Ethical Hacker training

I couldn’t tell you how many movies and TV shows I have seen that have glamorized hacking as a cool and interesting thing to do. Hacking may refer to cleverly solving a program or device problem with alternative techniques, or modifying a program or device to access features that were otherwise unavailable. In the latter sense, hacking can be used maliciously to gain private information about people and organizations, or it can be used creatively to find and solve internet security problems.

Companies are now seeking employees with Ethical Hacking abilities to test their IT Security. Ethical hackers help an organization by actually attacking the organization’s system to figure out where there are weaknesses that need to be fixed. Sounds like a cool job with a cool title, right? :)

Believe it or not, there are ways for a person to become a Certified Ethical Hacker. New iClasses offered by EC-Council are now available online to teach you what you need to know to become certified. Session hijacking, hacking web servers, and web application vulnerabilities are just a few topics covered in the ethical hacking course offered by EC-Council.

In addition to Ethical Hacking, other courses offered by EC-Council include: Security Fundamentals, Penetration Testing, Computer Forensics
, Disaster Recovery, and Secure Programming. There are special prices and discounts available for members, government/military personnel, early-bird registration, and multiple seat registration. For course descriptions and more information, visit their website.

#770

What a way to end the month of November. I have a four day weekend, school on Monday, and the rest of the week off for Thanksgiving. After that break, I have one more week of school – and it really isn’t a “week” since I only have class three days of the week – and then finals start. Looking at it that way, all I can say is: Wow! This year went by incredibly fast!!

I came across this site that sells these amazing laptop bags. The company is called Rainebrooke and they have some lovely styles to suit a variety of tastes, whether you want a bag in a playful colour that pops or something more sophisticated that matches any work or casual outfit. My personal favourite is the Tuscany Leather Laptop Bag in black leather with pink suede accent trim. If you aren’t a fan of the black and pink colour combination, this bag comes in other contrast colours, too, and includes a matching cosmetic bag. Regardless, it’s so lovely and makes me want a new laptop more than ever, just so I can tote it around in this hot bag!! Can I tell you, this would make a great holiday gift; who wouldn’t love to receive this??

Exams, Cannibal Corpse and haunted prisons

Thanks everyone for their advice on how to fix my computer. I appreciate it, however I already tried most of the suggestions that I was given. The screen to choose how to boot up the computer comes up automatically, so I never needed to press the F8 key. I tried all of the options there and the computer still would not boot up past the XP screen – it only flashes that blue message and then goes back to the BIOS/Abit screen. I am pretty sure that I need the XP disc or the boot discs on the floppies, as I mentioned. I was told that any computer place will burn me a copy of the XP disc if I bring the computer with the XP serial number sticker on it, certifying that I have (somewhere) a hard, legal copy of the CD. I have yet to try that and I have a guy who is going to try to get me a copy of the CD. He has not replied to my message in about a week, so I will shoot him another one today.

I think this is a bad luck computer. It took me months, almost a year, to get the computer up and running from the time I bought the parts. The RAM was bad and I had to buy new RAM to have the computer work. Then the power button got disconnected somehow two months after I finally had the computer up and running. I did not know that was the problem, a relatively simple one to fix, and thought it was a bigger problem. Josh finally took a look at it, three months after it stopped “working,” and fixed it for me. The fan control also was not hooked up right and I think Josh fixed that problem as well. Then two of my fans stopped working (out of seven that are in the case) – but thankfully they are easier to replace then a whole motherboard. Next… I am banking on the computer exploding. The case is probably bulletproof, and I know it is heavy as a mother fucker, so the inside will be reduced to ashes while the case remains standing, 11 bays and all. ;)

Anyway. On Friday, I had two exams that I studied and prepped my ass off for. I created two outlines for each of the essay questions that were on going to be on the history exam and made a list of the map places to study. I also printed out previous quizzes and practice tests for chemistry that I reviewed to see what questions I got wrong and needed to re-study. I thought the chemistry exam was relatively easy, except for a few of the short answer questions that I know I missed some things on. The multiple choice section was a cake-walk, though, and there was even a question in there that appeared twice on the exam. So far, my quiz scores have been in the C and B ranges. I got a 85% on the first one, a 72.5% on the second and an 80% on the third… which I admit I rushed through and completed in about seven minutes. I thought I was confident with all of my responses and ended up getting two wrong. Considering my quiz scores, I think I scored a high C to a B on the exam, which is acceptable. I love A’s, but I know that A’s in everything can be a little rough to achieve… and sometimes, I just forget things or fuck up. No big deal, unless it is habitual, which I don’t plan on it being.

After the chem exam, which took me about forty-five minutes to complete, I went to the student center and reviewed the outlines and map for two hours before the history exam. The history exam went well, too, and took me about an hour and twenty minutes to complete. I think I totally aced the 10 map questions and did pretty well on the essays. I was relieved that the two essay questions I prepped for were on the exam. We had six to choose from and it was suggested that we prep four of them.

When all of that was over, I rewarded myself by picking up my check at the Halloween store (which was pretty nice, considering what I was making at my old job…) and going to see Cannibal Corpse at Starland. The show was pretty good; The Red Chord, Black Dahlia Murder, and Goatwhore also played. The music got kind of repeatative after a while, so I took breaks to go and sit outside. Cannibal Corpse were awesome when they finally came on. I left around midnight and I think they probably played until 12:30am or later. I heard “The Pick-Axe Murders,” which is probably one of my favourite songs of theirs, and was instantly happy. It was amazing. “Pit of Zombies” and “The Wretched Spawn” were good, too. I was waiting to hear “Gallery of Suicide,” “Fucked With A Knife” and “Stripped, Raped and Strangled” but never did – they might have played them after I left.

Tonight I am going to the Eastern State Penitentiary in Philly for the nighttime tour. It is supposed to be really spooky and I got some discount coupons at work. It should be fun… Tomorrow it is back to the same-old, same-old: school, school, and lots of driving in between.