Wednesday, February 26, 2014
Tuesday, February 25, 2014
A Technical Interview Tomorrow
So I was doing a little refresher...
[Application] All
[Presentation] People
[Session] Should
[Transport] Try
[Network] New
[Data Link] Dr
[Physical] Pepper
I've been asked about the OSI model more times than I care to think about. However, I don't ever recall using it at work. Maybe some people do.
[Application] All
[Presentation] People
[Session] Should
[Transport] Try
[Network] New
[Data Link] Dr
[Physical] Pepper
I've been asked about the OSI model more times than I care to think about. However, I don't ever recall using it at work. Maybe some people do.
Thursday, February 20, 2014
Windows Defender Offline
Looks like a handy tool. I've used various recovery discs including those based on Windows PE.
From Mark Minasi's latest newsletter:
"You know Windows Defender. It's been built into Windows since (if memory serves) Vista. It fought spyware in Vista and Windows 7, and then Microsoft expanded its focus to include regular old virus-y malware in Windows 8/8.1. It's a perfectly nice in-the-box tool, but like all anti-malware tools, it hasn't a chance to detect the strains of malware designed to hide themselves in plain site, malware with a kind of "cloaking device" wherein the malware modifies the operating system so that scanning an infected file just turns up a "nope, no malware, nobody but us chickens in here!" report. And if you're on this mailing list, the chances are very good that you know that we call such hard-to-detect malware "rootkits."
Invisible malware like rootkits sounds dire, but given that they can only remain invisible while the infected OS is running, there's an obvious way to find them -- run the malware scanner under another, uninfected OS. One way to do that would be to physically remove the boot hard disk of the machine in question, plug it into an uninfected machine and scan the questionable drive, but that's a lot of work.
The better answer arrived a few years ago when Microsoft released a free, cut-down version of Windows that fits on a CD or a USB stick called "Windows PE" and I'm hoping that most of you are using it now for maintenance and deployment tasks. (Look at Newsletter 59 if you've never created a USB stick. I use it heavily in my free Steadier State tool as well as when trying to revive dead systems.) Anyway, WinPE's great, but there wasn't much in the way of anti-malware tools that could run atop WinPE. Microsoft fixed that by building and giving away a WinPE image that includes a version of Defender -- they call it "Windows Defender Offline -- built right in. Stick it on a USB stick or CD, cold boot a system with it and rootkits are revealed. Neat. You can find it here with download links at the bottom of the page:
http://windows.microsoft.com/
Permit me to offer a few notes on it:
1) This is NOT new, as Defender Offline's been around since December 2011. I'm telling you about it in February 2014, however, because I mention it a LOT when I do talks and invariably get totally blank looks from 98% of the crowd. (That's true even when I'm talking to security experts. Eek.) If you're on my mailing list, the chances are that you're Windows tech support for SOMEBODY, whether you're getting paid for it or not, and starting off with a rootkit check can save you a whole LOT of time. I recommend that everyone reading this put Offline Defender on a USB stick and keep it in their bag of tricks. (I've found that Sony's "Microvault" USB sticks are a nicely matte white, allowing me to write on them with a Sharpie to keep track of which USB stick is the Defender, which runs Clonezilla, and so on. If anyone out there knows a cheaper USB stick that you can write on, please drop me a line.)
2) As I mentioned before, this works perfectly well on Windows Server. We had a malware scare a few months ago and I tested my Server 2012 systems with it, and it didn't refuse to run on a Server SKU. Similarly, I've got an ISO of Defender Offline that I boot my Hyper-V VMs from when I need to test them for rootkits as well.)
3) I've just noticed that the Defender Offline page says that you need a newer version, a Windows Defender Offline beta, to run it on Windows 8.1 systems. I'm fairly certain that I've run Defender Offline on my 8.1 systems, but if Microsoft says you need the beta, I guess you should get it for 8.1 and presumably 2012R2."
From Mark Minasi's latest newsletter:
"You know Windows Defender. It's been built into Windows since (if memory serves) Vista. It fought spyware in Vista and Windows 7, and then Microsoft expanded its focus to include regular old virus-y malware in Windows 8/8.1. It's a perfectly nice in-the-box tool, but like all anti-malware tools, it hasn't a chance to detect the strains of malware designed to hide themselves in plain site, malware with a kind of "cloaking device" wherein the malware modifies the operating system so that scanning an infected file just turns up a "nope, no malware, nobody but us chickens in here!" report. And if you're on this mailing list, the chances are very good that you know that we call such hard-to-detect malware "rootkits."
Invisible malware like rootkits sounds dire, but given that they can only remain invisible while the infected OS is running, there's an obvious way to find them -- run the malware scanner under another, uninfected OS. One way to do that would be to physically remove the boot hard disk of the machine in question, plug it into an uninfected machine and scan the questionable drive, but that's a lot of work.
The better answer arrived a few years ago when Microsoft released a free, cut-down version of Windows that fits on a CD or a USB stick called "Windows PE" and I'm hoping that most of you are using it now for maintenance and deployment tasks. (Look at Newsletter 59 if you've never created a USB stick. I use it heavily in my free Steadier State tool as well as when trying to revive dead systems.) Anyway, WinPE's great, but there wasn't much in the way of anti-malware tools that could run atop WinPE. Microsoft fixed that by building and giving away a WinPE image that includes a version of Defender -- they call it "Windows Defender Offline -- built right in. Stick it on a USB stick or CD, cold boot a system with it and rootkits are revealed. Neat. You can find it here with download links at the bottom of the page:
http://windows.microsoft.com/
Permit me to offer a few notes on it:
1) This is NOT new, as Defender Offline's been around since December 2011. I'm telling you about it in February 2014, however, because I mention it a LOT when I do talks and invariably get totally blank looks from 98% of the crowd. (That's true even when I'm talking to security experts. Eek.) If you're on my mailing list, the chances are that you're Windows tech support for SOMEBODY, whether you're getting paid for it or not, and starting off with a rootkit check can save you a whole LOT of time. I recommend that everyone reading this put Offline Defender on a USB stick and keep it in their bag of tricks. (I've found that Sony's "Microvault" USB sticks are a nicely matte white, allowing me to write on them with a Sharpie to keep track of which USB stick is the Defender, which runs Clonezilla, and so on. If anyone out there knows a cheaper USB stick that you can write on, please drop me a line.)
2) As I mentioned before, this works perfectly well on Windows Server. We had a malware scare a few months ago and I tested my Server 2012 systems with it, and it didn't refuse to run on a Server SKU. Similarly, I've got an ISO of Defender Offline that I boot my Hyper-V VMs from when I need to test them for rootkits as well.)
3) I've just noticed that the Defender Offline page says that you need a newer version, a Windows Defender Offline beta, to run it on Windows 8.1 systems. I'm fairly certain that I've run Defender Offline on my 8.1 systems, but if Microsoft says you need the beta, I guess you should get it for 8.1 and presumably 2012R2."
Tragedy
A man received the following text from his neighbor:
A few moments later, a second text came in:
"I am so sorry Rick. I've been riddled with guilt and I have to confess. I have been tapping your wife, day and night when you're not around. In fact, more than you. I'm not getting any at home, but that's no excuse. I can no longer live with the guilt and I hope you will accept my sincerest apology with my promise that it won't happen again."The man, anguished and betrayed, went into his bedroom, grabbed his gun, and without a word, shot his wife and killed her.
A few moments later, a second text came in:
"Damn autocorrect. I meant "wifi", not "wife"."
Wednesday, February 19, 2014
SkyDrive is now OneDrive
So Microsoft lost a fight over the name and their cloud file service is now OneDrive. I'm still using Dropbox, Box, and Google Drive in addition to OneDrive. I'm too cheap to pay for a service and I don't have a favorite at the moment, so I'll just keep using all them to meet my collective needs.
CTRL+SHIFT+V
Learn something everyday... beats pasting into notepad then again into Blogger.
|
googledrive Copy text without formatting using
Ctrl/Command + Shift + V. Learn how from our Top Contributor Dan Z. goo.gl/b5VuGm
Tue, Feb 18 13:26:18 from web |
iPhone Air?
I love the speculation about the next generation of phones... in this case, the iPhone 6.
User Feedback
So, when you click on a page to request that a new PIN be mailed to you, that page should give you some sort of confirmation that the request was submitted successfully. Otherwise a user might try again and then again from another browser and then a day later and then from another computer and...
Tuesday, February 18, 2014
2014 No-Nonsense Technician Class License Study Guide
Dan (KB6NU) has updated his No-Nonsense Technician Class License Study Guide for 2014. If you are looking to get your ticket this is a great resource.
Outernet
I'll just hold my breath... the Outernet:
"'There isn't a lot of raw research that is being done here; much of what is being described has already been proven by other small satellite programs and experiments. There's really nothing that is technically impossible to this'"And:
"Much like how you receive a signal on your television and flick through channels, Outernet will broadcast the Internet to you and allow you to flick through certain websites."
Monday, February 17, 2014
Friday, February 14, 2014
MagicBand Teardown
We used the MagicBands on our trip to Disney. The MagicBand is your ticket, your room key, your PhotoPass, your FastPass, and can be used to make purchases.
I wondered what was inside the MagicBand. I thought about cracking into, but it was just easier to Google it... MagicBand Teardown. I knew it had RFID and suspected that it had something that could be tracked more easily. Looks like that is the case.
In this scenario, I'm not worried about Big Brother - in fact, I'm excited to think Disney can take the magic to a whole new level!
I wondered what was inside the MagicBand. I thought about cracking into, but it was just easier to Google it... MagicBand Teardown. I knew it had RFID and suspected that it had something that could be tracked more easily. Looks like that is the case.
In this scenario, I'm not worried about Big Brother - in fact, I'm excited to think Disney can take the magic to a whole new level!
Tuesday, February 11, 2014
Main Trading Company
MTC is having a grand opening of their new digs on Saturday. I'm glad to see things going well for ham radio businesses.
Monday, February 10, 2014
Auto Manufacturing Down Under
I had no idea.
"Toyota announced it will shut down its Australian manufacturing by 2017. Quite simply, it's cheaper to manufacture elsewhere (especially here in the U.S.) and ship to Australia. The company had been trying to reduce its labor costs by amending contracts, but that got nixed by the country's court system. Toyota was the last of the automakers to announce that it is leaving Australia. Once it pulls out, Australia will have no consumer carmaker."Via Ace of Spades HQ
Wednesday, February 5, 2014
Tuesday, February 4, 2014
Stanene
"Researchers predict that a new material called stanene, composed of a one-atom-thick sheet of tin, could act much like a room-temperature superconductor, leading to faster, more efficient microchips."
I expect this would mean great things for radio, like this:
I expect this would mean great things for radio, like this:
Sunday, February 2, 2014
Moving to IP Voice
Given my recent adventure in Atlanta, the move to a platform with less resiliency built-in sounds a little scary. Of course, I am speaking out of school in some ways. I don't even have a landline at my house. But then again, I do have a few radios lying around. I don't have much in the way of backup power in the house, but I could always leverage the power in the cars.
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