When Tom Lehrer pranked NSA

LOL. 

I thought that song was hilarious.  You can listen to it here. Remember to always call it please "research" ...

Cybersecurity jobs in decline?

I've posted often about how to pursue a career in computer security, so often in fact that there is a post category for it.  But there are signs of decline in the field:

"During COVID, there was huge hiring. Then after that, the companies said 'Oh my gosh, we have too many people. We need to do some downsizing.' And what happened then was a lot of very talented tech people were laid off and began flooding the market in all sorts of areas and began trying to reposition themselves."

...

AI agents now routinely make decisions about a person's resume and many applicants lack the skills to game such software and bag an interview.

There's also the problem of ghost jobs bedeviling recruitment websites, she added. The majority of HR people surveyed in multiple studies report filing job adverts for positions that don't exist. Reasons vary from trying to give the impression a business is growing to both insiders and onlookers, and to motivate staff to work harder because "they think they are replaceable."

This is likely a sign that the industry is maturing.

New Viking site discovered in Canada?

If true, this is really cool:

ARCHAEOLOGISTS have used satellite imagery to identify a site in Newfoundland that could be the first new Viking site discovered in North America in over 50 years.

Satellite imagery, magnetometer surveys, and a preliminary excavation of the site at Point Rosee in southern Newfoundland last year could point to a potentially fascinating discovery.

...

Archeologist Sarah Parcak of the University of Alabama, Birmingham, used high-resolution satellite imagery to spot ruins as small as 11 inches buried below the surface, according to NOVA. Satellites positioned around 478 miles above the Earth enabled Parcak and her team to scan a vast section of America and Canada’s eastern seaboard.

The satellite images, two magnetometer surveys, and preliminary excavations suggest “sub-surface rectilinear features,” according to the experts, who also identified possible evidence of ironworking in the form of roasted iron ore. Radiocarbon technology has dated the site to between 800 and 1300AD.

Excavations are required to confirm the discovery, so we will have to wait and see. Still, we've known for a long time that Vikings were on that island during that time.

Interestingly, The Queen Of The World was born not 40 miles from Point Rosse when her father was stationed at the Air Force Base on Stephenville.

Are we winning the security war?

I was not really expecting this:

The surprising conclusion: there’s a long way to go, but we’re doing better than we think. There are substantial improvements across threat operations, threat ecosystem and organizations, and software vulnerabilities. Unfortunately, we’re still not seeing increases in consequence. And since cost imposition is leading to a survival-of-the-fittest contest, we’re stuck with perhaps fewer but fiercer predators. 

Something that feels different from 10 years ago is a much greater focus on security compliance: SOC2, ISO 27xxx, etc.  There's a lot more of this than there used to be, and this absolutely will help shut out the ankle biters and larval stage Bad Guys.  A second order effect of this is that the lack of success for these types will encourage some of them to drop out of the hacking biz.

Of course, SOC2 won't really help much with the top predators, but I've said for a long long time that you are unlikely to be able to secure yourself from the KGB (OK, OK, FSB). 

But all in all, this was unexpected good news. 

Summer security happenings

The Register has a good article on the security conferences going on in Las Vegas right now: Black Hat, B-Sides, and DEFCON.  The article is very accessible for non-security gurus and gives a really good flavor of what's what in the security research community.

Full Disclosure: I was fingered by SumD00d in the DEFCON "Spot the Fed" contest way back in (IIRC) 2006 when I was at Big Tech Company.  I wasn't a Fed, but the experience was fun enough to be memorable.

If you are at least casually interested in what's happening in the Security community, this is a good 5 minute read. 

Rodgers and Hammerstein - Edelweiss from The Sound of Music

The Sound of Music was an enormous commercial success, not only winning hte best picture Oscar but becoming the highest grossing film of all time for a number of years.

The film has an interesting pedigree.  Maria von Trapp (the person played by Julie Andrews in the film) wrote the story which was originally turned into a pair of films in West Germany (The Trapp Family and The Trapp Family in America) which were the most successful films in West German history.  The story became a very successful stage musical before being filmed.

This song was added almost as an afterthought to the musical.  It was written to sound like an old Austrian folk song but was entirely new.  It was the last song that Rodgers and Hammerstein wrote together before Hammerstein died from stomach cancer.  It fooled people all over the world: one Austrian gentleman once told Rodgers that he loved the song in the film but of course had learned the lyrics in the original German.

This scene reminds me of the "battle of the anthems" scene in Casablanca, although much more understated.  The audience singing along was a great big middle finger to the Nazis.

One final bit of trivia about this song: The Queen Of The World plays this on her ukulele.  She's really good.

More on Tom Lehrer

The Register (as reigning Nerd-Central) has a really interesting post up about Lehrer's life and music including the NSA, Jello shots, and not one but two Royal Family mentions.  Pretty cool.

Dad Joke CCCLV

Stephen emails a dad joke appropriate for the Florida summer weather:

I saw where the meteorologist who invented the ‘feels like’ temperature had passed away. He was 80… but felt like 94. 

Actually, 80/94 would be a big improvement on the current 96/119 (!).  Florida, amirite? 

 

Update: 

Here's what it "feels like" to walk out into the southern sun at midday. 

 

Sig P320

This has been an ongoing problem for some time and Sig has failed to get out in front of it, but now it's reached the tipping point for Sig. The recent death of a U.S. Air Force Airman who was shot by his own, holstered pistol finally did it. The Air Force has shelved them pending the outcome of the investigation. Clubs and ranges across the country are voting to ban them.

There's a lot of discussion of what the issue may be and a strong, if fading, pushback from Sig and the Sig community. I don't know if anyone exactly knows what the issue is, although there are some theories that make a lot of sense.

In the meantime, if you own a P320, it might be time to put it in the safe until this is resolved. 

Here's Wyoming Gun Project's video on the subject, followed by Brandon Herrera with some commentary and a lot of savage memes.  

 

 

Blogiversary

Not mine, but Dwight's.  He the go-to guy for obituaries and which coach has been fired.  16 years old now.  Congrats!