Blog Archive: December 2014
More traces, no insights
More DHCP traces today, both bootp and ICMP. Got some extreme examples of the problem: 18:21:25.932442 IP radiation-tower.aussiebb.net.bootps > aussie-gw.lemis.com.bootpc: BOOTP/DHCP, Reply, length 300 Last successful renewal 18:51:25.917433 IP aussie-gw.lemis.com.bootpc > radiation-tower.aussiebb.net.bootps: BOOTP/DHCP, Request from 00:50:da:cf:07:35 (oui Unknown), length 300 ... 46 more unanswered requests 19:13:36.067439 IP aussie-gw.lemis.com.bootpc > radiation-tower.aussiebb.net.bootps: BOOTP/DHCP, Request from 00:50:da:cf:07:35 (oui Unknown), length 300 give up, send request to broadcast address 19:14:27.068420 IP aussie-gw.lemis.com.bootpc > 255.255.255.255.bootps: BOOTP/DHCP, Request from 00:50:da:cf:07:35 (oui Unknown), length 300 ... 12 more unanswered requests 19:21:17.080421 IP aussie-gw.lemis.com.bootpc > 255.255.255.255.bootps: BOOTP/DHCP, Request from 00:50:da:cf:07:35 (oui Unknown), length 300 Issue a DHCPDISCOVER 19:21:26.099194 IP 0.0.0.0.bootpc > 255.255.255.255.bootps: BOOTP/DHCP, Request from 00:50:da:cf:07:35 (oui Unknown), length 300 Two replies in less than 300 ms 19:21:26.392024 IP radiation-tower.aussiebb.net.bootps > aussie-gw.lemis.com.bootpc: BOOTP/DHCP, Reply, length 300 19:21:26.396913 IP radiation-tower.aussiebb.net.bootps > aussie-gw.lemis.com.bootpc: BOOTP/DHCP, Reply, length 300 And this one?
More Data on Attributing the Sony Attack
An analysis of the timestamps on some of the leaked documents shows that they were downloaded at USB 2.0 speeds -- which implies an insider. Our Gotnews.com investigation into the data that has been released by the "hackers" shows that someone at Sony was copying 182GB at minimum the night of the 21st -- the very same day that Sony...
Interview with the RiYL podcast about personal politics and big-P politics
I sat down for an interview with the RiYL podcast (MP3) at NYCC last fall. We covered a lot of material that I don’t get a lot of chances to talk about, particularly the relationship between personal politics and big-P politics. Listening to it again, I’m very satisfied with how it turned out.
Interview with the RiYL podcast about personal politics and big-P politics
I sat down for an interview with the RiYL podcast (MP3) at NYCC last fall. We covered a lot of material that I don't get a lot of chances to talk about, particularly the relationship between personal politics and big-P politics. Listening to it again, I'm very satisfied with how it turned out.
Interview with the RiYL podcast about personal politics and big-P politics
I sat down for an interview with the RiYL podcast (MP3) at NYCC last fall. We covered a lot of material that I don’t get a lot of chances to talk about, particularly the relationship between personal politics and big-P politics. Listening to it again, I’m very satisfied with how it turned out.
Tracing the DHCP issues
Why is my DHCP not renewing its leases cleanly? Started running a wireshark trace on bootpc and discovered that the DHCP server only responds when it feels like it: 10:04:36.806443 IP aussie-gw.lemis.com.bootpc > radiation-tower.aussiebb.net.bootps: BOOTP/DHCP, Request from 00:50:da:cf:07:35 (oui Unknown), length 300 10:04:40.807439 IP aussie-gw.lemis.com.bootpc > radiation-tower.aussiebb.net.bootps: BOOTP/DHCP, Request from 00:50:da:cf:07:35 (oui Unknown), length 300 10:04:50.808421 IP aussie-gw.lemis.com.bootpc > radiation-tower.aussiebb.net.bootps: BOOTP/DHCP, Request from 00:50:da:cf:07:35 (oui Unknown), length 300 10:04:57.809439 IP aussie-gw.lemis.com.bootpc > radiation-tower.aussiebb.net.bootps: BOOTP/DHCP, Request from 00:50:da:cf:07:35 (oui Unknown), length 300 10:05:12.810434 IP aussie-gw.lemis.com.bootpc > radiation-tower.aussiebb.net.bootps: BOOTP/DHCP, Request from 00:50:da:cf:07:35 (oui Unknown), length 300 10:05:35.811432 IP aussie-gw.lemis.com.bootpc > radiation-tower.aussiebb.net.bootps: BOOTP/DHCP, Request from 00:50:da:cf:07:35 (oui Unknown), length 300 10:06:15.812437 IP aussie-gw.lemis.com.bootpc > radiation-tower.aussiebb.net.bootps: BOOTP/DHCP, Request from 00:50:da:cf:07:35 (oui Unknown), length 300 10:07:24.813424 IP aussie-gw.lemis.com.bootpc > radiation-tower.aussiebb.net.bootps: BOOTP/DHCP, Request from 00:50:da:cf:07:35 (oui Unknown), length 300 10:07:24.860089 IP radiation-tower.aussiebb.net.bootps > aussie-gw.lemis.com.bootpc: BOOTP/DHCP, Reply, length 300 ...
Bushfires and house sites
We've had another bushfire in Dereel. Nothing overly serious, fortunately. 22 ha burnt, but no particular damage, no injuries. This morning Dan from the CFA came by to collect a donation we've been trying to make, and told me that it had started from an overheated compost heap in Leigh Court, and quickly jumped the BallaratColac road: Not overly interesting until you consider that this is next to a property we investigated last year. At the time it was clear that last year's bushfire had stopped at the east end of the property.
Another dhcp failure!
This evening it was Chris who told me that we were off the net. Same problem as yesterday. Time to do some tracing. ACM only downloads articles once. It's possible that this article has changed since being downloaded, but the only way you can find out is by looking at the original article.
Consider the Redirect
In wikis, redirects are special pages that silently take readers from the page they are visiting to another page. Although their presence is noted in tiny gray text (see the image below) most people use them all the time and never know they exist. Redirects exist to make linking between pages easier, they populate Wikipedia’s … Continue reading Consider the Redirect
Predictions for 2015 that you can't live without!
Here are my predictions for 2015: Bloggers who make stupid, attention-getting, predictions will not be held accountable when those predictions don't come true. Windows-only enterprises have started buying Apple laptops to run Windows 10 due to the lower repair rate of the higher quality hardware. This trend will increase and Apple will run a marketing campaign to take advantage of the trend. The battle between Docker and CoreOS to define the container format of the future will stall the industry as it gets more and more nasty. If you thought VHS vs. Betamax was bad, or that AT&T vs. BSD Unix was bad, this will be 100x worse.
Leaked CIA Documents
I haven't seen much press mention about the leaked CIA documents that have appeared on Wikileaks this month. There are three: The CIA review of high-value target assassination programs, classified SECRET, from 2009. The CIA's advice for agents going through airport security and surviving secondary screening, classified SECRET, from 2011. The CIA's advice for agents travelling into the Shengen Area,...
NBN problems again?
Watching TV this evening, wanted to check on something on the web. No connection. Further checks showed that we were off the net again! What's wrong with the National Broadband Network? OK, go through the motions. First restart dhcpd. That was it! Immediate connection. So what went wrong? We went offline at 20:45, and all I see in /var/log/messages is: Dec 28 20:15:26 eureka dhclient[18871]: unknown dhcp option value 0x52 Dec 28 20:45:26 eureka dhclient[18871]: unknown dhcp option value 0x52 Dec 28 21:07:44 eureka ntpd[948]: sendto(202.142.142.241) (fd=25): No route to host Dec 28 21:08:41 eureka ntpd[948]: sendto(192.189.54.33) (fd=25): No route to host Dec 28 21:12:23 eureka ntpd[948]: sendto(203.161.12.165) (fd=25): No route to host Dec 28 21:15:26 eureka dhclient[18871]: send_packet: No route to host Dec 28 21:15:40 eureka last message repeated 3 times Dec 28 21:16:04 eureka dhclient[60636]: unknown dhcp option value ...
New Documents on NSA's Crypanalysis Capabilities
Spiegel published a long article today on the NSA's analysis capabilities against encrypted systems, with a lot of new documents from the Snowden archive. I'm not going to have time to look at this for a few days. Describe anything interesting you find -- with links to the documents -- in the comments....
End of 2014
As the year winds down Im mostly cheery about my slice of life, though distressed by much of what I see looking outside it. There are cheery-side pictures here. Somewhere on the Trans-Canada near the Rogers pass. Same spot, less photo-glamor. Both of these are the new 10-24. Here are things that will happen this first week of 2015: People will kill others because of devotion to supernatural entities. Were there a benevolent deity, he or she would manifest double-quick and say Let me make one thing perfectly clear: Thou. Shalt. Not. Kill. OK? But there isnt, as any fool can plainly see.
My Government Portrait
A friend recently commented on my rather unusual portrait on my (out of date) page on the Berkman website. Here’s the story. I joined Berkman as a fellow with a fantastic class of fellows that included, among many other incredibly accomplished people, Vivek Kundra: first Chief Information Officer of the United States. At Berkman, all … Continue reading My Government Portrait
Friday Squid Blogging: Mummers Play Featuring Giant Squid
"St. George, the Dragon, and the Squid: A Preservation Mumming," by the American Folklife Center. As usual, you can also use this squid post to talk about the security stories in the news that I haven't covered....
Merry Christmas from the NSA
On Christmas eve the NSA relesed a bunch of audit reports on illegal spying using EO 12333 from 2001 to 2013. Bloomberg article. The heavily-redacted reports include examples of data on Americans being e-mailed to unauthorized recipients, stored in unsecured computers and retained after it was supposed to be destroyed, according to the documents. They were posted on the NSA's...
"Santa Claus and the Surveillance State"
He sees you when you're sleeping. He knows when you're awake. He's everywhere. And that's the whole point of the Elf on the Shelf, the bright-eyed, Kewpie-esque doll that millions of parents display around their homes in December as a reminder to children to behave. The elf, the story goes, is an agent reporting back to Santa Claus, and he's...
Did North Korea Really Attack Sony?
I am deeply skeptical of the FBI's announcement on Friday that North Korea was behind last month's Sony hack. The agency's evidence is tenuous, and I have a hard time believing it. But I also have trouble believing that the US government would make the accusation this formally if officials didn't believe it. Clues in the hackers' attack code seem...
Images of Japan
Going through some photos, I was able to revisit some of the more memorable moments of my trip to Japan earlier this year. For example, the time I visited Genkai Quasi National Park a beautiful spot in Fukuoka that had a strong resemblance to, but may not actually have been, a national park. There was … Continue reading Images of Japan
Manipulating Juries with PowerPoint
Interesting article on the subconscious visual tricks used to manipulate juries and affect verdicts. In December 2012 the Washington Supreme Court threw out Glasmann's convictions based on the "highly inflammatory" slides. As a general rule, courts don't want prosecutors expressing their personal opinion to a jury; they're supposed to couch their arguments in terms of what the evidence shows. Plastering...
North Korea DDoSed Off the Internet
North Korea has been knocked off the Internet by a distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) attack. Maybe the US did it, and maybe not. This whole incident is a perfect illustration of how technology is equalizing capability. In both the original attack against Sony, and this attack against North Korea, we can't tell the difference between a couple of hackers and a...
2008 Cyberattack Against Turkish Oil Pipeline
Interesting article talks about the 2008 cyberattack against a Turkish oil pipeline: For western intelligence agencies, the blowout was a watershed event. Hackers had shut down alarms, cut off communications and super-pressurized the crude oil in the line, according to four people familiar with the incident who asked not to be identified because details of the investigation are confidential. The...
Merry Christmas!
I've finally finished my Christmas Card. In past years I've sent it out just as a URL, like here. But that's not really much use to somebody out of range of high speed networking. So I printed the page as a PDF document and appended it to the message. The HTML version is interactive, so it's preferable, but why not offer the PDF too? I've had trouble sending this letter in past years, mainly finger trouble, so I checked the logs on my mail server: Dec 22 01:58:41 www postfix/cleanup[94666]: 0117B1B72843: message-id=<[email protected]> Dec 22 01:58:41 www postfix/cleanup[94666]: 0117B1B72843: resent-message-id=<[email protected]> Dec 22 01:58:53 www postfix/smtpd[94675]: connect from unknown[123.124.153.126] Dec 22 01:58:54 www postfix/smtpd[94675]: NOQUEUE: reject: RCPT from unknown[123.124.153.126]: 450 4.7.1 Client host rejected: cannot find your hostname, [123.124.153.126]; from=<lijuan@tianlu-tech.com> to=<[email protected]> proto=ESMTP helo=<WebServer.Tianlu-tech.com> Dec 22 01:58:54 www postfix/smtpd[94675]: disconnect from unknown[123.124.153.126] Dec 22 ...
Podcast: Happy Xmas! (guest starring Poesy)
It’s that time again! School is out, but I’m still working, so the kid came to the office with me, just in time to record a new podcast. This year, Poesy performs a stirring rendition of Jingle Bells, with dirty words! MP3
Podcast: Happy Xmas! (guest starring Poesy)
It's that time again! School is out, but I'm still working, so the kid came to the office with me, just in time to record a new podcast. This year, Poesy performs a stirring rendition of Jingle Bells, with dirty words! MP3
Podcast: Happy Xmas! (guest starring Poesy)
It’s that time again! School is out, but I’m still working, so the kid came to the office with me, just in time to record a new podcast. This year, Poesy performs a stirring rendition of Jingle Bells, with dirty words! MP3
Reacting to the Sony Hack
First we thought North Korea was behind the Sony cyberattacks. Then we thought it was a couple of hacker guys with an axe to grind. Now we think North Korea is behind it again, but the connection is still tenuous. There have been accusations of cyberterrorism, and even cyberwar. I've heard calls for us to strike back, with actual missiles...
ALERT! Two "git" related security vunerabilities
Warning! Upgrade now! There is a security hole in the git client. UNTIL YOU UPGRADE: Do not "git clone" or "git pull" from untrusted sources. AFTER YOU UPGRADE: Do not "git clone" or "git pull" from untrusted sources. THE CODE YOU JUST DOWNLOADED IS UNTRUSTED AND SHOULD NOT BE RUN, YOU FOOL!ÿ
OI.Share revisited
It's coming up for Christmas, time for our annual Christmas letter to our friends. Last year we wrote that we expected to be in the new house by now, so we thought it appropriate to take this year's photo there: Somehow we didn't look as happy as last year: This wasn't the only photo we took, but none of them were better. Why? This year we had to get three dogs to stand still instead of only one year, but a big issue was controlling the camera: The camera no longer has an infrared remote control: ...
Friday Squid Blogging: Squid Beard
Impressive. As usual, you can also use this squid post to talk about the security stories in the news that I haven't covered....
Lessons from the Sony Hack
Earlier this month, a mysterious group that calls itself Guardians of Peace hacked into Sony Pictures Entertainment's computer systems and began revealing many of the Hollywood studio's best-kept secrets, from details about unreleased movies to embarrassing emails (notably some racist notes from Sony bigwigs about President Barack Obama's presumed movie-watching preferences) to the personnel data of employees, including salaries and...
Book review and interview on InfoQ
InfoQ interviewed the authors of The Practice of Cloud System Administration and included it as part of their review of the book. Read it here!
LISTEN: Wil Wheaton reads Information Doesnt Want to Be Free
I’ve posted the first chapter (MP3) of Wil Wheaton’s reading of my book Information Doesn’t Want to Be Free (which sports introductions by Neil Gaiman and Amanda Palmer!), which is available as a $15 DRM-free audiobook, sweetened by samples from Amanda Palmer and Dresden Dolls’ “Coin-Operated Boy.” Buy Now In sharply argued, fast-moving chapters, Cory... more
LISTEN: Wil Wheaton reads Information Doesnt Want to Be Free
I've posted the first chapter (MP3) of Wil Wheaton's reading of my book Information Doesn't Want to Be Free (which sports introductions by Neil Gaiman and Amanda Palmer!), which is available as a $15 DRM-free audiobook, sweetened by samples from Amanda Palmer and Dresden Dolls' "Coin-Operated Boy." In sharply argued, fast-moving chapters, Cory Doctorows Information … [Read more]
LISTEN: Wil Wheaton reads Information Doesnt Want to Be Free
I’ve posted the first chapter (MP3) of Wil Wheaton’s reading of my book Information Doesn’t Want to Be Free (which sports introductions by Neil Gaiman and Amanda Palmer!), which is available as a $15 DRM-free audiobook, sweetened by samples from Amanda Palmer and Dresden Dolls’ “Coin-Operated Boy.” In sharply argued, fast-moving chapters, Cory Doctorows Information... more
SS7 Vulnerabilities
There are security vulnerability in the phone-call routing protocol called SS7. The flaws discovered by the German researchers are actually functions built into SS7 for other purposes -- such as keeping calls connected as users speed down highways, switching from cell tower to cell tower -- that hackers can repurpose for surveillance because of the lax security on the network....
Interview with Radio New Zealands This Way Up
Radio New Zealand National’s This Way Up recorded this interview with me, which airs tomorrow (Saturday), about my book Information Doesn’t Want to Be Free (MP3).
Interview with Radio New Zealands This Way Up
Radio New Zealand National's This Way Up recorded this interview with me, which airs tomorrow (Saturday), about my book Information Doesn't Want to Be Free (MP3).
Interview with Radio New Zealands This Way Up
Radio New Zealand National’s This Way Up recorded this interview with me, which airs tomorrow (Saturday), about my book Information Doesn’t Want to Be Free (MP3).
ISIS Cyberattacks
Citizen Lab has a new report on a probable ISIS-launched cyberattack: This report describes a malware attack with circumstantial links to the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria. In the interest of highlighting a developing threat, this post analyzes the attack and provides a list of Indicators of Compromise. A Syrian citizen media group critical of Islamic State of Iraq...
The Limits of Police Subterfuge
"The next time you call for assistance because the Internet service in your home is not working, the 'technician' who comes to your door may actually be an undercover government agent. He will have secretly disconnected the service, knowing that you will naturally call for help and -- when he shows up at your door, impersonating a technician -- let...
How the FBI Unmasked Tor Users
Kevin Poulson has a good article up on Wired about how the FBI used a Metasploit variant to identity Tor users....
Fake Cell Towers Found in Norway
In yet another example of what happens when you build an insecure communications infrastructure, fake cell phone towers have been found in Oslo. No one knows who has been using them to eavesdrop. This is happening in the US, too. Remember the rule: we're all using the same infrastructure, so we can either keep it insecure so we -- and...
Understanding Zero-Knowledge Proofs
Matthew Green has a good primer....
Over 700 Million People Taking Steps to Avoid NSA Surveillance
There's a new international survey on Internet security and trust, of "23,376 Internet users in 24 countries," including "Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, Egypt, France, Germany, Great Britain, Hong Kong, India, Indonesia, Italy, Japan, Kenya, Mexico, Nigeria, Pakistan, Poland, South Africa, South Korea, Sweden, Tunisia, Turkey and the United States." Amongst the findings, 60% of Internet users have heard of Edward...
Twitter News
Good news and bad news; but mostly bad. Its a playground for abusers and managements pointing the wrong way. Good news Kathy Sierra, one of the good smart people who make Life Online interesting, was chased off the Net by shitheads in 2007, then came back strong via Twitter, offering a refined mix of words and pictures. But then, earlier this year, it happened again. Because shes a woman with opinions. Which draws abuse. In her case, including from Weev (now theres an asswipes asswipe). To make it worse, the Twitter account she folded was insta-grabbed by an abuser and used as a club to beat her.
Interview with The Command Line podcast
I just appeared on the Command Line podcast (MP3) to talk about Information Doesn't Want to Be Free -- Thomas and I really had a wide-ranging and excellent conversation: In this episode, I interview Cory Doctorow about his latest book, Information Doesnt Want to be Free: Laws for the Internet Age. If you are interested … [Read more]
Interview with The Command Line podcast
I just appeared on the Command Line podcast (MP3) to talk about Information Doesn’t Want to Be Free — Thomas and I really had a wide-ranging and excellent conversation: In this episode, I interview Cory Doctorow about his latest book, Information Doesnt Want to be Free: Laws for the Internet Age. If you are interested... more
A year of NBN
A year ago today my network problems were solved with the installation of National Broadband Network fixed wireless. What a relief it was. It still is, and that's why we had the second installation done in Stones Road last week. Why so early? I don't trust the current government not to kill off new installations on the NBN. With good reason, it seems, if this article is to be believed. That's from The Register, not exactly the most neutral of publications. What's behind it? Should a country nationalize Internet topology? Australia has a particular problem because, although it's a highly developed country, the population density is very low, which makes providing fair network access to people outside the towns.
Friday Squid Blogging: Recreational Squid Fishing in Washington State
There is year-round recreational squid fishing from the Strait of Juan de Fuca to south Puget Sound. A nighttime sport that requires simple, inexpensive fishing tackle, squid fishing-or jigging-typically takes place on the many piers and docks throughout the Puget Sound region As usual, you can also use this squid post to talk about the security stories in the news...
Incident Response Webinar on Thursday
On 12/18 I'll be part of a Co3 webinar where we examine incident-response trends of 2014 and look ahead to 2015. I tend not to do these, but this is an exception. Please sign up if you're interested....
Who Might Control Your Telephone Metadata
Remember last winter when President Obama called for an end to the NSA's telephone metadata collection program? He didn't actually call for an end to it; he just wanted it moved from an NSA database to some commercial database. (I still think this is a bad idea, and that having the companies store it is worse than having the...
Comments on the Sony Hack
I don't have a lot to say about the Sony hack, which seems to still be ongoing. I want to highlight a few points, though. At this point, the attacks seem to be a few hackers and not the North Korean government. (My guess is that it's not an insider, either.) That we live in the world where we aren't...
Not Enough CISOs to Go Around
This article is reporting that the demand for Chief Information Security Officers far exceeds supply: Sony and every other company that realizes the need for a strong, senior-level security officer are scrambling to find talent, said Kris Lovejoy, general manager of IBM's security service and former IBM chief security officer. CISOs are "almost impossible to find these days," she said....
Effects of Terrorism Fears
Interesting article: "How terrorism fears are transforming America's public space." I am reminded of my essay from four years ago: "Close the Washington Monument."...
Information Doesnt Want to Be Free: the audiobook, read by Wil Wheaton (if you were to share this, Id consider it a personal favor!)
I've independently produced an audiobook edition of my nonfiction book Information Doesn't Want to Be Free: Laws for the Internet Age, paying Wil Wheaton to narrate it (he did such a great job on the Homeland audiobook, with a mixdown by the wonderful John Taylor Williams, and bed-music from Amanda Palmer and Dresden Dolls. Both … [Read more]
Information Doesnt Want to Be Free: the audiobook, read by Wil Wheaton (if you were to share this, Id consider it a personal favor!)
I’ve independently produced an audiobook edition of my nonfiction book Information Doesn’t Want to Be Free: Laws for the Internet Age, paying Wil Wheaton to narrate it (he did such a great job on the Homeland audiobook, with a mixdown by the wonderful John Taylor Williams, and bed-music from Amanda Palmer and Dresden Dolls. Both... more
Interview by Win Treese in InformIT
Win Treese interviewed me and my co-authors about the book. An Interview with the authors of "The Practice of Cloud System Administration" on DevOps and Data Security We discussed DevOps in the enterprise, trends in system administration, and at the end I got riled up and ranted about how terrible computer security has become.
Information Doesnt Want to Be Free Audiobook
Information Doesn't Want to Be Free, read by Wil Wheaton With introductions by Neil Gaiman and Amanda Palmer
Information Doesnt Want to Be Free Audiobook
Information Doesn't Want to Be Free, read by Wil Wheaton With introductions by Neil Gaiman and Amanda Palmer
NSA Hacking of Cell Phone Networks
The Intercept has published an article -- based on the Snowden documents -- about AURORAGOLD, an NSA surveillance operation against cell phone network operators and standards bodies worldwide. This is not a typical NSA surveillance operation where agents identify the bad guys and spy on them. This is an operation where the NSA spies on people designing and building a...
More Cheap Lens Fun
On the weekend, I took candid photos of friends in soft indoor evening light. The best lens for this sort of thing, speaking as a member of the Fujifilm cult, would be the awesome portrait-optimized 56mm F1.2, which has reduced many reviewers to quivering jelly. I didnt have one of those but the pix are still OK. My friends Michelle and Philip That 56mm is the kind of lens Id totally buy, except for I was at Leos Cameras and accidentally bought a used smc PENTAX-M 1:1.4 50mm instead, for (I think) $75. Manufactured between 1977 and 1984, its easy to screw onto my A.D.
Rapiscan Full-Body Scanner for Sale
Government surplus. Only $8,000 on eBay. Note that this device has been analyzed before....
Book Excerpt: Capacity Planning
ComputerWorld.com has published an excerpt from our book "The Practice of Cloud System Administration: Designing and Operating Large Distributed Systems Vol 2". The article has a title that implies it is about capacity planning for data centers but it's really about capacity planning for any system or service. Room to grow: Tips for data center capacity planning If you like that it, there's 547 more pages of good stuff like that in the book.
Corporate Abuse of our Data
Last week, we learned about a striking piece of malware called Regin that has been infecting computer networks worldwide since 2008. It's more sophisticated than any known criminal malware, and everyone believes a government is behind it. No country has taken credit for Regin, but there's substantial evidence that it was built and operated by the United States. This isn't...
Luigi Rizzo visits
Another dreary, moist day, and somehow got nothing done. About the only thing of interest was when Luigi Rizzo and his friend Valeria came for dinner. Spent some time showing them some kangaroos which had obligingly appeared in the north paddock, then Yvonne and Margaret Swann returned from Warrnambool, where the weather had been better. Had dinner, and Luigi and Valeria were off again. ACM only downloads articles once.
How to forge a sword: From start to finish!
How to forge a sword: From start to finish!
Friday Squid Blogging: Squid Poaching off the Coast of Japan
There has been an increase in squid poaching by North Korea out of Japanese territorial waters. As usual, you can also use this squid post to talk about the security stories in the news that I haven't covered....
Corporations Misusing Our Data
In the Internet age, we have no choice but to entrust our data with private companies: e-mail providers, service providers, retailers, and so on. We realize that this data is at risk from hackers. But there's another risk as well: the employees of the companies who are holding our data for us. In the early years of Facebook, employees had...
An ATA for Stones Road
Now that we have a network connection, the obvious thing to do is to set up VoIP to make up for the appalling mobile coverage in the area (thanks, Wendy). All I need is an ATA. After last month's damage, I only have one, with the other on order. But what's wrong with the defective one? No power indication. Is it possible that there's a fuse in there somewhere? Took it apart and examined the board: Sure enough, there's a surface mount fuse just next to the power connector at top left.
Networking!
Over to the building site this morning to meet with Duncan and discuss the bleak situation finding builders prepared to work over Christmas and the summer holidays. He was happy enough about the relocation of the gas supply, so that's one less problem. Jim Lannen was there too with his apprentice, and they got as far as putting in the Cat 6 cable. But still no power! Discussed with Jim and Duncan, who both agreed that a call to John Willowhite of Powercor was in order. But as I was leaving, I discovered an extension cable in front of the house, and sure enough: We have power!
Olfactory Surveillance
The Denver police are using olfactometers to measure the concentration of cannabis in the air. I haven't found any technical information about these devices, their sensitivity, range, etc....
Quantum Attack on Public-Key Algorithm
This talk (and paper) describe a lattice-based public-key algorithm called Soliloquy developed by GCHQ, and a quantum-computer attack on it. News article....
NBN installation?
Call from Walter Bonilla of the National Broadband Network today, reminding me of the network installation for Stones Road tomorrow. I had to remind him that we had already spoken, that there was no wall to attach the NTD, and that he was supposed to get the techies to call me. He volunteered the information that the installer was called Adam, and yes, he would call me before they came out. Somehow this organization sounds just as bureaucratic as all the others I have to deal with. ACM only downloads articles once.
The Future of Auditory Surveillance
Interesting essay on the future of speech recognition, microphone miniaturization, and the future ubiquity of auditory surveillance....
Closed Eyes, $45
I took my daughter for a walk down the Main, and we happened by a funky consignment shop. I cant decide whether that second one is sad or not.
When Ed Snowden met Marcus Yallow
Here's a scene from Citizenfour, Laura Poitras's acclaimed documentary on Edward Snowden, showing Snowden packing his bags to leave Hong Kong, showing the book on his nightstand: my novel Homeland. I literally could not be more proud than I am right now. Thanks to Poitras and her helper, Maria, for this clip.
When Ed Snowden met Marcus Yallow
Here’s a scene from Citizenfour, Laura Poitras’s acclaimed documentary on Edward Snowden, showing Snowden packing his bags to leave Hong Kong, showing the book on his nightstand: my novel Homeland. I literally could not be more proud than I am right now. Thanks to Poitras and her helper, Maria, for this clip.
A quick poll about order of evaluation?
Consider this program fragment: std::vector<int> v = { 0, 0 }; int i = 0; v[i++] = i++; std::cout << v[0] << v[1] << endl; My question is not what it might print under today’s C++ rules. The third line runs afoul of two different categories of undefined and unspecified behavior. Rather, my question is […]
A quick poll about order of evaluation&
Consider this program fragment: std::vector<int> v = { 0, 0 }; int i = 0; v[i++] = i++; std::cout << v[0] << v[1] << endl; My question is not what it might print under today’s C++ rules. The third line runs afoul of two different categories of undefined and unspecified behavior. Rather, my question is […]
Amazonian
As of December Im working for Amazon. This will be different from my last few gigs; in particular, dont expect to read about it here. The preaching and coding around privacy and security Ive been doing these last few months has been a blast, but it doesnt seem to be a paying job nor even a coherent organized project, the kind with co-workers. And Amazon is offering me one of those, so here I am with a smile on my face. What I will and wont be doing Ill be working on AWS. And thats all Im saying, because this isnt an outward-facing job; for the first time in oh-so-long, Im back in the full-time engineering trenches.
LOPSA-NJ Meeting: Intro to Chocolatey (THURSDAY)
This is LOPSA NJ's birthday meeting. There will be cake! The topic for this month's LOPSA NJ Chapter meeting is Chocolatey. It is a package manager that brings a lot of the benefits that Linux package systems have to the Windows world. Whether you use Windows or Unix, this presentation will be very educational. Topic: Intro to Chocolatey: A Windows Package Manager Speaker: Derek Murawsky Date: Thursday, December 4, 2014 Time: 7:00pm (social), 7:30pm (discussion) Location: Lawrenceville, NJ (near Princeton) For full info about the meeting click here.
LOPSA-NJ Meeting: Intro to Chocolatey (THURSDAY)
This is LOPSA NJ's birthday meeting. There will be cake! The topic for this month's LOPSA NJ Chapter meeting is Chocolatey. It is a package manager that brings a lot of the benefits that Linux package systems have to the Windows world. Whether you use Windows or Unix, this presentation will be very educational. Topic: Intro to Chocolatey: A Windows Package Manager Speaker: Derek Murawsky Date: Thursday, December 4, 2014 Time: 7:00pm (social), 7:30pm (discussion) Location: Lawrenceville, NJ (near Princeton) For full info about the meeting click here.
Putting NSA/GCHQ Spying Together
This is a really good analysis of how the NSA/GCHQ spying programs actually work. It's nice that we finally have enough documents public that we can start putting together the complete pictures....
Why should we care about characters?
I appear in the latest edition of the Writing Excuses podcast (MP3), recorded live at Westercon in Salt Lake City last summer, with Mary Robinette Kowal, Brandon Sanderson, Dan Wells and Howard Tayler, talking about why we care about characters.
Why should we care about characters?
I appear in the latest edition of the Writing Excuses podcast (MP3), recorded live at Westercon in Salt Lake City last summer, with Mary Robinette Kowal, Brandon Sanderson, Dan Wells and Howard Tayler, talking about why we care about characters.