Category: Information

  • Altered Carbon Nudity Index

    For those who know me, they are well aware that I have a slight ‘spreadsheet’ problem. More specifically, Google Sheets since they are collaborative and sync across devices. Not the point! I tend to make Sheets for more and more things and track many data points in my life around my health. I also have…

  • Hunter Fans and Hidden Functionality

    Nothing exciting, just documenting two things about Hunter ceiling fans, at least one of which is not documented in their manual. My electrician had to call and sit on hold for almost two hours to get the information and be told that no, it wasn’t in the documenation. These apply to the Hunter Dempsey model…

  • Why @anacondainc Doesn’t Fully Understand CVEs

    It’s worrisome that in 2020 we still have people in influential technical roles that don’t understand CVE. A friend told me earlier this year he was in a meeting where someone said that CVE IDs are assigned in order, so CVE-2020-9500 meant there were 9500 vulns in 2020 so far. Of course that is not…

  • On the origins of the term ‘Hacktivism’…

    This blog is not about debating the definition of Hacktivism; I will leave that to the academics and self-described hacktivists. This article is to clear up confusion on the origin of the term, and point out that Wikipedia’s handling of factual information is sketchy. Further, it will point out that the Cult of the Dead…

  • Welcome to the Internet…

    No matter how many articles, news segments, books, web sites, infgraphics, or rumors that warn people about the perils of the Internet, people still flock to this magical Mecca thinking it will bring great entertainment, answers, or whatever else (porn). While I have been in InfoSec for most of the last 20 years, this post…

  • Not All Charities Are Created Equal

    I support charities. Quite a few of them actually. Maybe it isn’t the best use of the money I donate, as dozens receive small amounts, rather than one or two receiving a sizable donation. I know that with few exceptions, it seems like my donations are mostly wasted, and it has me questioning my support.…

  • When information aggregation scares and baffles me…

    I’ve been around the block. I am familiar with most of the ways companies and web sites track data. I am familiar with aggregation techniques, know the real value of the most ‘harmless’ things (e.g. clicking ‘Like’ on Facebook), and know the power of modern databases. In my mind it is a simple fact that…

  • A fascinatingly disturbing thought…

    Dr. Neil DeGrasse Tyson offers us a “fascinatingly disturbing thought”: Not only does he remind us that our perception of intelligence is laughably flawed, but he reminds us that any superior race out there (e.g. the kind that could achieve interstellar travel) would likely look at us as if we were chimps. Like we look…

  • Cyberwar: Not what we were expecting

    For BruCON 4 (2012), and for THOTCON 0x04 (2013), Josh Corman and I presented on Cyberwar. While the topic has been beaten to death, our talk focused on two aspects. First, a solid debunking of the rhetoric and hype that has dominated the topic for years. Second, building up a new set of ideas that…

  • Feds, Felons, and Flakes: Reflections on the Attrition Mirror

    In 2000, Matt, Dale, and myself did a presentation at BlackHat Briefings in Las Vegas on the Attrition defacement mirror, after we had concluded the project. Below is the summary and one slide from the stats for perspective. This presentation covered the basics of running the Defacement Mirror, problems we ran into, the mirror process,…