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Well Defcon has come and gone and this year it is was a blast!
Last year I missed out on my badge, which was a real bummer, but this year I made sure to get it. Caffeine from Digital-Deception picked it up for me because
I was still on the road at 9AM. Follow this link to Wired and you can check out the badge. Wired Blog I didn't go to many talks this year it was more social for me this time around.
On Friday night I headed over to the HackerPimps party with Phantasm, SimonTek, Paint and Princesstreefukcer. Rev made sure I was on his VIP list. Rev is the homie and one like from back in the days. To say it from the streets, the vato is firme. We met Darci, Shelly, Rev and Ryan Russell at the party. Most of the time we hung out on the skybox's balcony yapping and catching yup. Darci, Rev, Shelly and Ryan headed out about 1AM. SimonTek and left a bit before that and Paint was around for a few more minutes. Phantasm and I stayed a little longer and caught the end of the strip show. It wasgetting a little crazy when the girls pulled out a toy and a few chicks watching joined in a little. To bad pictures were banned during that time. Strippers are hot, but two average chicks getting in on it is damn hot! Here are a couple of pictures of the strippers and a lot of guys who will probably here from their wives and gfs once all the pictures hit the net.
Saturday during the con I hung around Liquidfish, Caffeine and Shaun from Digital Deception and Leonard (Fish's co-worker). We chilled and listened to a few
talks. Fish took off early with his wife Katie (a speaker at Blackhat this year!) as she was tired and needed some rest. Being that she is expecting I am sure the heat and 10 days in Vegas was getting too her. Katie, Marcie and I missed hanging out with this year, but look forward to next year.
We were waiting for a talk in Track 1 when they had Spot the Fed. Dan Kaminsky, and a Fed (who was ratting out another fed, as it seems The Spot the Fed T-Shirts are even a prize among law enforcement) strolled in with two women they believed were Feds. It turned out that both women were Feds, the brunette was FBI and the Blonde would not say or maybe she forgot. Here is a picture; by the way the FBI chick was hot for a Fed.
After the day part of Con ended I headed back to the Platinum Hotel (This hotel fucken rocks and blows the other high end hotels out the water for the price, $130) got changed and headed back to watch Hacker Jeopardy with Caffeine, Shaun and Leonard. But who should text me Rev, telling me to head over to his room to pick of the copy of The Best of 2600 | A Hacker Odyssey. So off to mysterious Rev's room I head. I pick up the book and head back to Hacker Jeopardy were I run in to Phantasm and Jill, who is also expecting(Today she had a boy! Baby Phantasm! Congrats you two!). We all end up back at Rev's room until where we hang out until the early morning hours. It was more of a mini Labmistress Reunion, minus our LabMistress. lol. But next year we need to have a true LabMistress party. But at least Rev, Noir, Paint, SimonTek, Phantasm and I were able to get together had just have a good time. I took a couple of pictures of the gathering and you can see them below.
After all the wildness of Con I hung out with my love Marcie and we had dinner at The Cathouse inside The Luxor. The food was alright nothing great, but the decor and atmosphere were just the right touch for getting in the mood. ;) So check this place out with that special someone in your life if you are in Vegas.
Well it turned out to be a great Con! I was able to see and hang with people I communicate with via the net the entire year. I was able to finally meet Noid
and he told me he added my Wii code to his system, Mario Cart here we come! lol. I again missed Che, but not next year! Next year if all goes well I should
be headed to both Blackhat and Defcon on the my company's dime. I look forward to next year and birth and hopefully an annual Defcon LabMistress party. So
until next year everyone stay safe.
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This posted was intended for a brief description of the people I worked with, but it has turned out as a farewell to a dear friend. So I dedicate this to you Josette.
Today I left my job of five years doing phone support, email administration and a host of other things. I will dearly miss the friends I have made there; Josette, Emad, Curtis, Craig, Lenise, Dewan, Charles, Jim K., Jim Mon., Tony, Gary, Kip, Heath, Jim S., Ted and Talesha. Of course there are those that I have grown close to because of daily interactions and personal bonding. Here is a team picture at my farewell lunch.
I will start with Josette, as I will miss her the most. She is a beautiful, intelligent, strong and independent women and that combination makes her, in her words about an American Idol contestant, Hot-Hot-Hot! There are no words in American-English that describes what she means to me, so I will use Calo, she is my Carnala. This means that she is a friend that I consider my sister and would do anything for, in varrio slang it is used by members of the Eme,(Mexican Mafia) to describe made men(Carnal). In other words don't fuck with her or I'll make sure that your silly ass ends up crying and dying.
The first time I met her was during our four week training session. She was a hard teacher in the fact that she went through the training fast. After getting out of training that day I heard a lot of grumbles, but the reality was that male egos were just hurt.
I didn't have much interaction with her for awhile after that, but the rumor by the regular guys was to stay away from her because she was hard and could be mean. They shouldn't have told me this, because that just made want to see what all the hoopla was about. I have a tendency that if someone’s tells me something I need to know for myself if it is true or not. So I waited and waited, until finally I had a question that I needed to bring to her. Then I marched right over, expecting the worse, but my experience wasn't bad at all. Time and again I would go over there expecting to get slapped down, but what I came to realize was that these rumors were just from males who could not accept that a women knew more then they did and wasn't afraid to let them know.
My first great experience came during a testing project, when she trusted me enough to hand me a disk worth tens of thousands of dollars. I was very proud that day that the person people made seem so harsh trusted me a temp with the data she was responsible for. I still had minimal interaction with her, but knew that if I had the chance I would love to work with her.
I received the chance when our seasonal positions were coming to an end. Our Director called me and a co-worker Dave in to his office and informed me that Josette had requested that we be offered the opportunity to come up and work with her on a new project she was on. He informed us that it would not be support, but Q/A, he let us have until the end of the day to decide. So Dave and I went back and talked it over, all I could think was as long as she is my Boss, no problem. So we went up to the fourth floor and the first question out of my mouth was, "Will you be my Boss?", she said yes and no that there would be a manager that we would report to, but that she would be our immediate supervisor. That was enough for me, I informed our Director that I would accept the position. This was something that I had wanted, I knew very well that I could learn a lot from her and I was not going to pass this up, the only other person that I would have been willing to work for in the company was Curtis, since his knowledge was just as vast as Josette's.
My first day on the fourth floor was rather interesting, since the first thing Josette told me not to do I did, which was delete an account. When I realized what I did, I sat there for a minute or two thinking, "DAMN!" But I got up and marched over to her desk and confessed, I didn't get the riot act that I had expected which was good. I found out later that they would have never known who actually deleted it since there was no logging, but I respected her too much not to have been honest with her, besides that is just not my style. Granted it was like walking that Green Mile to her desk.
The fourth floor was a blast and my friendship with her grew as well as my knowledge, as she allowed my skill set to grow and encouraged me to work finding security related issues. This would come to an end as we completed our position, but this wasn't the end as she did so much to help me stay with the company and find and get other positions. The work I did was part of me being offered these other positions, but I know deep down that it was her voice and recommendations that kept me there. She even went to bat for me with directors across the company to keep me employed.
She was not just instrumental in helping me keep employed, but also in organizing with another fellow co-worker Ethan,(My Carnal) in raising money for my cat who had broken his leg. I had decided not to put him down or be a three legged cat. This was a big financial burden, but something that I decide along with Marcie to do. A few days or a week after telling them about saving my cats leg and letting people know that I was auctioning stuff on eBay to help pay the vet bill, Ethan and her presented me with money they had gathered from our co-workers to help me with the costs. This was the most touching moment I had ever had and I don't think either one of them really knows how moved I was, I get choked up to this day thinking about it,(Darci and Kevin also helped by donating a signed copy of The Art of Deception along with a press kit that we posted on eBay.). This was the day I knew both of them were truly my friends, a word I have not used for people I knew since I was a teen. From that day forward our friendship grew and we would spend countless time talking at work about all things under the sun, but TV shows are always the most fun.
It was very hard for me when making the decision to leave my current job at this time, even though it would be leaving to Kansas this summer, because I would truly miss Josette and our times spent yapping up a storm at work.
I will miss you Carnala, but you will be no further then an IM away and you will always be my Boss and I will never use that word for anyone else as it is reserved for you and now retired from my vocabulary.
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Defcon XIII
Well it has come and gone. This year I hung out with Rev, Darci and Kevin and it
was a blast,(until Saturday night). Let's get one thing out in the open right away, I will not be
telling anything that happened when I was with Kevin, so don't ask! I will say
that I received Lesson 1 from Kevin's SE101 and that I will share with you.
Darci and Rev had gone back to the room to take a nap. So Kevin and I headed
over to Building WarDriving Hardware Workshop talk in the Parthenon. As we were
going to get in line some lady said; "Hey the line starts back there." So as I
start to go back Kevin tells me; "Joel don't listen to anyone." There you have
it Lesson 1 of SE101 and my first schooling from Kevin.
I met three people this year that was just damn cool! Mr. Robert Morris Sr,
Fyodor(NMAP) and Jay Beale(Bastille Linux). I finally got to meet Noid after
trying for two cons. I look forward to chilling with him either at next year's
con or at LayerOne.
Below is a list of speechs that I enjoyed this year.
Day One:
Richard Thieme - Recapturing the Revolutionary Heart of Hacking.
Ever since I started attending Defcon Richard Thieme's talks have been ones that
I make sure never to miss. His deep knowledge and passion when he speaks is just
awesome. This year's talk dealt with hackers and how they must change to
continue to lead us on the quest for new truth. Richard explained that truth
starts at the edge and moves to the center as the masses come to accept it. By
the time the masses have accepted the truth there is a new truth being born on
the edge. In time this to will move to the center and another new truth will be
born on the edge awaiting its time to move to the center. This is an ever
continuing process as new truths are born and those we hold dear go the way of
the Dodo. Hackers are the Bringers of the New Truth always questioning the
current gospel. Those who bring this truth to us often face ridicule and
ostracized in their field for having the courage to speak out. I know there was
more to the talk but this is the core of what Richard was speaking about.
Dan Kaminsky - Black Ops 2005
I do believe this is the first talk I have went to by Dan and boy was it a
blast! His energy and humorous antics and knowledge make his talk one of the
most alive and vibrant presentations at this year’s defcon. What I want to know
is how was he still standing and speaking after taking that shot of Everclear?
Day Two:
Raven - Pen-testing the Backbone
Raven's speech was just awesome and by far the best female speaker I have seen
at defcon. I only wish I had arrived sooner so that I could have sat up front
instead of all the way in the back. I hope that she will be speaking again at
defcon next year. If not maybe I'll catch her at Hope 2006 or LayerOne 2006.
Day Three:
Jay Beale - Introducing the Bastille Hardening Assessment Tool
Jay is another excellent speaker and I look forward to playing with BHAT. I am
also looking forward to the release of Bastille-ix(I think that is what he
called it).
Sherri Sparks & Jamie Butler - “Shadow Walker ” — Raising The Bar For
Rootkit Detection
This was a great talk and both Jamie and Sherri are excellent speakers it was to
bad that the end of their talk was rushed because of the closing cermonies.
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The Art of Intrusion : The Real Stories Behind the Exploits of Hackers, Intruders & Deceivers has been released! Get you copy today at the following link.
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Well the other day Marcie and I were listening to talk radio and the subject of Negative vs. Positive thought came up. I for one do not solely believe in either, for me life is what it is. I do not believe in only looking for the positive in life but also looking for the negative. "You must always plan for the worst, so that anything else that happens will always be better." This is my line of thought and it has worked so far.
After listening to the radio host I started to realize that our Government and Business Institutions are designed around negative thought.
This started me thinking about Business and Governments role in enforcing negative thought. The most obvious examples I came up with were; Business, Auto, Home Owners insurance. Granted these services do provide a vital function, but that is not the issue. The issue is that of Positive and Negative thought. So in our Business, Personal Business, Government lives we should accept and embrace negative thought, but do not use this in your personal life or you will be doomed to fail. It is not the Positive or Negative thought that gets us in trouble, it is our inability to embrace life as a whole. Good or Bad; Negative or Positive; Right or Wrong it is all life and therefore it should not be shunned. Those who cannot see both sides are doomed to fail. You can live a "successful" life thinking either positively or negatively but it will not be a full life. If you wish to send me your rant cool, you can at rants[at]ch0l0man[dot]com.
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Well it 6am in the morning and ch0l0man.com has received a makeover. After doing thinknix.com I thought that my main site should also sport a new look. Well here it is nothing to crazy just something different. I kept the splash page and have archived the rest of the old site here. Well I better be off to bed or Marcie will kill me for sleeping Sunday away.
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