In Case You're Running Out Of Things To Complain About...

... try self-publishing through Amazon's KDP, or Kindle Direct Publishing. It's accessed via your Amazon credentials at kdp.amazon.com. There are tutorials everywhere and they either dance around or completely ignore two massive annoyances:

The Free KDP Software
Sketchy documentation? Check. Unpredictable behavior? Check. Windows only? Check. No roll-over explanations of tool function? Check (ok, there's some of that but not in the helpful areas). No WYSIWYG behavior in chapter titling? There it is. Defaults to wrong upload file type? Does that too, and I haven't figured out how to change that. But as they used to say in the old Batman TV show, The Worst Is Yet To Come. (A common suggestion to avoid lots of these issues is to use your favorite graphics program, convert to .doc, .docx or .pdf and then use the KDP thing to upload - and that's often advice from Amazon itSELF...)

Upload Hell
First, only try it at around 3 am on Tuesdays or Wednesdays, since their intake idea is evidently a cluster of a few dozen Celerons. Also, when errors are thrown in upload failures, you're not actually told what the error was. You're just told to try again later. This lack of specificity in error description extends to the above step with the Windows software, too. There often are red error messages but you have to scroll through configuration pages to find them. And with graphics, remember to click on the graphic itself and look to the right for the red square field, which wants alternate description text. If it doesn't get that for every graphic in your project, it'll throw another generic "you need to fix this" error. I found that one totally by accident.

Proof I'm Not Making All This Up
I've done three short books via Kindle Direct Publishing, mainly to see what was possible (in addition to getting the subjects out of my system). There are many freelance editor/production people who, for two to four thousand dollars will make your publication look very nice, rather than having it remain the way it comes out of the freeware. Better fonts, better cover art... with money you can do lots better; my titles are not pretty but they finally were accepted by the uploader and are properly displayed on my author page. One upload failed to create a table of contents (an allegedly automatic process) but I'll try again soon. The titles are:

BOOK STASH - 60 book reviews in various categories, such as Literature, Juveniles and Show Business
VINYL STASH - 60 reviews of record albums, mostly originally on vinyl with a few reissues of digital-era items on vinyl
FILM STASH - 60 reviews of films on DVD or BluRay from the 1950's to the 2000's

I used my own photos of the books, record releases or DVD boxes in order not to get in trouble for using someone else's graphics. And if you can't find any of these in a search, go to amazon.com and look for a title with my name and it should come up. And I'm starting to see random booksellers string for Amazon and try to sell my books for five times what I'm charging. Why? Oh, well - at least that's more mentions for the crawlers.

Summary: "Keep It Clean!" by Markus Stubbig

Here's the gist of a good article (from Admin magazine issue 89) about Linux antivirus, antimalware and anticrapware in general. He does mention that there are paid products out there, such as Trend Micro's ServerProtect, but the emphasis is on familiar open source animals.

CLAMAV
This is an antivirus scanner for which life began for Linux in 2001 and began for Windows in 2013. Now a Cisco product but not substantially different from before, it's available in practically all repositories. Updating is done with the command 'freshclam' and you get the party started with "clamscan /home" or such. ClamTk and ClamWin are the GUIs available. Stubbig notes that SecuriteInfo sells unofficial signatures, with a free plan if you can stand a delay in availability. Real-time scanning is possible after certain configuration procedures.

LMD
Linux Malware Detect is similar to the above in that it's a virus scanner, but it also looks for other kinds of baddies like rootkits. It can be configured to work along with clamav by sharing signatures and in other ways. It has an auto-quarantine function that's possible. Installation is from the GitHub tarball.

RKHUNTER
This one's in the repositories. It creates a report, having searched for 80 or so rootkits and other questionable things. There's no realtime setting but it works with cron, runs non-interactively and produces the usual summary at the end, sent to a log file. The noted item to watch for is "Possible Rootkits".

WAZUH
This is a SIEM that's open source, and includes more than monitoring. It's a system rather than a single install, using a server and agents on all devices to watch. It's also not useful immediately since it checks things periodically, and in order to see patterns you have to run it awhile so you have a depth of many scans to allow for comparison. It does file integrity monitoring, intrusion detection, vulnerability detection, log analysis, config monitoring, mapping according to MITRE ATTACK fw and can do some automated responses. There are agents for Linux and Windows, and info is at wazuh.com and there's a good tutorial at tech-insider.org titled "wazuh-siem-tutorial-2026".

He does not go into other similar programs but does mention auditors like OpenVAS, Lynis and Trivy. Then there's file integrity checkers like Tripwire and Integrit. Enjoy.

Pseudomilitary Speculation

In handicapping the Iran war, some pundits have been considering the pluses and minuses of attacking or taking the Kharg island oil terminal. If I was running this show, I'd be looking elsewhere.

Kharg is useful in presenting exposed military bases, depots, barracks and vehicle maintenance areas as targets of opportunity. But the port and pipeline facilities will be important to a post-Mullah government, so would be best preserved. After the recent hits, I'd assume that military capability in the area would be replaced. At that later time, the new military assets could be hit again, and Iran could do nothing to stop that either. A cyclical garrison bleed at the hands of standoff weapons would be hard for Iran to counter or continue to replace. But Kharg would not be any main military event.

Note that Kharg's army stations could be rebuilt and reinforced with assets trucked in from elsewhere. It would be interesting at that point to track the sources of all the asset traffic so as to target such upstream points. And the RF, cell and other emissions from all that activity could be mined for information enabling the ID'ing and tracking of the particular soldiers, commanders and civilians involved in the operation. These people, over a period of lower activity, say, could be observed and tracked so as to be targetable in the way previous groups have been (whom now are either dead, injured, AWOL or reassigned).

See, at some point boots-on-the-ground may be obsolete due to creative application of data mining.

If you can remotely target (with say, 205 different data points) particular individuals within the opposing army, navy, government, secret police organization or underground insurgent group, what's the need for an invasion? All you would need would be a crapload of electronic intelligence, satellite gear, AWACS-type aircraft, HUMINT from local allies (possibly including the Saudis these days)... and a fairly standard data mining operation. Perhaps you could hoover signals up with a ripoff of the Chinese spy balloon that overflew the US a few years back. That was a cheap loitering operation that possibly could have done well, provided that the dispatched U2 didn't deposit some sort of countermeasures in its vicinity (I can only guess).

If a toothpaste ad can follow you around, why can't a Molotov cocktail-laden drone do that as well?

Thank Heaven For Artificial Intelligence!

OK, maybe the above title overstates my enthusiasm, particularly since much of the capability of the new tools is unproven and several cases of "hallucination" are on clear display. But I must say that, properly configured, there's at least one very strong case for rolling out an AI tool or two.

Log analysis.

Humans could never do log inspection very fast. And going back at least ten years, we've been buried in logs every day. Scripting helps but even running them and collating the results takes time. And the attacks, failures and problems pile up faster and worse when both the attackers and the innocent difficulties are AI-powered. This all means that the solutions need AI power as well.

We already have SIEMs and homebrew solutions - and we're already seeing AI augmenting them. My guess is that this current state of affairs is the eventual solution, particularly since AI can only get better. I hope people's understanding of it gets better as well. New tools need enough people to oversee results and to dodge unintended consequences.

General Things To Remember (valid beyond info tech as well)

Thing #1: Success is about how you handle interruptions.

Thing #2: Concentrate on what you CAN control, not on what you cannot.

Thing #3: Process is important, but particularly when it gets results.

Thing #4: Always have a backup plan, be it storage, disaster recovery, insurance...

Thing #5: Know a lawyer.

Hurricane Season...

... is almost here. So here's a list:

> Check battery supplies for all devices that need them
> Test flashlights for bad batteries or corroded switches
> Ditches near you need to be cleared for effectiveness
> Pet Sheltering concerns need checking, both outdoor and indoor
> Food and water storage and stock might need to be checked for expirations
> Vehicle fuel and possibly fuel storage topped off
> Spare parts stock for crucial items checked
> Generator maintenance scheduled if applicable
> Roof condition, shutters and windows examined
> Candles and metal platters or other protection while burning looked at
> Hurricane oil lanterns filled (if practical to use)
> Radios, hand crank, solar or battery powered in place
> Medicine and first aid supply, recent - not old - topped off
> Fire extinguishers, hoses, repair tools checked
> Bug repellent obtained and distributed
> Toilet paper, paper towels picked up
> Important Papers such as ID's, insurance info and birth certs protected
> Cash and backup charge cards stored safely
> Rain gear like hats, boots, umbrellas and raincoats ready

Daily Activity Record

I'm told that a number of folk in the IT world are, for various reasons, considering AI tools "The Answer" for any number of problems. Free tools don't have a purchase cost. AI can make the same number of people more effective. Perhaps there are security problems but that's always been the case in every technology - the regulatory, insurance and terms of service situations are not substantially different from even years ago for all that. So we should forge ahead on broad use of AI and not worry too much. We'll realize the gains of lower wage costs now and for the future problems, there may be no way to predict what actions will be needed and so we'll cross that bridge when we come to it.

That's hardly a perfect plan but it's an arguable default preference. I have to think it's popular and becoming more so. But what if something, heaven forbid, should go wrong? There needs to be an out-of-band events history maintained somewhere.

If the above describes our future (or current) work environments, I have a suggestion that I've seen engineers and police officers use on the job. It's a handwritten work diary or record of daily events. Engineers have, in my experience, used large blank book diaries at their desks to write notes about anything of consequence that's occurred in their areas, with time and date. Police officers use pocket-sized note pads to do the same. These items are not part of the normal work flow. They become evidentiary, though, in case of trouble.

A decision maker above you may not send out emails or otherwise document chancy decisions or plans. The decision maker (or team member of some other nature) may pivot to undocumented orders or strategies. Having offline written records may not help you convince anyone of anything. But normal workflow is often insufficient where automation may cause data loss or overwrites. And there's the common situation of NO automation or audit trail having been functional in the first place.

And this is not just a dodge to prevent AI from snakebiting you. It works as protection from disasters of all sorts, from office politics, from unexpected regulatory changes, from organizational shakeups and so forth. And if it's not stored on the phone but on ordinary paper, it requires no batteries and can possibly survive drops into public toilets.

At SecureWorld...

... there's a good article with a list of suggested strategic moves at the end. Here's the link:

Defending PLC's

And with a new war...

...comes a new category of technical problems we didn't know we had. Except when we DID know.

Lemme see. Allied forces are acting against Iranian assets by monitoring cell communications, as might be expected. For some years Iranian police have been searching for anti-government dissidents by monitoring cell communications as might be expected. And we now hear that in at least some cases Iranian civilians are informing Israel of Basij unit locations VIA CELL PHONE CALLS.

The common denominator uniting all three above situations is the continued existence of the cell phone option IN THE MIDDLE OF A WAR. Has anyone told anyone over there that phones may not be entirely secure? Might there be an advantage in not using insecure systems if the other side is trying to find you??

Consider a new possibility: In the meeting of people in charge of things in Revolutionary Iran a few weeks ago, somebody says "Let's shut off the cellular systems for security". Everybody else concludes that that would be nice, but we just can't do without cell service. Think about it. It's a possibility. It could be that very few people today know how to function without a cell phone.

Certainly the old fogies know that it's only an option in most cases today to use a phone for lots of things. But just today I dealt with a mobile repair service that forced its employee to use a phone to take non-cash, non-check payments over phone apps - either my phone or his app on his device. So not only are we now at a point where people are losing the realization that the internet can be reached on non-phone doohickeys like laptops or desktops, but we're not given (in many cases) a non-phone option for financial transactions.

So a war, a solar flare, or Godzilla or something interferes with cell systems and we have no backup options?

Darn. I wanted to live in interesting times, not annoying ones.

I haven't verified this yet...

... and am afraid to since it's probably true, but a tech business contact of mine says that this was just seen: Artificial Intelligence agents are now hacking web sites in the course of ordinary web information searches.

Right. These programs are just following instructions and trying to automatically get information wherever and however they can. I've often warned customers and all else who will listen that one should be mindful of security issues in technology since it's dangerous in so many ways to, for example, have simple passwords. See, it's not just the big, obvious state actors (Russia, China) that forage for information and access wherever it may be, but probably also India, France, Spain, Morocco, tiny Luxembourg... Not to insult any of our allies (including all of the above), but if it's interesting, then just about everybody's looking.

AND NOW it's not just scripts constructed by the usual suspects that are trying to look at all our stuff. It's AI programs looking for stuff, and getting into places they're not supposed to because of weak passwords and other forms of access.

To repeat myself yet again, "Go to the pub."

PUB = Passwords / Updates / Backups

Change passwords regularly, set password aging to help with that if possible and use passphrases if the system allows.

Update all applications, operating systems, libraries and firmware to the extent practical and allowed by architecture.

Back up all sensitive data and secure access to backup storage sites, storage applications and storage formats. Consider tying access to backup schemes to time/date, to hardware, to geolocation, etc.

For Mentoring

I have a background not only in tech issues but in public speaking (from another industry). If people ask me how to get rid of the fear of being in front of people, here's my topics list for the presentation.


TO ELIMINATE SPEAKING FEAR or STAGE FRIGHT:

1. Have a deep familiarity with the subject
(do you know enough to gripe about it?)

2. Gain a familiarity with your audience
(why should they listen to you?)

3. OPTIONAL: Have acting or performance experience
(failing that, have you lived in a small town or tight neighborhood?)

4. Cultivate a positive self image
(tell the Jackie Gleason "Point the camera at me!" story from "How Sweet It Is" by James Bacon)
(in other words, start with the assumption that you're supposed to be here)

5. Cultivate good health, sleep habits and appearance
(look good and feel good!)

6. Cultivate appropriate clothing, style, social uniform tendencies
(use appearance deliberately!)


--- and remember to summarize at the end for a clearly packaged takeaway.

You MUST tell us EVERYTHING...

So my cell phone provider just texted me that I must - MUST - turn on the always-on geolocation protection locate-my-lost-device thingie in order for my loss recovery insurance to remain valid. 15 min. later I cancelled my insurance.

Of course, if only 5% of the customers of their insurance do this, then the additional telemetry/use/behavior data will make more money for the provider than we 5% will cost them. I'll look around at other sources of such insurance. Small item or renters' insurance is sold all over the place; an equivalent for electronic devices has to be common. I'll research that and report back later. I just wanted to act quickly so as to make a point to whomever is watching cancellations at the company.

Windows 10 Panic Day!!!

Now's the time to get a new computer. Or to go to some reseller like discountelectronics.com and get a refurbished but Win11 compliant box with the OS preinstalled. Or go Mac. Or go Linux. Or be like me and do ALL of the above.

As for myself, I already got a refurb'ed Win11 box and will convert one of my Win10 boxes to MX Linux, the fastest Linux I've yet experienced. Might do one of the BSD's on the other Win10 box, or make a password crack box out of it. Or offline storage. Or standalone firewall, honeypot or something. Never let an artificially obsolete machine go to waste.

This could be a great opportunity for desktop Linux to make some headway, as I've mentioned here before. Or just give me your old computers and I could open a dispatch room or an insurance agency.

Go To THE PUB.

This would be the third or fourth time I've posted this idea, but it bears repeating. Rob Braxman has some good stuff on YouTube about personal security practices online but these simple suggestions from me are abbreviated via the useful acronym PUB:

PASSWORDS. UPDATES. BACKUPS.

For best results in one's electromechanistic life...

1. Change PASSWORDS often. Whether or not password aging is set by you or your organization, don't go around rules and keep the same one for five or ten years. And use passphrases when allowed. And don't store the password on an INSECURE DEVICE.

2. Do UPDATES when needed. Whether or not auto-update settings should be used depends upon whether or not app breakage by an OS change is likely, but in personal use it's less of a risk.

3. Make BACKUPS regularly. If you're the only one with a copy of those photos or procedures, then maybe you should have two, with the other stored offline or otherwise in a safer (non-production, say) location. And test them often, since you're relying upon them in problem situations.

I repeatedly post this approach in order to more effectively associate myself with it. Laying claim in this way, properly, will make me a famous security advocate. Thanks for your assistance in furthering my hopefully positive reputation.

Linux On The Desktop

It didn't happen as fast as we'd liked, but when I was most active in a Linux users' group, we were pushing for either refurb'd desktops increasing Linux use, or for more makers/builders shipping with Linux preinstalled. According to StatCounter (as reported by Web Pro News) the desktop use in the US for any version of Linux has now passed 5%.

(Blogger isn't linking to the article; just go to http://www.webpronews.com and search on "Linux passes 5%".)

This is probably due to home reloads by those capable, but for preinstalls, the list of companies with offerings is pretty long. System76 and Emporer Linux are old stanbys, but RedHat as always can be ordered from Dell. There's also LinuxNow, LinuxCertified.com, Entroware, LAC Portland, Vikings, Purism, ThinkPenguin, ZaReason, Libiquity and Minifree.

Other than the often-cited reasons for this, I think two need to be specially noted. First, the Linux installers of today are much better than those of ten to twenty years ago, being more aware of more hardware platforms. Also, I'm not a gaming expert but I understand that not only is Wine vastly improved but Linux is getting something closer to red carpet treatment by the game designers and hardware engineering folk. Better late than never!!

Bookmark This Post!

I just heard on the car radio a news/commentary mention of a great new development (sarcasm). Some outfit has, after years of diligent testing, completed the design and successful adjustment runs of a driverless tractor trailer rig fleet. Planned to provide over-the-road delivery between Dallas and Houston soon, I seem to recall that it's got a dozen or two huge semi's that have driven themselves (with human observers) along the mapped-out areas enough times to prove the concept.

The radio commentator claimed that there were two sorts of people responding to this: those who were very much in favor and those that were concerned about possible hazards to other vehicles along the way.

Naturally, the commentator forgot a third (probably small) group. There just might be a few persons wondering if anybody put a great deal of effort into securing the devices, applications and networks used by this enterprise.

SECURING THE DEVICES etc. etc...

Anyone feel like a little wager as to how many of the trucks are already hosting a few spam servers? But don't worry. Nothing else could possibly go wrong.

Emerging Trends In Computer Security

There are many articles offering surveys of the cybersecurity landscape. One of the better ones I've seen in recent weeks would be this one. TechJournal.org proposes ten areas to watch. This article surfaced in January of this year and I can't see it as having been disproven yet. Here's a simplified, skeletal restatement of TechJournal's longer investigations of these subjects:

1. Cyber Deception Technologies
You've heard of honeypots and honeynets? Decoy construction is improving as machine learning and AI are being introduced here.

2. Homomorphic Encryption for Secure Data Processing
Suppose data that's encrypted could also be processed in that state, without decryption? It's becoming practical - hopefully without occurring within insecure applications...

3. Behavioral Biometrics In Authentication
Suppose an authentication system could take into account your finger swipe tendencies, or your keyboarding speed? They could be grouped with a passphrase for greater security - assuming the form of storage of those biometrics was also secure.

4. Secure AI Development Frameworks
Since writing AI applications is best done securely, why not use AI-enabled code review programs?

5. Advances In Threat Intelligence Sharing
Using blockchain to create communications channels between defense agents could increase the integrity of intelligence by many multiples.

6. Cybersecurity For Space Systems
From missile targeting and battlefield situational awareness to weather forecasting and logistics tracking, satellite groups are being deployed in increasing numbers. The operation of these units requires continuing improvements in burst approaches, compression/expansion and cryptology.

7. Securing The Internet Of Things
How likely is it that a $20 webcam will be provided with timely updates, updates at all or even an updater at all?

8. Quantum-Resistant Cryptography
Algorithmic resistance to the evident power of quantum computing is becoming a reality, and not a moment too soon.

9. Enhanced Email Encryption Solutions
Certificate strategies and key generation methods need to be constantly improved in order to preserve the practicality of this oldest of computer communication forms.

10. Zero Trust Architecture
Begin device connection with the assumption of compromise.

Drones: Updates & Speculations

The now-not-so-current flurry of drone stories re: activity off Atlantic City or somewhere is still quite pertinent, in that many of us are aware that many questions remain unanswered.

My brash guess is that what really happened (other than an actual peak in drone presences) was a lack of preparation at the public relations departments of the FAA, the White House staff, the Coast Guard and local police agencies. I think it's actually pretty difficult to keep track of hundreds of cheap helicopter toys across the state of NJ between Philadelphia and the coast even in the least stressful of times. And our capabilities to do so are matters we might best keep a lid upon.

But what's a public relations officer to do?

If I were that officer (and I used to have a vaguely similar job somewhere), I'd simply point out that if a foreign navy were capable of sending a cruiser over this way with a Remotely Operated Vehicle hanger near the poop deck, and that the Captain of said vessel sent out the odd $50,000 drone... then might WE BE CAPABLE OF THE SAME THING?? And capable of watching said operations from an either HF wireless or even tethered observation device from an Ohio-class low rider a few hundred feet down or so?

Perhaps.

A New Type Of Spam?

So an insurance salesperson (via a cold call over the phone) conned me into connecting in a Zoom call in which I revealed personal connections and email addresses.

Now, I'm actually NOT a complete idiot. The salesperson (and her higher-pressure sales manager) not only were pretty good at the act (a sort of HR upper managerial style of behavior) but they had an interesting bit of inside information: they worked for an insurance company that was the provider of a free benefit from my current employer, so they were able to pretend to be legit, and to have a need to update information on beneficiaries and so forth. They were just trying to upsell, not to steal. Clever, huh?

I still consider the call a kind of breach, although not the sort we're most fearful of. And the salesgirl was actually what she claimed to be (local), which I determined by her geographical references, slang, dress and accent. The AI that can fake all that stuff has to be two or three years away. Okay, maybe one.

It was my first "insider threat" experience in years. It was fascinating. More of an invasion of privacy than a perimeter breach, but a reminder that, shall we say, rust never sleeps.

Preliminary Post on Drones

There's a bit of a to-do these days about large groups of unidentified drones being reported in New Jersey. Theories abound, from US government tests to foreign powers sending them in from offshore to swarms of domestic drones, some trying to follow others. An interesting aside (underreported) is the group of legal ramifications now being identified. Drone presence is outside a property owner's purview, occuring in FAA-controlled space. Also, it's a crime to damage or destroy any flying vehicle, even a $25 drone. So there seems to be little way to defend against a recalcitrant drone, perhaps even one bearing a grenade. The two thoughts that occur to me regarding defense (other than jamming) would be either to lase various sensors on the drone's frame, or to snare the vehicle with a net or grapple from another drone. Of course, all of the above might be considered illegal interference by the FAA.

As might be the case if one were to hack the control telemetry of the drone, taking over the device and landing it without destruction.

I'm no lawyer, but it looks like there's room for precedent here. Perhaps someone should jam a drone's control communications, hack and land the device and then wait for the owner to file suit. I doubt, after all, that these devices are designed to follow Asimov's Laws Of Robotics, which are as follows (see the story "Runaround" (1942) and later publications like the book "I, Robot"):

(1) A robot may not injure a human being or, through inaction, allow a human being to come to harm
(2) A robot must obey the orders given it by human beings except where such orders would conflict with the First Law
(3) A robot must protect its own existence as long as such protection does not conflict with the First or Second Law
(4 or zeroth) A robot may not harm humanity, or, by inaction, allow humanity to come to harm.

We live in interesting times.