Nat 'King' Cole - The Christmas Song

This is perhaps the Platonic Christmas song. 

Lawsuit over FedRAMP compliance

This is perhaps a niche security topic, but some of you are as niche as me:

The US is suing a former senior manager at Accenture for allegedly misleading the government about the security of an Army cloud platform.

Danielle Hillmer, 53, of Chantilly, Virginia, is accused of deceiving auditors over the capabilities of a service the government commissioned in 2017.

Although it is only referred to as Company A in the court documents, Hillmer claimed to work for Big Four consulting firm Accenture during the stated timeline, according to a now-deleted LinkedIn account.

The US alleges that between March 2020 and November 2021, Hillmer obstructed federal auditors and falsely represented the security of the company's cloud platform, which was used by other government customers beyond the Army.

Perhaps not security per se, but this raises the question of just how much do you trust the audit process?

Johnny Cash - White Christmas

This is a very Country take on the old classic. 

Pondering the SpaceX IPO

Sure there were rumors, but I was plausibly convinced that they wouldn't do this:

Key Points

• SpaceX is preparing for a potential $1.5 trillion IPO as soon as mid-2026.
• Elon Musk confirmed rumors in an X post.
• The IPO could boost SpaceX’s goals, Musk’s wealth, and the entire space sector.

The numbers seems low at $1.5T and $30B - low if you think that Space is a huge growth sector (as I do) and considering that the company has been cash flow positive for years.

Why I thought that they wouldn't do this is that I think that Elon is driven by Mars colonization, and having shareholders dilutes his ability to focus on that.

I guess we'll see. 

 

Michael Bublé Duet With Thalia - Mis Deseos/Feliz Navidad

Love this version. 

Gartner Group recommends companies ban AI browsers

This is big news.  Gartner Group is the largest IT trend analysis firm, used by essentially all large corporations.  They just recommended blocking the installation and use of AI browsers:

Agentic browsers are too risky for most organizations to use, according to analyst firm Gartner.

The firm offered that advice last week in a new advisory titled “Cybersecurity Must Block AI Browsers for Now,” in which research VP Dennis Xu, senior director analyst Evgeny Mirolyubov, and VP analyst John Watts observe “Default AI browser settings prioritize user experience over security.”

I've posted about the risks of AI browsers.  Gartner's recommendations track mine:

Gartner’s fears about the agentic capabilities of AI browser relate to their susceptibility to “indirect prompt-injection-induced rogue agent actions, inaccurate reasoning-driven erroneous agent actions, and further loss and abuse of credentials if the AI browser is deceived into autonomously navigating to a phishing website.”

The authors also suggest that employees “might be tempted to use AI browsers and automate certain tasks that are mandatory, repetitive, and less interesting” and imagine some instructing an AI browser to complete their mandatory cybersecurity training sessions. [Highlighting mine - Borepatch]

The highlighted bit is a very clever way to get attention from IT departments.  Not only will it irritate the IT Security team but it will focus the Risk Management team on potential loss of SOC2 compliance.  This is a very Gartner way of getting eyeballs from the CISO and CIO.  Like I said, clever.

And yeah, I agree 100% with Gartner on this. 

 

 

St. Ambrose - Veni Redemptor Genitum

St. Ambrose is often described as one of the four Latin Doctors of the Church*, influential theologians who established the foundations of the church in the fourth century.  Unlike his compatriot Doctors, Ambrose was a most unusual saint.  He was the Roman governor of the province around Milan when he (kind of accidentally) became bishop of Milan.  He was quite popular as Governor and when the crowd was beginning to get rowdy debating who would become the next bishop, someone called out his name as a suggestion.  Suddenly it was a done deal.

Except there was this little problem: not only was Ambrose not a priest, he wasn't even baptized as a Christian.  The crowd wasn't about to let minor issues like that stand between them and their new bishop.  So Governor Aurelius Ambrosius became Bishop Ambrose.

He was a force to be reckoned with, even excommunicating Emperor Theodosius the Great (I think that this was the first time this had ever happened).

He also composed the first Christmas Carol, Veni Redemptor Genitum (Come, Redeemer of the Nations).  It is still performed today, 1650 years later.

Latin:

Veni, redemptor gentium;
ostende partum Virginis;
miretur omne saeculum:
talis decet partus Deum. 

English translation:
Come, Redeemer of the nations;
show forth the Virgin birth;
let every age marvel:
such a birth befits God.

Now the Christmas season is upon us.  It seemed right to start our annual christmas music posts with the very first Christmas carol.

* The others are St. Jerome, St. Augustine, and St. Gregory the Great.  It was sort of a Murderer's Row lineup of the early Church batting order.

 

Alan Jackson - "Let It Be Christmas"

This is one of my favorite Christmas songs.  Country music can tend to the sentimental, and all the best Christmas music does too.  The marriage of these combine beautifully.  If you're not a fan of the sentimental, you might want to pass this by.  But if you're like me, then enjoy.

Road Trip IX - Jim Hamm Nature Area

The Jim Hamm Nature Area in Longmont Colorado is a twenty-four acre park, nature preserve, and bird sanctuary. There's a fourteen acre pond that attracts migratory birds and views of the mountains that comprise the Front Range. Jim Hamm's grandfather farmed the land and Jim grew up spending time there.

 

Jim Hamm was commissioned as an officer in the Air Force and deployed to Vietnam as a F-4 Phantom pilot. On March 14th, 1968, his aircraft was making close air support passes in support of a helicopter evacuation when he was hit and shot down. His body was not recovered and he is still MIA.

The family donated the land in his honor and in honor of all the local men that served in Vietnam. In addition to the nature walks and habitat, there is a memorial, as well as two picnic shelters. The county school system uses the park for field trips. The VFW and the American Legion use the park on Veteran's and Memorial Day.  

 

 

It's a peaceful spot and we had the place to ourselves when we visited.