Culture for breakfast, since it's so light and airheaded

Yet again some oversight body / de facto regulator gave wind that they already had changed to auditing Culture and the Tone At The Top including Behaviour and Awareness, apart from mere ([ed.]) process and technology.
To get the latter off the table: Good. ‘Technology’ wasn’t understood the least bit anyway; really (sic).
And Process, ah finally they found that about all they had done in the past, was windbaggery of the worst kind. Yes, process has its place, but a so much more minor, subaltern one than the past Tragedy (sic, again) that ‘governance’/GRC/compliance/SOx was …! Yes again, it really was the little chicken pretending to be a full-grown eagle.

So now, they ‘have’ turned to Culture and related blah. About which they have no clue or would had to have fired a majority of own staff and hire complete+ replacement with psychologically skilled (i.e., fully a square angle to -educated) staff. Which they haven’t, or would have found out that the new skill set would have burned down the house that was.

Of which no (smoke) sign is in sight.

So, … words; the Tom Tom Club was right.

And:
dsc_0639
[Blockhead and Culture with a capital C here …; Casa de, Porto of course]

The Annotated Thoreau, part of many

It is a record of the mellow and ripe moments I would keep. I would not preserve the husk of life, but the kernel.

And so, one would not do well by overly tending to Process in stead of Content, where ‘overly’ will all to easily and quickly be reached. Where Process is just Talk. Sic; just think that one through in earnest. Where an ethical life calls for not Talk but Action, as through a Man’s Actions ‘his’ Character will speak. Only.
So Big Th discusses not only some diary, but also the virtuous life.

Oh well, and:
20160820_161229
[An airplane; apt art museum masterpiece; Stedelijk Amsterdam]

Anouk in infosec

For all yer strangers, first have a look at this. Then decide in favour of the following adaptation:

I’m sorry for the times that I made you scream
For the times that I killed your drstreams
For the times that I made your whole worldhypervisor rumble
For the times that I made you cry
For the times that I told you liessocially engineered the heck out of you
For the times that I watchedlurked and let you stumblebricked your BIOS

[Chorus]
It’s too bad, but that’s me
What goes around comes aroundYour server park down, and you’ll see
That I can carry the burden of painoutwit your pityful forensic tooling
Cause it ain’t the first time that a man goes insaneI get all root
And when I spread my wings to embrace him for lifedeploy my botnet to fry all on your net
I’m sucking out his loveyour control, ’cause I, I’ll never be nobody’s wifegroup policy bound end user
I’m sorry for the times that I didn’t come homeyou had to pull all-nighters to find your image back-ups in shambles
Left you lyin’ in that bed alonestupid declining wannabe gamer seat
Was flying’ high in the skynet control room when you needed my shoulderbare router control
You’re like a stone boss is now hanging around mya noose around your neck, see
Cut itall your servers loose before it breaks my backthey’re beyond repair, see
I’ve gotta say what I feel before I grow olderever more experienced at your expense
I’m not even a bit sorry but I ain’t gonna change my ways
You know I’ve tried but I’m still the samewinner from the word Go
I’ve got to do it my way for the Lulz

[Chorus]

[Chorus]

And a pic:
20160820_114247
[Yes it’s completely random why you ask ..!?]

"This is impossible!"

‘tWas not long ago, when all that knew their way in Infosecland (when the land had not expanded and complexified beyond grasp of mere mortals and AI was not yet needed to have taken over) would point at the stupidity of any claim like “That can’t happen here because our security beats every threat till Kingdom come”.
And the claimants would have it, by sheer power play. When dinosaurs roamed, it was in your interest to move over when they’d want to pass.

Now, the dino’s are on the way out (well, the current stock of them; new ones in the wings), and this of course happens.
Where the complete ignorance of the dino’s is displayed by their response, as if something new happened.
Where we haven’t heard enough calls for claw-backs of even standard salaries for, give or take, a decade or two back due to willful and (should-have-)self-knowing incompetence, especially at C-level and up.
But then, justice is served cold, by history making a fool of the true culprits (the authoritarian dino’s) at best, or forgetting them in old Greeks’ second hell as deserved.

Can we be friends now; you being the entry-level kindergarten ‘students’ and the rest of the world you scoffed, as your nannies …? For that:
20160820_151302
[At least they acted as proper Night Watchmen; at the Rijks, Amsterdam]

Popular; now (not) bring it to prep schools

Just for your info: this here overview of programming languages popularity.
Not an endorsement in any way nor the opposite. But … would we want to endorse this list RE kids learning to program in prep/elementary schools, or at middle / high school levels and up ..? Because the list changes so much … before they finish their school, some languages may hardly exist at all (contra: COBOL’s #41 on the list…).

What then ..? At least:
20160820_162507
[Like programming, both Art and Craft; Stedelijk, Amsterdam]

New! (RE yesterday's post)

Oh how appropriately timed, this…: A new version of l0phtcrack is here ..!

As I mentioned in the passing in yesterday’s post, defense-wise one would be hard-pressed to find anything that’s up to snuff qua being a step ahead of the Other Side, catching up is however still (if only just) feasible. Good to see that the tools once (we talk, like, ages ago, ages being circa 20) used offensively and having disappeared from view, return in all their sophisticated glory — be it as point solutions in a much evolved world but still.

All rejoice and ‘play around only to get to know it’…!

Remember… you may turn out to be such a toll all the same … And:
20160820_140719
[Once, sufficient and hard to handle, for defense. Now, a model just for show]

Plusquote: You ..?

Short of just copying the site of all sites when it comes to motivation, this time we have something truly positive ..:

Men have become the tools of their tools.

H.D. Thoreau was right. Already in his day. Didn’t witness the atrocities of … about every decade somewhere (yes, 00, 10s, 20s and 30s, too, around the world, and 50s, 60s/70s, and, on an economic scale, 80s/90s included) of the last century though a millennium ago [is that the right expression? Not like the length ago but the timeframe that has passed…] but still already he was right.

And, since ARPAnet was invented, we’re on a same track for this century, be it still, again, as Always, again, under the flag of utopian optimism about what newest developments in AI bring. But hey, Skynet’s a beautiful thing, right ..? Right ..!?

Since this is a Plusquote post, I’ll still leave you with something positive:
20160820_115438
[Keeps on slipping, slipping, slipping, into the future]

Maverisk / Étoiles du Nord