slaptijack

Thanks to a hard drive failure, I recently installed a fresh copy of Mac OS X 10.5 (Leopard) on my MacBook. I do a lot of work on remote systems and SSH is my bread and butter. Whenever I tried to SSH into other Macs on my local network …

One of the more underrated tools included with Microsoft Windows Server is Network Monitor. Network Monitor is a packet capture tool that allows network administrators to gain insight into what network traffic is being sent and received by the server. This data can be useful in diagnosing various network problems …

Slaptijack was offline for 2.5 hours today when the data center with our server in it experienced a power outage. Apparently, the roof started leaking during a heavy rain storm and water dropped directly on a panel controlling the UPS. This caused the UPS to shutdown, and it took …

In the 1970s, Bob Metcalfe and David Boggs invented Ethernet while working at Xerox PARC. At that time, Ethernet's top speed was 3 Megabits per second (Mbps). This version was installed in a few sites including Boeing, the White House, and various academic institutions. In the early 1980s, the original …

Proxy servers have become increasingly popular security devices in corporate networks. It is becoming a standard practice to use a dedicated proxy server to relay Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP) requests to web servers protected by a firewall. In addition to relaying HTTP requests, proxy servers can also be used to …

The National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) and Rural Utilities Service (RUS) have made a searchable database of Broadband Initiatives Program (BIP) and Broadband Technology Opportunities Program (BTOP) applications available online. The database is meant to give the public an opportunity to research projects that affect them directly. Unfortunately, although …

The first layer of the OSI Reference Model is the physical layer. This layer describes the physical characters of the network. This layer defines the tangible aspects of the network medium, such as types of cables and pin arrangements, but it also defines how much voltage is used in copper …

Managing isolated systems is already a complicated task. Network connectivity from outside the Local Area Network (LAN) introduces new complexities that must be taken into account when designing an information security plan. The most significant concern when connecting a LAN to the Internet is protecting internal information from external attackers …

The fifth layer of the OSI Reference Model is the session layer. Since applications running on different hosts may need to establish a connection in order to operate, the session layer is responsible for setting up the connection. It is important to note that the session layer is responsible for …

Initially, information security was tightly bound to physical security. The introduction of networked systems created a need for a new kind of security system. Not only must information be protected from improper physical access, it must also be protected from outside attackers using the very tools that make distributed computing …

The Open Systems Interconnection (OSI) Reference Model first came into being in 1978. The OSI group was intent on getting a model into the field quickly, so they elected to adopt a seven-layer model created by Charles Bachman of Honeywell. By this time, the lower four levels of the model …

Email communication has become so common, users often forget that there is no inherent security in the common implementation. For general correspondence it might be acceptable to forsake security in the interest of ease of use. After all, the sharing of recipes between old friends is not always a matter …

Today (Aug 28, 2009) is the big day for Mac OS X lovers. Snow Leopard has finally been released. If you were smart enough to pre-order it on Amazon then you'll be getting it soon. Not only that, but you saved \$4 off the list price!

On a related note …

A week after the official deadline for electronic submission of applications for the Broadband Initiatives Program (BIP) and the Broadband Technology Opportunities Program (BTOP), the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) revealed today that nearly 2,200 applicants have requested \$28 billion in funding. The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act …

In the field of information technology, there are two kinds of professionals. Those that seek to make information more accessible through applications and services, and those that strive to protect that same information. Information security professionals protect information by first striving to identify the individuals access the system and then …