Ajax Security is out and the feedback I'm getting is incredible.

Andrew van der Stock The Executive Director of OWASP reviewed a draft of Ajax Security and here is what he had to say about it:

If you are writing or reviewing Ajax code, you need this book. Billy and Bryan have done a stellar job in a nascent area of our field, and deserve success. Go buy this book. I can’t wait for it to come out.

Is it just a re-hash of old presentations? No. The book breaks some new ground, and fills in a lot of the blanks in all of our presentations and demos. I hadn’t heard of some of these attacks in book form before. The examples improved my knowledge of DOM and other injections considerably, so there’s something there for the advanced folks as well as the newbies.

I really liked the easy, laid back writing style. Billy and Bryan’s text is straightforward and easy to understand. They get across the concepts in a relatively new area of our field.

The structure flows pretty well, building upon what you’ve already learnt ...
there is advanced stuff, but the authors have to bring the newbie audience along for the ride.

Billy and Bryan spend a bit of time repeating the old hoary “no new attacks in Ajax” meme which is big with the popular kids (mainly because their products can’t detect or scan Ajax code yet and still want money from you), and then spend the rest of the book debunking their own propaganda with a wonderful panache that beats the meme into a bloody pulp and buries it for all time.

Some choice quotes from web security guru dre:

The book, Ajax Security, covered a lot of new material that hadn’t been seen or talked about in the press or the security industry. The authors introduced Ajax security topics with ease and provided greater understanding of how to view Javascript malware, tricks, and the aberrant Javascript worms from a security perspective.

Here are some of the “new” concepts that I enjoyed most Hijacking Ajax apps, Attacking Offline Ajax apps, Ajax proxy exposure of third-party XML/JSON data.

I really enjoyed the suggested defenses against “mashup” attacks as well as JSON API Hijacking. Without going into detail (I don’t want to ruin the book and the authors’ hard work), I ca... [ Read More (0.2k in body) ]

Ajax Security Book Out! Awesome buzz!

Atlanta's FBI field division topped Los Angeles in reporting the most bank heists, with 350 for the 12 months ending September 30, 2007, according to the FBI, which annually names areas most prone to bank robberies.

Go Atlanta!

So why are all you memestreamers in Atlanta bothering with that whole professional security industry thing? Sounds like robbing banks is pretty damn easy!

Atlanta: Bank heist capital of nation - CNN.com

via timball:

CAP's '07 holiday party rocked the park at fourteenth. The club/restaurant wasn't yet open to the public so it was an intimate evening amongst friends, colleagues, significant others and general do-gooders.

Excellent vittles and fine spirits were enjoyed by all. Happy Holidays!

I don't think anyone left even remotely sober. The after-party-party at Local 16 was also quite enjoyable.

CAP x-mas '07

I invite you share one of those "what the fuck has [tk] come to" moments with me, courtesy of The Drudge Report...

My spell check seems to think that canceled has only one L... But that's not what made this stand out. The article linked didn't really have anything to do with Christmas. It managed to get me all worked up for a minute there.. I'm liked the idea of Christmas being canceled. Christmas is a royal pain in the ass! I suddenly found myself feeling overwhelming support for the Democratic party. I almost said "wow, Congress is doing something" out loud.. All kinds of crazy shit was going there for about twenty-five seconds...

Then bam.. Nothing. I get coal. So sad...

Bah humbug, Matt Drudge, you son-of-a-bitch...

MTV Networks, the biggest division of Viacom Inc. has announced plans to make every South Park episode available online for free as part of a plan to make the show available to a larger audience.

MTV originally based this decision from the success of providing “The Daily Show with Jon Stewart” online. Since offering the “Daily Show” videos in October, viewership has been up with no obvious harm to ratings.

“One does not diminish the other by any stretch of the imagination. That is kind of our hat trick,” was said by Judy McGrath the Chairman and Chief Executive at Reuters Media Summit in New York.

Viacom offering free South Park downloads - TECH.BLORGE.com

Snagged from a Danger Room Post...

Evel Knievel, the hard-living, death-defying adventurer who went from stealing motorcycles to riding them in a series of spectacular airborne stunts in the 1960s and ’70s that brought him worldwide fame as the quintessential daredevil performer, died yesterday in Clearwater, Fla. He was 69.

Mr. Knievel had been in failing health for years with diabetes and idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis, an incurable lung condition. In 1999, he underwent a liver transplant after nearly dying of hepatitis C, which he believed he had contracted from a blood transfusion after one of his many violent spills.

By his own account, he underwent as many as 15 major operations to relieve severe trauma and repair broken bones — skull, pelvis, ribs, collarbone, shoulders and hips. “I created the character called Evel Knievel, and he sort of got away from me,” he said.

He had a titanium hip and aluminum plates in his arms and a great many pins holding other bones and joints together. He was in so many accidents that he occasionally broke some of his metal parts, too.

His health had also been compromised by years of heavy drinking; he told reporters that at one point he was consuming a half a fifth of whiskey a day, washed down with beer chasers.

R.I.P.

Evel Knievel, 69, Daredevil on a Motorcycle, Dies - New York Times

The 3 crazy 2500 miles, 14 days, 3 people, 1 rickshaw, 0 preparation, 1 BIG adventure.

Raising $5000 for Mercy Corps.

A friend of mine is racing a rickshaw across India to raise money....

Quake City Madcaps

A symbol of the first Thanksgiving, the wild turkey is making a giant comeback in New Jersey, where the tall brown birds are found everywhere, even strutting their stuff in suburban yards.

Beginning with 23 birds released in the state's forested northwest tip, wild turkeys now number 22,000 in New Jersey and have spread to every part of the state.

In South Jersey, suburban dwellers are beginning to notice.

"They are not big, but they are good and really tasty. They are better than the store-bought turkeys," Cass McCarthy said.

Yummy.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Wild turkeys thrive in New Jersey suburbia

In another blow to the Motor City's tarnished image, Detroit pushed past St. Louis to become the nation's most dangerous city, according to a private research group's controversial analysis, released Sunday, of annual FBI crime statistics.

Here we go with this again..

Ranked Most Dangerous
1. Detroit, Michigan
2. St. Louis, Missouri
3. Flint, Michigan
4. Oakland, California
5. Camden, New Jersey
6. Birmingham, Alabama
7. North Charleston, South Carolina
8. Memphis, Tennessee
9. Richmond, California
10. Cleveland, Ohio

Jersey will always have Camden. It's never going away.

I've got a peeve to bitch about here... I am completely puzzled as to why no one yammers on about Michigan being a shithole, while Jersey is widely seen as America's armpit. They have _two_ cities entrenched in serious positions on that list... Screw Michigan, seriously..

Now that I've gotten that load off my chest, I would like to point out that the truly nefarious thing going on here is the "Safest Cities" list:

Ranked Safest
1. Mission Viejo, California
2. Clarkstown, New York
3. Brick Township, New Jersey
4. Amherst, New York
5. Sugar Land, Texas
6. Colonie, New York
7. Thousand Oaks, California
8. Newton, Massachusetts
9. Toms River Township, N.J.
10. Lake Forest, California

I know both Brick Township and Toms River really well. I went to high school in Toms River and I'm in Brick all the time. These may be very safe places, as compared to somewhere like Lebanon, but all the factors that make it work out that way also contribute greatly to why they are miserable places to actually reside.

Brick Township does not "feel" safe. I can't think of another place in the US that has such a high ratio of police to people, and I work in downtown Washington, where we bathe in a sea of constant high security.. Brick is scary, because there doesn't appear to be any reason why it's necessary for it to be a police state like environment. It feels like it's unsafe as hell, because there are always cops, everywhere. There is a constant feeling that something should be going really wrong, if for no other reason than to justify why there are so many damn cops.

Next time you find yourself in the great Garden State, I suggest putting on Police and Thieves by The Clash and taking a nice drive through one of these two lovely Jersey Shore communities. You will find yourself weaving through a sea of police cars much like you would taxis in NYC, and saying things like "They must be looking for someone..."

But you will be safe... Very safe.

Experts say 'most dangerous city' rankings twist numbers - CNN.com