2020-11-20 -  My first Amazon Web Services (AWS) basics post covered the process of setting up a Virtual Private Cloud (VPC) and a Windows Server 2019 EC2 instance. This time we’re going to build on this simple setup by deploying a Amazon Aurora SQL database and ensuring we can access it from...

2020-11-15 -  Having worked on serveral projects involving Amazon Web Services (AWS) recently, but always at arm’s length, I decided to get a bit more hands-on. At worst this would give me a more practical grounding in managing cloud instances, and at best it would give me a useful resource for future...

2020-09-12 -  I recently took part in a DFIR capture the flag with some colleagues. Participants were provided with a system disk image and asked to mount it and complete a number of challenges to discover various flags hidden within the data. Exercises like this are always both a lot of fun...

2020-09-02 -  The problem with taking leave during a pandemic is that there are very few places you can go that don’t present an unnecessary risk. For me at least, the thought of taking a plane abroad wasn’t appealing, and neither were the Tube journeys that would be necessary to go out...

2020-07-18 -  What started as curiosity has turned into something of a labour of love. Online information about the Technicolor TG582n router’s event logging capabilities is scarce, and scattered across a number of forums. I’ve used that information along with some analysis of my own to compile this - the missing event...

2020-07-04 -  You may have noticed that things have changed around here - I built a new website, following the ethos that it should be as clear, lightweight, and fast as possible while respecting visitors’ privacy by keeping outside scripts and tracking to a minimum. In this post I take you through...

2020-05-02 -  It’s not just TV presenters who have been broadcasting from their homes during the COVID-19 lockdown. Cyber security conferences have also gone virtual, opening them up to attendees who would otherwise be unable to benefit. Information security conferences are usually few and far between, at least in the UK. In...

2020-03-28 -  After two and a half years in incident response it was time for another SANS course – FOR508: Advanced Incident Response, Threat Hunting, and Digital Forensics – with a tough exam I squeezed in just before COVID-19 consigned us all to our homes. SANS doesn’t seem to stipulate anymore that...

2020-02-15 -  A restless mind, a new feature, and a concerning news story had me worried about privacy over Christmas. Here’s how I installed Pi-hole on my home network to try to block requests from my Samsung Smart TV – and what the data it collected revealed… It was the night before...

2020-02-02 -  Web browsing privacy is of increasing concern as people’s business and personal lives become ever more entwined with the internet. This essay examines various connection scenarios to establish how secure your data really is. Introduction After years of industry concern, web browsing privacy is finally becoming a matter of interest...