Negative
March 8th, 2005, 04:28 PM
Here’s number 6 in the row of AntiViews. Sec_ware may be an ‘Antionline newbie”, but has been “in it” for 20 years… Enjoy!
Sec_ware’s profile on AntiOnline (http://antionline.com/member.php?s=&action=getinfo&userid=177708)
AO: How did you get into computers?
Sec_ware: It always amazes me how fast time passes. I just realized that I had my first PC 20 years ago - a Victor VPC II, running Dos 2.0. That's how I got into computers in a serious manner. I started to program Basic, and a while later Pascal and Assembler. Year after year, the number of PC's at my place increased, and I discovered networking. I realized that this world is fascinating - it offers a wide spectrum of intellectual and physical challenges (ever moved 10 PCs with monitors from one flat to another - I guess, some of you did :) ). This hold up to this date.
AO: What is your area of specialty?
Sec_ware: Although I am professionally experienced in a couple of IT areas, I would say my main specialties are
- system/low-level programming (mainly Linux and Windows)
- network protocols
My biggest IT related weakness is: "physical" hardware. I just have my own personal experiences, but that's about it.
AO: What do you do for a living?
Sec_ware: I am about to finish a 3-year-project about large-scale numerical simulations of all different kind of stuff. To give you a feeling: Large-scale projects are defined by >1000 CPU years (in Opteron 1.8Ghz scale). After that, I plan to go back fully to a previous path in my life - refreshing the certificates necessary - and as you can guess: it has to do with IT security.
AO: How did you get into your career?
Sec_ware: So far, it was straightforward. I decided not to study IT, but physics, and in particular theoretical/mathematical physics. A combination of the two branches was at hand - so I ended up, where I am now. In parallel, I was working for medium size, but multi-national companies, as well as the government and the military - in IT related questions and more.
AO: Describe your education and/or training?
Sec_ware: Well, in particular I did network administration, staff training, security assessments and analysis, and a lot of database management for several years. There are other things I dived into, especially in the past, which might count as training as well!
As said, I have some degrees in physics. But now I am getting tired of it. AO is one of my means to refresh and learn new stuff (hence "sec_ware": it is a project name). I had to make a decision, where to contribute due to time limitations - AO was the choice among all the forums out there.
AO: Do you plan on staying where you are (career-wise) or are you
still in school / working on certs to get into another area?
Sec_ware: After finishing the current project, I plan to dedicate my working time to IT projects. It simply is my real passion.
AO: What one piece of advice would you offer to others who may be
interested in following a career path or educational path similar
to yours?
Sec_ware: Do not focus too much on details (...wait, wait, this is how I mean it...): Try to get a broad view, but do not miss opportunities to deepen your knowledge - participate actively in forums (or in one), analyze unexpected or unwanted occurrences either of what you see or feel in this very world - or even of what you read in your log-files. But avoid not to see the wood for the trees. Realize that there always is a guy who can type faster than you, who does the better assembler than you, who has the larger antenna on his huger truck than you ( :D ) - but if you have insight into a lot of pieces, and in addition the overall view - then you are well prepared for everything.
And - never ever trust your brain. It tricks you, it cheats you all the time. Try to support your statements with trustworthy sources. Check and recheck what you think to be the truth. And
even if you still are convinced: errare humanum est.
AO: What skill do you think is invaluable in your area of specialty?
Sec_ware: Analytical skills and a systematic method. This might be simplified, but is, in my opinion, the essence. If you train or manage human resources, soft skills are crucial. In particular, I always tried to communicate that the task is the problem, not the human being.
AO: Describe one of your best / most effective security practices.
Sec_ware: Joining the AO community :) Besides that, I don't have/know such a thing.
AO: How did you find Antionline?
Sec_ware: While categorizing the forums out there, I added AO to my "many members, high activity" category - a priority one category. I realized that the quality of the discussions can be very high - especially compared to other forums, and I got the impression that this place takes the notion serious - again, especially compared to other forums.
AO: Anything else you'd like to share?
Sec_ware: I would like to say thank you for that honor - I hope, I can contribute to the AO community in a constructive way - since I already have learned/refreshed quite a lot and hence, have profited from AO.
Sec_ware’s profile on AntiOnline (http://antionline.com/member.php?s=&action=getinfo&userid=177708)
AO: How did you get into computers?
Sec_ware: It always amazes me how fast time passes. I just realized that I had my first PC 20 years ago - a Victor VPC II, running Dos 2.0. That's how I got into computers in a serious manner. I started to program Basic, and a while later Pascal and Assembler. Year after year, the number of PC's at my place increased, and I discovered networking. I realized that this world is fascinating - it offers a wide spectrum of intellectual and physical challenges (ever moved 10 PCs with monitors from one flat to another - I guess, some of you did :) ). This hold up to this date.
AO: What is your area of specialty?
Sec_ware: Although I am professionally experienced in a couple of IT areas, I would say my main specialties are
- system/low-level programming (mainly Linux and Windows)
- network protocols
My biggest IT related weakness is: "physical" hardware. I just have my own personal experiences, but that's about it.
AO: What do you do for a living?
Sec_ware: I am about to finish a 3-year-project about large-scale numerical simulations of all different kind of stuff. To give you a feeling: Large-scale projects are defined by >1000 CPU years (in Opteron 1.8Ghz scale). After that, I plan to go back fully to a previous path in my life - refreshing the certificates necessary - and as you can guess: it has to do with IT security.
AO: How did you get into your career?
Sec_ware: So far, it was straightforward. I decided not to study IT, but physics, and in particular theoretical/mathematical physics. A combination of the two branches was at hand - so I ended up, where I am now. In parallel, I was working for medium size, but multi-national companies, as well as the government and the military - in IT related questions and more.
AO: Describe your education and/or training?
Sec_ware: Well, in particular I did network administration, staff training, security assessments and analysis, and a lot of database management for several years. There are other things I dived into, especially in the past, which might count as training as well!
As said, I have some degrees in physics. But now I am getting tired of it. AO is one of my means to refresh and learn new stuff (hence "sec_ware": it is a project name). I had to make a decision, where to contribute due to time limitations - AO was the choice among all the forums out there.
AO: Do you plan on staying where you are (career-wise) or are you
still in school / working on certs to get into another area?
Sec_ware: After finishing the current project, I plan to dedicate my working time to IT projects. It simply is my real passion.
AO: What one piece of advice would you offer to others who may be
interested in following a career path or educational path similar
to yours?
Sec_ware: Do not focus too much on details (...wait, wait, this is how I mean it...): Try to get a broad view, but do not miss opportunities to deepen your knowledge - participate actively in forums (or in one), analyze unexpected or unwanted occurrences either of what you see or feel in this very world - or even of what you read in your log-files. But avoid not to see the wood for the trees. Realize that there always is a guy who can type faster than you, who does the better assembler than you, who has the larger antenna on his huger truck than you ( :D ) - but if you have insight into a lot of pieces, and in addition the overall view - then you are well prepared for everything.
And - never ever trust your brain. It tricks you, it cheats you all the time. Try to support your statements with trustworthy sources. Check and recheck what you think to be the truth. And
even if you still are convinced: errare humanum est.
AO: What skill do you think is invaluable in your area of specialty?
Sec_ware: Analytical skills and a systematic method. This might be simplified, but is, in my opinion, the essence. If you train or manage human resources, soft skills are crucial. In particular, I always tried to communicate that the task is the problem, not the human being.
AO: Describe one of your best / most effective security practices.
Sec_ware: Joining the AO community :) Besides that, I don't have/know such a thing.
AO: How did you find Antionline?
Sec_ware: While categorizing the forums out there, I added AO to my "many members, high activity" category - a priority one category. I realized that the quality of the discussions can be very high - especially compared to other forums, and I got the impression that this place takes the notion serious - again, especially compared to other forums.
AO: Anything else you'd like to share?
Sec_ware: I would like to say thank you for that honor - I hope, I can contribute to the AO community in a constructive way - since I already have learned/refreshed quite a lot and hence, have profited from AO.