Quoth The Maven


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Quoth The Maven, Yet another Blosxom blog.



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Fri, 24 Nov 2006 Thu, 23 Nov 2006

Tcl Me, Cisco

[/curtis/netizen] permanent link

Fri, 18 Aug 2006

RFC 3463 Redux
This is just the abbreviated list of RFC3463 status codes for the SMTP email protocol. 

Status Code Structure
      2.XXX.XXX Success
      4.XXX.XXX Persistent Transient Failure
      5.XXX.XXX Permanent Failure

        X.0.XXX  Other or Undefined Status
          X.0.0   Other undefined Status

        X.1.XXX  Addressing Status
          X.1.0   Other address status
          X.1.1   Bad destination mailbox address
          X.1.2   Bad destination system address
          X.1.3   Bad destination mailbox address syntax
          X.1.4   Destination mailbox address ambiguous
          X.1.5   Destination address valid
          X.1.6   Destination mailbox has moved, No forwarding address
          X.1.7   Bad sender's mailbox address syntax
          X.1.8   Bad sender's system address

        X.2.XXX  Mailbox Status
          X.2.0   Other or undefined mailbox status
          X.2.1   Mailbox disabled, not accepting messages
          X.2.2   Mailbox full
          X.2.3   Message length exceeds administrative limit
          X.2.4   Mailing list expansion problem

        X.3.XXX  Mail System Status
          X.3.0   Other or undefined mail system status
          X.3.1   Mail system full
          X.3.2   System not accepting network messages
          X.3.3   System not capable of selected features
          X.3.4   Message too big for system
          X.3.5   System incorrectly configured

        X.4.XXX  Network and Routing Status
          X.4.0   Other or undefined network or routing status
          X.4.1   No answer from host
          X.4.2   Bad connection
          X.4.3   Directory server failure
          X.4.4   Unable to route
          X.4.5   Mail system congestion
          X.4.6   Routing loop detected
          X.4.7   Delivery time expired

        X.5.XXX  Mail Delivery Protocol Status
          X.5.0   Other or undefined protocol status
          X.5.1   Invalid command
          X.5.2   Syntax error
          X.5.3   Too many recipients
          X.5.4   Invalid command arguments
          X.5.5   Wrong protocol version

        X.6.XXX  Message Content or Media Status
          X.6.0   Other or undefined media error
          X.6.1   Media not supported
          X.6.2   Conversion required and prohibited
          X.6.3   Conversion required but not supported
          X.6.4   Conversion with loss performed
          X.6.5   Conversion Failed

        X.7.XXX  Security or Policy Status
          X.7.0   Other or undefined security status
          X.7.1   Delivery not authorized, message refused
          X.7.2   Mailing list expansion prohibited
          X.7.3   Security conversion required but not possible
          X.7.4   Security features not supported
          X.7.5   Cryptographic failure
          X.7.6   Cryptographic algorithm not supported
          X.7.7   Message integrity failure

[/curtis/netizen] permanent link

Thu, 01 Jun 2006

Raise your hand

At one point, Kory Olsen, a longtime [South Lake Tahoe] dispatcher, took two steps away from her work station and raised her cellular phone over her head to make a phone connection.
This in response to another copper theft in California.

[/curtis/netizen] permanent link

Sun, 16 Apr 2006

"Hell is reading another man's Perl."
I'd swear I heard this phrase somewhere long ago; either in a fortune cookie or an old newsgroup. But alas, Google thinks otherwise with the search producing no hits.

[/curtis/netizen] permanent link

Wed, 29 Mar 2006

Email From Your Bank
Good Lord. I actually received and unsolicted (but legitimate?) email from my bank this week. Guess where it landed? The spamtrap. Bah!

[/curtis/netizen] permanent link

Sun, 12 Feb 2006

PIX Phlebotomy
The following single snmp packet (if valid and responded to) is a simple way to bleed 192 bytes of available memory from your favorite PIX. Lather, rinse, and repeat for maximum negative effect. 

1 Frame 1 (117 bytes on wire, 117 bytes captured)
    Arrival Time: Feb 12, 2006 23:00:11.559812000
    Time delta from previous packet: 0.000000000 seconds
    Time since reference or first frame: 0.000000000 seconds
    Frame Number: 1
    Packet Length: 117 bytes
    Capture Length: 117 bytes
    Protocols in frame: eth:ip:udp:snmp
Simple Network Management Protocol
    Version: 2C (1)
    Community: phlebotomy
    PDU type: GET (0)
    Request Id: 0x7dc29a7a
    Error Status: NO ERROR (0)
    Error Index: 0
    Object identifier 1: 1.3.6.1.4.1.9.9.171.1.2.3.1.19.1 (SNMPv2-SMI::enterprises.9.9.171.1.2.3.1.19.1)
    Value: NULL
    Object identifier 2: 1.3.6.1.4.1.9.9.171.1.2.3.1.27.1 (SNMPv2-SMI::enterprises.9.9.171.1.2.3.1.27.1)
    Value: NULL

2 Frame 2 (121 bytes on wire, 121 bytes captured)
    Arrival Time: Feb 12, 2006 23:00:11.561674000
    Time delta from previous packet: 0.001862000 seconds
    Time since reference or first frame: 0.001862000 seconds
    Frame Number: 2
    Packet Length: 121 bytes
    Capture Length: 121 bytes
    Protocols in frame: eth:ip:udp:snmp
Simple Network Management Protocol
    Version: 2C (1)
    Community: phlebotomy
    PDU type: RESPONSE (2)
    Request Id: 0x7dc29a7a
    Error Status: NO ERROR (0)
    Error Index: 0
    Object identifier 1: 1.3.6.1.4.1.9.9.171.1.2.3.1.19.1 (SNMPv2-SMI::enterprises.9.9.171.1.2.3.1.19.1)
    Value: Counter32: 688
    Object identifier 2: 1.3.6.1.4.1.9.9.171.1.2.3.1.27.1 (SNMPv2-SMI::enterprises.9.9.171.1.2.3.1.27.1)
    Value: Counter32: 556

[/curtis/netizen] permanent link

Mon, 27 Jun 2005

Net Slip
I find the popular media's coverage on the U.S. Supreme Court lacking. (Although the brevity is convenient.) Here is the straight dope on today's opinions of the court that affect software publishers and network operators.

Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios Inc. v. Grokster, Ltd., 545 U. S. ___ (2005)

R079; No. 04-480; 6/27/05. One who distributes a device with the object of promoting its use to infringe copyright, as shown by clear expression or other affirmative steps taken to foster infringement, going beyond mere distribution with knowledge of third-party action, is liable for the resulting acts of infringement by third parties using the device, regardless of the device's lawful uses.
National Cable & Telecommunications Assn. v. Brand X Internet Services, 545 U. S. ___ (2005)
R080; No. 04-277; 6/27/05. The Federal Communications Commission's conclusion that broadband cable modem companies are exempt from mandatory common-carrier regulation under the Communications Act of 1934 is a lawful construction of the Act under Chevron U. S. A. Inc. v. Natural Resources Defense Council, Inc., 467 U. S. 837, and the Administrative Procedure Act.
For even deeper background, the transcripts from the March oral arguments are MGM v. Grockster and NCTA v. Brand X Internet.

[/curtis/netizen] permanent link

Thu, 02 Jun 2005

Patient Zero
Your number is up: Outwitting the Witty Worm

Many Internet worms use pseudo-random numbers to scan the IP address-space. In this project, we reverse engineered the state of the pseudo-random number generator (pRNG) which the Witty worm used to generate packets. By combining our knowledge of Witty's code with the pRNG state, we performed a detailed recreation of the worm's spread. We were able to discover several characteristics of the infected systems, including their uptime, network access bandwidth, and number of disks. Additionally, we were able to find specific details about the worm author's deliberate targeting of a US Military base, and determine the identity of Patient 0, the system used to launch the worm.
Kumar, Paxson, and Weaver. 2005

[/curtis/netizen] permanent link

Wed, 04 May 2005 Sat, 02 Apr 2005

News Hounds
I have to admit that News Hounds is one of my favorite blogs of late. The tagline says it all: "We watch FOX so you don't have to."

[/curtis/netizen] permanent link

Tue, 08 Feb 2005

Web Map Hack
The new Google Maps beta is so much fun. And easily hackable, too. 

 maps.google.com/maps
Add a latitude and longitude to make it start in your own neighborhood: 
 maps.google.com/maps?ll=37.723,-121.437
Then add a keyword to find local businesses: 
 maps.google.com/maps?ll=37.723,-121.437&q=pizza

[/curtis/netizen] permanent link

Tue, 11 Jan 2005

Zork I
Play Zork I on an old Apple II...but without the gargantuan floppies.

Yes, yes. I know. It requires a bit of technology from Microsoft called ActiveX.

[/curtis/netizen] permanent link

Wed, 17 Nov 2004

Pissed Rat
While Googling for the now infamous NSFNET diagram, I stumbled across this odd collection of photos. In it you will find one famous Linux kernel hacker (early in career), a very expensive Cray seatcushion, a VAX under duress, and a pissed rat.

[/curtis/netizen] permanent link

Fri, 12 Nov 2004

Peter Packet
"Imagine what life would be like without clean drinking water, doctors or schools."

Oh, uh yeah...it's another Flash game. Even with a theme song. And the object of the game is just as you'd expect from Cisco. Deliver the spam.

[/curtis/netizen] permanent link

Mon, 30 Aug 2004

Montanera
Some brief personal research on the Gateway Project in Contra Costa County. Here is my Google trail of various perspectives...

First the NGOs...

Then the Government Agencies...

[/curtis/netizen] permanent link

Fri, 09 Jul 2004

WWW II
We all know that WW II was fought from 1939 to 1945. But it appears that WWW II is just beginning now in 2004.
It's certainly debatable, but I'd say the first shot was fired by the United States Department of Homeland Security when they released Technical Cyber Security Alert TA04-184A. Herein lies the bullet that was heard across the land: 


It is important to note that there may be other ways for an attacker to
write arbitrary data or to execute commands without relying on the
ADODB.Stream control.
What does it mean? It means that Microsoft released yet another "Critical Update" that doesn't really fix the problem at hand.

[/curtis/netizen] permanent link

Mon, 21 Jun 2004

Shaved Ice
Joel on Software blogs that Microsoft 

could do everything wrong for a decade before it started to be in remote
danger, and you never know... they could reinvent themselves as a
shaved-ice company at the last minute.

[/curtis/netizen] permanent link

Sat, 05 Jun 2004

#40
The oldest man in history to carry the title President of the United States of America. Also, the only President to survive an assassin's bullet. 

My fellow Americans, I'm pleased to tell you today that I've signed
legislation that will outlaw Russia forever. We begin bombing in five
minutes.
Ronald Reagan

[/curtis/netizen] permanent link

Thu, 29 Apr 2004

BWTD
Broadband Wireless Tycoon Disease - A neurotic affliction that spreading rapidly throughout the ranks of network administrators and hopeful entreprenurs thoughout the world. Ongoing research indicates that it may not be directly harmful, but early findings indicates it may be associated with divorce, stomach ulcers, and an increase of alcohol consumption.

[/curtis/netizen] permanent link

Tue, 20 Apr 2004 Sat, 28 Feb 2004

Michael Powell's Rip and Replace Economy 

The need to rip and replace the nations infrastructure is stimulating
previously moribund capital spending, it is opening new paths to growth,
increasing our Nation productivity and holds out the promise for new
jobs as business and consumers increasingly unleash the power of
broadband.
But he did define four interesting Net Freedoms:
  1. Freedom to Access Content: Consumers should have access to their choice of legal content
  2. Freedom to Use Applications: Consumers should be able to run applications of their choice
  3. Freedom to Attach Personal Devices: Consumers should be permitted to attach any devices they choose to the connection in their homes
  4. Freedom to Obtain Service Plan Information: Consumers should receive meaningful information regarding their service plans
Number three sounds a bit pornographic. And number four is completely obtuse jaberwockey.

[/curtis/netizen] permanent link

Fri, 13 Feb 2004

Bloghdad
A cabal of California bloggers is appearing in Iraq. One accepts a job installing satellite dishes in Iraq and the whole thing is blogged; right down to the first contact about a job offer in July 2003. And the confession of working for the machine in August. And the inevitable gun-lust that comes from living in an anarchy. And the accidental arms trading from installing instant messaging software. Tech support for blast damage in October 2003. Acquisition of a permit to carry concealed weapons in December.
They keeps a photo gallery of their experiences in Iraq.
Internet cafés are morale booster for troops in Iraq 11/24/03; Vol. 22 No. 33

[/curtis/netizen] permanent link

Mon, 09 Feb 2004

It's not likely, but it's legal
Good thing my name ain't Al Keyda.

[/curtis/netizen] permanent link

Mon, 02 Feb 2004

Ctrl-Alt-Delete 

I may have invented it, but Bill made it famous.
David Bradley, the inventor of the Ctrl-Alt-Delete has retired from IBM.

[/curtis/netizen] permanent link

Thu, 15 Jan 2004

IPv4 BGP Geopolitical Analysis
www.caida.org/analysis/geopolitical/bgp2country 

 The worldwide distribution of Internet resources and address space
is highly non-uniform. We present an analysis comparing five demographic
measures against three measures of Internet resources, stratified by
continent with substratification by country.

We found that two continents and one country consume a much larger share
of Internet resource allocation than predicted by their demographic
measures of size.

[/curtis/netizen] permanent link

Sun, 21 Dec 2003

CAN-SPAM Act of 2003 

I shall not today attempt further to define the kinds of material I
understand to be embraced within that shorthand description; and perhaps
I could never succeed in intelligibly doing so. But I know it when I see
it...
  -- Potter Stewart in Jacobellis v. Ohio, 378 U.S. 184 (1964)
On Tuesday 16 December 2003, President Bush signed the spam bill that will go into effect a week from Thursday. Here's a little more history, Edison style.

[/curtis/netizen] permanent link

Thu, 18 Dec 2003

Dada Spam Booboo
Reading spam is more fun that a barrel full of ardvarks. 

From qeolccooojxg@canada.com  Thu Dec 18 08:52:54 2003
Return-Path: <qeolccooojxg@canada.com>
Received: from 209.209.60.60 ([61.102.187.108])
        by alopias.GreenKey.net (8.11.6/8.11.6) with SMTP id hBIGqpN25650
        for <curtis@greenkey.net>; Thu, 18 Dec 2003 08:52:51 -0800
Received: from [61.102.187.108] by 132.108.229.88 with HTTP;
        Thu, 18 Dec 2003 03:46:43 -0100
From: "Lidia Herring" <qeolccooojxg@canada.com>
To: curtis@greenkey.net
Subject: Re: %RND_UC_CHAR[2-8], greentailed parrots fluttered
Mime-Version: 1.0
X-Mailer: mPOP Web-Mail 2.19
X-Originating-IP: [32.58.132.208]
Date: Wed, 17 Dec 2003 22:44:43 -0600
Reply-To: "Lidia Herring" <qeolccooojxg@canada.com>
Content-Type: multipart/alternative;
        boundary="--ALT--KLPE94880046230718"
Message-Id: <HNRUTQF-0006912331829@cause>

----ALT--KLPE94880046230718
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii
Content-Transfer-Encoding: 8bit

april bolshevist acronym mount 
philharmonic grim buyer germ hazardous myth cake 
democracy regression aristocrat arlene bangle stingy 

----ALT--KLPE94880046230718

[/curtis/netizen] permanent link

Wed, 10 Dec 2003

Peer-to-Plaintiff 

For two hundred years our copyright laws have encouraged and enabled
storytellers, songwriters, recording artists, and filmmakers to create 
and disseminate a diverse body of expressive works that has no equal in
the world. These works enrich our lives and entertain us.
This according to the Opening Brief by Plaintiff-Appellant MGM in their case against Grokster.

[/curtis/netizen] permanent link

Sun, 16 Nov 2003

White Box Voting
What a concept. And it has been done since 2001 in Australia.

Here in the U.S, OpenSector publishes a call for open source hardware/software. And the call is answered by The Center for Voting and Democracy in partnership with Voting Solutions to release their ChoicePlus software.

Tomorrow morning, the defendants against Diebold, represented by the EFF, will make a motion for preliminary injunction in the Federal District Court of Judge Jeremy Fogel in San Jose. Look for any breaking news.

[/curtis/netizen] permanent link

Mon, 03 Nov 2003

Keep Your Loud Eye Closed
Last week, MIT rolled out a music-on-demand system using the internet and their campus cable network. It's called the Library Access to Music Project (LAMP) and was built by Josh Mandel and Keith Winstein. Please follow the link and read about it firsthand. I highly recommend the technical paper as well as a preusal of the C++, PHP, MySQL, and Perl source code.
It was intended to be legal in all the ways that appeal to the establishment. They spent about $10,000 on equipment and paid $25,000 to a company called Loudeye to gain the appropriate rights. Basically they found a legal loophole in Title 17 of the U.S. Code § 106 subparagraph 6 that only restricts the performance of digital audio. And the campus cable network is analog.
Loudeye even jumped on the self-promotion bandwagon and issued their own press release in support.
However, someone wants a bigger piece of the pie. And apparently Loudeye didn't really have the appropriate authority. So LAMP was suspended.

[/curtis/netizen] permanent link

Mon, 13 Oct 2003

Nirvana Dashed
Unfortunately, the web is a dynamic thing. And for reasons beyond my comprehension, my enthusiasm is quickly diminished.

[/curtis/netizen] permanent link

Thu, 09 Oct 2003

Web Geek Nirvana
This is the high holy state of meaninless web enlightenment. To have your web log be the one and only hit in Google.

[/curtis/netizen] permanent link

Mon, 06 Oct 2003

Democracy and the Web
According to Seth Schoen of The Electronic Frontier Foundation, his presentation the day after tomorrow on Palladium: The Future of Windows Security has been cancelled.
Could the cancellation have anything to do with his recent authoring of the EFF's position on Trusted Computing?
Anyways, the cancelled presentation was to be part of a debate at the SDForum's monthly Security SIG meeting scheduled for this Wednesday, 8 October. And it was to feature presentations from both Seth and by Mike Wolfe, a CISSP/MCSC from Microsoft Northern California.

[/curtis/netizen] permanent link

Thu, 25 Sep 2003

Microsanto
CyberInSecurity
P.11 "This fundamental principle assures that, like farmers who grow more than one crop, those of us who depend on computers will not see them all fail when the next blight hits."

[/curtis/netizen] permanent link

Wed, 24 Sep 2003

blackboxvoting.org hacked by lawyers 

www.blackboxvoting.org
> Due to a dispute with Diebold, Incorporated, and its wholly owned
> subsidiary Diebold Election Systems, Inc. (collectively "Diebold"),
> which is claiming links to certain materials that do not reside on
> the blackboxvoting.org website constitute  copyright infringement,
> blackboxvoting.org has been temporarily disabled.

Sheesh. I would very much like to know what the links in question were. So I will attempt to collect as many links as I can find right now:

[/curtis/netizen] permanent link

Sat, 20 Sep 2003

US-CERT
Not a new breathmint. But the latest announcement from the US Department of Homeland Security regarding "partnerships".
Here is the current chain of command: 

US (4 Jul 1776) George Bush
 DHS (25 Nov 2002) Tom Ridge
  IAIP (25 Nov 2002) Robert Liscouski
   NCSD (6 Jun 2003) Amit Yoran
    NIPC (6 Jun 2003) formerly FBI?
    US-CERT (15 Sep 2003)
Notice how the acronyms get longer as you go down the chain of command? And notice that none of them appear on the Presidential Transition Directory list of Abbreviations and Acronyms to be memororized by nominees and apointees. 
Tommy can you hear me?
Can you feel me near you?

Also, the newly appointed a Cyber Security Czar, Amit Yoran, is also a VP at Symantec. Or was?

[/curtis/netizen] permanent link

Fri, 23 May 2003

Anti-spam bill passes in the CA Senate
Well, I was going to send you all a link to the news article. But when I loaded the page, up pops an unreqested news agency window entitled "Buy Viagra Now!". Very ironic.
So instead I had to actually use my brain and dig up the boring raw legislation.
In summary, you don't have to be an ISP or government agency to sue spammers. And the bounty is $500 per abuse. 

Clem, "What you doin this weekend, Irv?" Irv, "Gots a new 'puter, Clem.
Gonna catch me some spammers!"
The ACLU opposses this bill because they say it does not target the bulk emailers and instead prevents the small business from making the occassional attempt to drum up business.
It now sits on the desk of the Assembly.

[/curtis/netizen] permanent link