Puzzles, Fun, and Games

Update on August Ping Storms

Oct 1, 2024 - 3900 Words -

A few days ago, I wrote about what GreyNoise have been calling “Noise Storms,” extended periods of high-volume ping traffic detected by many of their sensors, coming from…many different sources. The most intriguing of these were packets with the word “LOVE” in plaintext in the ping payload, and in my post, I offered a possible explanation of that traffic. At least, at a technical level – what they’re doing with those packets, well, that’s a different puzzle.

Ping Storms at GreyNoise

Sep 27, 2024 - 2600 Words -

Earlier this month, I attended BSidesNoVA in Arlington, where the keynote was presented by Andrew Morris of GreyNoise. Using sensors distributed all over the world, GreyNoise collects…background noise…on the Internet. Basically, they watch and monitor activity that hits lots of hosts randomly – network mapping, port scanning, doorknob rattling. If you see someone trying to break into your SSH server, you can check GreyNoise to see if that person (well, their IP, anyway) has been seen doing such things in the past.

Funemployment, and Next Steps

Jul 9, 2024 - 2100 Words -

Back in 2018, I was fortunate enough to join a company called Expel. It had a great culture, friendly management with a real desire to do what’s right for customers and employees, and a product that seemed to fill a real need – and to fill it well. Being remote friendly even in 2018, we were ready when the pandemic hit, and it seemed like we made it out the other side unscathed.

Using an Adafruit NeoTrellis Keypad with MQTT

Apr 26, 2021 - 2200 Words -

I’ve been building a light-up keypad for home automation devices (and Zoom sessions). Last time, I gave an overview of the project. This entry will detail the hardware itself, completing a basic remote-only setup, while the next post adds more advanced features and connects it to a server. You can browse the entire series from the link in the header, or by clicking here. Hardware I spent some time trying to find just the right hardware for this toy.

Building a remote-control home automation keypad

Apr 25, 2021 - 1100 Words -

I use Zoom. A lot. Obviously, a whole lot more since we all started working from home. It’s not a big deal – I’ve gotten pretty used to it, and it’s a good system. So much better than the PictureTel VTCs I occasionally used in the early 90’s. What’s annoying, though, is when someone asks a question and I’m on mute. Suddenly, there’s a scramble to figure out which monitor the mouse pointer is on…jiggle…jiggle…JIGGLE!