tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-91676312012-01-21T04:13:46.375ZRory Alsop - Infosec specialist, petrolhead and rock star... the rest is just fillerRory Alsophttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02067185771629981485noreply@blogger.comBlogger781100tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9167631.post-48971677397547491422011-11-18T13:43:00.001Z2011-11-18T14:14:48.516Z

My band, Metaltech, supported the mighty KMFDM this week at the Classic Grand in Glasgow. Now this was by no means the biggest gig we have played, having had successful gigs at the Wickerman, Belladrum and Rock Ness festivals etc., but in terms of pure awesomeness it wins hands down. Trauma Inc. - a local Glasgow band kicked off, despite one of their number being hospitalised earlier in the week

Rory Alsophttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02067185771629981485noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9167631.post-79966709249238432382011-09-12T22:33:00.001Z2011-09-12T22:33:14.090Z

I have happily taken on a new role - back in Big-4 consultancy - despite really enjoying owning and running my own company, and despite proving to myself that it is more relaxing and more profitable to run my own company! After the experience of the best part of ten years working in, and then leading Ernst & Young's security team in Scotland, I was pleasantly surprised to be offered a very

Rory Alsophttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02067185771629981485noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9167631.post-53326448798108431882011-07-08T10:44:00.000Z2011-07-08T10:44:00.585Z

You are probably aware I am one of the pro-tem Moderators for the global Security expert knowledge exchange Security.StackExchange.com, which was created as a public beta in November. Well, we are almost at the stage of graduating to full Stack Exchange membership, with over 3000 users, and around 1000 visits a day, and the growth is increasing. Like the parent Stack Exchange group (currently

Rory Alsophttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02067185771629981485noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9167631.post-89601278287527709142011-07-05T12:40:00.007Z2011-07-06T09:18:27.654Z

The 2011 Carry-On themed White Hat Rally was fiercely fought last weekend, with teams from all over the UK taking part, and raising money for and the NSPCC's Childline, with a total raised by Sunday topping £25,000.  Across the sunniest 3 days this summer we travelled from Brighton to Blackpool, following clues, competing in challenges, suffering japes, sabotage and mechanical issues, and

Rory Alsophttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02067185771629981485noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9167631.post-88952549706710442842011-06-28T14:40:00.004Z2011-07-05T14:37:01.276Z

Slides from my presentation at the Security & Cybercrime Symposium are up.I had a bit of a hectic day, having hosted the ISACA Scotland AGM in the morning, but I made it to Napier University in time to catch the majority of the speakers, as well as to present my piece on where we need to fix the problems with IT and Information Security.Bill Buchanan and team did a grand job of organising the day

Rory Alsophttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02067185771629981485noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9167631.post-54888269141420108022011-05-29T21:56:00.004Z2011-07-05T14:37:15.670Z

Many of you will know of the White Hat Ball and the White Hat Rally - professionals from the information security world raising money for Childline. I have attended the ball a couple of times, but always in the past I have missed out on the rally so I'm delighted that this year I'm taking part.This year the theme is Carry On Driving, running from Brighton to Blackpool from the 1st to 3rd of July

Rory Alsophttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02067185771629981485noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9167631.post-30778952811894864892011-05-23T23:59:00.000Z2011-05-23T22:45:55.247Z

So - we have come to the end of the wee project we set up last year, and I thought I should pop down some of my lessons learned and my thoughts on my next moves:For me, the contrast between the global world of Ernst & Young, and our local 7 Elements world has shown that some things are the same at any scale. Interestingly the same people engaged me working as a small company as I would have

Rory Alsophttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02067185771629981485noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9167631.post-54055269828181057502011-05-23T22:38:00.003Z2011-07-05T14:37:44.683Z

Initially while I was at Ernst & Young, then through my 7 Elements time, and with the help of many others from vendors and industry have been putting some thought into how penetration testing is currently sold and delivered and how we can improve the process for customers and suppliers. This is a consolidation of posts from other areas, and ideally should be built into the process along with the

Rory Alsophttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02067185771629981485noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9167631.post-14451698314337524772011-03-06T21:48:00.001Z2011-07-05T14:38:01.506Z

(Copied over from my old blog post)The Scottish branch of the IISP and ISACA Scotland hosted a joint talk on the 17th of February at the English Speaking Union with our guest speaker, Louise Behan, of the Lothian And Borders Police Specialist Fraud Unit.Louise described the remit of the fraud unit, which includes investigation of contraventions of the Company, Insolvency and Bankruptcy laws, all

Rory Alsophttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02067185771629981485noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9167631.post-5578166247678847462011-02-18T21:55:00.001Z2011-07-05T14:39:00.215Z

Day 1 of B-Sides San FranciscoThe awesome guys at Security Stack Exchange got me 8000 miles across the world to blog B-Sides San Francisco, and it was an amazing opportunity to mix with Infosec professionals from various industries.All my photos from this trip are on my Picasa page.My highlights from Day 1:Gone in 60 keystrokes:Dr Mike Lloyd:Red SealSure, this was a vendor presentation, designed

Rory Alsophttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02067185771629981485noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9167631.post-52779981970230584392011-02-18T10:24:00.008Z2011-07-05T14:39:11.473Z

So - was over in San Francisco for the B-Sides SF security conference (and also managed to pop into RSA) which I have blogged aboutin a separate post, but as I managed to have some time to see the city and friends I thought I'd blog the non-work stuff as well.After leaving Edinburgh in freezing temperatures, with ice on the cars, I had an excellent flight over with Virgin Atlantic, despite being

Rory Alsophttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02067185771629981485noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9167631.post-10873139383159179852011-01-31T17:38:00.028Z2011-02-02T20:13:47.362Z

The Scottish Alternative Music Awards are here for their second year, and this year Metaltech have been nominated for best Metal act. Voting and judging will happen from the 7th of February, leading up to the awards show at the Classic Grand in Glasgow on the 25th of February.To help us in our quest to win this prestigious award, we need YOU to visit the SAMA page from Monday the 7th of February

Rory Alsophttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02067185771629981485noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9167631.post-26270327762695773192011-01-18T22:01:00.002Z2011-07-05T14:39:48.808Z

Those of you who know me will know how keen I am on helping the continued professionalisation of information security, and in providing training, guidance and steer back to the community. I get a lot of queries from individuals in IT or Information Security roles asking for more ways to get information, improve their skillset or even just to learn from others.Many of you may be familiar with the

Rory Alsophttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02067185771629981485noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9167631.post-24786579678050982762010-12-20T21:38:00.004Z2010-12-21T11:17:56.160Z

More and more people are working from home, and since an article I wrote for the Financial Times a few years back I have had more and more people ask about what can be done to make their home environment a little more secure without breaking the bank.After some of the discussion on IT Security Stack Exchange, and especially this question, I thought it would be worthwhile popping the link up here,

Rory Alsophttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02067185771629981485noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9167631.post-36394998340706502712010-12-17T22:48:00.001Z2011-07-05T14:40:02.061Z

With this winter in Scotland already a repeat of the freezing conditions of last year we are still astonished at how many people leave themselves at risk by being entirely unprepared. Not only does this cause them problems, but it also causes some impact to those who are prepared. So here are a few notes on how to minimise the impact from adverse weather and foolhardy unprepared individuals on

Rory Alsophttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02067185771629981485noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9167631.post-3647528226378013442010-12-08T20:52:00.005Z2010-12-21T11:18:30.269Z

I don't know if you noticed, but Scotland is suffering a bit of a cold snap - to such an extent that many normal activities are halted. Normally we would expect a temperature of around 6 degrees Centigrade at this time of year. It has been below freezing for 9 days now, with a low of minus 12 today, and so far we have had around 3 1/2 feet of snow fall, so transport has been very difficult, shops

Rory Alsophttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02067185771629981485noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9167631.post-87835694271218132092010-11-17T22:12:00.002Z2011-07-05T14:40:45.851Z

A topic very dear to me is the development of the Information Security profession, but specifically in Scotland, and I thought it would be worthwhile posting some information on initiatives in Scotland that help with this aim, as well as discuss areas where stronger involvement from the wider industry would be welcomed. We have selected a few of the key organisations and events, but if you feel

Rory Alsophttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02067185771629981485noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9167631.post-15217928417077004882010-11-08T22:28:00.001Z2011-07-05T14:41:05.237Z

In my role as Vice-President of ISACA Scotland and chairman of the Scottish branch of the IISP I chaired a joint session titled "Key Security Risks and Practical Remediation." Audit Scotland hosted the session, and we had a good turnout representing the financial and government sectors as well as law firms and retail.A quick introduction from round the table did confirm that the problems faced

Rory Alsophttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02067185771629981485noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9167631.post-77160244454186545582010-10-31T22:31:00.000Z2011-05-23T22:53:23.151Z

Chris over at Catch22 just posted up this excellent blog article.A huge amount of commonality in thinking - Some extra thoughts on this:Communication - over the last 12 or so years I have tried various training for testers along business lines etc., and there are very few who I would say are at the top of their game in both testing and reporting in business language. The few around are worth

Rory Alsophttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02067185771629981485noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9167631.post-74209376936413537312010-10-31T21:52:00.004Z2010-10-31T22:01:58.644Z

I mentioned the networking I have been doing, as any new start-up must, and I have realised the extraordinary variety in how these things work. Last week David and I went to the Banter in Edinburgh and were very impressed at the way Martin has it organised. Free to take part, hosted in a local coffee shop, Very fluid, come and go as you please, grab a coffee before moving into the group, but he

Rory Alsophttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02067185771629981485noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9167631.post-35785017816924646322010-10-30T12:15:00.004Z2010-10-30T12:23:05.559Z

The next Scottish branch of the Institute of Information Security Professionals (IISP) event on the 4th will be kindly hosted by Napier University in Edinburgh (room F.29 at the Merchiston campus) and will have 2 speakers: IISP Member - Matthew Pemble: "Preparing for the End - Data Destruction". Matthew is a popular speaker at many conferences and events and from two aspects of his day job has a

Rory Alsophttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02067185771629981485noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9167631.post-52364570341020018952010-10-29T22:35:00.000Z2011-05-23T22:53:43.917Z

This year's SFCG Conference was held at the Corn Exchange in Edinburgh yesterday and was a great success, with a wide range of delegates from Financial Services, Consultants, Vendors, Academia, Public Sector and Law Enforcement (Scottish and Welsh police, and the FBI)For me the key highlights included:A presentation by Robert Hartman of KPMG on Bribery and Corruption in the Financial Sector. Some

Rory Alsophttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02067185771629981485noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9167631.post-66694509205310904282010-10-27T21:44:00.003Z2010-10-27T21:55:53.590Z

Been having an interesting time over the last couple of weeks meeting people at networking events. It is very reassuring to me that the basic business model underpinning 7 Elements Ltd appears to fit the needs of so many organisations.We are providing services that are practical and effective for small or large organisations - and that work even in the current economic environment.I presented for

Rory Alsophttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02067185771629981485noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9167631.post-61858169293033882872010-09-22T11:22:00.003Z2010-09-22T11:26:12.615Z

After 9 1/2 years as Scottish Security Lead with Ernst & Young I've just started a new role as a Director at 7 Elements. Along with two other notable names in Information Security in Scotland we will provide technical security consultancy and penetration testing services.As part of that we've started up a blog here to talk through some of the ideas we've got for approaching security and testing

Rory Alsophttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02067185771629981485noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9167631.post-39313905663600854722010-05-25T12:53:00.002Z2010-05-25T12:57:08.861Z

Alex Bellos writes in New Scientist :"I have two children. One is a boy born on a Tuesday. What is the probability I have two boys?"The first thing to remember about probability questions is that everyone finds them mind-bending, even mathematicians. The next step is to try to answer a similar but simpler question so that we can isolate what the question is really asking.So, consider this

Rory Alsophttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02067185771629981485noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9167631.post-86785817196507823702009-09-04T09:57:00.005Z2010-09-22T11:48:00.910Z

Following Charles Stross' lead, I went through this Guardian link last night on how to reduce emissions. In everything but flying it looks like as a household we come out saving about 4.4 tonnes as we do most things right, but then I'm screwed on flights, doing 16 shorthaul and 4 longhaul this year. At least I have cut down since last year by over 70% so I am reducing my footprint.Amused by the

Rory Alsophttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02067185771629981485noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9167631.post-46569679391951442282007-03-22T17:25:00.001Z2007-03-22T17:25:16.229Z

From next month, the Council of Registered Ethical Security Testers (CREST) is open for business. Designed to ensure that penetration testing provided meets minimum standards, and appropriate methodologies and processes are in place, it involves practical assault courses to test skill levels of penetration testers, similar to the UK CHECK scheme.I like this idea - seems more relevant and usable

Rory Alsophttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02067185771629981485noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9167631.post-9280857426026355182007-01-07T22:08:00.000Z2007-01-07T22:12:04.757Z

Well, my brother went out to Essaouira for a kite-surfing holiday and loved it so much he bought an apartment which he is letting out during the summers. If you fancy it, check out Apartment Simoom

Rory Alsophttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02067185771629981485noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9167631.post-1165143540378881292006-12-03T10:57:00.000Z2006-12-03T10:59:00.393Z

This Post at Blorge.com pitches itself as the definitive security comparison between Vista and XP but actually tells us nothing. Seems weirdly biased towards Vista even though the points laid out do not support this at all.Most depressing.

Rory Alsophttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02067185771629981485noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9167631.post-1163003105885798422006-11-08T16:24:00.000Z2006-11-08T16:25:17.073Z

Excellent O'Reilly tips on using Windows Power Shell.

Rory Alsophttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02067185771629981485noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9167631.post-1160991946507755852006-10-16T09:18:00.000Z2006-10-16T09:45:46.533Z

The History of Hacking

Rory Alsophttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02067185771629981485noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9167631.post-1160919798288895542006-10-15T13:43:00.000Z2006-10-16T08:42:52.586Z

Sensible use of the Google Code search tool hereThis is what being a geek is all about...although does this mean Google is at least measuring evil, if not actually doing it?

Rory Alsophttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02067185771629981485noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9167631.post-1159887247177968442006-10-03T14:53:00.000Z2006-10-03T14:54:07.193Z

Hoctro's Place

Rory Alsophttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02067185771629981485noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9167631.post-1157386855369084842006-09-04T16:20:00.000Z2006-09-04T16:20:55.420Z

joatBlog has a nice summary of some simple steps we should always get tech folks to run through before passing the problem to IT Security:-)

Rory Alsophttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02067185771629981485noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9167631.post-1155499508875216302006-08-13T20:04:00.000Z2006-08-13T20:10:06.370Z

My thoughts exactly.Why not follow El Al's lead in this - as they have been dealing with the terrorist threat fro a Very Long Time (tm)---Use humans trained in this sort of thing to interview everyone who wishes to fly---It appears to work pretty well!See Schneier's take on it as well

Rory Alsophttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02067185771629981485noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9167631.post-1148629720165771052006-05-26T07:48:00.000Z2006-05-26T07:48:40.196Z

Just decentralised

Rory Alsophttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02067185771629981485noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9167631.post-1140517777251858532006-02-21T10:27:00.000Z2006-02-21T10:29:37.266Z

Check out my mate Alan and his crazy charity fund raising idea Here

Rory Alsophttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02067185771629981485noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9167631.post-1140110128770672482006-02-16T17:14:00.000Z2006-02-16T17:15:28.786Z

I like this post.Security testing as 'badness-ometer'Nice

Rory Alsophttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02067185771629981485noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9167631.post-1140018207423049672006-02-15T15:42:00.000Z2006-02-15T15:43:27.440Z

Multi-tail seems like a handy tool for general monitoring purposes.

Rory Alsophttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02067185771629981485noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9167631.post-1138271260583535852006-01-26T10:27:00.000Z2006-01-31T20:49:26.643Z

For those of you who linked to the blog worm (cute though it may be) pleaseread this to see why you should replace it with a gif you control.Ahhh - the joys

Rory Alsophttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02067185771629981485noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9167631.post-1131703191249437742005-11-11T09:59:00.000Z2005-11-11T09:59:51.270Z

Passive OS fingerprinting - the non-intrusive scan tool:-)

Rory Alsophttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02067185771629981485noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9167631.post-1129131867739547502005-10-12T15:35:00.000Z2005-10-12T15:48:22.426Z

Was at the ISC2 Secure London conference yesterday. Interesting day, and lots of interesting info. Check out uksaint.org which is a site supported by Intellect, the trade body for the UK hi-tech industry. It is currently hosting the working group info for the move to professionalising the information security industry.Another interesting URL mentioned was www.staysafeonline.org which could be

Rory Alsophttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02067185771629981485noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9167631.post-1129114430283370342005-10-12T10:53:00.000Z2005-10-12T10:53:50.286Z

Non photo realistic QuakeHow cool is that?

Rory Alsophttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02067185771629981485noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9167631.post-1129113522908990862005-10-12T10:34:00.000Z2005-10-12T10:38:42.913Z

Dana Epp discusses building security into code and applications. This seems absolutely obvious but you would be astonished at how many organisations do not have secure coding guidelines or even best practices. This should help any application developers.

Rory Alsophttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02067185771629981485noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9167631.post-1128585037758661972005-10-06T07:45:00.000Z2005-10-06T07:51:02.673Z

Nessus is dropping the GPLCould change the way a lot of security consulting firms run the basic section of a security assessment, as nessus - even though it has its issues around false positives - has always been a staple part of the toolkit.

Rory Alsophttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02067185771629981485noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9167631.post-1127750382035555402005-09-26T15:58:00.000Z2005-09-26T16:14:16.826Z

Binary Art in minimalist form.Pretty cool:-)But not as cool as the Ninja Panda!

Rory Alsophttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02067185771629981485noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9167631.post-1126610531175159362005-09-13T11:05:00.000Z2005-09-13T11:22:11.223Z

Erm - amusing....I guess it describes me well:-) Remember the 19th of September!!!CALICO JACK!You are 28 %Treasurer, have 46% Seafairability, crave 29% Bloodlusting, and lust 98% in Wenchwanting! Jack Rakam, or Calico Jack, as you like to be called, there's more to being a pirate than Wenching! Sure you love the ladies (and occasionally the cabin boy), but you can't plunder, pillage, navigate or

Rory Alsophttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02067185771629981485noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9167631.post-1117792378375912852005-06-03T09:47:00.000Z2005-06-03T09:52:58.376Z

Well, I've been hectically busy so failing to post here, but have been able to post at moblog while on the move. Now that blogger allows mobile blogging I might do that here....Bought a new house, which is nice, and I know it's in a nice area, because it's 2 doors down from my current one. It just has an extra bathroom, bedroom, conservatory, shed, two extra public rooms, bigger garden, longer

Rory Alsophttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02067185771629981485noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9167631.post-1114165040960128002005-04-22T10:15:00.000Z2005-04-22T10:17:20.960Z

Well, I ran the Paris Marathon on the 10th of April...what a lovely city, and what a lovely day for a run. Up until half way I was making reasonable time, on course for around a 4hour and a bit run, but slumped badly towards the end and came in at 5hr 35...I suppose I should have trained, hey ho.I'm so impressed with Paris, especially after my disappointment with New York.And the shopping is

Rory Alsophttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02067185771629981485noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9167631.post-1112619528559633162005-04-04T12:16:00.000Z2005-04-04T12:58:48.560Z

Well - was a bit disappointed with my visit to New York. Grand Central station, although nice, is pretty small. Way smaller than they make it look on the telly. And Manhattan is small as well.And the gadget shops are pants - many of them but very limited product ranges, and the prices weren't competitive, even with the great exchange rate.And I couldn't even get much for the wife - better

Rory Alsophttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02067185771629981485noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9167631.post-1111583302405732932005-03-23T13:08:00.000Z2005-03-23T13:16:03.330Z

Spotted this on Sharp Ideas: Monkey Shell: using XML-RPC for access to a remote shellVery cleveras is Windows Privacy Tools and all of this

Rory Alsophttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02067185771629981485noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9167631.post-1111080642987307552005-03-17T17:30:00.000Z2005-03-17T17:30:42.986Z

Gerv has some good ideas here. Okay, so they have all been discussed before, but they all make sense in the right environment, and together can significantly improve security.

Rory Alsophttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02067185771629981485noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9167631.post-1109858752329556362005-03-03T14:05:00.000Z2005-03-03T16:10:30.753Z

Firefox 1.01 is released. By default it defeats the IDN spoofing vulnerability.Which is nice.

Rory Alsophttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02067185771629981485noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9167631.post-1109544290858036962005-02-27T22:38:00.000Z2005-02-27T22:44:50.860Z

Just when you are about to do a backup, 'cos you've been a bit lax for a couple of weeks, it starts acting up. I started getting IRQ_NOT_LESS_THAN_OR_EQUAL BSODs. After hunting around forums, it appeared to be connected to pagefile issues, so I removed and recreated my pagefile.Then I started getting POOL errors, which quickly escalated to the classic symptom of only getting to mup.sys on boot.

Rory Alsophttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02067185771629981485noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9167631.post-1107994405271767502005-02-10T00:10:00.000Z2005-02-10T00:13:25.270Z

Financial Cryptography has another interesting article on Sarbanes-Oxley. The funny thing is the number of companies I have seen who aren't listed on the US Stock Exchange who want to go through something comparable to or exceeding Section 404 requirements. Just in case.

Rory Alsophttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02067185771629981485noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9167631.post-1107870615507812672005-02-08T13:50:00.000Z2005-02-08T13:50:15.506Z

This is a pretty interesting analysis, even if the diagrams in the appendix are a tad on the spiderweb/cat's cradle side:-)

Rory Alsophttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02067185771629981485noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9167631.post-1107858000007945462005-02-08T10:20:00.000Z2005-02-08T10:20:00.006Z

How nice:-)

Rory Alsophttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02067185771629981485noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9167631.post-1107857701178687082005-02-08T10:15:00.000Z2005-02-08T10:15:01.176Z

monkey methods research group have some interesting info and analysis on BitTorrent distribution.

Rory Alsophttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02067185771629981485noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9167631.post-1107853938102586462005-02-08T09:12:00.000Z2005-02-08T09:12:18.103Z

After Boingboing's fix for the Shmoo Group exploit of the IDN vulnerability in Firefox, Skingery has a permanent fix.

Rory Alsophttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02067185771629981485noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9167631.post-1107510002835366132005-02-04T09:40:00.000Z2005-02-04T09:40:02.836Z

This is pretty cool. Okay, these days all laptops are likely to have wireless capability anyway, but for those that don't, here's Nermal's Integrated WIFI Laptop Hack

Rory Alsophttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02067185771629981485noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9167631.post-1106228395896450132005-01-20T13:39:00.000Z2005-01-20T13:39:55.896Z

As this Hack In The Box article shows, there is good information out there for those who do not wish to be caught out by forensic analysis of their computers. Makes relying on forensics that bit trickier...

Rory Alsophttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02067185771629981485noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9167631.post-1105963407545133742005-01-17T12:03:00.000Z2005-01-17T12:03:27.546Z

12 steps to becoming more l33t. I think it's supposed to be pro MS, but some of it definitely looks the opposite to me.

Rory Alsophttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02067185771629981485noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9167631.post-1105919674004004902005-01-16T23:52:00.000Z2005-01-16T23:54:34.003Z

This article over on Bruce Schneier's blog is interesting, but what is more interesting is the comment and debate fuelled by this. Remarkably similar to the whole open/closed debate in IT Security but for the physical security world.

Rory Alsophttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02067185771629981485noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9167631.post-1105919056355354382005-01-16T23:41:00.000Z2005-01-16T23:44:16.356Z

Little Britain. Gotta love it. Even the BOFH does!

Rory Alsophttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02067185771629981485noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9167631.post-1105231122360705382005-01-09T00:36:00.000Z2005-01-09T00:38:42.360Z

Slipstreaming win xp2 installs - what a brilliant idea:-) That site, and allofmp3.com - my 2 favourite sites of the day.

Rory Alsophttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02067185771629981485noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9167631.post-1105030209084833072005-01-06T16:50:00.000Z2005-01-06T16:50:09.083Z

Wired News: India's Odd Couple: Cops and TechThis poses some major issues for IT outsourcing! Cripes.

Rory Alsophttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02067185771629981485noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9167631.post-1105023533315782492005-01-06T14:58:00.000Z2005-01-06T14:58:53.316Z

The New York Times has an article: Power Users, Ready for a Refill which points out something I hadn't really thought about - the need for power when mobile. For me, even if I use my mobile all day, a charge lasts a day - more than a week on standby, my laptop lasts 5 hours (if I'm just working on documents etc) and my main mobile mp3 device is in the car so I hadn't come across this issue. But

Rory Alsophttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02067185771629981485noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9167631.post-1104672757849139232005-01-02T21:29:00.000Z2005-01-02T13:32:37.850Z

Finally -after much procrastinating...I am broadbanded. Just 'cos I got Doom 3 and Half Life 2, so I thought I should. I guess the other upside is the speedy downloading of ISO files. Need to go and get that linksys box though - blimming Voyager 205 broadband router from BT is a bit pants. Happy New Year anyway

Rory Alsophttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02067185771629981485noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9167631.post-1103023574285241222004-12-14T11:26:00.000Z2004-12-14T11:44:09.193Z

Interesting discussion over on Bruce Schneier's Page on sensible things to do to secure your home PC. Amusingly this guy appears to disagree with most of Bruce's points. Not sure why as they seem eminently sensible. Gordon Luk seems to be confusing security with system maintenance, and advises not securing unless you know what you are doing. The problem with this is that not securing your PC

Rory Alsophttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02067185771629981485noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9167631.post-1102583217558005102004-12-09T09:06:00.000Z2004-12-09T09:06:57.556Z

The art of safe cracking. Very cool!

Rory Alsophttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02067185771629981485noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9167631.post-1101806206804849432004-11-30T17:16:00.000Z2004-11-30T09:22:19.723Z

I just love the real life stories at Stupid Security It does go to show just how far down the crazy road America has gone in its quest for security, bringing in draconian (or just plain stupid) measures which do nothing to increase security, in fact they often decrease it....hmmm sounds like the way speed cameras were brought in to save lives. Hahahahaha! Utter nonsense

Rory Alsophttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02067185771629981485noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9167631.post-1101745001996009502004-11-29T16:16:00.000Z2004-11-29T16:16:41.996Z

There's a need to illuminate the darknet I just like the term Darknet - in my head it ain't this, but never mind.

Rory Alsophttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02067185771629981485noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9167631.post-1101376747274925642004-11-25T09:59:00.000Z2004-11-25T09:59:07.273Z

Read this and weep. But then again - does he have a social life?

Rory Alsophttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02067185771629981485noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9167631.post-1101294212467907822004-11-24T11:03:00.000Z2004-11-24T11:07:38.386Z

Slashdot Verizon Seeks To Nix Fee-Based Municipal Wireless Grids What nonsense is this?! Verizon reckons a free community based wireless network is unfair competition so are trying to get a bill passed to restrict them. How sad!

Rory Alsophttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02067185771629981485noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9167631.post-1100684151446232582004-11-17T17:35:00.000Z2004-11-17T10:15:16.676Z

More info in the ongoing saga of mobile devices: Information Security News: BlackBerry prickles Department of Defence spooks. And I must remember to sedate the kids. Getting round security will always be fun for intelligent attackers and children. Lies, damned lies and mi2g.

Rory Alsophttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02067185771629981485noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9167631.post-1100701195879291402004-11-17T12:21:00.000Z2004-11-17T14:19:55.880Z

Interested to see how my new strut brace will perform when I fit it to the Impreza. Could be the next step on the slippery slope to modding! Nahh - I won't go the rice route, maybe this is more like me:-)

Rory Alsophttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02067185771629981485noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9167631.post-1100595160587397822004-11-16T09:49:00.000Z2004-11-16T08:59:22.830Z

The weekend was great - I love this drizzly winter weather! Sunday was a pro-karting race with the TVR club, and despite a power cut out at the track, it was really good fun. Mainly because it got quite slidy due to the low temperatures and some drizzle in the final. I managed to make up many places by pressurising people until they made mistakes and spun out. Yay! The Saturday was sunnier, and

Rory Alsophttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02067185771629981485noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9167631.post-1100535129271682522004-11-16T00:08:00.000Z2004-11-15T16:12:09.273Z

Thought I should finally start my own blog - y'know get onto the super-world-wide-interweb-highway and join the technologically advanced ones:-) "Oooooo," I hear you say. I said "OOoooooo, I hear you ..." Oh never mind. This is going to just be a collection point for things I find useful, interesting or vaguely amusing. We'll see how it goes.

Rory Alsophttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02067185771629981485noreply@blogger.com0