May 2018 – SECURITY RESEARCH AND DATA PRIVACY

May 28, 2018May 27, 2018

Walk on by

I’ve always seen following walkthroughs as a second-hand experience but in the right circumstance, especially tough linear games, it can be the key to sanity. I have limited time to solve some puzzles and frustration can grow rapidly.

It’s been 2 years I explored the Alien Isolation environment, it’s a brilliant and artistic re-creation of the early years of Ripley but really difficult as the chilling music and sound effects of the Alien hunting you distract your from objectives. Unlike other Alien titles, you have no big guns so you are forced to use stealth which adds up to a scary game of cat and mouse.

Alien: Isolation – last played January 2016

So let’s cheat, whoops sorry, I mean look up a walkthrough.

Some sites are dedicated to creating the best walkthrough as soon as the game is released and YouTube is filled with Pros, fanatics, commentators and streamers. Some authors have taken to documenting and selling complete illustrated walkthroughs which must be tough considering all the free stuff out there.

May 27, 2018

Erase yourself

Probably inspired by GDPR, some Global vendors are following the tracks of social media giants by making it easy to download ALL your data.

It will take seven (7) days but I just put in my request for info to Apple hoping for some surprises. There will be many of us who state that we have “nothing” to hide and don’t care what information is held.

You don’t know what you don’t know

https://privacy.apple.com

Self-discovery is always a healthy thing gives you the power to decide to delete ALL, correct or reset.

Basic discovery

App Store, iTunes Store, 
iBooks Store and Apple Music activity
Apple ID account and device information
Apple Online Store and Retail Store activity
AppleCare support history, repair requests and more
Game Center activity
iCloud Bookmarks and Reading List
iCloud Calendars and Reminders
iCloud Contacts
iCloud Drive files and documents
iCloud Mail
iCloud Notes
iCloud Photos
Maps Report an Issue
Marketing subscriptions, 
Marketing downloads

May 26, 2018May 25, 2018

5 hour Disruption

At just rank 17, Star Wars Battlefront 2 version 1.08 is as addictive as ever.

Its in-game economics have been nicely engineered to only reward the player with better guns through hours and hours of gameplay only. No more using real money to buy in-game weapons but, for me, this resulted in total disengagement from real life just to focus on ranking up and avoiding being killed every 10-30 seconds or so.

STAR WARS; Battlefront II – Trying to become an elite manager

The ranks system means the upper upgrades are only available at Rank 22 and 35. In-game currency can only be used for cosmetic changes to your appearance.

The multiplayer sessions seem to be crowded with either folk over Rank 50-100 or newbies like me under 22.

Negative side effects

Poor eating or drink
Lack of quality sleep
No communications with friends or family
Total AWOL on projects
....I can't feel my legs (only kidding)

Conclusion: An absolutely fun game to play and a dream for real Star Wars fans wanting to relive the movies (now down to $23.99).

STAR WARS Battlefront II – Already an old game.

It’s too much of a disruption to my life (2-4 hours continuous gameplay) so I’ll eject the disk and conceal it in the office till the winter months and probably a new game patch.

May 25, 2018May 25, 2018

Make your head Nod

Day 1 – EU Data Laws come into force today.

Look out for the Article 33 – 72 Hour breach notification debacle.

I can only imagine the litigations that are cued up and ready to go. Enterprise is all lawyered up but Small Business owners must be wondering what to do. The first cases will definitely hit the media.

Will it make the end-user safer or just cause admin hassle and change the strategic position of hackers and miscreants? A new era of Lawfare where regulations are used to tied up resources of a target, distracting them and potential weakening their infrastructure.

Policy, procedures, standards, compliance will someone please wake me up.

…but yet I’ve already had some vague clueless queries from worried business folk.

Data enemies approach – Hellblade: Senua’s Sacrifice

No matter, your friendly neighbourhood CISSP is here for ya.

May 22, 2018May 22, 2018

Walk in the Park

Game release timing is always critical. I’m very picky with when I buy a title as the marketing hype from AAA studios is often a punch in the face. Indie titles are a bit more honest but often lack the wow factor. Funny thing is that I’m really enjoying indie title HellBlade.

I sidestepped the travesty of No Man’s Sky but still curious and would probably buy the full game for $20 or so but definitely not for the current $60. I added two low commitment titles that were not on my buy list but pleasantly interesting with a tempting price drop to $5 from $20, Firewatch and Inside.

Mafia III (released July 2016) is also down to $16 from $40 but the timing is not right and the drop indicates a possible freebie later this year for PS4 Plus members as they try to boost sales.