Review – A Smart Girl's Guide To The Internet
- At September 25, 2009
- By Josh More
- In Business Security
0
A year or so ago I ran across the American Girl Smart Girl’s Guide series. I had heard some good things about the company and the books looked well written, so I picked up a few at a booksale and gave them to a friend whose daughter was approaching the right age. Recently, he reported that his daughter was finding them useful.
So, when I ran across A Smart Girl’s Guide to the Internet at a used bookstore, I picked it up. The book is clearly written for younger readers. It’s segmented by what kids do online and written in a way so as not to be insulting but still be useful. What I particularly liked is how it directly addresses real issues while still referring the kids to parental authority if they have any questions.
Some items of interest:
- There is a general stress on intelligence, or as they put it: smarts not software.
- An ongoing discussion about privacy and why it’s important, including what counts as personal information and why it should be protected.
- A running analogy of online threats to real-life threats.
- What to do when the inevitable happens and a kid is put in an uncomfortable position due to either social interaction or accidental browsing.
- Bullying and social snubbing.
- How to only connect with people you know personally instead of strangers.
- How to create content without putting yourself or your friends at risk.
To someone who has been working in the I.T. Security industry for a while, there is nothing new here. However, if you are a parent of or know parents of young girls, this is a great book for them to read. (Technically, it would be good for young boys too, but it’s unlikely that the majority of them would actually read it, as it is clearly branded for girls.) It’s nice to see a book like this being made available.
Small Business Attack – Rogue Wireless Detection
- At September 24, 2009
- By Josh More
- In Business Security
- 0
The best way to prevent rogue wireless access points from appearing on your network is to set up the network to make it more difficult. Though it is more work to lock down a network to only allow connections to specific MAC addresses and on specific ports, it does go a long way to prevent unauthorized devices from magically appearing on the network.
Of course, this sort of approach is not always feasible. In those situations, you have to go one step further and run periodic scans for unauthorized devices. Commonly used in wardriving, tools like NetStumbler and Kismet can also be used to find WAPs in your own building.
Using such a tool, it is important to first identify what “normal” is. Begin with a visual scan of every network port in your location. Make sure that you’re not starting with a rogue WAP on your network. Once you have done a visual sweep, run one of the tools and get a feel for what is normally present in your environment. Then, after a day or so (sometimes more), you should have a list of the wireless networks around. Each of these should be tracked down and identified as legitimate.
Then, on a periodic basis, you can check for new wireless access points and make sure that the list isn’t changing on you. If it is, you might have a problem.
It is important, however, to stress that this is not a perfect solution. You will likely need to occasionally visually inspect your network and verify that there are no new devices floating around. You should make sure that no laptops are set up to bridge a connection to the outside world. You should do your best to lock down the network. Then, when you’ve done all you can do, scan to fill in the holes.
Good luck.
Small Business Attack – Rogue Wireless
- At September 23, 2009
- By Josh More
- In Business Security
- 2
The best attacks are often also the simplest. It’s easier to just steal someone’s wallet or purse than it is to hack into a vendor and download their credit card number. It’s easier to offer someone a chocolate bar for their password than it is to send them a phishing email and hope that it works. Similarly, it is easier to break into a network from the inside than it is from the outside.
For example, an attacker could stroll in to your office, wait for a distraction, and plug in a wireless access point and then run any desired attacks from the outside. For example, the WL-330 is the size of a pack of cards. (As is the DWL-G730AP.) It’s easy to smuggle in and easy to set up. Then, all the attacker needs to do is to have an excuse to get into your building.
Of course, those can’t be hard to come by. After all, it’s not like your organization ever orders pizza, calls in for service to a printer or has a cleaning staff, right? I’m also sure that there is no secluded place that an attacker could sit with a laptop and run exploration tests. Most buildings don’t have parking lots, nearby coffee houses or bathrooms, right?
Oh, wait.
Maybe there is a problem.
Security Lessons from Nature – Fierasfer
- At September 22, 2009
- By Josh More
- In Natural History
- 0
All over the Internet, the fierasfer (aka pearlfish) is defined as: A genus of small, slender fishes, remarkable for their habit of living as commensals in other animals. One species inhabits the gill cavity of the pearl oyster near Panama; another lives within an East Indian holothurian. Not only does this go to show that almost no one does anything original on the Internet anymore, but also that fierasfers are some of the coolest fish ever.
What makes them unique is that they live inside other animals. Some may live inside other fish, clams, starfish or sea cucumbers. In most cases, they don’t harm the other creature, they just live together and share resources. This is much like a business that incubates other businesses. In this model, the larger business shelters and stabilizes the smaller startups, and the startups in turn, allow the larger business to be more nimble and responsive to market demands.
However, there is one small flaw in the plan. That flaw is known as Carapus acus. This pearlfish lives inside sea cucumbers and swims out at night looking for food. If food cannot be found, they eat the organs of the host. This would be like a startup having difficulty with cash flow and solving the problem by just taking money out of the accounts of the larger firm. Sadly, it can happen.
So, what lesson can be learned here? Well, one would be to not go swimming where fierasfers abound. A more practical one would be to be careful with whom you choose to partner. At the very least, be sure that any financial systems are separated. At most, you might want to find some way to keep the systems audited and make sure that the line between the companies are clear.
This way, you can keep your organs from being eaten while you sleep.
Mythic Monday – Elfshot
- At September 21, 2009
- By Josh More
- In Mythology
- 0
Before the germ theory of disease, Celtic farmers occasionally experienced cattle that would mysteriously sicken. At the same time, as they were clearing their land, they would find prehistoric arrowheads. Combining these two observations with the belief that elves were ever-present and often interfered with daily human life, the idea of elfshot arose.
It made perfect sense at the time. Based on the theories of the time and the available evidence, it was completely logical. Even Robert Kirk, an Episcopalian minister, analyzed the situation and explained it thusly in his The Secret Commonwealth of Elves, Fauns & Fairies:
These arms (cut by art and tools it seems beyond human) have somewhat of the nature of thunderbolt, subtly and mortally wounding the vital parts without breaking the skin, of which wounds, some I have observed in beasts and felt them with my hands.
So, since they couldn’t conceive of any way that such small arrowheads could be made (and since they lacked a John Whittaker), they came up with an idea and it effected the regional culture for centuries.
Sadly, the same behavior still exists today. Many times, when there is a security incident, there are a few clues here and there as to what is going on. It is very common to have a theory about what’s going on and then try to make all of the evidence fit it. For example, we hear a lot about foreign attackers, so when a system starts to behave a bit oddly, we often look first for an intrusion. In fact, odd behavior could be due to many factors. It’s not unusual for some systems to experience problems at times. It’s also not unusual for attacks to come from inside. Focusing too early on but one scenario can blind you to what’s really going on.
It’s better to consider all of the data independently and then start coming up with and testing ideas. This would allow you to spend less time running down the wrong path and be more efficient in uncovering the problem. That way, instead of spending centuries working under a theory that might not fit the best, you can maximize your use of time… and avoid needlessly blaming the elves for something that wasn’t really their fault.
