Tag: security

Real life stories as a flight service specialist (FSS): Inukjuak FSS

The Inuit who wanted to shoot Whites with a .303 caliber rifle

Post author By Stanley
Post date 4 January 2015

(Precedent story: the long awaited aircraft)

This is where we worked and lived in Inukjuak in 1982. One of the buildings holds the Transport Canada flight service station.

Note: It is only an out of the ordinary true life story. Normal relations between Whites and Inuit are entirely peaceful. Besides, we all know of situations in the southern cities where whites have tried to shoot people. The following story therefore presents an unusual and rare case.

In a Northern Quebec village named Inukjuak,in 1982-1983, the buildings layout was simple. On top of a nearby hill was the whole village, populated overwhelmingly by Inuit. Down the hill, near the airstrip and Hudson Bay, were the few buildings where Environment Canada employees and Transport Canada flight services specialists (FSS) could be found. There were only Whites living and working in this area.

One evening during winter` 82 -` 83, someone knocked on the door and entered immediately without waiting for an answer. It was the auxiliary police officer. He was an unarmed young man who occasionally helped the unique village policeman. He told us that the policeman was absent from the village and that he must fend for himself. He urged us: “Lock your doors and turn off the lights, do not go out unless it is essential, as there is one Inuit armed with .303 caliber rifle who wants to shoot white people.“

It was, of course, a complete surprise for everyone. It was easy to deduce that the shooter looking for Whites would choose the easiest solution and head towards our buildings to shoot somebody at random. Not wanting to be a sitting duck, I went to my room and grabbed a locked suitcase that had been sleeping for months on a shelf. I took out a Remington Classic 700 BDL Bolt Action and loaded the magazine.

We established a plan, with the other two persons in the house. Two of us would have to get out and head toward the flight service station, where there was an unarmed FSS female employee working alone. Chances were that she was not aware of what was going on. One of us would bring her back home and the other one would then complete her night shift at her place, since the station could not be left unattended.

While we would be gone, there would be one person left in the house with a gun to protect himself if necessary. This employee had just arrived in Inukjuak. I still remember his reaction when we were getting ready to leave. I can hear him say: “But what is this crazy place?“

We closed the outdoor floodlights and headed to the flight service station with our weapons. Walking in the dark, crouched like soldiers during wartime, we arrived at the Transport Canada building where we found the employee occupied at her normal duties, completely ignoring the possible presence of a nearby shooter. I took her place to complete the night shift while she returned home accompanied by an armed employee.

Once alone in the operating room, I shut the lights while keeping a small lamp to illuminate the console radio frequencies. I lay the rifle flat on a counter, the lock removed for faster use if needed. The radio console was located opposite a large window: it left us totally exposed to anyone who would decide to shoot through it. I therefore had to stay away from the normal working position, except when responding to radio calls, until we received fresh news about the shooter.

Twin Otter inbound for Inukjuak on a very windy day in 1982.

The improvised night shift ended without incident in the station, but I learned that multiple shots were fired at a vehicle traveling near our facilities. Projectiles pierced doors, but luckily they did not hit the vehicle occupants. Within hours of the event, a tactical response team of the Sûreté du Québec arrived in Inukjuak and controlled the shooter.

Even if this story took place decades ago, I still remember very well the atmosphere on that evening. When untrained civilians must load firearms to potentially use them against another human, it cannot be forgotten.

(Next story: emergency clean-up)

For more real life stories of a FSS in Inukjuak, click on the following link: Flight service specialist (FSS) in Inukjuak

Computer science

Menaces cybernétiques (Cyber threats)

Post author By Stanley
Post date 1 January 2015

Menaces cybernétiques - Le manuel du combattant — Menaces cybernétiques – Le manuel du combattant

For bilingual readers, here is an excellent book filled with practical information that is not catering only to computer science specialists. It is filled with advice that should help you avoid trouble when using your electronic devices. But, before going any further, here are some facts that may be of some interest to you:

1. The Pentagon has to deal with 250,000 direct threats every hour against its computer systems. Since the attacks may sometimes use as much as one million computers simultaneously, the Pentagon uses seven million computers to protect its different systems.

2. A password using 10 characters (no punctuation signs, no special characters) can be deciphered within ten minutes (and not only by a pro). You must add punctuation and special characters in your password in order to make it more difficult to decode. This password must be at least 10 characters long.

3. In 2012, there were 250 million zombie computers across the planet. A zombie computer can be your own computer taken over to launch many types of attacks without you knowing. It uses the resources on your computer without your authorization. This book offers a simple method to verify the integrity of your operating system, which can be done in a few seconds. You do not need to hire expert help.

4. 80% of businesses ignore that they are victims of cyber spying. We had a good example with Sony’s movie, “ The Interview” in 2014.

5. The global cost of cyber crimes in Europe, in 2012, was estimated at 750 billion euros. One internet user out of four was a victim of some kind of cyber crime in 2012.

6. At least 100,000 people are working in total secrecy for the United States in order to prepare attacks against external servers. In China, it is estimated that 300,000 employees are working on the same goal. Naturally, many other countries make significant efforts in this endeavor, like Russia, Iran and Israel, to name a few.

The book includes numerous and simple explanations aimed at helping everyone to be aware of the methods used by cyber spies. Politicians and businessmen can certainly benefit from the suggested improvements with regards to the use of personal electronic devices.

Cyber criminality is also discussed, and excellent advice is given to help everyone fight malware programs. You are also provided with a simple method to show you how to react if you ever are victim of ransomware. Some practical information is also provided to help protect your personal data, particularly your confidential banking data.

The author explains the difference between a virus and an IT worm. Few extremely sophisticated IT worms are presented, like STUXNET. This worm was used against Iranian nuclear installations in order to slow down their research program. You can learn about other worms like FLAME, GAUSS and SHAMOON.

The indirect risks resulting out of the use of viruses and IT worms are not negligible. When an IT worm is discovered within a computer system, its architecture becomes accessible to everyone. Criminal networks can then replicate or try to modify the IT worm, through reverse engineering, to new ends.

The reader learns how a classical DDOS attack is performed. There is also information about radio electric attacks that target telecommunications.

The book offers a number of interesting website resources, including:

1. If you think that there is an intrusion in your network: http://sourceforge.net/projects/ipscan
2. To locate an IP address: cut and paste all the source code information included within the e-mail and analyse it through the following site: http://www.iptrackeronline.com/email-header-analysis.php
3. To encrypt your important data: http://www.truecrypt.org/
4. For anonymous use of internet, the book suggests that you use a VPN: http://cyberghostvpn.com/. There is also a possibility to download the TAILS suite at: http://tails.boum.org/about/index.fr.html jointly with Gparted: http://gparted.sourceforge.net/. Tails uses TOR to connect to Internet.

The appropriate way to do back-ups is described in the book. If you are a social network user, you will have access to an entire chapter about Facebook and Twitter and others. The weaknesses in these networks as well as ways to protect yourself and the confidentiality of your personal information are described at length.

IT security within businesses is another important chapter. The author shows how the human factor is often neglected in the design of security strategy. The reader learns about the ways cyber spies manage to steal important data from companies. A few simple modifications of daily habits are sometimes just what is needed to prevent the loss of sensitive information.

In conclusion, this is a very interesting book that will help any reader to protect personal information stored in mobile devices and home or office computers.

Title: Menaces cybernétiques – Le manuel du combattant
Author : Yves-Marie Peyry
Éditions du Rocher, 2013
ISBN : 978-2-268-07513-6
Collection « Lignes de feu » directed by Daniel Hervouët

Real life stories: flight service and Transport Canada Training Institute

The flight service specialist training at the Transport Canada Training Institute in Cornwall, Ontario.

Post author By Stanley
Post date 12 November 2014
4 Comments on The flight service specialist training at the Transport Canada Training Institute in Cornwall, Ontario.

(Precedent story: the flight instructor license)

View of a small portion of the Transport Canada Training Institute in Cornwall, Ontario, in 1982

In the early 80s, the oil crisis forces airlines to greatly limit hiring. This was not the case during our pilot training course but becomes a reality when applying for a job a year later.

However, on the government side, the situation is quite different. The air traffic services branch of Transport Canada is looking for new employees to replace staff approaching retirement age. The only option immediately accessible to me is to apply as a flight service specialist (FSS). I have only a rough idea of what are the responsibilities, nothing more. But the pay and advantages are far better than what is otherwise available to a new flight instructor. It is time to send in an application.

For the Province of Quebec, two written examinations totally unrelated with aviation are held at the University of Quebec in Montreal. There are 1500 candidates (5 sessions of 300 applicants) who attempt these tests during the two days allotted for the first phase of the selection process. In the following weeks and months, those who have succeeded in the written tests must then undergo anything from personal interviews to language tests, medical examinations and security clearances.

We are now three candidates from Quebec heading towards the Transport Canada Training Institute in Cornwall. There will be thirty-five hours of theoretical and practical course per week, over a six months period. The pressure will be continuous and desired in order to eliminate candidates who may not react well to stress.

We will be paid to study. A candidate is guaranteed with a posting upon completion of training, providing he manages to obtain 80% and above on the written and practical evaluations. Because this 82-01 course is not dedicated to Quebecers only, it cannot be offered in French. So it is going to be in English only, and will include twenty-four students from almost all Canadian provinces.

The Transport Canada Training Institute in Cornwall is nothing short of exceptional for those who have decided to study and succeed.

In order to help the student to deal with the weekly thirty-five hours of courses and examinations, the school provides interesting amenities.Each student has a private room with daily maid service. The cafeteria offers a good choice of meals. Calories can be burned at the pool, gym, weight room, on the tennis court or on the baseball field. A snack bar remains open for late-night cravings. A bank teller is made available to students, as well as a hairdressing salon, a bar, arcade games, pool tables, etc.

Transport Canada Training Institute weight room. Cornwall, Ontario 1982

1982 TCTI, Cornwall. Students from the FSS 82-01 group are experimenting a new way to improve scoring at basketball.

So that we understand what lies ahead, we are told that there are traditionally many students in each class who will not keep pace and will be sent home, despite their efforts. For a francophone who wasn’t using a second language on a daily basis , it is clear that integrating new theory presented in English for seven and a half hours every day, five days a week, becomes demanding. I compensate for the times when my attention decreases by studying in the evening.

There is a library in the school as well as multiples rooms for flight simulators designed for every career considered by the students.

1982 Cornwall TCTI Flight Simulation Room

1982 TCTI Cornwall. Environment Canada upper air building.

In the courtyard, there is a peacock and other small animals and a water source flows into a very well planned landscape.

The amenities are simply stunning. The message is clear: “Transport Canada only ask you to study and succeed, it will take care of the rest.”

1982 Cornwall TCTI corridors to classrooms

Finally, the moment we were all waiting for as arrived. Students who managed to get through the course celebrate their graduation.

Assignments are distributed. Those who will be working in isolated postings, in northern Quebec, are well aware that the schedule does not include holidays. The FSS will be on duty every day. The new employee will be compensated for overtime and a more expensive cost of life. He will also benefit from subsidized rents.

My departure is planned shortly for Inukjuak (CYPH), along the east coast of Hudson Bay in the Nunavik. Life will soon change radically.

(Next story: enroute to the first posting: Inukjuak)

Intelligence

The secret life of Bletchley Park

Post author By Stanley
Post date 26 October 2014

This book is about the daily operations and lifestyle of the people who worked at decoding German messages in Bletchley Park, England, during the Second World War. The reader quickly realizes the incredible impact of the shadow workers on major battles like the Battle of England, El Alamein or eventually the D-Day. Moreover, it allows the reader to enter the Park’s installations to witness the rigor and professionalism of the men and women who worked day and night, through high tension and exhaustion, to accomplish their duties.

Their efforts to obtain results bordered with obsession. Even while sleeping, brains were at work. A major breakthrough happened after a researcher woke up in the middle of the night with a long awaited solution. Naturally, names like Alan Turing, John Herivel or Dillwyn Knox are repeated on a regular basis. But they are just a few in a crowd who played an essential role.

Bletchley Park was highly efficient for many reasons:

1. A wise combination of employees with diversified training and capabilities. A wide cross-section of abilities and general culture were sought after. Women and men working at decoding were gifted with a highly superior intelligence and focusing capacity. Multiple fields of knowledge were required: there were experts in mathematics as much as in history, classical letters or linguistic. Dillwyn Knox, one of the Bletchley stars, was himself an expert in old papyrus. The combination of intelligence resulted in important innovation.

2. The ability to keep a secret: the employees were scrupulously screened and could not walk in any other buildings than the one that they were assigned for their work. If there had been a mole in one of the buildings, that person would not have been able to have a physical access to other buildings to try to acquire secret information. A common goal and a deep understanding about the importance of their sole objective helped the staff to deal with fatigue and keep the unavoidable personal conflicts under control. The discretion about the operations at Bletchley was even maintained by the employees after the war was officially over.

3. A special treatment for the code breakers: even if Bletchley Park was officially created for military purposes, there was no strict military regime implemented: [my translation] “Throughout the years and centuries, we observe that British intelligence is partly a military affair, but is mostly managed by talented civilians”. The code breakers needed a special treatment: [my translation] “It was deemed very important that the “experts” benefitted from enough space and liberty so that their brilliant thinking could be used at its full potential”. They did not have to deal with restrictions and discipline applied to other employees. This objective to avoid useless pressure on highly skilled employees has been repeated in successful international companies aimed at innovation.

4. Collaboration between countries: it is important to mention the essential collaboration between Poland, England and France at gathering results aimed at cracking the Enigma code. Up to the moment that France was defeated, all the found solutions were shared. Besides, Polish cryptanalysts where the first to decipher the codes on the first version of the Enigma machine, results that were shared with the two other countries.

5. The importance of the chance factor in the success of the operations: the chance factor would eventually play a key role in the ability for Bletchley Park to maintain its operations for a prolonged period. In spite of the intense German bombings, very little damage was inflicted to the buildings where the code breakers were working: [my translation] “We owe it to a miracle that only two bombs fell on Bletchley Park […]. Moreover, another bomb fell near the site where Knox and Lever were working, but it never exploded”. Furthermore, two other bombs fell on the Park, also without exploding.

There were nonetheless obstacles to efficient operations. These included the existence of useless levels of administration: primary information starts to be transformed as soon as it is passed to another level for interpretation. The more levels there are, the more the message is transformed. Some people become masters at protecting their own status and job and eventually become superfluous. Because of their higher status, they are harder to dislodge. This situation could not be avoided at Bletchley Park: [my translation] “Our working place is actually overcrowded by intelligence officers who mishandle our results and make no efforts to double check their arbitrary correction”.

A book passage that particularly touched me was the story of three British sailors who swam up to a slowly sinking U-Boat, the U-559, and helped protect and bring back a four rotor Enigma machine (the most complex version) as well as all the Stark keys used with the machine. The two sailors who entered the U-Boat drowned as they had insufficient time to get out on time. The third sailor, who had stayed outside, was able to bring back all the secret material (wisely placed in a sealed bag) to his ship. To get a hold of this Enigma machine and all its keys would be deemed of capital importance to help neutralize the German forces on the oceans.

I conclude with a quote from Mavis Batey which resumes quite well the state of mind of the people who worked at Bletchley Park: [my translation] “You do things or not, but if you don’t act, nobody will do it at your place”.

©2012 Ixelles Publishing SA
ISBN 978-2-87515-178-0
©Sinclair McKay 2010 (author), original English title: The Secret Life of Bletchley Park

Real life stories as pilot and FSS: learning how to fly

The commercial pilot license / a tire bursts on landing

Post author By Stanley
Post date 14 October 2014

(Precedent story: night landing on an ice rink)

The Commercial Pilot License

A few months later, I got my commercial pilot license. It was now time, as for all pilots, to accumulate flying hours in order to gain experience as captain.

I chose to accumulate hours by making short cross-country trips and offering first flights to people of all ages. The evenings were particularly popular because there was little convection and most passengers appreciated a smooth ride for their first flight in a small aircraft.

A Tire Bursts on Landing.

Despite my best intentions, there has still been an occasion where I had to perform an unusual landing. It was during a busy time for air traffic control. Many aircrafts were in the St-Jean-sur-Richelieu (CYJN) airport’s circuit pattern and the controller asked me if I could make a short landing with my Grumman Cheetah (AA-5A). He was counting on a minimal roll after the landing so that the aircraft could exit the runway as soon as possible.

All pilots know how to make a short landing. This is part of the basic training and I accepted this restriction. This can, however, be complicated by the fact that sometimes we had to fly an aircraft with particularly worn out tires. I remember (and I should not be the only one) having had to use an aircraft on which we could see the rope under what was left of the rubber sole. School aircrafts are generally safe. You just don’t want to be the one using the plane the day before the tires have to be changed…

So I began the approach toward runway 29 on a particularly hot summer day. Touchdown was smooth. I applied the brakes without blocking the wheels, while pulling on the control column at the same time that the flaps were returning to their initial position. A pilot does not block the wheels when breaking as the friction decreases and the length necessary to stop the aircraft increases.

At the same time, blocking the wheels increases the risk of loss of control of the aircraft. With these manoeuvers, my aircraft was supposed to stop quickly. However, a few seconds after landing, it started to vibrate and move to the right. I had no other choice but to apply a lot of pressure on the left brake and use full deflection on the left rudder trying to keep the aircraft centered on the runway. Nevertheless, the aircraft slowly headed toward the right side of the runway while slowing down. The landing ended with the left wheel on the runway and the right wheel in the grass.

During the last few seconds, it became obvious that I was dealing with a flat tire. The passengers were not too bothered by the incident because they only started to realize what was happening when we were almost immobilized on the grass. The tire was completely twisted but still on the wheel. Equipment failure is something a pilot knows he will have to deal with from time to time. So considering that it was part of the job, I continued to accumulate flying hours during the following weeks and months.

(Next story: unexpected thunderstorm cells)

For other real life stories as a pilot, click on the following link: Real life stories as a pilot

Photography

Last opportunity for a picture in Montreal

Post author By Stanley
Post date 9 October 2014

Montreal, 2012. Juste à temps pour prendre cette dernière photo, avant la démolition du bâtiment.

I was lucky to be able to take this picture. Being in Montreal for a winter photography session with a Canon 5D MKII, I went by a street where some employees were busy demolishing a building. There was an interesting scene to be taken but I had to get much closer before I could start shooting. The site was fenced and under surveillance while workers were active, so the access was forbidden.

As lunch time was approaching, I decided to wait a bit, hoping that the workers would leave the site for a quick bite. I was expecting the security guard to accompany the group and forget about locking the fence. That’s exactly what happened. As soon as the last employee had disappeared, I was on the site with my photo equipment. By the end of the afternoon, nothing was left of the building. I hope that you like this picture, as much for the scene as for the small murale done by the unknown artist, murale that is today only a souvenir.

Tags Canon 5D MKII, Montréal, murale, photo, photography, security, winter photography