November 27, 2008. Filed in
News
Mumbai Mayhem
While watching the series of attacks in Mumbai last night, I could do nothing but hope that things would be not as bad. By morning, the news showed 80 Dead and several hundreds injured. By afternoon, it was a hostage drama.
While people make facebook groups, write blog posts and discuss the failure of Indian security system, the bottomline remains – there is nothing one can do but to hope. Hope that one day, India will invest time in checking its security system instead of sending missions to moon, India will make it safe for her population than handling pirates at the high seas, India will remember the 13 bomb attacks this year than just those buttered speeches by LK Advani and Sonia Gandhi, and India will one day value her people’s life than just counting them as dead bodies.
To those affected directly and indirectly, I feel sorry and helpless. I feel guilty for spending about half of my expected life span in the country and yet not being able to contribute to making it a better place. On this day, while Mumbai Police – so called one of the top 10 tries to combat terror, I read this:
Where the mind is without fear and the head is held high;
Where knowledge is free;
Where the world has not been broken up into fragments by narrow domestic walls;
Where words come out from the depth of truth;
Where tireless striving stretches its arms towards perfection;
Where the clear stream of reason has not lost its way into the dreary desert sand of dead habit;
Where the mind is led forward by thee into ever-widening thought and action-
Into that heaven of freedom, my Father, let my country awake.
July 22, 2008. Filed in
test
After spending couple of hours on #iphonedev and going through details of recently released pwnage tool, I finally took the plunge and upgraded my iPhone firmware to 2.0. I still enjoy iPhone 1st Gen as there is a little probability of me using GPS. And, 3G is going to take some more time.
June 24, 2008. Filed in
test
It has been quite some time since I posted here. Too many things in the past few weeks to write about, and I didn’t know where to start. iPhone launch, CCIE, a signed book by Bruce and several other draft posts are still lying unutilized in my inbox. I planned releasing each of the posts separately but it’s too much effort. So here is what has kept me busy for the last few weeks:
- iPhone at $199: Keeping aside the technical glitches and other things in the newly launched iPhone, almost everyone in this part of the world is expecting to shell out 8K for iphone – which to my best of estimates will not happen. Apple has released the iphone for $199 for AT&T customers with 2 year lock in period for US Customers. The real calculations are still as scary. Whereas, Airtel/Vodafone are in no position to introduce the lock in period and hence it will sell at premium.
- Old iPhone Vs 3G iPhone: I do not plan to upgrade iPhone atleast till next update. I run 1.1.2 and am quite happy with the functionality and performance. Apps work seamlessly and I know my way around Delhi and other cities and can live without GPS. Besides, GPS service in India is still very shallow. 3G network is not yet launched which even if was there, would have fought hard to replace my liking for metallic surface than white/black plastic.
- CCIE Security: I cleared my CCIE Security exam after weeks of dump tests and going through Cisco manuals. Quite a relief, but still a long way to clearing the exam.
As a bonus, Bruce sent me a signed book. I am surprised how it reached me dry and crisp despite the rainy season in India.
For the better half of the last weekend, i was forced to listen to how Harbhajan slapped Sreesanth and how Sreesanth cried on the field. In fact for anyone who did a mistake of flipping through a news channel felt that the slap was in front of them, and not on field. And now since yesterday, news channels have started discussing the ban imposed on Harbhajan and how it coincided with sacking of the infamous Mr Gill. Considering the ban on Harbhajan is going to last for next few days on TV, looks like I will be back to studying walrus mating habits on Animal Planet.
PCI SSC finally released “Information Supplement: Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard (PCI DSS) Requirement 6.6 Code Reviews and Application Firewalls” that would clean some air on how much application security is really required for PCI DSS compliance. I have often had long discussions on the intent of 6.6 requirement, and to me it always was clear that Section 6.6 wanted application owners to be cautious against web based attacks than just web-application security testing.
The supplement is a must read and can be downloaded from here
April 22, 2008. Filed in
test
While going through masses of web pages everyday, i found some essential read for anyone and everyone who uses Windows. I personally don’t use Windows until I am compelled to, such as at work. It’s been about 4 years that i moved on to addictive Ubuntu and good looking OS X. Anyhow, here are the links:
- 21 Useful applications for Windows
- 156 Useful Run Commands – Although it can never replace spotlight on mac, knowing few run commands can save you of many boring clicks. And I don’t like Launchy before you ask me to have a look at it.
- Strip your Windows XP of redundant makeup
I am Sumeet,an information security enthusiast, crazy about Coffee, iPod, everything mac, travelling, consuming rss and eating. I work for a large consulting firm where I usually rant about security best practices.