I can't believe that came from your mouth!
Archive for May, 2008
West Point Wins CyberWar Against the NSA
May 13th
I have a new post up at [GAS] that highlights the capabilities of the NSA in cyberwarfare. In a contest among all of the military academies, it was West Point that was the best able to detect and defend against the stealthy attacks of the NSA.
Go check that article out. In contrast to the post below, where the AirForce seems to have rogue zealots, the NSA has perfected its methodology with years of practice.
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Loading ...Crazed Air Force Colonel Proposes Air Force Botnet
May 13th
I have previously written about how the Air Force wants to become a major powerhouse in the world of cyber warfare. I think its a great idea in that we need servicemen and women trained in cybersecurity, tactics and methodology behind attacks. But one Air Force colonel is taking the idea a bit too far by proposing that the Air Force create a world-class Botnet. He doesn’t want to infect citizens computers (how nice of him) but wants to use thumb drives in old computers that were just going to be thrown away anyways to seed airforce networks wherever there is a spare jack available.
From the Armed Forces Journal here, by way of F-Secure:
Carpet bombing in cyberspaceWhy America needs a military botnetBY COL. CHARLES W. WILLIAMSON IIIThe world has abandoned a fortress mentality in the real world, and we need to move beyond it in cyberspace. America needs a network that can project power by building an af.mil robot network (botnet) that can direct such massive amounts of traffic to target computers that they can no longer communicate and become no more useful to our adversaries than hunks of metal and plastic. America needs the ability to carpet bomb in cyberspace to create the deterrent we lack.
BUILDING THE AF.MIL BOTNET
Lt. Chris Tollinger of the Air Force Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance Agency envisions continually capturing the thousands of computers the Air Force would normally discard every year for technology refresh, removing the power-hungry and heat-inducing hard drives, replacing them with low-power flash drives, then installing them in any available space every Air Force base can find. Even though those computers may no longer be sufficiently powerful to work for our people, individual machines need not be cutting-edge because the network as a whole can create massive power.
After that, the Air Force could add botnet code to all its desktop computers attached to the Nonsecret Internet Protocol Network (NIPRNet). Once the system reaches a level of maturity, it can add other .mil computers, then .gov machines.
To generate the right amount of power for offense, all the available computers must be under the control of a single commander.
So Williamson want to not only create the most powerful botnet, but also wants it to spread to every desktop in the .mil and .gov domains. And he wants to allow the Air Force theater commander to be able to press the button of DDoS doom to flood his victims.
Never mind for a second that such a stupid idea would also DDOS the source networks. The Colonel forgets how to defend against a DDoS attack, which is to blackhole ASR’s on the Internet. The ASR is the primary router through which all of the network traffic flows on the Internet. All the rest of the world would have to do to stop this stupid DDoS would be to blackhole the .gov and .mil ASRs and the rest of the world would carry on normally while the .gov and the .mil domains would find themselves cut off from the rest of the world.
I think some people in the Air Force are becoming drunk on their own ideas of power under their new cyber initiatives. And they need to dial back the rhetoric before they find their funding slashed. You want to DoS a network? A guided missile targeted at the facility that hosts the network routers are infinitely more effective and spectacular.
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(No Ratings Yet. Rate It!) Loading ...Nautical Forensics
May 12th
A couple went on a fishing trip off the California coast and didn’t come back. Their boat washed ashore in Mexico, and the lifejackets, lifeboat, wallets, purse and other personal belonging were all on the boat. I was listening to Fox News when they mentioned that Coast Guard computer forensics team were reviewing the onboard GPS unit to see just where the boat was positioned when it began to go off course in hopes to figure out what happened to the couple.
From FoxNews here:
Hope is fading for a California couple who vanished at sea this week off the coast of Mexico.
The U.S. Coastguard halted its search late Saturday for Josh Hartman, 28, and his fiancee, 30-year-old Ana Martin of Oceanside, Calif. after their boat washed up on a beach near Rosarito, Mexico, on Friday.
The 32-foot fishing boat, named “The Pelican,” landed ashore just north of Rosarito, a beach community 20 miles south of the border. Investigators have found no trace of either Hartman, who is an experienced boater, or Martin.
If the couple were attacked by pirates, they would have taken the money. I’m guessing it was a murder/suicide or a really bad day fishing. But I also think its a neat application of computer forensics to recover the boat’s navigation charts from its GPS unit.
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(No Ratings Yet. Rate It!) Loading ...Ronald McDonald’s Old School Creepiness
May 11th
Supposedly this is the first commercial for McDonald’s that ever aired on TV. And boy is that Hamburger Clown creepy.
It seems that the fried looked better back then, but those floopy hamburgers have never changed.
Thanks to SoGood for the link.
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(No Ratings Yet. Rate It!) Loading ...Toddler Had Marijuana and Cocaine in Blood
May 11th
Remember Angel Dailey, the sweet 16 pot freak who held a toddler down and forced her to smoke pot? It turns out the toddler had cocaine in her bloodstream too.
Thanks to Red Alert for pointing out this NBCi story here:
The video showed 16-year-old Angel Dailey and 18-year-old Melvin Blevins allegedly giving a toddler a marijuana pipe. Dailey pleaded guilty to the crime Friday. The video of the toddler was found at a pawn shop. The 2-year-old little girl had not only marijuana in her system but cocaine, too. Angel Dailey refused to watch the video Friday. It showed her holding the toddler while a man whom she said was her boyfriend allegedly gave the child marijuana. Dailey admitted to two of the three crimes against her — crimes that could keep her in juvenile detention until she’s 21. She was charged with child endangerment and corrupting another with drugs. She admitted that she did hold the child and said her boyfriend gave the child marijuana — in fact tried to teach the child to smoke from a pipe. She also admitted to having smoked a half of an ounce of pot herself.
I hope this degenerate party girl stays in jail for many years.
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(No Ratings Yet. Rate It!) Loading ...Spam for Gasoline
May 9th
Thanks to McAfee for pointing out that some scams just never die. There is new spam going around claiming that it can help you save 70 cents per gallon on gas prices! Don’t believe it.
McAfee says on their blog here:
Most of the spam I see can be categorized into a fairly small range of spam types. Common examples include pharmacy, stock and watch spam.
Over the last few weeks I have seen a new type of spam. This is spam which is trying to sell a product to save money on gas. Below is an example of a gas spam:
I bet its a crystal, or a magnet or some other new-age solution.
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(1 votes, average: 4.00 out of 6) Loading ...Unexpected Windfall: I Got a Check From the DMV
May 8th
It seems that the Virginia government had been illegally taxing residents in Northern Virginia under some “Congestion Tax” racket. The Northern Virginia Transit Authority were collecting fees without constitutional authority, including a 1% surcharge for any new vehicle purchased. As I had recently bought a new car this year with my Federal tax returns, I was a victim of this aggressive taxation.
The problem is, I had no idea I had even paid this money. So imagine my surprise when I get a check from the Dark Overlords at the Department of Motor Vehicles for almost 200 bucks! Woo Hoo! Eat me, Tim Kaine, you toad.
From the WaPo here:
Gov. Timothy M. Kaine (D) signed a bill that sets up a process to issue refund checks to people who paid taxes levied by the Northern Virginia Transportation Authority, taxes that were later ruled unconstitutional by the Virginia Supreme Court.
The NVTA collected seven taxes and fees in Northern Virginia: a tax on home sellers; a 1 percent initial vehicle registration fee; a $10 regional registration fee; a 2 percent car-rental tax; a 2 percent hotel tax; a $10 safety inspection fee; and a 5 percent sales tax on motor vehicle repairs.
The Department of Motor Vehicles will send out refund checks directly. The other fees will be sent to the unclaimed property division of the Treasury Department, which will publish its refund guidelines by April 1. Information will be updated at http://www.trs.virginia.gov. After April 1, taxpayers can call 804-278-0187.
It should be important to note that many businesses in the NOVA area paid for hotel and rental car stays for business persons. That’s potentially lots of cash waiting for a refund.
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(1 votes, average: 5.00 out of 6) Loading ...2:30 PM Music: Oasis- I Wanna Live a Dream
May 8th
This song was leaked onto the internet. You can tell by listening that its a rough cut, but this is sure to be a hit from their next album. Hurry and listen to this before it gets taken down from YouTube. Click to enjoy. More details at Spinner.
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(No Ratings Yet. Rate It!) Loading ...Not All Clowns Rape
May 7th
Some just take a half million dollars from 90 year-old widows.
Meet Carrie Williams. This despicable woman stole a half million bucks from a grieving 90 year old widow. What makes this woman even more intolerable is that she is a clown. Now she will be making balloon animals for fat Rhonda in the Arizona State Pen.
From the Daily Courier here:
Police arrested Kooki the Clown on five felony charges relating to her allegedly defrauding a 90-year-old woman of more than $500,000.
Carrie L. Williams-Thompson, 48, who portrayed ‘Kooki’ at fairs and city events, also worked as a bereavement counselor. She met the victim shortly after the victim’s husband died.
“The woman’s husband passed away in 2002. She (Williams-Thompson) gained power of attorney soon after that. The theft hasn’t been going on that long”.
The victim and her bank noticed that Williams-Thompson appeared to be “making unusual use” of the victim’s money. Williams-Thompson used the victim’s money to buy homes, vehicles, a fifth-wheel trailer and more.
California police officers arrested Williams-Thompson in Corona, Calif., where she was performing as Kooki with a California fair. Authorities soon will extradite her back to Arizona, where she will face felony charges of fraud, theft, financial exploitation of a vulnerable adult, forgery and unlawful use of power of attorney.
Clowns behind bars always make me laugh. Wanna see this clown’s MySpace Page? Click here.
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(No Ratings Yet. Rate It!) Loading ...Finally a Video Game for Little Girls That Love Bratz Dolls
May 7th
If you have a daughter that has rhinestone studded words written across her ass, wears a thong, loves to play with slutty makeup and Bratz dolls, you should run out to get this new game for the Nintendo WII: The Pole Dancing Game!
That’s right, Nintendo is planning on releasing a game that features a pole kit. From Gizmodo here:
At first we thought this Wii Pole Dancing game was a joke—how could something so sexy come to such a “family-friendly” and casual console like the Wii? Turns out it’s not a joke. The company’s representative, Simon Kay, didn’t comment on how far the development of the pole peripheral was, but did say that they’re going to try and encourage both women and men to pole dance for “fun and fitness.”
Every copy of the game comes with a T-Shirt that says “I support single Moms.”
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(No Ratings Yet. Rate It!) Loading ...Eco Zealots at Work
May 7th
This kind of crap is so stupid.
From an email I just received:
From: Environmental Responsibility
Sent: Wednesday, May 07, 2008 3:59 PM
To: Environmental Responsibility
Subject: Reduce – Reuse – Recycle Paper ‘Its the Right Thing to Do’To All PlxxxCo Employees,
In line with PlxxxCo’s commitment to Corporate Responsibility, we are launching the first of our quarterly Environmental Awareness Campaigns: ‘It’s the Right Thing To Do’ Reduce- Reuse- Recycle Paper.
We encourage all employees to become engaged in how you can reduce your paper usage, both at work and at home.
Our goal for FY2009 is to reduce paper usage by 10%.
Pardon me while I print 200 copies of this and distribute them to the break rooms.
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(No Ratings Yet. Rate It!) Loading ...Philly Cops Put the Beat Down
May 7th
These thugs had it coming. They were involved in a shooting and fled the scene. And as anyone who has played Grand Theft Auto, when you get all those blinking stars on your indicator screen, the cops are going to come after you in full force. These guys had all five stars blinking because they attracted 15 cops to kick their asses.
The cops were suspended pending an investigation, which means more bad guys can get away with murder on Philly streets. Between suspending cops and banning candy, Philly continues to demonstrate how it has a stranglehold on crime.
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(1 votes, average: 5.00 out of 6) Loading ...CellPhone Spying- Are You Being Monitored?
May 6th
There is a great new post at [GAS] by JR Raphael about how easy it is to install spying software on a cellphone. It should be noted that it is also easy to install the software on any phone you can get your hands on, so be sure to maintain control of your phone. And if you are a real psycho and want to spy on your spouse or girlfriend, the article points you to a site that can help you do it.
Remember, Virginia has already used cellphone records to locate deadbeat dads. They might soon turn on the tracking software and send the cops to pick them up. The courts have already approved using cellphones to track drug dealers.
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(No Ratings Yet. Rate It!) Loading ...Spam for Fake Diplomas
May 6th
Why go through all the trouble to become a doctor when you can just get the diploma?
From a Spam email I just received:
We can assist with Diplomas from prestigious universities based on your present
knowledge and LifeExperience.No required examination, tests, classes, books, or interviews.
Bacheelor, MasteerMBA, and Doctoraate diplomas available in the field of your choice
-
that’s right, you can become a Doctor and receive all the benefits that comes with
it!Diploma/Certificate Valid in all countries
No one is turned down
Confidentiality assured
CALL US 24 HOURS A DAY, 7 DAYS A WEEK
All the benefits of a Doctor? Well, Helloooo Nurse!
I think I’m actually more horrified that doctors working at medical centers may be using a fake diploma. This blog here, DiplomaMillNews, tracks stories about people getting busted using fake diplomas.
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(No Ratings Yet. Rate It!) Loading ...The GeekSlayer
May 5th
We went out to dinner last night with my father-in-law and he paid, which made it twice as yummy. It was a family steakhouse; the type where you throw peanut shells on the floor, and it was pretty packed for the dinner rush.
As is our custom, we brought along our Chicco Hippo Grip high chair. Its really lightweight and portable and fits on any table. We prefer to bring our own chair because we fully believe that every other child is dripping with goo, and we prefer not to let our kid touch the goo left behind in restaurant high chairs. Or if you prefer, think of us just keeping our baby’s goo to himself.
Anyways, this portable high chair draws lots of comments from wait staff and other moms whenever we use it in a restaurant, which is pretty often. Usually the comments are along the lines of “Oh, how clever!” Or “I wish I had one of those when my Johnny was a baby.”
A homely pimply-faced geeky waiter walked by our table with drinks loaded on a tray and paused and looked at Cartney in his seat and declared, “Wow, I’ve never seen one of those before!”
Without missing a beat, Jess said, “Its called a BABY. If you can find a girlfriend, maybe she’ll make you one.”
The waiter was stunned and shambled away. I was quite stunned, but also quite proud. I told her that comment was blogworthy.
That’s what happens when her steak comes out well done instead of medium rare like she ordered it.
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(No Ratings Yet. Rate It!) Loading ...Origin of PacMan
May 4th
Saw this at Gawker. Its an artist’s rendition of the concept behind PacMan.
Well, why not? It has an Atari symbol on the shoulder of the yellow astronaut, which is odd considering PacMan was originally Namco or Midway licensed. Atari only licensed the game for the classic Atari 2600 console.
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(No Ratings Yet. Rate It!) Loading ...Japanese Civil Servant Fired for Surfing Porn
May 2nd
780,000 downloads of porn in nine months. The BBC calculates that this employee was viewing 20 dirty pictures per minute.
You would think the naked lady mouses would be a tip-off that your employees are surfing porn.
From the BBC Here:
A local council employee in Japan has been punished after it was discovered he had accessed porn websites at work more than 780,000 times in nine months.
His superiors were alerted to the problem only when his computer became infected with a virus. The 57-year-old man, who has not been named, works for the city of Kinokawa in southern Japan.
He held on to his job, but has been demoted and his wages have been cut by about 20,000 yen ($190; £80) a month.
How do you justify not firing someone like this? Maybe no one wanted to shake his hand goodbye. Maybe he claimed it was a spooky ghost, like in this clip below:
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(No Ratings Yet. Rate It!) Loading ...New IronMan Movie is a Must See
May 2nd
Most superhero movies have a level of cheesiness you expect. But Ironman is the first movie to eliminate the cheese and replace it with awesomeness.
This movie is surprisingly not about just a guy in a tech suit. It’s about a man who looks death in the eye and then reinvents himself to be a better person. It stayed very true to the spirit and intent of the comics series and Robert Downey Jr. as Tony Stark is an incredible match. Another great performance was by Jeff Bridges as Obidiah Stane.
The special effects were incredible, as you would expect, however, its not the suit that wowed me the most. Stark uses an amazing 3D computer aided design and drafting station which allows him to insert his body parts into the simulation to get a perfect fit. From an IT perspective, this type of computer usage was not only fantastic but you can easily imagine engineers adopting it as a method of design.
This was a better movie than Spider-Man. Seriously, skip work to see this one.
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(No Ratings Yet. Rate It!) Loading ...DC Madam Eats a Noose Cupcake
May 1st
The DC Madam, Deborah Palfrey, went into the shed next to her Mom’s trailer home and gorged herself on Ketch’s knotted rope.
From CNN here:
Deborah Jeane Palfrey, known as the “D.C. Madam,” was found dead in Florida Thursday. Palfrey, 52, hanged herself. The body was found by her mother, at whose home Palfrey had been staying.
Suicide notes were found near the body in a small storage shed next to a mobile home.
Palfrey was convicted last month in connection with a high-end prostitution ring catering to Washington’s elite. She was found guilty April 15 of money laundering, racketeering and mail fraud and faced a maximum 55-year prison term at her sentencing, which was scheduled for July 24.
Born as trailer trash, she died as trailer trash, in a shed, by a trailer, amongst the trash.
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(No Ratings Yet. Rate It!) Loading ...SuperDelegate Joe Andrew Backstabs Hillary
May 1st
Joe Andrews, former Democrat Committee chairman and a superdelegate, switched his promised vote from Hillary to Obama. He buried his dagger to the hilt. As a geek who used to play Dungeons and Dragons, I’d say that Joe Andrew just rolled 8 d6 for this backstab. He also has the little-known ability to pick locks, detect traps and blend into the shadows.
From the AP here:
A leader of the Democratic Party under Bill Clinton switched his allegiance to Barack Obama on Thursday and urged fellow Democrats to end the bruising nomination fight.
“This has got to come to an end,” former Democratic National Committee Chairman Joe Andrew told reporters in his hometown of Indianapolis just days before Tuesday’s crucial state primary. He said he planned to call all the other superdelegates he knows and encourage them to back Obama.
Bill Clinton appointed Andrew chairman of the DNC in 1999, and he led the party through the disputed 2000 presidential race before stepping down in 2001. Andrew endorsed Hillary Rodham Clinton last year on the day she declared her candidacy for the White House.
In a lengthy letter explaining his decision, Andrew said he is switching his support because “a vote for Hillary Clinton is a vote to continue this process, and a vote to continue this process is a vote that assists (Republican) John McCain.”
Now Hillary is going to counterattack Joe Andrew by casting a level 35 “Wail of the Banshee.” I predict Joe will fail his saving throw.
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