To solve the problem I used Perl (feel free to use your favorite language) to open a pcap file and do some analysis. Let us look at finding sessions where the client sent data but the server didn’t send any data in response. To make it easy I’ve included all the steps I took and, where appropriate, the code. Since the point is to illustrate how to use script language like Perl to do the job, the code is greatly simplified. For the convenience of reader, the complete code is listed at the end.
Extracting Data from Network Captures pcap with Perl
When I am analyzing network activity generated by malware, I am most interested in HTTP get/posts, the addresses the malware is communicating with, and the data that was actually sent or received.
via Extracting Data from Network Captures pcap with Perl « Mick’s Mix.
Chaosreader is a Perl script that takes a pcap file as its argument and will create communication summaries in a report format. It will also pull data from the tcp streams (within the pcap) and re-assemble the actual files.
A Light Bulb with a Computer and Projector Inside from the MIT Media Lab Augments Reality
The LuminAR device, created by Linder and colleagues at the Media Lab, can project interactive images onto a surface, sensing when a person’s finger or hand points to an element within those images. Linder describes LuminAR as an augmented-reality system because the images and interfaces it projects can alter the function of a surface or object. While LuminAR might seem like a far-fetched concept, many large technology companies are experimenting with new kinds of computer interfaces in hopes of discovering new markets for their products (see “Google Game Could Be Augmented Reality’s First Killer App” and ”A New Chip to Bring 3-D Gesture Control to Smartphones”).
Mars Science Laboratory: Update Set In San Francisco About Curiosity Mars Rover
Rumors and speculation that there are major new findings from the mission at this early stage are incorrect. The news conference will be an update about first use of the rover’s full array of analytical instruments to investigate a drift of sandy soil. One class of substances Curiosity is checking for is organic compounds — carbon-containing chemicals that can be ingredients for life. At this point in the mission, the instruments on the rover have not detected any definitive evidence of Martian organics.
via Mars Science Laboratory: Update Set In San Francisco About Curiosity Mars Rover.
Probably in reference to this site:
Mars Exploration Rover Mission: Press Releases.
It had me going for awhile and it’s not even April 1. People like having fun on these intertubes. 🙂
Optical SDN Gets a Test Run
Building an OTS boils down to adding two things to an optical transport box: a virtual switch and the software hooks to receive commands from OpenFlow or some similar protocol. Infinera outfitted its gear accordingly, and ESnet provided a home-built SDN controller to talk to it.
via Optical SDN Gets a Test Run – Optical Networking – Telecom News Analysis – Light Reading.
The OTS used in the tests is nowhere near commercial viability, both sides tell Light Reading. The software doesn’t have operational niceties such as alarms or debugging tools, for instance.
OTS=Optical Transport Switch
Are Your Facebook Friends Stressing You Out? (Yes)
Facebook’s power, and its curse, is this holistic treatment of personhood. All the careful tailoring we do to ourselves (and to our selves) — to be, say, professional in one context and whimsical in the other — dissolves in the simmering singularity of the Facebook timeline. The circumstantially mediated relationships typical of IRL interactions — you see your boss at work, your friend after work, your mother-in-law at Thanksgiving — are mediated instead by one overarching, and overpowering, circumstance: Facebook.
via Are Your Facebook Friends Stressing You Out? (Yes) – Megan Garber – The Atlantic.
Research discovery could revolutionise semiconductor manufacture
Instead of starting from a silicon wafer or other substrate, as is usual today, researchers have made it possible for the structures to grow from freely suspended nanoparticles of gold in a flowing gas.
via Research discovery could revolutionise semiconductor manufacture – Lund University.
The structures are referred to as nanowires or nanorods. The breakthrough for these semiconductor structures came in 2002 and research on them is primarily carried out at Lund, Berkeley and Harvard universities.
Dell releases powerful, well-supported Linux Ultrabook
The laptop comes with Ubuntu Linux 12.04 LTS plus a few additions. Dell worked closely with Canonical and the various peripheral manufacturers to ensure that well-written, feature-complete drivers are available for all of the laptop’s hardware. Out of the box the laptop will just work. They also have their own PPA if you want to pull down the patches separately, either to reload the laptop or to use on a different machine.
via Dell releases powerful, well-supported Linux Ultrabook | Ars Technica.
Syrian Internet Is Off The Air
Starting at 10:26 UTC (12:26pm in Damascus), Syria’s international Internet connectivity shut down. In the global routing table, all 84 of Syria’s IP address blocks have become unreachable, effectively removing the country from the Internet.
via Syrian Internet Is Off The Air – Renesys Blog.
These five offshore survivors include the webservers that were implicated in the delivery of malware targeting Syrian activists in May of this year.
For Winning The Nobel Prize, Niels Bohr Got A House With Free Beer
Niels Bohr is one of the greatest scientists who ever lived and a personal hero of mine. He was also a favorite of his fellow Danes when he lived in Copenhagen. Today, however, I found out just how much they loved him. Apparently, after he won the Nobel Prize in 1922, the Carlsberg brewery gave him a gift – a house located next to the brewery. And the best perk of the house? It had a direct pipeline to the brewery so that Bohr had free beer on tap whenever he wanted.
via For Winning The Nobel Prize, Niels Bohr Got A House With Free Beer – Forbes.
So was free beer the reason why Bohr was able to make great strides in developing quantum mechanics? Okay, probably not – but I’m sure a few late night drinking sessions with other physicists didn’t hurt.