Page 4 - Florida Sentinel 11-23-18

Editorial/Column
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Sometimes You Just Have To Fight Back
ere is a very uncom-
fortable truth. Every- one reading this right now, at some point, will have their lives touched by violence.
Regardless of how you live, how well you treat others or how much you tithe at church on Sundays, to a certain de- gree, you will be affected by this destructive aspect of life. Like death and taxes, it's a guaranteed inevitability.
The reality is that the only reason why most of us are still breathing oxygen is due to the grace of God and the mercy of those who we encounter. Sim- ply put, we just haven't come into close enough proximity with someone who wants to kill us yet.
This potential threat to our existence hangs over our heads every time we leave the sanc- tity of our dwellings and are forced to mingle amongst strangers. Our fates are hinged solely on our ability to avoid
crossing paths with that one individual hell bent on leaving Earth behind while taking a few passengers with him.
This is the kind of environ- ment in which we currently live. Unstable. Unpredictable. And highly volatile.
Of course, some people want to believe that govern- ment legislation can somehow stop the slaughter. They naively hold on to the idea that if gun ownership were out- lawed then psychopaths would be less likely to gain posses- sion of weapons that they could use to commit random acts of senseless violence. But, in a country where guns out- number the population, I won- der how they could realistically feel that's possible?
Anyone with enough cash, and a strong desire to murder, can easily obtain any gun of choice on the black market. And, even if law enforcement were able to shut down that il-
legal avenue, it still wouldn't prevent the guy, who may have been sane when he purchased his AR-15, from snapping one day and using his legally bought firearm for nefarious purposes.
The fact of the matter is that there really is no viable so- lution to prevent gun violence on any level. The streets, as they say, are already too flooded. And with gun manu- facturers providing a never ending supply of weaponry, sticks that go BOOM will con- tinue to find their way into the hands of would be killers.
When it's all said and done I believe that there are only two ways to survive the mad- ness of this society. Either we, somehow, develop a height- ened sense of awareness that will allow us to always spot the shooter before he spots us, or we stop making ourselves such easy targets while letting it be known that there are serious repercussions that come with threatening our safety.
Running away won't al- ways prevent you from being killed. Sometimes it only places you in a position where the bullets hit you in the back.
Reality On Ice is © by the Florida Sentinel Bul- letin Publishing Com- pany. You can contact Mr. Barr at: cbar- ronice@gmail.com.
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The Truth Of Thanksgiving In A Highly Competitive Society
n all honesty, it’s nigh impossible to be thankful
at the dinner table when you have your eye fixed on the other person’s plate. Such, in one sentence, is the predicament that many Americans find them- selves, in this current Thanksgiving season.
Yes, we will be thankful for all the amenities we possess . . . but not so much when we compare them to what we think our neighbors may possess. What does this mean to our social psychology? Perhaps, what it means is that this season of thanksgiving we should take a long painful look at all the things we need to be thankful about.
Let’s begin as Black Americans with the thank- fulness that despite the rising racism in our midst, we still live in a reasonably free and egalitarian so- ciety. With slavery and its end not nearly two hun- dred years old and with bastions of the Old South still bleeding from Confederate wounds, we have done well that up to this point, America has had a Black president who led for eight years. Surely, for that, we should be thankful.
Furthermore, we should be thankful that the American economy is such thats no matter the fear- mongering, we can still go to the grocery store and buy the food we like best to eat. Unlike many other nations, our nation has thrived well as a consumer state.
Moreover, we should be thankful that despite its present state, our democracy continues intact . . . our electoral process with all its faults has with- stood the test of time, and we remain a people united by our diversity and love of liberty.
Perhaps, we do ourselves a grave disservice when we look at other lands and at other arguments and compare ourselves by their measures. For, we would seem to forget that to be American is unique- ness that has never been on this earth since the dawning of humanity.
In essence, during this Thanksgiving, we need to take time to get to know ourselves better. For, truly, as we give thanks for our reality, the rest of the world gives thanks for our dream. No, things in our homeland aren’t perfect, but with thanks, there is always room for improvement.
How Russian Hackers Compromised Our
Voting System
he total penetration
and actual damage to our voting system by Russian hackers during the last Presi- dential election may never be fully disclosed.
Primarily, this is how Russ- ian hackers were able to com- promise the American democracy of fair voting. Be- fore any actual hacking can occur to our nationwide voting system, Russian hackers will first scan or phish for open ports to exploit. These open ports are almost like an un- locked window which can pro- vide hackers with sensitive and dangerous information.
Phishing via fake emails can cause the hackers to access weaker networks when elec- tion officials unsuspectingly open disguised emails.
Hackers have exploited networks in various states by
using robots to further view and change information once the malware has been acti- vated. Robots provide inside logistical information such as ip addresses, network logs, software information and a general map of how the private network is designed.
Nobody knows for sure if actual voting records were changed as in the case of Ari- zona where the voting system was bombarded with vicious malware by Russian hackers. Smart hackers always do their research through passive foot printing. Passive foot printing can yield a lot of useful public information such as the head- quarters and ip address of an election commission base of operation.
Off course, most if not all voting commissions have a cy- bersecurity response team in
place and will monitor any unauthorized access to their networks. However, hackers move fast, and at certain times they have already gained ac- cess to the network.
Russian hackers are notori- ous for using fake ip addresses by masking their identity or shifting to erroneous man in the middle network to appear legitimate.
These kinds of attacks usu- ally can take as little as few seconds, so cyber response teams have very little time to react to the attack. The team will try to block the unautho- rized user or install security patches on the network. In some cases, cyber response teams rely on DMZ zones to limit the damage of the attack.
If a cyber response team is limited in team members, they may even take the network of- fline all together until they feel it is safe to go back online.
During the 2016 elections, it is estimated at least eight to ten states had their voting reg- istration system hacked by the Russians. The hackers were able to obtain personal infor- mation on employees of the electoral systems. Many states across the countries are work- ing every day to close the loop holes in their networks. This is still a work in progress as hackers become smarter every day.
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PAGE 4-A FLORIDA SENTINEL BULLETIN PUBLISHED EVERY TUESDAY AND FRIDAY FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 23, 2018