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witharsenicsauce · 5 years ago

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Chosen Stories From the War #13: They Call Me the Shrine Maiden

(Content Warning: This chapter contains brief descriptions of mensuration/menstrual blood)

When the Assassin awoke from a dreamless sleep to a still dark room, she felt deep in her bones something was wrong.

She began to reach for her blade, but the sudden movement made her gasp in pain, and for a moment she felt panic, reaching down to feel her scarred stomach. Had her stitches ripped? She had thought them healed.

No, the scar was as firm as ever, holding everything in place. Yet, as consciousness returned to her, the stabbing pain in her stomach grew in intensity.

“By the stars, please don’t let it be…” She reached her hand down lower, and when she brought it up bloody, she hissed.

She had forgotten all about this.

Kon-Mai slowly sat up, careful not to touch her sheets with her bloody hand, but as she turned the light on she saw that the effort was futile. Her bedsheets were already soaked down to the very mattress, rendering the entire set useless. Those stains were likely never going to come out, and were probably going to give whoever was charged with cleaning them a heart attack.

Standing up slowly, she held onto the side table. Her legs were tingling and everything below her midsection was wrought with incredible pain. She hissed again as she made her way to the bathroom, peeling her underclothes off as she went.

She never understood the reason why this happened. It seemed so counterintuitive, the way it left her helpless for hours on end. In her nine years of service to the Elders, Kon-Mai had only once questioned why she still bled, and it ended with Elder Abyzou...reprimanding her, for daring to doubt their judgement. It is a gift, she had said, a blessing from us to you. Be grateful. Be happy.

“Vhyata ux, Abyzou.” Kon-Mai hissed, hoping that on some level, her precious mother could feel her pain. She could already feel it creeping up her lower back, and her muscles were clenched tight from it. Looking in the mirror, she grimaced at her visage. It was no pretty sight, that was for certain.

However much she would have liked to crawl back into bed, Kon-Mai had an assignment today, and she had to be on top of it. The Commander was counting on her.

She had a job to do.

“That’s it. You got it.” Gur-Rai said gently as Dhar-Mon slowly inched his way down the hall, his hands gripping tightly to the walker provided for him. He led with his left foot, his right side still dragging along like dead weight. They moved at a snail’s pace, and would have been blocking traffic if they had not elected to get up at 0’dark thirty in the morning in order to have the space they would need. Gur-Rai didn’t particularly see the need for such solitude, but his older brother was having enough trouble as it was. And from the way he struggled, Gur-Rai was happy to accommodate him if it eased Dhar-Mon’s suffering just a bit.

A door opened from the radio room, and Bradford came strolling down the hall, freezing as he saw them. Gur-Rai looked up at him and smiled. “Good morrow, Central. Come to see our patient?”

“Well, I guess I am now.” Bradford forced a smile and nodded to Dhar-Mon. “...Warlock, is it?”

“Dhar-Mon, if you please.” He answered sheepishly.

“Sure, sure. How are you...feeling?”

“As the children say…” Dhar-Mon sighed. “I am...straight up not having a good time right now.”

Gur-Rai laughed. “I taught him that one.”

“You are very smart, Brother.” Dhar-Mon rolled his eyes. “Madron, if I may-”

“You don’t have to call me that.” Bradford chuckled but it sounded forced. “I’m not that...high up in command.”

“I must object. Were you not acting Commander when Senuna was in custody?”

“Technically yes, but…” He scratched the back of his head. “I mean, we humans don’t use terms like that, really, anymore”

“Oh?”

“Yep. Just Bradford or Central is fine. Or John, but there are about 238 Johns in the XCOM database so I try and avoid that.”

The Warlock growled, but it was more contemplative than angry. “What peculiar culture you humans have…very well, Central Bradford.”

“...I guess that works.” Bradford shrugged. “Did you need something?”

“I want to speak with your Commander.” Dhar-Mon added. “It is imperative, upon my recovery. I have much I wish to discuss with her.”

Gur-Rai would have thought that Bradford would jump at the chance, like he had with their sister. But the man seemed to go pale and silent for a moment.

“Um...yeah. The Commander is...meeting with a few other resistance leaders right now but I’ll let her know. We want to…” He nodded. “She’ll be happy to…”

Gur-Rai scowled. He could smell the lie on Bradford’s lips. Luckily, Dhar-Mon seemed to be none the wiser and nodded enthusiastically.

“Then I shall look forward to meeting her.” He said. “Should I bring an offering of any kind?”

“Off…? No, no no.” Bradford looked anxious and was beginning to back away. “No, you’re fine. I...have to go, I just remembered Tygan needs me to print off a bunch of supply request forms.”

“Until we meet again, Central Bradford.” Dhar-Mon bowed his head respectfully. While his eyes were averted, Bradford mumbled a half-hearted goodbye and scampered off, Gur-Rai glaring daggers at his back.

The middle Chosen put his hand on Dhar-Mon’s shoulder. “How are you doing, Big Guy?”

“I am quite well, Brother.” He sounded so chipper, and Gur-Rai forced a smile.

“Glad to hear it. And don’t worry, you’ll get to meet with the Commander.” Gur-Rai stared after Bradford. “We’ll make sure of it.”

Kon-Mai ripped the ruined sheets into thin strips, fashioning several makeshift pads for herself. Of course she didn’t have her normal supplies, THOSE were all still at her stronghold, and she’d likely never see them again. No, for now this would have to do.

Her back was killing her, the pain having spread from her pelvis up her spine, all the way into her shoulders. Her movements felt slow and heavy, and reaching for her katana was near agony, but she took a deep breath and forced herself through the pain. She slowly secured her weapons to her back and tucked her dagger in her belt, smoothing everything down in an attempt to look somewhat proper.

She was lucky. Compared to human women, her menstruation only lasted a day at the most. This would be over in a few hours and then she could forget about it until the next year, when the annual curse struck her again. In fact, it might even be over by the time this mission was under way.

She hoped.

Each step out the door hurt, and she wanted to crawl back into bed and sleep this away, but she had a job to do, and by her pride she would uphold it.

The sun was still barely up, only peeking above the horizon and painting the clouds red and orange as Kon-Mai stepped into the garage. There stood Bryni Lyndon, still in her civilian clothes, though she was pulling her Firebrand suit out of her locker.

“Oh hey, Sugar! You’re up early!” She giggled. “With how you were dancing last night, I thought you’d rise with the midday sun.”

Kon-Mai smiled forcefully. “Yes, but my duty calls me. Where is the mission location?”

“Right, uh…” Bryni picked up the data pad. “Oooh, southwestern Canada. Beautiful up there. You ever been?”

Kon-Mai wracked her brain. “...I have been to many places.”

“I’ll take that as a no then.” Bryni winked and popped on her helmet. “You’ll be helping a settlement relocate. Their camp got destroyed by an ADVENT raid, so they’re heading a bit more to the east.”

Kon-Mai nodded again, barely listening.

“You okay, Sugar?” Bryni asked. “You lookin’ pale as January snow.”

“I am...tired.” She said softly. “From last night.”

“Okay…” She couldn’t tell if Bryni believed her, but if she didn’t, she at least didn’t push the issue. “Your comrades ain’t even out of bed yet, so you can relax.”

Relax. Easier said than done. Kon-Mai took a seat on a nearby bench and pulled her legs into her lotus pose. The feeling of movement made her hiss, and she almost started crying, but managed to hold it in.

Perhaps meditating would make her feel better.

Meditating did not make her feel better. In fact, by the time her teammates got onto the plane, she was more agitated than she was before. None of them saw fit to attempt to talk to her, which Kon-Mai both saw as a blessing and an insult. Only one of them had attempted to introduce themselves to her; Bronté their name was, but she had met their handshake with a only curt nod and a scowl. The other two looked young and inexperienced, but then again this was a simple mission, and Kon-Mai was talented enough to pick up the slack for all of them.

They landed at the top of an outlook, the cold Canadian air flooding the chopper as the doors opened.

“Welcome to Tuber Hill!” Firebrand called. “I’ll be following you guys in the chopper, if you need anyone lifted up, just holler!”

Kon-Mai grunted as she got to her feet, nearly smacking her head into the Skyranger ceiling. She was so tall she had to basically crouch to get out, which was hell on her already sore legs.

The four emerged into the wilderness and looked around, Kon-Mai scanning the area. “Where is the point of rendezvous?”

“Supposed to be up here…” Bronté mused. As they said that, a noise could be heard from down the hill.

“I think those are our guys!” One of her team, a short girl with thick brown hair, called out, pointing towards the mass of people climbing the hilltop. Expectedly, a good number of them faltered when they saw Kon-Mai, some children even screaming at the sight of her. Kon-Mai looked away from them, scowling, as the other, braver members of the tribe pulled them forward.

“Who’s in charge?” Bronté asked, stepping forward. Their glasses were catching the light and they lowered them a bit, exposing strangely piercing blue eyes.

“I-I am.” A young man with gauze covering one eye stepped up. “I’m Parthalán.”

“A pleasure” Bronté smiled. “I’m Bronté.” They pointed to the young girl to their right, who was leaning on her rifle. “That’s Amrita…” They pointed to the boy who stood just a few inches away. “That’s Christopher…” And finally, they gestured graciously towards the Chosen. “And this is Kon-Mai. We’re with XCOM.”

Parthalán nodded. “I see…” He was staring at Kon-Mai. “Is that a…?”

“A what?” Bronté asked, one eyebrow raised

“I mean...she’s not an alien, right? She’s a human, right?” Parthalán smiled, obviously thinking his question was more tactful than whatever he was really thinking. In reality, it grated on Kon-Mai’s last nerve and she bared her pointed teeth and hissed at him. The people behind Parthalán shrank back in horror at her display of aggression, and Bronté held up their hands, moving in between the two groups.

“Hey now.” They said. “We’re all friends here. We’re just here to escort you to where you gotta go, Parthalán.” They nodded between the two. “Okay? Can we all get along?”

Kon-Mai let her growl subside and took a breath, nodding. Parthalán also nodded, completely silent.

“Wonderful. So, where are you guys headed?”

“Well, the tribe’s decided on Bralorne-”

Amrita immediately let out a groan. “Are you serious?! That’s 30 miles from here!”

“Technically it’s 27.6 miles-”

“If we walk at a brisk pace, and that’s a big IF, that’s 13 hours. We’re gonna be walking all day!”

Kon-Mai cringed a bit at that. 13 hours on her feet? Any other day that would have been okay, but right now that sounded like hell.

“But we will do it.” Bronté said, their tone snippish. “Right, Amrita? We said we would.”

“We did indeed, and so we shall.” Kon-Mai straightened her back and looked at the group. “We shall guide you to Bralorne. All you must do is point us towards it.”

This walk was setting up to take a lot longer than 13 hours.

Kon-Mai had started out strong, but by now she was trailing behind the group, dragging her feet and trying to ignore the searing pain that had taken hold of her entire body. Had she a stomach, she would have felt nausea, but instead she felt a deeply painful twisting in the residual organ that used to be her stomach but she no longer knew a clear use for.

The people they traveled with were no help at all. It would have been a hard enough march, but they were traveling with sick and elderly, and with children who had to be roped in lest they run off into the wilderness. Kon-Mai kept pace with the ones who needed the most aid, and she hoped they believed she was there to help them. In reality, she could feel their eyes watching her warily. They hurried to keep ahead of her, and she realized they saw her herding them rather than helping.

She slowed her pace even more, feeling dejected, then enraged. Could these stupid humans not see she was trying to help them?! That was why she was here! She was in agony right now, and could easily have stayed at the Avenger and left them all to die, but no, she was here because they said they needed her. And now they had the gall to treat her like a monster?!

She heard footsteps beside her and looked down to see Bronté had fallen back to match her pace. “Hey, you alright?”

She stared down at them silently.

“You look like you’re having trouble keeping up.”

“I am fine.” She hissed through gritted teeth. “I am one of the Chosen, built for the most strenuous of challenges. This may as well be a gentle stroll!”

“Doesn’t sound like it.” Bronté looked worried. “You look sick.”

Kon-Mai scoffed. “I do not get sick.”

“Well, you look like shit.” Bronté reached up, as though they were grabbing her arm. “I can call a break if you wa-”

Kon-Mai slapped their hand away and hissed at them. “Do. Not. Touch. Me.”

“Hey!” Bronté held their hands up. “Stand down, Soldier, right now.”

“Do you seek to challenge me?!” Kon-Mai went for her sword. “Because your tone implies such!”

Bronté met her eyes with a hardness she did not expect. “I have authority on this mission. If you don’t want me reporting you to the Commander for insubordination, you’ll stand down right now.”

Kon-Mai froze.

“Now.” Bronté barked. “Hand, off the weapon.”

Slowly, Kon-Mai released her sword and stepped back from Bronté's piercing blue gaze. She had not expected this reaction, and truly it had left her stunned, at a loss for words.

“Don’t fall behind.” Bronté grumbled, a deep sadness in their tone as they went back up to the front of the charge.

Kon-Mai felt even heavier after that exchange, and despite trudging along behind the party, she wanted so badly to fall into the dirt and dissolve.

Bronté had touched her. That was unacceptable. It wasn’t her fault. But...she had just reacted. Bronté came back and...how dare they ask questions of her. It was none of their business. They wanted to help. They touched her so they could help. She was sick. They were right. They’d wanted to help and she had snapped at them. They had scolded her like a child.

There was no honor in this. She was acting like an animal, directionless and lost.

For the first time since her “death”, Kon-Mai looked to the sky. And for the first, agonizing time, she longed for the light of the Elders she had left behind. She longed for them to cradle her and give her their voices, direct her to where she would go next, what she should do. She was so uncertain all alone.

Kon-Mai felt tears burning at her eyes.

John Bradford had, for the first time in a month, had a semi-productive day. He’d managed to start clearing out some of the last alien debris in the storage closets, approved a few weapon upgrades Shen wanted, filed an entire stack of paperwork, sent off payroll to the resistance council, and only had two drinks!

He was feeling good, if exhausted, when he opened the door to his private quarters and flicked on the light.

“Hello, John~”

“JESUS FUCK!” He jumped back, grabbing his pistol and looking around, his eyes landing on none other than the infamous Darkstrider himself, splayed out on Bradford’s easy chair like he owned the place. “How’d you get in here?!”

“I came down the chimney, ho ho ho.” Gur-Rai smirked as he leapt to his feet. “We need to have a talk, John.”

“Please don’t call me that.” He put his gun away. “Fine. What do you want?”

“Oh it’s not what I want, John.” Gur-Rai crossed his arms. “What is your problem with my brother?”

“...” Bradford shook his head. “...I’m sorry?”

“As you should be, John. You practically blew him off today when you saw him in the hall. Kicking a man while he’s down? Shameful.” Bradford could see in his eyes that Gur-Rai was only partially joking.

“What do you want me to do?” Bradford sighed. “I’m a little busy trying to win us a war.”

“Remember who’s winning that war for you.” Gur-Rai winked. “You are very important, I’ll give you that, but your Commander went to a lot of trouble for me and my siblings.”

“Yeah, right. Don’t get a big head about it.” Bradford leaned against the wall. “For each of you Chosen, we have over 200 human soldiers, plus the Skirmishers, so you’re not all as special as I’m sure you’d like to think.”

“I would beg to differ. Not to undervalue their achievements, but I was literally birthed by gods.”

“Yeah, I bet they birthed you on the fucking toilet.”

Gur-Rai chuckled a bit. “Okay, we could debate this all night, but that’s not why I’m here.” He sat on the chair’s armrest. “Why won’t you talk to Dhar-Mon?”

Bradford was silent for a moment.

“He sacrificed himself for your rebellion.” Gur-Rai looked very serious now. “He would never betray the Elders, John, but he did. For XCOM.”

“Look.” Bradford ran a hand through his hair, pulling at the strands in his fist. “...I’ve known a lot of people in my time here. I’m an old man, Gur-Rai, and I’ve had to bury a lot of friends.”

“Well I’m sorry to hear that, but-”

“But the ones I regret are the ones I can’t bury.” He looked Gur-Rai in the eyes. “The ones we see out there again, who have been turned into monsters.”

Gur-Rai raised a brow. “If you’re talking about ADVENT troopers, they’re clones. I’ve been to the facilities.”

“Trust me, I’ve looked into enough of their eyes. Seen enough old friends, who don’t remember me.” He looked away. “...This isn’t the first time I’ve met your brother. And he has no idea.”

Gur-Rai’s mouth dropped open, before he quickly righted himself. “...He was a soldier?”

“Not exactly.” Bradford covered his face. “Lets just say, I regret a lot of things, but looking at what they did to him…” He shook his head. “I would have rather died than let it happen. And yet, here I am.”

“Yes. Here you are.” Gur-Rai said. “And here he is, ready to give you another chance.”

“This isn’t another chance at shit.” Bradford cried, slamming his hand into the wall. “They took him. What they gave back, what Dhar-Mon is...that’s not him anymore! That’s not a second chance!”

“Maybe not in the way you hoped for.” Gur-Rai shrugged. “But he is here now, Bradford. You say you care about him, do you really think pushing him away will get that message across?”

Bradford remained silent, conspicuously refusing to look the Chosen in the eye.

“This is your chance.” Gur-Rai said. “Take it or not, but either way, never disrespect my brother like that again.” His voice grew deep and low. “When you insult him, you insult me.”

“That sounds like a threat, Darkstrider.” Bradford went for his pistol again.

“It’s not a threat. It’s the truth.” Gur-Rai stepped over to him and leaned his arm against the wall. “No matter how we disagree, how our anger swells, we shall do each other no harm. I only love my siblings and my gun, Bradford. Do not fuck with either of them.”

Bradford sighed. “...I’ll keep that in mind.”

“Good. Is the Commander free this Friday?”

“Friday? That’s the day she usually sleeps until 3.”

“Perfect. We’ll be over at 4 to discuss Dhar-Mon’s place in XCOM.” He winked. “Thank you so much, Bradford. This meeting went much better than I hoped~”

“Whatever you say, Darkstrider.” Bradford rolled his eyes as Gur-Rai ducked under the door frame and disappeared into the hall.

The previously good mood had been replaced with a sour feeling, like acid reflux. He sat down, reaching for his flask that he kept hidden in the bottom drawer.

“Maybe Tygan’s right.” He muttered. “I need to stop drinking.”

They made camp beside the Bridge River Delta, where the water widened out before it would eventually spill into Downton Lake. They had been walking for nearly 6 hours, and the sky was already growing dark, and the first few stars were appearing in the beginning of the sunset.

The Assassin took a distant seat on a tiny fjord of rocks, away from the main camp. She watched the villagers setting up fires to cook their meals, and arranging sleeping bags into little groups; some small, with simple nuclear families, and some with ten or twenty people all sitting, talking, laughing. Her comrades had woven in among them. She saw Bronté talking with a few of the women, heartily chowing down on a meal of noodles, completely enraptured by the conversation.

Kon-Mai closed her eyes. The wind brushed her hair back, hanging loosely from her ponytail from a day of hard travel. She tried to let the stimulus around her cocoon her, like a sleeve, but her sharp ears kept picking up the sounds of happy conversation. It was grating on frayed nerves, and the more she listened, the more isolated she felt, and as such, the more crestfallen.

She heard footsteps behind her and spun around, reaching for her blade, but the old woman behind her held up her hand.

“Be at peace, Child.” The woman chuckled. “I don’t mean to disturb you.”

Kon-Mai stared at the bowl of soup in the woman’s other hand. She met her eyes, and they were bluer than the lake before her.

“Did you bring me this?” Kon-Mai grumbled. “You have wasted your time. I do not need to eat.”

“Oh, nonsense.” She drew closer. “You’re a warrior. You need your strength, Child.”

“My kind do not eat for strength…” Kon-Mai put her sword to the other side of her. “I draw the energy of the earth itself into my body, like a plant with sunlight.”

“Well, this isn't food, anyway.” The woman chuckled. “I made it to help with your cramping.”

Kon-Mai stared at her, one eyebrow raised.

“I can tell your moon cycle is upon you.” She winked. “I haven’t dealt with that in years, but I know all the tricks for it.”

“...It will be over soon.” Kon-Mai spoke, but it came out a whimper. “You should not have come. I don’t need help.”

“But this will help.” She set the bowl beside Kon-Mai. “I insist.”

Kon-Mai stared at the concoction before her. It smelled earthy, like tea but...more. The scent alone was beginning to calm her nerves.

The woman sat a few feet away, taking a strange little wooden figure from her dress pocket and a dull pocket knife. She began to whittle away, her hands unsteady and shaking with each movement. She stopped for a moment, looking Kon-Mai up and down, then smiling brightly. “I am Sahkyo.”

“...Kon-Mai.” The Chosen nodded.

“It is quite an honor to meet you.” Sahkyo nodded. “Please, drink. It works best when it’s hot.”

Kon-Mai picked up the bowl slowly, still watching the woman. “...If this is an attempt to poison me-”

“Now why would I do that?” She chuckled. “Drink, Child, before it chills.”

Kon-Mai drank. At first it was incredibly bitter, and she almost spit it out. Then she tasted mint, and the deep, rich flavor of chocolate, and blackberries.

“What is this?” She asked as she brought the bowl down from her lips.

“An ancient recipe~” Sahkyo said, not looking up from her carving. “I make it on the regular. Never as good as the medicine we manage to get, but that does not come often, so we make do.”

She was right. Kon-Mai could feel the pain in her lower back fading, relief spreading through her bones. “Thank you…”

Sahkyo nodded, smiling brightly. “Anytime, Child.”

Kon-Mai stared down at her lap, head bowed and hands clasped. “I am sorry for my rudeness.”

“No, Child, do not apologize for pain.” Sahkyo insisted. “It’s no fault of your own.”

“Still, I was rude to you.” Kon-Mai brought her knees up under her chin. “I should have control over such things. To lose focus is unacceptable.”

Sahkyo stared at her. “Do you hear yourself? You’re being too harsh.” She scooted closer and put a gentle, weathered brown hand on Kon-Mai’s arm. “It is okay to hurt, and cry and feel pain. It’s what makes us human.”

Kon-Mai shifted away. “I am no human.”

“Well, I beg to differ. You certainly bleed like one.”

Kon-Mai grimaced and turned away, unsure of what to say. Even after her release from the Elders’ cruel grasp, it made her cringe to hear those words. The Elders had always drilled into her head that she was different from them, better than them, that they were the enemy and she was the Chosen.

She looked at the little wooden figure in Sahkyo’s hands. “What are you making?”

“It’s another idol.” She mused, holding it up. “For our most recently dead.”

“Another? You have others like that?”

“I do. Many people carve them, and I tend to them and keep them safe.” She smiled. “They call me the Shrine Maiden, but between you and me, my legs have seen more than enough action to strip me of that title~”

Kon-Mai chuckled. “Shrine...Maiden?”

“Yes.”

“Your people have a shrine?” She puzzled. The strongholds of her and her brothers had been built around altars, repurposed for other uses, but shrines were an archaic thing. From what she had seen on the Avenger, not many humans were still religious, and those who were did not make use of idols.

Sahkyo gestured for Kon-Mai to stand. “Would you like to see?”

Kon-Mai got to her feet, picking up the empty bowl as she followed Sahkyo into the trees, towards a solitary tent set up far away from the others in the camp. It was larger than the rest, and she recognized the wagon nearby as being near the back of the parade, as they had marched.

Sahkyo held up a flap. “I apologize for the mess.”

Kon-Mai stepped inside, blinking to adjust to the light, and looked around at the hundreds of little figurines scattered across the hut. Some were larger, some were no bigger than her finger. Some were simple, and some were carved with immaculate detail. Some were wooden, and some were made of stone or even metal.

“What are they…?” She got on her knees and reached for the nearest one. The face was simple, but the two dot eyes seemed to meet hers in a look of mutual curiosity.

“They are our ancestors.” Sahkyo said. “The ones who have died in battle, or of sickness, or were taken by time.”

Kon-Mai scanned the room, the hundreds of bodies lying in piles. “These are the dead?”

“They are their memory.” Sahkyo picked up another small one. “I am in charge of keeping them, cleaning them, making sure they are dry and warm.”

“Why…?” Kon-Mai reached for another one as Sahkyo began gathering them up, laying them out in little rows. “What is the purpose of all this?”

Sahkyo paused for a moment. “...To remember.” She picked one up. “This one? You can see he has a little tool belt carved across his chest. This was my husband, Devon.” She picked up another. “This one is too small, smaller than the rest. My son, who was born asleep.” Finally she took a large one, made of white stone. “And this was my daughter. She protected us all until the very end. A shrine maiden in her own way…” Her blue eyes looked deeply sad.

“And...they are gone?”

“They are gone. But…” She hugged the three figures to her chest. “When you have lost everything...when so little brings comfort, I find no shame in indulging what few things do.”

Kon-Mai laid the figures in her hands back down, wondering who they were as well. “...I am so sorry.”

“As am I.” Sahkyo sighed. “But sorrow doesn’t bring them back. Besides, I’m not wanting.” She smiled. “I have them all right here.”

Kon-Mai met her eyes again. “...Yes. I suppose you do.” She felt a yawn coming and stifled it, only to see Sahkyo chuckle.

“Do you feel any better, Child?”

Kon-Mai nodded.

The concoction had made her muscles relax, finally, and as a result when the darkness fell, Kon-Mai was hit with a wave of tiredness, and passed out immediately despite best attempts. She’d curled up outside of the shrine tent, in the low branches of a nearby tree, still poised to look out for danger.

Her eyes had never been the best. The one on the left wandered and dropped out of coordination with her right, and her sight all in all was never as good as Gur-Rai’s. But her hearing was impeccable. Even in her dreamless sleep she could hear everything. The rustle of wind in the trees as a light fog blew in, the chirp of frogs on the lake, the skittering of small insects across the bark of the tree…

The distant hum of an approaching machine.

Kon-Mai woke with a start and stared into the darkness, listening. At first, the silence of the night was all she heard. Then she heard it, faint clunk, clunk, clunk, the sounds of stomping, marching…

She let out an alien screech, spurring the camp into a flurry of action. Grabbing her sword and dropping to the ground, Kon-Mai shouted “SECTOPODS FROM THE WEST! ADVENT IS UPON US!”

Bronté was the first one to her, shotgun hanging from their hip and armor barely on. Christopher was following, but he was still in his underwear. Amrita was nowhere to be found.

“Which way?” Bronté asked, fumbling to tie their vest and hold their grenade launcher at the same time.

Kon-Mai gestured behind her. “They are close, nearly 60 meters.”

“Well, let's not give them a chance to get closer!” Bronté looked around. “Chris, go find Amrita and tell her to start rounding up the villagers, we need to get on the move as fast as possible.” They looked to Kon-Mai again. “You and me: you take the right side and me the left, we move in a pincer and come up from behind.”

“Trap them. Very clever.”

“Yep. Now move.” Bronté hoisted their gun and disappeared into the trees.

Kon-Mai closed her eyes, letting the psionic energy in her blood wash over her, cloaking her in an invisible shadow. Within a moment, she could feel the sensation of heat prickling on her skin. To the people around her, she was but a shimmering outline in the darkness. Before they could look too closely and break her concentration, she darted into the trees, her footsteps light as a feather.

The Sectopods were closer than she’d first thought, only about 200 feet away from the campsite and drawing closer every moment. She kept behind the trees, skirting alongside the platoon as they marched behind. There were a good amount of troopers, almost two squads worth of them, and…

Stun Lancers. Three of them. All that manpower meant one thing: they knew Kon-Mai was here.

She took a breath, tightening her focus, and saw Bronté on the other side of them. They were looking just as worried as she felt as the troops quickly closed the distance towards the helpless people. Kon-Mai reached out with the little psionic force she did possess and felt for Bronté's mind, feeling for it and finally finding them, the anxious ball of energy they were. Bronté seemed to startle, and they were silent for a moment, looking over to where she was. Then they smiled and held up a hand.

On my mark.

Three-

Two-

One-

Kon-Mai darted from the trees and dug her sword into the ground, her psionic cloak falling away. As the soldiers turned to her, she dragged her blade sideways through the dirt, bringing up a cloud of psionic matter, and with a spin of her blade sent it careening toward them. Six of the ten soldiers went down, as did two of the Stun Lancers. One of them fell over onto another trooper, who fired a rain of bullets through the Lancer in a panic.

Kon-Mai smiled, but she had to keep focus. Now the enemy knew where she was. And that would not do at all.

She darted back into the trees, this time jumping up to a branch and cloaking again, then slowly sliding down the splintery bark of the tree so as to make as little noise as possible. The troopers were firing into the leaves, unaware she had moved, and allowing her to quietly slip around beside them once again.

Now it was Bronté's turn. They stuffed a frost grenade into their grenade launcher and with a “thump”, jettisoned it into the midst of the fray. The soldiers didn’t seem to notice until the last minute, the majority of them still focusing on where they thought Kon-Mai was. But they sure did notice when the grenade went off, encasing half of the troopers, another one of the lancers, and one of the Sectopod’s legs in ice.

Kon-Mai darted from the trees and began hewing away at their frozen forms, their bodies shattering as her psionic blade made contact with their icy flesh. She spun, only for her sword to hit the baton of a Stun Lancer as it lunged for her. She slid backward, hissing, and darted to the side, but the Lancer was almost as quick as her and caught her with an arm to her stomach, making her stumble.

“Kon-Mai!” She heard Bronté shout, but she could not see them. She righted herself, holding her blade tightly in her fist at her side as she and the Lancer stared each other down, each waiting for the other to make the first move. A moment passed.

Kon-Mai moved her foot forward, and the Lancer lunged just as she fell back, slipping under their weapon and sending them stumbling forward. A faint.

And it had been worth it. The Lancer landed on one knee as Kon-Mai whipped around and drove her blade through it’s back, skewering it. It died gurgling, blood spilling from it’s helmet as it slumped over.

“Kon-Mai!” Bronté's screams were getting farther away. “The Sectopod!”

She looked up with a start, and her heart fell as she saw the Sectopod closing in on the helpless people.

“We cannot be too late.” She whispered as she darted forward, sprinting on strong legs. “I will not fail them.”

Amrita ran to the tent of the old woman, who was hurriedly trying to gather up all the wooden figures and place them securely into the carts. “We don’t have time for that! Leave them!”

“I can’t.” Sahkyo insisted. “Take the others if you must, and leave me here.”

“Lady, I can’t do that!” Amrita cried. “That thing is practically on top of us!”

“I can’t leave these to be destroyed!”

“YOU will be destroyed if you don't-” Amrita grabbed her pistol. “FUCK! FUCK FUCK FUCK! EVERYBODY SCATTER!”

Sahkyo turned as the red light spilled over her, the black mass of the Sectopod standing over her like the Devil. It stomped once, and Sahkyo slipped and slammed into the rocky ground, splitting her cheek wide open. The figures sprawled across the floor, now naught but kindling for the fire that was coming.

“No…” She reached for the nearest one, the one with the tool belt. “Please, not them. You can kill me if you want! Just leave them alone! Leave the figures, they are all we…”

The red light of the cannon charging filled her vision. Sahkyo closed her eyes.

Then there was a sound of whistling wind, and a crash. The red light was blocked by something.

She opened her eyes. “Child…”

Kon-Mai, using her own body as a shield, stood between her and the Sectopod’s cannon. She looked back at Sahkyo, smiling. “Your shrine shall be protected.”

Kon-Mai dove forward, running between the Sectopod’s legs. It turned to try and catch her, and as it did, Bronté fired their pistol into the mouth of it’s open cannon. It seemed to reel back, like an injured animal, and Sahkyo saw Kon-Mai had jumped up and was clinging to its side, her sword digging into the casing like a grapple.

The Sectopod thrashed back and forth, like it was trying to shake her off, but Kon-Mai held fast. She flipped herself upward, reaching down and dragging her sword up to her through the thick metal, and nearly slipped off as the thing began reeling back and forth like an angry bull.

Kon-Mai had always had good balance, but even this was starting to disorient her. She wanted to scream for Sahkyo to escape, but she couldn’t open her mouth without risking biting off her own tongue. She grit her teeth in silence, holding on by the skin of her fingers and the heels of her shoes as she rocked her body with the sway of the angry machine. She had to get closer.

Bronté shot another grenade under the Sectopod, and this time the explosion sent the legs splaying out, and it fell to a crouch. That was exactly what she needed.

Surging forward, Kon-Mai lifted her sword above her head and drove it into the cockpit of the machine, cutting through wires and metal. In one last desperate attempt, it began to fling itself side to side, but Kon-Mai twisted her sword and held tight, until the unit inside flickered and, with a pathetic sigh, died. Wrenching her sword from the body of the beast, she dove from it, landing just as the creature behind her exploded in a plume of fire and smoke.

Kon-Mai stood as Bronté emerged from behind her, their grenade launcher resting against their shoulder.

“I believe we won.” Kon-Mai mused.

Bronté smiled at her. “Fuck yeah, we did.”

Bralorne was quiet, the smoke from the still burning Sectopod clouding the midday sky and making it appear overcast and cloudy. But as the villagers walked into the old settlement with it’s run down wooden houses and empty mines, Kon-Mai saw the happiness in their eyes.

It didn’t take them long to begin setting up. Parthalán began assigning people their respective houses, some families doubling up to make room for others. Sahkyo set up her little shine tent near the middle of the town, and Kon-Mai took her own time to help her pitch the tent, and then sat with her in the shade, cleaning and polishing the figures, watching as the little town grew busy again.

The smoke was clearing. Children were already playing outside. Bralorne was breathing again.

“You would make a good Shrine Maiden.”

Kon-Mai looked at Sahkyo in surprise. “Why do you say such things?”

“You protected the dead with your very essence.” Sahkyo said without looking at her. “Even though this concept was foreign to you.”

Kon-Mai couldn’t find the words to reply to that.

“This place, these people, live again.” Sahkyo looked at her now, her white hair covering dark, weathered skin glowing with warmth. “And that is the job of a Shrine Maiden.”

“To protect the dead?”

“Protect the dead, and give hope to the living.” She reached over and took Kon-Mai’s hand in her’s. “And you, Child, have brought hope to us.”

Hope. To the humans. She looked down at Sahkyo’s hand, dark and warm against her cold blue skin.

“I was not created for this.” She whispered.

“Oh, I think you were, in some way.” Sahkyo chuckled. “Perhaps in a different way than how the aliens thought you would, though.”

Kon-Mai nodded slowly. “It is my duty to protect the people of this world. I have already hurt them...can one with so much blood on her hands ever be a Shrine Maiden?”

“You don’t need me to tell you that, Child. You already know~” Sahkyo bowed slightly to her. “Now, little Shrine Maiden, help me sort these by size. Largest to smallest.”

Kon-Mai chuckled, only to notice Bronté standing outside the tent. “Sahkyo…”

Sahkyo looked up. “Ah, the warrior from before.” She chuckled. “Now THEY are destined for great things.”

Kon-Mai nodded, watching as Bronté caught her eye and held it.

“I must speak with them.”

Sahkyo smiled and motioned for her to go ahead. “I shall be waiting, Child.”

As Kon-Mai met Bronté outside, she noticed their smile was sheepish. “Is something the matter?”

“No, not really.” Bronté coughed.

“Very well, I would like-”

“I wanted to say-”

They both stopped, waiting for the other to go, until Kon-Mai gave in and gestured for Bronté to speak.

“I wanted to apologize for yesterday.” Bronté said. “I get that I probably scared you with trying to touch you like that, and you just reacted.”

Kon-Mai blinked. “...No.”

“What…?”

“I am sorry.” She insisted. “My behavior was reprehensible, and not at all like a warrior should carry herself. I can assure you it will not happen again.”

“I mean, you didn’t mean it.” Bronté shrugged. “I could tell you were out of sorts. We all have days like that.”

“Even so-”

“Hey.” Bronté smiled. “You more than made up for it by taking down that Sectopod.” They reached their hand out. “I’ll be letting the Commander know about your exemplary work out there in the field, maybe when you get back she’ll have a promotion for you.”

“...In that case, I shall do the same for you.” She took their hand and squeezed it, a smile pulling at their lips. “And I shall look forward to working together again.”

“Oh hell yeah. I’d pick you for my team any day.” Bronté chuckled. “And, if anything feels wrong, please let me know, ok? I’m new to all this too, and it’s my job to make sure my soldiers are safe.”

Kon-Mai nodded thoughtfully, mulling over what they said for a minute. “...I appreciate that.” She smiled. “But you needn’t worry, it is sorted out now.”

“Still.” They raised a brow. “Just let me know, ok?”

“I promise I shall.”

Commander Senuna patted the concealer into place with her powder poof, covering the dark bags under her eyes with white dust. “I don’t know.”

She heard Bradford sigh. “Commander, I can’t make all these decisions for you!”

“I know that, but I’m being honest.” She took out her liquid lipstick and rolled the peach paint over her lips. “I really don’t know what we should do.”

“Well if we don’t tell him, he’ll find out eventually and wonder why we were hiding it from him.”

“Does he even care?” She dragged the mascara over her already long eyelashes. “The other two don’t seem to question where they came from.”

“The Warlock isn’t like his siblings.” Bradford said. “And even if that’s true, how long until they DO start questioning?”

“I don’t know.” She stood up, pushing her white cape out from behind her. “What do you want to do, John?”

He sighed. “I want to go back in time and-”

Senuna cut him off. “Well, sorry but it looks like time travel isn’t an asset of mine. Yet.”

He chuckled. “...Worth a shot.”

She blinked slowly. “What would we even say to him?”

“Maybe sorry?” Bradford sat forward, running a hand through his hair. “I just feel bad about it, Commander.”

“Bradford, no.” She shook her head and walked over to him. “It’s not your fault. It’s the Elders’.”

“It’s hard to think that when I heard him screaming my name. Begging me to save him as they dragged him away.”

There was a knock on the door, and Bradford shot up, taking a breath and righting himself. “Come in~” The Commander sang, sitting down in her fancy chair as Kon-Mai stepped inside, bowing respectfully.

“Hello, Commander. Central.”

“Hi there!” Senuna chirped. “Just the girl I wanted to see! You have a promotion available~”

Kon-Mai looked surprised. “I...do?”

Senuna winked. “Cpl. Bronté Dukakis said you performed spectacularly well under time and pressure, and showed remarkable skill in teamwork.”

“They also said you rode a Sectopod like a surfboard and stabbed it in the kisser.” Bradord chuckled. “So that got you some extra points.”

Senuna beamed as she stood up and saluted. “Kon-Mai Mordenna, I grant you the rank of Corporal.”

The Assassin smiled, somewhat in disbelief. “...Thank you…” She bowed deeply. “Thank you, Commander. I will uphold it with honor and grace.” She looked up shyly. “There is one other matter, though…”

“Fire away!” Senuna plopped back into her chair and put her feet up.

“I know what I would like my callsign to be.”

“Oh? And that would be?”

Kon-Mai smiled fondly. “Shrinemaiden.”

(This chapter, I was so nervous about posting, even if it’s necessary for later events in the story. I really tried hard to be tactful when describing what was happening with Kon-Mai and I think (hope?) I got it to a good place.)

Archive: https://chosenstories.tumblr.com/

#xcom #xcom 2 #xcom 2 war of the chosen #xcom assassin #content warning #cw: menstruation #chosen assassin

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fedoraqueen · 5 years ago

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Rescued

This takes place after/during Blueberry’s mental break and when Thahali saves him. ( it’s a bit scatter brained but that’s the point. This is from @clonewarsreturns CW across the stars tag {idk if we’re still supposed to tag u})

" Good soldiers follow orders. You are property of Kamino. You are not an individual you are nothing, you are a living droid who serves the republic. Good soldiers follow orders. You are property of Kamino. You are not an individual you are nothing, you are a living droid who serves the republic. Good soldiers follow orders. You are property of Kamino. You are not an individual you are nothing, you are a living droid who serves the republic. Good soldiers foll-"

CT-7589 clutched his head, they had been blaring that at him non stop in his plain white padded cell, the Kaminoan's had thrown him in there after two weeks of therapy had not worked. He could still smell the blood, he could still sense the bodies falling around him, his modified sense of smell and heightened cutaneous senses being used for search and rescue. He often felt his brothers heartbeats die off before they could find them, the smell of blood often lingering in the air so much so he could practically see where they were shot. He pulled at his cut short hair, trying to grasp at whatever he had control over.

"Good soldiers follow orders. You are property of Kamino. You are not an individual you are nothing, you are a living droid who serves the republic" He recites quietly to himself, repeating it over and over.

" You know that's not true."

He snaps his head up, CT-2005 stands over him, missing his leg and being torn to shreds. He rubs at his eyes, " You can't be here. I'll get in trouble again... the- they'll shove me in the water again."

" You're pathetic for putting up with this. I died and look at you, feeling sorry for yourself."

" You're dead. You're not real."

The phantom of his brother lunges at him, he jerks back eyes wide. He wants to defend himself but if the monitors catch him moving... he doesn't dare think about it.

" I'M REAL TO YOU. YOU'LL NEVER STOP SEEING ME." The ghost roars, more of his failed rescues and dead brothers slowly come from the walls. CT-7589 whimpers, he scoots back into the corner of his cell.

" You failed me."

" I drowned because of you"

" I bled out."

" You're only good for recovery"

He curls into a ball, pulling his head between his legs. He can't look away though, he stares as they tell him how they had died. He deserved this for his failure, he blinked away tears. Captain Rex stepped over to him, " I lost many good men because of your inadequacy." 7589 blinks a few times as they fade out of his view, they always came to yell at him, he knew he deserved it but that didn't make it better.

" Good soldiers follow orders. You are property of Kamino. You are not an individual you are nothing, you are a living droid who serves the republic."

He glares at the speaker, someone was getting paid to say that. He silently pondered how many credits they made, probably not enough to feed a family. He started to try and identify the voice but couldn't, all the long necks sounded the same. Clones had the same voice but his own voice was a higher pitch, it had made him stand out and civilians often mistook him for a volunteer in the army.

He's jolted from his thoughts as the door to his cell opens, he scrambles to his feet and straightens out so fast his bones crack. He trembles as Shaak ti enters, followed by two Kaminoans and a cathar.

" Here is our most recent patient entered into reprogramming."

He salutes so fast he smacks himself in the eye, not daring to wince at the pain. The cathar gasps and steps closer, his instincts scream at him to move away, he's shaking slightly. She gently moves his hand to look at his bruising eye. He won't look at her, He doesn't dare.

" It's done wonders for him." One of the Kaminoans says smugly, he wants to lash out and stick her head through that speaker in the side corner, " Therapy is worthless compared to our reprogramming."

The cathar whips around, He could sense her tension but doesn't dare react, " He'll do well for the recovery project. I'll reverse the damage you've caused." She hisses and shoves a data pad into the Kaminoan's chest. she gently takes his hand by his side, He tenses as she pulls him out of the plain room. She drags him through the halls, stopping at a locker and pulling a bag from it. He rubs his wrist and looks around with wide eyes, he forgot what color looked like. He couldn't help but stare at the cathar, She was such a pretty shade of gold, he almost reached out to touch her.

" I can't believe my master allows this." She growls, adjusting her bag on her shoulder and turning to him.

He jolts into a salute. She gives a soft smile, " But enough about that for now, what do they call you?"

He freezes and bites his lip, he was supposed to forget what his brothers named him, he puffs up proudly at still remembering his designated number, " CT-7589"

" Did you never get a name from your brothers? I thought that was a big thing with clone culture."

He deflates immediately, starting to put together he was going back out and she seemed to care about him... he thought he was being too skeptical or too nervous but he was out of that terrible room because of her, he was willing to give her a shot, " They did... It was Blue."

" Blue." She echo's looking at him more intently, " I'd have called you red with that hair." She ruffles it.

He cringes and pulls away, " It's for my eye color."

" Ah. I see. Well Blue let's get going."

He follows her to her ship, glancing behind him and back at her, " Where are we going?"

She pauses and turns to him, " My name Is Thahali, I am a former padawan of Shaak Ti, The war across the Galaxy has made me realize that the republic and Jedi council are neglectful of the civilians and their livelihood. My goal is to help these people recover, I can't do it alone... will you help me?"

Blue stares at her, she A S K E D him to help her! No one had asked him to do anything it was constant ordering. But here she is asking him, he can't stop staring at her. His mind is racing from place to place, " She's so nice! She's pretty! Rex is going to kill me... who cares? He sent me here... The alternative is back to the 501st. This is moving so fast, the good kind of fast!Man I'm hungry. Oh no I'm taking too long to answer... Of course it's yes but... I might end up back in that cell..."

" If you don't want to it's fine..."

" I want to!" He blurts and grabs her hands desperately, " Just... on one condition."

She smiles and bends to be more level with him, " Only one?"

" Promise I won't ever come back here."

She pulls him into a hug, he freezes, a stranger has him in their arms and he feels safe... He squeezes her back, " I promise you will never come back here. You will never go back to that room. I Will protect you Blue."

#cwacrossthestars #jedi oc #Clone Troopers #Blueberry

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swiftlisa-blog · 6 years ago

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rlxtechoff · 3 years ago

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#IFTTT #Blogger

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colorload71 · 4 years ago

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Download Cryptolocker Virus For Testing

Nov 12, 2013 The Crypto Locker virus is passed around in emails that have innocent enough looking senders, such as UPS or FedEx, but they’re not really from these corporations, of course. Instead, when you open the attachment, your computer becomes infected and the virus locks all your files until you pay a ransom. Jun 30, 2014 thanks. I see so many new samples (like cryotowall 3.0) that I have moved on from the original cryptolocker. As my antivirus protects against all crypto’s using email/web reputation and also detecting the crypto process, then I am no longer looking for policies to prevent. I am using trend micro worry free 9 with sp1 and the latest hotfix for.

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Malware like CryptoLocker can enter a protected network through many vectors, including email, file sharing sites, and downloads. New variants have successfully eluded anti-virus and firewall technologies, and it’s reasonable to expect that more will continue to emerge that are able to bypass preventative measures. In addition to limiting the scope of what an infected host can corrupt through buttressing access controls, detective and corrective controls are recommended as a next line of defense.

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As new variants are uncovered, information will be added to the Varonis Connect discussion on Ransomware. For example, a variant known as “CTB-Locker” creates a single file in the directory where it first begins to encrypt files, named, !Decrypt-All-Files-(RANDOM 7 chars).TXT or !Decrypt-All-Files-(RANDOM 7 chars).BMP.

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The more files a user account has access to, the more damage malware can inflict. Restricting access is therefore a prudent course of action, as it will limit the scope of what can be encrypted. In addition to offering a line of defense for malware, it will mitigate potential exposure to other attacks from both internal and external actors.

While getting to a least privilege model is not a quick fix, it’s possible to reduce exposure quickly by removing unnecessary global access groups from access control lists. Groups like “Everyone,” “Authenticated Users,” and “Domain Users,” when used on data containers (like folders and SharePoint sites) can expose entire hierarchies to all users in a company. In addition to being easy targets for theft or misuse, these exposed data sets are very likely to be damaged in a malware attack. On file servers, these folders are known as “open shares,” if both file system and sharing permissions are accessible via a global access group.

Although it’s easiest to use technologies designed to find and eliminate global access groups, it is possible to spot open shares by creating a user with no group memberships, and using that account’s credentials to “scan” the file sharing environment. For example, even basic net commands from a windows cmd shell can be used to enumerate and test shares for accessibility:

net view (enumerates nearby hosts)

net view host (enumerates shares)

net use X: hostshare (maps a drive to the share)

dir /s (enumerates all the files readable by the user under the share)

These commands can be easily combined in a batch script to identify widely accessible folders and files. Remediating these without automation, unfortunately, can be a time-consuming and risky endeavor, as it’s easy to affect normal business activity if you’re not careful. If you uncover a large amount of accessible folders, consider an automated solution. Automated solutions can also help you go farther than eliminating global access, making it possible to achieve a true least-privilege model and eliminate manual, ineffective access-control management at the same time.

How to Detect CryptoLocker

If file access activity is being monitored on affected files servers, these behaviors generate very large numbers of open, modify, and create events at a very rapid pace, and are fairly easy to spot with automation, providing a valuable detective control. For example, if a single user account modifies 100 files within a minute, it’s a good bet something automated is going on. Configure your monitoring solution to trigger an alert when this behavior is observed. Varonis DatAlert monitors and tracks file system behavior for ransomware attacks out-of-the-box. There is no need for extra configuration if Varonis is monitoring your data.

If you don’t have an automated solution to monitor file access activity, you may be forced to enable native auditing. Native auditing, unfortunately, taxes monitored systems and the output is difficult to decipher. Instead of attempting to enable and collect native audit logs on each system, prioritize particularly sensitive areas and consider setting up a file share honeypot.

A file share honeypot is an accessible file share that contains files that look normal or valuable, but in reality are fake. As no legitimate user activity should be associated with a honeypot file share, any activity observed should be scrutinized carefully. If you’re stuck with manual methods, you’ll need to enable native auditing to record access activity, and create a script to alert you when events are written to the security event log (e.g. using dumpel.exe).

If you’re PowerShell inclined, we’ve written a bit on how to combat CryptoLocker with PowerShell.

If your detective control mechanism can trigger an automated response, such as disabling the user account, the attack is effectively stopped before inflicting further damage. For example, a response to a user that generates more than 100 modify events within a minute might include:

Notifying IT and security administrators (include the affected username and machine)

Checking the machine’s registry for known keys/values that CryptoLocker creates:

Get-Item HKCU:SoftwareCryptoLockerFiles).GetValueNames()

if value exists, disable user automatically.

Download Cryptolocker Virus For Testing Tool

If recorded access activity is preserved and adequately searchable, it becomes invaluable in recovery efforts, as it provides a complete record of all affected files, user accounts, and (potentially) hosts. Varonis customers can use the output from report 1a (as described here) to restore files from a backup or shadow copy.

Depending on the variant of CryptoLocker, encryption may be reversible with a real-time disassembler.

Ransomware Safety Tips

Update your antivirus and endpoint protection software – these solutions can help detect certain types of ransomware and prevent it from encrypting your files.

Avoid phishing scams – phishing emails are the most prevalent delivery mechanism for ransomware.

Keep backups of your documents – it’s much faster and easier to recover your documents from a backup than it is to decrypt them, if they’ve been compromised in a ransomware attack.

Commit to a zero-trust/least privilege model – ransomware can only affect the folders a user can write to. A least privilege model limits that access to only what’s absolutely necessary.

Monitor file activity and user behavior to detect, alert and respond to potential ransomware activity.

New ransomware variants are popping up all the time – luckily our dedicated security forensics team does the legwork for you and diligently updates the ransomware signatures that Varonis detects. See how it works with a free 1:1 demo and learn more about how our ransomware defense architecture is designed to protect enterprise data from zero-day attacks beyond the endpoint – catching ransomware that traditional perimeter security doesn’t see.

If you ever needed a reminder to be careful about the emails and attachments you open, it’s now. The Crypto Locker virus that is going around is said to be one of the worst ever and is infecting computers with the Windows OS all across the United States. The virus, also called “ransomware,” works by holding your files hostage until you pay a fee.

The Crypto Locker virus is passed around in emails that have innocent enough looking senders, such as UPS or FedEx, but they’re not really from these corporations, of course. Instead, when you open the attachment, your computer becomes infected and the virus locks all your files until you pay a ransom. Check out a picture of what the Crypto Locker demand screen looks like:

Cryptolocker Virus Symantec

Well i found this sample on my PC i when i was scanning my box. 😛 anyways might be this sample is useful for you.Please handle with care.

RAR Pass: 123

Download Cryptolocker Virus For Testing Free

Download from here !

What Is Cryptolocker Virus

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Download Cryptolocker Virus For Testing Software

[email protected]

Download Cryptolocker Virus For Testing Sites

Tushar Verma (c0d3369)

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neubauje · 8 years ago

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BEGT ch. 19

Chapter 1 - Chapter 2 - Chapter 17 - Chapter 18 - Chapter 19 AO3

The steakhouse turns out to be not as expensive as it appears from the front, which is probably for the best considering the weary, bedraggled appearance of the two teachers, strung out after a long day. It does prove to be a good chance for them to relax for a bit, though Toshinori has to stop himself on multiple occasions from automatically leaning over with a bite of food to feed to Aizawa, tamping down on the habit he’s formed over the past two weeks, unneeded now that the younger teacher is perfectly capable of feeding himself. The first time it happens, Toshinori’s hand manages to get as far as plucking a bite of Aizawa’s surf-and-turf stir fry from his plate, and he freezes up as soon as he realizes what he’s done, a faint blush creeping over his cheeks as he plays it off by stuffing the bite into his own mouth, then replacing it with a small sample of steak and eggs from his own plate in the spirit of sharing. Aizawa watches this blankly, not commenting on the near slip, but he does try the offered sample with a small nod of approval. Unable to eat much at once, Toshinori asks for a take-home bag and only nibbles a little taste from the rich green tea ice cream Aizawa orders for dessert, happily picking up the tab with hardly a second thought. (more under the cut)

Yagi pauses as the duffel bag is snatched out from where he’d been about to grab it again, purely out of habit by this point, when Aizawa pulls it over his own shoulder and leads the way back out into the night, pausing long enough for his peer to catch up after paying the bill. The taller hero meets him out front with a little smile, somehow fond and sheepish and wistful all at once as he offers, “Can I walk you home?”

“No.” Aizawa’s reply is brisk and curt enough to completely wipe Yagi’s smile from his face, and while the sight of that cheer fading away is no welcome consequence, Shouta can’t be bothered this late at night to formulate any pretty words to cushion the blow to his friend’s ego. “Thanks for dinner. I’ll see you at school, Toshinori.” He slings the weight of the duffel more evenly across his shoulders and turns to head back the way they’d come earlier, in the general direction of the UA campus.

“See you, Aizawa.” All Might sighs softly and tucks his take-home bag into the crook of one elbow, ambling in the other direction to take the subway back home alone, already mostly drained for the day from keeping up appearances during the Festival. He spends the next two days getting very little rest at all; fighting crime and making public appearances by day, consulting with Naomasa and the rest of the police force by night, and constantly refreshing the data file of the offers pouring in from agencies interested in the A-Class students, hoping to see at least a fewcome in for Midoriya. The self-imposed flurry of activity keeps Toshinori away from home for the most part, leaving him there only long enough to sleep and shower and wash his costume, but not for long enough to let the Aizawa-shaped hole really sink in, like it had when the injured hero had spent the night at Mic and Midnight’s. Toshinori doesn’t care to have another repeat of that little crisis again, so he pointedly ignores the little throne of pillows still left on the other side of the bed, and keeps himself busy, instead pushing his limits just a little further, posing for just one more photo, smiling just a little harder, until the time comes for classes to resume.

Eraserhead does much the same, once he’s stopped by the school to drop off the duffel in the locker where it’d come from. He spends the rest of the night and most of the next day in the gym working himself into an exhaustion, his muscles burning from neglect and atrophy and reconstruction, until they’re stretched and flexed back into some semblance of working order. The next two nights, he rejoins his fellow underground heroes out in the city, getting his feet back under him with a few decent captures and rescues, and learning the new limits of his quirk after so near a brush with blindness. So long as he keeps working, Aizawa figures, he should be able to keep his mind off of things; Toshinori’s gentle hospitality, the home he had grown accustomed to but not welcome to, the company he’d learned first to tolerate, and then to enjoy. It doesn’t leave much time for sleeping, this attempt to keep himself busy, but then… he’d been resting for two weeks, and sleep had never come easily anyhow.

By the time class resumes on Wednesday, Aizawa is back to his scruffy, baggy-eyed, unkempt appearance as though the the shiny-haired, well-rested, properly nourished version of the homeroom teacher had never existed. And to the students, who had only ever seen him wrapped in bandages and from a distance of ten feet or more, perhaps he never had. While Nezu and Recovery Girl may have noticed, they know better than to chide the loner of a teacher, so long as he shows up for work and does his job well. Midnight, who had only ever caught a close-up glimpse of Aizawa that one night he’d been at her apartment, knows no better when she joins him in class to aid the students with their name selections. And Toshinori, his thoughts occupied with the single offer from Gran Torino for Deku’s impending internship, doesn’t even get a chance to see Aizawa, nonetheless talk to him, before the end of the week rolls around and the first-year students are dispersed to their temporary mentors.

After that, All Might tries his best to relax and put Gran Torino out of his mind, figuring any progress he made with Deku would be for the best, and couldn’t be helped by an old student worrying over things from afar. The workload is even lighter than usual with the first-years missing, leaving Toshinori with only administrative functions and the few sparse appearances and events they’d scheduled with the older students in mind during the interim. Feeling even more useless than usual, he ducks back into the teacher’s lounge for a cup of tea at the end of the day, surprised to find it dark and empty. A flick of the lights, however, reveals the lounge to be less empty than it had appeared, with the lumpy yellow form of Aizawa’s sleeping bag occupying the couch. Toshinori recoils a little in surprise, then steps inside and shuts the door behind himself. “Aizawa?”

A soft groan of annoyance can be heard from the lump on the couch, who turns over and sits up, blinking and squinting in the light without unzipping from the sleeping bag. “What do you want, Toshinori.”

Wringing his hands a little, Yagi steps over to the beverage machine and selects a tea, setting the cup to steep as he turns back around to face the other teacher and leans back against the counter. “I was just going to get a drink before heading home for the night. What are you still doing here, Shouta? You should go home and get some real sleep.”

“I can’t.” The bitter admission is muttered before Aizawa can stop and think better of it, and he blinks again in surprise at himself, letting his gaze fall from his towering peer to the table nearby.

Toshinori frowns a little, his fingers tapping silently against the lip of the countertop, “Can’t sleep? It seemed like you were just now, and that couch-”

“I can’t go home,” Shouta cuts off the other teacher’s well-intentioned rambling, figuring it’s too late to go back on his words now.

Yagi’s jaw clicks shut at the interruption, and he frowns even more, his mind racing in different directions again as he waits for Aizawa to continue and explain himself. The younger man seems to have no intention of doing so, however, his gaze planted firmly on anything else besides Toshinori, until finally the curious do-gooder sighs and gives in, “And why not?” As the machine behind him sputters to a stop, he turns to carefully ferry the steaming drink over to the little table, settling in beside Shouta with another soft sigh.

Eraserhead glances up at All Might, and the older hero thinks he almost caught a trace of alarm in those tired eyes, before they face forward again, still reluctant to answer but not ignoring the question entirely. “I… don’t…” Aizawa grits his teeth a little and lets his eyes sink shut, a shallow furrow forming between his brows. “Look. There are a lot of ways I could answer that question, and they would all be true. I could say, I haven’t been home in fifteen years.” Opening his eyes once more, he stares blankly at the opposite wall. “I could say I already am home.” Then, finally, turning to Toshinori, he falters a little in his speech, “Or… that it would be inappropriate, for me to …continue.”

Toshinori meets the other’s eyes, the gears in his head whirring and slotting into place as he recalls the sore hostility with which Aizawa had always referred to ‘home,’ except for that one time he’d said it, when they were on the subway, referring to Yagi’s apartment. Only several minutes after the fact does it register that their ‘password’ had been uttered, and he snaps back to attention, his expression growing dark with a tender sadness. “You’re… homeless?” All Might’s heart practically breaks at the ashamed little nod from the man still cocooned in the faux protection of his sleeping bag. “Oh, Shouta… I…” Torn between pity, disbelief, his usual instinct to offer help, anger at the rest of the faculty for never doing so, and a slight pain that Aizawa had never confided in him with this, Yagi is caught once more at a loss for words, and can do no more than wrap one long arm back around the shorter man’s shoulders, an echo of that comforting gesture they’d built up over two weeks’ time, and sure enough, Shouta leans right in against him as though nothing had come between them. “I don’t understand… why? You get a paycheck just like the rest of us, don’t you?”

“Sure,” Eraserhead nods a little, “But it’s not that simple. You know how difficult it is to find a vacancy, you said yourself it was either a miracle or a murder that freed up your place across from Mrs. Ogawa.” He chuckles softly, fully aware that Toshinori had explicitly stated no such thing, but the implication had not gone unnoticed. “All of the places I found were either cheap little holes-in-the-wall, too far on the outskirts of town to be able to commute here, or they required too much paperwork and identification and direct deposits for someone living off the grid. Or they were flat-out too expensive to afford on my own, and I didn’t have anyone to split with. Mic was already paired up with Midnight, and… well.” He shrugs a little, the gesture odd when concealed in that bulky sleeping bag, “I don’t really trust others easily. You may have noticed.”

Toshinori laughs sadly and teases a playful squeeze around those padded shoulders, “Isn’t that the understatement of the century.” He pulls his arm free and takes a sip of his tea, then stands and brings it back to the counter to fasten a lid over the top. Then, standing expectantly by the door, he juts his chin and a thumb out toward the hallway, “Well? Let’s go, then. Grab your bag.”

“Go where.” Already unzipping himself from the sleeping bag, Shouta stretches stiffly and ruffles his hair into place, then clambers out of the bag with a curious glance back at Toshinori.

Yagi breaks into that sunny grin once more, his eyes weary but still welcoming as he holds the door open for Aizawa, responding simply, “Home.”

Chapter 20

#erasermight #bnha fic #begt #behind every great teacher #my writing

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dancekickboxcardio · 6 years ago

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Yay 😃 🎊, I made it through the end of the week calendar 🗓 and I discovered 🧐 Economist 🎧 podcasts.

What I am saying is in academics everything is cumulative and progressive 〽️. If you don’t keep up it’s hard to jump back in and finish. I am going at a snail 🐌 pace which is ok. There are other things going on in my life. The most important ⚠️ part is I don’t lose sight. Little bits everyday helps although I would really love 💕 it if I can put more studying ✍🏾 time in. In contrast, gym 🏃🏼‍♀️ 💪🏾 life is a hustle and bustle. Many people recognize that I am always there. I am always showing up. I am present. When most people don’t have that strength to be there I am. I always put things in perspective. I love 💕 my conversation 💬 with Mariah yesterday. She told me I live in the health club. Mmmmhm. She also mentioned that I should have my own class. I chuckled 🤭 and really adamantly said no. You should notice that summer ☀️ 🕶 I am like the Donatello Versace is the outdoor pool 🏊🏻‍♀️. Yes, my bronze is coming off ☹️. I mean fitness if my way of life. I have a reason to being there day in and day out. I told her a simple truth. I have tons to work on and Vanna Whiting my body. Basically, being fit 💪🏾 is significant. I am not going to elucidate why I do what I do what are you like the shrink. What I am going to say is if you don’t take care of your wellness and physical condition you are going to suffer. Healthcare 🥼 costs 💲💲💲 💲💲💲💲are not cheap. In one visit with a deductible I get a $300 medical 🏥 bill. What if I need to be seen more often. It piles up. I mean how many earners can say that they have more than enough money to cover basic expenses 🧾 and have some savings left. I am so unknowing in needing to keep tabs of my earnings and bills because for both, I have none. Everything is taken care for me. That’s why when my sister insist I save, for what? Keep my spending 💵 which is a disposable income of my parents? I know who has that?

I allowed Apple to track my data 📊📈📉. Yes, I am aware that they are going to make a profit. However, that being my area of studies 👓 in graduate 👩🏼‍🎓 school 🏫, I am happy 😃 to participate. I get excited 😆 about making sense of data and really it is for innovation, research and development and better user experience. It helps customers be smart buyers and anticipate their needs. Of course, the market benefits in finding like niches.

I am an extra gal 👩🏼. I ran into this guy who wants to use the wall where I was cooling down 🙆🏼‍♀️. I pointed out that there is a free wall on the otherside and he insisted. Ugh 😑, respect for the elderly and not ageism. I spoke my mind and allowed my heart ❤️ some place for compassion. He said I should put my stuff in the locker 🔐. I said, “I am not here for 30 minutes like in the JCC.” I have the ability to do more and have more and really be loose with how I live my life. I don’t have the constraints that other people have like social status, religiosity, student loans, etc. Bohemia. Gawd, I hope 🤞🏾 I don’t turn like that Silicon Valley executive star up guy on the movies 🎥. Heck, to work in tech 👩🏼‍💻 is to put in long hours of your life in the company and that means a lot of wellness, health, stress, enjoyment, leisure pods. You get to be kids with technical 🔣🔡🔢 expertise. I want to get a calendar 📆 that fits on my fitness binder 📁 so I can put what exactly I worked on and see a monthly desktop view. Like that screenshot is helpful. I wondered 🤔 what I did Monday I have no huge time graph. Ah, I had an appointment with Laura. I was doing cardio ♥️ and I had to institute the changes I received from personal training with her. I was complaining about hip joint pain 😖. She explained that she is not a physical therapist and I explained to her my treadmill work out 🏃🏼‍♀️ she said not to hold on the grab bars and speed down, more incline. I can tell you, I have none of the pain I had mentioned. I will tell you this however that it’s my back thighs 🦵🏾 that’s taking in a lot of the work. Yes, you want that. But I get so sore and I am so tired 😓 yesterday doing leg 🦵🏾 exercises and I had to attend Angie’s Dance 💃🏼 Jams which by the way I realized is a great exercise. Yes, she’ll give you your money’s worth and she’s going to make you feel good about yourself, happy 😃 and you partied 🎉.

I couldn’t take a better selfie 🤳🏾 and that’s ok. I still have my sweat 💦 sparklies and Laura was explaining and Lindsey too that perhaps that’s what’s making my face feel irritation. I talked to operations because I bumped into them, new towels and soap 🧼. I also noticed that it wasn’t the same evening. I had to trial and error ⭕️❌it something that I picked up in working in the nursing field and really I am pretty scientific 🔬. However, it’s that trouble shooting algorithmic thinking 💭 I learned as coding is a great part of what I will need to know and do. Many where enjoying the holiday 🎁 🎄 displays and taking pictures. I didn’t feel weirder out to steal that selfie 🤳🏾.

I want a calendar 🗓 because I want to know exactly what I did that day. I mean here, I recount what goes on in my pretty 😍 head. It’s a great writing 🖊 exercise. It also makes your life more romanced 💕 and meaningful because who here in their busy lives with many demands specifically financially 💵 have that time of the day to examine what’s going on.

Monday: I had my last complimentary training 👟 with Laura. It was high intensity.

Tuesday: I am sore. Active Recovery.

Wednesday: Moderate. I must make it through the week.

Thursday: I almost made it. Moderate. I exchanged ideas 💡 with Contata and made plain that I should really conserve energy to make it through the 5 consecutive days training. It is pretty tough on your bod.

I would like to see that overall view of what I worked on not like in details 📝 what I did and what’s my weight training 🏋🏼‍♀️ focus. Something not necessary but nice to have. I don’t have to be like everybody else because I can.

I should make my food 🥘 👩🏼‍🍳. Yup, I need to make grocery 🛒 list. I need honey 🍯 for my tea 🍵.

Friendly reminder, it’s Christmas 🌟, it’s crook season.

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koenigsolution · 6 years ago

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A Complete Guide for MCSA Certification

MCSA stands for Microsoft Certified Solutions Associate. It is kind of IT certification that is meant for the web/software developers and the IT professionals, who want to get a job on the basis of their skills and competency in Microsoft technology. Further, the MCSA windows-server 2016 certification is a first step taken by software professional towards being an MCSE or Microsoft Certified Solutions Expert. MCSA is a qualification that you require to be a computer network specialist, or a network/computer system administrator. All IT professionals who have the tasks related to the designing and building of the IT solutions, which use the various Microsoft technologies should have this certification. The technologies include the Windows Server, Windows, Linux, SQL, Microsoft Dynamics, and Exchange Server among others. The IT certification can easily get you and IT job in any of the Fortune 500 companies.

The MCSA certification training and program inculcates within you all the skills that are needed for running and managing a new-age data centre. You also get expertise in systems management, identity management, storage, virtualization, and networking. It will get you jobs like Computer Systems Administrator, Network Engineer or the Computer Network Specialist. MCSA certification qualifies you for other certifications as well, and these include:

MCSE or Microsoft Certified Systems Engineer

MCSD or Microsoft Certified Solutions Developer

MCPS or Microsoft Certified Product Specialist

MCT or Microsoft Certified Trainer

MCSA 2016 certification replaces the older Microsoft Certified Systems Administrator course and certification. You as a student can select from a number of specialty areas while learning the new MCSA course. These include:

MCSA Windows Server 2016

MCSA Windows server 2012

Windows 10

MCSA SQL Server 2016

MCSA SQL Server 2012/2014

MCSA Office 365

MCSA Linux on Azure

MCSA: Cloud Platform

Qualifications/Experience/Knowledge

If you know computer basics, the Windows operating system, and networking, you can begin learning MCSA. For joining and learning MCSA, you need to have knowledge about computer basics. You can also qualify for joining the course by processing the MTA certification .

Fee for Studying MCSA

The combined fee for appearing for all the 3 MCSA course is around $450 ($150 for each exam), and this can be termed as the MCSA certification cost . The courseware and study material can cost around $376.

Exam Schedules for MCSA Certification

In order to pass the MCSA exam successfully, you need to pass 3 exams. You are awarded the certification of Microsoft Certified Professional when you clear the first 1st exam of the series. A brief description of the MCSA 3-tier exam is given below.

70-410– The 1st examination paper: Concerned with the installation and the configuration of the Windows server. A candidate can appear for the other 2 papers when he or she clears this one. This paper also has questions on Hyper-V, administration, and installation of the active directory, creation, and management of the Group policy. It also deals with the various server roles and features.

70-411– The 2nd examination paper: Concerned with the administration of the Windows server. Topics covered under this paper include DCS or Data Collector Sets, WDS or Windows Deployment Services, implementation of the patch management, and the monitoring of the virtual machines and configuring alerts, among others.

Further, the 2nd paper also covers configuration and installation of the DFS namespaces, scheduling the replications, creation of the clone or copied databases, procedures for unlocking of the network, management of the various Bit locker policies, and the settings related to remote differential compression.

70-412– The 3rd examination: Concerned with the configuration of the advanced Windows server. The last exam of the 3 exams series is also the hardest and toughest one. Other than the theoretical aspects of the syllabus, questions in the 3rdtest can also relate to the practical skills attained by the candidate while learning the course.

The 3rd exam asks questions on the configuration and the management of the high availability servers by using the Network Load Balancing procedure, the movement of the virtual machines and the clustering of the failovers. Topics also include optimization of the storage capacity by using the iSCSI target/initiator, the fault tolerance techniques, using backup for recovering from the disasters, and configuration and management of the NFS (Network File System) data store.

Why MCSA For Your Career

MCSA can serve as the foundation stone of your IT career. It helps you gain skills and knowledge that is required to perform several critical tasks related to the modern IT and their inherent responsibilities. MCSA can benefit your career path in the following ways:

Widely recognized. Helps you gain good salary and promotions in a number of leading organizations.

A clear and well-defined career path.

A sustainable career in IT.

Apart from professional benefits, the MCSA course also helps you achieve academic excellence while bringing in the academic responsibilities.

Validates your skill set, helps you focus more on the specific job responsibilities.

Helps you gain more certifications.

Work and show your skills on the core Microsoft platform.

Helps you reduce the business costs and IT costs.

Helps you to best use the servers.

Helps you implement the business continuity and makes you an expert in disaster recovery

Also Read:- Career Opportunities & Scope After Doing MCSA Certification

The Objectives of the MCSA Course

The MCSA course and certifications has objectives relating to the running of the windows servers. At the end of the certification course you will:

Learn about the installation and configuration of the Microsoft Windows Server

Learn about the deployment and the administration of the server

Gain more proficiency in the configuring of the more advanced Windows servers

Design the various network infrastructure protocols and implement them wisely

How to prepare for MCSA Certification

While you need to process certain basic knowledge for joining the course, for preparing for the 3 papers you have various methods available.

Training through instructors: You can get trained towards the certification at a “Microsoft” training centre. Here trainers who possess the “Microsoft Certified Trainer” certificate will give you both practical and theoretical course information so that you can easily accumulate the required skills. You stand to gain from the exceptional expertise of the passionate and experienced teachers and trainers. You will be able to exploit your own potential fully and comprehensively when you join this training program.

Self-Training: Microsoft has its own website by the name “Microsoft Virtual Academy”.

Book Study: The Microsoft Press Store sells the books for the 3 exams viz. 70-410, 70-411 and 70-412. These books are in the form of e-books. You can also get the hard book of the same content.

Other than the above-given ways, you can also study for the exam by accessing the “Born to Learn” official forum and the Microsoft virtual academy. Here you can find the sample test papers, information, and resources that will help you study for the exam easily. Microsoft TechNet is another platform that can be useful for the candidates.

Related Blog:- MCSA Interview Questions and Answers

MCSA Salary

An MCSA can easily get a salary above $80,000 easily after attaining 10 years of experience. Those with lesser experience work at a salary of around $50,000. MCSA is also the first step that you take to attain the next Microsoft technology certification in the line, which is MCSE or Microsoft Certified Systems Engineer . An MCSE gets a salary of around $94,000 or above.

Below are some jobs that you can get after having the MCSA certification and the salaries that are offered to these professionals.

IT (information Technology) Manager- $76,036

Senior Systems Administrator- $81,187

Network Administrator- $56, 441

Network Engineer- $67, 390

IT (Information Technology) Director- $92,670

Senior Systems Engineer- $91, 328

Systems Administrator- $63,404

The MCSA course imparts you solid and comprehensive foundation knowledge so that you can carry with expertise on the career path of computer support expert and specialist. 100% of the recruitment managers and experts find MCSA a useful certification, and more than 91% of them give preference to those who possess it during recruitment.

Growth in Demand in the Coming Years

Studies and surveys indicate that the demand for the MCSA IT professionals will continue to increase in the coming time, and will increase at a rate of 18% each year till the year 2020. This growth will be primarily driven by the companies who create, expand or upgrade their IT department. Other than this, there is also an increase in the demand for the health care services, and this will indirectly fuel the demand for the IT and MCSA professionals.

All Microsoft certifications are validations of your expertise and skills in the Microsoft technology. The certified professionals also get access to a plethora of community resources, and can also join the Microsoft community where they can add more skills and knowledge, communicate with their peers towards exchanging information, and also get number of career opportunities. Microsoft offers the most popular and highly successful server infrastructure, and anyone who wants to make a career in this area should opt for the MCSA course and certification instantly.

#mcsa #mcsacertification #mcsacourse #mcsatraining #mcsaexam #mtacertification

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fapangel · 8 years ago

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What's the reason why aircraft carriers have been doing consistently 31±2 knots ever since the Lexington class? Why not faster? Why not a bit slower (and cheaper)?

Simply put - because you want as much speed as possible in a carrier, and hydrodynamics cap that around 31±2 knots.

Taking off from a carrier is fucking hard - you’re trying to accomplish in 800-1000 feet what’s usually done from a runway at least four times, and more often six times that length. And that’s assuming you’re not the first guy in the deck spot, in which case you’ve got half that room to work with. The key here, is that the carrier’s forward speed is effectively added to the aircraft’s forward speed when it takes off from a carrier.

The speed at which an aircraft starts generating enough lift that it can take flight is called the “rotation speed;” so named because in a conventional (tail-dragger) gear configuration, when you hit this speed your tailwheel lifts off the runway as the wings begin to “carry” the aircraft’s weight, rather than the wheels. Most lighter aircraft will actually lift off the runway completely at this point without further control input, (depending on how they’re trimmed). Rotation speed is the velocity you need for a safe take-off, basically. It’s not the minimum speed required to actually fly - that’d be the stall speed (specifically, stall speed with your flaps out), and that distinction is quantified and observed. Now check the v-speeds for the Cessna 182; specifically Vso (stall speed in landing configuration, with flaps out,) versus Vs, (normal “clean” stall speed,) and Vr (rotation speed.) There’s not much difference, is there? But that narrow gap defines the distance between a safe take-off, and riding the razor’s edge of being a fireball tumbling down the runway. Cessna’s might not be fighter jets, but planes are planes and they all obey the same physics - compare the F-4 Phantom, which rotated around 150 knots and stalled around 135 - still a pretty narrow spread. (V-speeds are more complex for military aircraft, since their drag and dry/loaded weight vary far more than light civil craft - I used data for 40,000 pound loading from the Navy Manual; pages 11-13 and 11-36. If anyone has a proper v-speeds chart for the Phantom, please let me know.)

The margin between “take-off” and “fireworks show” was - and still is - pretty damn narrow. It’s not quite as bad now as it was in WWII, but other factors cropped up to mitigate against lowering carrier speeds any. I’ll explain.

In WWII the v-speed ranges were a lot closer to the Cessna end of the scale - a few knots speed difference mattered. Plus, you would stack aircraft up in a “deck spot,” lined up behind each other, roughly to the halfway point - thus you were effectively limited to only half your deck (400 feet or so) for acceleration. The Kaga, with her 27 knot speed, posed real problems for her flight crews, especially for the heavily-laden torpedo bombers. This is also why carriers would always (and still do) turn into the wind when launching, to get a few extra knots of effective “free airspeed” over their aircraft’s wings - or at the very least, avoid any subtraction of speed.

Another example of the narrow margins in play comes from this WWII USN training video on the use of aircraft catapults. As the video shows, they were especially important for the cheaper “jeep” carriers, which were smaller, cheaper, and significantly slower than fleet carriers, at only 20 knots. As the video’s example shows, aircraft are lined up for a traditional “fly-away” launch, until the CAG says “not enough wind, we’ll catapult.” For escort carriers, available wind alone could make the difference between a fly-away launch, or a mandatory cat launch. (Note that it was possible to do a “fly-away” launch from even a stationary fleet carrier if you had the whole deck to accelerate - but if you were launching one at a time anyway, it was far faster to have aircraft on deck rolled forward from a deck spot to be hooked up, rather than bringing them up the aft elevator one at a time. Similarly, combat loads matter here. An early-war USN steam cat could just barely put a Wildcat up from a stationary ship - I checked, for KCQ - but only with a light fuel load and a skinny pilot.)

As the jet age arrived and aircraft ballooned in size, weight, and power, catapults soon became mandatory for launching at all - and consequently they became much, much more powerful. The few knots speed difference no longer makes as much difference, it is true (though every knot of airspeed is still a welcome margin against disaster.) The reason carriers still maintain that 30ish knot top speed anyways is more an artifact of almost all CATOBAR supercarriers being American.

Consider: the Charles de Gaulle is a great comparison to late-war USN carriers because she displaces the same (45,000 or so, close to the Midway class,) and is CATOBAR (Catapult Take Off, But Arrested Recovery.) And her top speed is… 27 knots, because in the end, a three knot difference makes a big difference for the ship, in terms of required installed power, but not as much for flight operations, as the speed margins are wide enough now that three knots won’t wreck anything, and the catapults can be made a bit more powerful a lot easier than the ship can be made a bit faster. Now ship speed is a bit more significant for a ski-ramp carrier (Short-Take-Off, But Arrested Recovery) as their aircraft launch in the old-fashioned way with a ski-jump at the end to assist them a bit. However, even these ships are clocking in, as you say “slightly slower, for a lot cheaper,” like India’s under-construction Vikrant-class, at 28 knots. Ski-ramp carriers pay a price in aircraft payload already by dint of the launch system, so the payload lightening required to gain back that three-knot difference is fairly minuscule compared to what’s already sacrificed. In any case, it’s not worth the hojillions of dollars to install gorillions more horsepower in the ship required for another three knots.

And then you have the colossal super-carriers America builds - which do clock in at 30+ knots. The main reason for this is because they can. They not only have nuclear power - unlike gas-turbine ships like the Vikrant - but they also displace a staggering one hundred thousand tons, giving them truly obscene volume to work with internally. This is important - nuclear power scales up very well, but scales down rather poorly - what doesn’t make financial sense for the nuclear-powered, 45,000 ton de Gaulle makes plenty of sense for the Nimitz-class. Simply put, that 30+ knot top speed is just a lot more practical to achieve for a nuclear-powered supercarrier.

There’s also non-aviation related reasons to prefer a few extra knots speed, if you can afford it in your displacement. The most obvious one is anti-submarine warfare. Remember this clip from Behind Enemy Lines? To quote an actual Hornet pilot; “so he escapes, lands on the carrier, and limps into the ready room to change… and when he closes his locker door, hiding behind the door? The missile again!” This scene is what torpedo attacks are like in real life - instead of a 3,000 knot missile chasing a 900 knot plane, it’s a 46 knot torpedo chasing a 30 knot ship. A difference of a few knots can make a dramatic difference in how long it takes a torpedo to chase down a target and grape’em - which translates directly to effective range, since torpedoes only have so many minutes worth of fuel. (This is precisely why the exact top speeds of many ships are classified and expressed as “at least X knots-” like the Nimitz.) The margin also matters more for the USN because of the aircraft they operate, such as the E2-D Hawkeye, the Grumman C-2 Greyhound, and other turbo-prop support aircraft. And then there’s the issue of landing - the carrier’s forward speed is subtracted from the landing aircraft’s effective velocity as it approaches from behind, and that matters a lot when a carrier landing’s about as gentle as hitting a brick wall. Recall your kinetic energy equation: kinetic energy equals one-half the mass times velocity squared. Velocity is about four times more significant than the mass in determining how much energy the airframe is going to be jolted by when it comes to a very sudden stop; and that translates directly into overall strain on (and thus lifetime of) an airframe.

And as for faster, well! Everyone would prefer a faster ship - for the above reasons, (torpedo evasion especially) as well as the simple fact that a small increase in speed can mean a significant increase in distance covered over time (effectively, mobility of the ship in a strategic sense - even shipping lines prize a few knots extra speed because of how significantly it can shorten trips and thus make more money per ship, per day,) but ship speeds have capped out around 30 knots since WWII because of physics. The math on this is a complex topic and I don’t pretend to understand it, but suffice to say that above 30 knots or so, the energy input required for every additional knot of speed is increasing exponentially. Consider: the USS South Dakota made 27.8 knots, and displaced 35,000 tons. The USS Iowa was pretty much the same ship - armor and armament - but trucking at 32.5 knots… and displacing 45,000 tons. For 4.7 knots more speed, it took ten thousand more tons worth of installed power (from Dakota’s 97MW to Iowa’s 158MW worth, to be precise - more than half again the power.) The curve gets really steep, which is why 70+ years of technology development still hasn’t made a dent in this.

This relationship is why making a ship a “bit” slower makes it a lot more than just a “bit” cheaper - and it illustrates just how expensive carriers were in WWII, when that three or four knots were desperately needed for launching aircraft. 70+ years of tech development has impacted these trends, though.

[WARNING: ASK AN ACTUAL MERCHIE SAILOR IF YOU WANT SOLID INFO ON THE FOLLOWING, THESE ARE JUST MY GENERALIZED/VAUGE IMPRESSIONS]

For starters, the modern gas turbine is impressively light and efficient for the great power outputs they’re capable of, compared to old steam turbines - which, like nuclear reactors, always scaled up much better than down. For the same reason, steam turbines are still the go-to propulsion method for big ships like supercarriers - such as the Shitty Kitty class, conventional-powered USN supercarriers using steam turbines and displacing 80,000 tons. So there’s a “cutoff point” at a certain displacement where the steam plants become more cost/volume efficient, as displacement increases. For a desired power output, that is - remember that ship speed isn’t all you need power for, especially for carriers. This is likely why the Vikrant (40,000~ tons displacement) uses gas turbines, but the de Gaulle (also 40,000ish tons) uses a nuke plant - the de Gaulle has to power its catapults (with steam, from the nuke plant’s steam turbine) but the Vikrant doesn’t. It’s also the likely reason the planned 65,000 ton(ne, fucking metric) INS Vishal is planned to use nuclear power - it’ll need the extra electrical power for radars, electronics, jammers, etc; and most of all for a proposed electromagnetic catapult system.

And speaking of the de Gaulle again - let’s consider just how well nuclear “scales up.” One of the many things I learned touring the USS North Carolina recently was how the boilers take up much more room than the steam turbines themselves - most of the mass/volume is invested in creating that steam energy, not in harvesting it. One thing I learned really, really quickly trying to design new reactors in Children of a Dead Earth is that nuclear fuel is stupidly energy-dense - the limitation on a nuke plant’s output isn’t the size of the reactor vessel, but in how much equipment you can fit in to harness the heat it puts out (and get rid of the excess, which increases rapidly with total power output.) Thus there’s some really, really strict “minimums” in reactor design that are damn hard to work around - you need at least this much reactor to contain X amount of fuel without melting on the spot… but you only need that much reactor to produce as much heat energy as your linked systems can utilize (and/or dispose of.) This is why scaling down is hard and scaling up very easy. Compared to Ye Olden boiler fireboxes, a nuke plant is an insanely more compact heat source; to the point that the real engineering problem is getting rid of all the heat you can’t harness! Water has a very high specific heat (ability to absorb heat energy,) which is why most nuclear power plants are sited near water for the open-loop side of the cooling system… which means the entire ocean is basically a massive, free heat-sink for a nuke ship. And since most of the cost is in the reactor itself, this means that the more volume you’ve got available for boilers to harness that energy, the more energy you can generate for your already-fixed investment in the reactor.

And that’s why the 100,000 ton Nimitz class ships can charge around at 30+ knots, juice eleventy gigaflips of computers, radars, and jammers, and carry ninety planes, a hojillion bombs for them, and tons upon tons of fuel to juice up their own escorts - but for 40-45,000 ton ships like the de Gaulle the trade-offs are more “can you already nuclear?” and “how badly do you need catapults?”

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mechagalaxy · 5 years ago

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John T Mainer 28840: The Soft Quality of Mercy - Clan War 3357-B Division 2 Day 3

The Soft Quality of Mercy

Clan War 3357-B Division 2 Day 3

Humanity was a flexible term in Mecha Galaxy. Generally if you were at least semi-sentient, as in understood that shooting for fun and profit was the rightful application of the gods given gift of the ability to plug your brain directly into a niode matrix artificial sentient, then you were close enough. Paulzilla was a case in point. His cockpits were specially modified, the way you had to when you had to accommodate three quarter ton of lightning shooting dinosaur, but he won fame with both Star League (serious anti discrimination laws in the Star League) and the Bunnies (whose proclivity for humping anything that looked like it could breathe resulted in a few interesting genetic mixes of their own).

That being said, Paulzilla was not human in his needs. He saw the fear, the sad resignation to field expedients that were forced upon his clan when the Dragons won control of the only working plant in the whole battle zone. Dragons horde, that is what they do. Paul was only half dragon, how this came to pass is something his mother smiled a lot about but failed to explain, so didn't have the same hording tendencies. He also didn't need TP. There are advantages to being able to vaporize your leavings with bio-electric lightning, which offset the problems of application of twin ply paper by a being with six inch ferrite-crystal matrix claws capable of cutting armour with a casual swipe. He may not share the need, but that didn't mean he was blind to it.

Melissa had been interrogating pirates again. She did so more for her amusement than any real plan to use the intelligence provided, but it all went into the central database. Paulzilla had the patience of his reptilian ancestors, and the curiosity of his human ones. He searched for any mention of TP, and he found it. There had been several shipments diverted from the stores ordered for the local garrisons. There had been "losses to piracy" for shipments destined for the clearing houses the Mercenary Clans resupplied from. There had been movements of merchant ships, not affiliated with the warrior clans to this war world before the Clan war even started. No one used expensive star ships to move bulk cargo when the gates were almost free, and bore neither fuel nor maintenance costs. Nobody legal.

The flights for the merchant ships landed at a hundred different ports, some of whom had not enough traffic to warrant even a drop ship, let alone a fleet of them. Not enough cargo was offloaded at any of the destinations to justify the ship they came in on. Where was the cargo actually going? The flight profiles said the mass was only a few tonnes off. What weighed only a few tons and was worth smuggling?

All the ships passed over a single ridge, a played out niobium mine in the Asswipe hills. Bingo. There was sign of take off and landing of a hundred plus ships burned into the mountain peaks. Skidmarks, you can always tell by the skidmarks. The cache had been located.

Feeding the tactical data to his Clan Leader, Paul appended his suspicion. The missing supply of TP had been cached in the Asswipe hills. Was this worth diverting from the war for the mecha caches for?

Coming out of the field jakes with half a stack of reports from the Prince of Flowers Ministry of Barbarians (sure they put Mercenary Liaison commission on the stationary, but everyone knew how they referred to themselves) John swore softly. The long and flowery ministry reports had finally found a purpose. Laughing at him, Hendrik Smith took a handful of the reports and brushed passed his CO to head to the can himself.

"Forget to take the staples out before wiping boss?" Hendrik grinned.

John grunted and made and obscene gesture as he hobbled down the hallway towards his office. He had missed a staple, and damned if that didn't make the paperwork at the end of the job more dangerous. At least the ministry kept putting out reports so the Bunnies had something to wipe their taisl with during the Gorax plague shortage of toilet paper. How the hell is a robot plague causing TP shortages?

Coming into his office, his clan's AI the Mighty Beatrice sounded the soft chime for attention she had learned to use, since he started shooting the speakers when she sounded louder alarms.

[YOU ARE GOING TO WANT TO READ THIS, PROTOPLASMIC MEAT SACK. ONE OF YOUR OTHER PROTOPLASMIC MEAT SACKS FOUND SKID MARKS IN THE ASSWIPE MOUNTAINS. THIS IS SUPER URGENT AS YOU NON AI BEINGS CONTINUE TO LEAK THINGS. ARE YOU SURE YOU DON'T WANT TO JUST TRANSFER TO FULL AI AND STOP THIS ICKY BIOLOGY ALTOGEHTER Y/N. N? FINE. THEN READ PAULZILLA'S REPORT. YOU MIGHT NOT HAVE TO PULL STAPLES OUT OF YOUR EJECTION PORT ANYMORE]

John swore. It was better than the mecha cache, better than the Penner the Division 1 monsters were fighting for. Paulzilla had found a cache of toilet paper a few thousand tonnes worth!

It was just bad luck. Myth and Legends Team Banzai had set up a defensive base on Gluteus Maximus the taller of the two peaks of the Asswipe Mountains. From there they could keep the major approaches under observation and direct or indirect fire to interdict any approach. They had been planning to let the Spirit of Bunny commit to a charge on the mecha prize caches of the Silver cache site, and then hit them when they were committed, trusting that greed would keep the Bunnies pinned when the fire of Team Banzai couldn't, allowing them to hit and run, with the Bunnies unwilling to pursue and expose the prize cache.

Any other war, they would have been right. They had no idea they were blocking access to the last toilet paper in Mecha Galaxy.

The Bunnies came in, on the bounce, without any form of strategy beyond scream and leap. It was not pretty, but it was effective.

Don Lindley, Paulzilla, John and Christine Mainer all punched right up the middle and took the Team Banzai depot. Banzai fell back by the numbers and regrouped. Seeing the initial assault force oddly keep going down the back slop between Gluteus Maximus and Minimus into the crack, Team Banzai screamed "Banzai" and went to retake their base.

Alexander Nault led the charge in his Ignis, roaring defiance and raw plasma he engaged Mariea Lindley, a row of Ignis and Regis against Notas, Humbaba, Anubis and Boreas. Plasma roared from both sides and mecha ignited as they closed. Alexander's Regis scorred a brilliant critical as its Blue Dragon took out the ever dangerous Boreas of Mariea's wingman. Her central Humbaba replied with a matching critical kill, its flame wreathed launchers opening to blast out their own flames as hundreds of Sniper Rack missiles lived up to their name and sniped the Regis in return. Big Red, Mariea's Notas poured Flagere fire to burn through the Ignus as it closed to point blank range seeking to Wide Fork its own Jurrassic Blast. Mariea's Anubis showed how Wide Fork worked when it unleashed a load of Tandem Bombs to Ho Ho blow away the whole charging line in wide forking fury.

Team Banzai struck again and again, but the Bunnies held, taking casualties when Werewolf raged among them, and more when Daren Jackson struck, but even their best were not enough to move the Bunnies off Gluteus Maximus. When Bunnies want a piece of ass, they want it badly.

There is a strange protocol among mercenary soldiers. We are all clan, and at the end of the day, none of this is personal. Sure we will shoot you when your mecha is working, but once it falls, our recovery crew or yours will pull you out equally fast. You will get patched up at whatever aid station is closest, and we will feed you before we put you on a transport back to where your mecha has been put back together. It goes a bit further with the standing alliances, when two Dragon clans or AFF clash they will often rearmour and rearm the defeated machines and just have their head office deal with the paperwork later. One of those alliances was the Bouncing Blue Brotherhood. Myth and Legends and the Bunnies were founding members.

Alexander Nault found his mecha waiting for him after he got patched up, except for one. His front rank Spectre was missing. He was told it was being rearmed in the shielded bay and he should go check it out. Moving suspiciously, Alexander went to see the J-27 ammo truck had been parked in a shielded bay, a faraday cage powered up to block against any powered sensor. Inside, far from being armed, the missiles remaining in his shot lockers were being stripped out. What the hell!

He went to charge over and demand to know what was going on when he heard a whistle and looked up. Knockers McGuinty, cheif technician of the Spirit of Bunny was leaning down from the gantry at the ruff of the 110 Specter, and when Knockers leaned forward, it tended to stop conversaation and coherent thought. She had more frontal armament than a 400 level Penner.

"Hey sweety, come see what's in your bins. I think you'll be surprised!"

Alexander climbed up the stairs, curiosity replacing outrage. Finally he reached the top and beheld the wonder of wonders.

The 110 missile mechs ammo pods were stuffed full of several tons of soft premium two ply Craftsman Super Cushy Toilet Paper. Tears in his eyes, he reached out and squeezed a roll gently. It was real, it was soft, and there were tons of it.

He turned to Knockers McGuinty and gave a bow of gratitude. It can be a hard life being a mercenary in Mecha Galaxy, but it even mercenaries are not without humanity. There is sometimes in the heart of war, the soft quality of mercy. Two ply are all it takes to remind us that at the battles end, we stand together against the Gorax plague.

With trembling voice, Alexander renewed the promise of the Mercenary clans.

"When our battle is over, when the raid comes. We will have your back"

Knockers smiled and bowed in return, matching pledge for pledge

"And we will have yours. Luck in battle, warrior"

War continues, but so does humanity. The soft quality of mercy can still be found even in this Mecha Gallaxy.

John T Mainer 28840

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rlxtechoff · 3 years ago

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#IFTTT #Blogger

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comfsy · 5 years ago

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I’m In The Vulnerable Class for COVID-19. A Plea To Take This Virus Seriously.

A friend of mine recently texted me in a fury.

“Someone just posted on FB that we’re doing things to stop the virus only because it’s going to ‘hurt old people’s feelings’ if we don’t,” he said.

His mother has respiratory issues and thus falls into the “older person vulnerable to the new coronavirus” category, as do many others.

Like me.

And I can read.

So when I read tweets or posts about how it’s basically “just a flu” (false) that “only hurts the vulnerable,” it makes me worry for us as a society. If we can’t protect our most vulnerable, what are we doing?

Don’t panic. Doctors/ virologists I’m speaking to say 98% of people will be fine, even if they get Covid-19. They expect it will go around the world, but that most people who get it will be a little sick, then recover. The danger is to vulnerable people. Hospitals/ old age homes.

— Richard Engel (@RichardEngel) February 26, 2020

COVID-19: We Need to Consider Society As a Whole

I’ve received many reader emails about COVID-19 asking for my thoughts given that I am currently dealing with a cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) leak and an inflammatory immune condition that already predisposes me to a cytokine storm.

It’s been very surreal to see the news unfold at a time when I have been in quarantine of sorts (bedrest) for many, many months. Due to the CSF leak, I rely on family and friends for groceries and to make food as I cannot do so myself. For those who are chronically ill, the lack of independence for basic needs adds an extra layer of concern and need for care on a daily basis.

The discourse about Covid-19 seems to consist of differing responses from several distinct groups of people

First, the people who are well and who believe they’ll be unscathed. This “isn’t a big deal,” they say. “Why is the media making us panic?”

Second, those who are vulnerable like me, and who know they are at risk for significant complications if they contract the virus.

There are some people who live in between those two extremes, and while healthy themselves are nonetheless able to remember a series of subclasses whose lives legitimately depend on the collective to stay safe.

And then, there are others whose actions are downright dangerous for all of us. This includes NBA player Rudy Gobert. Per Hot Air’s report:

I doubt we’ll get a better case study during this nightmare of how a single person’s cavalier denialism about the threat from the disease can put entire industries at risk. This happened two days ago. Gobert apparently thought it was silly that the NBA had set a new rule requiring reporters to stay six feet away from players at all time. So, as a goof, he decided to touch all of their microphones after his Q&A ended.

After mocking COVID-19 precautions by touching a bunch of things — he then tested positive. And like any exponential virus, others are testing positive too.

Jazz star Donovan Mitchell has tested positive for the coronavirus, league sources tell ESPN. Jazz players privately say that Rudy Gobert had been careless in the locker room touching other players and their belongings. Now a Jazz teammate has tested positive.

— Adrian Wojnarowski (@wojespn) March 12, 2020

Ultimately, Engel isn’t wrong from a statistical perspective.

He’s also not the first or last person I’ve seen try to stem the panic by reminding people of the expandability of the vulnerable like me.

I’m writing this post as a plea to each person to put overall societal needs above individual desires until this virus peaks.

I am not a doctor, and the following is not medical advice. It is, however, a summary of what I’ve researched for my own safety given my immune system.

Disinformation and panic don’t help anyone, especially during a pandemic.

By now, you’re probably living under a rock if you don’t know what the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), the artist formerly known as 2019-nCoV until it was named COVID-19. People also refer to it as “coronavirus”, but since it’s one of many coronaviruses, I’m not going to do that here.

People also refer to it as the “Wuhan flu,” but since it’s actually not a flu virus and people are already erroneously comparing it to the flu, I’m going to stick to COVID-19 for this piece. (See below for my response to the the “it’s just the flu” people.)

COVID-19 is a called Novel Coronavirus because it’s a new disease for humans. The World Health Organization estimates a global death rate of 3.4%. While people around the world may have built up an immunity to the flu over time, the newness of the COVID-19 means no one had immunity when it first broke out. There’s no current way to cure it.

The fast spread of this virus has led to heavy amounts of disinformation and even outright conspiracy theories. I’ve argued with quite a few people online who suggest that this is “just like the flu,” or that “most people barely feel sick.” In an internet age where we are able to get fast data out of countries that are ahead of our curve here in North America, there is simply no excuse for not acting as swiftly as possible.

Panic isn’t useful.

Changing nothing in your life isn’t useful either – it’s actually outright dangerous right now.

In the middle lies being informed, prepared, and willing to think about society as a whole. Doing so lowers the burden on our health care systems, and buys a bit more time for treatments and research to happen. Reducing the number of people who are sick at once is the best way to keep our health system from being overwhelmed. And that in turn helps not just COVID-19 patients but also everyone else who must seek treatment in a hospital.

Two factors that make COVID-19 a big concern to everyone:

A medical system that is over capacity, where doctors will need to decide who coming in gets a ventilator, who gets a bed, and more – not just COVID-19 patients, but other vulnerable patients with chronic diseases. Data tracks at a 10% hospitalization rate in Italy, with those in critical condition needing 3-6 weeks for recovery. That is a very long strain on the system.

The lack of immunity to the disease worldwide means that there’s no ceiling on the amount of people who can get infected. Presently, cases of COVID-19 are doubling in only a few days’ time. Research labs and scientists around the world are racing to find a vaccine that works, but as of today there is simply mitigation, planning, and attempts at slowing down the progression.

Yes, the bulk of infections will be mild.

Those people will still transmit this highly contagious disease, though. And even if you’re fully asymptomatic, you can still spread this virus in the process as a vector.

Which is why acting now, even if you’re healthy, is critical.

This also means preparing without panic, being reasonable about what we need and don’t need without hoarding, and above all considering our roles as citizens in a collective. As Mark Manson said in a new post:

So, while staying home, from an individual risk perspective, seems unnecessary and an overreaction, from a systemic risk perspective, it’s the only prudent thing to do. The more people who go out and about, the faster this thing spreads, and the faster this thing spreads, the more the hospitals get flooded, and the more the hospitals get flooded, the more people die unnecessarily.

This chart put together today by the Institute of Disease Prevention shows the potential mitigation of COVID-19 for King and Snohomish counties in Washington State by taking precautions sooner rather than later.

Infections with and without social distancing COVID19, courtesy of the Institute for Disease Prevention

This virus is beyond containment worldwide, and acting swiftly but calmly is imperative.

Learning from Italy

Outside of mainland China, Italy now has the highest number of deaths in the world from COVID-19, the disease caused by the new coronavirus. And the country’s fatality rate from COVID-19—at 5%—is much higher than the global average of 3.4%.

Here's the last 8 days of US #covid19 testing mapped to Italy's numbers starting on 2/22. The trend looks awful similar. pic.twitter.com/zZ3ng396Jf

— Eli Pariser (@elipariser) March 11, 2020

Why is Italy’s death rate so high? Italy has conducted a substantial number of tests — more than 42,000 as of Saturday (March 7), according to Al Jazeera. But the size of the outbreak and the late adoption of containment measures combined with speed of spread meant that Lombardy and to a lesser extent other areas in Italy are unable to get back to a place of balance. The strain on the system is so bad that the Italian College of Anesthesia, Analgesia, Resuscitation and Intensive Care (SIAARTI) has shared guidelines (link is in Italian) for the criteria that doctors and nurses should follow in these extraordinary circumstances, likening them to the moral choices doctors face during wartime. They require doctors to allocate ICU access to the patients with the highest chance of therapeutic success. This may seem logical and even utilitarian, but it’s a devastating position to be in every day during an outbreak.

At the same time, an Italian doctor begged other countries to act now. Dr. Daniele Macchini posted (link is in Italian; English here) about what’s happening on the front lines of Italian’s coronavirus response, noting that each ventilator was like gold. He notes that there are no more specialist doctors, just doctors as a whole, a single team to try and stop the inflow of sick people. Italy does have a sizeable older population, but the case study of Dr Macchini and others on the front lines would be foolish to ignore.

The foregoing is not “media hype” but rather published testimony and guidelines from a country right in the middle of a substantial outbreak.

We need to think through the exponential growth of this disease, and we don’t seem to be doing so on a systemic level. The way exponential growth works is that seems tolerable until suddenly it’s an avalanche – and then it’s often too late.

Let’s try to avoid the avalanche.

Risk Groups for COVID-19

Briefly, because we’ve all been bombarded with graphs these days, a note about mortality and risk groups.

The pre-existing conditions that are known to be a factor in worsening COVID-19 infections in patients:

Risk factors COVID-19 via NatGeo

The medical consensus is that those over 60 years old, and those with underlying health conditions are the most impacted by the disease.

For those who are chronically ill and/or fall into these categories, extra precaution is needed. What is also needed — as this post will keep saying over and over — is for everyone to take social reduction seriously, especially because of testing limitations in many countries but especially the United States.

In addition to the main pre-existing conditions listed above, immunocompromised patients are at higher risk for fatalities. And there are millions of immunocompromised people in America alone, a number which not only comprises those with immunodeficiency syndromes but also people with cancer – who are accounted for in the above chart – or who have been treated for it, people who have received transplants, people with HIV, and more.

Symptoms and mitigation when starting to feel sick

The symptoms of Covid-19 vary from case to case. From China’s data, the most common are:

fever

dry cough (majority of cases)

fatigue

mucus coughing up from the respiratory tract (called sputum)

If you have a fever and dry cough alone, advice from interviewed doctors is to get tested by calling your department of health – NOT by presenting to the ER or Urgent Care where you could potentially infect others.

Generally, contacting your department of health for your state, province, or territory is the best option.

For Americans: state department of health contact information here.

For Canadians, scroll down to the phone numbers of each provincial health department, here.

Where testing comes in

Data from Italy suggests that many cases went undetected and enabled community spread. This data is part of why it is extremely important to get testing capacity up to population numbers, and why containment in the USA is going to be a big problem.

As of March 11, 2020, it’s still difficult to get tested in the USA.

Several Legal Nomads readers have reported all the symptoms, a doctor’s request for testing in the USA, and still were told by the Department of Health in their state that they were not eligible.

Those readers did the smart thing and put themselves on self-quarantine, but what of the others who did not?

Based on exported cases to other countries, Italy may have had about 4000 #COVID19 cases by end of Feb, rather than the 1100 that were reported, suggesting about 70% of cases went undetected. More great analysis by @AshTuite and co https://t.co/CI4dENGlyr

— Adam Kucharski (@AdamJKucharski) March 6, 2020

Strain on the hospital system when catastrophe medicine is at play, especially in the USA

The facts for the US heath care system during this pandemic are not great.

According to the American Hospital Association, the US has 924,107 beds total, in the USA. On a per capita basis, as of 2017 that was 2.77 beds per 1000 people. For comparison, China’s 2017 per capita bed ratio was 4.05 beds per 1000 people. (See OECD heathcare stats here.)

Put simply, there are not enough hospital beds in the USA for an outbreak of the kind we’ve seen elsewhere, nor for the projection of hospitalizations – 4 to 8 million – that researchers estimate the United States will see. In fact, the US’ hospital beds per 1000 people is also smaller than the other main countries overwhelmed with an outbreak. In 2017, Italy is at 3.18, and South Korea at 12.27, both beds per 1000 people.

Moreover, with at-will employment in many states, little sick days, especially in jobs that are front-facing (service industry, food industry, etc), community spread is a valid concern.

And then there’s patients who are chronically ill and depend on medication and hospital needs even outside the “at-risk” aspect of COVID19. If the system is overwhelmed as we’ve seen happen elsewhere, deaths from pre-existing conditions that can’t get properly treated are more likely.

From a family friend, a doctor in Indiana who reviewed the Indiana State Department of Health Crisis Standard for Ventilator Allocation:

Here’s the problem: If we can’t find a way to slow the spread of this virus in the United States, the healthcare system will be faced with a surge of patients that may overcome available healthcare resources. Things like ventilators and ICU beds may be inadequate.

But most patients survive, right? The flu kills more people, right? Well, that’s again not the whole truth. Take a look at the news out of Italy. Hospitals are overrun at 200% capacity. They have ICU patients in operating rooms. They have run out of ventilators. Patients are being triaged into likely to survive or not likely to survive. The former receive a ventilator. The latter receive oxygen and medications to keep them comfortable as they die. That’s because this virus is capable of making people – especially older people and people with comorbid conditions – very very ill. None of us have immunity to this illness, and unlike flu none of us have been vaccinated against COVID-19. If this illness is allowed to spread unchecked, far too many patients will require care at the same time forcing doctors and hospitals to choose between patients who are likely to survive and those who are not – a process called ventilator allocation.

Oh come on, isn’t it just like the flu?

No.

For the love of all things holy, NO.

This isn’t the flu – it’s a different virus altogether. Scientists in Asia have described it as a cross between SARS and AIDS in terms of how it impacts the body.

It is more contagious than the flu.

It is more deadly than the flu.

Even assuming a global death rate of 1% (despite the current rate of 3.4-3.5% per the WHO), it would be 10x more deadly than the flu, which has a death rate of 0.1%.

COVID19 vs the flu, courtesy of Bloomberg.

The data from all around the world indicates a much higher mortality rate and a very different virus altogether from seasonal influenza. China’s datasets, as well as those from countries like Taiwan and Singapore where so far containment has been possible, have all provided us with information to help us see what’s coming.

And the success of our outcome depends on individual willingness to mitigate risk moment to moment.

So what can we do? Think collectively, not individually, to help flatten the curve of the epidemic.

“We are past the point of containment,” says @UWMedicine Dr. Helen Chu. “Now we need to keep the people who are vulnerable from getting sick.” #COVID19seattle @UWVirology @WADeptHealth WADeptHealth @KCPubHealth https://t.co/q4mvKarU2D

— UW Medicine Newsroom (@uwmnewsroom) March 6, 2020

For those who require hospitalization, they require the long term stays I mentioned earlier of ICU care for a period of 3-6 weeks. Italy thus far estimates that many COVID-19 patients need at least 4 weeks on mechanical ventilators.

That number would put hospital systems over capacity very quickly if we don’t flatten the curve on this virus.

via Vox news

This virus is going to affect your life. And you get to choose how you act to decide if you want to contribute to flattening the curve, or spiking it.

I sound like a broken record for social distancing because we know testing isn’t going to get everyone and thus if we want to have a bell curve more like South Korea versus like Italy, we need to start taking action on an individual level yesterday.

I realize not everyone has the privilege to work from home or to take all the measures I list below.

But doing the extent possible is extremely important from EVERYONE, in order to help ease the impact of this epidemic.

Fine, you’ve convinced me. Now how do I help stop the spread for COVID19?

Starting place: do not panic. Each of us thinks better and makes smarter decisions when we are not in cognitive overload. The earlier you take precautions, even if you’re not directly impacted yet by the virus, the better you can help lower the societal burden. Choose compassion for the societal burden over fear and distrust. I know it’s not easy, but as a collective we do depend on it. Worldwide data shows there’s no advantage to being a late mover here.

1. SOCIAL DISTANCING

Does your company let you work from home? Start doing so now.

Limit nonessential public gatherings.

Make small choices that can take out away from groups of people, even in quotidian activities. Refrain from museums, clubs, dancing, religious services, and more as this plays out. Crowded spots are prime dissemination spots.

What is a “public gathering”? Doctors I have spoken with define a public gathering as anything more than 6 people, but there doesn’t seem to be consensus overall as you can see with the number (5) below. Regardless of the actual numbers, social distancing is how we can have a hope at slowing the spread of COVID-19, and potentially mitigate its effects on the hospital system.

The same doctor who wrote about the — above, says:

This means not flying on a plane or taking a cruise or a train. This means cancelling your vacation. This means not going to gatherings of people. How many is too many people? To give you an idea, one of the health organizations I work for has banned meetings of more than 5 people. Most meetings are video or teleconferenced. So should you go to a crowded school event or a sporting event? NO! And school’s shouldn’t be so irresponsible to continue to offer such gatherings.

This also includes cancelling non-critical medical visits, to keep the hospitals and systems as clear as possible for the coming burden. Telemedicine has been available for a few years now, and this is definitely the time to avail yourself of it if you have the privilege to do so.

I’ve been telling people, “be St. Louis, not Philadelphia,” because in 1918, Philly held a huge parade during an influenza outbreak. In contrast, St. Louis cancelled all gatherings. As you can see from the chart below, the death toll was very different in those two cities.

There is a reason for canceling public gatherings. In a pandemic, don't be Philadelphia (held a parade in 1918 when cases started to come up, downplayed cases), be St. Louis (canceled gatherings). More here: https://t.co/KE7RYbxDGM @mlipsitch pic.twitter.com/wyrHx0nOLA

— Florian Krammer (@florian_krammer) March 6, 2020

It’s selfish to complain about “changing your plans” or making adjustments to social activity when the downside of doing nothing is systemic overload and catastrophe medicine. Again, this isn’t hype, this is simply a summary of what we’ve seen in other countries to date with medical systems that don’t have enough beds for contagion at this volume.

As Mark Manson says in a new post about COVID19 :

People like me don’t have the privilege to be out in the world safely right now, and nor do your parents and grandparents.

WASH YOUR HANDS. OFTEN. LONGER THAN YOU WANT TO.

The most important thing other than social distancing is to wash your hands, for 20 (long) seconds.

That’s a lot longer than most of us have been washing our hands. And we need to do it frequently. Before and after eating food. When returning home from outside. When in contact with anyone else. If there is a chance your unwashed fingers has the virus on them, you do not want that anywhere near you or your home.

Happy birthday sung twice is about the right length, so many people are singing that as they wash. Here’s a song generator from The Verge that can help you choose other options so you don’t hate birthdays by the end of this COVID19 pandemic.

Soap works very well on this virus, and it doesn’t need to be anti-bacterial soap. It just needs to be a looooong wash, because of the nature of the virus.

For the science behind why that is, see the thread below:

1/25 Part 1 – Why does soap work so well on the SARS-CoV-2, the coronavirus and indeed most viruses? Because it is a self-assembled nanoparticle in which the weakest link is the lipid (fatty) bilayer. A two part thread about soap, viruses and supramolecular chemistry #COVID19 pic.twitter.com/OCwqPjO5Ht

— Palli Thordarson (@PalliThordarson) March 8, 2020

If you cannot use soap and water because you’re away from access to it, alcohol-based hand sanitizer with over 60% alcohol content is a good stand in. When you do get access to water, though, soap and wash immediately.

STOP TOUCHING YOUR FACE

THIS IS SO HARD.

I’m not alone; a study from 2015 shows people touch their faces an average of 23 times per hour.

It’s very important though, and we have to keep avoiding it as much as possible. This includes the eyes, since ocular transmission has been one of the ways the virus is spread.

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Matt Shirley (@mattsurelee) on Mar 6, 2020 at 2:50pm PST

DISPOSABLE GLOVES IN CERTAIN SITUATIONS.

Wear gloves or nitrile or latex disposable gloves when in public spaces like buses, subways, and other areas where you will be touching areas that others have touched like pumping gas.

If you are in a social situation where you need to remove your gloves, do not touch your face or eyes, no matter how much something itches. And before you put gloves back on, wash your hands thoroughly with soap and warm water, scrubbing the fingers.

STAY 2m (6 FT) AWAY FROM SICK PEOPLE, AND TRY TO KEEP DISTANCE OF 1m (3 FT) GENERALLY WHEN OUTSIDE.

This means life changes that have irritated some people, but nonetheless are reasonable precautions during an outbreak like this.

And still, social distancing takes precedence.

If you’re going to dine out, get take-out food and bring it home instead. Sit outside if there’s a terrace, instead of staying inside a closed restaurant. Netflix instead of a movie theatre. You get the drill.

THIS MEANS NO HAND SHAKING OR CHEEK KISSING TO GREET PEOPLE.

Curtsy, arm pump, touch your feet together, it doesn’t matter as long as you’re not actually touching your hand or face to someone else’s hand or face.

AVOID PUBLIC TRANSPORTATION AS MUCH AS YOU CAN.

This likely doesn’t require an explanation, but is to avoid a cough, sneeze, or hand-to-hand contact that can put us in the danger zone for droplet splatter or air particles that can transmit the virus.

DOORKNOBS: LEARN TO CLEAN THEM OFTEN AND TRY NOT TO USE THEM IN PUBLIC.

I’m very limited here because of my CSF leak, but for those of you who can open and close doors using your elbows, hips, or shoulders: do it. If not, wear gloves to turn a doorknob, or wash your hands immediately after touching it. If someone does get sick in your household, wiping down your doorknobs is a good idea too.

The CDC has a list of cleaning recommendations for COVID-19 here.

WIPE DOWN YOUR CELL PHONE WHEN YOU RETURN HOME FROM OUTSIDE.

I use alcohol-wipes for this, small size, but the ones I bought are no longer available. A spray bottle with rubbing alcohol sprayed onto a wipe will usually suffice. Apple used to say not to clean phones this way, but due to COVID-19, Apple has changed its guidelines. The company now says you can use a wipe with 70% isopropyl alcohol or a Clorox wipe to clean your iPhones.

WHEN THE WEATHER ALLOWS, OPEN A WINDOW.

This virus cannot linger in a well-ventilated space, per this FP article, though it’s quite cold in much of North America still.

ON MASKS

There’s a lot of controversy about masks. If you do choose to use one, you need to don and doff them with gloves on, and then make sure you properly dispose of the gloves.

When the mask has been taken of, place it inside of a disposable container or bag, seal it, and put it in the trash.

From a March 12th piece by The Guardian, they recommend wearing them when caring for sick people and when around sick people:

Wearing a face mask is certainly not an iron-clad guarantee that you won’t get sick – viruses can also transmit through the eyes and tiny viral particles, known as aerosols, can penetrate masks.

However, masks are effective at capturing droplets, which is a main transmission route of coronavirus, and some studies have estimated a roughly fivefold protection versus no barrier alone (although others have found lower levels of effectiveness).

If you are likely to be in close contact with someone infected, a mask cuts the chance of the disease being passed on. If you’re showing symptoms of coronavirus, or have been diagnosed, wearing a mask can also protect others. So masks are crucial for health and social care workers looking after patients and are also recommended for family members who need to care for someone who is ill – ideally both the patient and carer should have a mask.

However, masks will probably make little difference if you’re just walking around town or taking a bus so there is no need to bulk-buy a huge supply.

If someone is coughing or sneezing it’s good to ask them to put on a mask to protect you.

DON’T FORGET TO STAY SOCIAL, EVEN INSIDE

I’ve been on bedrest now for close to two years, and with technology I’ve been able to keep myself sane and connected with friends. In times like this, where fear often takes over, it’s even more important to stay in touch with people you love even if you can’t see them.

An epidemic of loneliness is not what does the immune system good. These are three things that really helped me during bedrest and isolation the last few years:

Schedule nighttime calls with friends to calm you before bed.

Watch Netflix programmes together, pressing play at the same time.

Start meditations in groups where everyone meditates starting at the same time.

STOCK UP, RESPONSIBLY

Make a list of crucial medication and cold/pain relief medication and stock up for a month’s extra supply – or more if your insurance allows.

In Canada, most people I’ve spoken with have gotten 2 months extra prescription medication filled. In the USA, this will vary by state and insurance provider.

Other things to have in the house:

All-purpose cleaner

Hand soap

Dish soap

Rubbing alcohol in case you need to dilute it to make a spray.

Paper towels

Cold & flu medicine that you favour, if any.

Painkillers like Tylenol or Advil

Latex gloves or nitrile gloves to wear donning and doffing masks, or for use outside the home.

Toilet paper (for a few weeks extra not a panicked by of a monster load of toilet paper!)

Bleach or Lysol or Clorox Wipes for cleaning.

Toothpaste

Laundry detergent

Some non-perishables that are easy to have in case you want to minimize your food trips: rice, canned tuna or chicken, protein bars, popcorn, crackers, nutritious seeds like flax or chia, peanut butter, oats, cans of chickpeas and beans, and oils you use to cook with. Also some frozen veggies.

Don’t forget the pets! Stock up on pet food for an extra month.

The vulnerable are worthy of protection too.

Today, Norway now has a mandatory quarantine for all inbound travelers and cancelled all schools, all sporting events, and has a mandatory quarantine for people coming into the country from abroad.

In the USA and Canada, these large-scale domestic measures have not happened yet, though more and more cancellations are happening each day.

We know that the countries that have been most successful at lowering their overall death rate are the ones who take swift, aggressive measures quickly.

In South Korea, for example, nearly 20,000 people are being tested every day for the virus and labs are working 24/7 to get testing kits back. This morning, I heard a segment on NPR from a man there who tested positive despite his only symptom being a slight cough. In Seoul, the radio anchor reported drive through testing with results delivered via text in 5-6 hours.

We can see from Italy what happens when we don’t take a preemptive, wide-reaching approach. Let’s not squander the horrifying lesson they taught us. It’s clear that the US does not have the capacity to test at high levels like South Korea, meaning many people who are otherwise asymptomatic could be infecting the vulnerable classes in society.

It took me many days to write this article because I can only stand for small 20 minute increments to write it with my CSF leak. But it’s well worth the “up time” if it makes a few more people take COVID19 seriously.

Stay home.

Do what you can to protect the at risk population.

Change your schedule, your patterns, your habits to the maximum extent you can.

Just because I’m vulnerable to this virus doesn’t mean I’m less worthy of staying well.

COVID-19 Resources

COVID-19 by the numbers (WORLDWIDE) – Worldometers

COVID-19 by the numbers (USA ONLY, including cases per county so people can track the spread locally) – Infection2020

How to prepare reasonably without panic – Virology Down Under

WHO global data for COVID-19

How does the virus affect the body – National Geographic

Stay The Fuck Home (a succinct summary)

The post I’m In The Vulnerable Class for COVID-19. A Plea To Take This Virus Seriously. appeared first on Legal Nomads.

I’m In The Vulnerable Class for COVID-19. A Plea To Take This Virus Seriously. published first on https://takebreaktravel.tumblr.com/

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haveclotheswilltravel · 5 years ago

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Hotel Retlaw is a recently renovated luxury hotel in downtown Fond du Lac, Wisconsin with nearly 100 years of history. It first opened in 1923 with Walter Schroeder as its original owner. (The name of the hotel is Walter spelled backward!)

The recent renovation has updated the hotel for the modern traveler, but the hotel has kept much of its 1920s splendor with original tiles, ceilings and some of the light fixtures.

How beautiful is this lobby?

Hotel Retlaw has 121 rooms, a full-service spa, a farm-to-table restaurant, a bar, plus a cafe & wine bar…and its pet-friendly!

For current Hotel Retlaw room rates, click here.

Our Romantic Anniversary Staycation at Hotel Retlaw

My husband and I visited the hotel a couple of days ago to celebrate our wedding anniversary. We have been married for 7 years as of today! How crazy is that?

If you missed the post about our weird wedding day, click here.

7 whole years of wedded bliss today!

We tested out the spa for a couple’s massage, as well as a facial and scrub. We also did a little tour of the hotel, and then enjoyed dinner and drinks in the restaurant.

I’ll share our thoughts on each of these experiences below, and then give our overall opinion of the hotel at the end of the post.

Hotel Retlaw – Quintessence Spa Review of Services

Funny enough, we had gotten a couple’s massage the day after we married (so, almost exactly 7 years ago), and I HATED it. I haven’t had a massage since. (Unless my Russian banya experiences count?)

I’m not really sure what kind of massage I like as a result. So, for this experience, I chose the “Quintessence Signature Massage.” This massage combines Swedish, Reflexology, Deep Tissue, Heated Stones and Aromatherapy… so, you get a little bit of everything.

Couple’s Massage

After we changed into our robes, we were taken to a dimly lit room to relax and drink water and tea. It was really nice! Then our massage therapists came to introduce themselves and explain how a couple’s massage would work.

For a couple’s massage, it means you’ll each get to choose your own massage, but you’ll be in the same room together. My husband likes deep tissue massages, so he was able to have that, while I tried the signature massage. (Sorry, I left my camera in the locker room, and didn’t take photos of this portion.)

My husband really enjoyed his deep tissue massage. And I found out that I’m a big fan of stone massages. I had never had one before – and I don’t think I ever would have booked a stone massage. So, I’m glad I did this sampling of all the different massages!

We both loved our couple’s massage and would recommend it.

Facials

After our massages, we were taken to separate rooms to have our facials. I had opted for the Clear Skin facial and my husband tried the Men’s Performance facial.

My husband has never had a facial before, so he didn’t really know what to think of this experience. He said it was relaxing, and “they put a bunch of products on his face and took them off.”

For me, I would say this is the most relaxing facial I’ve ever had. I used to have horrible breakouts and did facials and skin peels on a regular basis. (I haven’t done this since we started moving abroad, though.) They generally included a lot of painful extractions and uncomfortable skin masks.

After this facial, my skin immediately looked brighter and healthier, and it still looks all nice and glowy today! There were a few extractions, but they weren’t too intense. There also wasn’t any “recovery” time after this facial for me. (My skin hasn’t started peeling or breaking out any worse than normal.) I might have to start getting facials again.

I loved my Clear Skin facial and will likely be getting them on a regular basis again, thanks to this experience. My husband is unsure of facials in general, though. He didn’t mind having it done but doesn’t think he’ll be going for another facial anytime soon.

Before I had all of my spa treatments… my skin looks WAY better now.

Body Scrub

We ended our spa experience with a relaxing body scrub. This was a light scrub, which honestly felt more like another massage. And then an application of lotion. It was super relaxing. My skin looks brighter, but unfortunately, it’s winter in Wisconsin, and you can’t really see the difference, as it’s buried under layers of warm clothing!

We both liked the body scrub, but I think this is something that would be great to do before a vacation or in the summer – when you can show off your glowy skin a little!

Hotel Retlaw Tour

For our hotel tour, Regional General Manager, Jason, and Sales Manager, Joe, showed us through the hotel and explained the different sections and renovations throughout the hotel. They were so kind and passionate about Hotel Retlaw and its success. (After our most recent hotel tour with a snarky sales manager – this was such a nice change of pace!)

You could also tell that the employees (everyone from housekeeping to waitresses and restaurant managers) were happy to be working here by the way they interacted with their General Manager. You could feel how great of a work environment it is!

Deluxe King Rooms

I loved how much thought went into the design of these rooms. From the TVs being built into the beds (to conserve wall space) to the low lighting under the beds, and the mix of modern and antique decor… this is not your average hotel room!

One-bedroom suites

I am beyond impressed by their one-bedroom suites. These are designed for someone who would be staying more longterm. (Although they can also be rented for short-term stays.) And as someone who has lived in rooms similar to this for years on end in both the US and abroad, I am here to tell you, I have never seen anything so nice and accommodating.

These rooms have a full kitchen… with a full-sized stove + oven and a full-sized fridge. (Normally, you don’t even get an oven in these types of room and the fridge is usually a mini-fridge.)

There is also an electric fireplace below the TV, a full-sized dishwasher… and there is a washer AND dryer in the room. I have never in all of our travels seen a room that comes with its own washer and dryer. I would gladly live in this room!

We were also given a look-see inside a suite that’s not quite ready for the public yet (they’re still putting the finishing touches on its furniture and decor), and it’s going to be phenomenal once it’s done! The bathroom already has this gorgeous tub in it… who wouldn’t want to soak in that?!

Meeting Rooms

My husband, as a frequent business traveler, was also impressed with how well-equipped Hotel Retlaw is for business travelers. (Usually, boutique hotels similar to this one are not as catered to business travelers.)

Wedding and Event Halls

There are also many different options for wedding venues here. The photos below are showing how a meeting room was transformed for an intimate wedding reception.

Click here for more info on having your wedding at Hotel Retlaw.

Then, there is also the elegant Crystal Ballroom. Perfect for a larger wedding (around 200 people). They were preparing the room for the New Year’s Eve celebration when we were there.

Crystal Ballroom

There is also the “Windsor Room” just across from the ballroom, which also offers access to an outdoor balcony. This would be great in the summer months. (But it can also come in handy for those who need some fresh air or for smokers.)

Windsor Room

The outdoor balcony!

And the grand hallway that leads to these rooms is below. How glamorous is that? The flooring, ceiling and light fixtures are all original!

Hotel Retlaw – Jazzmine’s Brasserie Restaurant

Our experience was topped off with drinks and dinner in Jazzmine’s Brasserie – Hotel Retlaw’s onsite restaurant.

The Drinks

My old fashioned.

Old Fashioned drinks are a pretty big deal in Wisconsin. And we are very picky and snooty about them! This one that I tried was slightly different than what I normally would drink… which is one made sour with whiskey. This Old Fashioned is sweet and made with blueberries and brandy. But it was SO good. Picky old fashioned drinkers won’t be disappointed ordering a drink here!

And my husband does not drink alcohol, so he thoroughly enjoyed the many unique mocktails that were on the menu. This one is made with beet juice and was very tasty.

Smoked Manhattan

If you’re looking for a truly unique drink, though, I recommend the Smoked Manhattan! This drink is quite the process to make… and includes a bit of entertainment, as you can see above.

Food

What we tried:

Charcuterie of Cured Meats

Forbidden Salad

Seafood Melange

Rixen Surf and Turf

The food was ALL fantastic. My husband is also a bit of a Charcuterie snob… and this charcuterie more than lived up to his standards too!

Click here to see the full dinner menu at Jazzmine’s.

Live piano music playing the entire night in Jazzmine’s Brasserie Restaurant.

The ambiance in Jazzmine’s is also fantastic. The decor is beautiful and there was a very talented live piano performance the entire time we dined here.

I also was beyond intrigued by the “fireplace” they had. It’s actually just a light reflecting on water vapors. It’s really cool, in my opinion!

If you are just looking to try some of the fun cocktails and not get a full meal, you can also hang out at The Lobby Bar. It’s located just outside the restaurant.

The Lobby Bar

Overall Impressions of Hotel Retlaw – Will We Return?

Absolutely! You don’t have to spend the night here to get the full experience either. This was a great way for us to celebrate our anniversary close to home, but feeling as though we traveled a world away.

Hotel Retlaw has all of the amenities and luxury of a big city hotel, without the huge price tag or attitude. Everyone who works here is “Wisconsin nice” and will make you feel right at home.

Hotel Retlaw also has a unique program called their “Hotel Retlaw Membership.” You pay a yearly fee (either for an individual or a couple), and can enjoy the benefits listed below.

Hotel Retlaw Membership perks:

15% savings in Jazzmine’s Brasserie

15% savings in the Lobby Bar, including afternoon high tea

15% savings in the Player’s Club Tavern – coming soon!

15% savings in the Espresso Café with complimentary Wi-Fi

15% savings on the luxury spa and hair salon services and products

Monthly complimentary mixers including art exhibits, book signings, and musical venues

Monthly interactive cooking luncheons with host guest chefs

Quarterly lifestyle seminars featuring select guest speakers

Annual member’s holiday party featuring live entertainment

Promotional hotel packages at preferred price points

I’ll be doing a followup blog post about the membership once I get a chance to try it out more. So, if you do decide to get a membership, you’ll likely run into me at the monthly mixers and luncheons!

Click here for more info on the Hotel Retlaw Membership package.

Whether you’re a business traveler looking for a centrally located hotel where you can work productively… or you are looking for a romantic night out with your significant other, Hotel Retlaw is a must-try place in Fond du Lac.

I’m happy to answer any questions anyone has about Hotel Retlaw in the comments section at the end of this blog post.

Click here for the Hotel Retlaw website, and click here to see Hotel Retlaw’s current room rates.

*Thank you to Hotel Retlaw for sponsoring this blog post. As always, all opinions are my own, and I am never compensated for a positive review.

*Disclosure: some of these links are affiliate links. Meaning, if you click a link and make a purchase, Have Clothes, Will Travel gets a very small commission at no extra cost to you. Thank you for supporting the brands that make this blog possible! I am also a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for us to earn fees by linking to Amazon.com and affiliated sites.

Hotel Retlaw – Full Review of Their Rooms, Spa & Restaurant Hotel Retlaw is a recently renovated luxury hotel in downtown Fond du Lac, Wisconsin with nearly 100 years of history.

#Fond du Lac #hotel #Hotel Retlaw #review #Wisconsin

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rdgpcg · 5 years ago

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He had a broad face and a little round belly

That shook when he laughed, like a bowl full of jelly.

This bit from Clement Clarke Moore’s famous yuletide work went through my head as I jogged down the main drag leading away from home and out of our development. Indeed, my over-fed belly felt as though it were a bowl full of jelly: Jog, jog, bounce, bounce with each step. I made a note to myself to dispose of the remaining holiday leftovers upon my return home.

Christmas has come and gone. The 2019 calendar has less than one week remaining. As another decade draws to a close, I can’t help but reach for something firm to hold on to lest I be whipped off into space as the velocity of this spinning, blue orb seems to be ever increasing. That said, 2019 was a pretty darn good year.

Perhaps I am speaking too soon or maybe I should wait another few days to publish this but it appears that, for the first time in about three years I’m going to make it through the year injury free! In fact, thanks to Vincera Institute and their amazing surgery and Dr. Lee Cohen I feel physically better as an athlete than probably any time since I started running some 10 years ago. Please note that I said injury free and not fat free. I complain about my added belly every fall but honestly I don’t mind that much. I stick to a pretty strict regimen of exercise and disciplined eating most of the year but loosen the reins toward fall when my interests turn to the deer woods, the holidays, and enjoying time with friends and family. I don’t add that many pounds but, like most men, it does always show up around the middle. When the belly starts challenging the will of the elastic in the band of my running shorts it is usually a good time to straighten up and get back on track food-wise.

Whoa . . where’d the story go? Story? Is there one or am I just rambling a bit? Oh, something about what a successful year 2019 was. It really was dammit. Granted part of remaining injury free was that I’ve become a bit less obsessed with racing in general and even less obsessed with being competitive when I do. Don’t get me wrong, it’s nice to get on the podium but how much cheap hardware and glassware does one really need? Despite skipping my last planned race of the year I think I raced more this year than the past couple combined. It was very nice to toe the line injury free if not necessarily in the best physical condition I’ve been in. I was happy with the overall results and that’s really all that matters. To recap some of the highlights . .

JDRTW5RAW10R

Running to the Rock

Diamond in the Rough

Steelman in August

These weren’t the only races I did but they were the noteworthy few I took time to scribble some thoughts about.

Reviewing Stava and Garmin, I was down on bike miles a bit this year but think I got a bit burned out over the last couple when it was all I thought I could do. In fact, as mentioned previously, I sold Rakita to a better owner. As in, an owner that would actually ride and race her. She deserves that. She has spent the last two years mostly on my trainer in the garage while I rode my shiny new gravel bike.

If you are a fellow statistics geek you are well aware of Strava and similar sites. You are also no doubt aware that if it isn’t on Strava it doesn’t count. But then who wouldn’t want their workouts posted on Strava? How else would we go about receiving accolades in the form of “Kudos” from complete strangers? And segments! Let’s not forget segments! For those unfamiliar, Strava Segments are used to inspire athletes to push a little harder for brief periods of time endangering themselves and the general public in hopes of becoming the reigning king or queen of a Strava segment. In fact the only thing more fun than being the sovereign leader of a Strava segment is creating and naming a segment. You can’t miss with these fun names:

Fat Man’s Doom

Hokey Cokey Pig and the Pokey

Uncle Pervy’s Secret Tickle Fight

And of course our local favorite that concludes our lunch time 5 miler The Happy Ending. You’d be surprised at the behavior of grown men in the locker room after stiff competition for the title of King of that segment. Hmmm. Nothing about this paragraph doesn’t sound obscene but I really am talking about running. Click the link! I promise . . it goes to Strava.

In fact, after personally witnessing the intensity with which people chase Strava segments, I created one of my one in hopes of inspiring local competition. It can be found here: Lawn Mowing Challenge,

Come tackle this exciting segment!

For the sake of consistency, I would provide the mower and gas. The segment has, surprisingly, been underutilized. The title of “King” is there for the taking. You may have to wait for spring at this point but the opportunity awaits!

Segments aside, Strava is a great place to compile exercise and fitness data. It interfaces to most commonly used devices and applications and also allows manual entry. At the year’s end it provides a great little summary of activity. I have to admit, despite knowing I am left far in the fitness dust by most of my Strava friends, the summary does provide a great feeling of accomplishment.

Strava gives you some fun stats.

It’s a bit more fun when broken down farther:

Distance by Sport

Time by Sport

Total Active Days

It is fun for me anyway to see how the year went fitness-wise. The most important thing still is it was injury free! Last year, as an example, due to surgery recovery followed by an unforeseen injury, I logged a total of 241 running miles.

Are you impressed? Bored? Sleeping? WAKE UP! Sorry, I got caught up in the pretty widgets Strava throws at me at year-end. I’m dreading looking at the same graph from my credit card company that tells me how much I spent on things like gas, groceries, etc.

With all this good health and good cheer you might ask what is in store for the new decade? Or you might ask “Is he still rambling on about running and stuff”? Either way the answer is plenty and yes. With cautious optimism I have decided to sign up in advance for a few events. Based on a long list of “Did Not Starts” and money out the window, I had given up on early registrations but then one loses out on the opportunity to partake and prices go up as events draw near. I’ve decided to bite the bullet and get in on early pricing on a few select events. The good news for you the reader is that you can look forward to curing potential insomnia by reading about:

The Love Run

The Unique Westtown Triathlon

The 1/2 Mary at the Jim Thorpe Running Festival

More to follow too and hopefully some other new and fun adventures. I know you can barely contain yourself with excitement for my diatribe on each of these things. Well, patience dear reader. The world is turning fast enough and they will be here soon enough. Until then I hope you have a happy and healthy new year!

2019 In a Nutshell He had a broad face and a little round belly That shook when he laughed, like a bowl full of jelly.

#Cycling #Fitness #Friends #Half-Marathon #Happiness #Healthy Living #Hunting #Injury #Life #Lifestyle #Marathon #Marathon Running #Obesity #Running #Sports #Swimming #Travel #Triathlon

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terabitweb · 6 years ago

Text

Original Post from McAfee Author: Alexandre Mundo

McAfee’s Advanced Threat Research Team observed how a new ransomware family named ‘Buran’ appeared in May 2019. Buran works as a RaaS model like other ransomware families such as REVil, GandCrab (now defunct), Phobos, etc. The author(s) take 25% of the income earned by affiliates, instead of the 30% – 40%, numbers from notorious malware families like GandCrab, and they are willing to negotiate that rate with anyone who can guarantee an impressive level of infection with Buran. They announced in their ads that all the affiliates will have a personal arrangement with them.

For this analysis we present, we will focus on one of the Buran hashes:

We will highlight the most important observations when researching the malware and will share protection rules for the endpoint, IOCs and a YARA rule to detect this malware.

Buran Ransomware Advertisement

This ransomware was announced in a well-known Russian forum with the following message:

Buran is a stable offline cryptoclocker, with flexible functionality and support 24/7.

Functional:

Reliable cryptographic algorithm using global and session keys + random file keys; Scan all local drives and all available network paths; High speed: a separate stream works for each disk and network path; Skipping Windows system directories and browser directories; Decryptor generation based on an encrypted file; Correct work on all OSs from Windows XP, Server 2003 to the latest; The locker has no dependencies, does not use third-party libraries, only mathematics and vinapi;

The completion of some processes to free open files (optional, negotiated); The ability to encrypt files without changing extensions (optional); Removing recovery points + cleaning logs on a dedicated server (optional); Standard options: tapping, startup, self-deletion (optional); Installed protection against launch in the CIS segment.

Conditions:

They are negotiated individually for each advert depending on volumes and material.

Start earning with us!

The announcement says that Buran is compatible with all versions of the Windows OS’s (but during our analysis we found how, in old systems like Windows XP, the analyzed version did not work) and Windows Server and, also, that they will not infect any region inside the CIS segment. Note: The CIS segment belongs to ten former Soviet Republics: Armenia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Moldova, Russia, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Ukraine, and Uzbekistan.

Rig Exploit Kit as an Entry Vector

Based upon the investigation we performed, as well as research by “nao_sec” highlighted in June 2019, we discovered how Buran ransomware was delivered through the Rig Exploit Kit. It is important to note how the Rig Exploit Kit is the preferred EK used to deliver the latest ransomware campaigns.

FIGURE 1. EXPLOIT KIT

The Rig Exploit Kit was using CVE-2018-8174 (Microsoft Internet Explorer VBScript Engine, Arbitrary Code Execution) to exploit in the client-side. After successful exploitation this vulnerability will deliver Buran ransomware in the system.

Static Analysis

The main packer and the malware were written in Delphi to make analysis of the sample more complicated. The malware sample is a 32-bit binary.

FIGURE 2. BURAN STATIC INFORMATION

In our analysis we detected two different versions of Buran, the second with improvements compared to the first one released.

FIGURE 3. BURAN STATIC INFORMATION

The goal of the packer is to decrypt the malware making a RunPE technique to run it from memory. To obtain a cleaner version of the sample we proceed to dump the malware from the memory, obtaining an unpacked version.

Country Protection

Checking locales has become quite popular in RaaS ransomware as authors want to ensure they do not encrypt data in certain countries. Normally we would expect to see more former CIS countries but, in this case, only three are verified.

FIGURE 4. GETTING THE COUNTRY OF THE VICTIM SYSTEM

This function gets the system country and compares it with 3 possible results:

0x7 -> RUSSIAN FEDERATION

0x177 -> BELARUS

0x17C -> UKRAINE

It is important to note here that the advertising of the malware in the forums said it does not affect CIS countries but, with there being 10 nations in the region, that is obviously not entirely accurate.

If the system is determined to be in the Russian Federation, Belarus or Ukraine the malware will finish with an “ExitProcess”.

The next action is to calculate a hash based on its own path and name in the machine. With the hash value of 32-bits it will make a concat with the extension “.buran”. Immediately after, it will create this file in the temp folder of the victim machine. Importantly, if the malware cannot create or write the file in the TEMP folder it will finish the execution; the check will be done extracting the date of the file.

FIGURE 5. BURAN CHECKS IN THE TEMP FOLDER

If the file exists after the check performed by the malware, the temporary file will be erased through the API “DeleteFileW”.

FIGURE 6. CHECK WHETHER A TEMP FILE CAN BE CREATED

This function can be used as a kill switch to avoid infection by Buran.

Buran ransomware could accept special arguments in execution. If it is executed without any special argument, it will create a copy of Buran with the name “ctfmon.exe” in the Microsoft APPDATA folder and will launch it using ShellExecute, with the verb as “runas”. This verb is not in the official Microsoft SDK but, if we follow the MSDN documentation to learn how it works, we can deduce that the program will ignore its own manifest and prompt the UAC to the user if the protection is enabled.

This behavior could change depending on the compilation options chosen by the authors and delivered to the affiliates.

According to the documentation, the function “CreateProcess” checks the manifest, however in Buran, this is avoided due to that function:

FIGURE 7. LAUNCH OF THE NEW INSTANCE OF ITSELF

Buran in execution will create a registry key in the Run subkey section pointing to the new instance of the ransomware with a suffix of ‘*’. The meaning of this value is that Buran will run in safe mode too:

FIGURE 8. PERSISTENCE IN THE RUN SUBKEY IN THE REGISTRY

The writing operation in the registry is done using the “reg” utility, using a one-liner and concatenating different options with the “&” symbol. This method through “reg.exe” avoids a breakpoint in the main binary.

FIGURE 9. WRITE OF PERSISTENCE IN THE REGISTRY

Buran implements this technique with the objective of making analysis of the sample complicated for malware analysts looking at reverse engineering profiles. After these operations, the old instance of the ransomware will die using “Exit Process”.

Analysis of the Delphi code show that the 2nd version of Buran will identify the victim using random values.

FIGURE 10. GENERATE RANDOM VALUES

After that it will decrypt a registry subkey called “SoftwareBuranKnock” in the HKEY_CURRENT_USER hive. For the mentioned key it will check the actual data of it and, if the key does not exist, it will add the value 0x29A (666) to it. Interestingly, we discovered that GandCrab used the same value to generate the ransom id of the victim. If the value and subkey exists the malware will continue in the normal flow; if not, it will decrypt a URL ,“iplogger.ru”, and make a connection to this domain using a special user agent:

FIGURE 11. SPECIAL USER AGENT BURAN

As mentioned, the referrer will be the victim identifier infected with Buran.

The result of this operation is the writing of the subkey previously checked with the value 0x29A, to avoid repeating the same operation.

After this action the malware will enumerate all network shares with the functions :

WNetOpenEnumA,

WNetEnumResourceA

WNetCloseEnum

This call is made in a recursive way, to get and save all discovered shared networks in a list. This process is necessary if Buran wants to encrypt all the network shares as an addition to the logical drives. Buran will avoid enumerating optical drives and other non-mounted volumes. The result of those operations will be saved for Buran to use later in the encryption process.

The ransom note is crypted inside the binary and will be dumped in execution to the victim’s machine. Inside this ransom note, the user will find their victim identifier extracted with the random Delphi function mentioned earlier. This identification is necessary to track their infected users to affiliates to deliver the decryptor after the payment is made.

In the analysis of Buran, we found how this ransomware blacklists certain files and folders. This is usually a mechanism to ensure that the ransomware does not break its functionality or performance.

Blacklisted folders in Buran:

Blacklisted files in Buran:

The encryption process will start with special folders in the system like the Desktop folder. Buran can use threads to encrypt files and during the process will encrypt the drive letters and folders grabbed before in the recognition process.

The ransom note will be written to disk with the name “!!! YOUR FILES ARE ENCRYPTED !!!” with the following content:

FIGURE 12. AN EXAMPLE RANSOM NOTE

Each file crypted is renamed to the same name as before but with the new extension of the random values too.

For example: “rsa.bin.4C516831-800A-6ED2-260F-2EAEDC4A8C45”.

All the files encrypted by Buran will contain a specific filemarker:

FIGURE 13. CRYPTED FILE

In terms of encryption performance, we found Buran slower compared to other RaaS families. According to the authors’ advertisement in the underground forums, they are continually improving their piece of ransomware.

Buran Version 1 vs Buran Version 2

In our research we identified two different versions of Buran. The main differences between them are:

Shadow copies delete process:

In the 2nd version of Buran one of the main things added is the deletion of the shadow copies using WMI.

Backup catalog deletion:

Another feature added in the new version is the backup catalog deletion. It is possible to use the Catalog Recovery Wizard to recover a local backup catalog.

System state backup deletion:

In the same line of system destruction, we observed how Buran deletes in execution the system state backup in the system:

Ping used as a sleep method:

As a poor anti-evasion technique, Buran will use ping through a ‘for loop’ in order to ensure the file deletion system.

The ransom note changed between versions:

VegaLocker, Jumper and Now Buran Ransomware

Despite the file marker used, based on the behavior, TTPs and artifacts in the system we could identify that Buran is an evolution of the Jumper ransomware. VegaLocker is the origin for this malware family.

Malware authors evolve their malware code to improve it and make it more professional. Trying to be stealthy to confuse security researchers and AV companies could be one reason for changing its name between revisions.

This is the timeline of this malware family:

Similarities in Behavior:

Files stored in the temp folder:

VegaLocker:

Jumper:

Buran:

Registry changes:

VegaLocker:

Buran:

Extension overlapping:

In one of the variants (Jumper) it is possible to spot some samples using both extensions:

.vega

.jamper

Shadow copies, backup catalog and systembackup:

In the analyzed samples we saw how VegaLocker used the same methods to delete the shadow copies, backup catalog and the systembackup.

Coverage

RDN/Ransom

Ransomware-GOS!E60E767E33AC

Ransom

RDN/Ransom

RDN/Generic.cf

Ransom-Buran!

Expert Rule:

Indicators of Compromise

MITRE

The sample uses the following MITRE ATT&CK techniques:

Disabling Security Tools

Email Collection

File and Directory Discovery

File Deletion

Hooking

Kernel Modules and Extensions

Masquerading

Modify Registry

Network Service Scanning

Peripheral Device Discovery

Process Injection

Query Registry

Registry Run Keys / Start Folder

Remote Desktop Protocol

Remote System Discovery

Service Execution

System Time Discovery

Windows Management Instrumentation

YARA Rule

We created a YARA rule to detect Buran ransomware samples and the rule is available in our GitHub repository

Conclusion

Buran represents an evolution of a well-known player in the ransomware landscape. VegaLocker had a history of infections in companies and end-users and the malware developers behind it are still working on new features, as well as new brands, as they continue to generate profits from those actions. We observed new versions of Buran with just a few months between them in terms of development, so we expect more variants from the authors in the future and, perhaps, more brand name changes if the security industry puts too much focus on them. We are observing an increase in ransomware families in 2019, as well as old players in the market releasing new versions based on their own creations.

For the binaries, all of them appeared with a custom packer and already came with interesting features to avoid detection or to ensure the user must pay due to the difficulty of retrieving the files. It mimics some features from the big players and we expect the inclusion of more features in future developments.

Buran is slower than other ransomware families we observed, and samples are coded in Delphi which makes reverse engineering difficult.

The post Buran Ransomware; the Evolution of VegaLocker appeared first on McAfee Blogs.

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Go to Source Author: Alexandre Mundo Buran Ransomware; the Evolution of VegaLocker Original Post from McAfee Author: Alexandre Mundo McAfee’s Advanced Threat Research Team observed how a new ransomware family named ‘Buran’ appeared in May 2019.

#McAfee Security

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