Back to basics

Posted: 3rd March 2011 by John in Personal
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There’s a bad habit that I think pervades infosec right now: Focusing on the technology without understanding and nailing the basics.

For instance – having IDS and IPS systems on all segments of your network is good… but doesn’t help you if you’re not monitoring and doing correlation on the resulting output (and following up on events!).

A SIM solution won’t really do much by itself to help your relative risk if you don’t have someone looking at it’s output and acting on it.

The point is – having all the new technology is good,  but if you don’t have the policies and procedures in place to maximize the advantage it gives you… you’re not doing yourself – or your company – any favors.

Sometimes it’s good to go back to basics.  Make sure you have policies and procedures and that the appropriate people are made aware of them and fully understand them.  Test yourself (and your team!).  Audit your logs and compliance with policies.  Follow through with your policies!

Don’t get caught in the trap of putting the technology at a higher priority than the fundamentals.

Keep this in mind: Logs are worthless if you’re not looking at them.

 

My first time in an ambulance…

Posted: 2nd March 2011 by John in Personal
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I got in trouble a lot in high school.  It wasn’t always a result of bad behavior (although sometimes it was); I had my fair share of academic troubles as well.  Looking back I think a good portion of that was due to boredom – the classes didn’t challenge me and I had no interest in them.  The end result is that I often found myself in trouble with the school – especially my first high school, Brebeuf.

Punishment varied – from a weird after school detention program where the students cleaned the school (seriously),  to other more “creative” punishments.  One particular punishment had me and several other students assigned to trash pickup duty during a carnival held on campus.

I didn’t have my license yet so Dad had to drive me to the school to serve my punishment.  He dropped me off and told me he would meet me across the street in the parking lot of a restaurant.  I was to go do my shift picking up trash and come straight back.  The shift was supposed to take an hour (and it did… ugh).  I had lots of people make fun of me and tons of rude comments hurled my way.  I ignored them, mostly, and did my job.  I was extremely relieved when my shift was over and eagerly walked across the street to the restaurant parking lot to find Dad.   Read the rest of this entry »

Stop poking me – I’m busy tweeting.

Posted: 2nd March 2011 by John in Personal
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These days you can hardly go anywhere without being inundated with references to social media.  It seems like every brand, every store, and nearly every person can be found on one of the major social networks. I don’t think that’s a bad thing at all. In fact, I honestly think that a brand (and lets not forget, every person is or SHOULD be their own personal brand) would be foolish for ignoring social media altogether.

Having said all of that, I really dislike Facebook.

Don’t get me wrong – I still USE Facebook, just not very often.  Most of the content from me that’s posted on my Facebook account is syndicated from other sources (my blog, for instance). I prefer Twitter instead; It’s short, fast, to the point and (mostly) devoid of stalkers. Mostly.

Part of me wants to make an effort to wrangle Facebook and tailor my FB experience to suit my interests and needs.  A bigger – more persuasive – part of me says “screw it – I’ll stick to Twitter”.

We’ll see which part wins.

 

 

 

Pull up your pants

Posted: 27th February 2011 by John in Personal
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Growing up I was the last person to consult on fashion.  I wore jeans that were perpetually falling down, ratty old combat boots and threadbare Air Force jackets.  I didn’t know what a belt was. I had to constantly hold the waist of my jeans as I walked, lest I actually walk out of my pants (sadly, that actually did happen once…).

As I’ve grown up I went through a few phases style wise.  Through much of high-school I had no idea how to dress.  Eventually I ended up at a military academy where my wardrobe was dictated to me.  Yes – those places DO exist – they’re not just a threat your parents throw at you.

In college I went the route of the “punk” – dyed hair and multiple piercings included.  I had no idea what “properly fitting” clothes were.  I didn’t CARE what properly fitting clothes were. Read the rest of this entry »

New Skin

Posted: 25th February 2011 by John in General
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Every now and then I feel the need to change things up. While I liked the old theme for this blog I must admit that it was getting kind of stale.

For those of you reading this on Facebook… nearly everything I post to my Facebook account is syndicated from my blog.  That’s what I’m referring to.

Anyway – While I would love to work with a designer and do a custom design,  until I find one who has some spare time to help me out I will be reliant on the themes of others.  Thankfully I found one I actually like without spending an inordinate amount of time searching.

A more substantial post will come later this weekend.  Probably.

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