Laptop Backpack

About a month ago I began a search for a laptop bag for my 15.6" Dell laptop. I had no idea it would turn into a quest to find just the right features, and how rare some of these features are. Since I plan to be traveling I wanted to make sure the pack was large enough to carry two laptops and an overnight change of clothes. Because I wanted a fairly large pack, it needed to have compression straps also. This eliminated the wildly popular and functional Wenger series that I had been eyeing. Although they had great capacity, and the ability to stand independently, they lacked a few other essentials. That was a big letdown because those are nice bags. I particularly liked the steel cable handle they put on the top. The other essential feature I wanted was the ability to attach a carabiner, d-ring, or s-biner. I carry a rain shell instead of an umbrella and like to attach it to the outside of the bag. I considered a waist belt optional but if it had a waist belt it had to be more than a half-inch strip of fabric AND it had to be stowable.

The ONLY bag I found to satisfy all of this criteria are the bags made by Spire USA. Even the bags made by North Face, Mountain Hardware, and other "real" packs lacked several features. If they had the features, they didn't seem to be well oriented for IT-related use. The Spire Torq seems perfect for me. Initially, it was hard to transition from a messenger bag, but I have persevered.

The stuff from Spire isn't cheap, but it's worth it.

Accessdata Merging with CT Summation

I got this link in an e-mail today:
http://www.accessdata.com/downloads/media/AD_Summation_MERGER.pdf

I am a big fan of AccessData's Ultimate toolkit, and other forensic software, but was shocked to see they were merging with someone else. I hope both companies do well and I will begin researching CT summation soon. My guess is that Accessdata just wanted a bolt on EDiscovery solution. If so, brilliant move.

Smart Grid: How we got here and where we might be headed

This is a great video on why a smarter grid is necessary and what some of the difficulties will be. Additionally, Mr. Gunther discusses many of the possible benefits and answers questions at the end.

Smart Grid Security

Here are some great videos about what the Smart Grid (SG) is and where it is headed. I suggest subscribing to their blog if you are at all interested in this topic:

Network Penetration Testing and Ethical Hacking

I will be leading a SANS Mentor class for 10 weeks starting July 20,2010. Please check out the information here:
http://www.sans.org/mentor/details.php?nid=22013

Excerpts:
Find Security Flaws Before the Bad Guys Do
Security vulnerabilities, such as weak configurations, unpatched systems, and botched architectures, continue to plague organizations. Enterprises need people who can find these flaws in a professional manner to help eradicate them from our infrastructures. Lots of people claim to have penetration testing, ethical hacking, and security assessment skills, but precious few can apply these skills in a methodical regimen of professional testing to help make an organization more secure. This class covers the ingredients for successful network penetration testing to help attendees improve their enterprise's security stance.

Differentiators
This SANS course differs from other penetration testing and ethical hacking courses in several important ways:
We get deep into the tools arsenal with numerous hands-on exercises that show subtle, less-well-known, and undocumented features that are incredibly useful for professional penetration testers and ethical hackers.

Who Should Attend
Penetration testers
Ethical hackers
Auditors who need to build deeper technical skills
Security personnel whose job involves assessing target networks and systems to find security vulnerabilities

Job Offers

I received two separate offers this past week thanks to the grace of God. We are praying about the decision, and anxious to see where God is leading us.

Interestingly enough I have also had some fruitful conversations with several people regarding my last position and how it ended.

Job Hunt

I can totally sympathize with the guy in the cartoon. Aside from that, I have been interviewing for several different types of positions. Some are for penetration testing and consulting which I feel is one of the most fun jobs in the world. Others are for "Security Architect" type positions which give you an overall view of an infosec program and the different layers an organization has in place. Lastly, I have looked at a few security analyst positions where you do a little bit of everything for an organization. These are all critical roles and all opportunities for me to learn new things especially for the individual organizations based on how they do business. A few of the opportunities are contract-based positions which would allow me to start up my own vulnerability assessment, penetration testing, and compliance business. I can definitely say that all of these are quite intriguing and I am looking forward to the opportunity to continue learning and move forward. The toughest part are the moving as we were hoping to stay in Knoxville. Thus far, here are the possible locations:
California - contract
Ohio - contract
North California - perm
Florida - perm
DC - both
Texas - perm