PA IT Security Conference

Today I attended the 8th Annual PA IT Security Conference. It was my first time at this conference. I was drawn to it becuase the line up of speakers seemed to be very interesting.

Johnny Long was first. Johnny is a professional hacker. He has contributed to several security related books including Google Hacking and No-Tech Hacking. His talk was based on his No-Tech Hacking book. He was very entertaining and gave some great examples. I recommend seeing him if you can. Also check out his No-Tech Hacking book. It really gives you alot to think about.

There was a 20 year FBI agent who now works for Cisco who was also very entertaining.

The other 2 speakers were just OK.

Ed Skoudis most famous for the work he does with SANS was also a very good keynote speaker. He talking about the state of hacking and it implications on Enterprise IT and the Military.

On Life etc.

My friend Brian posted a rather long post here. It is a little long but worth the read. Going along with this I started reading a new book “Developing the Leader Within You” by John C. Maxwell. Now I am not a big religious guy and John Maxwell is so I am not sure how this is going to go but there was an interesting story at the end of Chapter 2 that fits along with what I think Brian is pondering in his rant.

In January 1984 Senator Paul Tsongas of Massachusetts announced he would retire from the US Senate and not seek reelection. He was a rising political star. He was strongly favored to be reelected, and had even been mentioned as a potential future candidate for the presidency.

A few weeks before his announcement, Tsongas learned he had a form of lymphatic cancer that could not be cured but could be treated. In all likelihood, it would not greatly affect his physical abilities or life expectancy. The illness did not force Tsongas out of the Senate, but it did force him to face the reality of his own mortality. He would not be able to do everything he might want to do. So what were the things he really wanted to do in the time he had?

He decided that what he wanted most out of his life, what he would not give up if he could not have everything, was being with his family and watching his children grow up. He would rather do that than shape the nation’s laws or get his name in the history books.

Shortly after his decision was announced, a friend wrote a not to congratulate Tsongas on having his priorities straight. The note read: “Nobody on his death bed ever said, ‘I wish I spent more time on my business.'”

I thought that last quote was great. I would encourage eveyrone to reflect on their priorities and make sure that you know what is really important in your life. For me personally I am figuring out that I don;t need to be completely happy and stisfied with the job that pays my bills. Becuase I can teach colllege classes part time and really enjoy that. And every night and weekend I get to spend time with Owen and Abi.

Summer is over.

While summer may have ended on September 16th for my friend Rich. For me it ended today when I had to break down and wear a long sleve short to work for the first time. I figured the frost on the ground was a good indicator that it was time to abandon the polo shirts for a while!

Also this weekend we moved the patio furniture to winter storage and turned on the heat in our house for the first time. Welcome Fall/Winter!

Las Vegas

As I posted about earlier we are in Las Vegas this week. Abi is presenting her poster at the Nursing Management Congress 2008. On Tuesday I attended a SANS class on Group Policy. It was a really good class. Got alot of very good info.

Today I am on my own for most of the day. I plan on riding X-Scream at the Stratosphere. Last time we were here we rode the Big Shot and it was awesome. Tonight we are going to see one of the Cirque du Soleil shows called Mystere at Treasure Island.

Then on Thursday we return.

I approve of this mask

Strolling through JoAnn Fabrics last week. I noticed that they had presidential halloween masks.

Allow me to introduce you to Chuck Obama!