Happy New Rootkit
I'm back from holidays, and had intended to write about all the interesting diving I had managed to get done.
Unfortunately, the machine of one of our clients was compromised this afternoon, so instead I'm currently in the process of cleaning things up. I know how the attackers got in, and I have clean backups that verify without an issue. The main thing now is gaining physical access to the machine and the dull dull task of cleaning the disks and initiating a restore. There's reason to believe that the kernel has been modified by a direct write to /dev/kmem, so nothing the machine tells me can possibly be trusted.
This particular compromise falls into the "What? I didn't know we had that installed (outside of the packaging system)" category.
(read more...)
More Diving
Leaving soon for my dive trip. While performing pre-flight checks on all my equipment, I discovered a pressure gauge that rattled. Now, most pressure gauges do rattle when they're not pressurized, but this one rattles noticably more. It was working fine last time I dived, but maybe it got damaged in transport, or got dropped when it was in for servicing? Maybe it's fine, and has always rattled like that.
Normally I would just cycle down to the nearest dive shop, have a chat to the staff there, pop the gauge onto a tank of air and make sure it gives a good reading. Unfortunately, it's holiday season, and all the dive shops I could possibly reach are closed before I take off for a few days on a boat.
I'm going to contact the boat operator and ask if they can bring an extra set of regs, or just another pressure gauge, just in case this one is having problems.
Going to be a pain if the gauge is broken, luckily I believe I still have all the warranty papers to go with it.
(read more...)
Approaching Holidays
The holiday season is upon us. Jacinta has gone interstate to visit her sister, and so come Sunday I've found myself along and with a day free with no social commitments. Hurrah! That means that I can satisfy my inner-gamer.
What's interesting is what game I settled upon. Not a networked game with beautiful graphics, and engrossing gameplay, and the opportunity to be called a 'lame n00b' like Allegiance. Not a beautifully crafted atmospheric game like System Shock 2, or a strategy classic like X-COM, or even entertainment at its FPS-best like Halo or Half-Life.
No, I have a souped up machine with dual monitors, acclerated graphics card, and pounding sub-woofer so I can play Angband; without those silly tiles -- only ascii characters for me, thanks. Specially, I played a variant called Troubles of Middle Earth (ToME).
ToME is pretty good. It's got a lot of ideas that are very similar to ADOM, like skill systems and overland travel. It also has some very unique things -- a class that can befriend and enter symbiotic relationships with molds and slimes, 'unbelievers' who are able to suppress the manifestation of magic, and alchemists who are able to extract essences and craft new items. The Tolkienesque aspects have been enhanced on top of that from vanilla Angband, which I've found to be a real treat.
(read more...)
Business shuts down in December
I don't know where it myth came from, but it's certainly not true when it comes to training and IT consultancy in Australia. December has been insane, and continues to be so. Every couple of days we seem to have a new business appearing out of the ether to need work done urgently.
Recent jobs have included training for yet another bank, diaster recovery planning for a retail hardware store, changes to management software for caravan parks, and some requests for really big training packages (5-20 days) from big business and government, both in Australia and overseas. It's been a real mixed bag of work.
All of these combined with Jacinta going on leave soon, and a huge backlog of work that I'm still clearing after the conference, means that I'll probably be getting very little sleep until I also go on leave.
(read more...)
SCUBA::Table::NoDeco 0.02
SCUBA::Table::NoDeco version 0.02 has been released, and will be arriving at a CPAN mirror near you.
The new version has new functions for finding your maximum time and depth given current nitrogen loading, as well as the PADI no-deco tables. The PADI tables need more testing, as the risks of transcription errors do exist, so treat with caution.
The online dive calculator has also been updated with the new module.
(read more...)
