Selil

In the early 2000s I was working at a company called NCR for a customer called Sun Microsystems. We were implementing a product called Sun Remote Services as customer premise monitoring equipment of the Sun hardware. A job like that made complete sense since I had been senior technical lead on a project of similar goals at MCIWorldcom in 1999 and had a pretty good idea about deployment and integration models. This isn’t a story about implementation and large projects with tight timelines. This is a little case analysis of information as an asset. [Read more →]

David Blake writing in TechCrunch discusses higher education and the failure to meet commoditized demands by breaking the degree structure into modules. Similar to many writers before his concern is about the trivial courses that mean nothing to the outlet the student desires. His concern is alliterated as jailbreaking (similar to how you open a mobile handset to uses unintended) and iTunes where albums were no longer the granularity of the content. This really isn’t a set of new concepts to higher education. Inherent in this discussion is the student as consumer and expectation that the consumer knows best.

David Blake writes, “The problem, to date, is that formal, online education is still being packaged in all-or-nothing degree programs, falsely constraining education innovation.”

Is it a problem that as a collective over the last ten centuries a process of delivery of educational material has derived a program of study that is inclusive and holistic rather than segmented and servile? Is the structure of education so far behind the cognitive and learning strategies of a rapidly evolving human species? I admit technology has revolutionized human interaction and ability to grasp concepts but is the guy from 1000 years so significantly different mentally and physically? [Read more →]

Lots of discussion in the mainstream press about every fortune 500 being hacked, the <insert name> government has hacked us into smithereens. The world is ending. We need to do <insert favorite vendor solution> to save the world.

Bull pucky. I’ll take five minutes out of my day and discuss some of the issues. I reserve the right to go back and edit this. It’s a rant so be aware I’m going to be snarky.

We only need to do a few things to secure our information infrastructure but they are radically off course from where we are today. They aren’t politically fancy. They aren’t cheap. And, you won’t get a bronze star for doing them. In fact if you suggested how to actually fix information (cyber) security you’d likely get fired. So in summary the way to fix information (cyber) security is bury defense in depth, assume breach, secure the information not the hardware, think resilient, and pay the cost.  [Read more →]

In the late 1800s a new form of warfare was starting to rise into the collective understanding of the world militaries. Command and control warfare through automated means began with the telegraph. This allowed for a network centric conflict to rise and concepts like indirect fire to become accurate and nearly instantaneous. Warfare against command and control had existed long before that. To be sure command and control are only shadows of the deeper meaning of “cyber” as we’ve come to know it today, but the concept of command and control warfare exhibit much of the conflict elements that are important. The problem today is we are seeing the cycle move forward a notch further. We have done this a few times and newbies (youngin’s) haven’t seen it or haven’t studied it to realize the cycle. [Read more →]

Let’s face it, we all like things that are new and shiny. When given a choice most of us pick new over old.

The ongoing economic recession has made it more challenging for all of us to get the new and shiny so many think they just have to do without. I think there is an alternative we are overlooking – making do.

What do I mean when I say we need to make do? I mean we make use of what we already have. We re-purpose old stuff. Maybe it is throwing a tablecloth over a couple of boxes to create an end table. Maybe it is cleaning up and refinishing a piece of furniture. It might even be taking apart an old t-shirt to make a new playsuit for the baby. It is even making a new dress from curtains .

When we make do, we figure out how to create what we need, or even what we want, out of something we already own. It is rearranging things to make them meet our needs in ways they weren’t before. It is much less expensive than buying new and shiny. It does mean we need a few skills but those are easily learned and very useful.

And one more benefit of making do is that we waste less. We live in a disposable culture. We buy so many new and shiny things and as soon as the shine wears off we just throw them away. When we make do, we figure out a new way to use those old things, ways to restore the shine and in the process we reduce the waste.

Personally, I like making do. I like rescuing things from the trash bin and breathing new life into them.  It is thrifty and creative.

This week I’m attending the CERIAS symposium at Purdue University in West Lafayette Indiana. I’ve had some really great conversations with several leaders in the industry, and found some great contacts within government that may or may not lead anywhere. It has been interesting to see some of the presentations. The variability in the panelists they’ve had is extremely interesting to me. I think you’ll find the posters at least mildly interesting. [Read more →]

United States doctrine and force structure is built around the domains of air, sea, land, space and now cyber. Domains as defined create cylinders of capability that can be merged and fought within. The domain construct is as much a historical artifact as it is an efficient categorical system. The military force structure to fight within these domains is an air force, army, and navy. The Marine Corps is an expeditionary force between the sea and land (and other tasks as designated). This structure as defined has inherently created a strategic blindness to the capacities, capabilities, and risks of conflict where they meet. This is especially true when dealing with cyberspace. [Read more →]

A few videos have hit Youtube recently. One references the content in the other. I really like to see the topic being discussed. Watch them in the order presented for the best impact. Dr. Fisher wherever you are, you are awesome. I don’t agree about formal methods, but you’re doing great work. When I see this kind of discussion coming out of DARPA i get kind of misty eyed. [Read more →]

I’m no genius. I’m not the best at anything I do and as my recent foot races point out I can be the worst at a few things. Still I find some solace in simplicity of reasoning and my lifestyle. This blog post was spurred to life like some zombie horseman of the apocalypse by watching my kids in a restaurant and other peoples kids. It isn’t about being judgmental just answering the question the waitress asked, “Why are your kids so well behaved?” [Read more →]

This is not a call for some halcyon day of some spring of previous years. Nor, is this an abysmal call for the lower technology world so many profess to want unless it means giving up their BlackBerry. This is supposed to be a thoughtful discussion of what a world looks like when privacy is not a given and is instead an opt-out form of tyranny.  This is a discussion of why privacy is a national security issue in America. [Read more →]

There is a thread of discussion that rises about whether cyber or the electro magnetic spectrum define cyberspace. Other countries have defined their doctrine differently according to their cultural or business perceptions. This discussion is really more about rice-bowl politics (government euphemism for resource constraints). Of course, the electo magnetic spectrum (EMS) is the ascendant domain of the cyber realm. Of course, the EMS defines the medium in which the man made construct of cyber works, transmits, and exists. Of course, there is no other tactical use of the realm of cyber within this construct other than through the man made tools that use the EMS. Unfortunately it is all-wrong. [Read more →]

I’ve been a federal government employe for almost exactly 11 months. In that period of time I have been through shutdown scares, notified about the possible cessation of my program three times by senior leaders, and all of this while being a title 10 employee (at will not civil service). Just to be sure the reader understands I like my job a lot. Only in the last two or so months have I let the negative picture get under my skin. [Read more →]

I make a lot of money talking about cyber security and cyber warfare so I most assuredly have a dog in the hunt over whether cyber warfare is a real or a made up threat. I try and be honest about my biases so a reader can make a decision early on whether my argument is valid.  Consider the argument though of others closely and then whether I make my case that cyber warfare is a real and truly strategic threat to the nation state. I took a few moments to jot down some notes looking at whether cyber war is real or not. [Read more →]

Waging cyber warfare is seen as a technology problem by technologists, a policy problem by politicians, and a profit problem by businesses. This confluence of concerns is likely due to the prevalent nature of technology in our daily lives. The media hype of “war” and over the top language describing even small events has not helped the understanding of this unfolding domain. As I’ve been studying and writing about computer security and offensive information exploitation for about two decades I notice being reasoned and considered in my responses has nearly zero effect on the media dialog. So if you’re looking for over the top keep marching. [Read more →]