Tech evangelism and Miso soup like no other
Scott Jarkoff
Over the course of the last eighteen years, Scott has been providing technology consultation to the United States government in one capacity or another. During the nineties, Scott performed a variety of telecommunications and network security services directly for the United States Navy as a rowdy, drunken, foul-mouthed sailor. In 1999, after honorably separating from the Navy, Scott stayed in Yokosuka, Japan to work for CSC on what has become known as ONE-NET, the overseas NMCI. Scott currently works as an Information Assurance Manager for the Department of the Navy. You have got to admit, those are some of the most boring sounding jobs known to mankind! Certainly not as glamorous as most people assume. So who is the real Scott Jarkoff? Will the real Scott Jarkoff stand up? Scott is the guy who is addicted to the intarweb, has been working with computers since before he could talk and eats miso soup with dinner every day. He is the guy who advocates technological solutions to every day problems. Scott enjoys tinkering with new web-based applications, especially from web start-ups who are looking for feedback on their products. Oddly enough, Scott has even dabbled in the creation of large-scale web sites. The web and inter-connectivity is his passion. One day Scott will own an Empire resembling the Death Star. Until then, he gets by living in a cardboard box near a park bench in downtown Tokyo, stealing free wifi from the McDonalds across the street.
Homepage: http://techmiso.com/author/jark/
Posts by Scott Jarkoff
The “I Don’t Want To Be A Dick” Syndrome of Information Assurance Management
Sep 12th
Information Assurance remains a growing field of expertise, maturing on an almost daily basis. The industry has exploded over the last 10 years even though the concepts of IA has been around since as early as the 1960’s. Although the industry and its practitioners continue to evolve, those in upper-management have a difficult time fully grasping the core principles. As in many areas of management these days, there are far too many gun-shy managers who are more concerned with appearances and perception than properly mitigating risk to the networks they are charged with protecting.
Does U.S. Mobile Carrier AT&T Rule All App Store Applications?
Aug 1st
Earlier this week the internet was abuzz over Apple rejecting the official Google Voice (GV) iPhone app. This story was quickly followed by Apple removing every GV-enabled app already available in the App Store. The official GV app and all previously approved GV-enabled applications appear to have been removed from all international App Stores. Based on many accounts, the culprit behind this dastardly deed is none other than AT&T. Does this mean that AT&T, the U.S. mobile carrier, has veto authority across all U.S. and international App Store applications?
Navy Federal Credit Union Web Site Operating with Security Issue
Jul 18th
Online banking users are hopefully aware of the need to login to their banks web-based system using secure means, such as via a web site protected using SSL encryption. Every legitimate bank offers such protection, normally disallowing customers the ability to login via unsecure means. But not every bank appears to be conscious of the myriad of potential security risks associated with their site. Navy Federal Credit Union is plagued by a huge security vulnerability on their web site and is possibly the easiest bank on which to perform a phishing expedition.
Updated – August 12, 2009: Added correspondence from the RSA Anti Fraud Command Centre and SliceHost Support regarding a take-down notice and trademark infringement claim. This little article has apparently generated some interest and visibility by an NFCU “security” contractor.
Updated – August 15, 2009: The saga appears to have come to an end as the RSA AFCC responds to SliceHost after TechMiso stipulates the content was not infringing. The attack dogs are ostensibly caged for now.
Stop Password Masking – Is Usability More Crucial Than Security?
Jul 6th
Jakob Nielsen, a widely known expert in the field of web usability, recently stirred up a shit storm of controversy after proclaiming that it is time to stop masking passwords because usability suffers. He claims hinges on the lack of true feedback when typing passwords. Making matters worse, world-renowned security expert Bruce Schneier agreed with Nielsen, hopping on the same idiotic train Nielsen is driving. Is password masking really such an important issue in need of immediate resolution?
Web vs. Desktop Task Management Systems
Jun 30th
One of the most hotly contested areas of development these days is task management. Even though there are a myriad of web and desktop applications available there is no clear winner, especially with the proliferation of mobile computing. Just one moment of browsing the “productivity” category in the iTunes App Store will confirm such. So how do you decide which route to take?
I Refuse to Upgrade to an iPhone 3GS
Jun 28th
A few short weeks ago Apple released the highly anticipated upgrade to their flagship iPhone 3G, apparently aptly dubbed the iPhone 3GS. The “S” is presumably for speed because the updated product is touted as being twice as fast as its predecessor. Even though the new phone is the most advanced mobile phone on the market today, yours truly will be sticking with the trusty iPhone 3G.
Where is the Push Gmail for Mobile Users?
Jun 25th
Being addicted to Google and Apple products is not always the easiest fetish to fulfill. Although both companies are close business partners in some respects, their products do not always interoperate to the degree consumers desire.
Miso Soup Kitchen Fires Up Again
Jun 22nd
As most folks have noticed, TechMiso has not been producing vast quantities of Miso Soup over the course of the past couple weeks. Comparing our two-week output to each week prior and it becomes evident that our Miso Soup kitchen is not performing up to our high standards. In the interest of full disclosure and rather than keep our faithful readers in the dark, I would like to enlighten everyone on the status of the Miso Soup.
Pragmatic Thoughts About Apple’s WWDC Product Releases
Jun 14th
The entire world was sitting on the edge of their seats, anxiously awaiting the fabled Apple World Wide Developers Conference Keynote Speech, a presentation which over the course of the last few years has provided some of the most exciting new Apple product news. Or maybe not? After soaking in the announcements for the past week, it seems there really is nothing truly revolutionary or groundbreaking even though a vast array of consumers seems quite jazzed.
HOWTO Install Cherokee, MySQL, PHP and WordPress on Ubuntu 9.04 Jaunty Jackalope
Jun 5th
Cherokee is a smoking hot up-and-coming web server capable of hanging with Apache while consuming exponentially less resources than its older sibling. As we wrote earlier, Cherokee saved TechMiso from Apache scalping all available RAM, ultimately allowing us to continue to provide the same service we provide today but with far better memory consumption. Learn how to install and configure Cherokee, MySQL, PHP and WordPress on Ubuntu 9.04 Jaunty Jackalope for a lean, mean, efficient web serving machine.
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