NotAwful.Security

I have spoken about the importance of a Code of Conduct in the past. Since conversations have cropped up around several communities and events in technology regarding Codes of Conduct, I am going to discuss my experiences with them. Over the years I have spent a lot of time in and around gaming communities. During that time I realized that community guidelines and a code of conduct are an important tool. In watching these recent conversations, I feel some people have been too focused on their practical application. So I will talk about why a community should have a code of conduct, what you stand to gain by implementing one, and address some of the common arguments against them. I wrote a step-by-step guide to writing a code of conduct here , taken from an earlier blog post addressing another community that lacked a code of conduct. I'm not a bad person, why do I need one? I have not read the code of conduct for most communities I have been a part of one. I also do not know...

When we were children, we were told to apologize for saying mean things to each other. We were conditioned to accept those apologies regardless of whether those apologies were honest - they never were. I was bullied as a child and was forced to listen to false apologies often. I resented those bullies because the more of those false apologies I heard the more I realized they all managed to blame me for their actions. As I grew up I mimicked those structures to avoid admitting that I was an abusive friend. I was never taught how to issue a real apology, but like many things in my life I was able to infer it from what I had learned. Lately, I have seen that many people accept false apologies because they have never heard a meaningful apology. I am going to teach you what an apology looks like so that you can understand when someone is not apologizing to you. Anatomy of an Apology An apology is made up of four things: Subject of apology Admitting guilt The guilty part...

Technology is created to solve a problem. All technology has been a response to a perceived problem that exists in the world. Then, a bunch of nerds (engineers) got together and worked out a solution that addresses the problem in their use case. Any time that you pick up a piece of technology you should ask yourself what problems it was designed to solve from the viewpoint of the people who were likely to have made it. I am currently a little frustrated because people are demonstrating that they still don't understand what a Virtual Private Network (VPN) is for. So I am going to take some time to explain what a VPN was designed for, what problems it solves, and what it is not designed to do and how it doesn't solve those problems. The Problem In The Past, a Business decided to open a second office on the other side of town. They wanted to share their telephones since they had their telephone system all hooked up in their first office. The company made a decision to conn...

I recently returned from a trip to Vegas to attend BlackHatUSA 2017 and DEF CON 25. While writing my travel blog I realized that I had a lot of stories, and a lot of travel advice. After working on it a little I decided it would be most useful to post the advice and stories separately. This post will contain all my advice for navigating your first DEF CON adventure. I will share stories in future posts. I am going to jump straight in because I have a lot to share here. Packing Never check bags if you can avoid it. Prevents loss, theft, or mishandling. If you check bags, keep all your valuables on you. Pack light; leave room for treasure. If you plan on collecting lots of treasure then pack an ultralight duffel in your carry-on. They pack small, you can check it on the trip home. Personal item should be a cross-body bag or backpack. Put your electronics and valuables in it. Carry-on item should be a frameless soft-bodied item. It’ll hold toiletries and clothes; all your valuab...