Federal Reserve Internship Thoughts

Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago
Internship Thoughts


Hello, Hello! So I just want to share a few thoughts about this new internship I am doing this summer. So, on May 16th I started working in my first internship opportunity and experience at the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago.

In a nutshell, I have to say it is a very interesting and awesome place to be at. Everything from being at Chicago every day, to the people I have met and the projects that I have been involved with have been all contributed to some of the many pleasures of being apart of the team!

Coming from my own business and previous work experience, I was not sure what to expect. I remember on my first day that I was imagining what I would be doing and asking myself, will I have my own office? will I be standing all the time? The moment I arrived and checked in through security, the feeling of being welcomed was like that warm fuzzy feeling (lol). Everyone is so nice and pleasant to be around and I got to meet a few other interns that were also starting the same day. If you think the building from the outside is pretty neat, the inside is awesome! Of course, all of these small details excite me (even today) because I have never worked in that type of environment.

If you don't know me well enough, then know this. I rarely wear jeans and tennis shoes, and I love the whole dress up, nice shoes and tie type of style. I felt like I was somebody (haha). Anyways, so our recruiters arrived and took us all on the elevator to drop us off in our location. Mine was the last one, located on the 12th floor where the Customer Relations and Support Office department is located. I met with my manager and walked around introducing me to our team and many other people in the department. I was then escorted to my cubicle and received my work laptop and was preparing myself to get settled in.

To make long story short, it has been nearly a month since I started working there and already I feel like I have learned a lot. I have met some awesome people there that I hope I will be able to keep in touch with even after my internship ends in August. Anyways, thats my little rant for the day.

Are You Screen Peeking?

The Train Incident
So, I take the the train to Chicago every morning (sadly). This is kind of funny because it happens so much. This is how it goes...

I sit down all dressed up and with my awesome laptop and fire up Backtrack 5 to play around with some of the things and all of the sudden.. the person sitting next to me clearly is eye-balling my screen. I wonder what goes through their mind? (lol) My favorite part is when they probably read things like "attack, password attack, hacking, infection, etc." That actually happened today that is why I wanted to share it on here. Oh well, what can you do! I should probably get one of those screens that go over the laptop screen for those screen peekers! Oh, and I know you love my wallpaper ;)

Interested in Ethical Hacking?

Information Security Blog
I recently started a new blog on Wordpress where I will be going over many different topics, particularly focused on information security, both offensive and defensive.

While there are many blogs out there that already do a really great job covering many topics, I would like to take a different approach with mine. I want to do more video and "do it yourself" examples where people, particularly those interested in security, can learn more about what actually goes on or how something works rather than just read about it and say OK. Sure, the video and the music was cool, but what did you really get out of it?

Get Your Hands Dirty
How fun would it be to actually try these things and play around? I want to take live exploits and vulnerabilities and dissect them as well as help readers begin to absorb this mentality of what security is. Of course, I am no expert and I will be learning a lot of things along the way. Perhaps in the future I will look forward to having contributors that can provide valuable information. So as you can imagine, my target audience is not people that are smarter than I am (lol).

The Newbies
Lets admit it, we all played around with our little SubSeven and NetDevil servers that we renamed to sexy_picture.exe and attempted a file transfer on AIM with our much "slower" friends in hopes that they would accept it and double click it.. only to get this response:

"Norton says it has detected a virus. What should I do?"

Of course, darn it! "Just click ignore," apparently the sexy_picture.exe disappeared from their desktop and now they wonder... "I don't see a picture, can you send it again?" As funny as that sounds, it is how security is viewed by a lot of people who lack a deeper understanding of protocols, networking, memory, programming, etc.

What's Next?
For now, I just wanted to throw that out there. If you visit my blog, there is not much on there and will slowly take its form. Perhaps I will look forward to having a forum or live discussions on IRC (yes, IRC is correct). We will see what happens, but stay in touch and visit my Information Security blog at the link below.

http://jamesejr.wordpress.com

Is Your Printer Connected to Google Cloud Print?

Google Cloud Print

Perhaps you are not yet familiar with one of Google's latest applications. Google Cloud Print is currently in beta and is a free web application that allows users to connect their printers to the Google Cloud to enable users to:

• Print from virtually anywhere around the world with internet access
• Manage print jobs from the cloud
• Share printers with friends and family

In order to get setup with Google Cloud Print, all you need to do is sign in to your Google account and visit the Google Cloud Print website to print a test page. There is no installation or configuration required. Keep in mind however, because it is still in beta testing, it may not work with all printers.

For more information or questions and answers on Google Cloud Print, visit their help website at Google Support

Facebook or FaceRecognition Database?

The Buzz
Earlier this morning, I came across an article by CNN News as well as many others that mentioned the transition that Facebook is moving towards in the next couple of weeks. Apparently, Facebook is going to implement a face recognition algorithm that can detect faces in all of the images that are uploaded to the social giant.

The Problem
Unfortunately this creates big privacy concerns. So after this, what's next? Software that can take a picture of someone and look them up online to find out who they are? That was in fact a real project that Google worked on but quickly put it to a halt due to privacy issues. It is almost creepy to know how technology is in a sense taking over.

First, we get the cameras in every corner of large intersections monitoring traffic, then RFID chips come into existance for purposes of keeping health records, then we hear something about the government monitoring our communications lines through a backdoor on Windows 7 for "national security purporses," now we are moving into facial recognition. Does anyone see a pattern here or is it just me?

I am under the impression that technology as it advances, it also comes with a price. Think about how many applications we have that send out information about our location, likes, dislikes, etc. Recently this year there was an allegation with Tom Tom GPS company because they apparently had devices that transmitted the speed of the vehicle to the police department in order to "provide safer drivers." We are being monitored and tracked on the grid. It is scarry and sounds crazy but I believe that is what is going on. Anyways, apologies for the side track here.

The Results
As a way to respect the privacy of users, Facebook has included a way to turn off the setting for allowing you to be automatically tagged in pictures that recognize you by the algorithm. Needless to say, your face and the fingerprint that identifies you is still stored on their systems. I wonder what kinds of interests that sparks for cyber criminals?