Blog Posts

How to make ATT Voice-Mail prompt for password.

1. Login to Voice Mail.
2. Press 4 for “Personal Options from the Main Menu.
3. Press 2 for Adminstrative Options.
4. Press 1 for Password Options.
5. Press 1 to Establish a Password. Enter it twice, each time followed by #.

If you go back to Password Options, you can press 2 to Turn Password On or Off.

If password is Off, you are not prompted for a password when you press 1 to connect to VM. If password in On, after pressing 1 you will hear “Enter Password”

Is your AT&T voicemail secure?

In light of the voice mail hacking story in the UK by newspapers Brian Krebs has a great article on his blog from this weekend about how easy it is to “hack” into ATT voicemail using a caller ID spoofing service like spooftel.com.

Even with a password set on your ATT voice mail someone can call your phone with a spoofing service and have full access to anything you have saved in the box.

So the moral of the story is to never save a voice mail that you wouldn’t want someone with access to the internet to hear.

Red Dawn 1984

This is one of the best movies ever made I cant wait for the remake.

At the park with Landon

This morning I took Landon and we hung out at the park for an hour or so. Here are some quick pictures I snapped.

This is so much fun!!!!

This is a baby slide!

I am having a blast.

Does this thing go any faster?

Down the big boy slide backwards.

Down the big boy slide.

I mostly just think this is a cool photo.

I preformed rocket surgery on my lawnmower tonight because it would turn on. I won and didnt blow up.

Anti-Virus Doesn’t Matter Anymore

Here is my latest article for the NCSL newsletter:

Anti-Virus Doesn’t Matter Anymore

Anti-Virus Doesn’t Matter Anymore

By Jerry Gamblin, Security Specialist, Missouri House of Representatives

It hurts to say that, because, as the security specialist for the Missouri House, I spend a lot of time managing our anti-virus system and making sure all our systems have the latest definitions. It had a good 15-year-run, but the days of just detecting, what the “bad guys” have written and then not letting it run is a practice that has outlived its usefulness. “Bad guys” have gotten far faster at writing new viruses and malware than anti-virus makers can write definitions to stop them. So what will replace anti-virus?

User Education. We have done a poor job of educating our users to the real risk of viruses and malware because we often fall back on “the AV will stop it” mentality. A paradigm shift has occurred in the technology world that makes it impossible to protect our users without their help. Our users carry their data with them on smart-phones, jump drives and in the cloud. Cisco said it best when they said the borderless network is here. As with real borders, our network rules do not apply on the outside.

We must give our users a good foundation in security awareness so they can be a partner in our security programs. All organizations need to implement a security awareness program. If you have not started, I would suggest you start by looking at http://securingthehuman.org.

Patch Management. This just is not Windows updates anymore. Hackers have (mostly) moved past attacking the operating system and have been focusing on what everyone loads on top of their systems but does not update. Adobe Flash and Reader are at the top of hackers’ hit lists because of their widespread use.

A good test to determine how secure your systems truly are is to download the Secunia Personal Software inspector at http://secunia.com/vulnerability_scanning/personal and install it on your computer and your bosses’ computer to see how up-to-date your software is.

Heuristics. I have been running the beta software of the new Symantec Endpoint Protection 12.1, and it has moved from relying on its definitions and more to watching your system and making sure nothing out of the ordinary is happening. This is the anti-virus of the future. It will watch your machine, and if you try to replace some dlls in SYSTEM32 or write something to the registry, it will stop it from happening. It’s not perfect (yet) and there will be a steep learning curve, a lot of false positives, and the urge to turn it off as you did with UAC in Windows Vista.

Good luck. It will take a little good luck to get through the next two to four years in the security world unharmed until some of these new technologies mature into fully functioning products.

If you have questions, you can contact me at [email protected] or on twitter @jgamblin. Until then, I will be patching software and hoping our good luck continues.

It is kind of Hot Outside.

If you ever wanted to know what a blown JVC HD56N97 TS-CL110U bulb looks like here is your chance.

The War Inevitable

The War Inevitable

by Patrick Henry

March 23, 1775

No man thinks more highly than I do of the patriotism, as well as abilities, of the very worthy gentlemen who have just addressed the House. But different men often see the same subject in different lights; and, therefore, I hope it will not be thought disrespectful to those gentlemen if, entertaining as I do opinions of a character very opposite to theirs, I shall speak forth my sentiments freely and without reserve.

This is no time for ceremony. The question before the House is one of awful moment to this country. For my own part, I consider it as nothing less than a question of freedom or slavery; and in proportion to the magnitude of the subject ought to be the freedom of the debate. It is only in this way that we can hope to arrive at truth, and fulfill the great responsibility which we hold to God and our country. Should I keep back my opinions at such a time, through fear of giving offense, I should consider myself as guilty of treason towards my country, and of an act of disloyalty toward the Majesty of Heaven, which I revere above all earthly kings.

Mr. President, it is natural to man to indulge in the illusions of hope. We are apt to shut our eyes against a painful truth, and listen to the song of that siren till she transforms us into beasts. Is this the part of wise men, engaged in a great and arduous struggle for liberty? Are we disposed to be of the number of those who, having eyes, see not, and, having ears, hear not, the things which so nearly concern their temporal salvation? For my part, whatever anguish of spirit it may cost, I am willing to know the whole truth; to know the worst, and to provide for it.

I have but one lamp by which my feet are guided, and that is the lamp of experience. I know of no way of judging of the future but by the past. And judging by the past, I wish to know what there has been in the conduct of the British ministry for the last ten years to justify those hopes with which gentlemen have been pleased to solace themselves and the House. Is it that insidious smile with which our petition has been lately received?

Trust it not, sir; it will prove a snare to your feet. Suffer not yourselves to be betrayed with a kiss. Ask yourselves how this gracious reception of our petition comports with those warlike preparations which cover our waters and darken our land.

Are fleets and armies necessary to a work of love and reconciliation? Have we shown ourselves so unwilling to be reconciled that force must be called in to win back our love?

Let us not deceive ourselves, sir. These are the implements of war and subjugation; the last arguments to which kings resort. I ask gentlemen, sir, what means this martial array, if its purpose be not to force us to submission? Can gentlemen assign any other possible motive for it? Has Great Britain any enemy, in this quarter of the world, to call for all this accumulation of navies and armies? No, sir, she has none. They are meant for us: they can be meant for no other. They are sent over to bind and rivet upon us those chains which the British ministry have been so long forging. And what have we to oppose to them? Shall we try argument? Sir, we have been trying that for the last ten years.

Have we anything new to offer upon the subject? Nothing. We have held the subject up in every light of which it is capable; but it has been all in vain. Shall we resort to entreaty and humble supplication? What terms shall we find which have not been already exhausted? Let us not, I beseech you, sir, deceive ourselves.

Sir, we have done everything that could be done to avert the storm which is now coming on. We have petitioned; we have remonstrated; we have supplicated; we have prostrated ourselves before the throne, and have implored its interposition to arrest the tyrannical hands of the ministry and Parliament. Our petitions have been slighted; our remonstrances have produced additional violence and insult; our supplications have been disregarded; and we have been spurned, with contempt, from the foot of the throne!

In vain, after these things, may we indulge the fond hope of peace and reconciliation. There is no longer any room for hope.

If we wish to be free — if we mean to preserve inviolate those inestimable privileges for which we have been so long contending — if we mean not basely to abandon the noble struggle in which we have been so long engaged, and which we have pledged ourselves never to abandon until the glorious object of our contest shall be obtained — we must fight! I repeat it, sir, we must fight! An appeal to arms and to the God of hosts is all that is left us! They tell us, sir, that we are weak; unable to cope with so formidable an adversary. But when shall we be stronger? Will it be the next week, or the next year? Will it be when we are totally disarmed, and when a British guard shall be stationed in every house? Shall we gather strength but irresolution and inaction?

Shall we acquire the means of effectual resistance by lying supinely on our backs and hugging the delusive phantom of hope, until our enemies shall have bound us hand and foot? Sir, we are not weak if we make a proper use of those means which the God of nature hath placed in our power. The millions of people, armed in the holy cause of liberty, and in such a country as that which we possess, are invincible by any force which our enemy can send against us. Besides, sir, we shall not fight our battles alone. There is a just God who presides over the destinies of nations, and who will raise up friends to fight our battles for us. The battle, sir, is not to the strong alone; it is to the vigilant, the active, the brave.

Besides, sir, we have no election. If we were base enough to desire it, it is now too late to retire from the contest. There is no retreat but in submission and slavery! Our chains are forged! Their clanking may be heard on the plains of Boston!

The war is inevitable — and let it come! I repeat it, sir, let it come.

It is in vain, sir, to extenuate the matter. Gentlemen may cry, Peace, Peace — but there is no peace. The war is actually begun! The next gale that sweeps from the north will bring to our ears the clash of resounding arms! Our brethren are already in the field! Why stand we here idle? What is it that gentlemen wish? What would they have? Is life so dear, or peace so sweet, as to be purchased at the price of chains and slavery? Forbid it, Almighty God!

I know not what course others may take but as for me: give me liberty or give me death.

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