How to (Tactically) Succeed

I’ve had an insanely productive week – hired two people, built three antenna masts, built one “go kit” for SAR/EM communications, moved two wildly different critical projects forward, identified an issue in another organization and the person who could help us fix it, sealed and caulked a bath tub, …. You get the idea.

And so, after getting even more stuff done this Saturday morning (identifying RF issue affecting radio power supply, fixing it, sorting out various cables that need to be in that kit), I decided to pause and figure out WHY I’d been so productive.

I thought about the various projects, consciously and subconsciously, long enough to mentally ensure that everything was in place to accomplish the goals.

Looking back, what usually blocks me from completing a project is my failure to have the right resources – tools, components, people, software packages, whatever – available to get the job done. I’d get part way into the project and would be forced to stop while I located the missing resource. And once stopped, I stayed stopped because something else was there that I needed to accomplish. (Squirrel!)

This approach creates some semblance of chaos in the form of bits of random gear on the floor, or lots of tabs open in my browser, or an online shopping cart populated but not purchased. But when my mind says “Let’s go!” it seems to be triggered by a subconscious awareness that everything is in place to go, and to finish.

These were all tactical successes, but if you fail tactically too often, you are unlikely to achieve strategic success.

 

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Frontier blocking access from Mediacom

Update: 5 days later. Frontier still can’t tell me anything, but they asked me to check with Mediacom. Mediacom agrees, Frontier is dropping the traffic, it is Frontier’s problem.

Hey David,
Thanks for contacting us via email! I'm sorry to hear about the issues you're encountering when trying to access Frontier.com. Looking over the trace route since it's dropping on Frontier's end there is not much we can do from our side. Since you've already submitted a ticket with Frontier the best option would be to wait until they can resolve this issue. If you have any other issues or questions feel free to contact us again here!
Thanks,
 Chris

Update: 12 hours later, Frontier still has no explanation for their apparent blocking of Mediacom IP addresses:

Ask Frontier @AskFrontier
@dckovar Hi David, I wanted to let you know that we are still investigating this for resolution. -KH

Original post:

I’ve been trying to pay my Frontier phone bill for a week now. Sure, I could use a check, but this is the age of the Internet and I’d also like to set up automatic billing.

But I cannot get to http://www.frontier.com. For days.

It finally dawns on me to do a traceroute:

traceroute to frontier.com (50.121.73.21), 64 hops max, 52 byte packets
 1 router.asus.com (192.168.1.1) 2.671 ms 0.996 ms 1.035 ms
 2 * * *
 3 * * *
 4 172.30.89.97 (172.30.89.97) 119.509 ms 12.377 ms 16.368 ms
 5 172.30.35.69 (172.30.35.69) 29.432 ms
 172.30.9.161 (172.30.9.161) 19.789 ms 14.916 ms
 6 12.94.137.53 (12.94.137.53) 25.615 ms 25.803 ms 25.520 ms
 7 cr2.kc9mo.ip.att.net (12.122.150.138) 33.190 ms 39.948 ms 31.791 ms
 8 cr2.sl9mo.ip.att.net (12.122.28.90) 31.831 ms 30.923 ms 35.987 ms
 9 cr2.cgcil.ip.att.net (12.122.2.21) 35.811 ms 32.269 ms 31.755 ms
10 ggr2.cgcil.ip.att.net (12.122.132.141) 96.169 ms 173.662 ms 31.426 ms
11 12.250.102.30 (12.250.102.30) 29.736 ms 29.467 ms 28.955 ms
12 ae2---0.cor01.chcg.il.frontiernet.net (74.40.4.137) 31.577 ms 33.271 ms 38.361 ms
13 ae1---0.car01.ftwy.in.frontiernet.net (74.40.2.206) 44.077 ms 46.896 ms 44.600 ms
14 * * *
15 * * *
16 * * *
17 * *^C

That is via a Mediacom connection. I switched over to a Frontier connection that I happen to have handy and ran the traceroute again:

traceroute to frontier.com (50.121.73.21), 64 hops max, 52 byte packets
 1 192.168.1.1 (192.168.1.1) 3.033 ms 2.051 ms 1.182 ms
 2 50-109-64-1.bltn.il.frontiernet.net (50.109.64.1) 25.556 ms 27.117 ms 24.808 ms
 3 ae01---0.car02.bltn.il.frontiernet.net (74.42.151.57) 23.762 ms 35.961 ms 23.907 ms
 4 ae3---0.car01.bltn.il.frontiernet.net (74.40.1.133) 38.245 ms 37.857 ms 36.997 ms
 5 ae7---0.cor01.chcg.il.frontiernet.net (74.40.1.122) 91.912 ms 37.640 ms 27.502 ms
 6 ae1---0.car01.ftwy.in.frontiernet.net (74.40.2.206) 115.455 ms 38.203 ms 38.660 ms
 7 50.121.72.133 (50.121.72.133) 36.852 ms 41.143 ms 36.730 ms
 8 50.121.72.196 (50.121.72.196) 38.250 ms 41.218 ms 37.705 ms
 9 50.121.72.226 (50.121.72.226) 42.477 ms 37.212 ms 38.697 ms
10 * * *
11 * * *
12 ftr.com (50.121.73.21) 38.683 ms 38.508 ms 38.329 ms

It seems that 0.car01.ftwy.in.frontiernet.net does not accept traffic from a Mediacom source.

I’m sure this is legal, but it certainly makes me rethink using Frontier for any services.

DFIR Fiction Reading List

The Digital Forensics and Incident Response fiction reading list, in no particular order:

• Ender’s Game – Orson Scott Card
• Jumper and Reflex – Steven Gould
• Most anything by John Grisham
• Daemon – Daniel Suarez
• Zero Day and Trojan Horse – Mark Russinovich (yes, that Mark)
• Pretty much anything on the Access Data or Guidance Software support web sites
• Blue Nowhere – Jeffrey Deaver
• Halting State and Rule 34 – Charles Stross
• Zero History – William Gibson
• American Gods – Neil Gaiman
• The Magicians – Lev Grossman
• The Night Watch Trilogy – Sergei Lukyanenko