Sunday, July 6, 2014

How to make SIEM PoC effective?

Here is how you can make the SIEM PoC effective: 

1) List down the existing issues that need to be resolved 
2) List down the potential issues that could happen 
3) Ask for use case implementation for #1 and #2 
4) Observe the effectiveness of the solution as per your environment 
5) Observe usability, scalability and feature-set being offered 
6) Observe the skill level of the service provider / vendor 
7) Grade based on #3, #4, #5, #6 

Additionally, you may ask the following questions to your vendor to warm them up a little: 

1) Time it would take to go from installation to actual threat or security insights? 
2) Dedicated members or consultants needed to keep the solution up and inter-operable? 
3) Does the proposed solution provide alerts and provide step-by-step remediation? 
4) What if we don't have technologies in place that are needed to feed the SIEM?

Wednesday, June 11, 2014

Best Data Recovery Tools

I recently faced an interesting challenge of recovering data from my 1TB portable external storage device. The device's MBR somehow malfunctioned and I was left with almost 700GB of raw data. As per Windows, the only option to access the storage device was to format it but before doing that I wanted to recover the data first!

I majorly used the following tools for recovery:
  • Easeus Data Recovery
  • Recuva
  • TestDisk
As per my experience:
  • Easeus was the fastest tool to recover data
  • Recuva was the fastest tool in detecting data on the malfunctioned device
  • TestDisk was the best tool in recovering data that both Easeus and Recuva tools were unable to find

Saturday, March 29, 2014

Inguinal Hernia Surgery

To have surgery or not is same as to marry or not...

I am going to jot down my experience related to the recent surgery experience I had for right inguinal hernia. Interestingly, my hernia was congenital (or that is what the doctor said) and appeared quite late in life (though I am still sweet 16! *winks*).

To ensure readiness for the surgery - I had all the needed routine blood tests and even had an Ultra Sound for abdomen and lower abdomen to ensure if it really was hernia. Blood tests came back positive and Ultra Sound revealed hernia and nothing else. Yes, the medical technology helps.

So, I was okay and ready for surgery (the first-times really are memorable! No?). :)

March 22, 2014

The open surgery was scheduled for March 22, 2014 at 7 PM. I was pretty upbeat for the challenge and had only green tea and boiled egg around 10 AM and nothing else. Felt pretty hungry through-out the day but you have to follow the doctor's advice no matter what!

I reached the hospital around 3 PM and was escorted to a quiet room for (ever so needed) rest before the surgery. Blood pressure was checked -- which was below normal level (because of the lack of food in my system), but not of much concern.

Around 6 PM, a cannula was inserted into my right hand for series of injections and drips that were going to be passed onto the body. A drip was given, soon afterwards, albeit which flowed slowly but seemed to provide good deal of energy.

As soon the clock struck 7 PM, I was taken into the Operation Theater (OT sounds much better!). A spinal anesthesia was given which made my lower body senseless. The surgery began and was pretty much painless throughout, however, I did feel some pain in the left kidney while the Surgeon was doing his business. I complained a little but he assured that was normal and it would be fine in a little while (and, yes he was right -- the pain went away in couple of minutes). The drip flow was increased as soon as the surgery started and the bottle was empty within 30 minutes (I felt like superman! But without the sensation in lower body, ha!).

Because of the nature of congenital hernia (or the surgeon's expertise) - I was out of the Operation Theater in about roughly 40-45 minutes. My lower body was pretty numb and remained so for the next couple of hours.

Around 10 PM, when the anesthesia wore off, I started to feel excruciating pain and it increasingly became unbearable with each passing minute. I was given three to four injections from the cannula to calm down the pain for the night. The injections made the pain bearable and soon afterwards, I was given another drip for the night to keep the body energized. The doctor advised not to eat anything until 6 AM in the morning.

I tried to get some sleep and was quickly driven to the land of dreams.

March 23, 2014

After couple hour sleep -- I was awake again (this time to get the taste of after-shocks of surgery!). A little lower body movement resulted in increased pain even laughing (yes, when you have cousins with you, this can happen!) intensified the pain. So, I soon realized -- less talking the better (the life mantra of sages!). The pain was manageable till 1 AM and started to increase slowly but surely.

When the clock struck 3 AM, the pain became unbearable and I asked the nurse for pain relieving injections. She was only authorized to give one injection and injected it directly into the drip which had a slow flow, again. The pain did not recede and needed a doctor's intervention to calm it down.

Around 6 AM, I called for a doctor, who after assessing the situation, gave me four injections (three went in through the cannula) and one directly into the shoulder. The flow of drip was increased as well and the bottle emptied in 15 minutes. The pain decreased considerably and I was ready to have my first walk after the surgery. The getting up part from the bed, with assistance, was intense. After painful couple of minutes, I was on my legs and started to take little steps. I took this opportunity and went to the toilet as well -- all went well there.

After taking a little more slow steps, I went to bed and slept till 9 AM. When I woke up, I was feeling a lot better. The pain was there but it was manageable. The doctor came around 10 AM and advised to start taking liquid -- which I obliged by taking juice instantly. Afterwards, I slept till 1 PM. When, I woke up, I got up from the bed, this time myself, and took little steps and went to the toilet as well. I walked a little more and with little assistance sat down on a chair, took more juice and went to bed - when the pain started to hurt a little more.

At 2 PM, I was given the regular dose of injections to control the pain. Soon afterwards, I went to sleep and woke up at 4 PM. I took some green tea, which felt refreshing and stayed on the bed to keep the pain minimal. Around 9 PM, I got up from the bed, with some assistance, went to wash-room. I had first bowel movement and thankfully it was without any pain. At 10 PM, I had simple liquid soup as dinner. A routine dose of four injections were given and I slept around 11 PM.

March 24, 2014

I woke up at 3 AM, the pain was manageable, and went to toilet without any assistance, thankfully, all went fine there. Afterwards, I sat on a chair for couple of minutes and then went to bed again. The sleep was peaceful and woke up feeling more healthy around 7 AM. I took juice as breakfast and did a little walk around my room as well. Routine dose of injections was given at 10 AM and doctor was ready to have me discharged. The cannula was removed and I was advised to remain on liquid food till next routine doctor check-up scheduled for March 27, 2014 for bandage change.

I reached home around 1 PM - the day went a bit uncomfortable because of change of environment. I was given pain killers and infection related tablets to keep everything in check.

March 25, 2014

I was almost back to my normal self but with restricted movement.

March 26, 2014

I started increasing my movements -- still took anti-biotics and pain-killers to stay safe.

March 27, 2014

Doctor advised to start taking normal food. That was a new well-taken!

After taking real food -- I was almost back to normalcy. In a week time -- the bandage was removed and I re-joined office again!

To conclude, the surgery was not that bad for an experience. :)