5 Things in 20 Minutes: Session notes from SANS New2Cyber Summit 23rd March 2022

The opening keynote in this free summit from SANS was by James Lyne. James is the Chief Technology Officer, SANS Institute. What really intrigued me was that he had the session pre-recorded. Timed. And it told us how many hacks we will hear about in that time. Opening ports with netcat and using it as a backdoor. https://cyberstart.com/ to practice cyber security- (PS: Ideas for labs???) Client side code execution, and use the tab called terminal. Look at the code, understand the function and try to use those functions one by one Wget to download files fro internet instead of using browsers Possible lab: Bruteforce a password by using a wordlist from github Have we covered github in our basics?? Fcrackzip a brute forcer for zip files (download a word list file consisting of passwords and run brute force attack) This connects with data leaks Grep- lets us search for content or exclude content Automating the brute force by a simple shell script If you want to know how fast or slow a language is, try to write the same program in C, python and shell. C being the low level language, will be soooper fast! But it can be easily detected by the defenders as well. I wonder what kind of HTTP headers are being sent by the client. SO! A machine with that shell script and a web server → learners will analyze the packer capture and they will analyze the web server logs as well

When God Wants a Man

When God Wants a Man

(Anonymous)



When God wants to drill a man and thrill a man and skill a man...

When God wants to mold a man to play the noblest part;

When He yearns with all His heart to create so great and bold a man that all the world shall praise...

Watch His methods;

Watch His ways!



How He ruthlessly perfects whom He royally elects...

How He hammers him and hurts him,

And with mighty blows converts him

Into frail shapes of clay that only God understands. How his tortured heart is crying and he lifts beseeching hands...

How he bends but never breaks when His good he undertakes.

How He uses whom He chooses...with every purpose fuses him;

By every art induces him to try His splendor out...

God knows what He's about!



When God wants to take a man and shake a man and wake a man...

When God wants to make a man to do the future's will;

He tries with all His skill...

When He yearns with all His soul to create him large and whole...

With what cunning He prepares him...

How He goads and never spares him! How He whets him and He frets him and in poverty begets him...

How often He disappoints whom He sacredly anoints!

With what wisdom He will hide him;

Never minding what betide him...

Though his genius sob with slighting and his pride may not forget;

Bids him struggle harder yet!

Makes him lonely so that only God's high messages shall reach him...

So that He may surely teach him what the hierarchy planned;

And though he may not understand...

Gives him passions to command.

How remorselessly He spurs him...

With terrific ardor stirs him

When He poignantly prefers him.



When God wants to name a man and fame a man and tame a man...

When God wants to shame a man to do His Heavenly best;

When He tries the highest test that His reckoning may bring...

When He wants a [god] or king;

How He reins him and restrains him so his body scarce contains him...

While He fires him and inspires him…

Keeps him yearning, ever burning for that tantalizing goal.

Lures and lacerates his soul...

Sets a challenge for his spirit;

Draws it highest then he's near it!

Makes a jungle that he clear it;

Makes a desert that he fear it...and subdue it, if he can -

So doth God make a man!



Then

To test his spirit's wrath

Throw a mountain in his path;

Puts a bitter choice before him and relentlessly stands o'er him...

Climb or perish, so He says...

But, watch His purpose, watch His ways.

God's plan is wondrous kind - could we understand His mind?

Fools are they who call His blind!



When his feet are torn and bleeding;

Yet his spirit mounts unheeding...

Blazing newer paths and finds;

When the Force that is Divine leaps to challenge every failure,

And His ardor still is sweet -

And love and hope are burning in the presence of defeat!



Lo the crisis, Lo the shouts that would call the leader out...

When the people need salvation doth he rise to lead the nation;

Then doth God show His plan...

And the world has found a man


I think this is a really deep and profound poem. It was used in one of the speeches in Toastmasters. Later, I went ahead and found it on this site.

This is one of the reasons I love Toastmasters.

Table Topics Master Ideas for Toastmasters

Hi All,

Today I played the role of a TableTopics Master in Wipro BEATS Toastmasters club. It was a part of my project in pathways Level 3 project. The objective of the project being "Active Listening". Its one of the electives. I am planning to finish all the electives in this project, for the experience of it.

I started by saying that your mind is a blackbox. The TableTopics session helps to get amazing things out of it by throwing in some random topics.

Theme: Having a theme is really important for a TT session. I used the theme of famous dialogues from Movies. I had the following dialogues:

1. Its not who I am, but what I do, that defines me
2. Why so Serious
3. Jaa Simran Jaa, Jee le apni Zindagi (to which, the speaker responded, I don't know who is Simran and where she is going !?)
4. We are in captivity of negativity, prisoners of our own minds
5. You are the product of your past, not a prisoner of it
6.  Dread it, Run From it, but destiny still arrives
7. With great power, comes great responsibility

The response from the audience was amazing. I urge any member of Toastmasters, if you are taking a TTM role, please try and do something different!

Make an impact with every topic that you offer.

Where the mind is without Fear by Rabindranath Tagore

Attended a toastmasters meeting in Sunnyvate

Visit to Orbiters TM Club meeting

As a toastmaster by passion, I loved visiting a toastmasters club in Mountain View on 16th Feb.

It was a very unique toastmasters meeting.  The club was chartered in 1959 (wow!).

Met the president of the club Frank Chen. I was astonished to know that he has completed his competent communicator journey 5 times! Yes, you heard that right. 5 times.

Wait, it does not end here, he has also completed the Technical Speeches manual — 10 Times

The club has its own awards as well. 

Innovative Award created by the club

• Bone award -- This is an award given to person who does not give any constructive points of improvement in his speech evaluation. (I dread to ever receiving this one)

Special About the meeting:

When the awards are being announced, everyone created a drumroll

Rolling trophy

Appreciated the person who secured the room

Voting — when new members joined, they went out, and all the existing members did voting if the new members should be allowed or not.

Amazing speech by a half blind person CC1

I also got to witness the following contests:

International tabletopics contest

International Speech contest

Creating a brainchild

A steady current of thoughts flows through our mind. Some of them are inter-related. Some of them unique and brilliant ideas but not in full form. Just the seed of that idea.

But our mind is so cluttered in a jumble of thoughts that we ignore those micro thoughts.

It is when we look inside and reflect upon those ideas, that we can enlarge them into something special. That one thought grows on you like a seed and becomes a tree of a concept.

THAT, is your original thought. Something original that you created.

Do you want to share it with everyone? Maybe, or may be not. Sometimes, actions speak louder than words. In that case you implement that idea let it become a living entity of its own, and then reflect upon your brainchild.