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Troubleshooting at all layers of the OSI model

Dave Farquhar security, War Stories April 15, 2013April 14, 2013ARP, job description, link speed, network cables, OSI, osi model, trenches, troubleshooting, UDP

I saw this phrase in a job description last week: Troubleshooting at all layers of the OSI model. That sounds a bit intimidating, right?

Maybe at first. But let’s not overcomplicate it. Once you get past the terminology, it’s a logical way to locate and fix problems. Chances are you already do most of this whether you realize it or not. I was already troubleshooting at at least four of the seven layers when I was working as a part-time desktop support technician in college in 1995.

Dave Farquhar

David Farquhar is a computer security professional, entrepreneur, and author. He has written professionally about computers since 1991, so he was writing about retro computers when they were still new. He has been working in IT professionally since 1994 and has specialized in vulnerability management since 2013. He holds Security+ and CISSP certifications. Today he blogs five times a week, mostly about retro computers and retro gaming covering the time period from 1975 to 2000.

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How to find tech talent hiding under your nose

Dave Farquhar Uncategorized March 19, 2013March 18, 2013firewall, infoworld, trenches, unix

Sometimes the best place to look for new talent is inside the team you already have, writes Infoworld’s Dan Tynan. Then he gives seven ways to find them.

Dave Farquhar

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I hope BYOD 2.0 goes better than BYOD 1.0 did

Dave Farquhar Hardware June 26, 20121990s, android, best buy, dell, IBM, malware, micron, Spare Parts, trenches

BYOD is “bring your own device.” It’s the hot new trend in IT, except it’s nothing new. But it was bound to happen, I guess. Companies are tired of buying computer equipment, so they want employees to provide it. And counterculture, nonconformist workers are (I guess) tired of using boring corporate computer equipment. (And here I am, a strong advocate of buying off-lease corporate computers for home use.)

So, since companies don’t want to buy computers, and employees don’t want to use company computers, what’s the problem?

How’s about I tell you a story? Read more

Dave Farquhar

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How to study for CISSP

Dave Farquhar security February 25, 2012August 6, 2018CBK, christmas, cissp, isc, New Year, reference book, trenches

I got the letter this week. The one from (ISC)². If the first word is “congratulations,” it means you passed. But if the first two words are “thank you,” you didn’t. If you want the letter that says “congratulations” in your future, it helps to know how to study for CISSP. Here’s how I studied for mine. Hopefully it will help you. It’s a long road. But it’s doable.

Dave Farquhar

dfarq.homeip.net