don’t care any more whether Scoble thinks Vista is hot shit or crap. It’ll always be crap to me. I don’t care that Jarvis is still whining about his Dell problems. Why the hell would a professional hang his business on a single computer from Dell? Meta-blogging? Tagsonomy? Oh barf. Sorry folks. Gimme a camera, a fly rod, a dirt road, and a spot to settle in and watch the sunset. Even finishing this to post it took a very conscious effort.

Other places call…wild places. And one can’t enter wild places unprepared. I’m off collecting supplies, investigating tools and resources, and touching the edge of the map.

Filed by Ken at 9:18 am under General
2 Comments

This is the WSJ version of a story that’s been getting a lot of chatter lately -

LAS VEGAS – The annual Black Hat computer-security conference has become a forum for experts to disclose vulnerabilities in tech products, often rankling the products’ makers. But few companies go to the lengths that Cisco Systems Inc. did this week to suppress information about a flaw in its software that directs Internet traffic.

Cisco threatened legal action to stop the conference’s organizers from allowing a 24-year-old researcher for a rival tech firm to discuss how he says hackers could seize control of Cisco’s Internet routers, which dominate the market. Cisco also instructed workers to tear 20 pages outlining the presentation from the conference program and ordered 2,000 CDs containing the presentation destroyed. [full WSJ story]

You can follow the links wherever your interests take you. It’s all over the news.

If you want to see the presentation that stirred up all the furor, it’s discretely online here.

Filed by Ken at 2:59 pm under InfoSec, Technology
1 Comment

Headlines from the year 2029 —

Baby conceived naturally - - scientists stumped.

Couple petitions court to reinstate heterosexual marriage.

France pleads for global help after being taken over by Jamaica.

Castro finally dies at age 112; Cuban cigars can no w be imported legally, but President Chelsea Clinton has banned all smoking.

George Z. Bush says he will run for President in 2036.

Postal Service raises price of first class stamp to $17.89 and reduces mail delivery to Wednesdays only.

85-year, $75.8 billion study: Diet and Exercise is the key to weight loss.

Average weight of Americans drops to 250 lbs.

Japanese scientists have created a camera with such a fast shutter speed, they now can photograph a woman with her mouth shut.

(I just posted it. I didn’t write it!)

Massachusetts executes last remaining conservative.

Supreme Court rules punishment of criminals violates their civil rights.

Average height of NBA players now nine feet, seven inches.

New federal law requires that all nail clippers, screwdrivers, fly swatters and rolled-up newspapers must be registered by January 2036.

Congress authorizes direct deposit of formerly illegal political contributions to campaign accounts.

Capitol Hill intern indicted for refusing to have sex with congressman.

IRS sets lowest tax rate at 75 percent.

Florida voters still having trouble with voting machines.

Filed by Ken at 6:11 pm under General
1 Comment

Received in email —

Last week I purchased a burger at Burger King for $1.58. The counter girl took my $2 and I was digging for my change when I pulled 8 cents from my pocket and gave it to her. She stood there, holding the nickel and 3 pennies, while looking at the screen on her register. I sensed her discomfort and tried to tell her to just give me two quarters, but she hailed the manager for help. While he tried to explain the transaction to her, she stood there and cried.

Why do I tell you this?

Because of the evolution in teaching math since the 1950s:

Teaching Math In 1950:
A logger sells a truckload of lumber for $100. His cost of production is 4/5 of the price. What is his profit?

Teaching Math In 1960:
A logger sells a truckload of lumber for $100. His cost of production is 4/5 of the price, or $80. What is his profit?

Teaching Math In 1970:
A logger sells a truckload of lumber for $100. His cost of production is $80. Did he make a profit?

Teaching Math In 1980:
A logger sells a truckload of lumber for $100. His cost of production is $80 and his profit is $20. Your assignment: Underline the number 20.

Teaching Math In 1990:
A logger cuts down a beautiful forest because he is selfish and inconsiderate and cares nothing for the habitat of animals or the preservation of our woodlands. He does this so he can make a profit of $20.

What do you think of this way of making a living? Topic for class participation after answering the question: How did the birds and squirrels feel as the logger cut down their homes? (There are no wrong answers.)

Teaching Math In 2005:
Un hachero vende una carretada de made! ra para $100. ! El costo de la producción

Filed by Ken at 11:17 am under General
No Comments

5/9/06 See a revisit and updated thoughts on iPeerGrid -

iPeerGrid Revisted

I am not recommending this to anyone at present. I post it here for your thoughts because this is something new to me that warrants research from my viewpoint. I received this email today, and my internal scam alarms all started gonging away.

Dear Ken,

We would like to personally extend an invitation to you to become an active participant in what we believe is the most powerful peer to peer collaboration platform available; iPeerGrid. Over 6,500 senior executives, including over 2,400 at the “C” level and representing the vast majority of the Fortune 1000, are members of the GRID.

iPeerGrid is committed to enabling peer-to-peer collaboration for the global business community. Our platform is the first of its kind to offer a secure, confidential, even anonymous means to effectively collaborate with broad or highly targeted peer groups on a global scale.

Peer collaboration has proven to be a highly effective means for knowledge sharing and quickly gaining insight into an unlimited array of business issues and challenges. Whether you are a CFO wanting to exchange ideas and best practices with other CFO’s, or an IT professional looking for feedback on ERP systems, iPeerGrid offers access to peers capable of providing the insight you need.

At the core of the GRID is an engine that allows members to send email blasts to a very broad audience, a single recipient or any member subset in between. Target peer populations are member defined by selecting a combination of process areas, technology areas, industries, job classifications and company size. So, based on the specific nature of your inquiry, you can fine tune a subset of the member population to receive it to ensure the highest possible quality of responses.

The GRID also provides access to Special Interest Groups (SIG). These are groups that typically cross industries, process areas, technology areas, etc. and provide a convenient forum for members to discuss issues relative to their common interest. Examples might include Sarbanes-Oxley, Best Practices Exchange, European Business Community, etc. By joining one or more of these groups, members can make a single inquiry that will reach all
members of the SIG, but not any members outside of the SIG.

Importantly, iPeerGrid is committed to member privacy. Your personal information including name, email address, etc. are never revealed to other members. All inquires are anonymous. It is entirely up to each member as to whether any personal information is shared.

Once you have completed the member profile, you will have a customized Member Home Page providing statistics on your specific peer population. You will also have access to content relevant to your profile automatically populated on your page. Functions available to members include:

* Peer Inquiries
* Special Interest Group (SIG) Inquiries
* Notifications
* Upload Content
* Peer Inquiry Search
* SIG Inquiry Search
* Membership Search
* Content Search
* Join Special Interest Groups
* Webinars
* Membership / Account Status

The GRID maintains a simple philosophy. Enable peer collaboration for senior business executives that is easy to initiate, unlimited in flexibility to define target peer groups, highly confidential, and with total anonymity, and members will quickly adopt it as one of their most trusted sources of business information. And, it’s working.

Follow this link www.ipeergrid.com to create your custom user profile. Membership is free and you can begin taking advantage of our global peer network immediately.

Other options exist to collaborate with your peers, but we are confident that you will find the iPeerGrid platform to provide the most powerful, efficient, and cost effective channel to access other senior executives. But there’s much more offered on the GRID. Give us a try. We guarantee you’ll become a routine GRID patron.

Our Best Wishes,
Your GRID Support Team

Why did my alarrms go off, you ask. When I get something like this from an unknown source, I’m always skeptical, especially if I haven’t heard of it. I do very,

very

basic research.

First some words in the message leapt off the screen — At the core of the GRID is an engine that allows members to send email blasts to a very broad audience, a single recipient or any member subset in between. I’m sorry, but that just feels…well spammy. This tool allows me to send focused spam to C-level managers? They sound like a potentially lucrative target.

Off to the web site. iPeerGrid looks like a nice trademarked sort of name someone invested some effort in. Let’s try Google. No a single hit. Not one. Try the intuitively obvious variations and learn that iPeer has been used by some file sharing efforts, not without negative comment in the mix. Peer Grid achieves similar results. Not looking great so far.

REDACTED INFORMATION - SEE BELOW

Conclusions
Nothing tangible other than this just feels hinky. It could be a quite legitmate new startup effort, although it’s not going to overrun LinkedIn or any of the other business oriented efforts from anything I could see.

I didn’t register. I’m not going to at this point. I’m in wait and see mode for now. If Russell is for real and aggressively pursuing this as a legitimate business effort, I have to assume he’s web savvy enough that he’ll see this (even though I consciously chose not to link to it live). If so, I think he’ll contact me and ask me to revisit my comments. On the other hand, if this effort is a front for something else, like an attempt to harvest C-level manager information, I may hear nothing. Or nastiness could ensue. That might be interesting.

If you personally have knowledge of this or firsthand experience, I’d be interested to hear your thoughts. I know the name will catch my attention for some time to come, so I may report back at some future time.

In the meantime, I can only share one comment in terms of advice - caveat emptor. Don’t trust those who don’t earn your trust, lest bad things happen.

Updated 7/31/05
I wanted to take the time to update this, so I’ve pulled this response in to the main body from comments -

Ron Thompson Says:

July 31st, 2005 at 2:26 pm e
I am the co-founder of ipeergrid. I found your comments to be informative and of high value. Accordingly, some adjustments to site text and overall messaging is in order.

We are a legitimate start-up. The site is in beta mode and will be improved over time….hopefully with some VC funding. We do not consider ourselves competition to LinkedIn, Spoke or similar services. Our vision is to provide targeted peer access, on demand, to enable knowledge sharing in the global business community. We have work to do, improvements to make, and we know it. But we are making progress. An 800 number will be posted soon. And yes, we are outsourcing site hosting.

Please keep your eye on us and comment as you see fit.

Your constructive feedback is appreciated.

Thanks,

Ron also pointed out that the Russell Thompson I mentioned has no affiliation with this new venture. I guess that’s one of the hazard’s of serach engines caching information and recycling of email addresses over time. Regardless, Ron took the time to respond and I wanted to thank him for his efforts at building his new venture.

Updated 8/1/05
Based on Ron’s polite request and the open approach he took to responding to my post, I’ve removed the DNS information that was posted here. Anyone with basic DNS skills can perfor whois lookups and find current information and there’s no reason to leave it listed here duplicating information that is easily updated.

Filed by Ken at 11:32 am under General
4 Comments

“It’s that time of year to take our annual senior citizen test.”

Exercise of the brain is as important as exercise of the muscles. As we grow older, it’s important that we keep mentally alert The saying; “If you don’t use it, you will lose it” also applies to the brain, so… Below is a very private way to gauge your loss or non-loss of intelligence.

So, take the following test presented here and determine if you are losing it or are still “with it.” The spaces below are so you don’t see the answers until you have made your answer.

OK - relax - clear your mind and… begin.

WELL MAYBE NOT THAT CLEAR!

1. What do you put in a toaster?

Answer: “bread.” If you said “toast,” then give up now and go do something else. Try not to hurt yourself. If you said, “bread,” go to Question 2.

2. Say “silk” five times. Now spell “silk.” What do cows drink?

Answer: Cows drink water. If you said “milk,” please do not attempt the next question. Your brain is obviously over stressed and may even overheat. It may be that you need to content yourself with reading something more appropriate such as Children’s World. If you said “water” then proceed to question

3. If a red house is made from red bricks and a blue house is m ade from blue bricks and a pink house is made from pink bricks and a black house is made from black bricks, what is a green house made from?

Answer: Greenhouses are made from glass. If you said “green bricks,” what the devil are you still doing here reading these questions????? If you said “glass,” then! go on to Question 4.

4. It’s twenty years ago, and a plane is flying at 20,000 feet over Germany (If you will recall, Germany at the time was politically divided into West Germany and East Germany.) Anyway, during the flight, TWO of the engines fail. The pilot, realizing that the last remaining engine is also failing, decides on a crash landing procedure. Unfortunately the e! ngine fa ils before he has time and the plane fatally crashes smack in the middle of “no man’s land” between East Germany and West Germany. Where would you bury the survivors? East Germany or West Germany or in “no man’s land”?

Answer: You don’t, of course, bury survivors.

If you said ANYTHING else, you are a real dunce and you must NEVER try to rescue anyone from a plane crash. Your efforts would not be appreciated. If you said, “Don’t bury the survivors”, then proceed to the next question.

5. Without using a calculator - You are driving a bus from London to Milford Haven in Wales. In London, 17 people get on the bus. In Reading, six people get off the bus and nine people get on. In Swindon, two people get off and four get on. In Cardiff, 11 people get off and 16 people get on. In Swansea, three people get off and five people get on In Carmathen, six people get off and three get on. You then arrive at Milford Haven. What was the name of the bus driver?

Answer: Oh, for crying out loud! Don’t you remember your own name? It was YOU!!

Now pass this along to all your “smart friends” and hope they do better than you did.

PS: 95% of people fail in most of the questions!!

Filed by Ken at 4:53 pm under General
No Comments

No particular reason for this post. Checking a Blackberry browser interface to this front end.

Filed by Ken at 11:25 am under Technology
No Comments

I’m the life of the party…… even if it lasts until 8 p.m.
I’m very good at opening childproof caps… with a hammer.
I’m usually interested in going home before I get to where I am going.
I’m awake many hours before my body allows me to get up.
I’m smiling all the time because I can’t hear a thing you’re saying.
I’m very good at telling stories; over and over and over and over…
I’m aware that other people’s grandchildren are not nearly as cute as mine.
I’m so cared for — long term care, eye care, private care, dental care.

I’m not really grouchy, I just don’t like traffic, waiting, crowds, lawyers, loud music, unruly kids, Road Runnner, Jenny Craig and Toyota commercials, barking dogs, politicians and a few other things I can’t seem to remember right now.

I’m sure everything I can’t find is in a safe secure place, somewhere.
I’m wrinkled, saggy, lumpy, and that’s just my left leg.
I’m having trouble remembering simple words like…….
I’m beginning to realize that aging is not for wimps.
I’m sure they are making adults much younger these days, and when did they let kids become policemen?
I’m wondering, if you’re only as old as you feel, how could I be alive at 150?
And, how can my kids be older than I feel sometimes?

I’m a walking storeroom of facts….. I’ve just lost the key to the storeroom door.

Filed by Ken at 3:03 pm under General
1 Comment

I can’t begin to do justice. Just click the link and enjoy the music.

PMS Blues!
Eve you wicked woman, you done put your curse on me
Why didn’t you just leave that apple hangin’ in the tree
You make us hate our husbands, our lovers and our boss
Why I can’t even count the good friends I’ve already lost
Cause of… PMS blues, PMS blues!!
I don’t even like myself, but it’s something I can’t help
I got those God almighty, slap somebody PMS blues
Most times I’m easy going, some say I’m good as gold
But when I’m PMS I tell ya, I turn mean and cold you
Those not afflicted with it are affected just the same
Poor old men didn’t have to grin and say “I feel your pain”
PMS blues… PMS blues…

Filed by Ken at 9:38 pm under General
No Comments

WOMEN’S REVENGE
“Cash, check or charge?” I asked, after folding items the woman wished to purchase. As she fumbled for her wallet I noticed a remote control for a television set in her purse. “So, do you always carry your TV remote?” I asked. “No,” she replied, ” but my husband refused to come shopping with me, and I figured this was the most evil thing I could do to him legally.”

UNDERSTANDING WOMEN (A MAN’S PERSPECTIVE)
I know I’m not going to understand women. I’ll never understand how you can take boiling hot wax pour it onto your upper thigh, rip the hair out by the root, and still be afraid of a spider.

MARRIAGE SEMINAR
While attending a Marriage Seminar dealing with communication, Tom and his wife Grace listened to the instructor, “It is essential that husbands and wives know the things that are important to each other.” He addressed the man, “Can you describe your wife’s favorite flower?” Tom leaned over, touched his wife’s arm gently and whispered, “It’s Pillsbury, isn’t it?
The rest of the story gets rather ugly, so I’ll stop right here.

CIGARETTES AND TAMPONS
A man walks into a pharmacy and wanders up and down the aisles. The sales girl notices him and asks him if she can help him. He answers that he is looking for a box of tampons for his wife. She directs him down the correct aisle. A few minutes later, he deposits a huge bag of cotton balls and a ball of string on the counter. She says, confused, “Sir, I thought you were looking for some tampons for your wife? He answers, ” You see, it’s like this, yesterday, I sent my wife to the store to get me a carton of cigarettes, and she came back with a tin of tobacco and some rolling papers; cause it’s sooo-ooo–oo-ooo much cheaper. So, I figure if I have to roll my own ……….. so does she.
(I figure this guy is the one on the milk carton!)

WIFE VS. HUSBAND
A couple drove down a country road for several miles, not saying a word. An earlier discussion had led to an argument and neither of them wanted to concede their position. As they passed a barnyard of mules, goats, and pigs, the husband asked sarcastically, “Relatives of yours?” “Yep,” the wife replied, “in-laws.”

WORDS
A husband read an article to his wife about how many words women use a day… 30,000 to a man’s 15,000. The wife replied, “The reason has to be because we have to repeat everything to men…
The husband then turned to his wife and asked, “What?”

CREATION
A man said to his wife one day, “I don’t know how you can be so stupid and so beautiful all at the same time. ” The wife responded, “Allow me to explain. God made me beautiful so you would be attracted to me; God made me stupid so I would be attracted to you!

WHO DOES WHAT
A man and his wife were having an argument about who should brew the coffee each morning. The wife said, “You should do it, because you get up first, and then we don’t have to wait as long to get our coffee.” The husband said, ” You are in charge of cooking around here and you should do it, because that is your job, and I can just wait for my coffee.” Wife replies, “No, you should do it, and besides, it is in the Bible that the man should do the coffee.” Husband replies, “I can’t believe that, show me.” So she fetched the Bible, and opened the New Testament and showed him at the top of several pages, that it indeed says………. “HEBREWS”

The Silent Treatment
A man and his wife were having some problems at home and were giving each other the silent treatment. Suddenly, the man realized that the next day, he would need his wife to wake him at 5:00 AM for an early morning business flight. Not wanting to be the first to break the silence (and LOSE), he wrote on a piece of paper, “Please wake me at 5:00 AM.” He left it where he knew she would find it. The next morning, the man woke up, only to discover it was 9:00 AM and he had missed his flight. Furious, he was about to go and see why his wife hadn’t wakened him, when he noticed a piece of paper by the bed. The paper said, “It is 5:00 AM. Wake up.”

Men are not equipped for these kinds of contests.

Aside - For those who might be humor impaired and not understand this well enough to just laugh…well…ask your wife or a female blogger.

Filed by Ken at 9:31 pm under General
2 Comments

Friend and colleague, Dave Piscatello recently joined the leadership at ICANN. He’s been investigating domain hijacking with the Security and Stability Advisory Committee (SSAC). Per his blog post -

“I’ve prepared a report on behalf of and with the extensive input and support from SSAC and ICANN staff. The Domain Name Hijacking Report was commissioned in response to both highly publicized hijacking events and a number of lesser publicized events. The SSAC found that domain name hijacking incidents are commonly the result of flaws in registration and related processes, failure to comply with the transfer policy and poor administration of domain names. The report recommends ten key actions including implementation of improved auditing and compliance measures, and additional measures to protect registration information from misuse by would-be hijackers, as well as implementation of emergency procedures to assist in the urgent restoration of a domain name.”

You can find the report at ICANN

Filed by Ken at 12:00 pm under General, InfoSec
No Comments

DHS Needs to Fully Implement Its Security Program, Says GAO The Department of Homeland Security has not fully implemented a comprehensive, department-wide information security program to protect the information and information systems that support its operations and assets, according to a Government Accountability Office report last month to the Ranking Minority Member of the Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs. GAO identified weaknesses in 18 areas and is making recommendations to the Secretary of Homeland Security to implement key information security practices and controls and to establish milestones for verifying the department’s reported performance data. [View report]

Filed by Ken at 7:18 am under General
No Comments

July 12, IT−Observer — New wireless attack discovered. The security threat of wireless networks to the enterprise keeps growing, this time with the discovery of a new wireless attack. Dubbed “phlooding,” this new exploit targets businesses central authentication server with the goal of overloading it and cause a denial−of−service attack. The “phlooding” attack, discovered by AirMagnet, describes a group of simultaneous but geographically distributed attacks that targets wireless access points with login requests using multiple password combination in what are known as dictionary attacks. The multiple requests create a flood of authentication requests to the company’s authentication server, which could slow down logins and potentially interfere with broader network operations, since many different users and applications often validate themselves against the same identity management system. Phlooding could effectively block broadband VPN or firewall connections that use a common authentication server to verify an incoming user’s identity, making it temporarily impossible for employees to access their corporate network. Businesses with multiple office locations served by a single identity management server could be particularly vulnerable to phlooding attacks.
Source: http://www.ebcvg.com/articles.php?id=802

Filed by Ken at 6:43 am under Technology
No Comments

July 13, Security Focus — Mozilla Suite, Firefox and Thunderbird multiple vulnerabilities. The Mozilla Foundation has released 12 security advisories specifying security vulnerabilities in Mozilla Suite, Firefox, and Thunderbird. These vulnerabilities allow attackers to execute arbitrary machine code in the context of the vulnerable application, bypass security checks, execute script code in the context of targeted Websites to disclose confidential information; other attacks are also possible. These vulnerabilities have been addressed in Firefox version 1.0.5, Mozilla Suite 1.7.9. Mozilla Thunderbird has not been fixed at this time. The issues described here will be split into individual BIDs as further analysis is completed. This BID will then be retired.
Source: http://www.securityfocus.com/bid/14242/info

Filed by Ken at 8:06 am under General
No Comments

Former WorldCom chief jailed for 25 years. 14/07/2005. ABC News Online

Former WorldCom chief executive Bernard Ebbers has been sentenced to 25 years in prison for his role in the fraud scheme at the telecom giant that led to the biggest corporate collapse in US history.

It was an effective life term for the 63-year-old Ebbers who wept and hugged his tearful wife after US District Judge Barbara Jones pronounced sentence.

“A sentence of anything less would not reflect the seriousness of the crime,” Judge Jones, who rejected defence arguments that the fraud-related losses suffered by WorldCom investors had been exaggerated and that Ebbers was not the architect of the $US11 billion accounting scam.

“It is quite clear to me that Mr Ebbers was a leader of criminal activity in this case,” she said.

Filed by Ken at 1:56 pm under Technology
No Comments

Received in email -

Dear Red States,

We’re ticked off at the way you’ve treated New York and California, and we’ve decided we’re leaving. We intend to form our own country and we’re taking the other Blue States with us.

In case you aren’t aware, that includes Hawaii, Oregon, Washington, Minnesota, Wisconsin, Michigan, Illinois and all the Northeast. We believe this split will be beneficial to the nation, and especially to the people of the new country of New California.

To sum up briefly: You get Texas, Oklahoma and all the slave states. We get stem cell research and the best beaches.

We get Elliot Spitzer. You get Ken Lay.

We get the Statue of Liberty. You get Opry Land.

We get Intel and Microsoft. You get WorldCom.

We get Harvard. You get Ole’ Miss.

We get 85 percent of America’s venture capital and entrepreneurs. You get Alabama.

We get two-thirds of the tax revenue. You get to make the red states pay their fair share.

Since our aggregate divorce rate is 22 percent lower than the Christian Coalition’s, we get a bunch of happy families. You get a bunch of single moms.

Please be aware that Nuevo California will be pro-choice and anti-war, and we’re going to want all our citizens back from Iraq at once. If you need people to fight, ask your evangelicals. They have kids they’re apparently willing to send to their deaths for no purpose, and they don’t care if you don’t show pictures of their children’s caskets coming home.

We do wish you success in Iraq, and hope that the WMDs turn up, but we’re not willing to spend our resources in Bush’s Quagmire.

With the Blue States in hand, we will have firm control of 80 percent of the country’s fresh water, more than 90 percent of the pineapple and lettuce, 92 percent of the nation’s fresh fruit, 95 percent of America’s quality wines (you can serve French wines at state dinners) 90 percent of all cheese, 90 percent of the high tech industry, most of the U.S. low-sulfur coal, all living redwoods, sequoias and condors, all the Ivy and Seven Sister schools, plus Carnegie Mellon, University of Chicago, Stanford, Cal Tech and MIT.

With the Red States, on the other hand, you will have to cope with 88 percent of all obese Americans (and their projected health care costs), 92 percent of all U.S. mosquitoes, nearly 100 percent of the tornadoes, 90 percent of the hurricanes, 99 percent of all Southern Baptists, virtually 100 percent of all televangelists, Rush Limbaugh, Bob Jones University,
Clemson and the University of Georgia.

We get Hollywood and Yosemite, thank you.

Additionally, 38 percent of those in the Red states believe Jonah was actually swallowed by a whale, 62 percent believe life is sacred unless we’re discussing the death penalty or gun laws, 44 percent say that evolution is only a theory, 53 percent that Saddam was involved in 9/11 and 61 percent of you crazy bastards believe you are people with higher morals than we lefties.

By the way, we’re taking the good pot, too. You can have that dirt weed they grow in Mexico.

Sincerely,

The Rest of Us

Filed by Ken at 11:57 am under General
1 Comment

July 08, TechWeb News — Linux compression format flaw found. A critical flaw in a compression format widely used in Linux and Unix can give hackers a way into machines, security experts said Friday, July 8. A patch for the zlib library isn’t available, but several Linux and BSD distributors have rolled out fixes of their own. The bug, which affects the current version of zlib, 1.2.2, can be exploited to create a denial−of−service (DoS) attack, which could crash any application using the library or let the attacker plant code of his own remotely, according to an alert by Danish security firm Secunia. The company rated the zlib vulnerability as “Highly critical,” its second−most dire ranking.
Source

Filed by Ken at 7:09 am under InfoSec, Technology
No Comments

July 11, internetnews.com — US−CERT warns of latest trojan horse attacks. The US−CERT issued an alert last week warning of heightened trojan virus attacks against companies and individuals. Although trojan attacks that infiltrate computer systems aren’t new, US−CERT said the technique used in these latest attacks have two distinct elements, which pose a threat to computing infrastructure and individual business operations. First, the trojans can elude conventional protective anti−virus software and firewalls. A number of open source and tailored trojans, altered to avoid anti−virus detection, have been used. Second, the e−mails are sent to specific or targeted recipients. Unlike ”phishing” attacks, the e−mails use subject lines often referring to work or other subjects that the recipient would find relevant. US−CERT made 12 recommendations for system administrators in order to head off trojan horse attacks. They include using an anti−virus scanner on all e−mail attachments, updating operating system and application software to patch vulnerabilities exploited in the past by these Trojans; and turn off ‘Preview Pane’ functionality in e−mail clients and set the default options to view opened e−mails as plain text.
Technical Cyber Security Alert TA05−189A −−Targeted Trojan Email Attacks:
http://www.us−cert.gov/cas/techalerts/TA05−189A.html
Source: http://www.esecurityplanet.com/alerts/article.php/3519236

Filed by Ken at 7:01 am under InfoSec, Technology
No Comments

July 07, vnunet.com (UK) — Suspected spammer Smith seized. Suspected spammer Christopher Smith, nicknamed the Rizler was arrested at a Minneapolis, MN airport shortly after stepping off a flight from the Dominican Republic, where he had been operating since a U.S. federal judge in May shut down his companies, Burnsville Internet and Xpress Pharmacy Direct, and ordered him to stop selling drugs online. Smith had since set up similar operations in the Dominican Republic, through which he is alleged to have sent more than a billion spam emails either to AOL email addresses or through AOL email accounts. The FBI claims that Smith has already made about $18 million this year. Federal authorities raided Xpress Pharmacy and Smith’s home on 10 May, seizing his passport and $4.2m in assets, including a $1.1m house and luxury cars worth $1.8m. At the same time the FBI closed down his 85-employee company. Investigators concluded that Smith had been selling medicines to customers without proper prescriptions, and selling drugs without a licence. The U.S. Attorney’s office claims that Smith had broken court orders and is recommending that he be held in criminal contempt and jailed for six months.
Source

Filed by Ken at 2:21 pm under Technology
1 Comment

Every now and then it’s important to take a step away from blogging and into reality. We all have a reality. Some good. Some bad. But to get so caught up in blogging that it becomes our reality is a foolish and dangerous thing. This weekend I spent my time away from technology. I was actually relieved to find that neither cell phone nor pager work when you get up above Longmire.

I’ve never been a big picture poster on here, but this was an important trip because it heralds a shift away from technogeekfoolery to more important things. so here a present an abbreviated chronicle of weekend.

I’ve posted pictures of Connor before, but here’s our troop (minus me, behind the lens) getting ready to head out on Saturday morning. Connor’s on the left, hitching a ride from Mom Maureen. Dad Ken (Ken II) is in the center, with my wife, Grandma Pat on the right.

This footbridge was the best maintained and perhaps the easiest part of our Saturday hike. We headed up about 2 miles in, but with 1400 feet in elevation gain and climbing through roots and switchbacks most of the day. It was pretty cold and gray at times. We wondered if the weekend weather was going to even allow any real hiking.

Then again, 2 miles and 1400 feet in elevation brings certain rewards in the Pacific Northwest. Our destination, Comet Falls, is the highest waterfall in the park. 320 feet of spray and splash with a beautiful view. And while we were tired and took a breather and a bunch of other pictures, we decided to head back down and go eat lunch at the Paradise visitor’s center.

For us, moving to the Pacific Northwest was a change. We’ve lived in California, and I spent plenty of time hiking the Sierra and hustling up Mt. Whitney. But when you live here, on a clear day you can point to three volcanoes. And while they’re all out there, Rainier dominates the landscape. In Olympia we judge the weather based on whether or not you can see Rainier, and on Sunday, we were blessed with sunshine and 70’s as the mountain came out to play. It’s interesting to even sit below and watch the hikers heading up. The routine is to head up to Camp Muir during the day, and rest there. Most climbers leave Muir at midnight to head for the summit. They look like fireflies meandering up the mountain at night. That generally makes for a sunrise at the summit and then hustle down before the ice and snow get too unstable for the day. Whether climbing or just watching, it’s an impressive mountain.

The picture postcard of Mt. Rainier is almost always taken at Reflection Lake. When the wind is still you can get a perfect mirror image in the lake. In our case. there was a breeze, and the small trout in the lake were feeding and pretty active.

On Sunday, tired from the switchback climb, and nursing sore muscles from the first real hike after a long layoff, we headed for easier views. The wildflowers are in bloom all across the mountain meadows, and these lupines are just one small sample. At one point the trail was a boardwalk through the meadow, but years if too many hikers have worn it down to a footpath. Still, it’s nice to see people do stay off the meadow.

The trail in to Bench Lake is a series of ups and downs. It isn’t all meadow. But worth the view. You can get down to the water and there are a series of trails around the lake, but this is a day visit spot only.

If you’re determined to spend the night, stay on the trail another .7 miles and you’ll arrive here. Snow Lake, aptly named givien the water temperature, does sport a small primitive camp site.

The hardest part of the day is that long hike back out. And everyone felt a lot like Connor by the time we finished the second day of hiking.

This was the first time back out for serious hiking in a while. But there will be more. Lots more. This whole area will shortly be a regular weekend workout of hikes, adventures and explorations. Some will show up here from time to time.

No fireworks necessary. An appreciation of God’s green earth and family is more than enough to remind us why we celebrate this day. Good wishes all.

Note - If picture sizing whacks out the sidebar again, I’ll probably just leave it until it scrolls off rather than fight with it).

Filed by Ken at 5:09 pm under General, Meandering
4 Comments