Jawaad lent me John Grisham’s The Broker. It has been a pretty good read so far. It is like most of his books, a good entertaining read. Nothing that brings about any existential insight into man. Pretty much there are good guys, that really aren’t that good, and they have some redeeming goodness to them, they struggle, they come out on top.

Also, got Kevin Mitnick’s new book from the library, The Art of Intrusion. A must read for anyone with some influence on IT in their organization (or home). And even for those just curious. Smart, security educated users = better security. Unless that happens, people won’t learn from the mistakes that are made when it comes to computer security. It proves once again, that the hackers are one step ahead of you. (And sometimes more. Especially, when you are several steps behind…Helped my sister get her laptop up to date on patches and virus definitions yesterday. Laptops can be a cesspool if they aren’t kept up to date!) And while you will not be able to stop them completely, you can at least help to slow them down. So remember: Keep patched; keep virus definitions up to date; Run periodic scans for viruses, trojans, and spyware; Lock your computer when you walk away from it; Periodic password changes are good; Write security policy of the least common denominator, and give more explicit rights only when justifiably needed; If your applications require you to run with rights that are higher that what should be needed, it is time to look for some new applications (you should really complain to the manufacture about it)… there are more, but are you getting the point? The cliché is, “You are only as strong as your weakest link. But it is so true.

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