dc0de’s notes…

Well, reading some of the PCI requirements can be quite boring… however, I stumbled across an interesting footnote on a failed scan recently.

Apparently, you will fail a PCI scan if you are using any IPSec VPN connections that allow a 768bit modulus for the Diffie-Hellman key exchange for IPSec tunnels.

The size of the modulus used to calculate the key varies according to the group:

• Group 1: 768-bit modulus (many attacks exist against Group 1 today… not recommended by this author)
• Group 2: 1024-bit modulus (even Group 2 is getting too small for practical security use)
• Group 5: 1536-bit modulus

It is however, VERY interesting, that you can keep your WEP encrypted wireless networks…. until 2010, but can’t deploy any NEW ones after March 31st, 2009!     

“New WEP deployments won’t be allowed after March 31, 2009, and current implementations must stop using WEP after June 30, 2010.”

Gotta love them standards…. So quick on the uptake…

I’ll be putting up some defcon 16 info soon, but I’m just a bit hammered with work right now…

Keep watching,

More to follow…

I was walking through the office yesterday, when a Sr. Manager asked me, “When do you go out?” (meaning, to Vegas for Defcon).

I paused for a second, and replied, “pffft, I’m already there…”

No truer words have I spoken… mentally, I’m SOO ready, and I am looking forward to the long days, long nights, fun, chaos, and general shenanigans that are Defcon.  And I fear I’m going to find it relaxing.

So for all of you in Las Vegas now;

1. Yes, I’m jealous
2. I’ll be there tomorrow
3. Save me some ToxicBBQ
4. I look forward to seeing you again!

Defcon is taking up most of my free time, as I’m now trying to get everything together, get my packing done, and arrange all of my “events” and “meetings” around the entire conference. I’m trying to get with a few of my friends during the weekend long event, and have the joy of knowing I’m going to product training right after the conference.

I’m flying out on the 7th, missing the Defcon Shoot, arriving for the Toxic BBQ and getting all setup for a weekend of gooning. I’ve asked for day shift, and hope that I get it, and just received the information about who I will be rooming with at Defcon. A fellow goon named Chosen1.

This looks like a great year, and I hope that I can attend a few talks, or at least 1/2 of them, as we are going to be rotating our teams constantly around the Defcon talks.

I still have to figure out which talks I’d like to attend, and hopefully, someone will purchase a set of Defcon DVD’s for the goons… *HINT*

Thats all for now, more to come.

I can’t wait… Defcon 16 is coming up on the 8th of August 2008 in Las Vegas. Defcon is one of the conventions that I like to attend, and I’m really looking forward to seeing some of my friends, meeting some new people, learning some new things, and having a good time. For those of you that don’t know what Defcon is, please go to their website, and take a look. It’s for Information Security people, hackers, and overall geeks.

My flights are going to be taking me into Las Vegas on the 7th, so that I can attend the Toxic BBQ, (something I consider to be the unofficial start of Defcon), but this year, the Defcon shoot has also come back, and I will be in flight during the time of the shoot.

All is still well, as I am excited to get there, and I’ve already started packing, organizing, and laying out the gear I’m going to take. For those of you who aren’t geeks, come on out to Defcon, and see how the smarter half lives!

Hope to see you there.

-
dc0de.

I just got my first real bill from Sprint and it’s just as I expected…

I can’t say how happy I am with the service, I actually have FEWER dropped calls on my Sprint/Blackberry than I did with my ATT Blackberry.

I also love the Bluetooth Tethering, so I can use it as a modem, and the included Navigation (from Telenav) is great!  I can even call in my destination, and it pushes it back down to my phone, so I can navigate completely hands free.

For those of you slaved to some long contract with ATT or Verizon, I would strongly encourage you to look at Sprint.  I call their plan the $99.00 “No Surprise Plan”, and I’m beaming!

By the way, I used 3,271 minutes last month… for $99.00, send I don’t know how many emails, or data, or SMS text messages on top of that.  But it doesn’t matter… it’s all one price.

So long ATT… you had your chance.

Well, my weekend started out in the Emergency Room, on Saturday morning, then on to summercon, and and ended with me catching my Kidney Stone, trimming my hedges, and trying to rest.

Summercon was great, and the warm welcome and reception by the Summercon Crew was awesome.

I’m very late in posting this, but forgive me, I’ve been underwater with work since Summercon and the Kidney Stone episode.

I’ve found out from the Doctor, that the Kidney Stone was created because of my caffeine intake.  So, now I can’t drink, can’t have caffeine, and can’t eat much of what I like.  So, my last vice is now gone… I have to figure out how to stay up late and have the energy I need…

Life is getting fun!

I’m ready for Summercon, and going to be presenting tomorrow.  I also just saw that the Sci-Fi show Eureka! is coming back on!

Damn, two good things in one day! Can it get any better!?!

I was sitting at home, about to go to work on wednesday of last week, when I received an email message from Sprint, reminding me that I haven’t yet activated my Telenav service yet.  I called the customer service number (*2), to confirm that Telenav was included in my $99.99 / month “everything” plan.

Customer service confirmed that it was completely included, with no additional charges! Now I can use the turn-by-turn, and all of the other features of Telenav (I’m still learning them all), on my phone, and give my Garmin Nuvi 660 to my wife to use while she’s driving.

Of course, that makes her happy, and “If Momma’s happy….”

I’ve done it…

I’ve finally severed the last vestage of AT&T in my life.  And Good Riddance.

Today, I signed up for Sprint’s new $99.99/month everything plan.  And I purchased a new BlackBerry as well.  What has driven me to this point? Well, let’s start at the beginning.

1996 - I got a cellular phone with Bellsouth.net, and my first cellular number.  (Which I am leaving behind with AT&T)

I suffered all of the throes of Analog Cellular Service with Bellsouth, suffered with them through thick, thin and the lack of good wireless plans.

I moved from Motorola phones, to Nokia, whom I stayed with for almost 8 years. (In 2004, I got my first Blackberry).  Bellsouth turned into Cingular, and the transition was smooth’ish, and the plans finally got better.  Rollover plans were very popular, and I moved to one of those during the first year of Cingular’s takeover.  Rollover plans helped even out the differing months of usage, and wireless minutes were still a pain to track, and ensure that you didn’t go over.  The penalties for going over your minutes were severe, and still haven’t changed.

Since AT&T took over, they have lost my Television business (Bellsouth Americast), my Internet DSL, and now my cellular service.  AT&T has systematically destroyed all of the great services that Bellsouth and Cingular had created.

AT&T has raised prices, removed over 50% of the customer service, hasn’t upgraded the network, either the DSL, or Cellular, and removed the features that made Americast such a good cable network.  Now recently, my charges have been out of control… so, AT&T is fired… and I’m so happy!

My new Blackberry is coming in on Tuesday, and my new number is coming with it… I’m retiring my old number, and making a clean break.  So long AT&T, have a nice existance… I’m done with you…