What does this sign mean?

A) No entry for ghosts

B) No Pacman villains allowed

C) No sotongs allowed

D) No tudungs with “X” marks on the back

Your guess is as good as mine!

PS/ This is a real road sign located somewhere on the way to KL from PJ, I kid you not!

Hacking for Fun and Profit in China’s Underworld

Google + NSA Information Assurance Directorate

“Every user in the world is convinced they need security features, not security procedures.”

Advanced Persistent Threat highlighted by DNI; Mandiant report gives details. Mandiant have coined the APT term, and it’s probably because they deal with that sort of thing constantly: they’re very good at what they do. We hired them for internal test and eval work as well as usability input as our software began taking shape, and I came away impressed. It’s not surprising to see them tackling high-profile events.

Quantum energy teleportation

Do you ever feel like you are supposed to walk on glass for others and endure the pain without comment, without feeling hurt?

I do.

“The Internet is a Hobbesian ’state of nature’ where anything goes, where even government attacks maintain ‘plausible deniability,’ and where 80 percent of industrial control software is hooked into an IP network.”

Congressional Research Service overview of cybersecurity legislation, executive initiatives, and options (PDF)

#161

And…here we go!

1. Wouldn’t it be easy _if we could just wish ourselves away? Ooops, wrong lyric….but same sentiment_____.
2. _I plan to make this year__ better than ever!
3. I love the taste of _ripe strawberries while drinking chardonnay…O.M.G!_.
4. __Right now I am sitting_____ in the living room.
5. The first thing we’re going to do is _hold each other close____.
6. __There was a leak in the roof at work - drip, drip, drip; _and then the roof crashed in_.
7. And as for the weekend, tonight I’m looking forward to _a good night’s sleep, tomorrow my plans include _having a MRI____ and Sunday, I want to _write____!

RFID data illuminates London commute pattern

National Ignition Facility success

You may or may not have noticed, you mythyical readers (plus one ;0), that I am remarkably pollyanna-ish for a terribly angsty person.

What I mean is, while I can be terrible down on my own performance from time to time, I tend to unabashedly love the world and work I see around me.

I’m a terrible critic. And that is a terrible trait for a writer. How does one begin to edit something if one has not experience with constructive criticism?

Well I haven’t had much luck editing my work thus far, and I’m beginning to blame it on my instinct to avoid all things critical.

To remedy this, I signed on with Review Fuse, an online writers group that offers three reviews of your own submission for every four reviews you provide to others. I will post back to let you know how the service works for me. So far I have offered one critique on a piece I quite liked (shocker)…. but I did dig deep and find several suggestions that should be helpful.

In addition to the reviews, the site offers writing “lessons” or simple assignments that you can submit for review. It looks like a good place to grow as a writer without leaving home!

“At least three US oil companies were the target of a series of previously undisclosed cyberattacks that may have originated in China and that…were focused on one of the crown jewels of the industry: valuable “bid data” detailing the quantity, value, and location of oil discoveries worldwide”

The fallacy of secure software

More on China v. Google at Information Dissemenation

Reverse templating for spam detection

Picking padlocks

American Threads: 2010. mixed media

It has been forever, I apologize I have been so busy you would not believe me if I told you all the great things that have been going on. So I will try for just a few.

 So school has officially started back up. I have 18 credits worth of classes and internship stuff. That’s right! I got a great internship gig with the Grand Rapids Symphony. I cannot tell you how cool the people are there. Everyone there is vivacious and awesome. I have to dress up, I’m still trying to get used to high-heels, weird I used to wear them all the time, nowadays I just want flats. It is going to be a great semester.

 I’m still on the job hunt looking for where I want to strike off towards once schools done. I’ve been looking at: Pixar, Dreamworks, Lucasfilm, WETA Digital, and Sesame Street Workshop. I contacted the guys at invisible creature (they are fantastic) but they are just a brother duo, no girls allowed, ha, ha! Really I would love to get a job working for the SS Workshop with the Electric Company (dream job); the show is really hip, totally appealing on a visual level, and definitely accessible to kids, I’m really interested in the science of learning.

 So life is good. No, life is great. Thesis reviews today, wish me luck. Cheers.

#160

And…here we go!

1. You have a chance to _make a difference in Canadian politics by attending an anti-proroguing demonstration tomorrow___.
2. _I’m freezing_ right now!
3. There is a _chance of rain tomorrow___.
4. _If we don’t speak up NOW about our rights, we may lose them and pay later.
5. It’s time to _stop being mousy quiet polite Canadians and start making our voices heard: we’re mad as hell and we aren’t going to take it any more_____________.
6. _The number of protesters is _______ up in the air but _I’m hoping there will be a significant turnout_______.
7. And as for the weekend, tonight I’m looking forward to _relaxing with my new book from the Outlander series____, tomorrow my plans include _being politically active ____ and Sunday, I want to _sleep in____!

Arbor’s Worldwide Infrastructure Security Report

The global shipping network

China’s increasing antisatellite…I mean, missile defense capability. Also here.

“Google said Tuesday that it may pull out of China because of a sophisticated computer network attack originating there and targeting its e-mail service and corporate infrastructure, a threat that could rattle U.S.-China relations, as well as China’s business community…[the hackers] appeared to be after information on weapons systems from defense firms and were seeking companies’ ’source code’”. More from the WSJ. As Richard Bejtlich asks, has China crossed a line? Google will stop censoring search results, which is yet another huge implication for Chinese internal and foreign affairs.

DDoS stats from Arbor

Adobe gets attacked

“Complex software-hardware systems are not proved correct [in 1976], they are not proved correct today, and will not be proved correct in the future. If I am wrong why do we need cyber-security? Why do systems get attacked and broken into every day? Why is security a multi-billion dollar a year industry? I think the answer is obvious.”

National Cyber Range awards

Entropy, entropy, entropy…

“why would anyone use OpenGL?” To me the question is, why would anyone use DirectX for anything other than a game?

“We spend billions on security, yet we are not any more secure. We have lots of regulations, but that has created a low bar mentality”

Single-qubit experimental quantum computation for the Jones polynomial

Colloidal metamaterial…er…“liquid invisibility cloak”

I watch this show with my little sister everyday. The art direction is so great, we both love it to pieces. Hector is a total babe and steals the show, but Shock the beatbox genius is vastly underappreciated.

Would I love to work for them, involved in the art direction…heck yes. You need not ask twice.

This is the last first time I start a semester at school (come Monday). I can’t believe I’m almost done, it blows my mind. Then it’s off to see the world, find purpose, and flourish. Trying to settle on a career I want to pursue is nuts. I feel like I could do anything. It’s a lot to think about, but I have time to process.

#158

And…here we go! Tip of the hat to The Beatles this week

1. There are places _I remember, all my life though some have changed, some forever not for better, some have gone and some remain__.
2. __A mind can_ blow those clouds away.
3. Standing in the _rain, milk carton mug-shot baby______.
4. __Oh boy – when you’re with me -_ oh boy.
5. He went out tiger hunting _with his elephant and his gun_____________.
6. _I’m fixing a hole where the rain gets in and stops my _ my mind from wandering .
7. And as for the weekend, tonight I’m looking forward to _more music lyric trivia____, tomorrow my plans include _writing____ and Sunday, I want to _sleep in____!

768-bit RSA modulus factored. This is basically right on schedule for a Moore’s law fit of largest publicly factored RSA moduli from a RSA technical report dating from 2000. Expect 1024-bit moduli to go down in about a decade.

Visualizing Abdulmutallab. This is supposed to make some sense if you look at it long enough, apparently.

Geolocation hack

IPv4 lives on…for now

Don’t ask me what that title means, I haven’t a clue. It’s what came out of my fingers when I started this.

It’s been awhile since I’ve had anything to say here, or had the opportunity to. (For you English majors, a preposition is a terrible thing to end a sentence with.)

So, let’s do some catching up.

Christmas has come and gone. We had our Aunt and her disabled daughter here which is cool but for two people who live alone that can be taken for only so long. Don’t get me wrong, we love them to death, but after 4 days it can start getting a little overwhelming.

We spent New Year’s Eve (and the next 3 days) with my wife’s best friend who is about 3 and 1/2 hours from here. Btw, has anyone noticed that midwesterners measure distance in minutes instead of miles? Everything is ‘20 minutes away’ or ‘45 minutes away’ instead of 20 miles or 45 miles.

We had a great time, especially me who kicked butt in a couple of different games that we played several games of (UNO and Apples To Apples). I did lose in one game (Yahtzee) but overall, I am the man!

Okay, y’all know I’m a newshound so what’s been happening since I last wrote?

Two men died tried to save a dog that fell into a lake  …. um, I’m sorry, I’m an animal lover but I’ll be damned if I’m risking my life for one. If I burn in hell for that, so be it. I just can’t imagine how destroying the lives of two families is worth the life of a dog ……..

Several letters containing some kind of white powder touched off another anthrax scare in Alabama. What is wrong with people? Why do they find this kind of crap humorous?

In other words, nothing REAL exciting has been going on lately and that is actually a good thing.

Has anyone looked at the list of well-known people who have passed away during the last year? Good lord …. we lost a lot of wonderful people ….. here are but a few:

http://www.boston.com/news/world/gallery/1_15_2009_notable_deaths_of_2009/

I really hate reading about personalities that I grew up with passing away … it reminds me too much of my own mortality. It seems like almost everyday I read about a well-known person younger than myself having their last hurrah. And I was looking around the TMZ site and have learned that there are dozens of names familiar to me who are now in their 70’s to 90’s so I expect I’ll be seeing the last of them soon.

I’m gonna call it a night, much as I hate too. Talk of my own mortality really brings me down and I really don’t want to go there tonight.

Seriously, being ill and The Holiday Season have wreaked havoc – nay, utter and complete devastation! – on my daily routine.

Sir was wonderful when my back went kablooie. With the overwhelming pain and the painkillers I was on, he canceled all my activities. I tried to do as much as I could but it was hit and miss. Physical stuff was too difficult because I could not move or jar my spine. And the drugs had me flying…and sleeping! lol So my writing assignments suffered.

The pain left on the weekend Sir said something to the effect that the old me was back. He saw his silly little girl again. (I said silly, he didn’t.) I was teasing and loving and bantering, things (not the love) that had disappeared with the pain and meds.

Now I just have to get back into my rules routine. It’s hard. Plus, I made up my new year resolutions and I have to figure out how to integrate them, too. I like when tasks get added incrementally because it just becomes part of my day a lot more quickly. With the return of it all at once, it feels like I just got caught in an avalanche!

I’m not complaining, by the way. I function hundreds of times better when I am structured. It is something I need, crave, in order to be the best I can be. I know it.

Sir knows it, too.