Got a smart meter?

How about a little open-source code?
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Smart meter hack framework goes open-source

SecureState posts ‘Metasploit-like’ code

By Richard Chirgwin • Get more from this author

Posted in Security, 22nd July 2012 22:57 GMT

Free whitepaper – The paper free office

Security outfit SecureState’s smart meter hacking framework, Termineter, has gone live over at Google Code.

The software is described as having a structure like Metasploit, with a similar interface and ability to be extended with external modules.

Termineter isn’t up to the full doomsday-scenario “remote attack” that troubles owners of critical infrastructure who stupidly opened up their control interfaces to the Internet (so as to save themselves the cost of private networks): it gathers smart meter data over the devices’ local serial optical interfaces.

SecureState announced its intention to release the software at the end of June. At the time, SecureState said the software allowed users to test for vulnerabilities such as energy consumption fraud and network hijacking.

In addition, Termineter can read from and write to tables in the smart meter, as well as parsing security, modem and log tables. To allow it to be open-sourced, the software focuses on the ANSI C12.18 and C12.19 standards used in smart meters. Users would need to write or acquire separate modules to access vendor-specific information.

As SecurityWeek notes, the tool is to be demonstrated in public at Las Vegas at the Security B-Sides conference on Wednesday July 25. ®

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Use this information responsibly!

Aurora shooting

Good article.
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Saturday, 21 July 2012 14:00

Two Aurora Shootings: One Widely Known; the Other Ignored

Written by  Bob Adelmann
On April 22 of this year a convicted felon, just out of jail, went to an Aurora, Colorado, church and shot and killed a member of the congregation before being killed himself by a congregant carrying a gun.

On July 20, following the horrific shooting at a movie theater in Aurora, President Obama offered his condolences to the victims of the more recent tragedy. "Our time here [on Earth] is limited and it is precious," the president said. "And what matters at the end of the day is not the small things, it’s not the trivial things which so often consume us and our daily lives. It’s about how we choose to treat one another and how we love one another."

Obama then led his supporters at a rally in Fort Myers, Florida, in a moment of silent prayer “for all the victims of less publicized acts of violence that plague our communities every single day.”
No doubt the president was unaware of the other, less-publicized lethal shooting that took place earlier in the year in Aurora, when there was only one victim, thanks to the quick thinking and action of a responsibly armed individual. Aurora police spokesman Frank Fania asked rhetorically: “Who knows what would’ve happened if the [church member, an off-duty police officer] had not been there? It certainly could have been a lot worse.”

How much worse? Could the killing spree have been as bad as the shooting at the movie theater, where a dozen victims lost their lives? Thankfully, we'll never know.
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Read the whole thing.

 The MSM has a tradition of ignoring anything that proves the failure of gun control and the truth of how following our Constitution to the letter promotes freedom and public safety.

Besides, in the first shooting there wasn't enough blood and drama.

Let 'em hear from you

The Demonrats want to know about Mitt Romney's "hidden" income and such. You can go here to leave a comment:

http://www.trickymitt.org/

Since I am a "member" of MoveOn, I get these little gems from time to time. I told them "Since the President hasn't released ANY of his records, why should Romney release any more?".

If you use your real email, you likely will get on a Demonrat mailing list.

Aurora, Colorado

My thoughts.

I've heard that the theater had a "no weapons" policy, but have been unable to find any support for this. If so, another "gun free zone" and the persons responsible for it are as culpable as the shooter.

Every major print story I have read mentions "the gunman". Why are guns singled out when a nutcase commits an evil act? You never hear of the "baseball bat man" or "the switchblade man" - but almost without fail, the "gunman" gets print.

There's no way to prove that the presence of one or more armed moviegoers could have stopped the rampage, but they surely couldn't have made things any worse.

The media instantly jumped on a Tea Party member with a similar name. Not coincidence. It's happened too many times that a conservative is instantly conjured up as the evildoer, and often it it shown later that the perpetrator was actually a leftie-liberal of some sort, if not a card-carrying Demonrat.

Rumors are starting that there was some sort of a "government plot" involved here. I wouldn't put it past the liberal left's command cabal to try and set up something like this - is the technical term "black swan"?

Eyewitnesses say a second party was involved, opening the exit door from inside after using a cell phone.

Of course, the "usual suspects" are out there screaming for more gun control, and isn't it really curious that a vote on that UN small arms treaty is being considered?

More useless ideas

As if criminals are going to volunteer for a check - or the black-market seller will ask...

Wisconsin police chiefs call for tougher gun checks

Updated: Monday, 16 Jul 2012, 7:44 AM CDT
Published : Monday, 16 Jul 2012, 7:44 AM CDT

MADISON, Wis. (AP) - Wisconsin's police chiefs are pushing to expand background checks on gun buyers.

The Wisconsin Chiefs of Police Association and the National Law Enforcement Partnership to Prevent Gun Violence plan to meet with Wisconsin U.S. Senate candidates on Monday and Tuesday to discuss potential federal legislation that would require buyers in private gun sales to undergo a background check.

Oregon, Wis., Police Chief Doug Pettit is chairman of the WCPA's legislative committee. He says currently only people who buy guns from a federally licensed dealer must pass a background check. He says expanding the requirement to all sales would prevent people who can't legally possess guns from obtaining them.

The chiefs association and the national gun violence prevention group plan to hold a news conference in Madison on Tuesday as well.

H/t Alphecca

These are the same elected officials that at times ignore the State's Attorney when they are told that simply carrying a sidearm is not a cause for a stop - let alone an arrest.

Wonder who the "National Law Enforcement Partnership to Prevent Gun Violence" are? This might help explain. Note the URL.

Real fireworks!

I've always thought a modern fireworks display could be performed on the Moon, using 100-MT hydrogen bursts with suitable doping substances to make pretty colors. It wouldn't have to be just gratuitous waste of good nukes, either - they could be used to excavate for those Lunar cities we have been denied so far.

H/t Ace of Spades

The lowdown on the economy

and what Osama has done to help destroy it at Nobody Asked Me

Go read.

Teaser

Atlas Shrugged Part 2:

Some video

A couple of videos you might not have seen:

To Serve and Protect? Not in Nawlins!



Greenies teaching reporters to bend the facts:

Free CCW classes

Greetings in freedom,

Wisconsin Carry has a FREE concealed carry license training course scheduled for this Saturday.  If you or anyone  you know needs to obtain the state mandated "proof of training" certificate, this free class is open to the public (with advanced registration)

Details:

Place: Wood County Rifle and Pistol Club, 920 Griffith Avenue  Wisconsin Rapids, WI 54494  ( About 250 ft East of the Intersection of Hwy 13 (8th St So.) and County Road Z on the south side of Griffith Ave.)
 
Date: Saturday, July 21st, 2012
 
Time: Two Sessions: Morning 8:00 AM to 12 Noon or Afternoon 1:00 PM to 5:00 PM  
 
Pre-registration is required .
 
For more information and pre-registration, please email fred@wisconsincarry.org

Carry On,

Nik Clark
Chairman/President - Wisconsin Carry, inc. 
nik@wisconsincarry.org
www.wisconsincarry.org
www.youtube.com/wisconsincarry
www.twitter.com/wisconsincarry
www.facebook.com/groups/wisconsincarry

Free phones!

Just ask Uncle Sam - someone else will pay the bill...



A feel-good law that did what every feel-good law does - nothing good.

The ultimate in green vehicles!

The NEW Prius!

Musical Interlude

Always in good taste:

Saluting our Dear Leader

As he passed through Ohio in his Canadian-built luxury bus.

I'm reminded of one of the old Soviet premiers - Brezhnev? - who collected American limos at his dacha...

End the TSA

It's illegal under our Constitution, and a stupid idea at best.

Global gun control?

Osama and Hitlary are going to "sign a UN treaty" banning all our guns:



I still expect that the law will be obeyed - the Senate must ratify it, and then, it must NOT conflict with the Constitution...

Happy Fourth of July!

From someone who values America as it should be:



Found at A Trainwreck in Maxwell

SOS answered

Back in June, my email and web server, running Ubuntu 11.10, needed to reboot after a routine update - so I clicked "OK".

Bad move - on reboot, the grub bootloader couldn't find the boot code. No amount of effort on my part could fix this - evidently the update stepped on something critical.


So, I reloaded Ubuntu from the CD - thinking I could simply follow the online setup instructions I used last time to recover my web site and email server, The web server came right back - but email?

Bad assumption - the how-to now installs imap in place of pop3, and evidently was not strictly compatible with Ubuntu 11.10. Spent the better part of three weeks fighting with postfix and courier - finally broke down and cried for help on the Rockford Linux users group list.

Got an email from Dan yesterday, who was not otherwise involved with 4th of July festivites. He drove out here and spent half the day and well into the night beating the system into submission.

So, I've now got email back. Next task is to get the backup Ubuntu box running so this never happens again. And, I've made a new friend!

Too neat to ignore

Via Atomic Nerds:

Save a tree - abolish the BATFE!

Just got a love note from these guys - as a FFL, I am required (by an illegal rule promulgated by an illegal bureaucracy) to use the latest and greatest issue of the good-old 4473 form whenever I transfer a freedom tool to a citizen exercising his or her inalienable right - as guaranteed to not be infringed by the Second Amendment of that almost forgotten document.

Well, the pencil-pushers decided that there's no reason anymore to verify that a resident alien is truly a resident of the state he or she attempts to purchase a firearm in - so all those yellow 4473s are not obsolete and "illegal" to use after July 9th.

So, a stack of about 200 of them just went into the garbage - I won't glorify them with recycling.

How many millions were just wasted on printing a new 4473, and mailing half a ream of paper to every FFL in America?