On Moving from industry to consulting

As some of you know, I moved from industry to consulting within the security space just over a year ago. My focus has been and will continue to be Data Protection. Most of what I've done has been design and implementation but will move towards strategy. I'm also getting my feet wet with Security Analytics, hence the sudden interest in Splunk.

My experiences are different from most I've met in security consulting. It's been a refreshing change from me and I'm definitely not regretting it. In fact, I wish I'd done it sooner.

-Most folks I've met are road warriors that travel nearly 75 %. I'm between 25-50% tops.
-I'm working a ton less. I was averaging 50-60 before I left my last company. Now I'm at a pretty consistent 40 hour week. Huzzah for work-life balance.
-My last company had a pretty nuanced view towards remote work which is bonkers while at a global firm and having calls consistently with other corners of the globe. With a little planning, I'm able to work anywhere I've got an internet connection.
- I get to work on all kinds of projects and engagements so I'm developing more professionally. My last year and change at my last company I was in a rut where I wasn't growing.

#consultantlife

Github repo for comments blocking

I just put together my uBlock Origin blocklist into a GitHub Repo. Check it out:here.

Comments section blocking

We all know that the comments sections are teh suck. Here are a few rules to block comments sections on a bunch of sites. I might this into a github repo in the future so y'all can contribute to it.

automated speedtest using centos and IFTTT

Several months ago, I saw a Make tutorial on how run speedtest.net on a Raspberry Pi every hour and record it to Google Drive using IFTTT. I had to tweak it a bit to run on CentOS and added some basic metrics.

Home lab upgrades + current config

Host

NUC model NUC6i5SYH

NUC memory 32 gig crucial DDR4

NUC drive old SSD

BIOS vers SYSKLi35.86A.0051.2016.0804.1114

Vmware version ESXi-6.0.0-20160302001-standard (VMware, Inc.)

9/21 Added swap to local storage (SSD)

This replaces my AMD based ESXi host that wouldn't run anything newer than 5.1 because of NIC driver support and the NUC is a ton smaller and fanless.

Splunk instance

Splunk 6.4.2 build 00f5bb3fa822

Receiving logs from Windows machines, Router, NAS, and ESXi.

I'm using it to do some cool dashboards. Maybe I'll write some posts on it in the future. I'll be updating it soon, when I get a free moment.

Router

TP-Link TL-WDR4300 v1

Running OpenWrt Chaos Calmer 15.05 / LuCI (git-15.248.30277-3836b45)

NAS

1.8 TB iSCSI LUN

Synology DS1812+

the season of cold brew coffee

Now that it's finally warming up, I've been experimenting with my cold press coffee maker that I got from Amazon.  I got the 600 mL Hario Mizudashi coffee maker on sale a few months ago and I've been using it when I don't want to make a doppio.

To make a batch use
6 scoops of ground beans
400ml cold water
and let it set in the fridge overnight.

To serve I use put two square ice cubes in a tall glass and pour in some cold brew with room for a splash of milk. I've tried adding some spices like cinnamon and that tastes pretty good.

Soylent 1.5 experiences

I've been using Soylent 1.5 pretty regularly for a while. There was a 2 week period where I was using it exclusively, mostly out of laziness. It's certainly better than reaching for a candy bar if I can't get away for lunch but the taste is pretty bland.

Here's what I've tried so far:

Recovery drink (post workout)

• 1 scoop vanilla Muscle Milk
• 1 scoop Soylent 1.5
• (optional) 2 scoops Fruit Punch BCAA from Optimum Nutrition
• 1.5 cups water in a blender bottle.

Fruit & Berry shake

• 1/2 cup frozen fruits/berry
• 2 scoop Soylent 1.5
• 1.5 cups water in a blender bottle.
• Toss it all in the blender and pour and drink through out the day.

Peanut butter shake

• 2 tablespoons powdered peanut powder
• 2 scoop Soylent 1.5
• 1.5 cups water in a blender bottle.
• Toss it all in the blender and pour and drink through out the day.

Espresso shake

• lungo (long pour) on espresso
• 2 scoop Soylent 1.5
• 1.5 cups water in a blender bottle.
• Toss it all in the blender and pour and drink through out the day.