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My tribute to MJ

May the king of pop RIP. I grew up listening to his songs. I even danced to his songs for dinners and parties. The great one has left us. Words just can't describe how sad i am. For some reason, the below song reminds me of him. It was a song from Jackson 5.

virus outbreak

Man...Life's bz like hell. No time to even update blog. So many interesting things happened in my life...where to start....maybe i'll update on my next post (not sure when)

As for now there has been a virus outbreak in my working environment...global outbreak...some attacker out there exploited in one of the MS vulnerabilities (out of band release) released last month. To be specific, it's MS08-067 - Vulnerability in Server Service Could Allow Remote Code Execution.

Initially all client machines and servers was patched (my team was responsible to initiate and coordinate the patching activity). However some smart peaople out there failed to adhere to instructions...causing mass exploit of servers and client machines.

Apparently the attacker deployed a worm (remotely) that could drop copies of itself to system root. From there, it accesses certain website which downloads trojans to this machines/servers. The trojan then uses random ports to access port 445 at other location i.e domain controller and Active Directory. It then does a brute force to get username and passwords.

Our IDS team initialally capture the suspicious traffic and allerted us. We then continued our investigation, found the root cause and currently performing the clean up. Our anti virus vendor came up with the bandage pattern file that detected and quarantines these malicious files.

Now we're pushing the patch (to unpatched servers/machines) via SCCM. The bandage pattern is also being deployed. BSOD also occured during the deployment...making our task miserrable. The earliest i go back home nowadays is 9 p.m. Go back then have to wake at 3.00. a.m. to sit for confrence call with the rest of the teams globally.

Lesson - Never ever take a MS patch for granted...deployed it as soon as it's released!

p.s. - *NIX users should be celebrating by now (i'm damn sure the attacker is a *NIX maestro)

The post effect of 'LOpoNg....*@#!$%

For those who don't know what lopong is, it means being too free without anything to do...and this term has left an effect on me...'BIG TIME'.

You see, during my previous employment, my major tasks was basically very simple. I would be having nothing to do most of the time....whatever extra i learn and did was on my own initiative.

As expected, 'lopong' is neither applicable nor exist is in my new environment. I have to be on my toe 24/7. Any mistake will cost billions....yes BILLIONS!

Due to lopong, my start here was a little dull/slow. Expectation on me was more or less high. Everyone else was moving fast, tasks given are finished in split seconds. They have to as more and more will keep on coming non stop.

I took longer time t0 finish tasks initially. I had to understand the process and procedures. Every single process had to go through the proper channel. Everything was documented. Even if one were to install something, approval from multiple people had to be obtained. All impacts caused by a change is analyzed before deployed.

With God's blessings, i'm now able to compete with the herd. Not at the peak but slowly getting there. This is because i utilized the 'lopong' time previously to get some supplies for future. Guess it worked!

Lucky for me i did not get sucked into the 'lopong world'. As a result, i could cope with the new challenges even though it was tough in the beginning. To my friends, a piece of advice....DON'T ever enjoy the 'lopong' time....trust me, the outside world is way bigger and much tougher then expected...Mr. Lopong will backfire.....

DAMN!....I miss blogging

Just can't find the time.....sigh

Received my first Microsoft certificate!

Can you believe it...i just (last Friday) received my first Microsoft certificate. The best part is it was endorsed by Mr. Bill Gates himself! The certificate was awarded to me after i completed a 3 days course titled 'Maintaining and Troubleshooting Windows Vista Computers' at one of Microsoft's training center in KL. The course code is MS5118 (look it up in Microsoft training library). the feeling is just ecstasy. The trainer gave a tremendous walk through on how to troubleshoot Windows Vista errors. He was a certified trainer. I even got a Microsoft book which can't be purchased in the market.

Now, thats what i'm talking about being appreciated. The motivation to work is always there. The best part is, the organization don't bond you for this kind of trainings and certification. This year, i'm lined up for ITIL (IT infrastructure library...google it up) and MCSE certification. ITIL is the mandatory certification. My new environment requires me to have a very sound technical skills on Win2k and vista. Thus the certifications are made compulsory.

The coolest part is...i'm given a laptop...brand new...out of the box...complete with docking station, 2 mouses, additional keyboard, etc. The laptop is equipped with smart card reader and thumb recognition. Thus, it can be only accessed using my 62bit smart card. cool eh...and its FOC...The specs i shall give in another post. Will try to get a snapshot as well.

The sad part is, since i'm given a laptop, i'll be required to work from home. Not all the time, but once in a while. So that is not a problem. Besides, the rewards are good so i have no complains. Again ,as my friend said earlier...the company gives you shit, shit is what the company gets back...but when it treats you well...it will mines gold out of you.