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We decided to start a fresh new blog, which means we won't be posting to this one anymore. Our new blog is at:

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Hackers v. Defenders

This last weekend as part of my school program, we attended the Pacific Rim CCDC (Collegiate Cyber Defense Competition). This is a competitive event that has gained momentum in the last few years (see www.nationalccdc.org). The event is used to put students (called blue teams) representing their schools in a simulated business environment where they are to keep systems up and running and perform business tasks while simultaneously defending against hackers (called the red team). The red team members were employees of organizations like Boeing, Microsoft, the Air Force, and Federal agencies who perform penetration testing on their networks as part of their job. The PRCCDC goes over two days in Seattle. My school represents the judges (called the white team). We are responsible for delivering the business tasks that the blue teams are given during the event, judging task completion, assigning scores, and making sure the event rules are followed.

It was an awesome experience being in these rooms with loads of geeks all over the place and watching these students work their hardest to help their team and defend from the hackers. Here's a few pictures from our trip:

One of the rooms full of blue teams from different schools

I was responsible for judging this team on the left.

These guys kept working, but couldn't keep the hackers from destroying their website and replacing it with pictures of Charlie Sheen and Sylvester Stallone. Following is the other pic they defaced the site with later:

This is the room full of red team hackers. They tried every method to hack the blue teams from using exploit software, custom code written by the Air Force guys, denial of service attacks, stealing login credentials for routers and servers, and even social engineering (they would call the group phones and pose as their bosses giving them new tasks and try to get info from them). These guys had a hayday with the blue teams. Every once in a while you could look in their room and see a couple of them doing a victory dance and you were left to imagine what they had just accomplished.

We were able to have a little free time to see the town. We went up the Space Needle and the moon was looking awesome. We also went out for go-kart riding afterward.

All My Prego Ladies

Almost 8 Months!

Ok, the pictures may be out of focus but I just think my little pregnant wife is just cute. Our baby girl is due at the end of April (less than two months now!) and we are getting really excited.

As for Logan, we think he's excited about having a baby sister, but we can't catch him long enough to ask. He continues to develop his skills of evasion -- he now hides behind doors and in closets. Also, he has been moved to a big-kid bed, which means that NOTHING can stop him from exploration.

As for other things going on, Shannon really loved spending time with our family at the baby shower a couple of weeks ago. We really love you all!!

The only other thing going on with us right now is I just went to Portland this last weekend to take the SSCP test (System Security Certified Practitioner). This is the second of three certifications we obtain while in my school program. I will find out in a month or so if I passed it, and then I can start preparing for my last certification.

Until next time.

We're Having A..........

Thanksgiving

For Thanksgiving this year we decided to host our own and invite Jake and Lorena up. We had a total blast! Mostly we played a lot of games and ate a lot junk food.


Kev offered to do the turkey so I wouldn't have to handle the raw meat and it turned out amazing. We covered it in butter and stuffed it with onions and fresh rosemary and sage leaves. Here's Kev buttering up the bird...
This is it fresh out of the oven, we didn't get a great picture but the turkey was perfect!

Here is the dessert. We had pumpkin pie, strawberry pie (which Kev make all by himself) and raspberry white chocolate cheese cake.