Tag: korea

Attention #CEO, is your #network #Secure? #Sony thought so!

I received an email from someone asking me about the internet outage in North Korea.

Firstly, if we, (America) had anything to do with it, I think it analogous to punishing a pugnacious brat, by taking away their computer. This kid really needs a good spanking! For you who think that corporal punishment belongs in the dark ages, well you’re wrong, unless of course you consider North Korea is still in the Dark Ages!

This country, as stated in another blog; keeps its people in the dark. Looking at a picture from space one can tell that electricity is not even well distributed much less the internet or the free exchange of information and thoughts.

Contained inside the Red Outline is North Korea.

If you want to control a people, take away weapons, power, their ability to communicate with others, and feed them a constant feed of Bullshit daily! Prevarication is called for if you want a submissive people who will do what you say without question.

The people of this country are brainwashed into “loving their dear leader” and believe anything that they are told. Any type of truculence on their part is met with swift, brutal retaliation.

If the evidence indeed points to North Korea in the attack of Sony, (the only people with motive,) Most assuredly, there was someone on the inside at Sony. Sony should be looking real hard with forensic experts to determine what happened!

As a security geek, I would love to be part of that team!

The sad truth today is that there could be a spook! Money talks, with our lack of morality on the rise, it could be anyone.

Most firewalls today are pretty good at keeping bad people out so, planting a spook or a Trojan or worm of some kind on the inside of the firewall, enabling communication from the outside through some spoofed port that is normally open like 80, would have to be employed.

Many of the remote control desktop software out there today which some people use, violate all security protocols. The problem is that a lot of companies don’t hire a security officer or have a limited IT staff who are too busy resetting passwords and posting on Facebook to be bothered with doing nothing more than putting out fires.

If you look at the OSI model (which I dare say few are familiar with, consist of 7 layers. The OSI model (open system interconnection model) is a packet-based structure of layers, or protocol stack.

Starting at layer one, we have the physical layer which is basically your cable and associated hardware which allows your computer to communicate with the host. This layer is responsible for the “frame bit.”
Layer two is the layer that established the protocol used to communicate whether it is frame relay or Ethernet or what have you. This layer is called the data link layer.
Layer three is known as the network layer and is responsible for transmitting data from node to node. This layer provides switching and routing information.
Layer four or transport layer is responsible for such things as error recovery and end to end flow control.
Layer five or session layer sets up, coordinates, and terminates conversations, exchanges, and dialogues between the applications.
Layer six or presentation layer works to transform data into the form that the application layer can accept.
Layer seven or application layer is just that Everything at this layer is application-specific. This layer provides application services for file transfers, e-mail, browser, Google, and other network software services, and yes, Facebook. This is the layer that the end user has the most to do with in that applications exist solely at this level.

Now that you have a small idea of how one communicates over the internet, looking at this model, how would you interrupt traffic between them and us?

Keep in mind that North Korea gets internet from China and most probably through a Russian satellite. Neither of these do we have control over, so pulling the plug leaves out the physical layer.

Again, I could not use layer two; as again I don’t have control over that either.

Ah, now layer three I do have control over. What if I change their known ip addresses to non internet routable or private, much like the 192,172 or 10 subnets? Now they have to go to Russia or China and beg for another subnet and… as soon as they do, we kill that as well.

Why do we have private addresses you ask? Most reading this far probably already know this however, there are simply not enough addresses to give every company that wants one, a block of private addresses.

If you look at RFC 1918 a private addresses scheme was created that are not assigned meaning, that they cannot route through the internet. In this way business’s and homes and even North Korea can use them to their hearts content, on their private networks and then using something called NAT or network address translation can make your home computer look as though it is talking on a public address.

This BLOG’s intent is to underscore the need to have a good CIO and a good security officer. Your company could be the next Sony and as you can see, if some rogue country like North Korea who has a very limited pool of talent can take down a giant like Sony, just think what a Russia or China or other country who does not stagnate its citizens, and keep them in the stone age could do.

-Best to you and those that you care about and if I don’t get to write again by Christmas…Have a Merry Christmas!

#Gods and #Insects

Gods and Insect

The text below contains some graphic language and situations that some might find offensive.

Seventy three years after one of the greatest tragedies to ever befall this country was perpetrated; we find ourselves in the midst of yet another struggle for mankind.

The word “Mankind,” has a hollow ring to it as I write it. In light of recent events unfolding around the globe, I often wonder how it is that we have not managed to destroy ourselves. We have enough nuclear material to kill all living things on this earth many times over.

More than the WMD, we have a never ended supply of hate. We cherish the hatred, and feed off of it like it was some tonic that would cause destruction to our enemy’s. We see heinous crimes committed against our fellow man, and feed off the anger. We are taught to love our enemy but, that is a little tough when your heart is full of anger, isn’t it?

We see Americans who hate America and everything that it stands for. We watch as innocent people loose their livelihoods because someone ran afoul of the law and paid the ultimate price. We have lost trust in our governing bodies, and indeed don’t trust the man on the street, who we hire to protect us, from those that would harm us.

We have celebrities who for whatever reason think it necessary to foment racial tension using their celebrity status and while they are at it, desecrate the flag. I wonder how many wounded warriors and vets saw that; and would love to have been there to visit with you about that.

Our government lies to us, and the media covers it up. We have folks on either side of the isle that are either stupid, or ideologues, or just plain brainwashed into believing that communism will work “this time.”

Communism never has worked. The people at the top enjoy living like a king, and everyone else is subjugated to supporting them and their reckless endeavors while surviving on what is not taken from them.

There was an analogy that I heard the other night that made sense. If you think of the people as gods and insects, some are born gods, the rest insects. The gods don’t worry about stepping on a few ants!

Every communistic country has gods and insects! North Korea, a xenophobic country run by a 20 something year old god, or son of a god; keeps its people ignorant of the rest of the world and literally in the dark. They are the worker bees in that bee hive and there is one queen, well leader.

Kim Jong iI was truly given god status. His legacy includes the fact that he never defecated. Gods don’t poop. On his first ever game of golf he scored a 38 under par with no less than 11 holes in one! This God was enthralled with movies. While he enjoyed King Kong movies it is reported that he owned somewhere in the vicinity of 20,000 DVD movies. He enjoyed Pornography, and had a huge stash of same.

This God had a fear of flying, so he traveled everywhere by armored train car. While millions of North Koreans were starving to death, this god had shipments of live lobsters shipped to his train as he traveled. Dignitaries that traveled with him from time to time noted that whatever kind of food you wanted, was delivered.

His list of accomplishments goes on to say that he composed 6 operas in 2 years

This god liked the spirits to the tune of $800,000.00 in one year. Cognac Hennessy and Burgundy red wines from France were also shipped to his train.

Officially, Kim was born in Siberia while is father Kim-iL Sung was in exile. The “official Korean story is” that He was born in a log cabin on North Koreas highest mountain, where the event was marked by a double rainbow and a bright star in the sky.

This particular God had a reverence for the King, Elvis Presley. He had several jump suits and even had glasses that looked like the kind that Elvis wore.

After his death, his son took the rains and it is reported that his son went and had plastic surgery to look more like his father.

While they call it the “Democratic Peoples republic of Korea,” that is where democracy ends.

There are gods, and insects.

Some other not so nice gods were:

Talat Pasha.

As the Grand Vizier of the Sultan in the Ottoman Empire circa 1917 – 1918 Talat declared an order to wipe out the Armenian Race. They were forced into concentration camps, force to trudge naked with no food or water and when they could no longer continue they were killed. The entire male population of Angora was exterminated. The methods of their killing were bayonets, clubs, axes, hammers, spades, saws, and scythes. Many were mutilated via their genitalia. Tens of thousands were burned, drowned, poisoned, crucified, boiled and beaten to death. Talat is accredited for killing over 1.5 million Armenians.

Josef Mengela

This physician was known as the Angel of Death in the Auschwits concentration camp. His job was initially to choose which Jews were to be sent to the concentration camps to be killed. He experimented on them like lab rats. This “person” is accredited with killing over 400,000 Jews by various methods including torture. Much like the Syrians he would torture children to see how long they could live while being tortured. He would choose twins and see if there were any differences. He escaped to South America where he died of a stroke in 1985.

Does this new Universal health care have such things in it like death panels? There is indeed a small group that will decide when they have spent enough on keeping you alive or when they should just let you die. How far have we really gotten away from playing god?

Reinhard Heydrich

This person was the Chief of the Reich Main Security Office and second most powerful person in the SS. His actions caused the death of millions of people. He was responsible for the mass murder of Soviet Officials and Russian Jews.

Saddam Hussein

This congenial fellow was responsible for the death of over 2 million people. He authorized chemical attacks killing over 5000 people. His other campaigns killed between 50,000 and 100,000 Kurds. Torture included such things as the gouging out of eyes, sever beatings, and electric shocks. This nice guy had 40 of his own relatives murdered. He executed over 400,000 Iraqis. Many were tortured and he had the sessions filmed so he could watch it later at his home.

Maximilien Robespierre

Here is a swell fellow who was the leader of the French Revolution. Originally he wanted the people of France to have freedom and rights but when he gained power all of that changed. He became fascinated with cutting off peoples heads! From reading his history there were most probably mental issues “paranoid schizophrenic” as he saw everyone as his enemy and thus cut off their heads via the guillotine. He had no favorites; from Aristocrats to ordinary folks he killed upwards of 40,000. Under his orders his men attacked Vendee, killing well over 100,000 men women and children. He believed that it was better to kill someone, than to forgive them.

Kim Il Sung

We have already referenced This “god” who killed over 3 million people as a result of the Korean war which he started. After the war he brainwashed the people of North Korea into loving him. Subsequently he killed all of his officers and rivals. More than 200,000 people were forced into concentration camps for offenses as small as dropping a picture of Kim. A crime committed by a father would not only cost him his life but that of his children and their children. Of over 22 million people, up to 3.5 million died due to starvation. His death was brought on by an argument with his son who has proven to be worse than his father.

Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini

This person was a religious leader from 1979-1989 He was the leader of the Iranian Revolution which killed up to 60,000 people. Shia law is a strict law which removes individual’s rights. Among strict dress codes there were harsh punishments for breaking any of them. One could be imprisoned and tortured for listening to music. People were lashed 100 times for kissing in public. Failure to believe in Allah meant death. Death could be met in a few different ways which included hanging, stoned, stabbed in the chest blinded, shot or burned alive to name a few. If you steal something your hand is cut off. Clubs cutters and acid were other methods they use for killing people.

Emperor Hirohito

Emperor of Japan from 1926-1989 This wonderful fellow and his army killed countless Chinese, Indonesians, Koreans, Filipinos and Indochinese. It was he who committed the war crimes known as the Rape of Nan king which alone killed over 300,000 people. 200,000 Women were sexually assaulted. Husbands were sometimes forced to rape their wife’s and or daughters. Young girls were raped and if they were too young to be penetrated, a bayonet was used first. A total of 10 million Chinese were forced into slavery. Many of these were tortured and some were eaten! Many of these were killed in various ways including beheading, burned, boiled, roasted, buried alive, and impaled. Some were hung by their tongues on iron hooks while some were used for bayonet practice while still others were cut in half by a sword.

These were not nice people. As the crimes piled up they outdid themselves by disemboweling, hacking, crucifying and dismembering men while similarly women were tortured by having a long stick of bamboo or sword through their vagina. Thousands were frozen to death and still others died from chemical attacks. 4 million people in Indonesia died from famine and 2 million in Vietnam. 400.000 died of disease and another 580,000 died after being human experiments. The Sook Ching Massacre killed up to 90,000 Chinese. Another 100,000 civilians in the Philippines died from the Manila massacre.

In fact, his men had orders to kill burn and loot all Chinese. Over 20 million Chinese and 10 million Asians in other countries were killed.

Nero

5^th Emporer of Rome in AD54 to AD68

He is responsible for the ruin of the empire. Not only did he kill his entire family the way that he did it was semi-unique in that some were killed in searing hot baths! He often raped women and cut off their private parts as well as the genitalia of men. Nero more than likely started the great fire that left its citizens destitute. He blamed the Christians which were then summarily starved to death, burned, torn apart by dogs, fed to the lions, crucified and even used as torches. Did he fiddle while Rome Burned?

Caligula

Romes 3^rd Emperor was a wild and crazy guy underscore Crazy! He liked sexual adventure. He became ill and his mental facilities were impaired. He believed that he was god. Under him the law became an instrument of torture. His belief was that all prisoners should have a painful death. He began to brutally murder folks for fun. He forced families to attend their children’s execution which often consisted of strangulation and decapitation. This man was truly sick as he would have people sawed vertically from their crotch to their chest. This man actually chewed on peoples testicles. People often preferred to die of suicide, versus being one of his victims.

Genghis Khan

Here is another lovely fellow. He conquered most of China. He killed people by pouring molten metal in their eyes and ears. Genghis and his army killed up to 60 million people or up to 30% of the world’s population.

Leopold II of Belgium

King of Belgium from 1865-1909 He ruled the Congo free state and he lied to the world telling them he was helping them. Nothing could be further from the truth. His men tortured and slaughtered millions of Congolese. Hundreds of thousands had their hands, feet, noses ears and heads cut off for not bringing enough rubber. Many villages were burned forcing them to flee into the jungle. His men flogged, raped and ate the natives. They slaughtered the children to the tune of hundreds of thousands. Leopold and his men are accredited for killing up to 10 million Congolese during his rain of terror.

Tomas de Torquemada

No paper on assholes would be complete without this man. This was the Grand Inquisitor of Spain. This man is responsible for the Spanish inquisition which many of you may reference in a time of rebuttal with someone but, I wonder how many really know what this was about.

This inquisition was to root out heretics, those who threatened the Roman Catholic Church. Remember during this time the church was not only the spiritual guidance place but it was the school and it was also the government! His first ploy was to get people to turn on one another. His spies manage to sew enough discontent that friends turned on friends and sons and daughters turn in their parents. Countless people were tortured, whipped, and forced to surrender all of their personal property. Children died of starvation. People were often naked when they were tortured. Foot roasting and suffocation were some of their favorite techniques. Others were hanged, burned alive or grilled.

Among some of the methods the rack is most probably one of the worst in that the victim would be stretched, often to more than a foot or more of his or her original height. It was then that the inquisitioner would rip of the victim’s nipples, tongue, ears, nose, and genitals, while others were skinned from their neck to their waste. You were tortured until you confessed to whatever heresy that you were accused of, and then they killed you.

Sounds a lot like the mob in Ferguson wanting a fair trial for Officer Wilson, and then a hanging!

Up to 10,000 Jews were burned at the stake, many died of starvation. By one account he killed over 30,000 people.

Mao Zedong

Here is a dictator that had some ambitions. His goal was to make China a superpower that could Rival Russia or even the US. In the process he created the largest Famine and genocide in history. Millions died of execution, starvation and or suicide. 5 million Chinese were executed. Mao turned neighbor against neighbor and sons against daughters against teachers. He used fear to root out every last hint of dissent. A criticism issued privately could lead to your death. The famine killed up to 45 million. While people were expected to work until they dropped, being late or unable to function would get you beaten. Mao killed 70 million of his own people.

I could go on..

If you want more, read about

Ivan the Terrible
Idi Amin
Pol Pot
Don’t Forget Adolf Hitler
Joseph Stalin

Ok, just one more…

Vlad “Dracula” The Impaler

All of these people were monsters. It wasn’t enough to kill someone; it was how horribly painful can I do it. Vlad would have a pole with a semi sharp end oiled and pushed up the person butt or other orifice. The person was tied in such a way that they could not get off and slowly the pole would work its way up through the body until it emerged out the persons mouth. The person could live a couple of days in excruciating pain which Vlad loved! He is said to have killed over 100,000 people. History records him eating around naked tortured bodies, drinking blood and many more gruesome details. Nice fellow!

History is rife with things that we have not bothered to learn. Had we; we might have remembered some of this stuff and when certain people violated the constitution we might object a little more strenuously. Instead of protesting the fact that a thug was killed by a cop, you may want to think about protesting a president which makes his own laws.

If you notice, most of these monsters, made their own laws; and they had their henchmen do their dirty work.

“You are either born a God or an insect. Gods should not spend time thinking about insects, because it is easier to do the things that gods must do if they don’t have to worry about stepping on some ants.”

I borrowed that last paraphrased paragraph from Hollywood. It was used in a line on a program on TV and it hit home with me.

Who ever get’s into office should really come from humble beginnings. I think they should have served in the military so they would think twice about sending them into harms way or at the very least, have the background to know what is feasible and what they are sending them into.

America does not have emperors or kings. The constitution is as germane today as the day that it was crafted Ms. Ginsburg. If you don’t think that, you should probably retire.

You see, I believe that all men are created equally. I believe that we have inalienable rights that are endowed to us by our creator, not government. Respectfully; We are not Bugs Mr. President, and you are certainly no god.

-Best

Nobody Wins

We live in a world today that is much more hostile than yesterday, “speaking figuratively.”

We have an economy that is literally based on a house of cards for a foundation. The Feds are printing $40B a month ($1.1trillion a year) saturating our economy, devaluing our currency with every dollar that they print. With oil based on the US dollar, is it any wonder why gas cost so much? The “booming economy” is most certainly the same today as the dot com fiasco of a few years ago, when Enron was in the news.

We are not the only country playing this game, others including China are as well.

The economy is based on fabrications and we might as well try and spend monopoly money as that is what your greenback may very well look like in the not too distant future.

Those who survive this will most likely be that small subset of humanity who “lives off the grid” as it were. The people who live in the inner cities and who depend on the government for their existence will be in trouble when this house of cards falls. The Farmers in this country and others may survive as they know how to live without going to the local grocery store every other day for something. They also see the inside of a restaurant far less than the folks in the inner city as they simply don’t enjoy the disposable income that others do. When the bible talks about the meek inheriting the earth, one can’t help but wonder if he is talking about the farmers.

On top of the shaky economy we have small countries with the keys to Nukes! There are no winners if someone drops a nuke. Our defenses have most certainly been hardened to sustain an EMP, and a retaliation of biblical proportions would most certainly follow.

This exchange would involve other nations who have nukes as they will have certainly picked a side. “The enemy of my enemy is my friend.” While I have full confidence in the American Military and their ability to intercept any missile headed this way; the following actions would have serious repercussions worldwide.

Any exchange of missiles with the US would not only devastate the offending country (s); I am certain it would also trigger an economic meltdown worldwide. Everyone looses. Never mind the radiation that would be released to poison every man women and child in the entire world, as well the animals and vegetation.

I can visualize that last man standing, holding the key to a spent nuke, standing next to the shell of building, scorched from fire, with dead creatures and plant life all around him, with radioactive ash falling from the sky, declaring victory; as the blisters from radiation sickness bubble up on his body. We are truly that foolish! Nobody Wins!

When E=MC2 was discovered, Einstein wrote an impassioned letter to the president urging him not to use the bomb. That letter and is German heritage earned him a one way ticket out of the program. Oppenhiemer and others took over, and of course the rest is history. A nuclear device of a relatively low efficiency was created and dropped on our enemy, twice. If those were of a low efficiency, can you imagine what is around today?

An alliance of the superpowers is critical to keeping the peace, and our current administration does not seem to embrace that. Foreign policy is critical at this stage of the “game.” America needs to sort out who its friends are relatively quickly, and form that alliance that was so strong under previous administrations.

In retrospect, what is important to you? Is having a lot of money in the bank important? Is having a lot of gold in some small vault in your house important? What about food, water and guns? Add whisky and cigarettes to the food and water and you may have something. Why? That may very well be the new currency, if this comes down badly. Keep a good supply of your personal medications on hand; several days if not weeks of fresh water, and having some gas stored somewhere may not be a bad idea either. If they are that stupid to launch nukes, it really doesn’t make much difference. There will be no survivors, other than the cockroach. Mutually assured destruction, either by nukes or the economy or both; is not a cheery outcome.

While it is my fervent prayer that no one is stupid enough to pull the trigger, North Korea continues to be very provocative in its talks with media and other news outlets. Today they gave the Brits till the 10^th to get out of their country. What will be the spark?

-Best to you and those that you care about!