How to configure IPv6 and get IPv6 Certified with Sam Bowne

IPv4 addresses are running out rapidly, the switch to IPv6 is inevitable.

This is Part One of Sam Bowne’s How to Configure IPv6 class. Learn about the problem with IPv4 addresses running out and a great intro to IPv6. The class also walks you through obtaining one of the only existing IPv6 certifications through Hurricane Electric.

Sam Bowne is a professor at the City College of San Francisco, and shares a lot of his ethical computer class information on his website Sams Class Info. He also speaks at several industry security conferences.

This video is from the Convergence Technology Center’s Winter Retreat, at Collin College in Frisco Texas from December 16, 2010.

The Jester takes down Westboro Baptist Church, or was it Anonymous?

Here is a very funny video to kick off your weekend right.

So are Hacktivists “The Jester” and “Anonymous” working together on this one or what?

Looks like the infamous and much hated Westboro Baptist Church has drawn the ire of Anonymous. The spat started last weekend according to The Register:

An ongoing spat between the controversial church of GodHatesFags fame and the loosely knit hacking collective began last weekend with a message threatening hacks against websites that, depending on who you believe, was posted either by the Church itself or a faction of Anonymous. Another faction of Anonymous distanced itself from the plan, categorising Westboro Baptist Church as trolls looking for attention.

But that is not all, Anonymous is claiming that it was The Jester that took the sites down, not them. And it seems to be collaborated by The Jester’s Twitter page:

http://www.godhatesfags.com – TANGO DOWN. Temporarily. For celebrating the death of US troops – honeypot fail btw 3:58 PM Feb 21st via XerXeS Attack Platform V3.17

So does this make The Jester and Anonymous friends now? You know, the whole – The Enemy of my Enemy is my Friend – kind of thing. Only time will tell, but it appears the hacktivism soap opera continues. And by the large amount of attention that this is drawing, someone should really think about turning this into a new TV reality show!

Arduino Tracked Robot with Ping Ultrasonic Sensor

Not nearly as impressive as the CIA robots in the prior post, but this one is home grown.

Meet “FRED the Robot”:

For my die hard security fans, don’t worry, I just took a few days off of security news and finished assembling this guy. I have always enjoyed robots, and this is actually my second robot that I have built.

I made this out of a Tamiya tank track kit with dual bi-directional motors. The Wall-E looking eyes on the front is actually a Ping Ultrasonic sensor mouted on a HS-55 micro-servo. Realtime distance measurements from the Ping are sent to an Arduino control board that processes the signals, and sends control signals to the engine driver board. In turn the engine driver board converts the digital and analog signals from the arduino and moves the robot to either follow or avoid whatever the Ping Ultrasonic Sensor is tracking.

So far works great at terrorizing the cat and entertaining the kids. The short video is from two of its maiden voyages. I need to tweak the program a bit on it, as it keeps throwing its tracks when making the quick turns.

I am thinking of making it a tad bigger in the future and maybe adding a GPS unit. Not sure, just having some fun with it right now.  

CIA’s Robot Fish and Insectocopter

Found these rather unique robot videos on the CIA’s YouTube Channel. Check them out!

CIA’s Office of Advanced Technologies and Programs developed the Unmanned Underwater Vehicle (UUV) fish to study aquatic robot technology. Some of the specifications used to develop “Charlie” were: speed, endurance, maneuverability, depth control, navigational accuracy, autonomy, and communications status.

The UUV fish contains a pressure hull, ballast system, and communications system in the body and a propulsion system in the tail. It is controlled by a wireless line-of-sight radio handset.

Developed by CIA’s Office of Research and Development in the 1970s, this micro Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) was the first flight of an insect-sized aerial vehicle (Insectothopter). It was an initiative to explore the concept of intelligence collection by miniaturized platforms.

The Insectothopter had a tiny engine to move the wings up and down. A small amount of gas was used to drive the engine, and the excess was vented out the rear for extra thrust. The flight tests were impressive; however, control in even a slight crosswind proved too difficult to overcome.

(Information from CIA’s YouTube Channel)