New Year’s Day - First Post 2011

Same day I came out with my first post after a long drought, I fell upon this article Blogging Seems To Have Peaked, Says Pew Report over at ReadWriteWeb.  According to the study, blogging activity on-line has heavily dropped, while on-line content consumption has continued to grow.  Looking back at my side-bar, I have to confess that my raw content-generation post numbers have declined since my high-water mark in 2007.  However I would like to argue that while volume has decreased, quality has increased slightly.

Of course, the amount of leisure time I have available has also decreased which accounts for much of the decline in GSD posting.  At the same time, I could probably work on being more disciplined with some of my time.  Couple that with our “study” slowly turning into a laundry-room/super-closet of sorts and my blogging desk hidey-hole has disappeared. Yesterday I took down and stored away the Christmas decorations for another year (almost two-weeks early from my usual procrastinations).  This brought on a major re-setting of the living/family room area and I now have a micro-desk area set up there instead.  Maybe that will stimulate the blogging juices as well.

In the meantime, here is a getting-the-new-year started linkfest of new applications and neat utilities to jump-start the effort to push the GSD post-count for 2011 upward again.

FreeCommander XE Beta now public

FreeCommander remains my #1 top go-to dual-pane file manager.  I’ve tried tons of other file-managers and while there are many great options out there now, IMHO, none come close to the features and flexibility of FreeCommander.  It just works with the way I jockey files all day.

The developer, Marek Jasinski, was kind enough to give me private access to the alpha builds of the next generation of FreeCommander and I have been diligently putting them through the paces.

So it just in the last week or two that he posted the first publically available release of FreeCommander XE.  While it retains the same form and function of FreeCommander, the style has been seriously updated and the fine-tuning control is greatly enhanced.  You can get both the install version or a “portable” zip file version from that page.  Just be aware that it is still clearly a developmental “preview” release so while most of the features will work as planned, you might be a bit frustrated with what still does not if you are a power FreeCommander user.  I’m still not ready to replace the latest stable version of the “old” FreeCommander with this version just yet.  But it is a nice look at what is to come.

Other related tips that might be of use to you if you are both a FC user and a TeraCopy user.

• Integrate in the TeraCopy freeCommander - Basskarre.de via Google Translate
• FreeCommander Forum • View topic - Integrate TeraCopy ?

Run Command Links

When I am setting up special purpose XP systems, sometimes I have to make some tweaks to system settings.  Going the long way through menu systems to get to a particular windows is time consuming, so pulling it up via a run line is a big time-saver.  I’ve memorized many of them, but every now and then I can’t recall and Windows doesn’t make it easy to access the commands if you don’t know what they are to start.

Here are three bookmark-worthy resources for just when you need them most (XP/Win7).

• 174 Run Commands For Windows XP - Very Useful - PCRunEasy
• Run Commands for Windows 7 - Windows 7 Forums
• Run Commands in Windows 7 (List) - Windows 7 Bits (included as though it has much the same content of the one above, the comments are filled with many more cool items.)

VirtualBox 4.0 Final

Oracle has now released the final public release of VirtualBox now sitting at 4.0 - Downloads - VirtualBox.

You can also get it via their ftp page: Index of /virtualbox/

Brett Shavers of WinFE Blog fame recently reminded me of the MobaLiveCD tool.  While not related to VirtualBox, it does provide a clever and portable Qemu package to run virtual sessions of LiveCD’s for down-n-dirty testing.  It worked on my rippin-fast Win7 x64 laptop, but was very, very slow in performance.  So while handy in a portable pinch, it probably isn’t useful for production-level virtualization work.

There is also vbox.me ‘s Portable-VirtualBox project.  As I understand it currently, while there is a v4.0.0 new release support out, Oracle has now required the developer to remove direct inclusions of VirtualBox items from the package, and it is now set up in a manner that first downloads the VBox binaries then unpacks them for the portable setup process. And USB support still is in works as well at the moment.  YMMV.  See also How To Make Portable VirtualBox 4.0 For Windows at addictivetips.com

Network Briefs

Always a great source of personal tippage, TinyApps passed on a lead to the Dualcomm Mini USB Powered 5-Port 10/100 Ethernet Switch TAP.  How cool is this at less than $100? They also offer this larger Dualcomm USB Powered Gigabit Ethernet Switch TAP at a $150 price point.  In both cases Port #1 is mirrored to Port #5.  See also this brief post by George Starcher » Review – DualComm – Ethernet Tap.

Speaking of taps, in a former GSD post on the subject I offered these references:

As such here are some related materials on that subject for future reference when needed.

…But first, read and review this brief TaoSecurity post on SPANs versus Taps: TaoSecurity: Expert Commentary on SPAN and RSPAN Weaknesses

It links to two MOST Excellent articles on the issues of using spanned switch ports for collecting your network capture data, both form Tim O’Neill:

• SPAN Port or TAP? CSO Beware (by Tim O’Neill)
• RSPAN … Friend or Foe? (by Tim O’Neill)

OK, now the linkage on SPAN’ing

• Catalyst Switched Port Analyzer (SPAN) Configuration Example - Cisco Systems. A definitive resource.
• Port Mirroring on a Cisco 3550 Switch -danielmiessler.com
• Security Wizardry - Switch Port Mirroring
• How to Configure Local SPAN Port on Cisco Catalyst Switch - ItsyourIP.com

And my oldies but goodies favorites:

CDP - What Switch Am I Connected To? and Monitoring Traffic with Span Ports – SynJunkie.  Two really great posts out of series of ones touching on network monitoring, and Cisco switch/router configuration techniques.  I’m singling these out in particular as they are of interest to sysadmin troubleshooting on the network as well as traffic captures.

And recently found this Wireshark Wiki article as well -- CaptureSetup/Ethernet.

Which is neat as I just ordered up some additional reference for the new year: Wireshark Network Analysis: The Official Wireshark Certified Network Analyst Study Guide by Laura Chappell, Gerald Combs.  I sooo can’t wait for this one to arrive!

Finally, the Microsoft Network Monitor blog has this new post: Filtering On Timestamps which is good information to know if you prefer Network Monitor or NMcap (CLI) for your traffic capture handling.  Don’t miss the tip link to the online Date format converter page to assist in your conversion work.

Utility Roundup

Via the German blogger Caschy (through Google Translate magic), CopyTrans TuneSwift.  There are more than a few ways to move your iTunes stores from one system/location to another…though they all have their own quirks and shortcomings.

Check out either the CopyTrans Suite of tools or the CopyTrans specific utility as it may have a full-featured backup/transfer/restore solution you are looking for for iTunes/iPod management and recovery.  Currently CopyTrans is being offered for free, but will switch to a pay-version 03/15/2011.  You will need an unlock code so either use the one Caschy has provided on his page or the direct one on this CopyTrans page.

Because I never can remember the conversion rates for bps to Bps to Mbps as I deal with various network bandwidth graphs I’ve settled on Converber Portable over at PortableApps.com to prove me a super-handy tool for all my IT figure conversion needs.  Tip: While it can do so much more, just set the “Category” field to “Computer” to filter down the list of over 1324 various units of measure in 38 categories to just those used in the IT field.  It’s much less overwhelming that way!

ImageX GUI (GImageX) still remains my fav ImageX CLI Gui-based tool for super-fast WIM management.  However, 4SYSOPS recently posted about an alternative ImageX gui manager GDism ELDI v3.0.2. As Michael Pietroforte points out, the strongest feature/drawback might be the fact that it is a Java application so depending on your viewpoint on Java, that may or may not be a good thing.  That said it is a nice alternative. (Note: the CGI ‘avatar’ figure displayed on the ELDI page might be a bit racy for some so depending on policy standards, you may want to check the page out at home first before hitting it from work…just to be safe.)

First there was Orca for picking apart and manipulating MSI packages. Then came InstEd It! which seriously seemed to expand the options available.  Then I really fell in love with the light but perfectly handy (for me) lessmsi tool (still alive and cool). Now comes wind from Kurt Shintaku via his blog post RELEASE: MSI Explorer – Inspection Tool for .MSI installation packages of yet another MSI package inspection/change tool; MSI Explorer coded by Sateesh Arveti.

Ryan at CyberNet News seems to have slowed down on the blogging as well, but his post Stress Test a PC with HeavyLoad offers an additional (portable) freeware tool that can be used to put the heavy on a system for load-testing and performance monitoring.  Don’t forget other beefier tools such as the Phoronix Test Suite and Inquisitor. MakeUseOf blog also offered a while back The 5 Best Free Benchmark Programs for Windows.

See also the JAM Software - FileList CLI tool (freeware) for generating file-lists in a given directory.  Check out the ReadMe for additional CLI arguments.

What the Web Says…

Sometimes you have to go to the Web to find out just what is what and where stuff is ranked.  These were pretty cool finds this past week.

Browserscope - From the web-page “Browserscope is a community-driven project for profiling web browsers. The goals are to foster innovation by tracking browser functionality and to be a resource for web developers.”

namebench - From the project page “It hunts down the fastest DNS servers available for your computer to use. namebench runs a fair and thorough benchmark using your web browser history, tcpdump output, or standardized datasets in order to provide an individualized recommendation.”

See also the super-tiny, fully portable GRC’s DNS Nameserver Performance Benchmark utility for a no-install alternative.

Finally, got an Intel chip-based Windows system? You might want to hop over and try the Intel Driver Update Utility.  Ed Bott gets the hat-tip and has more information on his How to update Intel drivers automatically blog post.  I found a very new wired Ethernet port driver update for my new Laptop.  Please carefully note this one item from the Intel page easily overlooked:

Intel® Wired Networking note: If the Intel Driver Update Utility shows your Intel wired networking product ending in '(OEM)', Intel recommends you use the networking software provided by your computer manufacturer. OEMs may have optimized the drivers for your system.

Happy New Year!

Claus V.

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Worn Down and Rusted Out Linkfest Edition

cc attribution: 14. An Antique Truck by Jinx! on flickr

Thanks for the messages of kindness checking on me that a few GSD faithful have sent in over the past few weeks.

I’m pleased to say that Claus V. is still alive and kicking…just worn down and rusted out a bit.  As many of you have correctly surmised, work assignments have pretty much overwhelmed me and left me with little energy left except for watching Phineas and Ferb, iCarly, and Bones with the ladies off the DVR on the few free hours when I drag home at night as well as wearily wake up on the weekends.  Everyone has had to really crank up the productivity (already red-lined) due to economy pressures with more special-projects in the pipes.

I even got some time off today to catch the Disney movie “Tangled” with Alvis this afternoon.  I’m a sucker for princess movies!  I can’t wait to put the Blu-ray version of this one next to my “Enchanted” disk set.  Good family movie for all ages!

Anyway, the positive news from this unplanned blogging hiatus is that I have really been able to focus on applying many of the security/forensics tools and techniques in a myriad of very unusual incidents so while I am still exhausted to the frame-rails, it’s been a fun trip along the way.   Look for some neat stuff soon from that camp.

Nor have I been taking a “Net-free” sabbatical.  The RSS-feed collector has been diligently at work as well and I’ve been distilling the results to some of the most interesting and helpful links of all that survived the winnowing process.

So, without more ado, sit down, strap in, and hang on tight.  The Linkfest begins!

Microsoft Security Essentials 2.0 ?

Microsoft Security Essentials 2.0 looks like it may have been released.

Microsoft Security Essentials - Microsoft Download Center. Publish date 12/16/2010  (Note: as of this post, that link still shows a version number of “1”.)

I've been running the Beta MSE 2.0 versions on our Windows 7 x64 & x32 systems for some time and have been pleased. Love the inclusion of a right-click context menu "scan with MSE" menu item now.

This morning my Beta MSE version was 2.0.522.0

After downloading and over-installing the new setup file version downloaded from that page, it now checks in at 2.0.657.0

Some more info on what the new edition offers over at this Security Essentials 2.0 releasing tomorrow mynetx post.

I assume patient users of MSE already will eventually get a push/Windows Update to bump it.

Meta data in the setup file (x64 version) I downloaded and used did report it was a 2.0 version as well…so maybe MS hasn’t updated the version number on the page until an official release announcement…or it could be one last final beta bump before the final release?  I’m not certain.

Spotted over at the (German) Caschys Blog post:  Microsoft veröffentlicht kostenlose Sicherheitslösung Security Essentials 2.0

i-odd Firmware updates and other multi-boot/formatting toys 

I-Odd has released some firmware updates.  If you don’t recall the iodd : Multi-boot madness! post, the i-odd is an external USB2.0/eSATA drive enclosure that allows you to store boot-disks in ISO format and then boot a system with any of them via the selector toggle.  It is wicked cool.

The US i-odd site is offering Firmware Version 1.42.48 (ISO) that supports either FAT32, EXFAT or NTFS partition handling for loading disk images.  Until recently only FAT was supported.

The Korean manufacture's i-odd site actually is serving an even newer firmware version at 1.42.53.

Take your pick.

FAT/FAT32 formatting limitations typically have restricted partition sizes so you have had to use alternative formatting tools to get around those limits if you wanted a really big FAT32 partition to store your ISO’s on.

TinyApps.Org Blog recommended the FAT 32 Formatter from Ridgecrop Consultants Ltd.  If that CLI version isn’t to your speed, they also offer a Windows GUI version of fat32format.  Miles’ recommendations are always golden so that’s the tool I still use.

I recently found mention Fat32Formatter which has a slightly different GUI.

That was picked out from RMPrepUSB HomePage which has an interesting tool to partition/format USB drives and make them bootable for SysLinux or grub4dos bootloaders. 

That was found via this XBOOT vs 1.0.0 beta4 - reboot project that is working to aid in the creation of a multi-boot USB builder.

All this is still very interesting, but TinyApps’s find of the i-odd device makes all these exercises almost academic.  Get the enclosure, buy a 2.5” drive to stick in it, update the firmware, and copy your boot ISO images over to your heart’s content.  Then just toggle to the ISO you want to boot with, select it, and boot away.

One last TinyApps mention: check out his amazing documentation work TinyApps.Org : Mounting disk image partitions.  He sent the link to me some time ago but I’ve been swamped and only had time to do very limited Linux-based work at work so I haven’t been able to give it its true due.

Secunia PSI 2.0 Beta Available 

Security company Secunia announced in September the release of the PSI 2.0 Beta.

Auto Update your Programs - Secunia PSI 2.0 Public Beta - Secunia Blog

From the blog post, the engine remains the same but the user interfaces, the auto-updates, and reporting have all been revamped. Secunia PSI changelog

While I and everyone else can continue to benefit from the cloud-based Online Software Inspector (OSI) version, having a localized Personal Software Inspector (PSI) on your Windows system can go a very long way to ensuring your applications are able to be kept current without much mess or fuss.

Adobe Advances

The Adobe folks have been hard at work revamping and prepping a number of products that are often found on many enterprise and consumer Windows systems.

Adobe Labs - Adobe Flash Player 10.2 beta - This is the latest “mainstream” Flash beta version.  It includes enhanced support for IE 9.0 releases and full screen mode support for users with multiple monitors.  However it only comes in a x32 bit release version.

Adobe Labs Download: Flash Player 10.2 Beta Release

Adobe Labs - Adobe Flash Player "Square" is also available and does include x64 bit support for Windows, Mac OS, and Linux.  I’ve been running this one on my x64 Windows 7 system with no issues at all.

Adobe Labs Download: Adobe Flash Player "Square" Preview Release

Related: How-to: Disable Chrome’s built-in Flash to use a Flash beta release. DownloadSquad

You may also have heard Adobe released version 10 (a.k.a “X”) of the Adobe Reader.

Adobe Reader X is Here! « Adobe Secure Software Engineering Team (ASSET) Blog

Adobe - Adobe Reader download

PDF security guru Didier Stevens has some initial thoughts: Quickpost: Adobe Reader X and provided a wicked-helpful link to Adobe’s FTP server. The en_US FTP folder contains both msi and exe based installer versions!

To add to the helpfulness, Aaron Parker at StealthPuppy has a number of great Adobe Reader deployment tips and tricks postings.

Deploying Adobe Reader X | Aaron Parker

Uninstalling Adobe Reader | Aaron Parker

…including a tip-out to the Customization wizard for pre-deployment installer tweaking; note you can get the 10.x version from the FTP site.

Network Nuggets!

One of the duties that has required a lot of my time has been network monitoring and traffic analysis.  I continue to make good progress with Microsoft’s Network Monitor 3.4; specifically the nmcap.exe CLI tool.  I’ve not had a dropped packet yet during a capture session.

Marking Frames with Network Monitor 3.4 - Network Monitor Blog

Network Monitor Freezes While Loading Capture - Network Monitor Blog

CodePlex Parser Site - Check for the latest Network Monitor parser sets here.

In case I haven’t mentioned it recently (it’s been a while) inSSIDer Wi-Fi Scanner over at MetaGeek is now out at version 2.0.  It was a great help tracking down a network tap some time ago.

And despite my comfort and pleasure with Network Monitor 3.4, I am now trying to transition back to Wireshark.  NM3.4 only seems to output in “cap” format, not pcap.  That’s no big issue but I then have to do an extra step of “editcap -F libpcap infile.cap outfile.pcap” to convert things.  This has been quite fast, but it is a step I shouldn’t have to be taking. 

My biggest complaint to date with Wireshark (and it’s a noobie one) is that I kept getting occasional crashes during capture in the Wireshark GUI mode.

However since I’ve gotten comfortable working in the NMcap CLI tool mode, I’ve started flirting around the the TShark CLI utility for captures as well.  It seems to be more stable for longer-run capture sessions.

Along those lines I’ve been collecting resource links on TShark:

Tshark examples: howto capture and dissect network traffic - CodeAlias

tshark filters - PacketLevel

tshark examples - random notes

TShark Packet Filtering - TheSprawl

Wireshark/TShark Utilities - TheSprawl

Pcap format is essential as I continue to use the NetworkMiner Network Forensic Analysis Tool (NFAT) and Packet Sniffer for much of my post-capture analysis work.  Unfortunately, it doesn’t handle NM “cap” format files, thus the conversion to pcap first in editcap.  So capturing in pcap native files is a time-saver.

You may also recall that I’ve been restricted to using an older .88 version of NetworkMiner as some packet captures end up forcing a premature shutdown in versions up to the current .92.  I actually was able to engage developer Erik Hjelmvik in this Topic: Versions past .88 prematurely exit discussion.  He was awesomely kind and patient.  We eventually took the discussion off-line and with his gentle guidance I was eventually able to provide him some helpful data that explained the issue.  He thinks that the issue “…could occur when there are partially overlapping TCP segments at the same time as the TCP packets arrive out-of-order.”

A future version of Network Miner should address this issue, and bring many more enhancements.  Hopefully Erik will release an updated version soon!

It was really challenging but really rewarding having the opportunity to work with Erik on this issue.  He is a really great guy for kindly providing that level of support to me on a free-to-the-community project.

Microsoft Tips, Tricks, and Treats

Download details: The Windows® Automated Installation Kit (AIK) for Windows® 7 - Released in mid-November under version 2.0.

The Case of the Slow Project File Opens - Mark’s Blog; troubleshooting awesomeness!

The Windows 7 Guide: From Newbies To Pros [FREE EBOOK] - MakeUseOf - Nice resource for you all who are planning on handing out Windows 7 systems as gift to current XP users.

Enhanced Event Viewer for Windows 7 released - The Windows Club is a fancier version to view and search event logs.  Pick it up over at the sateesh-arveti - Site Home  on TechNet Blogs

Tenniswood Blog has an update tip on How to enable Remote Desktop in Windows 7 Home Premium.  Follow his links to grab the new and improved bits.  Me?  I’ve still got this around on our home systems as a “just in case” but am really loving the TightVNC 2.0 application even more.

While we are still on the subject, MakeUseOf blog has a really interesting Control Your Computer Remotely Using HTML5 With ThinVNC post worth checking out.

The Best Ways To Customize The Welcome Screen In Windows 7 by Simon Slagen on MakeUseOf has a trio of ways to modify your Windows 7 login screen ranging from the very simple to the very complex. Of them, I agree with the post and found that for most users the Logon Screen For Windows 7 tool by DanielNET software was the easiest to use.  That said I’m surprised my first utility to encounter in this class, Windows 7 Logon Background Changer didn’t get included.  It hasn’t let me down yet.

Image is Everything

TOOL: Image Resizer 2.11 for Windows 7/Vista  - Kurt Shintaku’s Blog is a dead-simple, integrated way to let anyone quickly and easily resize their images fast.  It’s a must add.

Freemake Video Converter updated with cool new features - freewaregenius.com is yet another great and very full featured video converter.

Lightworks - Open Source highly complex but wonderfully approachable video editor is out in a public beta.  I’ve been waiting for this one for some time and am amazed it is sitting on my desktop.  The GUI is very well designed but start digging under the hood and I think this tool has the stuff to leave the other freeware/open-source video editors in the dust.  For a Windows platform, this must be seen.  I’m itching to get a new video-production project to toss at it.  This is not for casual users who might find Windows Live Movie Maker 2011 or another similar non-MS product easier to get started with.  Registration (easy and free) with Lightworks required to get the download bits.  Lots of documentation in PDF form is a happy bonus.  Requires download of third-party “Matrox VFW” codecs.

For other options and software tools in video editing see this GSD Blog Video-Editing Resource Roundup.

Finance Planning Tools 

Things have been very tight around the Valca home.  For almost the past two years we have had to painfully downsize to a single-income family lifestyle.  It has been almost that long since Lavie was able to work.  However thanks to discipline and the kindness of family and friends, we have weathered the belt-tightening fairly well.  Hopefully the new year will bring new riches both in terms of our family employment outlook as well as the bank account.

We continue to benefit from the use of Microsoft’s free “Sunset” edition of Microsoft Money Plus.  I’m using the Money Plus Sunset Deluxe version but there is also the Money Plus Sunset Home and Business. 

However, if you trust and and are looking for a cloud-based financial planning tool, check out the following finds:

Sprouty - Simple and easy budgeting

Mint.com

Either of these along with some healthy Finance & Family encouragements from zenhabits, those (by choice or circumstance) living in the “simple life” may find some great tools and resources to help them breath.

More Utilities

These didn’t seem to fit in other categories, so here they reside:

CSV file editor, for Windows - CSVed is now updated to version 2.1.3.  This freeware tool has saved my rear lots of times for complex pre-editing of tricky CSV files before dumping into Access or Excel.

BulletsPassView - NirSoft’s new build to view the passwords stored behind the bullets in Windows / IE.  Doesn’t work for everything but is super-useful in a pinch. May set off AV as “hackware” or PUP.  That’s a AV thing nothing wrong with the tool in the right hands.

6 Must-Have Apps For Computer Repair Technicians - MakeUseOf blog.  Interesting roundup. Not what I would pick for my “must have 6” list, but they are worthy to add to your toolbox.

FOG-ing the Future?

With only a literary nod to JKR, the FOG project is one really neat looking project.

fogproject.org

FOG allows for Windows system imaging capture/deployments from a Linux OS.  It is very cool looking and very neat, particularly with an almost turn-key PXE-based capture/deployment solution.

Windows Image Deployment with FOG - Petri.co

Lifting the Fog - Compendium IT

Cloning Windows 7 VMs Using FOG - The Horrendous World of IT

FOG - Computer Cloning/Imaging solution Server (0.27) - VMware Virtual Appliance Marketplace

See also these FOG Project Video Tutorials

There is a lot of documentation and YouTube video resources and it looks to be a very mature (and still developing) project.

If you haven’t heard of FOG yet, it’s worth checking out, particularly if you are an imaging guy.

That said, I still like working with Microsoft ImageX WIM file images and deploying them in PE-based methods in our environment.  Being able to off-line mount and service image files has helped me lots of times.

Virtualizations

In the “Lifting the Fog” link above, the author incorrectly states that the virtual version of FOG uses Oracle’s VM VirtualBox.    That isn’t correct.  It is a VMware appliance version, not VirtualBox.  I guess it is easy to get them mixed up by name alone.  I currently have Windows VirtualPC, Oracle’s VirtualBox, and VMware’s VMware Player all installed on my system!

VMware Player still is getting updated (and remains free).  If you don’t want to register to get the bits from VMware, try this Download VMware Player 3.1.3 link via FileHippo.com.

Think the VMware Player will trap you into using only pre-configured VMware appliances?  Check out the free VMware resources by developer DEVFarm Software such as the really cool VMX Builder. One of may cool tools at VMXBuilder.com

VirtualBox fans may be surprised (or not) to learn that while the public build of VirtualBox is at 3.2.12, if you dig around you can find and use VirtualBox 4.0 beta builds.  I’ve been using these for a while and they are really nice!  I really find the GUI interface improvements particularly enjoyable…not to mention all the under-the-hood updates!

Download VirtualBox 4.0.0 Beta 3 - Change Log - FileHippo.com

Index of /virtualbox/ - Oracle’s FTP site for direct VirtualBox bits including the [DIR] 4.0.0_BETA3/

Whew!

Hope you found something here enjoyable and I appreciate the GSD fans who have been waiting for a new post.

Check back again soon for the forensics and security linkfest followup.

Even more goodies await!

Cheers!

--Claus V.

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Books, Networks, Security, and Forensics

The little-brother endowment for big-brother improvement has allowed for the recent expansion of my technical library by three more volumes.

I have just ordered the following books after a long wait in my wish-list pile:

• Network Warrior: Everything you need to know that wasn’t on the CCNA exam by Gary A. Donahue (Amazon.com)
• Mastering Windows Network Forensics and Investigation by Steven Anson, Steve Bunting (Amazon.com), and
• Windows Forensic Analysis DVD Toolkit, Second Edition by Harlan Carvey (Amazon.com)

I had flirted with also picking up the Wireshark Network Analysis: The Official Wireshark Certified Network Analyst Study Guide by Laura Chappell, Gerald Combs (Amazon.com) but decided instead to invest in a Canon Speedlite 270EX Flash (Amazon.com) for our Canon Rebel DSLR as all work and no play makes Claus a cranky boy.

The first two selections reflect an expansion and recognition that understanding and analyzing network traffic can not only complement Windows systems forensics and incident response, but in some cases be the canary in the mine that signals something much larger is going on worthy of focused investigation at the machine level.

A recent series of events have driven both these points home to me in a very powerful way.  So I really am excited waiting for their arrival.

As for Harlan’s book, it really is one of the cornerstone books of Windows forensics and I’ve really felt weaker for not having read it yet.  I’m truly honored and stoked to be adding it to my bookshelf.

The nature of my work demands that I approach things from an holistic approach and I really hope that the combination of these materials gives me a sharper edge in analysis as well as how all the parts can better fit together.

In the News:

(IN)SECURE Magazine issue 27 released - Great security and risk-management articles in portable PDF reading format.  I’m always waiting for the next edition!

Hiberfil Xpress and FTK Imager 3 posts - Forensics from the sausage factory.  DC1743 tears into the Hiberfil and touches on it’s compression as well as new support (script) for examination via EnCase.  The second post points out the awesome and free forensic image capture tool (and then some!) FTK Imager 3 is now out from AccessData.  This newest version does require a system-install, but they have also released a bumped version of their free/portable “Lite” version to 2.9.0. Go get’em!  AccessData Product Downloads

CAINE 2.0 Live CD - “NewLight” computer forensics digital forensics - LiveCD Distro - I was unexpectedly surprised to discover CAINE 2.0 “NewLight” was released in the past few weeks.  CAINE and DEFT both are my current favorites for Linux-based “LiveCD” distros and are jam-packed with complimentary toolsets.  CAINE 2.0 has a fresh look and updated features all the way around.  I’ll save post-space here by not posting a list of all the new and updated feature-sets, but suffice it to say, it really  is super-slick and just like mighty-mouse, lots of power in a small size!

Gift Card FAIL: What do sequential numbers and shopping sprees have in common? - PaulDotCom - Yeah…worrying.  Besides the obvious issues, what really stands out to me is that I’m not the only one who can’t seem to turn their brain off from security/incident response musings…even when off-the-clock.  Every situation and every place presents opportunities for mental security pushup work.

Asset Tags For Dummies - Liquidmatrix Security Digest.  Part II from the theme above.  Really, we also stick honking-big asset tag stickers prominently on our equipment that can be read from 10 yards or greater away, with enterprise name and everything.  Plus the brand of our whole-disk encryption provider on a separate sticker.  “So we can tell which systems are whole-disk-encrypted” easily by just looking at the case.  At least that was the justification provided.  Really?  Can we?

Memory forensics on Windows 7 (x86 and x64) and Windows 2008 x64 and Avoid the Knee Jerk Reaction -M-unition Blog.  Two great posts from the MANDIANT gang including the announcement of the release of Memoryze 1.4.2900 which has added support for Windows 7 64-bit, Windows 7 32-bit, and Windows 2008 64-bit along with the previously supported platforms.

Free Malicious PDF Analysis E-book - Didier Stevens.  Go grab it now!

FireMaster : The Firefox Master Password Recovery Tool - SecurityXploded.  Free tool to recover the master password from Firefox.

Symantec’s w32_stuxnet_dossier (PDF) is a perfect model of how a incident/threat analysis report should be written.  It seems to set a new gold-standard for informative analysis and technical writing for malware/threats.  Wow!

Tshark/Wireshark SSL Decryption - Lessons Learned - PaulDotCom - Mark Baggett has written a great tutorial on how to configure Wireshark to decrypt SSL packets.  Great stuff.

PrefetchForensics v1.0.3 : woanware - Mark Woan has made some improvements to this free Windows Prefetch file analysis tool.  Update your copy now!

Forensic analysis of "Frozen" hard drive using Deep Freeze - Computer Forensics, Malware Analysis & Digital Investigations.  Deep Freeze is one of several “steady-state” system solutions that “restore” a Windows system back to a predefined configuration when the user’s session is over.  In theory this should erase all tracks, but as all good forensicators know, there’s gold in in the streambed one you dig just under the surface a bit!

Xplico » Xplico 0.6.0 - Just released!  Xplico is a Linux-based tool that allows for reassembly of network traffic browsing sessions.  I’ve been having to use it quite a bit lately and find as I get to know its capabilities better, I am floored by the power and benefit having this tool in my arsenal brings me.  I’m planning a followup post on Xplico very soon here at GSD.  Stay tuned!

Happy Digging!

--Claus V.

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Mostly Minor Network Notes

Here are some minor tweaks and features, mostly of a network nature.

Manual Uninstall of the Cisco VPN Client « Mobile Expertise -- because sometimes the uninstaller just doesn’t work, and the new installer won’t put it on, particularly with that stubborn Deterministic Networks package present.

Get the Classic Style Network Activity Indicator Back in Windows 7 - How-To Geek.  I’ve not been impressed with the lack of network activity indication on Windows 7.  Sure, it is a very weak and basic way to see if and when you are having network issues, but it can be a good first warning.  This Network Activity Indicator for Windows 7 via IT Samples is a very good approximation to the XP system tray indicator.

How to Optimize Network Connections in Windows XP - Windows Networking - On my XP system at work, I’ve got several network connections available, though some are used more regularly than others, and within them, some bindings will not be used ever.  So it seemed to me that it would be nice to rearrange the preferred order of the network connections, and disable any unneeded bindings for good measure.  This article was perfect.  In no time I had resorted and tweaked them.  Subjectively I think it helped a bit, but I didn’t actually benchmark before/after performance.

While useful at work and easy to do on the XP systems, before long I was wondering if I could do this same thing on my home Windows 7 laptop.  For my own system, depending on where I am sitting in the house and what I am doing, I may prefer to hook up via a wired Ethernet cable rather than using wireless…watching videos or downloading mega-files (Windows Updates, software packages, virtual appliances, Live CD ISO’s, etc.).  However, I was getting frustrated as despite plugging in the network cable pre-boot, I always seemed to be defaulting to my wireless connection instead!

So I had been manually disabling the Wi-Fi then forcing it to go to the Ethernet cable.  But that just didn’t seem right.

I already knew I set a preferred order for network devices in XP, but I just couldn’t find it in Windows 7 as easily.

Then I found this.

How to Change the Priority of Wired/Wireless Network Cards in Windows - How-To Geek

Better, and interesting.   But what about GUI only lovers?

Change Wireless Network Priority to Make Windows 7 Choose the Right Network First - How-To Geek.

Making progress but this is for prioritizing your Wi-Fi network connections, not for juggling both your wired/wired network connections.

So I ended up pulling all the pieces together for a Windows 7 system; and using the “XP” method noted earlier.

Start/Control Panel --> Network and Sharing Center.

On the left side-bar, select “Change adapter settings”

On the menu-bar, choose, “Advanced” and from the drop-down menu “Advanced settings”

Then in the resulting dialog window, select the network connection(s) and using the green arrow on the right, change them in order up or down accordingly.  Save your changes when done.

In my case, I have the Local Area Connection (my wired Ethernet port) set at the top as my preferred item, then my home Wireless Network Connection second.

This way, if I plug in and boot, the LAC takes precedence and connection gets established before Wi-Fi.  If it isn’t plugged in, then the Wi-Fi connection takes over.

Non-Network Tweaks

One of the remaining pet-peeves I’ve had with Tatiana, my new Dell Studio 15 laptop, has been the sensitivity of the touch-pad.  I’ve had to put with with automatic text zooming when I brush against it or hover my thumb over it.  Touching the side/bottom scroll zones on the touch-pad sent web-pages flying up/down & left/right.  It was like trying to manage the throttle of a Mustang 5.0 on a slippery-as-glass wet roadway!

Fortunately, I’m not the first who has found this default Dell touchpad behavior, really, really annoying.

How do I change my Dell Touchpad settings and preferences?  -- Ask Dave Taylor!

Turns out Dell has an embedded “Dell Touchpad” management utility tab embedded in the mouse settings.

Poking around in there, I set the pad sensitivity from “hair-trigger” down closer to heavier touch, I disabled the text-zooming feature, and set the scroll-zones on the touch-pad to be much narrower than default.

A few more fine tuning tests and the touchpad is now no longer a bad-actor but well groomed thespian.

Finally, I added a System Restore Point Shortcut - Windows 7 Forums - great tips on how to make a shortcut to fire off an System Restore Point rather than the longer method.

Cheers!

--Claus V.

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Just a Note or Two and some SteamPunk

cc attribution: Notebooks by See-ming Lee 李思明 via flickr

Wow.  Can’t believe it has been this long since the last post!  What’s sad is that very little of it has been spent on the new laptop.

Mostly bad-crazy work stuff leading me to be exhausted by the time I get home from work. Then honoring time and family commitments on the weekends.  So much to post…so little time.

On the plus-side I’ve been able to really put some of the tools and techniques I blog about into incident response action lately.  While it is never a “fun” thing to have to do, it is pretty cool when you get to apply your knowledgebase in extreme situations.  While (unfortunately) it’s very doubtful I will share any information at all, I do expect to share some more information on tools and techniques I found valuable in the process.

I’m taking a break at the moment from technology posts to go a bit “old-school”.

While I generally use QCC’s freeware tool CaseNotes to document my incident response activities, and find it really does an excellent job fitting my needs I almost always keep a pen and micro-sized paper notebook on my person as well.  Beats writing on my hand and is great for jotting down phone numbers, bits of data, field observations, quotes, URL links, etc.

I’ve been thinking of this lately as I saw some Moleskine mini-notebooks a few weeks ago when visiting the bookstore with mom.  I didn’t pick any up but they did catch my attention.

Then The Art of Manliness blog ran a series of articles that really encouraged me to use them that much more:

• Pocket Notebooks: A Brief History
• The Pocket Notebooks of 20 Famous Men

The comments in the first post were a treasure-trove of links and materials for the notebook carrying fan.  I found a number of great sources for fun and functional mini-notebooks.

Field Notes - Seemed to be one of the most popular sources for no-frills “common-man” notebooks.

Rite in the Rain - Was praised by field workers, outdoorsmen, military/LE, and other extreme environment folks.

Moleskine - This brand seems to have splashed onto the market with much fan-fare.  The quality and variety seems to make them very popular with note-takers and artists alike.

Right now, I am using these Top Flight Sewn Mini-Marble Composition Books (Amazon.com) that Alvis tossed my way.  They fit unobtrusively in my front pocket and are surprisingly durable.  They are very cheap…so I tend to toss them when all the note taking is over and they are filled up.  Not really archival material.

I had been using these Mead Wirebound Memo Books (Amazon.com) but the wire ring would get crushed after a few days in my pocket and the pages tore out too easily.  So I just keep one in my car only for quick notes but that’s it.  It will likely be replaced soon.

These Writersblok Bamboo Mini Notebooks looked like a cheap and nice alternative to my current notebook fare. Made by K I K K E R L A N D, they seem high quality and fit the quirky and fun other products offered by them.

Turns out there is a whole fan-following of notebook bearers!

I’ve scored a few new RSS links for some sites that live and breath all things creative and useful with notetaking and notebooks.

• moleskinerie - a  bit spare in style but I think that’s the point.
• Notebook Stories: A Blog About Notebooks, Journals, Moleskines, Blank Books, Sketchbooks, Diaries and More - definitely worth saving and checking in on.
• Rhodia Drive - That little orange notebook.  I like the detective-style hard flip cover.
• The Notebook Addict - Reviews and perspectives.
• The Well-Appointed Desk - Writing and Work Desk candy.
• ’skine.art - Moleskine Art - I sooo wish I could do this.
• notebookism - tips, leads, hacks, and the smell of fresh paper and bindings…
• Trains, pens and planners - thoughtful thoughts on notes, life, and mono-no-aware.
• Museum of Notebooks - Notebooks from around the world.
• Urban Sketchers - I so really need to dig out my sketchbook an ink-pen set……

The Little Black Book by Pad&Quill - This was pretty clever…and inspired me.  I’m overwhelmed at the moment with ballistic nylon carrying cases for all my portable hard drives and gizmos.  After looking at this, I was struck with how easy it would be to stop by ye-old/used-bookstore and pick up some tomes that had outward character to their binding and cover.  Then hollow them out to make carry-cases for the portable USB HDD I carry.  Some glue and some tiny metal/magnets to hold the lid shut and bam--pretty neat carry-case!

SteamPunk Resources

As a Sherlock Holmes fan, I appreciate the romantic notion of the Victorian era (but accept the Dickensian reality).  Add to that the fact that Last Exile is based heavily on a “SteamPunk” styling and my artistic eye is smitten.

Turns out there is a whole fan-base devoted to making and living SteamPunk style.

Steampunk Wallpaper is a very recent find that has provided a ton of awesome high-quality desktop wallpapers in the SteamPunk/grungish style.  Really stunning work here by the artists.  Even if you aren’t a fan, you are bound to find something appealing.

The Steampunk Workshop | Technology & Romance - Fashion, Style, & Science - Ongoing web-site filled with the very best examples and guides to SteamPunk hardware and software.

The Steampunk Home - Neat ways to add that anachronistic touch of class to your home; many with commonly available materials repurposed.

SteamPunk Magazine » Downloads - Free PDF downloads of SteamPunk Magazine.   Very interesting articles and perspecitves…to say the least!

Happy notetaking and jotting!

--Claus V.

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A Dell Named Tatiana

After much family encouragement and a fair bit of penny-pinching, I recently ordered up a new personal laptop system from Dell.

This was to be a replacement for the well-loved Gateway MT6451 notebook I’ve been using.  I had already had the DC plug repaired once and it was failing again.  I wasn’t ready to reinvest in another repair, so it had been sitting static on my desk to avoid having to re-jiggle to cord/plug to keep power flowing.  Not very practical for a laptop.

As noted in a recent GSD post, I did a lot of research and consideration for this system choice.  I wanted something “small” so it would be a bit more portable than the 17” + notebooks now commonly available. I wanted power, so that meant an  Intel i7 core system, and I still needed something that was at a decent price point.

In the end, fueled by some good discounts, I settled on a Del Studio 15 (1558) notebook.  It’s got the i7 core, a 500GB drive (SATA…no SSD for me yet…),and a wireless 802.11a/g/n card that now finally allows me to take full advantage of the D-Link DIR-655 Xtreme N Gigabit Router wireless router I picked up some time ago.

I did spring for the full 1080p high-def display option (gorgeous!) though a Blu-Ray drive wasn’t an available option at the time.  However, standard DVD playback is really, really good.  It also has dedicated 1 GB video video card. And I got the Ruby Red lid.  A wise purchase as it really conceals fingerprints, and as my brother says, “…red makes it go faster.”

Alas, the Gateway just couldn’t successfully run many higher-end graphic applications under Win7; including Celestia, Photoshop C4 x64, Google Earth, and a few others.  It was getting to be an annoyance.  No more.  Google Earth renders beautifully fluid.

It takes about a minute to go from a power-off state to desktop.  I’ve yet to really challenge the i7 core.  I’ve done some x64 bit Photoshop work already as well as video editing and it barely causes a bump on the utilization graphs. (I run Process Explorer at boot as a scheduled task, sending to the system tray with the “-t” switch.)

I’ve not had time to finish setting up my virtual machines yet, so I’m very hopeful the i7 core will really add virtualization performance.

Sure, an i5 core would have probably been sufficient, but this is the very first time I’ve actually allowed myself to get a system I really wanted (from a feature standpoint)…and then a splurge of a bit more in power.

I’ve christened it “Tatiana” due to the red lid and power in honor of the Last Exile character Tatiana Wisla and the complex relationship between Tatiana and Claus in the Last Exile anime series.  She masterfully pilots a red “vanship” fighter and is Claus’ match.  Seemed fitting.  Hence when it was on order and I was anxiously awaiting delivery, Alvis would tease me with a wicked tone, “Dad’s been busy getting to know his new mail-order-bride. Tatiana.”

The biggest concern after reading reviews that really gave me pause to consider were findings that the cooling fan was obscenely loud in early Dell 1557 Studio 15 models with the i7 core: Review Dell Studio 1557 Notebook - Notebookcheck Reviews and this Dell Studio 15 (1558) Review - Laptop Magazine. And they got really hot on the bottom/top.  I am pleased to say that isn’t the case with my experience with the 1558 model.  While the power brick is thinner than I would expected (my work Latitude E6400 brick is almost twice as thick to only support a dual-core) it is the only thing that seems quite warm.  The 9-cell battery pack lifts the notebook up creating a large air zone underneath.  I find using a hard-board placemat to rest it on while on my lap is perfect.  The fan rarely spins up unless the core is really working, and the keypad/wristpad does get warm, it is not hot to me.

Software is loaded up. Things are tweaked.

Thanks to Tiny Apps blog for the Tiny HDD activity monitors post.  This notebook has no HDD activity LED indicators at all (what up with that Dell?) so I settled on the HDDMon utility. Sweet!

I’ve also tweaked it for some network usage requirements.  I miss the old XP style network activity indicator icon in the system tray so I added in a free Network Activity Indicator for Windows 7 - IT Samples.  More here Get the Classic Style Network Activity Indicator Back in Windows 7 - How-To Geek.  I’m going to return to network tweaking for Win 7 systems shortly.

All in all it seems to be a rock-solid, wicked-powerful notebook that I hope to get a lot of use out of.

Hopefully this will expand my computing abilities and enhance the GSD posting activity and adventures to come.

So, the Valca home welcomes it’s newest member, Tatiana!

Cheers!

--Claus V.

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Been too long…

Yep still here.

As Alvis has commented more than once recently in a wicked tone, “Dad’s been busy getting to know his new mail-order-bride.”

While not nearly as salacious as it sounds coming from her, I’ll save that info for a follow up post. However she is partially correct.

Last Monday, I had planned a relaxing Labor Day holiday chilling out at home catching up on blogging and clearing some pieces of work.  Mom had called however and decided she needed some out-and-about activity with son #1 since son #2 was living large in Colorado on a respite before leaving fair Texas for an long term work-assignment in a foreign country; Baton Rouge, LA.

So mid-morning I drove over to Mom’s, loaded up the car and pointed it to the shadow of downtown Houston.

She had caught a local news piece on the local Houston connection to the movie Mao’s Last Dancer and was determined to see it before it left the single screen that was showing it.  It’s got flashbacks to communist China and the humblest of villages, ballet, opera, love, ballet dancers, Houstonians, Houston sights and scenes, ballet dancers, a famous local lawyer and an international showdown.  And the F.B.I. makes an appearance at least once.  What’s not to love! Right?

Anyway I’d seen neither the trailer nor the news piece so was suspicious but a good sport.

We drove over the the 1930’s-era River Oaks Theatre, found one of the few parking spots that didn’t have a “30-min shopping only” sign painted boldly on the hot black pavement and stood in line for the tickets.  (Only later would I spy the nice super-new parking garage hidden across the street from the theatre. Oh well…next time…)

While I have known and heard of the River Oaks Theatre, I’d never been inside.  It reminded me instantly of a similar home-town one long since crumbled that I used to go to as a kid.  This one has been lovingly cared for by a devoted staff and brings back an instant ambiance of the golden-screen days.  The seating was very comfortable and I felt we were falling back in time. Well, had it not been for the fancy Hagan-Daas ice-cream bar mom was munching on.  The theatre specializes in international, art, and foreign films that would almost never see the light of projectors in the local mega-movie-plex.

It was a very full house.  And the movie was really good.  Sure, some of the Houstonian stuff seemed a bit over the top, but I guess that’s how most of the world thinks we talk. (We don’t.) And there were some local scenes in the background shots that were not period to the ‘80s.  But small quibbles aside, it was a very impactful movie.  Like most in the audience, I was leaking man-eye-sweat at the end of the film.  Definitely recommended and worth seeing.

Afterwards, Mom wanted to go across the street to the B&N to replace a Julia Childs book she has lost.  I got a bit sentimental (maybe it was from the movie) but it was strange.  Right inside the entry was a kiosk where a clerk was demonstrating the benefits of an e-book reader to folks, selling units, and books.  Time is turning my friends.

I worked in the local library growing up in my teen years and used to love the proximity and time spent among the shelves.  It was a perfect job. Now I seem to dash into the bookstore for a technical book, and dash right out.  Not with mom.

We lingered.

She looked at the tables, opened up random books, chatted away, and just was present there.

That forced me to be so as well.

And I noticed lots of books again; history books, cartography books, novels.  Their covers carefully planned to invite and entice.  Best sellers and bargain buys.  One shelf was filled with strange and unique books, selected by the local employees, with little cards on the shelf edge. The cards had the staff-member’s name and a single sentence why they loved it so much and recommended it.  The comments were more wonderful and mysterious than any ad-campaign or glitzy display. It was humble and seemed genuine.

And as I stood there surrounded by all the books two things struck me; that these books represented so many new authors trying to get started and old ones firmly established, all telling their own, special story, and that I probably was like many now, in too much of a rush to linger and let the books and stories seduce me as they used to so passionately, instead being addicted to the mad-hose-pipe flow of RSS feeds, Internet media, and that damned moving picture screen in our living-room.  What will such book stores look like 10 years from now? The same? or will they have been replaced by the Kindles and Nooks and the warmth of the pages on a cold winter’s night be replaced by the cool plastic.

I mean I get it. Really.  While I don’t (yet) have an e-book reader in our house, I see and understand the convenience and flexibility of having so many stories and such available on download demand, but real books are still touchstones, for now.  And it has been too long since I slowed down enough to just hang out with them and let them try to lure me away from the straight and narrow, to Timbuktu’s and fields and fen.

Anyway, by now mom was hungry so I suggested a local Mexican eatery in the East End or maybe a local BBQ place.

No.  Mom would have nothing of that.

We re-crossed the street (sorry Houston, you still have a long way to go to being a pedestrian-friendly town) and mom led the way over to the nearby La Madeleine café.

While familiar, I’d never eaten there yet.  Mom had and soon she had picked her quiche and tiramisu while I had scored a French-dip sammy and a cup of French roast coffee.  We sat at a small table, chatted, and took our time eating.  Both the time and the food was delicious.  And the people watching was quite entertaining.

Eventually we ended the early afternoon and we braved the now impending downpours of what was left of Tropical Storm Hermine as she started her two-day deluge of our bayou-based city.  We made it home, but there was some major ponding on the freeway lanes.  Only good timing and fortune allowed us to have our walkabout without a single drop falling until we were headed home.

Been a long time since I spent that kind of long, lingering day.  And I guess Mom knew I needed it even more that I realized.

Moms are so wonderful…

--Claus V.

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