Book Review: Practical Intrusion Analysis

With a core emphasis on intrusion detection systems(IDS) in networks, the bookincludes further topics like wireless IDS, Intrusion Prevention System(IPS),etc. 

SNORT and Bro are the two main IDS tools discussed. Both of them are open-source tools. While SNORT is representative of signature-based IDS, Bro is an example of anomaly-based IDS. A signature-based IDS looks for signatures in the network transmission indicating an attack in progress whereas an anomaly-based IDS goes by a normal traffic pattern and raises alert if there is an abnormality detected.

There is some discussion on writing signatures for SNORT. There are sites on the internet where signatures can be downloaded. However, any intrusion analyst using SNORT in detail, would need to know the techniques for writing signatures. There are methods discussed in this book for strategy to create good signatures while going through a vulnerability' life cycle.

Some of the other network analysis tools described in this book include vulnerability assessment scanners(ex. Nessus, Nikto, router audit tool a.k.a RAT), packet sniffers(ex. Wireshark, TCPDump), file integrity checker(ex. Tripwire, RANCID, AIDE), password auditing(ex. Cain and Able, Brutus, RainbowCrack), wireless security toolkits(ex. AirCrack, AirSnort, Kismet), vulnerability exploitation tools(ex. Metasploit), network reconnaissance toolkits(ex. Hping2, nmap, ngrep, ntop). The distinctions between these may be small and sometimes even overlapping such as an essential packet sniffer in an intrusion detection system.

There is some discussion on web application firewalls, wireless IDS/IPS, some other less frequent topics like physical intrusion detection and geospatial intrusion detection. Web Application Firewalls are specialized IDS to cater to the practicalities like more percentage of secure network protocols in use and wide variations from web applications across organizations. This makes the the general IDS tools practically ineffective as a intruder can go within a tunneled traffic which is not configured for monitoring out-of-the-box.

To summarize, the book covers a lot of topics within its scope. It is a good read for a introduction to current intrusion analysis,detection and prevention techniques. A more continuous discussion with more real-world examples and their solutions within the topics would have made this a delightful read.

Book Review: MySQL Admin Cookbook

MySQL is reputed to be among the most popular open source databases. It is frequently used as the database component of the LAMP software stack. From the beginning of its development in 1994 to its acquisition in 2008 by Sun Microsystems which itself is now a subsidiary of Oracle Corporation, MySQL has come a long way.

The book explains 99 recipes which can be used by the developer/ administrator using the database. These cover main topics such as backup and recovery, configuring MySQL, MySQL user management and managing schemas.

One of the unique features of MySQL is concept of storage engine. This additional layer allows the user/developer to choose how and where a database table is to be stored. Four of the most common storage engines for MySQL are MyISAM,InnoDB,Memory and NDB. The default storage engine is MyISAM.

Before starting with the recipes for indexing, there is comparison of indexes between InnoDB and MyISAM as the main two storage engines for MySQL. One of the differences mentioned is MyISAM structures all indexes identically, whereas InnoDB makes a distinction between the primary key and additional secondary ones. There is always a trade-off between between increased space requirements and maintenance costs on index updates. There are suggestions for making the optimal choice out of these. 

InnoDB tables do not support fulltext indexing whereas MyISAM does. One of the workarounds for InnoDB tables to use MyISAM is via replication as explained in one of the recipes. One of the usual tips about full-text indexes repeated here is dropping it during bulk load to avoid expensive update operations.

Among the recipes in this book are steps for replication in mysql via scripts and configuration settings, manually configuring loadbalancing functionality on MyQL, using the blackhole storage engine for limiting network and slave I/O load in heavy write scenarios, exporting and importing data from different file formats, tips on choosing a storage engine. 

To summarize, this is a useful book with useful tips and some good recipes for the developer/administrator using MySQL in practical situations.

Book Review: Open Government

Open Government, the book under review is a collection of articles from professionals and notable stakeholders in governance, primarily from US perspective. With thirty-four chapters, this is a fairly fat book filled with case studies and opinions of various participants.

Some of the measures of government reform in this context include the recently recognized roles of CTO and CIO as part of the government similar to major business and corporations.

One of the important points made in one of the chapters "Government as a Platform" is that any functional democracy needs to have all inclusive opinions from maximum stakeholders possible. The advantage of diverse public discourse is that wrong opinions tend to cancel each other, leaving the the best ones to be considered for implementation. In present times, with lot of the population being internet-savvy, it is definitely a step forward to include online tools and forums for determining the public opinion.

There are two interesting examples of open government in practice given in this book. These are the websitesfollowthemoney and maplight. The first of these is the website of National Institute on Money in State Politics tracking political donation data. The latter is a public domain database seeking to track money and related influence in legislatures.

To summarize, the book seems to have more chapters than necessary to bring out the perspective. Some chapters are too technical and doubtful to give insight to the targeted audience. With a strong leaning for US examples and discussions, it leaves advancements in other countries out of scope. This is however a good way to see merging of technology in administrations in different ways.

Book Review: Friends with Benefits

We are experiencing the explosive growth of internet and its impact on our lives in ways unimaginable until few decades back. The 32-bit IPv4 is forecasted by various sources to beexhausted by 2011. Technically, these kinds of forecasts have required various solutions such as the 128 bit IPv6 protocol, reclaiming unused IP space,etc. 

The large and growing usage of internet technologies of various types has required the development of newer marketing tools and strategies. That is where Friends With Benefits likely fits in. It highlights the major aspects of social media marketing and is filled with examples, tips and tricks in a good readable style.

There is some good examples and tips given to improve knowledge sharing while maintaining the authenticity of the source. In this regard, the authors explain the skillful use of creative commons license to share material online.

The authors give out some really useful tips on using online forums and following netiquette. There is also some useful suggestions to make use of popular social news sites such as Digg, Slashdot and StumbleUpon.

To summarize the review, a practically useful book for this topic very much in 'beta' state. The authors themselves acknowledge the still evolving nature of this medium. Some more positive addition to this book could be more examples similar to tubetastic and techcrunch.

Book Review: The Art of Assembly Language, 2nd Edition

Book review of

Art of Assembly Language, 2nd Edition

For quite a few of us in India and nearby, Ramesh Gaonkar's book on microprocessors and to some extent Douglas Hall's microprocessor book had been the earliest microprocessor text. The 8085 microprocessor and its variants appear on a multitude of student lab kits and higher school, junior college and engineering college projects.

In this time of Intel i3, i5 and i7 processor and high capacity SMP machines, it is the admirable effort taken by the first pioneering microprocessor engineers which has given rise to the burgeoning IT industry of present times.

The Art of Assembly Language is primarily a similar text book for assembly language as the two books mentioned earlier. It introduces readers to writing 32-bit x86 assembly code using HLA(High Level Assembler) language. The author of this book is also the developer for HLA language.


The book comprehensively covers topics from the basic libraries of HLA to advanced arithmetic, macros and string instructions. One of the unique topic covered is the object oriented programming support given by HLA.

Some of the topics in advanced arithmetic are extended-precision arithmetic, arithmetic on operands whose sizes are different, decimal arithmetic, and computation via table lookup. There is a complete set of bit operations that forms a part of any complete assembly language. There is an entire chapter dedicated to bit operations including the basic six activites upto bit-centric algorithms and their implementations in HLA.

To conclude the review, while the book is no doubt well-written, the use of HLA is one of the requirements for this book. This could require some adaptation in universities not using HLA as the learning tool.

Earlier published in desicritics.org

Trust in God

United with me, you shall overcome all difficulties by my grace.
(Hinduism, Bhagavad Gita)

Trust in God

United with me, you shall overcome all difficulties by my grace.
(Hinduism, Bhagavad Gita)

Things to do

Seek to do brave and lovely things that are left
undone by the majority of people. Give gifts of love and
peace to those whom others pass by.
(Paramahansa Yogananda, Spiritual Diary)

Natural Renunciation and Discrimination

Bhakti, love of God, is the essence of all spiritual discipline. Through love one acquires renunciation and discrimination naturally.
(Ramakrishna, `The Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna')

Convert myself

You should transfer your attention from failure to success, from worry to calmness, from mental wanderings
to concentration, from restlessness to peace, and from peace to the divine bliss within. When you  attain this state of Self-realization the purpose of your life will have been gloriously fulfilled.
(Paramahansa Yogananda, "The law of Success")

THE IMPERFECTION OF TIME

Our history tears us to pieces. Drop it as you do a dream when you wake up.

The whole world is like Alice in Wonderland, a madhouse. As long as you see everything slide by in reasonable sequence, one thing firmly tied to another, you are a bound person. When you realize there is no sequence, no congruity, you are free.

Swami Ashokananda
Shafts of Light: Selected teachings of Swami Ashokananda for Spiritual Practice
Compiled and Edited by Sister Gargi and Shelley Brown

Patience and Impatience

A person who is not afflicted by time - he alone has patience, endurance.

Do you know that patience is another name for eternity? Impatience is a state of mind that is to be condemned in every phase of life.

Do you know what is behind impatience? We are not willing to undertake as much trouble as we should. We want to get it over with quickly and get on to something else. Impatience can do you a great deal of harm.

Swami Ashokananda
Shafts of Light: Selected teachings of Swami Ashokananda for Spiritual Practice
Compiled and Edited by Sister Gargi and Shelley Brown

The impossible dream

Lyrics to "The Impossible Dream" from MAN OF LA MANCHA (1972)


To dream the impossible dream
To fight the unbeatable foe
To bear with unbearable sorrow
To run where the brave dare not go
To right the unrightable wrong
To love pure and chaste from afar
To try when your arms are too weary
To reach the unreachable star

This is my quest
To follow that star
No matter how hopeless
No matter how far

To fight for the right
Without question or pause
To be willing to march into Hell
For a heavenly cause

And I know if I'll only be true
To this glorious quest
That my heart will lie peaceful and calm
When I'm laid to my rest

And the world will be better for this
That one man, scorned and covered with scars
Still strove with his last ounce of courage
To reach the unreachable star

Fighting Bad Habits

Shall you be better able to fight [bad habits]
tomorrow than today? Why add today's mistakes to
yesterday's? You have to turn to God sometime, so isn't
it better to do it now? Just give yourself to Him and say:
"Lord, naughty or good I am Your child. You must take
care of me." If you keep on trying, you will improve.
A saint is a sinner who never gave up.
(Paramahansa Yogananda, `Sayings of Paramahansa Yogananda')

Work in Truth - SV

In every attempt there will be one set of people who will applaud, and another who will pick holes. Go on doing your own work, what need have you to reply to any party? "Truth alone triumphs, not falsehood. Through truth alone lies the path of the gods" (Mundaka Upanishad, 3.1.6). Everything will come by degrees.

Be afraid of nothing

Trials will never be lacking in religious life, nor does God want them to be. Since he brings souls there to be proved and purified, like gold, with hammer and the fire (Eccles. 2:5), it is fitting that they encounter trials and temptations from human beings and from devils, and the fire of anguish and affliction….
The religious must undergo these trials and should endeavor to bear them patiently and in conformity to God's will, and not so sustain them that instead of being approved by God in this affliction he be reproved for not having wanted to carry the cross of Christ in patience.
(St. John of the Cross)

I am speaking practical truth to you, practical sense; and giving you a philosophy that will take away all of your consciousness of hurt. Be afraid of nothing. If death comes, all right. What is going to happen, will happen. Refuse to be intimidated by this dream. Affirm: `I will not be frightened by ill health, poverty, and accidents. Bless me, O Lord, that when You put me through trials, I realize their delusive nature and become victorious over them by positive action and by remaining inwardly united to You'…
(Paramahansa Yogananda, `A World in Transition')

Those whom Love draws near are the most severely tried.
(Islam, Attar)

Have Faith

For truly, I say to you, if you have faith as a grain of mustard seed, you will say to this mountain, "Move from here to there," and it will move; and nothing will be impossible to you.
(Christianity, Matthew 17.20)

By faith you shall be free and go beyond the world of death.
(Buddhism, Sutta Nipata 1146)

The true believers are those whose hearts are filled with awe at the
mention of God, and whose faith grows stronger as they listen to His
revelations. They put their trust in their Lord, pray steadfastly, and give in alms of that which We have given them. Such are the true
believers. They shall be exalted and forgiven by their Lord, and a
generous provision shall be made for them.
(Islam, Qur'an)

Sorrow looks down, Worry looks around, but Faith looks up.
(Unknown )

DO NOT LOSE YOUR INWARD PEACE

Do not lose your inward peace for anything whatsoever, even if your whole world seems upset. Commend all to God, and then lie still and be at rest in God's bosom…Whatever happens, abide steadfast in a determination to cling simply to God, trusting to God's eternal love for you.
(St. Francis de Sales)

Fix your mind inwardly between the eyebrows [as in meditation] on the shoreless lake of peace. Watch the eternal circle of rippling peace around you. The more you watch intently, the more you will feel the wavelets of peace spreading from the eyebrows to the forehead, from the forehead to the heart, and on to every cell in your body. Now the waters of peace are overflowing the banks of your body and inundating the vast territory of your mind. The flood of peace
flows over the boundaries of your mind and moves on in infinite directions
(`Paramahansa Yogananda, Metaphysical Meditations')

Peace…be still…and know…that I am God.
Peace…be still…and know…that I am.
Peace…be still…and Know.
Peace…be still.
Peace…be
Peace…
Peace…
Peace.
(Peace Pilgrim, `Peace Pilgrim')

Overcoming fear and desire

Deliver me, O Jesus,
From the desire of being loved,
From the desire of being extolled,
From the desire of being honored,
From the desire of being praised,
From the desire of being preferred,
From the desire of being consulted,
From the desire of being approved,
From the desire of being popular,
From the fear of being humiliated,
From the fear of being despised,
From the fear of suffering rebukes,
From the fear of being calumniated,
From the fear of being forgotten,
From the fear of being wronged,
From the fear of being ridiculed,
From the fear of being suspected.
(Mother Teresa, `Mother Teresa, A Simple Path')

Some SV thoughts

Who is independent? Not our body, for it depends upon external conditions; nor our mind, because the thoughts of which it is composed are caused. It is our soul that is independent. The Vedas say that the whole world is a mixture of independence and dependence, of freedom and slavery, but through it all shines the soul independent, immortal, pure, perfect, holy.

----
Interviewer: Swami, what you claim is that all is good?
Vivekananda: By no means. My claim is that all is not--only God is! That makes all the difference.

----
Teach yourselves, teach everyone his real nature, call uon the sleeping soul and see how it awakes. Power will come, glory will come, goodness will come, purity will come, and everything that is excellent will come when this sleeping soul is roused to self-conscious activity.