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Thread: AntiViews - MsMittens

  1. #1
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    AntiViews - MsMittens

    In the ever-growing series of AntiViews: MsMittens! AO’s Endless Yapper, and, like all moderators, extremely loved and liked by all! And from now on also known as Miss Smarty-Pants.

    This AntiView was conducted two months ago – I’m sure a lot has changed in that time frame!

    MsMittens’ profile on AO

    Name: MsMittens aka Lyne Bourque. It's pretty well known and not that hard to find.

    Place and date of Birth (or age): I'm an Aries. Apparently I was born in a hospital, just minutes before becoming a "fool".

    Current place of residence: Toronto (aka The Center of the Universe)

    Marital status: errr... I have had a significant whatever for 11 years.




    AO: How did you get into computers?

    MsMittens: Usually I use one of three things: screwdriver, saw or hammer. Depends how determined I am... Oh, wait. You mean what got me interested into them?

    Hrmm... this might hurt the ol' brain. I think my very first exposure was doing a basic program for a Commodore 64 (I think that's what it was -- it's been a while). The program was well over 300 lines and the machine crashed just before I finished entering it in to test it -- without an electronic backup. Thankfully, I had written it down.

    My first computer was the 1984 Macintosh (Mac 128 I believe) and the first one I bought with my own money was a Quadra 650 (top of the line at the time).

    AO: What is your area of specialty?

    MsMittens: Seeing how much I can torture my students

    I have a huge fondness for risk analysis, intrusion detection (and specifically looking at packets), honeypots and anything that relates therein. I like puzzles so these kinds of activities fit into that.

    AO: What do you do for a living?

    MsMittens: As little as possible. I actually have 4 jobs (technically):

    1. Professor at Seneca College (Intro and Advanced Network Security)
    2. CISSP Instructor (ITI Toronto)
    3. Moderator (Antionline)
    4. Article Writer (Jupitermedia/EnterpriseITPlanet)

    I may be adding a couple of more soon: portal development and tester of training site (CTS)

    AO: How did you get into your career?

    MsMittens: I sort of fell into things. I was the only one not afraid of getting shocked. Add to that a willingness to tinker and being persistent at something, and viola! For a while I was a multi-positional type (not unlike now), where I was an office manager as well as chief geek for a small company. I decided to formalize that with some training and ended up being an admin for a private school with side duties to the parent firm. This opened up more interest into security.

    AO: Describe your education and/or training?

    MsMittens: I have a Bachelor of Arts (International Politics -- oooh. That got me far, now didn't it?) as well as a Post-Graduate Diploma in Research Analysis (turning those lies into stats) and a private school diploma in networking (super intensive to the point of dreaming packets).

    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?

    MsMittens: I like where I am. I'm actually trying to get in permanently so that I can take advantage of the 2 months off profs get plus being paid to do research. I'd love to get the college in on the Honeynet Project.

    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?

    MsMittens: Know how to pronounce "Stacheldraht" Being light-hearted and having fun while dealing with questions that just make you shake your head (asked of me in a intro to Windows 2000 server: "Miss, do we need a harddrive to install the OS?" -- this is during their 3rd/4th semester)

    AO: What skill do you think is invaluable in your area of specialty?

    MsMittens: Persistence, willingness to learn and willingness to laugh. Being flexible enough that when topics go slightly off-topic that you can bring them back to topic and show how even the off-topic discussions have value.

    Also, having energy at 8am and showing enthusiasm when students need to see it the most, no matter how hung over you might be.

    AO: Describe one of your best / most effective security practices.

    MsMittens: Never making an assumption about what might be going on. This is actually a lot harder to do than you think. With experience comes a side-effect of assuming what the reason is for a particular event happening (e.g, slow network, slow machine, etc.) when it's very possible that something else could be going on. The ability to go through troubleshooting techniques can help narrow down events and eliminate the obvious (e.g., floppy in floppy drive).

    AO: Do you have a little-known fact about yourself (personal, hobbies, tech-related) that you would be willing to share?

    MsMittens: I'm a huge long-distance cycling fan. This is one of the reasons why I don't have more computers (as if 6 isn't enough -- and apparently I might be aquiring a Sparc). I was in a recent issue of Bicycling Magazine and based on a recommendation they made to me will be purchasing a new custom-made Gunnar off-road touring bike. I have a couple of tours planned this year.

    At some point, assuming I get full time status, I will do: 1) tour from Toronto-Tampa-Texas 2) tour across Canada (possible attempt to break present Guiness Record of this) 3) tour from Toronto to LA, through Chicago, Utah and Colorado.

    AO: How did you find Antionline?

    MsMittens: Typed it in the little URL box thingy.

    I discovered AO after some schmuck got pissed at me on IRC (I had banned him from my channel) and he DoS'd me. I got him back however by getting him blackballed by all the ISPs in Toronto (this was a while ago when you actually knew everyone on IRC). I wanted to find other ways to defend myself, albeit I was rather limited in my discoveries due to my Mac.

    So I figured I'd find ways to get even... errr... to understand better why he did it (Ya. That's it!)

    AO: Anything else you'd like to share?

    I don't share nuthin'!

    Heh.. if you see a chick doing a bicycle tour, be nice to her. It might be me!

  2. #2
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    Thumbs up A Lady Cycler

    A Lady Cycler?

    Wow! *A Cross-Country and Nationwide Tour plan? Wish you good luck especially on the Guiness!

    Heh.. if you see a chick doing a bicycle tour, be nice to her. It might be me!
    - If I were in there during that time, a nice "GO GO GO MsM!" will do.

    Nice interview. And nice interests in biking. I was once being a bike enthusiast even here in KSA. It makes you feel more healthy and strong.

    For the Security aspects, "ASSUMPTION IS THE MOTHER OF ALL F*uckUps" is a good motto.

    Cheers!

    Yo!
    \"Life without FREEDOM is no life at all\". - William Wallace
    MyhomE MyboX StealtH (loop n. see loop.)
    http://www.geocities.com/sebeneleben/SOTBMulti.gif

  3. #3
    In And Above Man Black Cluster's Avatar
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    Hey MsMittens,

    Nice AntiView Negative. I guess Nihil is your next victim....
    I use the same tools too. screwdriver, saw or hammer and sometime some dynamite, to add some fireworks to the atmospher....

    MsMittens: Persistence, willingness to learn and willingness to laugh. Being flexible enough that when topics go slightly off-topic that you can bring them back to topic and show how even the off-topic discussions have value.
    I liked this a lot.... But wait a minute? How many times you did that yourself????
    MsMittens, if you wanna any company in your tour, am here..... First I think I have to travel for thousands of KMs... lol

    Cheers
    \"The only truly secure system is one that is powered off, cast in a block of concrete and sealed in a lead-lined room with armed guards - and even then I have my doubts\".....Spaf
    Everytime I learn a new thing, I discover how ignorant I am.- ... Black Cluster

  4. #4
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    Another good interview Negative !

    MsMittens...you little ...I knew behind that mask of experience, intelligence, and credentials there beats the heart of a true !

    Eg

  5. #5
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    Another interesting interview Negetive, thanks to you and Ms.M for taking the time to post it.

    Also, having energy at 8am and showing enthusiasm when students need to see it the most, no matter how hung over you might be.

    Sighhhh... I guess I am screwed on this one... my own personal belief is that any job that requires you to be awake before noon is cruel, and should come with combat pay

    Cheers!
    MrC

    PS:
    Heh.. if you see a chick doing a bicycle tour, be nice to her. It might be me!
    Here in Vermont we like bicyclist, but down in Mass, they'll use ya for target practice! :O
    ~ I'm NOT insane! I've just been in a bad mood for the last 30 years! ~ Somepeople are like Slinky's: Not good for anything, but the thought of pushing them down the stairs brings a smile to your face!

  6. #6
    Just a Virtualized Geek MrLinus's Avatar
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    But wait a minute? How many times you did that yourself????
    I've done it a few times myself, usually when lecturing. I'll get into a topic, remember some story or something and go off on a tangent. Quite often however the tangent brings in some ideas that students didn't consider or situations they may not have been aware of. IMO, that helps in the long run -- especially in my CISSP course. There is no way we'll experience everything but sometimes by voicing a situation we may find solutions we have considered. This is the reason why I prefer smaller classes (2-15 students) rather than larger ones (30+). It can open discussion doors.

    First I think I have to travel for thousands of KMs
    Remember, every journey begins with a single step -- or in this case, the single spin of a wheel. When I first started doing LD bicycle touring I never thought I could do it (my first was the Cabot Trail -- considered one of the harder routes in Canada, if not North America). I've done a variety of tours at this point (PEI twice; Cabot Trail; Toronto-Montreal; Toronto-Ottawa-Montreal; Shediac, NB to Fundy National Park -- and back; Shediac, NB to Halifax, NS to Digby, NS; Toronto-Niagara Falls -- in one day and one day back). Cycling is one of the more hardcore things I do outside of security. The bicycle that I'm having custom made will run me around $3500CDN.

    A Cross-Country and Nationwide Tour plan? Wish you good luck especially on the Guiness!
    Yup. A bit ambitious. Apparently for loaded touring the present holder did it under 28 days. And by loaded touring that means you have your tent (home), sleeping bag (bed) and cooking gear (kitchen with sink) along for the ride. I also want to do a tour like this one. Going into the north would be neat and I suspect there'd be a lot there to see that I don't normally see down here in the "mild" south (although this past weekend put the word "mild" to the test!).

    .I knew behind that mask of experience, intelligence, and credentials there beats the heart of a true
    Oh ya. I have a "giggle" streak in me. I used to teach a course called System Integration II. Students would be a giant company with different IT "divisions": a NetWare division, a User Division (Win95/98/NT Workstation) and a Server Division (WinNT). They'd have a week to setup the network and make everything work and communicate well with each other. Since I used to be the admin at the school I still had master keys so I'd come in early and would do things like... infect the machines with every virus I had (about 5,000 at the time) or take the network apart, carefully folding up the cables and stick it in the back (this simulated the cleaning staff of the "company" being too thorough and forgetting to put things back). The reality is while a lot of this is good for giggles it does help students learn how to deal with stress and the unknown (it's amazing to see what happens when you have multiple variations of a variety of viruses infecting a single Win98 box).

    my own personal belief is that any job that requires you to be awake before noon is cruel, and should come with combat pay
    Coffee was invented for a reason. Use it wisely.

    Here in Vermont we like bicyclist, but down in Mass, they'll use ya for target practice!
    I've heard Vermont is a great cycling state but haven't heard that about Mass. I'll have to keep that in mind.
    Goodbye, Mittens (1992-2008). My pillow will be cold without your purring beside my head
    Extra! Extra! Get your FREE copy of Insight Newsletter||MsMittens' HomePage

  7. #7
    ********** |ceWriterguy
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    MsM - when you get to Texas on that tour, give me a holler, for I owe you that beer (mixed drink, wine, whatever).

    Neg - hella interview. Thanks muchly.
    Even a broken watch is correct twice a day.

    Which coder said that nobody could outcode Microsoft in their own OS? Write a bit and make a fortune!

  8. #8
    AO Ancient: Team Leader
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    Ms. M:

    I figure at least one of those trips has to bring you through, or close to, Detroit..... PM me for a free bed and food.... My sweetie and I will happily put you up for a night.... or two if you aren't trying to break any records.
    Don\'t SYN us.... We\'ll SYN you.....
    \"A nation that draws too broad a difference between its scholars and its warriors will have its thinking done by cowards, and its fighting done by fools.\" - Thucydides

  9. #9
    Senior Member RoadClosed's Avatar
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    Tour through Colorado eh? Most excellent.
    West of House
    You are standing in an open field west of a white house, with a boarded front door.
    There is a small mailbox here.

  10. #10
    Senior Member gore's Avatar
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