Archive for the ‘Professional Development’ Category
CWAP Study Guide (Book Review)
Filed under: Book Review, External Training, Professional Development, Troubleshooting | Tags: Certified Wireless Network Administrator, CWAP, CWNA, CWNE, Wireless Analysis
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I read this book to prepare re-certify my CWNE (Certified Wireless Network Expert).
This is an *excellent* read, especially for seasoned wireless LAN engineers. It goes into a lot of the “beeps and squeaks” of wireless networking. It takes an in-depth look into the MAC and PHY layers, including all the bitwise fields of the 802.11 MAC header. A well written book that I have gone through at least 3 or 4 times.
There are not too many books that go this in-depth on Layers 1 and 2 of wireless networking. The IEEE 802.11 Handbook is the “official” study guide for the CWNE, but I don’t think it is a clear as the CWAP Study Guide.
It isn’t a book that I would suggest for beginners. For those folks, I would suggest either the McGraw Hill or the Sybex “CWNA Study Guide”.
Happy reading!
SMX Advanced – Day 1 Recap
Filed under: blogging, Industry Events, Professional Development, Security, Social Media | Tags: Link Juice, Search Engine Ranking Factors, SMX, SMX Advanced, Twitter, Twitter tactics, Twitter tools
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I was lucky enough to be up in Seattle yesterday to sit in on the sessions at SMX Advanced. SMX stands for Search Marketing Expo and SMX Advanced is one in a series of a half dozen conferences run around the world each year. Each of these conferences is dedicated to Search Marketing.
My favorite session of the morning was “Twitter Tactics and Search Marketing”. There were several presenters, including Michael Gray, President, Atlas Web Service and Joanna Lord, Co-Founder & CMO, TheOnlineBeat.
Michael was my favorite presenter of the show. His presentation was fast paced and insightful – very difficult to put into words. He started his presentation with “There is no right or wrong way to use Twitter. You need to determine what works for you”, which set a very down-to-Earth tone. Michael listed off what seemed like a thousand tools and tactics for twitter, but my favorite soundbite of his presentation is that “the re-tweet is Twitter gold“. He suggested that you RT (re-tweet) the most self-serving tweets of people you want to notice you.
Although Michael was a hard act to follow, Joanna definitely held her own. She offered great advice with regards to Twitter use and security. She suggested the following:
- RESEARCH an application/tool BEFORE giving them your PASSWORD
- Read.The.Link.Before.You.Push!!! (reference to the use of URL shorteners and re-tweeting links)
My favorite afternoon session talked about Search Engine Rank Factors (SERFs) in 2009 and had heavyweight presenters Rand Fishkin, CEO of SEOmoz, Laura Lippay, Dir. Technical Marketing at Yahoo, and Marty Weintraub, President of aimClear. What I took away from the session was that Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is more than meta tags, inbound links, keyword density, etc. It is about being viral, creating buzz, and creating a great product. Laura suggested asking yourself “What is it going to take to outrank our top competitor?” Simple, yet profound. I don’t think many people ask themselves this question. I think fewer people are disciplined enough to follow through with the actions needed to become #1.
Besides the great educational sessions, there was an excellent vendor in conjunction with the conference. All the large players were there such as Google, Microsoft, Facebook, and SEOmoz. Microsoft had the most interesting booth promoting their new “Bing” search engine. I particularly liked that you could use an XBox 360 controller to control maps provided by Bing. The best swag was provided by SEOmoz, who gave away cans of “Link Juice”. The LinkJuice reminded me of the case of Brawndo that I bought off the Internet before Christmas (a reference to the movie Idiocracy, if you haven’t seen it).
Unfortunately, I had to leave the conference before the evening keynote on Day 1 due to client commitments. It looked like there were some great Day 2 sessions as well as vendor sponsored parties. I am definitely going to keep Search Marketing Expo events on my radar over the coming year.
http://interop09.wordpress.com
If you didn’t catch all the fun and excitement at INTEROP Las Vegas, May 17-21… well… you missed it!
Don’t fret just yet – Xirrus is giving you a second chance to experience all the fun! If you have been following my blog, you probably know that Xirrus ran a “Melee at the Mandalay” campaign with Live Men’s and Women’s Boxing. We recorded many of the matches and uploaded them to YouTube.
Additionally, we have uploaded tons of videos (boxing, product demos, interviews, etc.), pictures, and a whole lot more to a blog located at http://interop09.wordpress.com
Normally what happens in Vegas, stays in Vegas. Not this time! We documented all the buffoonery, to include Miss Nevada 2009 knocking out our product manager, Brian Mason (see below). Check out the blog to see what else happened!
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WiFi Pilot Post on CWNP.com
Filed under: Industry Events, Packet Analysis, Troubleshooting, WLAN Vendors | Tags: AirPcap, CACE Technologies, MetaGeek, Sharkfest, WiFi Pilot, Wireless Analysis, wireless packet analysis, WiSpy
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As you can see from the graphic on the left, I have a new blog post available on the CWNP homepage, http://www.cwnp.com
If you are unfamiliar with the CWNP program, they are a vendor-neutral certification body for wireless networking and security.
My most recent blog post at CWNP talks about a new product offering from CACE Technologies and MetaGeek, called “WiFi Pilot”. The WiFi Pilot WLAN Analysis kit contains a WiSpy Spectrum Analyzer, an AirPcap wireless packet capture device, and the WiFi Pilot analysis software.
Check out the review on CWNP for an extended discussion of product functionality, pricing, etc.
One other thing that I mention in the post is the Sharkfest Conference for Wireshark Users and Developers. The conference is being held Jun 15th – 18th. I am attending the conference and *super* excited about it – feel free to email me at douglashaider <at> hotmail <com> if you are attending. I would love to meet up and chat!
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Melee at the Mandalay – Live Men’s and Women’s Boxing!
If you have been paying attention to my blog, you know that I am in Las Vegas this week for both INTEROP and the Forrester IT Forum. My employer, Xirrus, is exhibiting on the INTEROP show floor. The booth theme this year is “Melee at the Mandalay”, which takes the audience through a several round bout between the Wi-Fi Array vs. the Traditional Wired Workgroup Switch. This actually piggybacks off the Xirrus theme last year, which was “Ditch the Switch”.
In conjunction with the Melee at the Mandalay theme, Xirrus is holding live boxing! I saw several fights today and they were pretty exciting! Although each fight has a new set of boxers, they seemed to be getting more aggressive throughout the day. I can’t wait to watch tomorrow’s (Wednesday, May 20th) matches, which are scheduled for 11AM, 1PM, 2:30PM, and 4PM. There will also be several matches held on Thursday. Here are a couple photos that I took standing along ringside:
You can also see video footage of some of the earlier matches at the Xirrus website – http://www.xirrus.com
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INTEROP Preview
Filed under: blogging, Industry Events, Interviews, Professional Development |
Comments (1) I made it to Syn-City. Whoops! That’s the geek in me. You know… the three way handshake… Syn, Syn-Ack, Ack (I guess its not a good joke if you have to explain it).
This week, I will be attending both INTEROP and Forrester’s IT Forum. Due to the lack of sleep this city usually affords me, I will be concentrating my efforts on my Computerworld blog, and plan to have a post everyday, starting this evening and running through Thursday.
It’s going to be a busy week for me. Besides blogging, my employer (Xirrus) is exhibiting at the show as well as providing the WiFi for all exhibitors and attendees. (Translation: I will be pulling booth duty. Stop on by and say hello!)
I also have a number of meetings set up with some real movers and shakers in the wireless industry. Today, I had lunch with Craig Mathias, who is the conference chair of the wireless track at INTEROP. Craig and I had a great discussion. We discussed
- What looks to be the most exciting part of the upcoming wireless track at INTEROP
- If wireless is a capable replacement to Ethernet switching to the desktop
- The general decline in interest in wireless security
I plan on transcribing our Q&A in my Computerworld blog post later this evening. Over the next few days, I will have Q&A with other journalists, analysts, etc. so reach out and let me know in the comments section what I should ask them!
I also have several other “extra-curricular activities” while I am in Vegas. No, it’s not what you’re thinking… One such event that I am particularly excited about it tonight’s “Beer & Bloggers” event down at Palazzo. If you are in Vegas, come on by! The logistical information is below:
Las Vegas Tweetup – 2009
Monday May 18, 2009 from 6:00pm – 8:30pm
Dos Caminos
inside the Palazzo Hotel/Casino
3325 Las Vegas Blvd.
South Las Vegas, Nevada 89109
http://lasvegas.beerandblog.com/2009/05/02/forresters-las-vegas-tweetup-2009/
Sharkfest ’09
Filed under: External Training, Industry Events, Packet Analysis, Professional Development | Tags: CACE Technologies, Protocol Analysis, Sharkfest, wireless packet analysis, wireless packet capture, Wireshark
Leave a comment I admit it, I am getting jealous with all my colleagues Twittering about the RSA Conference this week at the Moscone Center in San Fransisco. While the idea of heading to RSA hit me too late to make the logistics work, something that I am planning ahead for is Sharkfest 2009. What is Sharkfest, you ask?
Sharkfest is a conference dedicated to the optimization of the Wireshark Protocol Analyzer, which is now owned and managed by CACE Technologies. It is a 3 day conference being held near San Fransisco at Stanford University. The official dates for the conference are June 15th – 18th, 2009.
The conference has three tracks – one for basic users, one for advanced users, and one for developers. I am pretty sure that you can mix and match sessions from all three tracks. The cost of the conference is only $695 per person, and each paid attendee gets a free AirPcap Classic adapter ($198 value), which lets you do 802.11 b/g packet capture in Windows, directly through Wireshark. Groups of 3 or more are also eligible for a 10% discount.
If you have been following my blog, you know that I am a wireless packet junkie. I am attending Sharkfest with a couple other Principal Technologists from Xirrus. It looks like they have a great speaker lineup with Mike Kershaw (Kismet creator), Fyodor, Laura Chapell, etc. Of course, they will have Wireshark engineers and developers on-hand as well.
If you are interested in registering for Sharkfest, I would suggest doing it soon. This is the second year for the conference and the conference organizers told me that they are limiting the number of attendees so that it doesn’t grow out of hand too quickly. As someone who attended the first several Shmoocon conferences, I can tell you that you want to get in on the ground floor.
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Insider’s Guide to a SANS Conference – Day 5
Filed under: External Training, Industry Events, Professional Development, Uncategorized | Tags: SANS, SANS Work-Study, Security Leadership Essentials
Comments (2) This was the last day for the Management 512 “Security Leadership Essentials for Manager’s” course. Day 5 was a Management Practicum.
The Day 5 material was the most focused on pure management with less attention on technical information. The topics included understanding legal liability and managing technical employees.
As a management “practicum”, I was hoping for more scenarios, role-play, or exercises. That being said, the class did have an outstanding discussion on the topics at hand.
MGMT 512 uses a trademarked feature called “Knowledge Compression”. Most of the full length courses are 6 days. There are also a handful of one day courses that are being offered, so the conference runs throughout this weekend.
I had a GREAT time participating in the SANS work-study program. One of the most memorable moments was when the hotel staff asked if we wanted to jump in a bounce house they set up. Apparently they had it set up to model to a different group and thought someone should get some use out of it before they deflated it.
We collectively thought it would be a good idea to get a picture of us all jumping around with and post it on the website with a caption of “Volunteering at SANS is fun!”. Well, the bounce house had a “structural failure”. To make a long story short, I ended up folded like a taco in a corner of the bounce house with everything collapsing around me. Needless to say, we were all laughing pretty hard. Hopefully, I can get a copy of one of the pictures taken. Check out the SANS website if you are interested in their work-study program – I highly recommend it!
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Insider’s Guide to a SANS Conference – Day 4
Insider’s Guide to a SANS Conference – Day 3
Insider’s Guide to a SANS Conference – Day 2
Insider’s Guide to a SANS Conference – Day 4
Filed under: External Training, Industry Events, Professional Development | Tags: Intellectual Property, IT Ethics, SANS Phoenix
Comments (1) In today’s MGMT 512 course, we discussed “the value of information”. My favorite part of the course material was a discussion about intellectual property. I will have to write a full length blog post on the topic in coming weeks – the topic and discussion were simply fascinating!
We also had a session on IT ethics. I really like the printed course material for that section because there were a number of different ethical scenarios, along with a conservative opinion and a liberal opinion (not using conservative/liberal in the political sense). I thought it offered a lot of value to look at both sides of the issue.
As you may have seen in a previous post, I have been planning a short interview with Stephen Northcutt about the state of wireless networking, social media, etc. We were able to conduct that interview after class, and I will have it posted to my blog as quickly as I can get it transcribed.
Tomorrow is the end of the MGMT 512 course. I believe it ends with a Management Practicum, although I am not sure. Check back tomorrow to hear all about it! 🙂
Insider’s Guide to a SANS Conference – Day 3
Filed under: External Training, Industry Events, Professional Development | Tags: Communication Security, SANS, Vendor Fair
Leave a comment If you have been following my Twitter hastag for the event (#SANS_PHX), you probably realized that this was my favorite day of course material simply because this is the day we covered WIRELESS. wOOt!
SANS should really have a six day track focused on Wireless Ethical Hacking, Pen Testing, and Defenses… oh wait, they do have that and I have already taken it. 😉
At any rate, the Security Leadership Essentials course material focused on “Communications Security” today with sections on wireless & bluetooth, cryptography, steganography, OPSEC, etc.
One question that the wireless module brought up in my mind was “how many organizations audit for Bluetooth?” My guess is that few organizations even scan for Bluetooth. Even if they do, I think that only a handful doa complete audit that includes more advanced sniffing, pen testing, or vulnerability assessment/exploitation.
The MGMT 512 course also had a bonus talk from Rich Mogull about the current state of the industry – good stuff!
Lastly, today’s conference also included a vendor fair. Michael Farnum just wrote a blog post about how much he enjoys working “booth duty” at such events because it allows him be more of a security evangelist. As a vendor, I can relate to Michael and his feelings of working the booth. I also enjoy being a conference attendee on the other side of the booth as it allows me to expand my knowledge and participate in meaningful discussions with people who share my passion for networking & security.
Sorry, no conference pictures today. Someone should send me a tweet mid-day to remind me to grab a few for tomorrow’s blog post!
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Insider’s Guide to a SANS Conference – Day 2
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