.:tsqrd.net

Industrial Control Systems, Idaho Falls

noreply@blogger.com (Tim) — Fri, 05 Mar 2010 13:41:00 +0000

Yesterday I participated in the Red/Blue team exercise of a simulated Industrial Chemicals Plant. My team was tasked with defending the plant from attack, and maintaining production. After a long, fun, and frustrating day the attackers were able to compromise our production for over an hour which led to our eventual defeat in the exercise.

A lot of the material presented so far has been review, although it's surprisingly fun to exploit systems in a simulated industrial plant.

We've discussed a variety of topics over the last few days:

Network Discovery
Windows/Linux Admin
Device exploitation (metasploit, etc.)
Basic IDS (snort)
Vulnerability Scanning
Social Engineering

just to name a few. The training is provided by US-CERT and INL, and I would highly recommend the experience to anyone interested in the topics above. I am definitely ready to come home though.

Desktop - February Edition

noreply@blogger.com (Tim) — Tue, 16 Feb 2010 04:58:00 +0000

I'm with Coco!

noreply@blogger.com (Tim) — Wed, 13 Jan 2010 03:35:00 +0000

Suh for Heisman

noreply@blogger.com (Tim) — Thu, 10 Dec 2009 16:38:00 +0000

Fair and Balanced?

noreply@blogger.com (Tim) — Fri, 20 Mar 2009 13:55:00 +0000

President Obama became the first sitting U.S. President to make an appearance on the Tonight Show last night. During the interview, he made an ill-advised comment regarding the Special Olympics, and immediately apologized after the interview. Stupid mistake, but is this really headline news material? I'll give you one guess as to which network is outraged and running the story as its headline story.

(All of these screen captures were taken within 1 minute of each other this morning)

To find the story on MSNBC, you would need to browse to the bottom of the page for a link. It's not even close to headline news.

The story is slightly more visible on CNN's site. You'll notice the quick blurb about it under the 'Latest News' section.

How about the 'Fair and Balanced' network?

Betcha didn't see that one coming....

WTF Citibank?

noreply@blogger.com (Tim) — Fri, 20 Feb 2009 02:49:00 +0000

Really Citibank? I opened my account with you over a year ago because of promises of no ATM fees, no checking account fees, and decent savings rates. Fast forward to today and what do I have now? A closed account.

My hatred for Citibank isn't new (see my previous entry). Today, however, my annoyance level with these guys reached a new high. I received an automated call from some number stating that 'Your account has been overdrawn, blah blah blah". Interesting, considering that I haven't even looked at my account since June.

I proceeded to check my account balance online. My $1.00 balance had turned into -42.50. I look for the charges, and guess what I find:

1-26: MONTHLY SERVICE FEE $9.50
1-27: OVERDRAFT FEE $34.00

Really? My previously fee free, dormant, account now costs me $9.50 a month? Really? Doesn't Citibank have to notify me before a change like this? Regardless, I made a call to Citibank, and after a lame explanation that my 'fee waiver' expired on JAN 1, I told them to remove the fees and cancel my account.

Thankfully, after checking with his supervisor, Michael informed me they would zero out my account and cancel it. I should be happy right? Pffft. This is when I asked Michael when I would be receiving my check for $1.00 (the previous balance). After a What?! (disbelief I'm sure) He told me that I should call back on Monday after the account is actually closed to request the check.

Guess what I'm doing first thing Monday?

Google owns me

noreply@blogger.com (Tim) — Thu, 19 Feb 2009 02:43:00 +0000

Google basically owns everything that I use on teh interwebs now, so I figured I might as well add my blog to that list too. As you can see, I've converted from Wordpress to Blogger. The response time seems to be a lot better, so I guess we'll see how it holds up over time.

D.C. trip!

noreply@blogger.com (Tim) — Tue, 15 Jul 2008 23:09:00 +0000

Finally found some time to post about the D.C. trip. What an awesome 5 nights. Here's a brief re-cap of the 5 night adventure:

Arrive at 7:00; intoxicated by 10:00
Visit and swim in the ocean for the first time
Hit up the coolest bar / restaurant / club I've ever been to (Hello, Seacrets)
Slice the end of my toe off and bleed EVERYWHERE
Watch the 4th of July fireworks from the hill in front of the Lincoln Memorial
Georgetown SUCKS!
Walk at least 15 miles visiting the various sites in D.C.
Adams Morgan is a blast
Relax with a couple bottles of wine on the last night
Fly home with a 1 hour delay at DCA

All in all, an awesome trip. Thanks a bunch to Jason for letting us crash at your place, and for showing us around the city.

I hate Citibank

noreply@blogger.com (Tim) — Sat, 26 Apr 2008 02:13:00 +0000

Check out my story on The Consumerist.

D.C. here we come

noreply@blogger.com (Tim) — Tue, 01 Apr 2008 02:31:00 +0000

Well, sort of. Booked the tickets for the D.C. trip last night. It's about time that I make my way out to D.C. after having friends living there for two years now.

Tracy Morgan > Tina Fey

noreply@blogger.com (Tim) — Mon, 17 Mar 2008 02:05:00 +0000

In case you missed SNL last night, I'll highlight the best part for you right now: ... bitch. It's nice to see SNL finally lay off the Obama hating, but it's pretty lame that it took them three weeks and a lot of criticism to do it.