In 2012 I had 859,381 sessions, and 1,162,723 pageviews In 2013 I had 784,914 sessions, and 1,046,691 pageviews In 2014 I had 1,454,231 sessions, and 2,009,500 pageviews In 2015 I had 1,934,424 sessions, and 2,479,962 pageviews In 2016 there were 2,553,483 sessions, and 3,286,000 pageviews. Those are both 32% increases over 2015.
Archives for 2016
InfoSec Has an Attribution Problem, But Not Just the One You’re Thinking Of
When you hear “Attribution Problem” in infosec spheres you naturally think of the fact that there was a phase where everything was blamed on China, and then everything was blamed on China. And a lot of it was marketing crap, or people blaming sophisticated attackers when they lacked even the most basic security. [ NOTE: Even worse, lacking…
How the Left Won the War for the Right
This tweet got Steve Martin bashed online as a sexist. He had to remove the tweet from all the backlash. Here’s a question: At what point does it become sexist to simply acknowledge someone’s feminine beauty? I mean think about it. It’s the epitome of a gender-based observations. It’s something that you can’t say about men. And it…
How to Interact with Someone More Accomplished or Well-known Than You
There are right and wrong ways to attempt to interact with someone far more important than you—however you define that in the context. I’ve some experience with it myself. I’ve been the scrambling 20-something sending too much to someone I respect, which was ignored. I’ve learned how to send that mail properly, and had meaningful interactions with people…
Attacking AI-based Digital Assistants
I think one of the coolest new attack surfaces in coming years will be figuring out cool ways to trick our new AI buddies into doing things they shouldn’t. Here are a couple of examples: Mass-effect control changes It’s a super hot day in the United States in 2023, with many big cities showing over 105 degrees. Everyone…
Why Law Firms Are Such Attractive Hacking Targets
When you’re choosing victims as an attacker it’s important to waste as little time as possible. That means picking targets well, which in turn means: Easy to compromise Lucrative when compromised It’s a simple formula. The lucrative component can take multiple forms. Recently we’ve seen massive success with ransomware, where people lose what’s important to them (not to…
2017 Interests: New and Existing
The week between Christmas and New Years is a particularly good time to plan for the following year. I realized the other day that I’m orienting myself to take on a number of interests this coming year, so I thought I’d capture them here. Software Defined Radio (SDR). I already have my HackRF One kit and have already…
Sisense: A Voice-activated and Contextual Data Interface
A connected lightbulb, such as Phillips’, is setup on WiFi and then shows up as an IP address on the Sisense dashboard. A user determines which KPIs will trigger which available colors.If the daily sales goal is being met, your lamp might shine as a normal white bulb. But if it drops below, the lightbulb might turn red.Source:…
The Future of Warfare is Drones
One of the most important things in war is knowledge of what the enemy is doing. Detecting early moves. Countering covert operations. Etc. Another is getting high-value attack forces deep into enemy territory without losing those assets. Drones address both of these issues, and it seems clear to anyone paying attention that drones are the future of war.…
Free Will’s Endgame is Absurdism
Absurdism is fundamentally about the inherent disconnect between what humans seek and what exists in reality. With meaning, humans seek an objective and universal version that can make sense of everything. It doesn’t exist, and we have to make our own. We want the same thing with morality, but it also doesn’t exist, and we again have to…
Information Security Could Benefit from an Economics Education
One of the things that would most benefit the information security field is for more people in it to understand economics. Specifically, the art and science of incentive management. So much of InfoSec is about turning knobs and believing that outcomes will improve But too few understand the interconnected mesh of behaviors that’s linked to that variable, or…
Autonomous Drones Will Change Many Things
Inexpensive drones are disruptive by themselves. And they’ll become even more so as battery life gets longer. But drones that require active control, and that require an active link between a controller and the drone are severely limited for many applications. Let’s look at a couple: Assassination: defenders can use EM shields, active EM-based attacks, etc. to disrupt…
Spend No More Than 5% of Your Time Looking at What Other People Are Doing
I think one of the healthiest thing one can possibly do is spend their time focused on their own activities. People are starting to notice that Facebook is bad for mental health because it just shows you other people having fun, being witty, being successful, etc. But fewer realize that this is also most of Twitter and many…
The Difference Between Machine Learning and Statistics
With the rise of interest in Machine Learning there are a couple of different perspectives out there around the similarities between it and Statistics. They generally fall into three camps: “Machine Learning is identical to Statistics! They’re taught the same way, using the same books, using the same math, etc. You can use them interchangeably.” “Machine Learning is…
The Hierarchy of Public Social Media Images
I think there’s a hierarchy to the images that people use to represent themselves on social media like Twitter. Here are the levels, from least to most mature. An icon or image that makes you look cool (Matrix Digital Display) An icon or image that’s kind of interesting or cute (A Snarling Dog) A highly modified picture of…
AirPod Impressions (Day 1)
I got my AirPod’s in-store on launch day after being second in line. The line was around 30 people, so expectations for the things seemed high. Here are some of my thoughts Pros They are extremely comfortable to wear, and are quite easy to completely forget that they’re there. There is virtually no risk that they’ll just fall…
Unsupervised Learning: No. 58
This week’s topics: Yahoo!, Shadowbrokers, Building Your Own Honeytrapping Infrastructure, The Power of Newsletters, Project Aristotle, and more… This is Episode No. 58 of Unsupervised Learning—a weekly show where I collect my favorite stories and ideas in infosec, technology, and humanity, and talk about why they matter. The show is released as a Podcast on iTunes, Overcast, Android,…
Implementing Honeytokens, Honeynets, and Honeytraps With Zero Budget
Honeytraps are a class of detective controls that work by leaving false treasure lying about for attackers to find. When they take the bait you’re notified immediately that something’s up. The key concept is that you put these treasures in places that would not be accessed legitimately. This way you can be relatively sure that if they’re touched…
Eliminating the Dread of Reinstalls
I hate reinstalls. Whether it’s getting a new laptop and having days (really weeks) of burn in time, or migrating a website to a new server and/or host, the process is far more difficult than it should be. And there’s no excuse for it anymore. We have Github. We have Docker. There has to be a better way.…
Cisco’s Alexa 1M DNS Replacement, Isn’t
When Amazon said they were discontinuing the Alexa 1M list (or making it a pay service), I was one of the people wondering if an alternative would appear. Shortly afterward, Cisco stepped up and offered their own free list. I downloaded it and checked it out, and have a problem with it. Here are a few observations: First,…
The Hidden Contradiction in Gender Equality and Gender Swapping
There’s a strange contradiction lurking in gender identity politics. The far left is simultaneously saying two things: There’s absolutely no difference between the genders in terms of interests and preferences, and therefore no reason why different genders should have different representation in various careers, etc. But then they also argue that: Some people born one gender are compelled…
AirPods Have the Potential to Make Computers Omni-Present
People remain genuinely baffled by AirPod excitement. They attribute it to fanboys or to a rabid hype with no justified cause. The AirPods seem quite popular, so I’m not the only one who’s noticing that they’re something different. But I think many of them might feel that they’re different but not be able to articulate it. So let…
Standardizing on New York Times for Core News Input
For the last several years my muscle memory has taken me to CNN as my main news source. Whether I was on my mobile device or on the laptop, it’s just always been my default. I just ended that practice. There are a number of reasons, but I think the biggest one is that it just started reeking…
Site Redesign 2017
It’s been quite a while since I’ve messed with my design, but I finally got inspired to make some changes. Here’s a short list: I turned the main page into a table of my best content. For lists of things, like Projects, Reading, and Tutorials, I turned those into tables as well. I tightened up the Blog layout,…
2017 and the Rise of the Newsletter
I’ve been all about some newsletters recently, and I think I know why. We’ve hit the point where we can no longer process all the great stuff out there, so now the game is to find people who can do that for you. It’s all about curation. Newsletters are all about someone who has a perspective, or a…
How Cyber Attack and Defense Can Leverage Supervised and Unsupervised Learning
A lot of people are starting to talk about how Machine Learning can help attackers and defenders in cybersecurity. It’s an interesting topic, and I want to break down the difference between four types of cases: Supervised and Unsupervised, and Attack and Defense. First, Supervised vs. Unsupervised. Supervised Learning Supervised Learning is where you are looking for the…
2016’s Word of the Year Should Be Gaslighting
A lot of big news sites did hard-hitting pieces on Trump and his drunken backhanding of the truth, but once the mediocre players like the Washington Post and New York Times got done it was time for the main event. Teen Vogue. Yep—another gift from 2016. Teen Vogue has the single best analysis of Trump’s methodology of deceit…
Unsupervised Learning: No. 57
This week’s topics: Russia gave us attribution for Christmas, the NSA is shedding talent, the evilest ransomware, how to raise someone’s IQ in 2 minutes, and more… This is Episode No. 57 of Unsupervised Learning—a weekly show where I collect my favorite stories and ideas in infosec, technology, and humanity, and talk about why they matter. The show…
Gratitude is the Epicenter of Happiness
As I get older I become increasingly convinced that the center of happiness is gratitude. I receive this message in many different forms. Practically, I notice that much of the top advice on how to become more happy starts with making lists of things you’re thankful for. In terms of common wisdom, we hear things like, Be thankful…
Why You Should Act on Inspiration Immediately
Many of us are struck with brilliant ideas at random points during the day. Maybe we’re in the middle of another work task, maybe we’re relaxing, whatever. The worst think you can do when this happens is not do anything and not write down the idea. The second worst thing you can do is write down a quick…
How to Raise an Employee’s IQ by 10 Points in 2 Minutes
Everyone wants to get more from their employees, but there’s a simple trick that magnifies creative output that can be done in just seconds. There are two steps: Give them a significant responsibility Tell them that you trust them to do well on it That’s it. Why does this work? It works because empowerment unlocks potential. It tells…
My Theory for Why Music Makes Us Feel Good
I have a theory for why music makes us feel good. Not a theory—a hypothesis. It goes like this: beat –> pattern –> story –> struggle –> survival/reproduction –> meaning –> hormones –> happiness So beats and music are patterns, and patterns remind us of stories. Stories remind us of struggle and romance and danger and love, which…
How Training a Skill Can Harm Your Execution of It
I’ve realized something interesting recently: the opposing forces of natural execution and training. I recently started improving markedly in table tennis by figuring out how to completely relax and be aggressive with my play. It takes an effort to reminds myself not to think, and to just 100% go for it. I’ve been realizing how many things this…
Thoughts on Podcast vs. Newsletter Content
I have a show called Unsupervised Learning that is released as both a podcast and newsletter. This post is an exploration of how those mediums differ, and how each should be optimized. In other words I’m going to think out loud here, not give a final opinion. Observations The purpose of the newsletter is to give people a…
A Future Without Privacy
If you listen to the main voices on privacy concerns they’re all saying something like this: Privacy is possible in 2017 and beyond We’re losing ground right now But don’t worry–we can fix it Well, 1 out of 3 ain’t bad. The truth is that privacy is going away—permanently. To see how and why, let’s step through a few…
Amazon Go Gets Shopping Right by Reducing Friction
Amazon Go is a new kind of store with no checkout required. We created the world’s most advanced shopping technology so you never have to wait in line. With our Just Walk Out Shopping experience, simply use the Amazon Go app to enter the store, take the products you want, and go! No lines, no checkout.Source: Amazon.com: :…
Unsupervised Learning: No. 56
This week’s topics: Gooligan, Korean Game Hacking Law, DoubleFlag Experian Hack, Georgia Tech Attribution Research, Amazon’s re:Invent Conference Highlights, recommended links, and more… This is Episode No. 56 of Unsupervised Learning—a weekly show where I collect my favorite stories and ideas in infosec, technology, and humanity, and talk about why they matter. The show is released as a…
The Difference Between Median and Mean
There are many explanations out there of Median and Mean, but it feels like we can do better. Here’s my attempt. The Mean is what most people consider the average. You add up all the numbers in the set and divide by how many numbers you have. That’s the Mean. The Median is the number in a set…
Visa Pushes Gas Pump Chip Deadline to 2020: Maybe We Should Skip to Mobile Pay?
Visa this week delayed by three years a deadline for fuel station owners to install payment terminals at the pump that are capable of handling more secure chip-based cards. Experts say the new deadline — extended from 2017 — comes amid a huge spike in fuel pump skimming, and means fraudsters will have another three years to fleece banks…
re:Invent 2016 Summary and Analysis
I’ve been casually following Amazon’s re:Invent Conference announcements and they look quite spectacular. Here’s a quick list of them: LightSail — A new VPS service that competes with companies like Digital Ocean. Elastic GPUs — The ability to attach GPUs to any running VM New F1-branded VMs that are accelerated with FPGAs Athena — A new tool for…
Purple Team Pentests Mean You’re Failing at Red and Blue
A Purple Team Pentest should be thought of as a dynamic amalgamation of Red Team and Blue Team members with the purpose of overcoming communication hurdles, facilitating knowledge transfer, and generally arming the Blue Team with newly practiced skills against a more sophisticated attacker or series of attack scenarios.http://technicalinfodotnet.blogspot.com/2016/11/the-purple-team-pentest.html This article claims that Purple Teams should make it…
When Logic Only Comes from Extremists, Expect Bad Things to Happen
Liberals are the reason Trump is our next president. Some of that was racism and sexism, to be sure, but the biggest reason is arguably that people were tired of the disconnect between what they’re hearing from liberals and what they see in the real world. Liberals create safe spaces on university campuses when they hear things they…
U.S. Manufacturing is as Strong as Ever: We Just Need Way Fewer People to Do It
Although we frequently hear claims that the US manufacturing sector is dying or in a state of decline, manufacturing output in the US, except during and following periods of economic contraction like the Great Recession, has continued to increase over time, and reached the highest level of output ever recorded in 2014.What has been in a steady state…
Unsupervised Learning: No. 55
This week’s topics: Biowarfare defenses, AI advances, mergers and acquisitions, Facebook and censorship, IoT definitions, the philosophy of Westworld, and more… This is Episode No. 55 of Unsupervised Learning—a weekly show where I collect my favorite stories and ideas in infosec, technology, and humanity, and talk about why they matter. The show is released as a Podcast on…
A Merged Pothole Model of Consciousness
I was just listening to a Sam Harris podcast on AI and had an interesting idea for a model of consciousness. Imagine a series of 12 potholes in a large paved parking lot. They’re separated by a few feet a piece, in a random way, and each looks completely different from each other. Over time they start to…
An IoT Definition Based on Computer / Functionality Transition
I like looking for great definitions for concepts that people have a lot of confusion or disagreement on. The Internet of Things is definitely one of those terms that qualifies. I like this definition based on the switching role of the computer and the functionality. The Internet of Things The transition from things with functionality having computers in…
My Analysis of the Philosophy in Westworld
I think Westworld is fantastic. It’s fundamentally about the center of meaning. It’s asking questions like: There are tons of spoilers in here. Don’t read this unless you are fully caught up and/or you don’t care about seeing/knowing things that might happen later. What is true meaning? What makes meaning real vs. fake? What meaning could we expect…
Predicting Possible Trump Administration Outcomes
As we just learned from this election, it’s hard to predict things with lots of variables. I like making predictions not for the fun of being able to say I was right, but because I enjoy capturing and reviewing errors in my models. When you just make random predictions about things and tell your friends about them, all…
Mangling the Evolution Arguments
Now let’s talk evolution. The issue is this: Darwinism has been set up as some sort of competing religion against belief in God(s). High-schools teach children to believe in Darwinism, but not to understand Darwinism. Few kids graduate understanding Darwinism, which is why it’s invariably misrepresented in mass-media (X-Men, Planet of the Apes, Waterworld, Godzilla, Jurassic Park, etc.).…
Four Thoughts on Making Good Metrics
I was just asked to give some insight on metrics and came up with these four observations. I thought I’d share them here. The key thing to realize is that metrics have to be connected to two things in order to have value—on one side they’re connected to your goals, and on the other side they’re connected to…
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