#student presentations

This student presentation was interesting. To the uninitiated, pen testing is an authorised cyber attack on a computer system used to identify both weakness (vulnerabilities) and strengths of a system. Doing tests like this facilitate accurate risk assessments.

Testing helps companies find where data breaches could occur or how ransomware could be installed. Finding where attacks can occur can be vital to protecting the company’s assets.

The steps of penetration testing include: 

Reconnaissance - scoping out the system and gathering intelligence

Planning - plan execution of attack on weaknesses found

Exploitation - use gathered intel to exploit any weaknesses found

Post exploitation - establish persistance

I kinda want to explore all the tools that are available, especially Kali Linux, but maybe after these next few due dates pass. 😅 

Bruce Schneier

Buffer overflows and Symmetric Encryption

The lectures today were quite general but opened the topic of authentication which is the centre-point of security. Without the ability to perform authentication, does any form of security form a purpose?

Homework:

Tutorial Case Study:  This week’s case study seems to be broken on openlearning... In the tutorial, we discussed self driving cabs and its practicality. This exercise made me quite intimidated about the fact that there could soon be a fleet of autonomous weaponry flooding the streets of cities; if someone took malicious control over this fleet, they could cause endless amounts of damage to our country. My team made a powerpoint here.

Read Phrack magazine  THANK YOU RICHARD! THIS IS NUTS! After reading the article “Smashing The Stack For Fun And Profit” I went on and looked at some more recent issues... I found some interesting ones on OSX and iOS rootkits... This is some really in depth and precise information. I am thinking to compile some of this content (like kernel heap exploits and SMM rootkits) for the rootkit student presentation in week 10. Link.

SHA-1  Read about the recent breaks google plus the recent break this year.

After some googling around I found a website: https://shattered.io/ which is the web page for the open-source project that collaborated with Google. They explain how SHA-1 was broken and what the implications are. They even link to their paper (link) which explains their procedures and proofs and goes into incredible detail.

The second student couldn’t get the AV stuff to work, found a cable he thought might be what he needed, and started tracing where it led until he was out the door and out of sight.

This entry is a summary of my thoughts on all of the student group presentations over the the course of our tour.

1. Music of the Methodist Church: Jeff Peters, Andrew Geiger, Jacquelynn Duff

This group discussed the music of the Methodist Church, focusing on the locations that we visited associated with Methodism and their significance: 

Edinburgh Methodist Church

Aldersgate Flame

The Wesley Chapel

Charles Wesley’s House

The next section focused on the Wesley Brothers in the creation of music for the Methodist Church, particularly the contributions of Charles Wesley and the writing of the hymns for the church as a method of learning the scriptures due to the illiteracy among the common people. 

The last section consisted of a comparison between Anglican and Methodist music particularly with the uses of hymns and congregational singing.

2. English Churches and Cathedrals: Russell Rochte, Caroline Hincher, Seth Buzan

This group discussed the various churches and cathedrals in England and examined them based on the time period in which they were built:

Saxon & Norman  

Middle Ages 

Reformation  

19th Century Gothic Revival 

Features of the cathedrals included vaulted ceilings, Gothic arches, and other architectural features that were prominent in each time period. 

The churches and cathedrals that we visited included the City of Edinburgh Methodist Church, Wesley Memorial Church in Oxford, Wells Cathedral, and Durham Cathedral.

The group also provided a list of key architectural terms to better understand the features of the different buildings we would be visiting throughout the trip.

3. Women in Anglican Church Music: Dustin Brown, Tori S. Troutman, and Jacob Stech

Since this is my own group’s presentation, I’m going to say that my group was the best solely because I was in it. That being said, even outside of me being in the group I thought this topic in particular was very cool.

We discussed women in Anglican Church music starting with the history of women in general church music and activities, and leading into the biases that remain in England with women in Anglican Church music, and finally we focused on Salisbury Cathedral being the first cathedral to add girl choristers to the choir and is one of the few cathedrals with girl choristers in the country.

4. English Church Music: Jacob Young, Andrew Crater, Jordan McCall

This group discussed Anglican church music as a whole in England. First focusing on the importance of music between Anglicanism and Methodism and the differences between the two, with Anglican music being more devoted to God, with Methodist music being for the congregation’s learning and understanding of the scripture.

The group also focused in on key composers in England over the course of the Anglican church’s history:

Thomas Tallis

William Byrd

Sir Charles Standford

Peter Warlock

David Bendall

5. The Three Organs: Austin Wachsmuth, BJ Camano, Callie Brown

I remember this presentation in particular for taking place at Royal Holloway at the University of London on our second to last day right before our tour of the college before evensong that evening. 

The group discussed the features of three specific organs from three different locations over the course of the trip:

Salisbury Organ

Greyfriar’s Kirk Organ

Selwyn College Organ