CTKconnect

**Update 8/24/2022- If unable to apply Palo hotfix, ensure packet-based attack protection is configured to mitigate.   https://docs.paloaltonetworks.com/pan-os/10-1/pan-os-admin/zone-protection-and-dos-protection/configure-zone-protection-to-increase-network-security/configure-packet-based-attack-protection ** On Monday, CISA added CVE-2022-0028 to its  Known Exploited Vulnerabilities Catalog .  The CVE is a URL Filtering policy misconfiguration that could allow an unauthenticated external attacker to initiate a reflective DoS (RDOS) attack.   Since this misconfiguration is likely applied to most Palo Alto firewalls, network admins should spend a few minutes reviewing their configs or applying zone protections listed as other mitigators from Palo.  The easiest is to check any untrust/ingress zones for interfaces with security policies that have URL filtering.  Since the URL filtering is outbound, remove this security profile from security policies.   https://security.paloaltonetworks.c

  I was in the search for some time looking to add some smart connectivity to how I handle water leak detection and alerting.  Previously I had used several zircon leak detectors, which work, just not very smart.   Without looking to break my smarthome budget, I found Govee's line of WiFi water sensors.  The sensors work great.  They can be operated as dumb standalone devices like the zircons,' or they can be paired with a Govee gateway.  I went with the gateway option and have not looked back.   Pairing the devices is very straightforward.    1. Press the pairing button on the gateway for 3 seconds - light flashes red/blue 2. Press the water leak button for 1 second on the leak detector 3. Gateway will flash blue. 4. Gateway remains blue once the pairing is completed. 5. Use the mobile app to set up names and alerting. Battery life on the Govee leak detectors is rated around 6 months; however, I expect to see over 1-year use using Panasonic Eneloop rechargeable batteries.   Ga

 I have been running Synology DS918+ network attached storage for almost 6 months and have been very pleased.  I am planning an installation of another setup and will detail that progress here.    

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USB Flash Drives have more than One Use Do not trust unknown or free USB devices. It is recommended to look at purchasing more expensive USB sticks that have signed firmware. People have been using USB devices to deploy malware through Trojan techniques. Either malware is copied to the device with the hope of people plugging the device in and clicking on the file or it automatically executes on insertion. BADUSB has also now afforded the opportunity to include payloads into modified USB firmware that execute on driver installation of the device. The malware payload cannot be scanned by traditional detection methods since it resides in firmware. Other techniques, also utilizing the failure to check for signed firmware, are to implement cross platform scripting to execute keyboard based commands on insertion. There are also USB devices being sold that are designed to destroy the device it is connected to. This is not an exhaustive listing and you should not live in FUD abou

Password Complexity and Length: We all know we should be making passwords 16 characters in length with uppercase, lowercase, numeric, special character, and ending in a letter.   Example:  Tdkhg#8fjw*jf2h Problem is that with today's computational power along with the available pre-built dictionaries, this is not as strong as once thought.  Pre-built dictionaries are easily obtainable that are being constantly updated with the 100's of millions of passwords obtained through data breaches.   Users should be at least using a password manger such as " Lastpass.com " or " 1password.com ".  Offline password manager recommended is " Password Safe ", designed by renowned security technologist Bruce Schneier .   When creating a new password today, use passwords that are 30+ characters in length to make bruteforce password cracking exponentially more difficult.  This can easily be done when using a password manger.  What about the passwo