arca_vorago

Just looking toward the future. I think bpf is cool but not aimed at production routing that most network techs can approach. nftables fixes so many issues of iptables and is generally viewed as it's replacement. nftables also has a smaller attack surface due to its youth mostly.

So I made the choice to go ahead and focus on learning nft. It's been enjoyable.

ossec + syslog , how you display the data (zabbix, elk, etc) is up to you.

The only thing a Marine fears more than a Sailor with a rifle is a Lt with a map and compass.

My current take:

nftables instead of iptables

port-knocking

non-standard port

key+pass access/auth

ip whitelist

good logging

ED25519 wherever possible!!!

It provides a sense of purpose, it builds comraderie, and actual combat is more addictive than any drug.

There ya go, the basics in easily digestible civilian form.

"I was privileged to have had a childhood in the age of ubiquitous junk availability."

Garage sales are still a thing and so are flea markets! There is still treasure around if one looks hard enough.

Look, the truth of the matter is we opened the floodgates to computing for the masses too quickly without the proper protections and training. So up until about ~2000 it was mostly just the geeks using computers. Suddenly though, with the nice gui of Windows and Mac, the kind of users who used their cd tray as a coffee cup holder exponentially multiplied... and thus /r/talesfromtechsupport was born.

They never learned to control and own their systems.

Then those users start buying other computers, with software they didn't have the option to control, in the form of smartphones.

Now there are huge swaths of users who are so used to being stuck in a user prison they don't own or control that they think it's normal!

It's not. Join the GNU+Linux revolution today!

So the problem with fb and twitter etc, is that they took what would have been a great model (individual websites) and tried to force everyone on their platform and then find various ways to lock them there... and now with all the backlash there is a growing awakening of computing freedom, but the problem is they keep thinking of blockchain or meshnet style decentraliztion to fix the problem, when the real problem is one of ownership.

So in my opinion we need a good copyleft foss federation tech and people to own their own data. The internet isn't fully decentralized... it's more of a heirarchical starspoke topology, and it's high time SV and the rest wakeup from buzzword bingo of decentralization. (If I hear one more story about how we don't need servers cause we're going to the cloud I'm going to explode, for example).

This is also why I think something like the freedombox is probably the closest thing to what the future lookes like.

It was back in the vanilla wow days. I was active over at some german run wow hacking forum, did some reverse engineering, and posted about finding the values being stored client side in ram. A few months later someone did it... and then it was patched almost immediately. It's entirely possible they weren't related and whoever did it found the values themselves, but that's not as fun a story to tell myself or others so I stick to my version.

Now you have me feeling all nostalgic for the day wow went from beta to live... and those early vanilla days of 40 man raids.

In defense of Akido, I know some very good martial artists (I'm talking military trained) who have been using Akido to focus their muscle memory on less violent methods, primarily for it's control techniques. It was interesting to hear the conversation go over time from removed disdain for being non-combat... to respectful admiration of how technique properly applied could control but not permanently damage an opponent... because that's not always what you want to do.

On the opposite end, I have used a program that does image recognition called sikuli to a act as much like a human as possible instead of doing the low level thing.

My favorite hack I feel responsible for was the wow zeppelin hack (zeppling fly points were stored client side ) so you could change them and the zepplin would take you somewhere else!

<You can't just shoot in the direcrtion of a terrorist who attacked you, if that terrorist is hiding in civilian houses or is holding a hostage.

Hmm I don't know why you think this is the case but that's not how it works. If I get attacked I'm going to close with and destroy the enemy by fire and close combat... regardless of where the enemy is.

I think the better thing to focus on is the lack of reliable attribution. For example, during the russiagate hysteria I actually dug into the data, and noticed all the command ips listed where anywhere but Russia, and I found no evidence that tied those command ips to Russia in the past but that's the key factor in the report because crowdstrike claimed "these are all known Russian command ips" but they back that up with nothing.

State level actors are good at pretending to be someone they're not (anyone remember vault 7 attribution manipulation tech?) So the real issue with this kind of hack back attitude is attribution. Otherwise good actors will likely be fooled into attacking the wrong target...

And that's the different between that and mout. When I get shot at, with few exception, attribution is undeniable!

For example, the entire problem with the Iraq invasion was one of attribution was it not? We were lied to about it and it got us into a war we should have had no business in... for example Cheney manipulating Intel reports to push the Yellowcake angle.

Another good example is Iran. I took the time to read all the IAEA reports up until 2007 in about 09, and all indicators were that Iran was not seeking nuclear weapons nor was it seeking 2yr breakout within sub 2035 time-frame... except for the 2007 one where a lot of Intel was found on a laptop... that we later learned was mossad planted evidence in an effort to get us to beat the drums of war against Iran... (this is relevant given this silly recent story from Israel about Iran and Boltons/pompeos appointment...)

I dont want VR unless it and it's software is foss. Is the hdk2 my only option?

Just posting the last few I've added to my github list.

https://github.com/x64dbg/x64dbg

https://github.com/ARMmbed/mbedtls

https://github.com/ch11ng/exwm

https://github.com/DexterLagan/lsh

https://github.com/hellerve/programming-talks#creative-codin...

https://github.com/zulip/zulip/

https://github.com/TechnologyClassroom/SetupNotes/tree/maste...

https://github.com/ocornut/imgui

https://github.com/alseambusher/crontab-ui

https://github.com/fyhertz/libstreaming

https://github.com/OCSInventory-NG/OCSInventory-Server

https://github.com/OCSInventory-NG/UnixAgent

https://github.com/su8/pinky-bar

https://github.com/jakewmeyer/Geo

https://github.com/sevagas/swap_digger

https://github.com/gavinlyonsrepo/bashmultitool

https://github.com/joereynolds/salutem

https://github.com/jarun/ddgr

What really pisses me off is that now I get message notifications for "you might have missed what X said"...

Twitter, thats not a fucking message!

I'm so tired of repeatedly hearing this trite and ridiculously myopic response every time someone brings the subject up. No one is ignoring the realities of history here except you.

First of all, lets just state the fact that the principles of a government can be different from the reality of it. The two aren't mutually exclusive. It's as if by mentioning the worst affected groups you think you magically negate the foundational principles just because the implementation wasn't (and isn't) perfect. It's also not to say the system is theoretically perfect, because it's not, but to use such a logically weak strawman ("pining for a history which never existed") and not even expanding whatsoever is intellectually lazy at best.

"Come on, we can be against prohibition for practical reasons"

The foundational principles of American individualism is the greatest practical reason to be against prohibition. What the hell do you think enabled us to finally get rid of the shackles around those disaffected groups in the first place? It was the hard work that mostly Madison put into researching all the various forms of government, and the greatest political thinkers from around the world, that established a structure that although imperfect would be able to improve over time.

Before we continue this, my main question is whether you are American or not. I find that my approach to this subject needs variation for my friends across the pond. If you are, you need to brush up on your civics.

It's because so many people don't know, forgot, or choose to ignore that the US was founded on enlightenment principles of individualism. So they always say stuff about some amorphous "social contract" to focus on what is essentially thought-crime, saying "let's stop them before they do the thing that then induces them to commit the crime" instead of just prosecuting them for the crime.

Talking like this frames the narrative and too many of us let these anti-american rhetorical tricks pass without calling it out.

The government has no right to tell me what I can and can't put in my body, whether that's lettuce, Devils lettuce, a cigar, or a soda... doesn't matter.

It's a matter of individual freedom.

I prefer urxvt, but it does take customization and work to get it up to par feature wise, but that's a good think as that's the power of urxvt in the first place. I also have a strange affinity for the xfceterminal, I use it sometimes even though awesome is my wm.

I can see how it might seem far fetched if you hadn't done enough reading to know that history, but I would argue that's closer to to a fact than you realize.

I would have to say the time my contracting company got a gig to take over a t1 datacenter after a debacle and make it t2. Working on big, infrastructure level routers and switches, learning all the meeting-room-politics side of such a project, and learning the other intracacies of a datacenter that I "controlled" was extremely satisfying professionally and personally. On both the network engineer side and on the sysadmin side it felt the most raw and pure, close to the internet if that makes any sense.

Finally, I have to say some of the most rewarding personal experience has been working for extremely smart people. While working at a genetics lab I had the opportunity to learn from a pioneer in the sequencing field who got fed up with academia and was going capitalist. While working at an electrical motor company I got the oportunity to learn from one of the best devs I've ever known, a scala dude, and to learn from the what seemed to be the heir to the throne of the business and an extremely accomplished electrical engineer and scientist. I've also learned from and worked with some of the best warriors and leaders on the planet during my time in the Marine Corps.

I consider myself lucky.

A long time ago as a child I decided I knew not everyone was perfect, but you could learn to pickup a persons good habits and try to ignore their bad habits. Learning from the wisdom of other people is the most rewarding thing I can think of!

I don't want just prices, I want to know actual costs and then the prices, and breakdown of what goes where.

You need to change some habits to fight depression. Habits are hard to change. My theory, extended vacations in a place where time is more amorphous (yes they still exist) are great for habit breaking and setting.

In short, the one recommendation I don't see here is take a long, well deserved vacation. In my experience, the main complications in vacations are from other people... so don't be afraid to go on vacation by yourself, either, it keeps it simple.

(Camping is great for long vacations. KOA's are great in-between location campsites too for example.)

>it's an off-topic rant

The article title is "How to become a bank", and it was written by the bankofengland.co.uk by a glance at the url, so the first question is: "How did they become a bank?", is it not?

It's not like HN is devoid of WallStreet'rs or City'rs, among them this is just standard knowledge. I mean of course it's a bit of a stretch to say the bankers financed the Jacobin revolution which was a large precursor event (except they sorta did but it was different bankers etc), but instead of getting into the history, I have a real feeling your snide remark at the end is largely due to you viewing any mention of the name Rothschild as being done by "paranoid conspiracy theorists". The Rothschilds have been a powerhouse of interconnected banking families for a long time, and have been open about it, including for example how they aren't aristocrats in the UK for various reasons. Their strategic brilliance in business is an inspiration for the cunning businessman, and they still are doing business around the globe today, and the fact that they very largely got there by lending to governements and creating central banks is also well known as fact.

So it gets very tiring when any mention of them is so tainted by ones preconcieved disdain for anything perceived to be "drivel of a conspiracy theorist" that their response becomes such an attack.

The reality of banking is so much more personal and good old boys than any document could ever show. This is obviously a move to pull in the fintech and other tech startups that want to function as a non-traditional bank ala paypal, probably due to cryptocurrency and algorithms taking over the world. That said, I have heard talk that the UK has been lowering the barrier of entry to traditional banking as well.

I still see, systematically, the central bank by fiat as one of the core problems we need to overcome as a species. All banks (traditional, fintech or otherwise) will be subservient to that central banking system until it changed, and I think some of the crypto-startups may have taken a poison pill by adopting into the traditional banking infrastructure so quickly (and largely due to regulatory fears, etc) instead of working on a purely internet-ized solution. (which is also why I think the big btc jump the last few years has actually been due to central fiat actors trying to see if they could execute the ~50% attack. A nice side benefit is that btc is easily traceable, which is what makes it superior in their eyes (not to users/consumers though)to cash)

My point is, that in the end, the real discussion we ought to be having as a matter of fact is very much about the core fundamentals of the banking system, which I think ergo includes discussion of it's origins, that I think it's great potential discussion matter, and that I very much disagree with your flippant dismissal of my post as "paranoid conspiracy drivel".

Yeah I like it but I have tended to prefer to use static pages for the very reasons mentioned. I'll have to try it again sometime. I really wish Hugo would explain why he took it MIT though... as I've been working hard at what I call gnu'izing my stack.

I know it's not on topic for the link itself, but I think it's on topic for discussion of the BoE. That said, point taken. Perhaps waking up and posting captured my grumpy and ot side.

More on topic then, this seems like a very interesting and useful document not just for aspiring UK fintech startups (The City is having a boom in fintech) but just as a general document for startups. It's also probably useful for those going for VC funding because at the end of the day bankers touch all your deals so you might want to know a bit more about what they do.

I agree but I don't think it's fair to put it all on the incompetence of devs/engineers... in many cases it's mismanagement and the real problem is devs/engineers don't know how to talk to management to get to them see why $badpractice is bad. So because the devs don't have MBA's, and the MBA's don't talk well to technicals there is a huge culture gap in the average fortune 1000 workplace. I've seen the inside of companies where the cost cutting was so excessive the infrastructure was near crumbling... just due to sheer mismanagement. You want to know how many stories I've heard about a sysadmin requesting horizontal and structured cabling done by professionals and been denied? How many stories about IT departments not even having an actual budget and only getting approve/deny requests? So half of the infrastructure around companies is just cobbled together by some underpayed one man miracle show who if he is super lucky gets a full time t1 assist.

At the end of the day, the buck should stop somewhere... and it does. With management.

In the meantime, I think it's time for sysadmins/engineers/devs to start getting MBA's and going for CIO/CTO positions and start to push a shift.

One of these days yall are going to see it my way... in which I think ipv6nat is important to use despite everything you hear about ipv6nat saying it should never be used, usually by people theorycrafting instead of being responsible for actual systems. (Cue the "but nat was never very secure" etc comments.)

Well it's a bit old now but a few years ago on the Hiawatha blog a test of load under attack was done and Hiawatha was able to handle a simulated (d?)dos very well.

I'm on mobile but a quick ddg show: https://www.hiawatha-webserver.org/weblog/64

Thank you so much for mentioning random-forest supervised learning, I did some duckduckgo'ing and came across this [1] and am excited to try it out.

[1] https://labs.genetics.ucla.edu/horvath/RFclustering/RFcluste...

As a sysadmin who has seen and fixed drupal/wp/joomla/dreamweaver etc nightmares, I personally have settled on a combination of emacs org-mode html export (don't forget how beautiful the latex export can be!, and that you can run programs inside org-mode, and the google calendar integration, etc) and asciidoc and asciidoctor(nicer default html export settings, but I suggest custom pure css3/html5 no js!).

That said, back on subject:

Look, this is the main reason you devs tend to hear disdain from us sysadmins when we hear you want to run some new webservice in whatever language fad of the day (node, python, perl, php, asp.net, ruby, scala, go, etc) instead of generating files with your app that can then be serviced to the user using the tried and true tools (apache, nginx, hiawatha, haproxy etc) that have had sometimes decades of public internet exposure to claw thier way through.

Ah, but what about $functionality. Most webdevs think they need a scripting language backend when they really don't. There are uses for it and it has it's place, but it's been way overdone.

Relevant discussion: https://groups.drupal.org/security/faq-2018-002

Sidenote: I think everyone should check out hiawatha webserver, over at (https://www.hiawatha-webserver.org/). Hugo wrote it with security in mind and it by default addresses many things that no other webserver does. It's also gplv2 (which is a big deal for me), and it's performance is second to none. I'm not a big php person, but if I were to be doing a webapp where a backend like that would be needed, I would probably try to go PHP-FPM with hiawatha(mbed TLS)/haproxy and a really nicely hardened boxen and edge firewall(you are using nftables now right?).

So is OpenCL dead? Because that's how everyone is talking. The tools you choose, and their licensing, matters!