Tag: Japan

Cybersecurity, Governance, Risk, and Compliance, SocietyLeave a comment

Suck Your Guts In – Full Body Scanner Coming To An Airport Near You!

SysRisk

Well, from looking at the news and some of the evaluation discussions coming through here in Japan, it appears that at least Japan and the US will be implementing body scanners for boarding processing in the next year. Bruce Schneier touches on this subject a couple times throughout his blog, but in Japan’s case, I have some very reliable insight to some of the considerations by local officials. Of course, Japanese throw the latest, greatest technical solution at something as a CYA move all the time. Nobody wants to be responsible for a bad decision, so little thought goes into … Continue reading Suck Your Guts In – Full Body Scanner Coming To An Airport Near You!

SocietyLeave a comment

Takashimaya Department Stores Going LED

SysRisk

The Nikkei headlines this morning, as I read it on the page facing me in the train, says that Takashimya Department Stores in Japan has announced that they will replace major location lighting with LED. The target is to replace and install some 150,000 units by 2012, reducing electricity costs to one-fifth of current expenditure. This will include locations in Tokyo and Osaka, a total of 18 locations nationwide. The Japanese article I looked up on the web is here. There is also an English headline here but that just links to the Nikkei pay-to-read site. Continue reading Takashimaya Department Stores Going LED

CybersecurityLeave a comment

Again? Digital Photo Frames Infected For 2009 Christmas… Too!

SysRisk

Japan IT press is reporting that digital photo frames shipped for Christmas are infected this year too. Does this ring a bell? Dejavu? Well, because it happened last year too; as chronicled at SANS, here, and here. Now, if you click on any one of the three previous links, please pay attention to the date – exactly one year ago. Not many security news items break in Japanese before the English publications, but here is the report paraphrased.The original report comes from the SANS Internet Storm Center that states digital photo frames made by Smartparts introduces various questionable malware files … Continue reading Again? Digital Photo Frames Infected For 2009 Christmas… Too!

Governance, Risk, and ComplianceLeave a comment

Dissecting Japanese IT Organizations

SysRisk

This posting is a culmination of information about IT organizations in Japanese corporations gathered over the past nine years that I have been working in IT audit, security, and consulting in Japan. Before we start a project at a Japanese company, I always remind myself of the challenges, then we engage the work and I remind myself to write such a blog posting. The details outlined here do not apply to certain globalized Japan firms, but they generally apply to most; including many that are globalized. The only exception are those globalized firms that have recruited foreign talent at the … Continue reading Dissecting Japanese IT Organizations

hackingLeave a comment

The WanAway… A work In Progress

SysRisk

Over the past year or so, a friend and I have been mulling over a device that can be used in a variety of ways to deter animals from entering certain perimeter areas – such as keeping a dog from doing his business at the front gate of your house. There are other applications as I have learned that apply to keeping wolves off of ranches, or keeping coyotes away from designated areas. The high level design involves a circuit that produces an ultrasound output at about 20 KHz combined with a circuit that detects motion and size. The motion … Continue reading The WanAway… A work In Progress

SocialLeave a comment

日本語のプログができた！

SysRisk

数年前から、あち、こちに自分のサーバー上のプログを作ったり、プログのホスティングサービスを使ったりしましたが、なかなかうまくいかなかった。この間、「どうしてだろう」と自問自答してから、英語と日本語両方を同じプログで書いて、読者が混乱されたことに陥ってしまった。この状況を避けるためにBloggerのサービスを使って、日本語と英語のプログを別々に管理することにした。 Share on Facebook Continue reading 日本語のプログができた！

Society, Trading and MoneyLeave a comment

Three-Day Weekend

SysRisk

It’s a Friday night at the start of a three-day weekend. We have one of my wife’s friends and her two girls over this evening for tacos, which is something you don’t get to eat very often in Japan. Gave notice at my job this week and soon after realized that I still have 29 days of vacation left, so I will work the rest of this month and take next month off. While vacationing on my regular job during March, will try to pickup a consulting gig, so that I can make a little extra money for the computer … Continue reading Three-Day Weekend

Governance, Risk, and Compliance, Social, Trading and MoneyLeave a comment

Been A While

SysRisk

It’s been a couple weeks since I have had time (or taken time) to sit down and update my blog. Over the past month, have managed to add a couple dollars to the forex portfolio, but nothing spectacular. A little nervous right at this moment because all the signals were calling a sell-off after EUR/USD hit 1.4900. Have not seen a sell-off start yet, but after passing through 1.4900, this pair is still floating between 1.4800 and 1.4900. So late this week, I decided to trade only lightly and bail quick on any losses. Here’s a couple of pics that … Continue reading Been A While

SocialLeave a comment

Another Day in Paradise

SysRisk

Or, not so warm of a paradise. This last day of 2007 presents a very cold high temperature of 8 degrees celsius with a northern wind that makes it seem closer to zero. It was so cold this morning I put off walking the dog (Bo) until he was dancing in the living room and barking in demand for a walk. Also managed to convince the kids that it would be better to stay inside and play instead going to the local department store. But that only lasted so long, so here I am at the local Starbucks sipping on … Continue reading Another Day in Paradise

SocialLeave a comment

Blogger Kickstart

SysRisk

Instead of using a hosted domain, setting up the Movable Type, and adding all the links this time around, we decided to use a syndication/blog hosting service. This will probably make blogging a bit more fun, since I will not have to spend so much time locking down and updating to prevent spam attacks. Now all I need to do is get Ecto working with blogger. Every time I try to upload something to blogger, I get some “FUFlickr Failed!!” error. Even after going through the Flickr authorization process, and even when I do not have an image within the … Continue reading Blogger Kickstart