Some things I would like to accomplish in my lifetime

Master UNIX
Visit Japan
Master spanish
Get my pilot's license
Visit Tibet
Learn Zen
Get a degree
Get a degree in Computer Science
Get married
make money
Invest in Real Estate
workout daily
Speak chinese
Help mankind
Become a engineer
Get my HAM license
understand electronics
understand physics
be a better boyfriend
get my MBA
Get a PhD
Purchase a home
Pray daily
stop smoking
visit Europe
Purchase a powerbook
Purchase a Sun Workstation
Design Planes
Get a job in Aerospace
learn GO Get a handheld GPS unit
Purchase an Escalade
eat healthier
visit Bali
Retire in Montana
own a boat

Classes I'm planning on taking:

Introduction to Engineering
Personal Finance
Physics
Chemistry
Logic
Business Writing and Communication
Finance
Child Psychology
Web Design
PERL
PHP
C and C++
Cryptography and Security Mechanisms
Practices for Administration of Physical and Operations Security Security in Systems Architecture and Applications Disaster Recovery/Forensics

You may ask all those? Yes, I love learning. Wouldnt mind getting a PHD. :)

Classes Ive taken in no particular order

UNIX/Linux System Administration
UNIX/Linux Operating System
Business 001 - Introduction To BusinessBusiness 005 -
Business Law I
Management 001 - Principles Of Management
Psychology 001 - General Psychology I
Philosophy 001 - Introduction To Philosophy
Internetworking
Electronics
Computer Repair
Computer Networking
Microsoft Windows
Spanish 001 - Elementary Spanish I
Computer Information Systems 787 - Network Essentials

Configuration Guidelines from CERT

I recommend that all sys administrators read these excellent articles:


Home Network Security
Windows NT Configuration Guidelines
UNIX Configuration Guidelines
UNIX Security Checklist New Version 2.0
Anonymous FTP Configuration Guidelines

Here are some articles I have written!!

http://ezinearticles.com/?expert=Benjamin_Hargis

Feel free to read them and email them to friends and colleagues. Keep checking back as I plan to write alot more!!!

A great way to start investing

I use this service and I love it. Its great because there is no minimum to start.

http://www.sharebuilder.com/sharebuilder/Index.asp

Check them out!!!

Looking for a great and cheap way to Try Linux, or Unix?

I go on this site on almost a daily basis to check out the new flavors of Unix and Linux, I probably own at least 4 or 5 distributions currently and all have their ups and downs. I own Whoppix, Knoppis, Auditor and a couple of forensics CD's as well. This is a great way to get alot of tools for open source on one CD. http://distrowatch.com/

Class I'm thinking about taking.

This is a PERL class that I might take; Ive had this teacher previously and hes pretty cool.

Students will be introduced to the Perl scripting language syntax, data types, input/output, Managing System Processes, Database programming, CGI programming and Web Programming. Not an introductory programming course. Students need to have previous programming experience.

I love PERL there are so many things that it is usefull for. I want to be able to write flawless networking applications with it.

Looking for a good way to find files on your desktop?

I have used Google Desktop search and personally do not like the way it indexes my files here is an alternative. Its called Copernic Desktop Search and yes its free!

http://www.download.com/3000-2379_4-10314159.html

It searches most file formats as well.

Free computer security software

Looking for free computer security tools to use?

Got Spyware?

There is now a bill in Congress to make Spyware illegal. Good luck at catching the creators, in the mean time here are two links you can use to get started on your journey against Spyware.

http://www.lavasoft.com/ Ad-aware
http://www.safernetworking.com/ Spybot Search and Destroy.

Note there is better version available for a cost. There are many things you can also do to protect your computer Keep Automatic Updates turned on for all of your Anti-Virus Software, and operating systems. Clean out your cookies as well there is often cookies placed to track your whereabouts on the Internet.

Now the subject of viruses. There are commercial anti-virus scanner like Symantec Norton Anti-Virus and MacAfee in fact many new computers come with trial versions. Unfortunately when these versions run out users most of the time ignore it and wonder why do I have a virus? Let me explain something just because you have a antivirus software program on your computer you are not cured. Virus writers do just that write new viruses and edit old ones to do new things. You need to update your signatures of your anti-virus software continuously. Crafty virus writer’s code Viruses to disable your anti-virus software!

There is free anti-virus solutions one is called AVG http://free.grisoft.com/. I personally use this product and love It, it is not a memory hog like Norton. And you can also set up schedules to run and get updates.

A good firewall is a must especially nowadays. This is because everyone for the most part is running DSL and Cable modems. Which are great for connectivity horrible because it’s like leaving your front door unlocked.

Check out http://www.zonelabs.com/ They have a product called Zone Alarm. It is customizable and blocks allot of attempts of entering your network. It is shocking to see the amount of people trying to get into your network. Zone Alarm will alert you to programs trying to access the Internet. This is kind of annoying but can be a life saver if a program is dialing Kenya on your telephone!! Zone Alarm can remember certain programs.
Windows Service Pack 2 has a firewall in it and I recommend enabling it.

There are many web browsers that you can use. I love Open Source you can probably guess I’m using Firefox www.mozilla.org/products/firefox.com There are so many features that I can rave about like tabbed browsing, if your anything like me at home I have at least two or three browser running if using Internet Explorer, with Firefox I can have as many websites as I want open and tabs at the top with descriptions. it's ingenious in my opinion. I don’t have to switch browsers like I do with IE.

Internet Explorer is one of the most used browsers and most targeted. Mozilla Firefox has many advantages including security. It also does not use ActiveX.

Scan your own systems! To see what ports are open and running. DO you have services that do not need to be running?

Knowledge is power. I work for a technology company for three years and never have they trained any people in multiple departments on security that I'm aware of. I’m amazed to hear things from co-workers such as I don’t have an account with so and so bank but they wanted my information and I gave it to them! Corporate networks are and will continue to be infected by users that are untrained about computer security. People all the time open attachments that they do not know where they came from. Homes users are sometimes even more ignorant. That is not said in a mean way.

File Sharing programs are popular and an opening to viruses, Trojans and other lovely things you don’t want in your network.

For the best and current security tools, alerts and news use Google http://www.google.com/.

Microsoft Internet Security Accelerator

Quick and Dirty Primer on Internet Security and Acceleration Server.

What exactly is ISA?
Microsoft Internet Security and Acceleration server is a web-cache, virtual private networks and application layer firewall.

For vendor information check out www.microsoft.com/isaserver.
I went to a Microsoft security conference and this is what I picked up.

ISA can inspect traffic coming into your network and also do HTTP filtering. It is designed to look for directory traversing. YOu can customize protocolsand policies based upon your criteria.
ISA allows for better authentication thru RADIUS remote access dial in server. You can also use products from RSA such as secure ID, which I recommend.
VPN's can also be customized thru ISA. VPN's are virtual private networks to allow remote users to access your network thru encrypted tunnels using protocolssuch as IPSec.

Internet Security Accelerator can also be used with Microsoft Exchange server for better security.

Internet Security accelerator allows traffic thru that has been deemed ok by the firewall administrator without additional packet inspection increasing performance of your network.
ISA will also cache webpages to allow faster access over the network.
There are always open source alternatives such as Squid, http://www.squid.org which is a open source proxy. This is just a few notes I took down that I thought I would share with the internet community. I hope this helps with any IT decisions.

Making Money

It is Friday morning and I'm thinking about how to make more money on the Internet. There is allot of opportunities. I'm currently using Google Adsense and am constantly looking at ways to improve traffic to my website and total number of clickthrus. I run my own computer consulting company, which is fine. I would rather work fulltime from home because I have a baby on the way and would love to spend all the time I can with my girlfriend, child and my computers. I currently have two jobs. I like my day job, but hate my slow computer at work, it is also not as technically challenging as I would like.

Then there is affiliate programs. I like Amazon http://www.amazon.com because I can select what books amongst other items I want displayed.
The possibilities are almost endless. It takes allot of writing, even more research and link building to get the results I’m looking for. I would like to make a fulltime income of the Internet and not even leave the house unless there is some interesting security problem or technical problem to get into. I'm thinking about just writing more security articles on a daily basis as well. I do it for fun and to share knowledge.

It must be the Colombian coffee this morning because my mind is racing with business ideas of ways to profit and turn nothing into something. I don’t want to reveal too much though because there is always competition :) I’m looking forward to going to the USENIX conference in December it should be a blast. I will be blogging and taking photos of every bit as well. Then I and my pregnant girlfriend will be making a trip to San Diego to Sea world.

This February I should be going back to college, I have attended like 6 community colleges, various trade schools and I'm not even a PH.D.. I think my problem is that I focus on only technical classes and not the General Curriculum suggested. YAWN. The classes I’m looking at? Oddly enough more psychology and ecommerce, maybe a design class. I took Java and could not stand it. They don’t offer Python.

Windows Server 2003 Security

Windows Server 2003 has some of the following feautres to help protect your corporate enviroment:

There is now forest trust that allows you to authenticate other companies in your WAN thru Active Directory, this simplifies some security issues for security and network administrators.
Kerberos is now availiable thru Windows Server 2003 to allow for better and more secure authentication.

Credential Manager allows secure storage for usernames and passwords as well as certificates.

You can now delegate what services can access other resources on your network.
.NET password is now integrated with Active Directory aloowing SSO or single sign on.
RBAC or Remote Based Access Control you can assign more efficient restrictions to manage access to information.

Systems administrators can disallow software to run, with the Software Restrcition Policy.

In Windows 2003 you can audit system alerts and even set up audits of individual users!

Account Management logs IP addresses and even calls for Logon and Logoff events.

You can now log security events in real time and export them to a SQL database to anaylze later.

PKI or Public Key Infrastructure is is system of digital certificates and CA or Certificate

Authorities to verify you are who you really say you are. This is great for ecommerce systems, think E-Bay. You want to know if your really giving your credit card information to E-Bay or E-fake.

Windows Server 2003 now helps with Wireless 802.1x., you can enable PEAP which is protected EAP for authentication.I suggest using WPA in conjuction. he encrytpion protocl they use is called EFS.EFS uses AES-256 which is very strong encryption. There should be security in depth applied.Two form authentication should be applied such as biometrics and passwords.Take a look at RSA secure ID cards.This provides great authetication for users on the move connecting to the corporate networks, or even home. I like open source solutions myself or even third party vendors for encryption such as RSA http://www.rsa.com.

Have a Happy Thanksgiving!

To all my readers have a great Thanksgiving :)

XBOX 360 buggy.

I really do not find this shocking as it is a new product. There will be bugs and probably lots of them we have not even heard about possible vulnerabilities this might open up on your home network. Here is the link
http://www.xbox-scene.com/xbox1data/sep/EEFkZkkkyEHasmrPqu.php

I look forward to playing around with an Xbox 360 shortly. I will then write my own review. I have to admit it looks sweet and has some nice feautres.

The Value Of An Oracle Database

There are some very large, very powerful companies out there that have saved quite a bit of money using an Oracle database. Will your company be one of those? Or, will you simply overlook this opportunity? In order to know if in fact an Oracle database will help you, perhaps you have to know a little more about it. Also, you need to realize the differences that are out there in various versions of the Oracle database. Gathering this information will help you make a sound decision about the use of this product in your business. First, realize that the Oracle database is available to be used and can be benefited from by virtually any size of business. Large corporations, medium sized companies, and even small organizations can all benefit here. What makes it nice to everyone as well is the lower prices that are currently being offered on Oracle database systems. There is no doubt that the introductory price is something to turn heads. The system we will mention here is the Oracle Database 10g Products. These are, believe it or not, the first databases designed for grid computing in the industry. Your options are many: • Enterprise Edition: Packed full with the highest level of performance and scalability. You will find reliability in OLTP as well as in decision support, and management activities. • Standard Edition: Clustering support is provided with this 4 processor version. • Standard Edition One: Same great stuff with a 2 processor version that is perfect for the entry level. • Personal Edition: Perfect for an individual • Lite Edition: Great option for managing mobile database applications. While the features of each of these Oracle database options are many, it makes sense for each and every business out there to find out how well these products can serve their basic needs. Take a moment to see what they can do for you and you may just be impressed with the options that are available to you in Oracle database.View all Sandy Baker's articles
About the Author: For more information please see http://www.money-market-info.co.uk

Active Scripting

I have commented on this many times, this is how alot of Spyware and Viruses infect your computer. Disable active scripting.

How to stop 'Active Scripting' in home PCs by ZDNet's George Ou -- A supercritical zero-day IE flaw has been released in to the wild by a reckless British company. There are no patches available as of 11/22/2005. Here is what you can do now to protect yourself. You must disable "Active Scripting" on all Windows computers running Internet Explorer 5.5 or 6.0 even if you have Windows [...]

Ezine Expert Author

I have been doing alot of writing lately on security topics you can check them out here:

ezinearticles.com/?expert=Benjamin_Hargis

Todays Security Alerts from CERT

US-CERT Technical Cyber Security AlertTA05-312A
Microsoft Windows Image Processing Vulnerabilities
US-CERT Technical Cyber Security AlertTA05-292A
Oracle Products Contain Multiple Vulnerabilities
US-CERT Technical Cyber Security AlertTA05-291A
Snort Back Orifice Preprocessor Buffer Overflow

On another note the German goverment is warning of new strains of Sobig a trojan thats turns PC into email spam bots. look for patches at Microsoft. www.microsoft.com

Wireless Security

Wireless networks using 802.11 have made it simple to connect multiple devices to your home network.This can also make your data availiable anywhere, even outside your home.To set this up all you need is a broadband connection connected to a wireless router or a WAP Wireless Access Point. Your home computers should have wireless access cards installed or if your using a laptop a PCMCIA wireless card. Intel Centrino is great for wireless, I personally use it. I like the fact that I did not have to purchase additional hardware.

When you set up your wireless router or WAP your signal is broadcast. This broadcast usually goes further than your home or business. People like to drive around finding unsecured wireless access points. This is known as Wardriving, some hackers even mark spots on the sidewalk to let other hackers know your home or business is offering free Internet service, or worse yet access to your data.This is not to scare you but make you aware.

Diasble broadcasting so people cannot you your wireless network.
Your routers come with pre-configured system ID's its called a SSID or Service Set Identifier, its very simple to locate this information on the Internet for default SSID's I recommend changing this to something hard to guess. Use alphanumeric's to make it even harder to guess.
Use encryption to protect your network. WEP or Wireless Encryption Protocol is not secure, I have cracked my own network with a Linux machine running Kismet. WEP's keylength is only 40 bits, once you collect enough data from packets its only a matter of time for a determined cracker.Instead use WPA which is WI-Fi protected access. This is more secure.

Configure your router to block incoming outgoing traffic you do not use. Consider blocking Port 23 Telnet and Even FTP.
Router manafacturers have default passwords which I find many home users do not change. CHANGE THEM!

Invest in a software firewall and keep your system up to date. In the month of October 2005 there have been several security flaws listed by Microsoft. Keep Informed.