Everyone needs to do some housekeeping at different points, and I figured it was time I did some a basic security sweep of my setup. To get started, I performed a quick packet capture on the very server that hosts this blog. I decided to give one of CloudShark‘s newer and more distinct features a spin with my recently created account; their Threat Assessment tool. I thought it would be interesting to pit this against PacketTotal as well.

Problem I have come to expect vague error messages that seemingly blame the network. This one is no different. Server Error in ‘/’ Application. The network path was not found Description: An unhandled exception occurred during the execution of the current web request. Please review the stack trace for more information about the error and where it originated in the code. Exception Details: System.ComponentModel.Win32Exception: The network path was not found

Have you ever had a nightmare where you are being chased and you can’t just seem to run away fast enough? No? Well, maybe you’ve tried running through snow up to your knees or swimming while wearing jeans. All of those examples point to situations that feel like something isn’t quite right. Cases where there could be better performance if only something was changed or improved. Sometimes this same thing happens to network devices.

What’s that yellow sticky note poking out from under your keyboard? Is that your password? If you’re like many people this may be the case. While this may be practical and convenient, it’s not a good idea. It might be ok in the privacy of your own home, but it can still be risky. Privacy and security (online safety) is all about managing your risks and deciding what is right for you.

Several hundred users lost network connectivity. They went down randomly, one by one, and over a short period of time. Some users had intermittent connectivity. All of the network devices were online and functional. Users were roaming the halls and getting bored. This called for a packet capture, but with clients offline it had to be done on a network switch. In this instance, the capture was performed at the distribution switch on the layer 3 VLAN.

I recently sat for the Wireshark Certified Network Analyst certification again. This will be the second time I have taken it and the second time I have passed. I have taken several various networking certification exams, networked with people who have sat for others, and read about many more. Keeping all of that in mind, I think this is one of the most straightforward certification tests I have seen. Laura Chappell, Gerald Combs, and the team have done a great job with the books and preparation materials.