Orange County Computer Consultant

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Orange County Computer Consultant helps small businesses with networking, installations and small business software.

Tuesday, October 31, 2006

Attack can disable Windows Firewall

A attacker can send a crafted packet to shut down Microsoft Windows firewall. Not shocking. Microsoft has never been known for security. The attack involves ICS or Internet Connection Serivce.

The attacker would have to be on the local LAN for this to work properly.

Google picks up JotSpot

Jotspot was one of my prospects for a company who shall remain nameless. When I talked to a guy over there, I told him him how I thought that there idea was good and was amazed that Google has not bought them yet. Now I read this morning that they bought them.

They offer wikis to families and businesses.

http://www.jotspot.com

Cisco ASA 5500

Cisco ASA 5500

This is a review on the new Cisco ASA 5500

The Cisco ASA or Adaptive security appliance can use different modules for different security needs.

There are currently four unique modules. They include the firewall module, IPS which is a intrusion

protection system. Anti-x module and a VPN (virtual private network) module.

The benefits of this appliance is that modules can be added as your needs grow. All in one device.There is a business edition provides small to medium businesses with VPN and gateway capabilities.

The firewall module can be implemented to stop corporate users from abusing instant messaging, theintroduction of spyware and adware onto the corporate network.It will also protect against externalthreats suck as hackers or crackers. Policies can also be set up to bloak peer to peer file sharing.

The Cisco ASA 5500 can also provide VPN access for remote users. The SSL (Secure Sockets Layer) and also IPsec protocols can be used to encrypt traffic.

Different forms of authentication can be used such as Kerbeos, Microsoft Active directory, LDAP lightweight directory protocol and RSA secure ID.

Everythinbg can be controlled through the Cisco Security Manager, a all in one management platform. I watched a video on this at Ciscos website. I like the interface, you can even see attacks in real time and decide to section off that part of the network. Thats pretty slick. Another way to do this is through MARS, which is Cisco's analysis tool.

There are diffrent modules for different needs Some firewalls can support up to 1.2Gbps.

The Anti-X technology is based on Trend Micros technology to stop threats like viruses, spyware, trojans and worms.

Friday, October 13, 2006

CCNA Progress

Im still studying working on my CCNA, I'm studying IP addressing and subnetting currently. its going well. I have decided to rewrite my business plan for Phuture Networks. I'm going to focus solely on IT Security.

I injured my knee, I have been out of work for about a week since I cant drive. Its my right knee. The one good thing I can say about it, it has given me time to think. I have been analyzing allot of code in C, PERL and Python. I want to be able to read the stuff like English.

I have almost completed my introduction to engineering class. I like it. It has made me more methodical and detail oriented.

My son is getting huge, I cant believe how fast kids grow. Its really amazing.

Wednesday, October 04, 2006

Microsoft Vista and Pirates

Microsot has come up with a plan to thwart illegal software copies. The solution ? They will lock out anyone who does not register their OS within 30 days ! I wonder how long it is going to take for some skilled cracker to reverse engineer the code.

It will not actually lock you out just give you real limited functionallity. Which would suck. During the 30 days you will get popups. Lovely. Letting you know that you must register.

During this grace period warnings will be displayed and Vista will block access to the Windows Defender anti-spyware tool, ReadyBoost memory expansion feature and Aero advanced graphics option, Microsoft said.

Just run Linux. IMAO

Day 1 Studying for CCNA

I have made up my mind to stay focused on obtaining my CCNA or Cisco Certified Network Associate, I have downloaded many study guides and plan to read one chapter daily, out of my CCNA book. When I pass the exam I will focus on security. I would like to become a expert with firewall technologies, configurations and setup.

The main subject for today is the OSI layer or open systems interconnect. This is a standard that allows vendors software/hardware to communicate. There are seven layers for the OSI model. They include: Application, Presentation, Session, Transport, Network, Data and Physical layers.

The Application layer provides network access to programs, it also does error recovery and flow control. It makes sure that communications can be established by checking resources. The following protocols can be found here. NCP, SMB, Telnet, SMTP, Appletalk and SMB.

The Presentation layer does protocol conversion and my favorite encryption and data compression. This layer uses protocols such as NCP, TDI and AFP.

The Session layer does just that it opens a session it does connection establishment, data transfer and cloese the connection. The protocol NetBios can be found on this layer.

The Transport layer put messages into smaller packages adn does error detection and correction. Some of the protocols here NetBeui, NWLink, IP, IPX, and TCP.

The Network Layer does routing, handles addressing, translates logical addresses to physical ones as well as traffic management. The protocols here are IP, IPX, NWLink and NetBeui.

The Data Link Layer packages bits into frames so they can be transported over the network layer. There is also the MAC sublayer that puts the MAC address into the frame header.

The Physical Layer would bethe actual cabling, connectors and electrical signals transmitted on the wire.

That is my quick synopsis of the OSI layer.

Monday, October 02, 2006

Current BrainBench Certifications





I guess I really am a geek. This didnt take long at all....