New TSA bumper sticker

Why can’t the Government protect its secrets?

Why can’t the Government protect its secrets?

Apparently the soldier thought to have downloaded the enormous amounts of information being posted on WikiLeaks told confidants at Wired.com, which published a partial log of Manning's discussions with hacker R. Adrian Lamo in June,

"Weak servers, weak logging, weak physical security, weak counterintelligence, inattentive signal analysis," Manning wrote. "A perfect storm."

Security professionals have been carping about this for DECADES. Yet no one seems to care. Not even at the Pentagon. Yet any IT security person will tell you the insider threat is the most dangerous.

So far… Pentagon officials are not reviewing who has access to data but focusing instead on installing technical safeguards.

When I read this in the article, I shook my head in disbelief. Technical safeguards will help. But knowing who is accessing the data is essential.

That’s not just my opinion; Dale Meyerrose, former chief information officer for the U.S. intelligence community, said Monday that it will never be possible to completely stop such breaches.

"This is a personnel security issue, more than it is a technical issue," said Meyerrose, now a vice president at Harris Corp. "How can you prevent a pilot from flying the airplane into the ground? You can't. Anybody you give access to can become a disgruntled employee or an ideologue that goes bad."

Today’s modern cyber warfare is based on data and information, which is being captured, cataloged and stored at an alarming rate. Traditional security technologies are struggling to keep pace with this explosion of information, and the WikiLeaks exposure is a prime example of what can happen when the wrong individual has access to a multitude of data.

The WikiLeaks exposure highlights a clear need for a change in the way many classified networks are designed and managed, the way organizations manage their most sensitive information, and should also be looked at as a red flag by enterprises.

Technology that would enforce access policies around this type of information exists and needs to be implemented to minimize a leak of this magnitude.

Additionally, organizations should consider investing in new solutions that enforce the separation of critical valuable data from users and networks that have no need to access this information, while still allowing access to those that do.

TSA video

http://FunnyOrDie.com/m/4x3c

Somewhat graphic depiction of the length TSA would go to...maybe?

Remembering JFK

People go on and on about Ronald Reagan, who many (myself included) don't think he was much of a Governor of California, but was a decent President. But the single political figure that had the most impact so far on my life, my dreams, my goals was John F Kennedy, who was murdered November 22, 1963.

Most people I work with weren't even born in 1963, so increasingly I find myself marginalized in remembering the awfulness of his death, the enormous pain we all felt, even as kids.

 The only other event that ever caused me such grief borne for death,  outside of a family member, was 9/11.

In his short term of office, he started the Peace Corps, set the moon as our national space race goal, set in motion civil rights reforms, lowered taxes. He was also human, reputedly had affairs with Marilyn Monroe, but his humanity also revealed itself with his courage in the South Pacific in World War II. He wrote books on the subject of courage and moral conviction.

Eternal rest grant unto them, O Lord : and let perpetual light shine upon them. He shall be justified in everlasting memory, and shall not fear evil reports.

the joy of cookies

Nothing in this is about Oreo's or Mrs. Field's chocolate chip (yummmmmm)... nope, its about those files on you computer called cookies...in particular tracking cookies...in the early 1970s a group of programmers working at Xerox came up with an idea for storing a bit of information on another computer. They appear to have called this little chunk of information a cookie after a character from the popular (at that time) Andy Williams Show. This "Cookie Bear" character would follow Andy around asking for a cookie. Programmers can be very strange people at times.

"Tracking cookies may be used to track internet users' web browsing habits. Third-party cookies  allow for tracking across multiple sites. Tracking across sites is typically used by advertising companies to produce anonymous user profiles (which are then used to determine what advertisements should be shown to the user). A tracking cookie may potentially infringe upon the user's privacy but they can be easily removed."

AHA! So now i have a idea why the Soma lingere ads are ALWAYS on ever page i visit that has ads...

Ok, where is everyone?

My, my, my

Multiply is 15^th on the list of most active social networking sites for November 2010.

No doubt anyone with a computer has figured out Facebook is number 1, followed by MySpace.

Numbers 3-15 are

3.      Twitter – self explanatory

4.      LinkedIn-business oriented networking

5.      Ning – huh? Organize around your favorite cause. Build a hub for your online activity.

6.      Tagged - Chat, flirt, photos, games, and more!

7.      Classmates -

8.      Hi5

9.      Myyearbook

10.  Meetup

11.  Bebo

12.  Mylife

13.  Friendster

14.  My Heritage

15.  Multiply

So when you come online and see no one around, now you have some idea where they may be online….or maybe, they aren’t online at all… My heritage beat out Multiply? Really?

Veteran's Memories

 My husband is a Vietnam era vet, and felt pretty much ashamed he served based on the reaction from most people, which didn't really change until after 9/11. He wept when his boss gave him that thank you for your service card in 2004, and told me that even 30 years late, it was welcome.
He keeps his medals and stuff in a drawer. He talks about his service from time to time, mostly at family gatherings when he and his cousins can talk. They usually sit in the corner of a room, men in their 50's and 60's and talk amongst themselves, using acronyms that a non-service person wouldn't know.

Unlike some of the other vets he knows, he only has about a dozen pictures from his military service, mostly given to him by other people. My son in law is fascinated by a picture of him and a radio man crouched behind a wall, the body of a odd looking car nearby, literally shot to hell. All he has ever told anyone is it was him and Cpl Wilson, calling for evacuation.  His eyes well with tears when he talks about it, and he gets what my brother says is "the thousand yard stare" for a moment, like he has temporarily gone back and is there again.

When you thank a  Veteran for their service, imagine what they did. And be glad there are people willing to step up and do that, for us all.

All gave some, some gave all.

Some of my thoughts....about Veterans

Veteran's Day. To honor all Veterans.

My immediate family served in the military. My husband was Sgt in the Marines, finished college on the GI BILL  and served 6 more years as a Army officer. Dad and his brother were both Korean War Marine officers. My cousin is a Major on active duty in the Army, another cousin served in the Air Force in the Philippines, patrolling the jungle outside Clark AFB; my father in law was in the Navy and landed troops at Iwo Jima and Okinawa, while another cousin has a chest full of medals for his three tours in Vietnam .

What these people have been through is something most of us have no idea of.

My father in law used to tell me, after much prodding, about manning his position on the ship , shooting at Japanese planes as they shot at the ship;

my uncle has told me about jumping into a foxhole as a MiG strafed the air field they were building;

a cousin telling me about landing a helicopter in a jungle thicket under fire, and running towards the gunfire to evacuate the wounded

another can tell about "mounting up in a up armored HUMVEE, and having the compound gate in Ram-adi thrown open, and receiving fire as soon as they hit the streets..."

My honey, who says they only thing he remembers about coming home in 1973 was some "hippies girl" calling him a baby killer, and him clamming up for th next 30 years unless he was with other vets...

I wrote once about how I went for some lab tests at the hospital, and a young Marine was sitting there in the waiting room, and how utterly shocked he was as I walked up, smiled, stuck out my hand and thanked him for all he has done...

My husband is the only veteran at his work. People now sometimes say thank you to him for his service, but most don't. Yet in our den, his two favorite memento's are a card he got in 2004 from a boss that read, " I know you are one of two veterans here, and I THANK YOU for your service to the country". The other is Certificate of Appreciation he got in the mail, signed by the Secretary of the Army and the Army Chief of Staff, "For outstanding service to the Nation..."

And now as I reflect on things, I am left wondering how  the men I work with, who are all in their 40's, 50's and early 60's all avoided military service. And what really gets me is when they are proud of "not having to serve". Not having to serve?

 Nobody in my family was ever forced to serve. They all volunteered. From 1775 to present. My family has passed from one generation to the next the apparently novel idea that "of those to whom much is given, much is required."

Remember Veterans Day 2010

New Boss Same as the Old Boss

When I graduated from college 34 years ago, my diploma bears several signatures, including that of Governor of California, Jerry Brown. When I travelled to Europe, worked for two years in Germany, lived in North carolina for a year and returned to California and started graduate school, guess who was Governor...that's right, Jerry Brown.

And now here he is again. Governor Brown

Edmund Gerald (Jerry) Brown Junior was born in 1938 and has held one form of elective office or another since 1970. A full 40 years in politics, no private sector jobs, no business experience, just government.

Frequently in discussion with my government clients, I get crazy looks from them when I am amazed by how they have worked for government their whole working life. I think there really needs to be something that say civil servants and politicians have to take a break in government service and get back out there in the real work world.  How could it hurt, to have people be able to relate to real jobs (where your "career" is measured by accomplishment more that how long you stick it out at one place?

Jerry made a lot of promises about how he was going to put all that experience to work. Having lived in this state under his leadership, I know his record. He signed into law the Dills Act, enabling California State employees to organize into unions, he worked for approving the unionizing of farm workers:

 "Jerry Brown becomes California governor. In response to the strikes and boycotts?as well as mounting pressure from the supermarket industry growers agree to a state law guaranteeing California farm workers the right to organize, vote in state-supervised secret-ballot elections and bargain with their employers. With help from Gov. Brown, the UFW wins passage of the landmark Agricultural Labor Relations Act."

Thanks Jerry. You are a true union hero. OOPs, but I ain't in a fricking union, am I.

 

 

Giants win the Series! Giants win the Series!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

4 Games to 1!!!