Negative
April 4th, 2005, 05:31 PM
In the ever-growing series of AntiViews: MsMittens! AO’s Endless Yapper, and, like all moderators, extremely loved and liked by all! And from now on also known as Miss Smarty-Pants.
This AntiView was conducted two months ago – I’m sure a lot has changed in that time frame!
MsMittens’ profile on AO (http://antionline.com/member.php?s=&action=getinfo&userid=13970)
Name: MsMittens aka Lyne Bourque. It's pretty well known and not that hard to find.
Place and date of Birth (or age): I'm an Aries. Apparently I was born in a hospital, just minutes before becoming a "fool".
Current place of residence: Toronto (aka The Center of the Universe)
Marital status: errr... I have had a significant whatever for 11 years.
AO: How did you get into computers?
MsMittens: Usually I use one of three things: screwdriver, saw or hammer. Depends how determined I am... Oh, wait. You mean what got me interested into them?
Hrmm... this might hurt the ol' brain. I think my very first exposure was doing a basic program for a Commodore 64 (I think that's what it was -- it's been a while). The program was well over 300 lines and the machine crashed just before I finished entering it in to test it -- without an electronic backup. Thankfully, I had written it down.
My first computer was the 1984 Macintosh (Mac 128 I believe) and the first one I bought with my own money was a Quadra 650 (top of the line at the time).
AO: What is your area of specialty?
MsMittens: Seeing how much I can torture my students :D
I have a huge fondness for risk analysis, intrusion detection (and specifically looking at packets), honeypots and anything that relates therein. I like puzzles so these kinds of activities fit into that.
AO: What do you do for a living?
MsMittens: As little as possible. I actually have 4 jobs (technically):
1. Professor at Seneca College (Intro and Advanced Network Security)
2. CISSP Instructor (ITI Toronto)
3. Moderator (Antionline)
4. Article Writer (Jupitermedia/EnterpriseITPlanet)
I may be adding a couple of more soon: portal development and tester of training site (CTS)
AO: How did you get into your career?
MsMittens: I sort of fell into things. I was the only one not afraid of getting shocked. Add to that a willingness to tinker and being persistent at something, and viola! For a while I was a multi-positional type (not unlike now), where I was an office manager as well as chief geek for a small company. I decided to formalize that with some training and ended up being an admin for a private school with side duties to the parent firm. This opened up more interest into security.
AO: Describe your education and/or training?
MsMittens: I have a Bachelor of Arts (International Politics -- oooh. That got me far, now didn't it?) as well as a Post-Graduate Diploma in Research Analysis (turning those lies into stats) and a private school diploma in networking (super intensive to the point of dreaming packets).
AO: Do you plan on staying where you are (career-wise) or are you still in school / working on certs to get into another area?
MsMittens: I like where I am. I'm actually trying to get in permanently so that I can take advantage of the 2 months off profs get plus being paid to do research. I'd love to get the college in on the Honeynet Project.
AO: What one piece of advice would you offer to others who may be interested in following a career path or educational path similar to yours?
MsMittens: Know how to pronounce "Stacheldraht" :D Being light-hearted and having fun while dealing with questions that just make you shake your head (asked of me in a intro to Windows 2000 server: "Miss, do we need a harddrive to install the OS?" -- this is during their 3rd/4th semester)
AO: What skill do you think is invaluable in your area of specialty?
MsMittens: Persistence, willingness to learn and willingness to laugh. Being flexible enough that when topics go slightly off-topic that you can bring them back to topic and show how even the off-topic discussions have value.
Also, having energy at 8am and showing enthusiasm when students need to see it the most, no matter how hung over you might be.
AO: Describe one of your best / most effective security practices.
MsMittens: Never making an assumption about what might be going on. This is actually a lot harder to do than you think. With experience comes a side-effect of assuming what the reason is for a particular event happening (e.g, slow network, slow machine, etc.) when it's very possible that something else could be going on. The ability to go through troubleshooting techniques can help narrow down events and eliminate the obvious (e.g., floppy in floppy drive).
AO: Do you have a little-known fact about yourself (personal, hobbies, tech-related) that you would be willing to share?
MsMittens: I'm a huge long-distance cycling fan. This is one of the reasons why I don't have more computers (as if 6 isn't enough -- and apparently I might be aquiring a Sparc). I was in a recent issue of Bicycling Magazine and based on a recommendation they made to me will be purchasing a new custom-made Gunnar off-road touring bike. I have a couple of tours planned this year.
At some point, assuming I get full time status, I will do: 1) tour from Toronto-Tampa-Texas 2) tour across Canada (possible attempt to break present Guiness Record of this) 3) tour from Toronto to LA, through Chicago, Utah and Colorado.
AO: How did you find Antionline?
MsMittens: Typed it in the little URL box thingy.
I discovered AO after some schmuck got pissed at me on IRC (I had banned him from my channel) and he DoS'd me. I got him back however by getting him blackballed by all the ISPs in Toronto (this was a while ago when you actually knew everyone on IRC). I wanted to find other ways to defend myself, albeit I was rather limited in my discoveries due to my Mac.
So I figured I'd find ways to get even... errr... to understand better why he did it (Ya. That's it!)
AO: Anything else you'd like to share?
I don't share nuthin'! :D
Heh.. if you see a chick doing a bicycle tour, be nice to her. It might be me!
This AntiView was conducted two months ago – I’m sure a lot has changed in that time frame!
MsMittens’ profile on AO (http://antionline.com/member.php?s=&action=getinfo&userid=13970)
Name: MsMittens aka Lyne Bourque. It's pretty well known and not that hard to find.
Place and date of Birth (or age): I'm an Aries. Apparently I was born in a hospital, just minutes before becoming a "fool".
Current place of residence: Toronto (aka The Center of the Universe)
Marital status: errr... I have had a significant whatever for 11 years.
AO: How did you get into computers?
MsMittens: Usually I use one of three things: screwdriver, saw or hammer. Depends how determined I am... Oh, wait. You mean what got me interested into them?
Hrmm... this might hurt the ol' brain. I think my very first exposure was doing a basic program for a Commodore 64 (I think that's what it was -- it's been a while). The program was well over 300 lines and the machine crashed just before I finished entering it in to test it -- without an electronic backup. Thankfully, I had written it down.
My first computer was the 1984 Macintosh (Mac 128 I believe) and the first one I bought with my own money was a Quadra 650 (top of the line at the time).
AO: What is your area of specialty?
MsMittens: Seeing how much I can torture my students :D
I have a huge fondness for risk analysis, intrusion detection (and specifically looking at packets), honeypots and anything that relates therein. I like puzzles so these kinds of activities fit into that.
AO: What do you do for a living?
MsMittens: As little as possible. I actually have 4 jobs (technically):
1. Professor at Seneca College (Intro and Advanced Network Security)
2. CISSP Instructor (ITI Toronto)
3. Moderator (Antionline)
4. Article Writer (Jupitermedia/EnterpriseITPlanet)
I may be adding a couple of more soon: portal development and tester of training site (CTS)
AO: How did you get into your career?
MsMittens: I sort of fell into things. I was the only one not afraid of getting shocked. Add to that a willingness to tinker and being persistent at something, and viola! For a while I was a multi-positional type (not unlike now), where I was an office manager as well as chief geek for a small company. I decided to formalize that with some training and ended up being an admin for a private school with side duties to the parent firm. This opened up more interest into security.
AO: Describe your education and/or training?
MsMittens: I have a Bachelor of Arts (International Politics -- oooh. That got me far, now didn't it?) as well as a Post-Graduate Diploma in Research Analysis (turning those lies into stats) and a private school diploma in networking (super intensive to the point of dreaming packets).
AO: Do you plan on staying where you are (career-wise) or are you still in school / working on certs to get into another area?
MsMittens: I like where I am. I'm actually trying to get in permanently so that I can take advantage of the 2 months off profs get plus being paid to do research. I'd love to get the college in on the Honeynet Project.
AO: What one piece of advice would you offer to others who may be interested in following a career path or educational path similar to yours?
MsMittens: Know how to pronounce "Stacheldraht" :D Being light-hearted and having fun while dealing with questions that just make you shake your head (asked of me in a intro to Windows 2000 server: "Miss, do we need a harddrive to install the OS?" -- this is during their 3rd/4th semester)
AO: What skill do you think is invaluable in your area of specialty?
MsMittens: Persistence, willingness to learn and willingness to laugh. Being flexible enough that when topics go slightly off-topic that you can bring them back to topic and show how even the off-topic discussions have value.
Also, having energy at 8am and showing enthusiasm when students need to see it the most, no matter how hung over you might be.
AO: Describe one of your best / most effective security practices.
MsMittens: Never making an assumption about what might be going on. This is actually a lot harder to do than you think. With experience comes a side-effect of assuming what the reason is for a particular event happening (e.g, slow network, slow machine, etc.) when it's very possible that something else could be going on. The ability to go through troubleshooting techniques can help narrow down events and eliminate the obvious (e.g., floppy in floppy drive).
AO: Do you have a little-known fact about yourself (personal, hobbies, tech-related) that you would be willing to share?
MsMittens: I'm a huge long-distance cycling fan. This is one of the reasons why I don't have more computers (as if 6 isn't enough -- and apparently I might be aquiring a Sparc). I was in a recent issue of Bicycling Magazine and based on a recommendation they made to me will be purchasing a new custom-made Gunnar off-road touring bike. I have a couple of tours planned this year.
At some point, assuming I get full time status, I will do: 1) tour from Toronto-Tampa-Texas 2) tour across Canada (possible attempt to break present Guiness Record of this) 3) tour from Toronto to LA, through Chicago, Utah and Colorado.
AO: How did you find Antionline?
MsMittens: Typed it in the little URL box thingy.
I discovered AO after some schmuck got pissed at me on IRC (I had banned him from my channel) and he DoS'd me. I got him back however by getting him blackballed by all the ISPs in Toronto (this was a while ago when you actually knew everyone on IRC). I wanted to find other ways to defend myself, albeit I was rather limited in my discoveries due to my Mac.
So I figured I'd find ways to get even... errr... to understand better why he did it (Ya. That's it!)
AO: Anything else you'd like to share?
I don't share nuthin'! :D
Heh.. if you see a chick doing a bicycle tour, be nice to her. It might be me!