Security Pie

My bikes

There are things that we just can’t forget: like riding a bicycle or even driving a car. I was accompanying one of our sales engineers the other day at a customer sites and felt the urge to configure a layer 4-7 switch. If my memory serves me right, the last time that I was doing something similar was in 2000. Yet, one stare at the Access User Verification prompt and my memory was loaded.

I’m sure that somewhere, someone is studying why there are things that we can not forget. I am more interested in the opposite question. Why did I remember how to configure this switch? No, it was not a Cisco switch. However since Cisco’s IOS, style has been widely copied by other networking products (including the one I was configuring), it was very similar.  ? show run conf t ena always work somehow in a networking environment. Like seeing a friendly face in a “networking” cocktail party before the conference is a bout to begin…

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Security Pie’s chief chef was sent on a mission to examine the culinary conditions in Mongolia. Here are the first reports received from the front (seat):

First class is nice. Very nice. But XX (name removed to protect the innocent) G5 is still nicer. Much nicer.

More updates to come

A few years ago I bought a backup robot for the business. I had lost one of my messaging servers which uspet most of the company employees (CEO can’t email the board, CFO can’t track the investors, VP BD can’t negotiate deals with partners, Secretary can’t arrange a vacation with boyfriend).

My robot hated me. I hated it. Veritas and it would cough up excuses for not performing a backup. They would collude to sending me email messages, syslog and other interruptions. There was always an open file that would not behave. There was always a tape that was full. There was always a cartridge that was out of sequence.

All in all the robot needed a robotsitter babysitter to keep it company. A babysitter that will feed it clean power, wipe its heads clean and replace the tape DAT we love so much. And once in a while change the channel on the Veritas application. 

So we got the most reliable thing available to look after automated infrastructure. An IT guy. Life was as simple as before the robot but with the additional comfort knowing there was a backup. I still cannot understand why robot architect HP and Veritas could not fit an IT guy in the packaging.

A week ago I bought a Windows Home Server preinstalled on a $700 small form factor PC from HP. I hooked it up and I turned it on. It did my backup for me. It told me it was successful. The only failure it had was when I shut down my machine. It was unaccessible, my server notified me in a nice looking alert.

I was offended. I had prepared my expert troubleshooting capabilities. I had prepared to resolve a routing issue. I was ready to resolve Access Control issues. I was gravely disappointed. It just worked.

Simple is nice. Simple makes security easier by making my data more available at home. Simple makes my training obsolete.

More than that - Security does not have to be complex: Simplicity showed me that my expertise can be replaced by a well though out script. Ahem. Perhaps it is time to learn a new trick?

Way to go Microsoft!

NB: My Roomba robot hates me as well. It gets stuck on any piece of paper or rubber band or even while climbing that 1/2″ to the short haired carpet. Does this mean that all robots hate me?

The laptop is killing me.  I now have 3G of memory and it still does not behave well. it’s a one year old, dual core Centrino. The best laptop money could buy in mid 2007 (almost).  I’m an old dog. Old dogs can’t change work habits like keeping 26 emails open, 17 tabs, 3 presentations and 4 documents. But still, why would the XP use so much memory.

Memory Leaks

My operating system and me are going to separate soon. Expect some updates soon.

NEW YORK (Associated Press) – The Bank of New York Mellon said Thursday that a security breach involving the loss of backup data storage tapes affects about 8 million more individuals than originally thought.

When the breach was first disclosed in May, the bank estimated about 4.2 million people were affected, said Kevin Heine, a spokesman for the New York-based company. But a third-party re-examination of the analysis applied to the lost tapes has revealed that the affected number of individuals is actually about 12 million, Heine said. The company is in the process of notifying the additional consumers…. (more)

Can’t these people count?

How lucky we are that money and data are no longer physical goods but reside in digital systems that are easily hacked into or lost. Imagine a world where bartering still lives and money is represented by sheep. What would “lost” or “stolen” 12 million sheep look like roaming  the streets of South Manhattan?

Residents of Turin Italy know very well. About 700 sheep have now been employed by Turin officials to keep the grass verges and lawns in city parks trimmed.

I am not sure the drivers agree.

BTW – Silicon Valley has its very own sheep-as-lawnmower stories, one of the more famous about Robert Widlar, an engineer at National Semiconductor (and creator of the IC OP AMP) who was irritated that Charlie Spork decided to cut back on the cost of gardening. Widlar drove down to Gilroy, and brought a sheep back to Santa Clara, in the back of his Mercedes convertible. He then tethered the sheep out on the lawn.(more)

And the count continues…