Steve Holden's Blog

Podcasts Recommended - January 6th Focused

I enjoyed learning more about January 6th related news, opinions, thoughts, etc., from these two podcasts:

• Remembering January 6 with Charlie Sykes
• Was January 6th a success? (With Charlie Warzel)

More Information - Three Scammer Alerts

The Internet has good and evil.

Three warnings to review on the evil side:

• Washington Post-
  • She believed she was an FBI ‘asset.’ The scam drained her life’s savings.
  • Enter the ‘ether,’ where scammers weaponize your emotions.
• Wired - 
  
  • Malicious Ads in Search Results Are Driving New Generations of Scams

Bursting My Balloon - Reflecting On Today's Realties

Image Source: VoodooHammer on DEVIANTART

Here are some post-election podcasts that I've listened to recently. They offer intellectually stimulating perspectives on the 2024 Election.

I still need to re-listen to them and make some notes.

Podcast #1 --

Fareed Zakaria on What Just Happened, and What Comes Next: After a dramatic election, Donald Trump has returned from exile. We hear what to expect at home and abroad — and what to do if you didn’t vote for Trump.

• Host Stephen Dubner (Wikipedia) @ Freakonomics
• Fareed Zakaria
• Age Of Revolutions (Amazon)

Podcast #2 --

Election Analysis From Down Under: Looking for a fresh point of view on the recent U.S. presidential election, Cal Fussman reaches out to his Australian friend, Holly Ransom, who gives leadership conferences around the world as the CEO of Emergent Global. Richard Branson nominated Holly for Wired Magazine’s Smart List of Future Game Changers to Watch in 2017. And you’ll hear why when you listen to this podcast. Bonus: A lot of leadership takeaways!

Podcast #3 --

Tania Israel: The Science of Political Unity on Guy Kawasaki's Remarkable People Podcast

• Tania Israel
• McConnell's Ice Cream
• AllSides.com
• Beyond Your Bubble

Podcast #4 --

David Farrier's Flightless Bird podcast Election Night

• It's OK to Feel Shitty
• Feedback: [email protected]

Podcast #5 --

Tangible's Never Let Issues Prevent Relationships – Dr. Chad Lakies and President Emeritus Dr. Dale A. Meyer

• "How the Light Shines Through: Resilient Witness in Dark Times" by Chad Lakies (Amazon)

If you have other resources, then please let me know.

Marking This Someday-Maybe Item Done

I was doing my personal Getting Things Done (GTD) Weekly Review today and came across this Someday/Maybe item:

Next time in Las Vegas, try Arts District Kitchen and Able Baker Brewery

Well, I can mark that done:

All Photos From Visit (August 2024)

Links From My M-Conference DEFCON Presentation

I recently presented the following presentation at Manager-Tools.com's M-Conference 2024.:

"From The Dark Web To the Boardroom: Cybersecurity Strategies from 15 years of attending DEFCON" (PDF presentation download)

These are all the links I referenced in my presentation:

• https://www.technewsradio.com/2024/09/defcon-32-2024-notes-references.html
• https://media.defcon.org 
• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sun_Tzu
• https://www.wired.com/story/russia-gru-unit-29155-hacker-team/
• https://www.infosecurity-magazine.com/news/malware-service-top-threat/
• https://www.helpnetsecurity.com/2024/02/02/ddos-attacks-h2-2023/
• https://www.nsa.gov/Podcast/
• https://stpetecatalyst.com/local-cybersecurity-firm-we-hired-a-north-korean-hacker/
• https://www.infosecurity-magazine.com/news/malware-service-top-threat/
• https://www.helpnetsecurity.com/2024/02/02/ddos-attacks-h2-2023/
• https://www.hivesystems.com/blog/are-your-passwords-in-the-green
• https://informationisbeautiful.net/visualizations/most-common-pin-codes/
• https://gizmodo.com/google-just-made-entering-passwords-on-desktop-a-thing-of-the-past-200050128
• https://www.aboutamazon.com/news/innovation-at-amazon/what-is-amazon-project-kuiper
• DEFCON Examples:
  
  • https://media.defcon.org/DEF%20CON%2032/DEF%20CON%2032%20presentations/DEF%20CON%2032%20-%20Lennert%20Wouters%20Ian%20Carroll%20-%20Unsaflok%20-%20Hacking%20millions%20of%20hotel%20locks.pdf
  • VIASAT
    • https://forum.defcon.org/node/246846
    • https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qI_ICtX3Gm8&themeRefresh=1 
• https://www.blackhillsinfosec.com/satellite-hacking/
• ZERO TRUST
  • https://dodcio.defense.gov/Portals/0/Documents/Library/CS-Ref-Architecture.pdf
  • https://dodcio.defense.gov/Portals/0/Documents/Library/(U)ZT_RA_v2.0(U)_Sep22.pdf
  • https://dodcio.defense.gov/Portals/0/Documents/Library/ZeroTrustOverlays.pdf
  • https://dodcio.defense.gov/Portals/0/Documents/Library/DoD-ZTStrategy.pdf
• https://www.bleepingcomputer.com/news/security/hackers-use-poc-exploits-in-attacks-22-minutes-after-release/
• CROWD STRIKE Updates/Patching Issues:
  • https://www.wired.com/story/microsoft-windows-outage-crowdstrike-global-it-probems/
  • https://www.reddit.com/r/crowdstrike/comments/1e6vmkf/bsod_error_in_latest_crowdstrike_update/?rdt=35791
  • https://x.com/Xaaavier_8613/status/1814180533108400569
  • https://krebsonsecurity.com/2024/07/global-microsoft-meltdown-tied-to-bad-crowstrike-update/
  • https://www.wired.com/story/microsoft-crowdstrike-outage-cash/
  • https://www.wired.com/story/hospitals-crowdstrike-microsoft-it-outage-meltdown/
  • https://www.wired.com/story/crowdstrike-windows-outage-airport-travel-delays/
  • https://www.wired.com/story/crowdstrike-outage-update-windows/
  • https://www.crowdstrike.com/blog/falcon-update-for-windows-hosts-technical-details/
• https://owasp.org/www-project-top-ten/
• https://federalnewsnetwork.com/cybersecurity/2024/09/cisa-review-low-hanging-cyber-lapses-plague-critical-infrastructure/ 
• Bonus:
  • AFCEA's "Cybersecurity in the Boardroom" resource (behind a soft paywall):
    • https://www.afcea.org/signal/resources/linkreq.cfm?id=549
•  Graphics:
  • https://www.iconpacks.net/free-icon/test-exam-document-and-yellow-pencil-17449.html
  • https://www.iconpacks.net/free-icon/winner-podium-7836.html  
• Backup Material
  • https://arstechnica.com/security/2024/07/new-blast-radius-attack-breaks-30-year-old-protocol-used-in-networks-everywhere/
  • https://krebsonsecurity.com/2024/08/local-networks-go-global-when-domain-names-collide/
  • https://federalnewsnetwork.com/artificial-intelligence/2024/09/state-dept-looks-to-test-cyber-data-automation-project-by-years-end/
  • https://informationsecuritybuzz.com/generative-ai-fuels-new-cyberattacks/

Let me know if you have any questions, comments, etc.

I am open to presenting this in other venues if you are interested. Just let me know!

Recommendations For Distracted Free Writing

Wired recently published their recommendations in an article entitled "The Best Apps for Distraction-Free Writing: Focus on your words and not on your toolbars with these eight minimal writing apps for your computer, your tablet, and even your phone.".

I use two of those recommendations:

1. Obsidian (only application open, one tab open using the plugin
2. Google Docs (full-screen mode, only one document open)

Other best practices: turn off all notifications and close all the other applications on your computer or tablet.

These suggestions work well for Chromebooks, PCs, and Apple iPads.

Cal Newport's Five Books Read This Month List

I am a big fan of Cal Newport's Deep Life podcast.

One of his monthly goals is to read at least five books, which he then covers in his podcast.

Fellow podcast fan Bram Adams ([email protected]) has created a database of all Cal has read here: Cal’s Five Books of the Month.

Bram's site also makes fantastic use of Notion.

Thanks, Bram!!

2024 Continuous Year Calendar PDFs For Free Download

Just like last year, I have created some downloadable PDF files of "continuous" calendars for 2024:

• Vertical version (PDF)
• Horizontal version (PDF)

I hopefully did the conversion from 2023 to 2024 correctly. It was especially tricky since 2024 is a Leap Year. If you find an error, then please let me know.

These were inspired by Kairos Cognition very elegant calendar:

This is what the Horizontal PDF looks like (3 copies if you print one):

And this is what the Vertical PDF looks like:

This DIY Comic Is Fun - Lani

I picked up this comic from a former co-worker (@evans_comics) - Lani!  It is excellent. Interesting story based in San Diego, and the artwork is well done. The stickers are fun also!

You can check out his online store here: https://evanscomics.etsy.com/.

When Should Kids Get A Smartphone?

I think Cal Newport has done his homework on this topic, and I found his conclusions solid.

Here are three additional recommendations I have for "effective" mobile device use:

1. Turn off all notifications.  Only add back the critical ones like: Text messages from family members, key home automation alerts, local emergency notifications, etc.
2. Don't sleep with your device within reach.
3. When trying to do very focused work, put your phone in airplane mode.