Cybie

Ralph Bonnell's July-October Monthly Newsletter

2007-09-29T01:38:00.000-07:00

Ralph Bonnell's July-October (kinda sorta) Monthly Newsletter: Hello and welcome to Cybie's third newsletter! Yes, I am Ralph Bonnell, aka Cybie, and you are reading the best, most high tech, most l33t, killer technical newsletter ever written! Prepare yourself. Ready? Not sure if I am, but here I go!

New Update: I have all of my newsletters up on my public blog, http://ralphbonnell.blogspot.com/ . Yes, there is a REAL blog there now, not just a picture :) If you want to comment on this, or any of my newsletters, go to my blog and let your opinion be known!!

-=- 0001. Where has Cybie been?!? -=-

Ok, I have been busy lately, so this newsletter is waaaaaaay late. That is ok. Busy is good! :)

DEFCON: Defcon was awesome. I did not see many people there I knew (Havoc, it was great to see ya! :), but i DID enjoy the show. Picked up a nice lock pick kit in the vendor area. Lock picking is tricky at first, but suprisingly easy once you get the hang of it.

If you have not heard, a teenager showed how to pick the world's 'most secure locks' ever, on stage, in seconds. These are the same locks that protect the pentagon and the white house. One of those 'oh shit' moments for some, and it was awesome. No need to worry too much, as the entrances to those facilities also come with guard with machine guns.

The important point here is that physical security is key. That was the general topic of Defcon this year. Social engineering and physical security. Thats why the dateline reporter's bust was sooooooo hilarious. She was going to try to secretly film a federal agent get spotted at a spot the fed. A BIG NO-NO to film that. The story is a textbook example of how NOT to perform an undercover operation. 1. She went to a conference which was all about what she was trying to expose. 2. She told way too many people what she was doing. 3. The Defcon staff begged her to get a press pass, as they all know what she was planning. 4. She told a goon (staff member) EXACTLY what she was doing as she was planting her mic. Wow, she totally asked for it. The rest is history.

I am actually glad she did this, as if dateline actually ran this story as planned, it would have shown Defcon in a negative light, which is completely against what the conference it all about in the first place. Defcon is all about the open exchange of security knowledge. I love the concept of full disclosure. Thats the only way to make lazy vendors... well... fix their warez in a timely manner. Enough said. :)

UBUNTU LIVE: So I did make it to Ubuntu Live in Portland, OR the other month. It was a GREAT experience. I got Mark Shuttleworth's autograph on my Ubuntu 7.10 DVD case. He was approachable and it was a pleasure chatting with him. Make me appriciate what Canonical (Ubuntu's parent company) was trying to do. It is always hard to balance the open source community with the commercial community. They are trying as hard as they can to make it work.

Canonical demo'ed their enterprise management application, which was quite impressive. I know they had to do something like this as Red Hat has the Red Carpet app and Novell has the ZenWorks suite. One of the most impressive presentaions for me was the Mythbuntu one (the MythTV authors gave this one, and they have a Ubuntu version of MythTV that was amazing).

Another one that was amazing was a presentation on the LTSP project, which I am a huge fan of. I get to work with the linux terminal service type of technology at work using the Crossbeam appliances (which ROCK!!!). This presentation has pretty much all of the lead programmers of the LTSP project there. And they answered questions personally. Awesome.

The other impressive presentation was all about the new, upcoming, Mobile version of Ubuntu. I have written about how the new MID 'Mobile Internet Device' market is going to be HUUUUUGE. Well, Ubuntu and Intel are teaming up to fill that niche. Thank goodness for companies like Intel, as they are helping Linux move into the mainstream like no other company has before. (IBM is doing a good job too)

-=- 0010. Palm, what are you DOING? -=-

It seems Palm has scrapped the Folio, just before they were about to start selling it. This was quite sad. They could have been first to market with the first mainstream MID device. I actually got to play with one! Last month I went to the Palm store at the Westfield Mall in downtown San Francisco, quite close to my apartment actually, and I loved it. The employees loved it too. I went to the Palm store today actually and talked to the same guy about it. Looks like the Engadget article hit home for them, and they decided to wait. It is coming back, but I think they are going to wait until the Palm OS goes to a Linux core before re-releasing the Folio. I guess I can understand the logic..

Palm released a new phone today it seems, the Centro. ( http://www.palm.com/us/ ) Looks neat, its a smaller form factor Treo, and it is only going to be $99. Go Palm!

-=- 0011. Where has Cybie been? Where is he now? Where is he going? Wow, Cybie is hot! -=-

A couple of weekends ago I wandered over to the Treasure Island Music Festival, just outside of San Francisco. They had a retro arcade setup in the grass so I spent a lot of time playing old sk00l Star Wars, Street Fighter 2, and Pac-Mac. ahhh that was fun! :) The headliner was Thievery Corporation, who rocked! (ogg's of their music is available on my ftp server for those who have access and want to check em out) From wikipedia: Their music style is dub, acid jazz, Indian classical and Brazilian (such as bossa nova) fused together with a lounge aesthetic. ( http://treasureislandfestival.com )

This weekend is the San Francisco Lovefest parade, an electronic music festival. I am hoping to see Paul van Dyk, Paul Oakenfold, DJ Icey, Sasha, Chemical Brothers, Crystal Method, Sasha, Keoki, Baby Anne, and a hundred more djs performing this weekend. Of course I am just excited to check out Ruby Skye and/or a few other gigantic clubs in the city... ( http://www.sflovefest.org )

Next weekend is the big, free Bluegrass festival at Golden Gate park. The amount of musical talent that will be there is truly amazing! Check out the site for a complete list. ( http://www.strictlybluegrass.com/ )

In the next couple of months I will be in St. Paul, MN, Herndon, VA, and Seattle, WA.

I have a week off in December and I am seriously considering traveling to Thailand. I will let you know more next month, but wherever I do go, I want to relax on a beach and drink strong coconut flavored drinks while getting back massages :)

I am also going to the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas the week of January 7th (i will be there through the following weekend as well...). If you are going as well, let me know! ( ralph@ralph.cx )

-=- 0100. What should I put here? -=-

Send me an email and tell me :)

-=- 0101. New toys! -=-

I bought a new silver PS2 last week along with Gran Turismo 4 and a Logitech force feedback steering wheel attachment. WOW, this is one intense experience. Too bad I kinda suck at the game. My roommate is much better at it :)

I also grabbed the new slim silver PSP. This is one neat device. I still like my Nintendo DS more, well, because the games are easier to pirate - to be honest, but the PSP is a very impressive piece of hardware. I am looking forward to checking out the homebrew scene on it. The Nintendo DS homebrew scene is quite active and the freeware games are getting better every day.

-=- 0110. The importance of OpenOffice and the danger of the Microsoft's OOXML format. -=-

If you are not aware, Microsoft is trying to make their own Office XML format an official world wide standard. This is a huge deal and they need to be stopped. There are plenty of documents on the web that describe why this is a problem. Any standard that is dictated by a single company is not a real standard. The OpenOffice is a stable, complete, and cross lingual standard. The only reason Microsoft if not embracing this standard is because they do not control it.

Even Google has backed the OpenOffice standard. I fully support this standard and I hope more countries around the world standardize on it.

Recently Microsoft attempted, yet again, to try to impose the Office Open XML format (OOXML) on the world. It did not pass. There are several debates about the status of this format online, but the gist of it is that Microsoft is trying to get their 'open' standard an international standard. I believe it is VERY important to keep this from happening. Standardized document formats should be chosen through a process of peer review and completely open in order to guarantee application compatibility, stability, and a choice of vendors. The United States may be mostly Microsoft Office based now, but that is not going to last forever, and in other countries, another format could spread quickly. Support open formats!! Ubuntu should overtake Microsoft any day now :)

-=- 0111. Game ROM Recommendations -=-

I am going to start recommending Nintendo ROMS as I am a fan! You can see public reviews of releases at: ( http://ds-scene.net ) I am currently playing Picross, which is a very challenging puzzle game. Sort of like pixel art sudoku. Hard to describe, but quite addicting! Other cool ones: 42 All-Time Classics, Brain Age and Brain Age 2, all 3 Castlevania games, Impossible Mission (and its JUST LIKE the Commodore 64 version), MegaMan ZX, Monkeyball DS, Sonic Rush, New Super Mario Bros (this is a gotta have if you have a DS), Tetris, Yoshi's Island, and I have to admit, Super Princess Peach is really fun. You have a DS and want to play? Go to ( http://divineo.com ) and click on the Nintendo DS development area and buy a M3 DS Simply (it is only $45) and you are good to go! I do not get a kick back from this site (i probably should ask for one based on my amount of referrals), but I buy from them often...

I have also been spending time playing new games on my new PSP. Games I have that I recommend are: Lumines II, Street Fighter 3 (ahh brings back memories), Wipeout Pure, Final Fantasy I, and Grand Theft Auto: Vice City Stories (i LOVE this game, however it is so fun to just steal cars and run people over, it takes me forever to finish the missions).

-=- 1000. New stuff at FishyNet -=-

I have been teaching a lot since I joined FishNet Security's education services (almost) full time last year. I still do professional services for insane amounts of money, heh heh (worth every penny). Most of you know I teach the following classes:
Check Point Management I (for over 10 years now!)
Check Point Management II
Check Point Management III
Check Point Provider-1
Check Point VSX
Juniper SMF (Netscreen Security Manager)
Juniper CJFV (Juniper SSG firewalls)
Advanced firewall classes: HA, advanced VPN, advanced routing
Juniper IDP
Juniper CNSA (Juniper Secure Access, SSL VPN)
Juniper ANSA
Linux Security
Web Application Security Awareness
Nokia Security
Crossbeam X-Series (one of the lucky few to be certified to teach this awesome product)

Well, I am in the process of becoming a certified Sidewinder instructor! Soon I will be teaching Secure Computing Sidewinder 7.0 Basic and Advanced at a training center near YOU! (I hope your in Hawaii, as I want to go someday soon, and it is always more fun when you pay for it ;)

-=- 1001. New Book!! :) -=-

Syngress Publishing has hooked me up big time! I am now the Primary Author of Syngress's new book: Configuring Check Point NGX R65 Firewalls (tentative title). Finally, my name in big print on a book that will be in bookstores everywhere. Ahhhh, so exciting! If I ever finish it...

-=- 1010. Links that will fry your brain -=-

Lego just started shipping their largest set, ever. A $500, 3 foot long Millennium Falcon ( http://www.hlj.com/product/FNMSW-06 ) Wow, I dont think I will ever spend that much on a Lego set, but it looks AWESOME.

If you have never heard of it, I read the Onion frequently. ( http://theonion.com ) Totally fake news, but often hilarious!

I had my 15 minutes of fame once on Slashdot. My geek cam in Florida watching Hurricane Floyd, thanks to Greg for submitting it :) ( http://slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=99/09/14/0819225 )

Someday soon I am going to buy an OpenMoko, which is the hacker's dream smart phone. Linux, open source, hackable, touch screen, GSM and WiFi. ( http://wiki.openmoko.org/ )

-=- 1011. Thats all folks! -=-

I guess thats all I have for now. I will try to get the next one written in a month, otherwise I may have to rename my 'monthly' newsletter. In St. Paul this week I actually got to watch the season opening of Heroes, when everyone else saw it. Makes me want cable :) (i have not had cable in several years...) Please feel free to comment on my blog as I would love to hear your opinions too!

-Ralph Bonnell - network security certification collector extrodinaire. email. ralph@ralph.cx call. 206-370-2551

Ralph Bonnell's June 2007 Newsletter

2007-09-23T01:47:00.001-07:00

Ralph Bonnell's June 2007 Monthly Newsletter: Hello everyone and... cool, your all still here :) Below is another installment of the BEST technology newsletter in the galaxy. Included in this issue are the answers to life, the universe, and everything. This message will self destruct in 42 seconds.

This is issue #2. Since you are on this list, please feel free to check out my last issue at: (http://groups.google.com/group/cybie )

00110001 01110101 01110000

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.-==-01-==-. My books

I buy waaaay too many technical books. Lots of manga too, but I like to stay ahead of the curve. Here is a shot of one of my bookcases: ( http://ralph.cx/temp/mybooks.jpg ). Some are signed, the Free as in Freedom is signed by Richard Stallman, the COMDEX Fall'98 guide book is signed by Bill Gates (all while Steve Ballmer lectured me on getting SQL Server certified - yeah, sure Steve), the Gimp book is signed by the Gimp maintainer, Hacking Exposed: Fifth Edition by the authors, and the Open Sources book signed by many legends in the open source community! ( http://ralph.cx/temp/opensources.jpg ). I also got Scully's autograph at a E3 video gaming convention once - I was surrounded by X-Files geeks, quite an interesting experience. I am heading to the Ubuntu Live conference in Portland next month - hoping to get Mark Shuttleworth's autograph on a Ubuntu Live CD if I can manage it :)

.-==-02-==-. The future of server-side software distribution

The other week I read about a new startup in the bay whose business model is centered around software distribution based on virtual machine (VM) technology. Although this company may not make it, as the technology they are introducing is closed and proprietary in the areas that matter, I believe the concept is going to take off and eventually take over.

I can imagine a data center where all server are just shells for running virtual machines. The new Linux Kernel Virtual Machine support is right first step towards this goal. Every process will have its own IP address and the developer of the application will have a much, much easier time troubleshooting the application as its running its own, custom Linux OS. Need to install one of these apps? Download it, start the VM, done. Keep an eye out in this space as it really is the future of server-side distribution.

.-==-03-==-. The custom, Linux-based flash appliance revolution has BEGUN!

And the first round actually goes to Palm! If you have not heard about this yet, check out: ( http://www.engadget.com/2007/05/30/palm-foleo-gallery/ ) If you read my last blog you will get the hint that I think ALL end user devices will eventually be embedded, flash based Linux devices. The Palm Foleo was announced last week and it is exactly what I had in mind. I cannot say if this actual product will take off, as Palm has mentioned the OS will be a closed platform. I hope they change their minds, as it will make a BIG difference. I am not too worried as I know I will hack mine the night I buy the first one ;)

I would recommend watching the All Things Digital online telecast event: ( http://link.brightcove.com/services/link/bcpid716692140/bclid75651356...
) There are some very interesting people talk, including Steve Jobs and Bill Gates on the same stage (that has not happened in a long time). One thing that became apparent to me after watching Bill and Steve talk about the future of technology was the impression that they both believe in the future of 'fat clients'. Of course they do, they sell Windows and OSX. I am sure the 'next big thing' will not come from Microsoft or Apple :)

.-==-04-==-. Madness!

THE 100 SCARIEST MOVIE SCENES: (but i have to admit some of these videos had me laughing out loud! nothing better than a low budget horror movie)
http://www.retrocrush.com/scary/index.html

I wasted lots of time browsing vintage advertising in this livejournal community: (please note some of these ads are quite politically incorrect, but they actually happened! - note the 'earlier' link at the bottom, there are many more pages!)
http://community.livejournal.com/vintage_ads/

Hindsight is an animated satellite map that shows where growth has occured in the last 100 years or so. Kinda neat!
http://hindsight.trulia.com/

Now this is a cool thing to do to your car:
http://pdos.csail.mit.edu.nyud.net:8080/~rsc/ahealy/pi_small.jpg

Choose your own adventure! Can you HANDLE it!?: (watch out for the killer manticore, it eats people (who use microsoft products) alive!)
http://www.atrianglemorning.com/games//flash.php

I tend to go here quite a bit as they host links to flash videos of pretty much every cool cartoon: Aqua Teen Hunger Force, Boondocks, Clone High, Drawn Together, Family Guy, Frisky Dingo, Futurama, Harvey Birdman, Metalocalypse, Moral Orel, Robot Chicken, Sealab 2021, South Park, and Venture Brothers:
http://video.glath.com/

.-==-05-==-. Ill be back!

I have a busy month coming up! Heading to Portland, OR this week and I cannot wait to browse around Powell's Technical Book store! Next weekend I am going to hike half-dome at Yosemite National Park and the week of June 18th I will be teaching in St. Paul, MN.

I plan on heading to Defcon this year in Las Vegas! Let me know if any of you are going so we can party!! :)

--
Ralph Bonnell, mystical goomba-stomping security ninja

Ralph Bonnell's May 2007 Newsletter

2007-09-23T01:45:00.000-07:00

Ralph Bonnell's May 2007 Monthly Newsletter: Hello everyone and welcome to my first monthly newsletter. You are one of the few, one of the elite, one of the members of the BEST technology newsletter ever written! Mine! Moo-hahaha .. err, welcome to Ralph Bonnell's mailing list. Think of this as a members only blog. If I sent this to everyone, I am not so sure the human race would recover from the insanity.

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.-.01.-. First section: showing off
======== --------------------------

First off, I have to show off my room :) ( http://ralph.cx/groovypad ) I spent a couple days at Ikea ( http://www.ikea.com ) scoping things out, spent a bunch of money, and then a week of building and reorganizing, while jamming to various bands ( quite a weird mix of Ricky Skaggs (Bluegrass), Eric Hansen (Nuevo Flamenco Guitar), Thievery Corporation (Downtempo Electronica), Dido, Elton John, Dean Martin, Van Morrison, Robert Miles (Ambient Trance), Deep Forest (World Music), Delerium (umm.. Dark Ethereal Ambient), and Konami tracks from various Castlevania Nintendo games are currently in my playlist ) I have found that having 2 screens is VERY nice!

.-.02.-. Where is Cybie?
======== ---------------

Ok, first of all, what the heck is a Cybie?! Its me of course! So when I was starting out with the whole software cracking, hardware hacking, skript kiddie scene in the early 80's I had to pick a handle. First handle was 'Spy'. Not too exciting, so I went through a few others I cannot mention, just remember that I am innocent as far as you know ;) You may see my 'Spy' handle on some Commodore 64 warez, I remember such happiness when I cracked Bard's Tale III. So, eventually I ended up with 'Cybersonic'. I loved it, but eventually people kept calling me 'Cybie' for short at my BBS picnics and Rocky Horror Picture Show events.

So this month, for a nice change, I am going to be at home base for most of the month. I will be in St. Louis, MO the week of May 21st hoping up and down on a desk rambling on and on about firewalls to a group of unsuspecting students. May I change their lives forever :)

.-.03.-. The Future of Mobile Computing ...scratch that... Personal Computing
========
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I have to admit, I love technology. I think personal computing is going to explode, changing the way we, as a race, live our lives. We have seen what the internet has done: the web, email, instant messaging (which I, personally classify as just another type of email, just... uh... more instant), iPods, the list goes on. The next step of this evolution, in my opinion, is custom-built information delivery devices. We have seen the beginning of this with the podcast phenomenon, people are downloading video and/or audio streams of current content to their media devices, usually iPods, and viewing them. The next step is to embed a variety of wireless communication technology into these devices so they are always on-line. Before I go on, watch this for a sweet, sweet glimpse into the future of technology:

( http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HrzeiUvDZog )

This video shows off technology I have been wanting for 10 years, but for some reason did not proceed to develop. (I am now...) I think the implications are enormous. Here is a short description of how I see people using personal computing in the near future:

1. First off all, throw out the idea of the PC in common sense of the term. PCs are too complicated for their own good, no matter what Operating System you run on them. (Ubuntu Linux, Sun Solaris, etc... or for some idiotic reason, Windows XP)

2. The internet server. This is key, somewhere on the net will be a very large server that handles your data. This can be encrypted for privacy, or not for easy searching ,etc... I see Google, Yahoo/ Microsoft (if Microsoft does, indeed buys Yahoo, which I believe they will), and possibly a few enterprising startups. This will act as a highly available data store, for backups, and easy information access from any terminal on the net.

3. The work/home network server. A home server makes so much sense. It does not need a monitor. Actually it should not even have a video card. It should be a box with lots of hard drives in it. Its only purpose if to store your information. Using RAID (Redundant Array of Inexpensive Drives - makes it possible to have a hard drive fail and you do not lose any information) and UPS (Unintteruptible Power Supply - does power conditioning so you do not have to worry about power spikes and short power outages) technologies. This is where you store your files, audio tracks, movies, pretty much all entertainment.

Enjoy DVD disks while we have them as most forms of physical media may seem like a foreign idea in several years once the bandwidth is available to stream the movies / video games to your home over the network.

4. The personal server. This is a neat concept. It is a small device and wireless. Think of it as a digital wallet. Can fit in your pocket, purse, briefcase, hat, coat, belt buckle, watch, eyeglasses (err, mabey not), etc... Most likely flash based, but could contain a miniature hard drive. The idea is having a device for local data storage. Your actual personal interaction device (ill talk about this next) will have access to this data. Your cell phone will too (it might even BE your personal server). Your wireless headset, which can decode mpeg compressed audio streams, your network server, etc...

Most people carry USB flash drives with them now. I see a progression of this technology into a device with a CPU (a computer chip) and a set of various wireless technologies in it: 802.11 (standard computer networking), Bluetooth (personal area networking technology), Wireless USB (a new, personal area networking technology), ZigBee (a very new secure, low power, low bandwidth personal area networking technology), and possibly IrDA (Infrared, line of sight, low bandwidth personal area networking technology).

5. The personal terminal. These will come in all shapes and sizes. Here is the kicker, and everyone I talk to who do not share my vision think I am crazy and these will never take off (they are wrong.), they will be solid state, in other words, will not contain a hard drive. Most people cannot imagine a personal computer without a hard drive. Well, hard drives have problems. For one, they fail. They have moving parts, a magnetic spinning disk and a read/write head on a servo motor. They use up lots of power, and they are slow (compared to computer memory). I see the new interface for a typical computer to be a flash based appliance that boots over a network. Accesses content, such as news, your word processing documents, spreadsheets, audio files, and video files, over the network. Essentially, the network IS the computer. Some people tried to do this already and failed for various reasons. Sun and Oracle took a crack at it. I think they just did not try hard enough :) Looks like IBM and Intel are going to try next.

This terminal might be a handheld cell phone, a 3 or 4 inch media display, a 22 inch monitor, a HDTV, a lcd panel woven into your sleeve (I have seen the latest in wearable computing and it is looks like so much fun!) Eventually, these display devices will have battery spans of weeks. Another cool technology that is coming soon is wireless power. Still requires physical contact, but the idea is you have a table, which supplies power to recharge your battery powered devices by just placing it on the table. Exciting stuff, I cannot wait to see what is next! As long as it runs Ubuntu Linux, naturally...

.-.04.-. Random Thoughts
======== ---------------

Feel like playing a really cool flash game? ( http://www.kodiefiles.nl/games/hedgehog.swf ) Beware! Very addicting!

I am a frequent visitor of ( http://slashdot.org )(User number 7113 - which is major geek cred to have a 4 digit UID) and ( http://digg.com ).

Recently ( http://scummvm.drunkencoders.com ) I got the SCUMM DS project working and I have been playing old sk00l LucasArts games on my Nintendo DS. Ah, the original Maniac Mansion, Day of the Tenacle, Secret of Monkey Island, Zak McKracken, and the Indiana Jones games. Those games are AWESOME, funny, entertaining, and I may just play them the rest of my life... errr... day. ( my scumm archive on my ftp site: /roms/scumm/ a little over 14 gig as it contains all of the audio and movie tracks )

This is a neat flash application that may leave you in a trance for hours. ( http://www.neave.com/imagination/ ) You have been warned.

I have been reading The Abs Diet lately. Great book. Not your typical diet. It simply encourages healthy eating (along with various recipes) and some exercise.

This is COOL! ( http://www.techeblog.com/index.php/tech-gadget/feature-laptops-of-the...
) These are technology demonstrations of... well, you will see. I wish my current laptop did all of this!

.-.05.-. Final Thoughts
======== --------------

Well, thats it for this month. This is a read only list, so email me at ralph@ralph.cx if you have any questions (or want to be removed from the list, if your thinking about leaving I will give you 1 Billion Cybie bucks to stay. of course I am not sure what Cybie bucks can buy you, but I will think of something). Set phasers on stun, redirect all starboard power to the deflector shield, and dont forget your sonic screwdriver. oh, and your towel. most important possession in the universe so dont let the vogons take it from you!

-Ralph Bonnell - 31337 network security ninja pirate. email. ralph@ralph.cx

2007-08-05T18:33:00.000-07:00

Fun with pixel blocks