#it's alerting the sg staff that i have no standards

[brownandreclusive]

Genuinely so frustrating, esp given that placing Alex at the DEO, Nia at Catco, and Kelly at Obsidian and giving each of them the majority of screentime w/r/t those places could've woven them well into the larger plots and also connected them to other characters much more smoothly than just tossing them into crisis and a couple game nights.

Nobody asked me, but my poor real life friends are withering listening to me talk in circles about the friggin cw.

A little less space for Malefic, Non Nocere, and William's whole deal, and those three women could've set up much a stronger season that we'd be reaping the benefits of right now.

Alex starting 5a at the DEO by having a personal reckoning with the organization's abuses of power could've inspired the need for the tower (instead of this "lol lex made a good thing bad so let's bail" narrative) and a break from the DEO. It would've given reason for Alex to visit Lena before the reveal reveal so that great S4 friendship development wouldn't have just gone poof. Plus it would've given Alex and Kelly reason to talk about the intracacies of her work and helped us to see how folded in Kelly is to Alex's life and sowed seeds earlier for Kelly to get nervous of the danger Alex is always in and almost dump her gradually instead of that being a 1.5 ep conflict.

I've been waiting for years for Alex to realize that the DEO is pretty uhhh bad, and that it's also not offering her enough access to offset how much damage she's attached to with it.

Kelly at Obsidian would have every reason to be the person in our main cast who gets closest to Andrea before we find out about her history with Lena. Kelly being in awe of Andrea, of the empire she's building and her technology, and being so ready to throw herself into an exciting new opportunity in National City, establishing a rapport with a single person who didn't know and love her brother first, just because.

But then Lena comes to her out of the blue asking for access to those lenses, sweetly but sort of cryptically suggesting that Andrea simply doesn't want her to use them because they're in a rich woman proprietary standoff or something, and that combined with some concerns reporter friend Nia brings to her convinces Kelly that maybe something else is happening.

Which leads to Kelly sleuthing a bit to figure out the boss even while admitting to Alex that she hates the stakes of it and it makes her v nervous because she's a rule follower and super transparent everywhere in life. And Alex being protective Alex might ask J'onn to help Kelly directly, PI-style, just to be sure Kelly's safe, so we get scenes of Kelly with space dad still, but no meaningless ability to see Malefic that only comes up once and also proof that J'onn actually does the job he left the DEO for.

And when Kelly finds out something weird is definitely up, she can also loop in Kara and Nia. It would be so much easier to understand what Kelly does and doesn't know about the superfriends (whether she knows Kara's super secret), and to make her important both with and independently of Alex.

And also, while I know James needed a sendoff and I liked the Olsen siblings sharing a screen, we absolutely could've cut the Malefic threat plot, kept Kelly at work for that one friday or whatever when she got briefly witsec'd, and James absolutely could've just been like "wow, my little sister is settling in so nicely and hanging with my friends and I love that, but also I want to find a job as fulfilling as hers" and then went home to soul search by himself for 4 scenes or whatever. She got so little screentime and she could've just been in a split screen phone call eating pancakes with Alex while James told her he was gonna retire Guardian, collect a nice orphan, and buy a paper.

Nia having the main Catco storyline while Kara lowkey neglects her job the way she probs always does would be a great time to actually see what a reporter even does in the sg world. 4 years of reporting and Kara has a pulitzer but also doesn't do her own edits?? And is her own main source half the time??? And gets mad when ppl call her out for being late????

Why not let Nia show us that she's got a knack for figuring out stories and also that the show knows that Kara needs help to keep her job sometimes. And that Kara mentored someone and did a good job of it offscreen.

Nia shouldve been doing the unsexy work of being in the office and doing paperwork and quietly noticing that William is a shady guy with no wife and too many secrets and tailing him herself. She should've been reaching out to Kelly as a "hey i know we're only new friends but wtf are these contact lenses?" And writing up a properly sourced article about them that makes Kara proud.

Or Nia could've been googling her brand new, super hot but sorta mean boss and realizing Andrea used to be in headlines with Lena until suddenly, one day, they seemed to start avoiding each other and now Andrea seems fishy, but calling on Kara to help her investigate out of concern for Lena. She could even run into William and his whole "my bestie is missing and this woman is guilty" theory along the way on the trail for evidence. He doesn't need multiple eps to bang his fist on a table and say he wants the truth, but could totally be her sidekick for a little while. She can even use dream powers when he isn't looking instead of a bunch of scenes of kara trying not to out herself as sg in front of him.

Nia is a main character and has been for a year. We already know and love her, but good lord if we're never gonna speak of her family again i need her to have something outside of occasionally breaking up with brainy or showing up to use a flashy dream power. She's cute and funny and might just be good at her job, unlike Kara, who I love but needs to one day admit that there aren't enough hours in the day to super around and work and fight to maintain your passionate friendship and mourn your worlds and moms and manage your emotions.

These three women, our whole canon sg lgbt squad, could've propelled the same major bits of plot and they would've given Kara and Lena more room to do their whole thing so that I wouldn't be constantly be getting whiplash from all that Kara has to be present for and also so that a man wouldn't have had to explain, correctly, that Kara doesn't do her job while we the audience had to pretend she does.

And also i wouldn't have been bored through needless contrived romantic drama that disappears as quickly as it materializes. And I might believe that the superfriends are all friends with each other instead of all the friends kara routinely forces into rooms together.

I'm aware that I'm just rambling about them all at this point, but i feel so robbed and i hate knowing that it was not only mostly because the show wants that good lgbt clout without putting in work, but also at the expense of a more focused story with just a few fewer plot points.

And also the optics of a 5a that brought together every superfriend in a way that strengthened the bonds we see while also pushing lena to feel more alienated from them because, even when they aren't aware of the rift, everybody is on eggshells trying to protect her since kara is so anxious about their relationship. Like seeing Alex and Kelly and Nia express concern about Lena's proximity to sketchy Andrea, or her reliance on virtual technology, but knowing that Lena thinks she's just being left out of a bigger secret, which is why her anger and distrust get so much bigger than Kara.

I just. I cannot believe how into this show I get when I routinely get crumbs of rep.

i mean im sad for dansen fans who expect to see more of their ship in an episode and only end up getting three seconds of content but as a sanvers fan im sitting here like

AND I DONT MEAN THAT IN AN ANTAGONISING WAY. 

i mean it in a ‘what do you expect from a show thats been treating its canon lesbian like absolute shit since almost the very beginning’ kind of way. these writers – the ones who dont even know what to do with alex as a character anymore – dont give a shit about their lgbt+ audience or characters. it’s the same reason why supercorp will never happen. it’s the same reason nia has been mostly forgotten until last episode and even then it was all about her break up with brainy. they use us to get the ratings and online stirs but do not mistake that for them caring.

[vorthosjay]

Gods & Trials Revealed!

And of course, once again, the day after I post some big speculation piece (Toyfair 2017: Amonkhet Reveals), we get an info dump the very next day! Today we got images of (what I believe to be) all five Amonkhetu gods in Modern Master 2017 Edition and Amonkhet Packaging! Each God artwork was done but the illustrious Chase Stone (@chase-stone). Let’s Take a look! I’m also tagging @rudjedet​ for her take on the gods. Although, to be honest, I think Amonkhet has more in common with Stargate SG-1 than Ancient Egypt. Which is okay! Tezzeret is even bringing along a Stargate.

Art by Titus Lunter

Turns out we’ve known about one of the gods all along.

God Constructs

It’s pretty clear based on the following art that all the gods of Amonkhet are artificial giants, likely created by Nicol Bolas as guardians of his personal realm, much like Sorin created Avacyn. Bolas himself is clearly NOT a part of the cycle, but instead an overlord-god over them all. There’s no hint of Nyx on any of them, so don’t count on them being Enchantment Creatures, but it’s likely because of their unique nature, they will have the god subtype.

Given that each of them also seem to have a signature weapon, we might see them appear in artifact form much like the Therosi gods.

Not-Bastet

Art by Chase Stone

First up is our best look yet at the nice lady I’ve been calling the cat god since the first leak. Given that she represents a cat, I’m thinking it’s likely she’s going to be our White deity, or if we’re looking at more colors, our deity centered in white. Her signature appears to be the triangle-shape around her Solar Plexus, as the woman from the packaging art also has that design in the same area. Notice how her head also seems to mimic rays of the sun? She may also be the sun god of Amonkhet, complete with a bow that shoots rays of light. Her trial is likely to be Solidarity, being centered in white. I’ve already talked about her a lot, so let’s move on.

Not-Wadjet

Art by Chase Stone 

Brand new god alert! This Cobra-headed god has the body of a man, glowing green eyes, and is armed with a staff. Looking that the staff, along with the snake god holding it, reminds me of the caduceus staff, the symbol of the medical profession and healing, so mybe not-Wadjet here is a god of healing? Of course, it could also just be a riff on the fan-axe, which was used in Ancient Egypt and which you’d know best in MTG as Ajani’s axe. Which works out nicely, as this is clearly the green (or centered in green) god of Amonkhet. His trial is likely that of Strength, notice that iron grip on the staff.

Not-Anubis

Art by Chase Stone

Not-Anubis has been lurking in the background all along, as technically she’s depicted in the key art, at least as a design on the temple in the background. She’s got her own bident, or at least a forked spear, and has the face of a Jackal. This leads me to believe she’s the patron of the jackal folk we’ve seen so far (duh). Give the color of the clouds in the background and and colors on her armor, I’m pegging her as the red god, with the Trial of Zeal as her domain.

It’s worth noting that the blue-green warrior I talked about yesterday, their head piece most looks like this god’s spear, leading me to believe they’re an adherent of Not-Anubis.

Not-Sobek

Art by Chase Stone

We’ve seen not-Sobek since the art book cover, we just had no idea they were actually a god. What’s interesting about not-Sobek is that he doesn’t have the same gold-mask face as everyone else, and seems to carry around a standard with him. Why is that? I’ve got two reasons (that aren’t mutually exclusive) that I can think of. First, non-Sobek here transforms into that wicked awesome crocodile dragon.  Second, maybe this ‘god’ is just a the herald or regent for another god, perhaps even Bolas himself. Also, notice the horizon at the bottom, there’s a crocodile-headed temple in the far distance, and this is the only artwork from which you can see Bolas’ horns in the vast distance. I would peg this as the black god, and give him the Trial of Ambition.

Not-Thoth

Art by Chase Stone

Finally, this brings us to non-Thoth. The heron god of Amonkhet, this most clearly has to be the blue god, you can even see the blue among the white of their robes. He seems to carry an axe of some sort. As the blue god, their Trial would be of Wisdom.

What do the trials mean?

As a remind, here are the five trials revealed yesterday:

The Trial of Solidarity (Speculation: White)

The Trial of Knowledge (Speculation: Blue)

The Trial of Strength (Speculation: Green)

The Trial of Ambition (Speculation: Black)

The Trial of Zeal (Speculation: Red)

After talking it over with @sarpadianempiresvol-viii, an idea is that maybe the people of Amonkhet don’t have to do the trials all at once, and an explanation of the colors they wear is that it relates to the trials they’ve completed. So blue-green guy with the Khopesh dagger would have completed the trials of Strength and Knowledge. Black-White-Blue lady might have completed Solidarity, Knowledge, and Ambition. This might also be a cute way to make it a multi-color block that’s still factional, but not necessarily because of Shards.

The New Guys

Two new people worth talking about on the packaging here: the Jackal-folk and the Sphinx. Jackal dude (I wonder if they’ll be hounds?) has the red Eye-of-Ra symbol around his eyes, much like not-Anubis’ temple did, and wears blue armor similar to the blue-green guy on his left. Not much else to say about them. The Sphinx on the far right has an ancient Egyptian feel with the beard, and it’s feathers range from blue to white.

[csrgood]

Tetra Tech’s Jason J. Cook Discusses the Importance of Industrial Control System Cybersecurity

Technology Solutions

Jason Cook is a senior project manager with Tetra Tech and is a Professional Engineer and Uptime Institute Accredited Tier Designer for critical infrastructure supporting data centers and critical missions. He has nearly 25 combined years of experience as an active duty Air Force Civil Engineer Officer, Air Force Civil Servant, and project manager for Tetra Tech. His expertise is in highly available critical infrastructure systems after eight years serving as the engineer responsible for the survivability, endurability, and availability of the infrastructure in Cheyenne Mountain Air Force Station’s (CMAFS) underground complex.

Jason is the lead design engineer for the “Plug-and-Play Defensible Network Backbone” concept currently under construction for CMAFS. This first-of-its-kind system for the Air Force incorporates a standardized network switch assembly, resilient network topology, and machine learning/artificial intelligence (AI)-based security overwatch. The system allows for near real-time threat detection and alerts for Industrial Control Systems (ICS)/Facility-Related Control Systems (FRCS)/Operational Technology (OT) networks.

He has a bachelor’s degree in Engineering Mechanics from the United States Air Force Academy and a master’s degree in Engineering Management from the Air Force Institute of Technology.

What experiences led you to your work in industrial control system (ICS) networks and cybersecurity?

I served as the Operations Flight Chief and Deputy Base Civil Engineer at CMAFS for nearly eight years—think NORAD and Wargames, or maybe Stargate SG-1, if CMAFS doesn’t ring a bell. The complex had Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Instruction (CJCSI) mandated infrastructure availability as it related to the numerous classified missions housed there. So over time, I became an expert in designing, operating, and maintaining highly available critical infrastructure. My duties included serving as the responsible engineer for the unique survivability systems and critical infrastructure availability of the 5.5-acre underground complex at CMAFS.

The ICS network was unique because it was used to operate the survivability systems and critical infrastructure in the complex. Manpower reductions made to the automation and functions of the ICS network critical to meeting the complex’s mission requirements. I took an interest in the security of our network as it related to my responsibilities, and it became a personal interest because I saw the potential as well as the risks of automation.

When I left government service and joined Tetra Tech, I wanted to expand my expertise in highly available infrastructure. I tested for the Uptime Institute Accredited Tier Designer certification to expand my knowledge and capabilities. As part of the certification, you further explore the relationship of ICS to critical infrastructure and the data center—or critical mission in Department of Defense (DoD) parlance. I realized I needed to expand my ICS design and cybersecurity knowledge and capabilities to be effective for my clients. Since then, I have made some strategic partnerships with IT installation and ICS cybersecurity experts to help increase my personal capabilities and bring a full-service, turn-key solution to the Air Force (now United States Space Force).

Why do defense clients care about ICS cybersecurity?

The risks associated with traditional IT are easy to understand: loss of classified or sensitive information or giving away our plans to our enemies. Those associated with your building’s lighting control system are not. When I talk about ICS, I am talking about all automation systems. You will hear the terms operational technology (OT), FRCS, and ICS, often interchangeably. Generally, I’m referring to OT as non-IT computing and communication systems.

Like all systems, you have to understand the true impact and consequences of a compromise. Rarely do we have a single purpose with our OT network, and a vulnerability in your lighting controls may be exploited to gain access to other systems like heating and cooling. Maybe the attacker can raise the temperature in your computer room without an alarm sounding and shut down critical missions all from failure to employ minimal security for your lighting controls. Unfortunately, most of the OT infrastructure in place at the DoD was put in long before the focus on its cybersecurity. Now we are playing catchup with the IT world trying to achieve the same level of capability in defending our networks. Defense clients care about ICS cybersecurity because it affects their ability to protect and execute their missions.

What makes cybersecurity for OT different from standard IT network security?

In some cases, OT cybersecurity does benefit from standard IT security, where the risks and threats overlap. An OT network still runs on a Windows-based computer, so the IT cybersecurity we employ on our defense communication networks can and should be applied to our OT workstations. To minimize vulnerabilities in these areas, we can employ Common-Access Card (CAC) authentication and ensure patches to the operating system and software are applied.

However, our traditional IT approach to detecting threats is generally signature-based. In simplified terms, we find a new virus, identify its signature, update our databases with the information, and then push these updates out to every workstation through antivirus software. For defense IT networks all operating on the same OS with the same approved software, keeping pace to threats to this environment is possible, and the signature-based approach works. Where the OT networks are not standardized, do not have the same workstation setup, and contain thousands of options for devices and software employed, we need a different approach.

We can employ machine learning/AI to bridge the gap. As of 2019, the average time to detect a network intrusion for OT was over 180 days. That is 6 months for an adversary to gain full access to the setup and impacts of changes to your OT network. Using AI, we can monitor the data on that network and identify behavioral changes—whether in a device or human using the network—to detect intrusions within seconds of when they occur and identify where the attack is coming from shortly thereafter. Using AI as a security overwatch for the network, defense clients can arm their cyber defense teams with the tools and information needed to detect attacks, minimize the impact of the attack, and then counterattack as needed.

What tools and approaches should defense agencies consider as they address OT cybersecurity?

Defense clients need to avail themselves of all the options available for OT cybersecurity, commensurate with the risks and consequences of attacks. Employing a risk management approach, perhaps lower risk systems need only adopt a compliance-based approach to policy, such as ensuring passwords are changed frequently and patches applied. However, higher risk systems should have the tools and capabilities embedded to handle that increased risk. That is what made me so excited to participate as the lead engineer for the “Plug-and-Play Defensible Network Backbone” project at CMAFS. The location came up with the concept, and it employs an AI-based security overwatch system that will allow for near real-time detection of attacks, including insider threats. I know from my past experience the criticality of the ICS network to the missions working in the underground complex. Like all defense agencies, the DoD needs enhanced cybersecurity, especially for its Defense Critical Infrastructure Program (DCIP) critical assets. I think this new design approach fills a critical gap in capability for OT cybersecurity needs.

source: https://www.csrwire.com/press_releases/45157-Tetra-Tech-s-Jason-J-Cook-Discusses-the-Importance-of-Industrial-Control-System-Cybersecurity?tracking_source=rss