Monthly Archives: January 2008

Security

Sun Ray IPSec VPN

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I have been asked to work on some Sun Sun Ray (yes, it’s a redundant name).

They seem very much a throw-back to X terminal days, and in particular they remind me of a Sun Java Thin Client box I had to work on in 1997. My conclusion on the Java terminal at the time was DOA. There were literally no apps. Can’t believe it has been ten years already…anyway, the issue I am looking at relates to VPN connectivity.

Sun promises great new security functionality in their Sun Ray Software 4, as described in this beta release page:

…great new features such as the VPN/IPsec client in the Sun Ray firmware. This allows customers to simply plug their Sun Ray clients into nearly any network and connect back to their corporate desktop. Please note that the VPN/IPsec client only works initally with Cisco gateways that support the Cisco EasyVPN protocol.

Grammar check. Should that be “client initially only works with Cisco”? Hmmm, only Cisco? This looks like a not-so-easy EasyVPN protocol.

Why did Sun, a self-proclaimed champion of open standards, grab onto such a proprietary/rare IPSec configuration? Is Cisco a big consumer of the Sun Ray?

So that is what I have been researching lately. I love the X terminal concept, but it surprises me to hear there is no alternative to Cisco’s IKE implementation. That and the fact that Sun Ray documentation only points to IKE-DES3-MD5, rather than more contemporary options like IKE-AES-SHA1.

History, Poetry

Train into Budapest

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German train, maybe from Munich, slowed with a exasperated squeal into a dusty dark soot colored station labeled Budapest. I don’t remember if I paused but soon I was standing in a small room below high black boards watching a blur of yellow letters, listening to the click of unfamiliar cities. It was early night and I was struggling not to feel scared, or maybe struggling to scare myself into believing I was on a genuine adventure and not just a poorly planned vacation. What if no one was there when I arrived? Where was I going? I had never heard of Miskolc until one fateful night in Paris.

Summer of 92. Illuminated, two towers of Notre Dame stared with a cold face. I joined a leisurely flow of tourists at the far side of the plaza who milled along, absorbing shades of grey and green. My fatigue boredom and curiosity led me to pause when I noticed a man sitting an uncomfortable distance from a woman. Their body language was awkward, as if in a disagreement. I reached a hand down to feel the unmistakable rough chill of granite and then sat down no more than twenty meters from them. I was drawn to look beside me and saw the woman had a kind but empty, longing stare very unlike those you might find on a faithful gargoyle observing above. The man spoke broken English. Too far to make out the conversation, I still surmised they were strangers. He harassed her as she tried to enjoy a peaceful evening alone.

Security

Cyberattack from Iran

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Well, being away from my log for a while has left some interesting bread crumbs to sift through.

For example, I have noted that someone in Iran (80.191.136.xx) has been trying to attack my site.

I tracked back a couple very sloppy attempts to the Isfahan municipality computer services organization.

Basically, in the latest attempt, they have been searching for a vulnerable version of wp-trackback.php, and submitting “‘ and 1=1” to post.php.

Poetry, Security

Back to Work with Brecht

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Many apologies for my hiatus from my log. I confess I was working so much that I lost time. I’m back again with much to say…

Here’s a poem by Bertolt Brecht that I noted in the movie Lives of Others, (51:11). Thought this might help get things started again:

One particular day in blue-moon September
below a young plum tree, quietly
I held her, my silent pale love,
in my arms like a pleasant dream.
Above us in the beautiful summer sky
was a cloud that caught my eye.
It was a pure white and so far high.
but when I looked up, it had already gone.

The subtitles did not give the poem justice so I felt like writing my own. Harper’s has posted a more formal translation with an interesting continuation of the poem, as well as reference to the movie.