anchorite.org

Over the past few weeks I have been reading two books by celebrated former hacker, Kevin D. Mitnick. They have really opened my eyes to how vulnerable we are. Yes, I know that some of you think that I am already overzealous about security, but when you realize how easy it is to bypass security, whether using social techniques or technology hacks, it is scary. If you work with technology or lead an organization, I highly recommend reading Kevin’s books.

The Art of Deception: Controlling the Human Element of Security
The Art of Intrusion: The Real Stories Behind the Exploits of Hackers, Intruders & Deceivers

Also, last week Tim Fehlman on Daily Cup of Tech, focused on security, his Security Week Windup is a great resource.

A couple more links on security:
Dark Reading: What to Do When Your Security’s Breached
InfoWorld: The 14 best ways to protect your computers

Speaking of security, while walking into the lobby of a local Caribbean restaurant, Mango Mike’s, I came across an interestingly placed server cabinet…

Once of the challenges we have always had with recording video of sermons has been integrating the presentations. Today, Guy Kawasaki posts his Art of Innovation speech with PowerPoint slides using Zentation, a service that allows you to view both the speaker and the current slide.

To use Zentation, you upload your video to Google Video and then use their ZenSync tool to create timings for each graphic. What’s nice is that users can click on slides and jump directly to that part in the video.

BTW, it is a great speech on innovation…

Little Flock Christian School (Fairfax, VA) has a few openings for the 2007-2008 school year:
Kindergarten (K5) Teacher
K3 Teacher
Computer/PE Teacher

This week was pretty hectic for me, besides my regular workload, I had a few technical issues that were tricky to figure out (seems like I wasn’t the only one having fun this week)…

Exchange server stuck in boot process at Applying Computer Settings
Over at CopticOrphans.org, their Microsoft Exchange server went out thanks to a power outage (it was the one server not plugged into a UPS), it got stuck during boot with the message “Applying Computer Settings”. While I couldn’t remote desktop into the machine, I was able to access the event logs remotely but nothing conspicuous was listed. We rebooted into safe mode without any problems, but once again nothing seem out of the ordinary. Finally, I booted the machine normally with a network connection and it completed the boot process. I logged in and ran the Exchange Best Practices Analyzer, the health report mentioned that it couldn’t find or access the Exchange Domain Servers group in Active Directory. I logged into their domain controller and found a new organizational unit (OU) called CO Groups, inside were some new groups as well as all the system groups. I copied all the system groups including Exchange Domain Servers back to the Users OU. I rebooted the Exchange server and everything came back up normally.

Can’t open attachments on messages in Exchange Public Folders
Back at church, our receptionist couldn’t open attachments in one of the public folders on the Exchange server. I have our phone system send all the general voice mails as WAV files to a public folder, she could access attachments in other public folders but not this one. When trying to open or save the attachment it would pop up a message saying that she didn’t have the appropriate rights or permissions. After checking permissions on the public folder and make sure there was enough drive space on her desktop, I figured something must be corrupted in her Windows profile so I backed it up and created a new profile for her…worked like a charm.

Partially upgraded Microsoft Access database
One of our super tech volunteers called me last night, he was having problems trying to repair an Access 2003 database that belonged to friend of his. The Access database was throwing an error that it was partially upgraded from an older version and the conversion did not complete. We tried to import the data into a new database, but it would throw the same error, we tried to open the database with OpenOffice.org Base and Office 2007 but it could only access the forms and queries, not the tables (where the data is stored). Finally, we ended up trying the Recovery for Access demo and it worked.

We are in the market for a used school bus, if anyone knows of a bus for sale or a good dealer not too far from metro DC, please leave a comment or contact me. We are looking for a relatively new bus (max 5 years old) that seats 60+ and can handle long distance (3 hour) highway trips.

David Szpunar posted about a new Adult Site Blocking service from OpenDNS this morning. This is great news, as that I have had great experience with OpenDNS and so far they have been extremely reliable and responsive. After ScrubIT blocked Google.com, I was hesitant to re-enable them on the church network (especially since we never got a response about what happened).

As David mentions in his post, OpenDNS is using an established content filtering firm, St. Bernard, for their block list. OpenDNS also provides typo correction, anti-phishing, domain blocking, shortcuts, custom error pages and statistics.

I have cutover both the church and my home network, so far it is working well.

I was catching up on Andy Abramsom’s blog, VoIP Watch yesterday and came across a post highlighting a client of his, Seattle area startup CallButler. CallButler is the first simple to use phone system that I have seen targeting to really small businesses. Prices are affordable, starting at free if you are using Skype to a reasonable $229.95 (sale price) for a package with unlimited extensions. As of right now, you must have an always on broadband connection and use Skype or sign up with an Internet Telephone Service Provider to run the software and accept/place calls. According their FAQ, they do plan on offering an online version, CallButler Live later this year.

A few of the features from their website:

• Get a business number in minutes, instead of giving out your home or mobile number.
• Take customer calls 24×365 and automatically answer common questions in multiple languages.
• Transfer callers to people on VoIP, mobile, and land-based telephones.
• Give callers access to a Dial-By-Name directory of extensions.
• Play hold music for your callers while CallButler finds you at one of your telephone numbers.
• Have your own voicemail system with Email and Outlook integration.
• Integrate your phone system with databases and other applications.

I tried out the free CallButler version for Skype, it was easy to get up and running. They provided examples to work from, it would be easy for even those who aren’t technical to get it up and running. My only hesitation is the fact that it depends on an always-on computer and Internet connection, I am not sure if that configuration would be reliable enough to receive calls on the main church number just yet. My experience with running on VoIP across the Internet has been mixed, with a lot of factors that could possible degrade service (although VoIP on managed networks works great). I think the real potential here is when they release their hosted, CallButler Live, service. With a hosted service, you can rely on a manged infrastructure to accept and route your calls across VoIP, mobile and land-based networks. That way, if your Internet connection is acting up one day, you could simply route calls to your cell phone or backup land lines.

Overall, I am impressed with the easy of setup and use, I think CallButler fills a much needed gap in the VoIP PBX market.

Review by Smallbiztechnology.com:
Call Butler – Software Based Telephone System with Virtual Flexibility

As we are now in the time of the Fast of the Apostles after celebrating the Feast of Pentecost, I just wanted to point out a few series from St. Mark Coptic Orthodox Church of Washington, DC related to the Holy Spirit as our Lord Jesus Christ said in John 16:7 “It is to your advantage that I go away; for if I do not go away, the Helper will not come to you.”

The first is by Father Anthony Messeh entitled “Who is the Holy Spirit?”

The second if the ongoing series by Father Bishoy Andrawes entitled “The Holy Spirit in the Church.”

I won! I won! With your votes I won Lifehacker’s contest for the coolest workspace! Thanks to all who voted with a special thanks to Kiltak and friends.

Help me out one more time and vote my cross platform workstation as the coolest workspace on lifehacker.