New Blog

The majority of my posting will now be on a new blog that myself and my good friend have created. The URL is http://attackcomputerwiz.blogspot.com/.

Please join us there.

RollnPC

Microsoft Technet - 40% off code

Straight from Server 2008 launch events a 40% off code for Technet.
....
TMSAML06
....
http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/subscriptions/bb892754.aspx

Voice Based Search Tool for BlackBerry from Microsoft

Tellme, a Microsoft company, has released a pretty cool application for BlackBerry Devices. It is a voice based search tool that provides GPS directions, maps, traffic information, movies weather and more. You can simply say "coffee" and it will find you the closest coffee shop and provide you with directions to get there.

It is available for the BlackBerry Pearl (8100), the 8800, 8820, 8830 and the Curve (8310). Phones without GPS are not supported, obviously. Be sure you have an unlimited data plan too.

This program can not replace provider GPS (TeleNav for AT&T) but it is very nice. In order to make this a full 'hands-free' service they will need to add moving GPS mapping as you drive and turn by turn audio alerts . But all in all I can sure see its use.

Interop Las Vegas 2008

Free Expo Pass when you register with priority code
CMCFNL63
.... or ....
CMCJNL18

RSA Conference 2008

Once again I had the opportunity to attend the RSA Security Conference in San Francisco California. I had a wonderful time at the event and already am looking forward to the 2009 conference.

Sessions… I attended a handful of sessions throughout the week. The first thing that I learned is that RSA did not do a very good job of managing the sessions. I pre-registered for all of my session tracks. When I arrived for my first track I was informed that the session was full and no one else was allowed into the room. After I advised them that I was registered and had my confirmation, I learned that it did not matter and that the other fifty locked out people were registered too. It turns out that the registration process is nothing more than a calendar for you to track what you want to do and they will let anyone into any session. So from that point on I showed up early to any session I wanted, registered or not (make that note for next year!)

The information in the sessions I attended varied from pretty remedial to good. One that I really looked forward to was on social engineering. I had high hopes going into this course and was disappointed. While the information was very good, it was also very basic and was the type of training I would expect to give to a manager or a user, not a security professional. This goes the same for a couple other courses but for the most part the sessions were good and I will likely get a full pass again next year.

Key Notes… I didn’t go to a single one. It is my understanding that key notes speakers pay RSA $300K to be a speaker. So any whack-job can get a key note if they fork over the money, even Al Gore.

Expo… I was able to spend a surprising amount of time on the expo, especially after I got locked out of some sessions. This year there seemed to be about 10% more exhibitors then last year, and unlike last year, every third booth was not touting a NAC solution. While there are still a good number of NAC solutions on display, the little guys seem to have not been around and the bigger names have taken the space. Some of the vendors that I really was impressed with: Voltage Security, Hightower, RoboForm, Sophos, and Beyond Trust to list a few.

I feel this conference is a must attend for any security professional. This is by no means a user level event or even a technician level (or most managers, which a lot of the time fall somewhere between a user and a __________ fill in the blank). If you are a security professional or systems administrator this would be a valuable event for you to attend.

RSA 2009 is scheduled for April 20-24, 2009 (RSA Website)

RollnPC

Microsoft Certifications – Yesterday, Today, & Tomorrow

Yesterday… A Microsoft Certified Systems Engineer (MCSE) is probably the most desired vendor specific certification there is. This training and certification track introduces a person to information needed to manage Microsoft’s operating systems and networks. The certification is very valuable and a must have for any resume.

Today… The MCSE has lost a lot of its value. There are hundreds of thousands of MCSE’s out there and sadly most of them do not deserve nor have they earned the right to display those initials after their name. These hacks are known to many as “paper MCSE’s”. They have downloaded copies of “Actual Tests” from sources on the internet and used them to memorize the content and become “TestKing”s. Using these aids as a primary means to pass this, or any exam is cheating. It is because of this that a certification that was once very valuable in the IT world has been blemished.

Tomorrow… With the initial introduction of Microsoft Certified Information Technology Specialist (MCITP) which is the replacement for MCSE, Microsoft announced it would take steps to weed out these paper MCSE’s and re-gain credibility for their examinations. They stated that they would require a certification refresh for all exams at the MCITP level and higher every three years. Microsoft has now announced that they will NOT be sticking to their refresh schedule and will simply retire the certifications once the material is no longer supported. Basically this means that Microsoft has dropped the virtual ball on regaining the integrity that their certification once had. Unless they are changing tests every other day, the paper MCITP’s will remain and those who “earn” their certification will still be grouped in with them. This is very unfortunate. Microsoft should have at a very least followed through with their refresh plan. They should have taken further steps to require continuing education and random audits.

RollnPC

Install Ubuntu 7.10 to an SDHC for use on ASUS eeePC

I am writing this because I have not found a good and complete walk through on how to effectively install Linux Ubuntu on an SDHC 'card', to be ran independently on an ASUS eeePC. There are plenty of tutorials on how to install to the internal SSD, dual boot, or to a USB drive, but not for just the SDHC stand alone. In doing this my goal was to make no changes to the SSD installed in the eeePC, this includes absolutely no MBR changes. I want to also add that I in absolutely no way will proclaim myself to be a Linux or Ubuntu expert, so if some of my assumptions are wrong then so be it. I only know what I have researched and know what has worked or not worked for me.

Ubuntu likes to install Ubuntu on (OR the eeePC like to boot Ubuntu from) the /dev/sda* drive of the computer. So, in the case of an eeePC, the SSD is the /dev/sda* drive and the SDHC is the /dev/sdb*. This is the same if you are installing from any other PC that has an installed hard disk drive. Because of this I decided to take the installed hard disk out of the equation. This is actually a very easy and very logical fix and can be preformed quite efficiently.

There are a few things you need in advance to get this done (beside the obvious things like having an internet connection, download Ubuntu and burn it to a disk, an SDHC card (i used a 16gb), and an SDHC card reader). You need to choose one of two methods to set this up. Both require that you have a separate PC, not an eeePC. I suggest a desktop and not a laptop. Choose one of the two install options below and continue...

1. Remove or disconnect all physical hard drives from your desktop computer.
....OR....
2. Using VMWare, create a new Linux Ubuntu Virtual Machine. (You might be able to use MS Virtual PC, but I have not tested)
a. Accept all defaults.
b. After the machine creation, delete the virtual hard disk drive.
c. Make sure you have the cd/dvd configured.
d. Setup your network settings so you will have internet

I have fully tested and recommend using the VMWare method I describe above. Now follow the below steps.

1. Boot to Ubuntu 7.10 Live CD

2. Adjust resolution settings and confirm internet connection

3. Open Terminal

4. Type

sudo su

5. Type

fdisk -l

That's a lower case "L" - You should see nothing listed

6. Insert your SDHC card

7. Type

fdisk -l

You should see your SDHC Card listed as /dev/sda

8. Type

umount /dev/sda1

continue for any other mounted disks you see

9. Type

fdisk /dev/sda

10. Type “p” If you see any partitions type “d” to delete them, then type “p” to relist. If you still see partitions keep using “d” and “p” to remove them all

11. Type “w” to write changes

12. Close Terminal

13. Run "Install” from the icon located on the desktop

14. Go through the setup wizard. On the partition screen choose “Manual” > Select 'free space' > click "New partition" > the options should be set as Primary, Begining, ext3, Mount Point will be blank, click "ok" > Now click the new drive (it should be /dev/sda1) > Click "Edit partition" > ensure that the Mount Point is set, Click "ok" > Click "Forward" > when warned about not having a swap drive click "continue". Updated 4/24/2008

15. Continue with Installation…… and wait……

16. Do not reboot when finished! Remove/re-insert the SDHC card so it mounts

17. Open Terminal

18. Type

sudo nano /media/disk/etc/sysctl.conf

thats sysct(lower case L).conf

19. Add this to the end of the file

vm.swappiness=0

Save & Exit. (This removes swap)

20. Type

sudo rm /media/disk/etc/X11/xorg.conf

(This removes the xorg.conf file)

21. Type

sudo nano /media/disk/etc/init.d/halt

22. Add this to the end of the comment

rmmod snd-hta-intel

(this is tricky, it goes at the top area just under the comments with the #####’s, before all the code. This enables your eeePC to shut completely off)Save & Exit.

23. Type

sudo mv /media/disk/etc/rc2.d/S12hal /media/disk/etc/rc2.d/S13hal

24. Type

sudo mv /media/disk/etc/rc3.d/S12hal /media/disk/etc/rc3.d/S13hal

25. Type

sudo mv /media/disk/etc/rc4.d/S12hal /media/disk/etc/rc4.d/S13hal

26. Type

sudo mv /media/disk/etc/rc5.d/S12hal /media/disk/etc/rc5.d/S13hal

27. Type

sudo nano /media/disk/etc/init.d/rc

28. Change CONCURRENCY=none to

CONCURRENCY=shell

Save & Exit.

29. Type

sudo nano /media/disk/etc/default/acpi-support

30. Change SAVE_VBE_STATE=true to

SAVE_VBE_STATE=false

Save & Exit.

31. Umount the SDHC and remove it

32. Insert SDHC into eeePC and boot to the SDHC by pressing the ESC key at startup

33. Login

34. Open terminal

35. Type

sudo dpkg-reconfigure xserver-xorg

(This configures your xorg.conf file)

36. Accept all defaults until you get to the screen resolution, select "800x600"

37. Type

sudo nano /etc/X11/xorg.conf

38. Locate the Section “Screen” section and change 800x600 to "800x480" Save & Exit. (This sets resolution for the eeePC screen size)

39. Reboot and log in

40. Ensure you have a wired internet connection

41. On the eeePC go to the below link and follow the instructions for downloading and running the scripts LINK (This gets your hardware working)

42. Open terminal

43. Type

sudo gedit /etc/fstab

44. DO NOT COPY THIS LINE… just add “noatime” to your output so it looks something like “UUID=f3414867-f197-43af-84d6-d79397a09cff / ext3 noatime,defaults,errors=remount-ro 0 1”

45. Add the below lines to the bottom of the file

tmpfs /var/log tmpfs defaults,noatime 0 0



tmpfs /tmp tmpfs defaults,noatime 0 0



tmpfs /var/tmp tmpfs defaults,noatime 0 0

Save & Exit.

46. Run all Ubuntu updates now

47. Now to get your WiFi working, Back in terminal…. (skip 48, 49, & 50 IF WiFi works)

48. Type

sudo depmod –a

49. Type

sudo modprobe ath_hal

50. Type

sudo modprobe ath_pci

That should do it. Your eeePC should now be fully functional and all hardware should be working including the function keys. I have friends who have reported that after running updates some things break, specifically the wireless. You should be able to run steps 48, 49, & 50 to get it working again though. Hope you all enjoy and find this useful.

Enjoy.
RollnPC
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