AndrewReiter.com

I am now a certified ethical hacker!  I passed my test this morning.  It was actually very well done.  I finished it in 2 hours, and I thought I may not have done so well.  The questions were very thought provoking.  Some where multiple answer multiple choice questions where there were “up to 6″ answers, with 10 choices.  I thought for sure I screwed a few of those up, and I also need more brushing up on my Linux hacking.  I’m sure half the points I missed were Linux-based questions.  Either way, I got it done and I’m now on vacation.  I’ll have plenty to tell about and many pictures when I get back.

This past weekend, Katie and I were honored to celebrate with MF and KG at their wedding. They had it at the Sheraton in Clayton, which turned out really nice. We got Matt the best wedding gift he received, I’m sure. 8 or 9 of us went in on a Nintendo Wii and gave it to him Friday night. He was quite surprised. I just bought one for myself a couple nights ago, thanks to Nick, who found one at Wal-Mart. Just about everyone I know has a Wii now.

Tomorrow I’m headed back up to the training center to take my CEH certification test. They slot 4 hours for the test, but my instructor said it shouldn’t take more than 3. If it takes me 4 hours, I probably won’t pass. I’ve been studying for the last couple weeks, and I think I’m ready to go.

Right after I finish my test, Katie and I begin our vacation. First, we are headed down to Arkansas for another wedding. A good friend from college is getting married in Fayetteville, and I can’t wait to meet the gal he tricked into this. It should be a fun weekend, which ends in us driving down to Florida for a Reiter family reunion. We will be spending the majority of the time in St. Augustine, but we will also be headed to Jacksonville and Orlando. We will be going to Sea World, and we might even swing by Kennedy Space Center.

LOTD: Glasbergen Cartoons

While I didn’t exactly collect the toys and lunch boxes growing up, I definitely spent plenty of time watching the Transformers cartoon. Over the weekend, I went with a couple brothers to see the newly released movie. The effects were awesome, storyline was credible(for scifi of course), and it was Autobots vs Decepticons… what more could you want? Any fan of the Transformers must see this movie, along with any action film fan out there. It is my movie of the year already and the year is barely half over.

I’m a couple days into the CEH training and so far it has been very interesting. Much like the transformers, people use their hacking powers for good or evil. This class is not as much of a “defensive techniques” class that I originally thought it would be. It really is hacking 101. Not only do you learn how to use hacking tools, they are provided for you with the course material. After all, they are all readily available on the net anyways. As a matter of fact, many of the tools were originally written for good purposes, but are also used for hacking. Now, don’t come to me asking for tips, as I’m not at liberty to share any of the information… I would recommend this class to anyone that is interested in network and system security.

Ethical Hacking… sounds like an oxymoron doesn’t it? The idea is to know how hackers operate so that you can defend against them. I’ve been preparing for a class on it that I have next week. I was sent almost 3000 pages of course ware that I have been reading the past couple of weeks. It will be a pretty intense class as it is all packed into 5 8-hour days.

Last night, Katie and I went up to Fair St. Louis with our friend Greg. We definitely didn’t go up there just to see Cyndi Lauper, but she did happen to be playing a concert on the riverfront. Katie ended up with a headache, while Greg and I were laughing at all the people dancing around to “Girls Just Want to Have Fun” … or whatever the title is. The fireworks show was great, though. It is amazing how it is all timed to the music and everything. We watched the show through the arch, which was pretty neat.

LOTD: iPhone Dugout Chat

What a great weekend! There weren’t as many people at the annual 4th party at my brother’s(Brian) house on Saturday, only about 100. Nick and Katie joined in on the festivities. After all the smack talk I was giving him, Nick still lasted longer in the washer tournament than I did. In fact, he won the whole thing… thanks to his partner. Katie and I didn’t fare so well in the egg toss either. The very first throw, the egg broke in my hand. It was amazing how many other peoples’ eggs were bouncing and rolling across the ground while mine shattered on the first throw.