General Information

Posts related to general information about malware analysis, or about this blog.

Malwear Musings (my merchandise) Sale

Posted by Karl on May 30, 2021
Posted in: General Information, malwearmusings, t-shirts. Tagged: , , , , . Leave a comment

Malwear Musings is my t-shirt/merchandise shop, hosted by RedBubble. I was hoping to sell enough t-shirts to recover the cost of hosting my blog, but at an average of just over one t-shirt a year at the moment, this obviously isn’t happening.

I don’t like adverts on web pages, so I’ve been paying WordPress.com for the last seven and a half years to keep my blog advert free. It’s obviously been running at a loss, but I’ve maintained it regardless, despite not getting a lot of time to work on it (now that I’m working full-time again), in the hope that people will find it useful.

RedBubble are currently having a store-wide sale with 20%-60% off, until 01st June 2021 (see clickable image below), so I’m hoping that whether or not you find my blog posts useful, you’ll find my t-shirts amusing/entertaining and decide to buy some.

I’ve just added five new designs, which I’d been meaning to do for some time (see the ‘procrastination’ t-shirt!), and this sale seemed like a good time to finally get them out. I have some more designs that I want to add, but I also need to work on other stuff this weekend (like making some shortbread)!

You can find my RedBubble shop at https://malwearmusings.redbubble.com/ (that misspelling is a deliberate pun, albeit possibly a confusing one) and I hope you like my t-shirt designs — right now though, it’s shortbread time.

Classics

  • Some Assembly Required
  • Don’t Follow Me, I’m Going Phishing
  • My Favourite Strings

Cyber Security

  • Does this t-shirt/hoodie make my data look big? (new)
  • My parents went on the Internet and all I got was some lousy malware
  • DNT: 1
  • Do Not Track

Geeky/Techo

  • /me reminisces
  • Does this t-shirt/hoodie make my data look big? (new)
  • 417 Expectation Failed
  • My parents went on the Internet and all I got was this lousy t-shirt

Beekeeping

  • I’d quit smoking, but it calms my bees (new)
  • Beekeepers are smokin’ (new)

Music

  • My parents went to coda and all I got was this lousy t-shirt
  • Musicians do it in bars (new)

Unicycling

  • Do not overtake flailing vehicle
  • mount /dev/sad/admin /mnt/unicycle

General

  • Chronocidal Maniac
  • Five tips to avoid procrastination (new)
  • COVID-19: Social distancing — If you can read this, you’re too close

Michelangelo Virus Day — What have we done in the last 25 years?!

Posted by Karl on March 6, 2017
Posted in: A False Sense of Security, General Information. Tagged: . Leave a comment

The 06th March is the day that the Michelangelo virus (a virus I came across back in the early nineties) would overwrite disk sectors, and it apparently caused quite a frenzy back in January 1992. I was thinking, here we are 25 years later, and what have we done? (Look out — this is another one of my non-technical posts!) Continue Reading

ANZAC — 100 Year Anniversary: Artillery Shells and Command Shells

Posted by Karl on April 25, 2015
Posted in: General Information, Muse Food. Leave a comment

It is a hundred years to the day since the Australian and New Zealand Army Corps (ANZACs) landed on a beach at Gallipoli, Turkey, to fight in a war — not a ‘cyber’ war, where people often lose web servers, but the type of war where people often lose mates, comrades, loved ones, and their lives. This is a change from my usual technical writing, and given the sensitive subject matter, the lack of sleep that I got last night, and the fact that I’m more comfortable writing about my technical endeavours, I’m hoping that I don’t cock this up.

Continue Reading

Halloween Special: Who Knows What You Did Last Summer?!

Posted by Karl on October 31, 2013
Posted in: General Information. Tagged: , . Leave a comment

I was conjuring up a physical world which had the same level of tracking and logging as the Internet does — a preposterous world because nobody would expect the same level of tracking to occur once they left their computer and went outside right?

Little did I know that my preposterous world isn’t that far from becoming a reality, and that there could soon be any number of people who know what you did last summer. Continue Reading

Testing, Testing, Is This Thing On?!

Posted by Karl on August 26, 2013
Posted in: General Information. 1 Comment

Well it has been a year since I started this blog, and this is just a quick post to let you know that despite not posting anything for the last three months, I haven’t abandoned the blog nor my desire to try new things in the field of malware analysis. Whilst not blogging, I have had some thoughts about what I’d like to blog about should I once again find enough time to do so.

Continue Reading

Logging the Creation of Shell Processes

Posted by Karl on February 5, 2013
Posted in: General Information. 1 Comment

Since attacks often involve trying to run a shell on a remote host, usually by exploiting a vulnerability in a network service, why don’t we get the shell to log some pertinent information when it starts up. Information that will both alert us to the fact, and identify which potentially compromised process started it. Continue Reading

Physical Security: An APT-like Incident and ZoneMinder Introduction

Posted by Karl on December 31, 2012
Posted in: General Information. Leave a comment

Like Men at Work once asked, ‘Who can it be knocking at my door‘? The smashed glass window next to the door probably suggests that when they knocked, they not only missed the door but also knocked a bit harder than was necessary to get someone’s attention. Unfortunately it’s not just an attempt at a witty opening, but a lead in to a story about a physical break in that occurred at a friend’s work place. I likened it to an APT in IT, and used it as an excuse to use IT to help with physical security — cue the ZoneMinder software. Continue Reading

Warning Signs: Be Suspicious of Changes in Behaviour

Posted by Karl on October 24, 2012
Posted in: General Information. 2 Comments

If your computer, mobile phone, or any other piece of I.T. equipment starts behaving differently, then it is probably wise to investigate further as it could indicate a malware infection. I remembered this lesson on Friday when I was left stranded by the side of the road, due to car trouble after ignoring what I suspect with hindsight, was a subtle change in my car’s behaviour. Continue Reading