Part-Time Pundit

Book Review: Knoppix: Pocket Reference

Knoppix is one of the best known (if not best outright) bootable CD Linux distributions. You put the CD in the drive and you have a running Linux workstation complete with many useful administrative and security tools. O’Reilly’s Knoppix: Pocket Reference brings the many options and tools that comes with Knoppix and puts it a small book. It’s well-written, concise, and complete. It’s roughly 70 pages of highly compact information on the various cheat codes (boot settings), security uses (such as cleaning virus infected machines offline), and Knoppix specific tools like Live Installing and persistent settings across boots.

This reference is essential for any beginners to Knoppix or for advanced users who are looking for the right set of options to get what they want out of the system. It’s an invaluable desk-side companion.

July 7th, 2005 Posted by John Bambenek | Book Reviews | no comments

Book Review: InfoSec Career Hacking

InfoSec Career Hacking is written to help young aspiring “hackers” to land that job in information security. The book is jam-packed with useful hints, information, and tricks of the trade. It covers basics for those more interested and less knowledgeable about security to the soft skills (people skills) such as running meetings and workplace etiquette.

The scope of the book is broad and goes back and forth between hard (technical) and soft skills in the chapters. The organization leaves a little to be desired as the back-and-forth tends to cause some chapters (like the first) to read more like scattershot. Separating soft and hard skills between chapters would be well advised. Lots of good information becomes a little difficult to find in its current form.

I was pleased to see a bunch of organizations represented as resources to get knowledge (such as the Internet Storm Center where I’m a volunteer handler) as well as a variety of software tools. This book is a valuable resource for anyone looking to get into information security and contains invaluable information to help one achieve and land such a job as well as to succeed in it.

July 7th, 2005 Posted by John Bambenek | Book Reviews | no comments

Curious What Democrats Mean During the Judicial Debate?

This handy translation table will help you sort it out.

Hat Tip: Dawn Eden

July 7th, 2005 Posted by John Bambenek | National | no comments

Blogger’s Identities

I read on Capitol Fax that apparently Matt Varble is in the business of trying to out IlliniPundit and in the past tried to get him fired.

I also read Dawn Eden on some Gawker hit piece on her because she writes headlines and pushing for conservative causes (as opposed to their columnists who push for liberal causes in their journalism itself).

Maybe I’m just that apathetic but I really don’t care about other people’s politics. There’s plenty of targets for those all across the spectrum that are actually in public life without trolling the waters of private life to shut people up you don’t agree with. Calling Durbin a dick for seditiously slandering the troops, fair game. Trying to get a blogger fired for being conservative|liberal|anarchistic, pretty lame.

July 7th, 2005 Posted by John Bambenek | Blogging | 2 comments