The feature presentation for the ALE Central Meeting
on Thursday, May 19th, at 7:30pm will be:
“An Intro to Sudo”
presented by Michael Potter of
Replatform Technologies, LLC
Synopsis:
– The sudo command is a security tool that comes pre-installed
on many *NIX systems, including Mac OS X, and most distributions
of Linux. sudo allows for fine grained control of privileges as an
alternative to setuid programs & scripts, turning on read & write
privileges on sensitive files, sharing passwords, and (gasp) giving
out the root password.
– This presentation will begin with a quick demo for those of you who
are unfamiliar with sudo. The complete syntax of the configuration
file will be explained starting with the simplest rules to the most
complex. Finishing with a discussion recipes to solve real world
problems.
– I started developing this presentation after getting frustrated
trying to understand the sudo configuration file syntax. I added
the real world problem while helping people on the sudo mailing
list.
Bio:
– Michael has been working in IT since 1989 when he switched
from programming automotive embedded systems. Since that
time he has been involved in projects related to moving mainframe
applications to UNIX and Linux using open-source technologies.
Michael is the lead author of the open source library that allows
socket code originally developed on the mainframe to be recompiled
on Linux: http://code.google.com/p/ezasoket/
– Recently Michael is work on various projects from Groovy/Grails to
development of iPhone/Blackberry/Android applications for business.
– In 2009 Michael and his wife Lanna moved their consulting business
from Chicago to Atlanta.
[ED comment]:
Michael is an excellent presenter who last spoke at ALE in May
of 2010 with a first rate presentation on security and debugging
tips for bash shell scripting. We have no doubt that the sudo talk
will be similarly polished and informative and encourage
everyone who can do so to attend. Per presenter preference,
this talk will not be recorded, though slides are available on
Michael Potter’s download page.
=============
We will be meeting at our usual venue: Emory Law School,
Gambrel Hall, rm 1C. Meeting time frame is 7:30pm to ~9:30pm
Directions to Emory Law School can be found at
[http://ale.org/?page_id=2].
The feature presentation for our ALE Central Meeting
at 7:30pm on Thursday, April 21st, 2011 will be:
“Landing that Liberating Linux Job”
presented by Mr. Ari Waller,
Vice President of Recruiting, Thompson Technologies.
UPDATE 2011.04.28:
Presentation Slides and Materials now available HERE.
Synopsis:
— The presentation will be an overview of the current employment
market for Linux IT professionals and FLOSS developers with
attention to trends being seen in the Linux Administration, LAMP
Development and over all OpenSource (FLOSS) Technology
market in the Atlanta area. Based on these trends of supply and
demand, we will discuss points of resume and interviewing, as
well as job hunting tips and strategies, with additional Q & A
welcomed. We will also discuss how to work with recruiters
effectively, with a focus on how to help recruiters be more
effective for you.
Bio:
— As the Vice President of Recruiting, Ari Waller is responsible
for providing management and recruiting leadership for
Thompson Technologies, where he has been employed for
nearly 15 years. Despite the fancy title, Ari’s professional
passion is technical recruiting, and he takes a “very hands”
on approach in the day-to-day staffing operations with his
team. Ari joined Thompson Technologies in 1996 as a
technical recruiter and has progressively expanded his duties
and expertise. As one of the lead technical recruiters, a role
which he held until his promotion to Manager in 2005, and
Director in 2006, Ari has personally placed over 600 technical
professionals nationally and locally in a variety of skills sets.
He is responsible for the overall recruiting and sourcing strategy
for Thompson Technologies’ in the local Atlanta area and
Nationally. He also has Account Executive responsibilities
for strategic client relationships.
— Ari has been residing in the Atlanta area for the past 15
years with his wife and three children, with one more child
on the way in July.
=============
The meeting will be held at Emory Law School in our
usual Gambrel Hall, room 1C venue.
Our meeting time frame is 7:30pm to ~9:30pm
Directions to Emory Law School can be found at
http://ale.org/?page_id=2
The feature presentation for our ALE Central Meeting
at 7:30pm on Thursday, March 17th, 2011 will be:
“Protecting Privacy, Identity & Systems with GnuPG”
presented by David Tomaschik
*** Video of this presentation is now available for download or streaming
under the file name “ale-20110317-gpg-tomaschik.mp4” at these URL’s:
– http://arxion.net/ale/
– http://patshead.com/ale/
– http://jimkinney.us/downloads/
– http://dl.dropbox.com/u/9879631/
A member has also posted a torrent at Amazon S3:
– ale-20110317-gpg-tomaschik.mp4?torrent
File is ~443MB as h.264 encode in an mp4 wrapper.
Slides alone are available at SystemOverlord.com
For more on the math & history of public key encryption, gpg and pgp, visit:
– http://www.livinginternet.com/i/is_crypt_pkc_inv.htm
***
Synopsis:
— GnuPG is a GPL-licensed implementation of the OpenPGP standard,
first popularized by free (as in beer) and commercial implementations
known as PGP. GPG is used in encrypted e-mail, signed documents,
software package management, and even for SSH authentication.
If you are interested in protecting your privacy, your identity, your
software downloads, or in using one tool to manage SSH keys and
digital signatures, come and see how GPG can help you meet your goals.
We’ll also talk about best practices and options for using hardware
smartcards to protect your keys in your GPG usage.
Bio:
— David is a system administrator and Drupal developer at Kennesaw
State University. Additionally, he is currently pursuing a M.S. in
Information Security from Georgia Tech. When he’s not at the computer
(a rare event), he enjoys sci-fi books and movies and amateur
photography.
=============
The meeting will be held at Emory Law School in our
usual Gambrel Hall, room 1C venue.
Our meeting time frame is 7:30pm to ~9:30pm
Directions to Emory Law School can be found at
http://ale.org/?page_id=2
The feature presentation for our ALE Central Meeting
at 7:30pm on Thursday, February 17th, 2011 will be:
“Networking & Network Security Basics”
with Michael Trausch
Synopsis:
– Computer networks are something that we see simply everywhere
now. From the basic corner store to large corporate buildings, in most
homes and nearly all businesses, there are networks, both wired and
wireless. Networking technology continues to evolve as well, so
networking devices have gotten smaller and less expensive, while
implementing networks has become easier and more automated.
The big downside of this ubiquity and automation is that our networks
have become harder to secure, particularly when they carry important
data (for all values of “important” that may apply).
– Security considerations exist throughout the network and at every
level of the technology, from the network edge(s), the centralized
gateways, and the various nodes (computer systems, embedded
devices, or otherwise), throughout the software applications and
on down to the most vulnerable component, the human users.
This presentation will touch on aspects of all of these.
Bio:
Michael B. Trausch (a.k.a. “the genius who locked his keys in his car
at the January meetingâ€) is an independent consultant and developer
performing all manner of IT services using free software, including
network systems administration and programming (in many different
and often disliked languages). He works from home (when everything
is going well…) and devotes much of his time to parenting his five
year old son, Benjamin. He is an advocate for free software, public
education, and freedom in general, accepting the responsibilities that
come with it. He is also obsessed with typography and Unicode, and
drinks way too much coffee. ;-)
[editors note: there is no such thing as too much coffee]
Additional resources:
– Slides will be made available for download, as well as a list of
links to reading material that will cover all of the topics mentioned
in greater depth.
=============
The meeting will be held at Emory Law School in our
usual Gambrel Hall, room 1C venue.
Our meeting time frame is 7:30pm to ~9:30pm
Directions to Emory Law School can be found at
http://ale.org/?page_id=2
Our feature presentation for the Thursday,
Jan. 20, 2011, 7:30pm ALE Central Meeting
might be best introduced with the wistful
words of a wise Walrus…
“The time has come,” the Walrus said,
“To talk of many things:
Of shoes–and ships–and sealing-wax–
Of cabbages–and kings–
And why the sea is boiling hot–
And whether pigs have wings.”
— The Walrus and the Carpenter — Lewis Carol —
… because the time has come for
“A Timely Introduction to IPV6”
presented by Michael Warfield
*** Video of this presentation is now available for download or streaming
as file name “Brave_New_World_of_IPv6-Warfield20110121ale.mp4″ at:
– http://arxion.net/ale/
– http://patshead.com/ale/
– http://questy.org/ale/
File is ~234MB, h.264 encoded in an mp4 wrapper. Torrent files and
MD5 check sums are at the URL’s as well.
Presentation slides in are available here:
http://www.wittsend.com/mhw/2011/IPv6-BNW-ALE-2011.pdf
***
Synopsis:
— Yes, indeed, the time has come. The time has come and has run
out and the Internet version of Y2K is upon us. With over a decade of
warnings that it was coming, we have finally run out of of the 32 bit
version 4 Internet addresses and the last are being assigned out.
There are no more. And, with mobile devices and a plethera of
embedded devices, we are demanding and consuming Internet
addresses at an accelerating rate. More and more draconian ideas
on the horizon have come to light for keeping IPv4 beating on life
support for a few more years. The time has come.
— One recent author likened this current situation with IPv4 to be like
a huge company that has run out of bottled water in their store room
and distributed the last of their stock to the water coolers. Everyone
still gets a drink, for a while, but the water coolers will soon begin to
run out. But, it’s really more complicated than that. IPv6 is like the
newer bottles and a fresh supply, but the bottles are bigger and people
are complaining that they’re not sure the bottles will fit their coolers
and asking if they have to replace them and not wanting to change
and how do they deal with these bottles that are a different shape
and size and color. And as their coolers run dry, they’re eyeing their
neighbors cooler… And the alternative choices for what they had,
that they “just know” will still fit their cooler, and are “just as good”
(according to what they are told) in reality taste nasty. The time
HAS come.
— IPv6 has been with us and universally available for many many years
for those who want to explore it and play with it. This introduction will
examine the current state of the art and prepare the listeners to go
home this very night and be on line on the global IPv6 network before
their heads hit the pillows. It’s time to make that shift and make that
change and put it behind us. Time to move beyond this Y2K problem
once and for all. The time has come.
Bio:
— Michael Warfield is a Senior Researcher and Analyst for the X-Force
Managed Security Services of IBM Internet Security Systems.
— With computer security experience dating back to the early 1970s and
Unix experience dating back to the early 1980s, Mike is responsible for
doing research into security vulnerabilities and intrusion protection
techniques for IBM-ISS X-Force.
— Prior to joining ISS, now IBM-ISS, Mike has held positions such as, a
Unix systems engineer, Unix consultant, security consultant and network
administrator on the Internet. He is one of the resident Unix gurus at
the Atlanta UNIX Users Group and is one of the founding members of the
Atlanta Linux Enthusiasts. He is also an active member of the Samba
development team and is a contributor to the Linux Kernel and numerous
Open Source Software projects. Mike has published articles on both
Samba and on Security and is a respected cryptographer in the Open
Source community.
============================
ALE NW / SPSU Interactive Skype-Cast Details:
We will also be broadcasting the Emory meeting audio and
screen casting the presentation slides in sync to the SPSU
campus via an attended (moderated) Skype call. The SPSU
classroom venue will be showing the presentation with a
video data projector and appropriately amplified audio.
A live mic will also be available so that SPSU / ALE NW
attendees can relay questions via the Emory moderator.
The SPSU meeting has been organized by Joshua
Roberts and (faculty sponsor) Orlando Karam and will
be held in Room J 381 of the “Atrium” building (the “J”
building) on the SPSU campus. The campus map
can be found here:
Best parking is in the large lot at the south end of
campus next to the baseball diamond and the “L”
and “O” buildings. Try not to park in reserved
spaces, though I’ve been told that parking restrictions
are not currently being enforced in the evenings.
It was also recommended that you arrive on the
campus a little early and allow time to navigate
the road and building construction detours.
============================
Our meeting time frame is 7:30pm to ~9:30pm
Directions to Emory Law School can be found
HERE (or via the side bar link).