Max Nomad - Surviving the zombie apocalypse: safer computing tips for small business managers & everyday people

www.bgpublishing.com

This book is dedicated to anyone that ever lost
something special to criminals and zombies
and wants to make sure it doesnt happen again.

Foreword

by Keith Basil

It was around 1991 that I had settled into college life as a Computer Science major in the southeastern Virginia area. As a brash hacker new to the area code, my first order of business was to find out who was who in the local underground. After a few months of surveying the local network, one name kept coming upMax Nomad. Messages like Max Nomad is the guy you want to get in touch with, Max Nomad has that type of information and Max Nomad was here a few days ago were replaying on the top underground systems at the time. Max Nomad was larger than life, apparently. I finally met Max Nomad... and as fate would have it, we were on the same campus.

And so our crazy journey began.

Max and I were two of the co-founders of the Internet Service Provider mentioned in this book. With the new venture, all underground activities were put away and becoming Mad Hackers Bent on Corporate Plunder was our new mission. We opened up shop Friday, June , 1994 in the World Trade Center in downtown Norfolk, Virginia.

So imagine if you will, taking a short break from the insanity of running a startup. Sitting on the couch in our reception area and looking across the posh lobby at the signage of a fellow commercial tenant, a few questions came to mind. Why do I know that name? Why is this familiar? And then, it hit me. I recognized the company name not for the services they provided but for what type of system they ran. Years earlier, I had hacked into their system, stayed around a few days, noted the system users and left without a trace. Can you imagine my surprise when the system administrator came over to chat about our new startup and our cool black NeXT computers? She introduced herself as Pat. With a smirk I replied Yes, I knowluckily she didnt catch the inference. We chatted about each others systems for a whilehackers, in the truest sense of the word, one to another. All was well and after she left Max and I had yet another story for the archives.

Why is this story relevant? Two reasons: That moment in the reception area, talking to Pat marked a transitional period for us. It represented a move from offense to defense. Just like Pat, we were now responsible for running production systems critical to the success of the business. Its a direct point of reflection and relevance for this book because here in your hands is a work written by someone who has seen and been on both sides of the fence.

You will not find a better perspective.

As society becomes more technologically complex, the bugs, loopholes, and defaults will exist and the underground will thrive. Whether the masses choose to acknowledge this or not, we are a subculture of and to ourselves, much like the Grateful Dead followers. Some will move on, die off, or fade away, and others will stream in to fill the empty spaces.

Addressing the computer underground, Max wrote those words over two decades ago for a popular hacker magazine. That passage still holds true todaythe empty spaces will always be filled. The nefarious nature of the threats and bad actors have continued to evolve... and Max has as well. The work presented in this book will educate, entertain and most important help keep you, your information and your computers a bit safer.

Keith Basil is a serial entrepreneur, inventor and technology executive, with over years of experience related to Internet services, startups, funding, security, and cloud architecture. Most recently as a Red Hat executive, he is focused on OpenStack product management, development and strategy with emphasis on elastic cloud management and security. He has also worked with members of the OpenStack community to co-author the first edition of the OpenStack Security Guide. His past experience includes managing two startups (where he raised several rounds of capital), and working as a senior consultant at Cisco Systems where he holds two patents in the areas of unified messaging and application development. He has also been an expert witness and member of the legal defense teams of Amazon and Ebay.

Keith can be reached through his personal website www.noslzzp.com.

Disclaimer

This book is presented solely for educational and entertainment purposes. It is not intended as a substitute for computer manuals, the advice of IT professionals, or professional IT services. While best efforts have been used to verify the accuracy of all information presented in this book, the author and publisher make no representations or warranties of any kind and assume no liabilities of any kind with respect to the accuracy or completeness of the contents and specifically disclaim any implied warranties of merchantability or fitness of use for a particular purpose. Neither the author nor the publisher shall be held liable or responsible to any person or entity with respect to any loss or incidental or consequential damages caused, or alleged to have been caused, directly or indirectly, by the information or programs contained herein. No warranty may be created or extended by sales representatives or written sales materials. Every company is different and the advice and strategies contained herein may not be suitable for your situation. You should seek the services of a competent IT professional before beginning any major security improvements to your home or office network.

Unless stated otherwise, the events and scenarios described in the authors personal anecdotes are based on real events. Names (and some descriptions) have been changed or omitted to maintain client anonymity. In some cases the genders, ethnicity, or professions have been changed or omitted unless they are pertinent to the story.