jgamblin

Let this be the official record of The Great Twinkie War of 2012.  Thursday, January 12th:An innocent conversation was had about Hostess filing for bankruptcy protection. One of the new developers in my office admits that they hate Twinkies. Friday, January 13th:I happen to have some Twinkies in my office. I leave a Twinkie on … Read more

Really, what is it that you hate about SOPA? Is it the blocking of trafficking in inherently dangerous goods or services or is it protecting U.S. businesses from foreign and economic espionage. Or is it that your best friend’s sister’s boyfriend’s brother’s girlfriend heard from this guy who knows this kid who’s going with the … Read more

This weekend Zappos announced they were hacked and lost a DB that had your name, e-mail address, billing and shipping addresses, phone number, the last four digits of your credit card number and/or your cryptographically scrambled password.  For some reason it was also important to let people know their server was in Kentucky? Ok? So … Read more

Today is the 2,061st  anniversary of the crossing of the Rubicon by Caesar. It got me thinking about how it is recorded in history and what it can teach us about decision making skills.  I know of two places it is prominently recorded: The Life of the 12 Caesars has it recorded like this: When … Read more

How old is the password to your online banking?  Could you throw it a 1st birthday party and invite any of its friends over (Facebook, Email, Amazon, Etc.)?   The sad truth is a good password should never live to see its first birthday.  Please help me end birthday parties for passwords in 2012 by changing … Read more

If you are in the security community you have seen this scathing criticism of the way BSides is ran and the response. I wasn’t asked but I have an opinion on how I would like to see BSides fixed: The forming of a national council of 10 BSides Coordinators who would be responsible for setting … Read more

Santa has a naughty list and checks it twice.I know “blacklisting” is a naughty word in the security community but Santa does it and so should you.   There is no reason that if you are charged with protecting a network you shouldn’t have a list of naughty people you don’t want on your network.  … Read more

Last year Cyber Monday sales topped $1 billion for the first time making it the busiest online shopping day ever.  Shopping online can be convenient and save you a bunch of money but here are some easy rules to follow to make sure that you are shopping safely. Don’t Use Debit Cards Online. If a … Read more

Thanksgiving is next week and I always try to take some time to think about how blessed I am. I have a great job that I love, a great house and a great family. I am no where near the 1% but I am blessed beyond what I deserve to be. Every year my church … Read more

I will get this question 30 times in the next two weeks so I thought I would head it off at the pass. When you buy that awesome new laptop on Black Friday here is what you need to do: DO NOT pay geek squad or staples easy tech to do anything to the laptop. … Read more