iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Vern McCandlish @malanalysis.bsky.social · 17/08/2026

Having to tear down and rebuild some systems this weekend...

Three Headed Derpy Dragon Meme titled: My 3 Phases of PC Building
First Dragon: Me Planning & Designing Systems
Second Dragon: Me Assembling & Configuring Systems
Third (derpy) Dragon: Me Doing Cable Management

Vern McCandlish @malanalysis.bsky.social · 25/06/2026

Felt like posting this section of the War Powers Act: 50 U.S. Code § 1544c Disclaimer: Yes, I know it requires Congress to demonstrate a spine if it is ignored.

Text of 50 U.S. Code § 1544c "Concurrent resolution for removal by President of United States Armed Forces
Notwithstanding subsection (b), at any time that United States Armed Forces are engaged in hostilities outside the territory of the United States, its possessions and territories without a declaration of war or specific statutory authorization, such forces shall be removed by the President if the Congress so directs by concurrent resolution."

000

Vern McCandlish @malanalysis.bsky.social · 18/06/2026

Name a TV show no one remembers but you. Far Out Space Nuts

Promo shot of the TV show Far Out Space Nuts starring Bob Denver as Junior and Chuck McCann as Barney, along with their fuzzy alien friend Honk.

030

Vern McCandlish @malanalysis.bsky.social · 18/06/2026

So they are going to make movies sourced from AI generated stories.

Woody and Buzz Lightyear from the movie Toy Story where Buzz is speaking and waving his hand out broadly while Woody looks worried. Captioned with "AI Stories on Reddit, They're Everywhere."

010

Vern McCandlish @malanalysis.bsky.social · 16/06/2026

They should have taken Abe Lincoln's advice and verified everything they find on the internet before relying on it.

Picture of Abraham Lincoln with the false quote "Don't believe everything you read on the internet just because there's a picture with a quote next to it."

032

Vern McCandlish @malanalysis.bsky.social · 06/06/2026

I would like to nominated this skeet for most underrated skeet of the day:

Screen shot of a series of skeets where the first person asks, "How many people know what kerning is, do you think? Lol.". That is quoted with the text "On Bluesky? All of us" to which Gwen Snyder replied "Oh you mean keming"

051

Vern McCandlish @malanalysis.bsky.social · 24/05/2026

Repost with the Russian agent that spies on your posts

Natasha Fatale, one of the villains from the Rocky and Bullwinkle cartoon.

030

Vern McCandlish @malanalysis.bsky.social · 22/02/2026

All the discussion from folks criticizing athletes on team USA for representing the USA reminded me of a quote by Mark Twain.

Mark Twain quote "Patriotism is supporting your country all the time, and your government when it deserves it." Written in white text over an image of open water.

000

Vern McCandlish @malanalysis.bsky.social · 18/02/2026

The political discourse today reminded me of this wonderful scene from season 2 of Fallout:

The main character in the Fallout series, Lucy, is in frame with a kitchen counter behind her. There are two frames. In the top frame she is quoted as "One side is murdering people, enslaving them, crucifying them," and in the second frame she is quotes as "and the other side is vaguely problematic."

020

Vern McCandlish @malanalysis.bsky.social · 03/01/2026

I am a horrible Bill's Fan. Wegman's now has a reusable grocery bag with Josh Allen's picture on it. I saw it while shopping today and my brain instantly created images of the cashier always dropping the last item they try to put into it. I may have an idea for a TT skit now too.

Picture of a reusable grocery bag for sale at Wegman's featuring Josh Allen in a Bills Uniform, carrying a football while running and looking to pass.

010

Vern McCandlish @malanalysis.bsky.social · 01/01/2026

Reminder for the younger folks: "The bottom of the hour" indicates where the big hand is on you grand parents' old analog clock, and it is pointing to the bottom of the clock face. "Bottom of the hour" can also be described as "Half past" by the older folks in casual conversation.

Analog clock showing the little hand between the 10 and the 11 and the big hand pointing down at the 6 (aka the bottom of the hour or half past the hour)

030

Vern McCandlish @malanalysis.bsky.social · 01/01/2026

By hex code I got this for this year. I guess if I went with ISO 8601 it would have shaded more yellow.

A visual display of the color code chart with the color selected as #012026 which is a dark blue-teal.

110

Vern McCandlish @malanalysis.bsky.social · 01/01/2026

I am going to keep putting in the effort, but this was already the plan:

Screen shot of Merriam-Webster's post "Take a screen shot of this GIF, and whichever new work you land on is YOUR word for 2026." with the GIF having landed on "Kind-Hearted"

130

Vern McCandlish @malanalysis.bsky.social · 26/12/2025

I don't make many predictions, but I think here is a slow pitch directly over the plate... As more companies turn to using AI generated code, criminal hackers and digital incident responders will be overwhelmed with work. #infosecmemes #dfirmemes

Epic handshake meme with the joined trait being "AI Code making career opportunities" and the two arms being labeled "DFIR Professional" and "Criminal Hackers"

1132

Vern McCandlish @malanalysis.bsky.social · 07/12/2025

This story reminded me I need to reread Andy Greenberg's @agreenberg.bsky.social excellent book "Tracers in the Dark". andygreenberg.net

Photo of the book cover for Tracers in the dark: The global hunt for crime lords of cryptocurrency by Andy Greenberg.

031

Vern McCandlish @malanalysis.bsky.social · 07/12/2025

Reminder that when building your own VPN server, the following diagram applies: #infosecmemes

Image caption at top "Limit: Pick no more than two"
Image is of a black and white triangle with the center labeled "Building a personal VPN Server" and the three corners being labeled "Works as designed" "Easy" and "Safe"

151

Vern McCandlish @malanalysis.bsky.social · 27/11/2025

It's a holiday, time to break out the new shoes.

000

Vern McCandlish @malanalysis.bsky.social · 21/11/2025

A takeaway from reading @doublepulsar.com write up on the Capita Ransomware Incident is that SOCs need to engage internal counsel when setting response SLAs. Re: £14m (~$18m) Fine imposed by governing body. #infosec #dfir doublepulsar.com/what-organis...

Screenshot from blog entry with the text:
Capita challenged this element of the fine, saying its internal SOC SLA targets are not within the ICOs remit to judge. It said it had set the targets high to encourage teams to meet them. The ICO disagreed it isn’t in their remit, and it marks the primary finding by the ICO regarding the fine.

010

Vern McCandlish @malanalysis.bsky.social · 18/11/2025

They way I roll my eyes and sometimes even sigh out loud when I hear someone start a question with "This is more of a comment than a question..." but I have yet to see a host shut it down.

Runaway balloon meme with the character labeled Host reaching for the balloon labeled Q&A in the first frame, but in the second frame you see the host being hugged by a blob with a face labeled "More of a comment than a question.

010

Vern McCandlish @malanalysis.bsky.social · 10/11/2025

I had a mentee tell me that they got a job that they didn't hit all the bullet points on so they had not intended to apply, but they remembered my mantra of "Apply anyway, let them say no" So please, if you have doubts about whether you hit all the bullet points in a job posting, apply anyway.

Yoda looking to some to his right giving the advice "Apply always, "No" let them say"

120

Vern McCandlish @malanalysis.bsky.social · 09/11/2025

Yeah, I likely should have done this a while ago, but better late than never.

Screen shot of the mute words and tags page of Bluesky with the word Axios being added with the radio buttons for "Forever" and "Text & tags" checked, indicating the term Axios is being muted in a user's Bluesky feeds forever.

010

Vern McCandlish @malanalysis.bsky.social · 08/11/2025

I saw it again this morning, but the most preventable form of professional immaturity has to be hiring an expert in a field you know little about and then arguing with them when their advice isn't want you wanted to hear.

Dale Gribble character from King of the Hill holding a lit cigarette standing in front of a fence with a house and trees in background captioned: I know I hired you for expertise, but...

010

Vern McCandlish @malanalysis.bsky.social · 06/11/2025

Every time I get amazed at the skill of the red team and/or pen testers, I am also reminded that this is way more common that anyone really wants to think about. #Infosec

Since the heist, information has resurfaced showing that gaps in security appear to have been known for years – including a 2014 warning that alleged one of the museum’s key passwords was simply “LOUVRE.” The new report only adds to a number of security failings exposed by the heist.

130

Vern McCandlish @malanalysis.bsky.social · 17/10/2025

My employer sent me an exit survey as I enter retirement that had the question: "If you have already decided and are comfortable disclosing, which organization will you be joining in the future?" I truly wish I could have seen their reaction when they read "AARP" as my response.

An image of the question "If you have already decided and are comfortable disclosing, which organization will you be joining in the future?" with the response entered as "AARP"

180

Vern McCandlish @malanalysis.bsky.social · 06/06/2025

If you are trying to claim something is a complex conspiracy with multiple people and intricate planning, I beg you to review the following before posting about it.

Image listing three logical razors, Occam's, Hanlon's and Hitchens'.
Occam's Razor: The simplest Explanation is often the best one.
Hanlon's Razor: Never attribute to malice that which can be adequately explained by stupidity.
Hitchens' Razor: Anything asserted without evidence can be dismissed without evidence.

081

Vern McCandlish @malanalysis.bsky.social · 31/05/2025

The bandings on those socks reminds me more of resistor color coding more than any pride symbolism.

Image of a resistor with the color code chart for resistor bands detailed below.

000

Vern McCandlish @malanalysis.bsky.social · 12/05/2025

Glad to see being ratioed is still a thing:

Image of a post's metrics with 3.5k replies, 2.1k quotes, and 123 likes.

030

Vern McCandlish @malanalysis.bsky.social · 12/05/2025

I was reminded of the character Kolchak from the TV series The Night Stalker and realized that if that aired today, no one would ever buy his stories assuming they were just AI generated nonsense.

Image of the actor Darren McGavin as dressed as Kolchak from the TV series The Night Stalker in a shirt, tie, and jacket. Wearing a straw hat and carrying a recording device around his neck while holding the microphone to his face. He is looking to his left quizzically.

040

Vern McCandlish @malanalysis.bsky.social · 18/04/2025

Musical sound tracks, especially Disney ones, all day every day.

Side by side image of an old man at a computer next to an image of the Moana sing along music from Disney.

130

Vern McCandlish @malanalysis.bsky.social · 17/04/2025

Edmond cybersecurity CEO accused in major hack at hospital www.koco.com/article/edmo...

Holy Batman meme with an image of Batman and Robin from the 1960s TV series with the caption "Holy Hacker Batman, that cybersecurity expert is the baddie"

130

Vern McCandlish @malanalysis.bsky.social · 08/04/2025

This here is what we call a "spike"

Bar chart from https://hourlypricing.comed.com/live-prices/ showing the price spike visually.

000

Vern McCandlish @malanalysis.bsky.social · 14/02/2025

Me: How would you rate your incident response maturity? Them: This is the worn block of wood we knock on when discussing hypothetical situations. Me: Okay, so very mature. #DFIR #DFIRHumor #infosec #infosechumor

020

Vern McCandlish @malanalysis.bsky.social · 01/02/2025

That is not a good look... #infosec #cybersecurity www.bleepingcomputer.com/news/securit...

Screenshot of text from the article:
CISA learned of the malicious behavior from an external researcher who disclosed the vulnerability to the agency. When CISA tested three Contec CMS8000 firmware packages, the researchers discovered anomalous network traffic to a hard-coded external IP address, which is not associated with the company but rather a university.

This led to the discovery of a backdoor in the company's firmware that would quietly download and execute files on the device, allowing for remote execution and the complete takeover of the patient monitors. It was also discovered that the device would quietly send patient data to the same hard-coded address when devices were started.

1154