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Hey, ask.com, what are you doing?

So, in the spirit of another post I put up recently, I am monitoring my firewall logs for anything strange and I keep seeing this:

Feb  8 14:47:55 localhost kernel: IN=eth0 OUT= SRC=66.235.120.71 DST=192.168.x.x LEN=455 TOS=0×00 PREC=0×00 TTL=49 ID=33745 DF PROTO=TCP SPT=80 DPT=58709 WINDOW=54 RES=0×00 ACK PSH URGP=0

The Source is Ask.com, the DST is my webserver, but take a look at the Ports.  SRC port 80?  DPT 58709?  Anyone else see anything like this?  This is being denied at my firewall because of my ESTABLISHED,RELATED line.  So, the connection was not made from here.  It’s initiated from the outside.

What’s going on over there at Ask.com?

Posted 08 February 2010 † Joel § analysis § funny ‡ Comments (0) °

WP Greet Box is back

I took away the WP Greet Box for awhile based on the fact that I didn’t really have it configured optimally.  I wanted the Greet Box (which is a little pop up widget that say “Hello, welcome to the site, you can subscribe here” — pretty much) because on several of the themes I have been partial to, had no obvious way to subscribe via RSS.  I’ve fixed that now with, as the blog will advertise that it has a feed in the URL bar now (for most modern browsers), also with a link over in the sidebar that points you to the feed.  But I wanted a little something, non-intrusive, that pointed to the RSS feed when you came from certain sites.  (Digg, StumbleUpon, things like that).  So it’s there again, but only if you get directed from certain webpages to my site.  Which, actually, is the majority of the hits I receive.  Basically it’s just an experiment.  Bear with me.

Posted 08 February 2010 † Joel § blogs § browser § websites ‡ Comments (0) °

A couple snow pictures

Lots of Snow over the past couple days. 2nd biggest snowfall ever for this area.

Posted 07 February 2010 † Joel § picture § pictures ‡ Comments (1) °

If Email Signatures Were Honest

Murray The Nut » Blog Archive » Signatures.

Very Funny.

Posted 06 February 2010 † Joel § email § iPhone ‡ Comments (1) °

One in five physicians likely to purchase Apple iPad – study

AppleInsider | One in five physicians likely to purchase Apple iPad – study.

This is what I said back here, so I am glad that someone did a study on it.  Very interesting what the future holds for this form factor of device.  I think the early critics are going to be eating their words in a year or so.

Posted 06 February 2010 † Joel § apple ‡ Comments (1) °

If you never knew it occurred, did it occur in the first place?

In my To-Do list, I have a section for Blog topics that I think of in $random_place and I want to jot down for brainstorming later. This topic has been on my to-do list for about a year.

I was standing on a stage giving a speech at a military base, in about 2004.  The people I was giving a speech to were about 200-250 different “network” and “Systems” administrators from all over this military base in tons of different units.  In this audience I had military, civilian, and contractor.  I was asked to give a speech to the system administrators because some of them didn’t see the value in security in their systems.  It was an afterthought and people weren’t terribly excited about having to follow $regulation that ensured proper lock down of various controls in the operating system and network.

I asked this question:  ”If you never knew it occurred, did it occur in the first place?”  I paused for effect, waiting for an answer.  One didn’t come.  Obviously they had no idea was I was talking about.

I proceeded to explain the importance of reviewing logs, system and network information, explaining to them the importance of what I had found that week upon a security audit I was doing of their Army post.

Hundreds of compromised machines, botnets, poor security controls, inadequate permissions, etc.  This was all from about 3 days of work.  I didn’t even get into the trenches trying to find things, this was just surface level scanning and network monitoring.  Not even penetration testing, just scanning.

They didn’t know.  They thought their network was perfect.  They thought it was clean.  They didn’t need to review logs.  They thought wrong.

If you aren’t going to review logs, if you aren’t going to look at the system logs, the firewall logs, the IDS/IPS logs, then why collect them?  The problem is, we have things like SOX compliance now that mandates that we have some kind of logging system.  Which is fine, it’s a great idea, but people are missing the point.  The point of the SOX compliance and log review is for people to REVIEW the logs.  Otherwise what is the point?  So you can go back and see when you were compromised?

Some people will agree with me here and say “Yes, I’d like to have historical information so I can go back and see when the intrusion occurred.”

That’s fine, I don’t disagree, but stop for a second while reading this and meditate on this question “Why?”  What are you going to do about it?

If you are going to look at your logs and dismiss them, instead of looking at your logs and doing something about the mistakes that you find, then what’s the point in looking at the logs.  Don’t waste your time.

It’s your JOB to be looking at these things, if you aren’t going to DO your job, then quit.  We don’t need you in our industry because it’s people like YOU that are messing things up for the rest of us.

I’m going to do it…  I am going to use APT (Advanced Persistant Threat).  APT was found by looking at logs.  APT has been around for a long time.  Before I worked at Sourcefire, I worked for the Department of the Army in computer security, and we were dealing with APT (only it wasn’t called that back then) then.  We didn’t have an advanced term for the threat, we used terms like ‘rootkit’ and ‘trojan’.  We were looking at hacks that we had never thought possible offloading information to countries that weren’t ours.  Some of the techniques were so interesting and secret, they haven’t been made public to this day, so I can’t talk about them here.

But we found the compromises by looking through logs.  I’ve said this before, and I’ll say it again, what’s the point in having a security device that keeps logs if you aren’t going to LOOK at it?

Posted 05 February 2010 † Joel § Snort § Sourcefire § analysis § fail § security ‡ Comments (9) °

Review: Jawbone ICON Bluetooth Headset

I am not trying to jump on you like a bully and pummel you with reviews for a few posts recently, but I feel, as a geek, I have the need to tell my other geeky friends if something sucks, or if something is good. That way, not everyone spends money on things that are complete pieces of crap.

For those of you seeking a Bluetooth headset, you may want to look no further than the Jawbone ICON headset. Little bit of background before I proceed.

I’ve had all three versions of the Jawbone now. The Jawbone One, was big, bulky, but it did it’s job right, however, it did not survive the trip through the washing machine. The second version fixed that, (not the washing machine part, the big and bulky part). Same awesome noise cancellation technology, much much lighter, the only problem was, it wasn’t very solid in your ear, and it fell out of my ear a lot, simply because it just felt like it was Stallone in Cliffhanger, hanging on for dear life. The only other thing I didn’t like about the second generation jawbone was the buttons. I could never find them. There were two buttons, one on the side and the other on the back, kinda. They were next to impossible to find with your fingers, as they didn’t have any raised indication that said “hey, this is a button!”

But let me tell you what, with this new one, they have really outdone themselves. The Jawbone ICON comes in six different designs. “The Hero”, “The Bombshell”, “The Catch”, “The Ace”, “The Thinker”, and “The Rogue”. All are various colors and designs, but they all have the same key features.

The NoiseAssasin® technology is awesome. On by default, it uses a sensor that presses against your cheek to sense when you are talking, it compares that vibration with the mic’s input, and thusly uses the difference to cancel out all the remaining background noise. It’s awesome for wind, trains, or whatever. You can be in a noisy room and talk to someone on the phone, and the only thing that the people on the phone can hear is you. It’s incredible. For a video demonstration of how this works, go to Jawbone’s website and click on the lower right area. Check it out.

This version of the jawbone adds a few awesome features:

1) If you are using the jawbone with the iPhone, the battery indication is on the screen of the iPhone up next to the battery indicator for the iPhone itself. If you ever bought the iPhone bluetooth headset (which I didn’t), you’ll recognize what this indicator looks like.

2) But that doesn’t matter cause you can reach on the back of the jawbone, press the button once, and it announces in your ear how many hours of talk time you have remaining.

3) When you receive a call, the ICON will read the caller id into your ear. Just the number. Not any names or anything, which kinda stinks. I wish it would at least try to pronounce some of my coworkers and friends names just so I could get a laugh out of it. But the number is just fine. It’s a heck of a lot better than scrambling for your phone when the thing rings just to see who called. I mean isn’t that the purpose of a bluetooth headset? So you don’t have to fumble for your phone?

4) It doesn’t have any blinking lights on the outside. Which is nice, because then you aren’t sitting on a train or something and have an annoying blue blinking light on your ear. Or even better, when you are in a hotel room and the blue blinking light is so bright it lights up your whole hotel room every 10 seconds or so.

5) Voice control. The Jawbone has always had voice control, but now, coupled with the iPhone 3GS that I have, I can hold down the button for two seconds and say “Call Wife”, which the iPhone then asks “Home, Mobile, or Work?” And I simply say what I want. I like the fact (and this is more on the iPhone than the Jawbone) that I don’t have to hit ANOTHER button to say “Work”. I just say it after the little ‘beep’.

6) It has an on-off switch. I don’t have to hold down a button that I can’t find to turn this thing on and off. The button is a toggle sliding switch on the inside (faces your face) side of the jawbone. Flick it on or off, and you KNOW which one it’s doing.

7) Redial is a double tap of the button on the back. The Jawbone then says “Redialing” in your ear

8) When the battery does get low, it will tell you in your ear. No more guessing.

9) You can connect this thing to multiple phones. YES SERIOUSLY. You can even manage calls from two different phones at the same time. Are you kidding me? This is 2010 right? We aren’t in 2020 or anything?

10) They converted from their annoying proprietary charger attachment to a Mini-USB plug. Very standard and easily replaceable if you lose it.

So, overall, I’m very satisfied with this thing, and if you are looking for a new one, or if you are happy with your old one… this one is better, it’s smaller Oh and one more thing?

This thing stays in my ear! No loop around the top of my ear, I just put it in my ear and it stays there.

Go, run, don’t walk, to the nearest Best Buy/Apple Store/AT&T store. This thing is new, so it may not be in all the stores yet (so it’s available online via their website) your milage may very. Check the websites.

I got mine at a Best Buy.

Posted 04 February 2010 † Joel § iPhone § review ‡ Comments (1) °

Review: Capitol Hilton, Washington, D.C.

This week I had to come down to Washington, DC to work with a customer.  Now, I’ve been to loads and loads of Hotels, and most of the big ones in Washington, DC.  This week I decided to stay at the Capitol Hilton.  It’s about three blocks North of the White House.

So, being the traveler I am, I am a Diamond member with Hilton, for the past three years, which is the highest you can get as a “premier traveler” with Hilton Rewards.  I’m not saying that to brag, I’m saying that to illustrate a point.  As a diamond member, you automatically get certain things.  Free Gym access, free breakfast, free newspapers, and free room upgrades just to name a few.

So, and you might call me spoiled, but whatever, I’m not trying to act that way, I’m giving a review.

So, I get my room.  No refrigerator, shower was dirty, shower head sprayed water every which way (indicating that you have hard water, and the shower head hasn’t been cleaned), and no electrical outlets in the bathroom.

Now, how do you not have electrical outlets in the bathroom?  God forbid I should be a woman and need to plug in the hair dryer!  Where was the closest outlet? Behind the TV. Which was on a TV stand, which was immovable. So, there was no way to dry your hair (and curl it, with a curling iron, cause I think of stuff like that for my wife) anywhere close to in front of a mirror. Matter of fact, the only place you could have plugged it in, was behind a TV stand in the middle of the room.

There were four outlets available in the whole room. Two on the lamp on the desk, and two behind the night stand. So, if you are technical person like me, you have stuff plugged in all around the room. Fairly annoying.

The TV was ancient, you couldn’t hook up any external media to the TV, which, is also annoying.

Room service food was so-so. The menu consisted of things like foi-gras and the like. Seriously? Who is going to eat food of “that” caliber from the room service menu? People that order room service want things like wings, and quesadillas, pizza. Room service is like, a last resort and you just want something good. Oh, and by the way, a sandwich for 19 dollars? So, you add delivery fee onto that, drink.. You have a 30 dollar dinner? A bit much for a regular sandwich. I order room service fairly often (because I get tired of prowling through a city trying to find food — you travel as much as me, you’ll know what I mean) and the average price is around 19-25 bucks. 30+ dollars for dinner is overpriced for simple food.

Internet. The Internet speed was pretty good actually, but it was something like $15 dollars a night. Again, not what I am used to, and not comparable to the other hotels in DC. The room rate per night was reasonable, (for DC), but the other things they charge you for a the hotel was overpriced.

Now, saying all that, there was a note on the desk of my room saying that the hotel is currently undergoing a 36 Million dollar renovation. So let’s hope they fix some things. The biggest request I have, of all hotels, is: PUT MORE OUTLETS IN THE HOTEL ROOMS. Accessible. Easy. In the Desk or something.

So, until the renovations get done, I recommend the Marriott Metro Center.  It’s nice (without going higher to the Mandarin, W hotel, or JW Marriott), or either of the Hyatt’s.  They are nice, but they have the ‘lack of outlet’ problem as well.

So, my review is pretty unhappy.  Now, finally, as I said in the beginning, I’m a Diamond member.  Would you like to see my view out of my hotel window of the lovely Washington DC?

Lovely eh?

I stay in a lot of Hilton’s.  Most are nice.  This one is obviously old, and we’ll forgive them for that.  So, maybe I’ll try them again after they complete their renovation.

Posted 04 February 2010 † Joel § Hilton § review ‡ Comments (1) °

Steve Jobs: The Rolling Stone Interview : Rolling Stone

Steve Jobs: The Rolling Stone Interview : Rolling Stone.

This is an older interview (2003) with Steve Jobs.  This is shortly after the iTunes rollout on Windows, iPods were just taking off, before the iPhone, before the App Store, before the iPad.

This is an interesting interview and you can see where Apple was at the time as far as Steve’s thinking was concerned, and how that thinking has come to shape Apple.

Posted 04 February 2010 † Joel § apple ‡ Comments (0) °

Great Anti-Email post

Jeff Atwood, blogger and coder over at Coding Horror, one of the many blogs I read, had this post up sometime last year, and I thought it was such a good post that I’ve recommended it to a couple friends, but I realized I never actually blogged it.

Jeff discusses a similar topic to what I’ve discussed in the past.  Checking email less often, shutting your email off for periods of time, turn off the “new message” ding.   All great points.

Go check out his post here.  Jeff, great job!

Posted 03 February 2010 † Joel § GTD § Mail § email § gmail ‡ Comments (0) °
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