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Michael on Security - Musings on Information Security

Google Helps Me Get Answers From Experts Exchange

Posted: August 28th, 2008, 12:45pm CDT by Michael Gorsuch

Tags: you.porn [edit]

update: it appears that Experts Exchange will usually show you the answers at the bottom if the referrer was Google. If you just copy and paste the url into your browser, the answers will not be there. Strangeness. Talk about a sensational headline, right? But it is true, all thanks to this nice forum [...]
Spammers Have Resorted to Kidnapping My Baby

Posted: August 26th, 2008, 6:16am CDT by Michael Gorsuch

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My morning inbox contained an email with the following subject: “We have hijacked your baby”. The body is as so: Hey We have hijacked your baby but you must pay once to us $50 000. The details we will send later… We has attached photo of your fume And of course, a zip file was attached [...]
The Wonders of Social Engineering

Posted: August 23rd, 2008, 8:04pm CDT by Michael Gorsuch

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It has been a while. I’ve been busy, you’ve been busy. You’ve called me, and all you got was my answering machine. It is hard to put out good material while working and trying to spend time with your family. I also adopted a pair of kittens that do their damnedest to keep my hands [...]
Put Your Document Library Together!

Posted: February 12th, 2008, 5:51pm CST by Michael Gorsuch

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If your IT operations team does not have a document library, I suggest you create one right now. As mentioned earlier, it defines everything you do and takes very little investment to get started. Install a wiki, make sure it is being backed up, and you are ready to start. So how do you organize everything? I’m [...]
Patch Tuesday Fun

Posted: February 8th, 2008, 2:32pm CST by Michael Gorsuch

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Microsoft has provided a preview for their patch release next week. I counted a total of 9 remote exploitation vulnerabilities, so start making your plans. Remember, if you don’t have one already, it is time to write up a patch deployment policy. Early on, the goal is to be consistent so that you can start [...]
The Nicest Things…

Posted: February 6th, 2008, 8:37pm CST by Michael Gorsuch

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…are emails like this one: Hi, I look after about a dozen Unix boxes (mainly Fedora Linux, but also Solaris, HP-UX and Digital Unix). I came to the conclusion after reading your article that I need to formalize updates and document everything on the wiki a bit more comprehensively. I also came to the conclusion that anytime I update any [...]
A Statement of Purpose

Posted: February 6th, 2008, 8:31pm CST by Michael Gorsuch

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Wanting to do things right around here, I have decided to summarize why I started this weblog and what I really want it to become. I have run a number of sites in the past, but have had a very hard time keeping them on track. This one is different, as the domain [...]
Authenticating Against Active Directory With Python

Posted: February 4th, 2008, 2:50pm CST by Michael Gorsuch

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I’m a proponent of centralized authentication mechanisms, as the complexity of managing the password database for each system can be overwhelming. A lot of organizations are already using Microsoft’s Active Directory product, and it has proven to be rather easy to perform simple authentication against. I’m posting this here because it is [...]
Relocated to Wordpress.com

Posted: February 3rd, 2008, 7:49pm CST by Michael Gorsuch

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If you are seeing this, then things are working correctly. I have moved this site over to WordPress.com. More details can be found here. You can expect a new article in a couple of days!
Change Management: The First Step to Securing Your Environment

Posted: January 25th, 2008, 1:50pm CST by Michael Gorsuch

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[editorial note: this article is part of a series that I am drafting to ultimately be included in a small guide to effective information security. I do not consider my views to be the final word, and am therefore soliciting feedback from anyone who has an opinion on my approach. You may either [...]