Motley Moose – Archive

Today President Obama gave his thoughts on the incredibly complex and potentially wonderful events occurring in Egypt. World leaders have struggled to find their voices in this instance as they tried to come to grips with the potential unraveling of the most dangerous region of the world.

There was much anticipation as the world waited to here The Position of the world’s most powerful country. Doubters on both flanks had already carved a virtually hopeless maze of tiger traps and pitfalls. What could the President say that would speak to the intricate needs of the situation?

In four minutes and fifty three seconds he told us.

Hi folks,

This is a short article I wrote for InfoSecIsland. Normally I wouldn’t post something like this on a political blog, but the conversations here on Stuxnet were as intelligent as any other. This was written with my Day Job hat on but is not a pitch for AlienVault specifically – any SIEM will do – but since AlienVault has the Open Source SIEM the topic cannot be discussed without bringing them up anyway.

Background

Control System networks are electronic systems for controlling the physical world. These systems are deployed in virtually every aspect of modern life from power grids to transportation, manufacturing, agriculture, building control and more. Since 1979 these systems have been becoming increasingly similar to the Information Technology (IT) networks which have developed over that time. Today, most Control System networks are based on the same TCP/IP protocols that run on the Internet and use computer systems which are vulnerable to the same attacks which plague business and home users.

In June of 2010, the first malware specifically designed to attack Control System networks was found in the wild. Stuxnet, a complex worm that targets Siemens’ WinCC Control System server software, uses a vulnerability involving USB thumb drives to compromise the Windows operating system of WinCC servers. Once installed, Stuxnet subverts the WinCC software itself and then pushes altered software to the Programmable Logic Controllers (PLCs) that control very high speed motors. Since the motors Stuxnet is designed to target operate at between 807 Hz and 1210 Hz the popular conclusion that this worm was targeted at the nuclear centrifuge installation at Natanz, Iran, is generally supportable (the United States restricts exports of similar motors above 600Hz due to their use in refining nuclear fuel).  

A funny thing happened on the way to the polling this morning. Showing up at Scotts Valley town hall, I proceeded through the process until I found myself faced with a touch screen and some helpful volunteers. With firm hand and the determined will of a Free Person Exercising his Franchise, I poked and prodded my way to the end and hit “Review”.

Two of my votes didn’t count.

OK, so against my better wishes I find myself writing a diary.  It’s all Strummerson’s fault for getting me going, but I suppose I had a few pages stuck in me somewhere.

The topic is this: “Sell me on being concerned about the Democrats keeping control of Congress.”

I’m exactly the kind of person who was extremely motivated and involved in the Obama election who is today mostly sitting on the sidelines while – in theory – the Dems might get a trouncing in the mid-terms. I will vote in November and it looks like I will vote Democrat mostly, but I’m doing nothing other than my usual talking (here and elsewhere) about it.

Most of you know that I am pretty Centrist on average and hold views on different topics which are in many ways deep parts of both the political right and left. At first glance I put down most of my ennui to an “in power” as opposed to “out of power” situation combined with general up tick in busyness. The more I think about it, however, the more I realize that the answer is more:

“I already got everything I was after.”

So, assuming I am doing more than rambling my fingertips in late-night stupor, I ask my fellow Moose and any passerby who feels like chiming in to convince me that there is some urgency I should feel about November.

Consider this a “Short Attention Span Theater” Open Thread.

On Facebook today someone asked me to join an event to “Stop the Marketplace for One Day”.  Because Facebook will only allow me 1,000 characters in a wall post – and because I can’t say “hello” in less than 1,500 characters – I decided to make it the basis of an Open Thread discussion.

My comment is below the fold, but you won’t find me pitching in to bring down the global economy to somehow “fix things”.  I like the 21st century, and since one of my children did not die as an infant I find it demonstrably more desirable than the 19th century when at least one of them would have.

Anyone who wants to suggest that we shuck off this modern world needs to talk to the parents of this baby, first.

Your thoughts?

Hi folks!

Once more into the harsh wilderland of the Intertoobs we venture forth, in search of sustenance for our young and our weak.  We use cunning and guile to lure the juicy calories into our traps and carry our quarry back to our nest at the end of the day.  Our Shaman cannot survive on her own so we feed her and sit at night around the fire and listen to her strange but stirring invocations.

We don’t understand her

Jerry Moran and Georgianne Nienaber are in trouble, because they took pictures that BP wouldn’t like.  What particularly irks me is that they are in trouble with the US Government, the Coast Guard specifically, and are facing felony charges for photographing scenes like a doomed dolphin swimming in oil (Moran) or a pelican wading in crude (Nienaber).

This stinks to high heaven, but you don’t have to tell poor Flipper here that.

BP has achieved a new goal: delivering oil to customers after drilling without the intervening hassle of processing and shipping.  The new “Direct to Consumer” approach is being tested on the residents of Pensacola, Florida, who can now scoop oil directly off the beach.

I’m fed up with the whole thing, how about you?

I am very happily in Valparaiso, Indiana for my step father’s 90th birthday party.

Karl Lutze was born in 1920 in Sheboygan, Wisconsin.  As a boy he watched his father and his uncle pull up in the Automobile his father had ordered, picked up at the train station, read the operators manual and driven home.  During WWII Karl studied to be a wartime pastor, but by the time he finished seminary school the war was over.  Instead of going overseas, Karl was assigned to a poor black parish in Muskogee, Oklahoma.  The rest of Karl’s life was cast at that moment.

Happy Birthday, Karl.  And thank you.