Identifying Hiking Posts Left to Write...

More Hiking Posts to Come

In a recent post, I wrote about still having a couple of hiking trips that I would like to add to my blog here at Blogger.

Now that the extremely hot weather that Maricopa County experiences during the Summer months is starting to recede, it's time to add these remaining hiking trips to my blog before I start going hiking again.

More to follow.

Update About SeaSucker Talon Bike Rack...

Received Replacement Bike Rack

Back in September, I was notified via email by SeaSucker that the Talon bike rack that I had bought from REI over the summer had a design flaw.

As a result, the email explained that SeaSucker would send me a replacement Talon bike rack, with a re-designed replacement part, free of charge.

This is a true story.

I will have more about this in the very near future.

More to follow.

Future Posts About Hiking...

Future Posts About Hiking

As I mentioned in a recent post, I have been trying to organize all of the photos that I took while hiking at various locations throughout Maricopa County.

Some hiking trips have more photos than others, while some hiking trips barely have any photos.

Anyway, like most things that I write about on my blog, my initial ideas for a post, or series of posts, radically changes after I begin work on it.

In addition, real life always seems to find a way to intrude on what I am trying to do.

It's all too easy to get sidetracked.

As a result, I have a couple more hiking posts that I would like to add to my blog, so that people can see the photos that I have taken.

After organizing my photos into collections in Google Photos, I need to make sure that I have all of the maps and other graphics for each remaining post.

It's just a simple matter of grabbing some screenshots of maps from somewhere on the internet.

Once all of that is done, I can then start writing the remaining posts.

I figure I can complete a new post about hiking probably once per day.

Then, if I really wanted to be ambitious, I could go back and make some improvements on the hiking posts that I have already published to the internet.

Just some ideas that I have.

Once interesting bit of criticism that I have received was the amount of time that I have spent on my blog, especially on a couple rather lengthy posts.

I don't mind. I actually like working on my blog. I also enjoy trying to figure out how to use HTML.

Stay tuned for more future posts about hiking.

Types of Firewalls...

It's a Long Slog

For the past few weeks, I have been S-L-O-W-L-Y working my way through the Network Support and Security online class from Cisco Networking Academy.

To be sure, it has been a L-O-N-G slog.

The course contains only three modules:

• Module 1: Network Support
• Module 2: Cybersecurity Threats, Vulnerabilities, and Attacks
• Module 3: Network Security

Like all online classes from Cisco Networking Academy, each module contains several sub-modules. Each sub-module contains numerous definitions, charts, graphics, videos, pull-down menus, lists, and whatnot. If you are trying to take notes as you read each sub-module, it can be a time-consuming process.

When I started the Network Support and Security online course, my initial thought that it would be a quick and easy course to complete.

Boy, I was wrong.

Types of Firewalls

Sub-module 3.5.2 "Types of Firewalls" gives a basic introduction to four different types of firewalls.

The types of firewalls analyzed by the sub-module are:

• Packet Filtering (Stateless) Firewall

Packet Filtering (Stateless) Firewall 

• Packet filtering firewalls are usually part of a router firewall, which permits or denies traffic based on Layer 3 and Layer 4 information.
• Source IP address 
• Destination IP address
• Protocol
• Source port number
• Destination port number
• Synchronize/Start (SYN) packet receipt
• Packet filtering firewalls are stateless firewalls that use a simple policy table look-up that filters traffic based on specific criteria. 
• There are several advantages of using a packet filtering firewall:
• Packet filters implement simple "permit or deny" rule sets. 
• Packet filters have a low impact on network performance. 
• Packet filters are easy to implement and are supported by most routers.
• Packet filters provide an initial degree of security at the Network layer. 
• Packet filters perform almost all the tasks of a high-end firewall at a much lower cost.  
• There are several disadvantages of using a packet filtering firewall: 
• Packet filters are susceptible to IP spoofing. Threat actors can send arbitrary packets that meet Access Control List (ACL) criteria and pass through the filter. 
• Packet filters do not reliably filter fragmented packets. 
• Because fragmented IP packets carry the TCP header in the first fragment and packet filters filter on TCP header information, all fragments after the first fragment are passed unconditionally. 
• Decisions to use packet filters assume that the filter of the first fragment accurately enforces the policy. 
• Packet filters use complex ACLs, which can be difficult to implement and maintain. 
• Packet filters cannot dynamically filter certain services. 
• Packet filters are stateless. They examine each packet individually rather than in the context of the state of a connection. 
• Packet filters do not represent a complete firewall solution, but they are an important element of a firewall security policy. 

• Stateful Firewall

Stateful Firewall

• Stateful firewalls are the most versatile and most common firewall technologies in use. 
• Stateful firewalls provide stateful packet filtering by using connection information maintained in a state table. 
• Stateful filtering is a firewall architecture that is classified at the Network layer. 
• Stateful firewalls also analyze traffic at OSI Layer 4 (Transport) and Layer 5 (Session).
• There are several benefits to using a stateful firewall in a network: 
• Stateful firewalls are often used as a primary means of defense by filtering unwanted, unnecessary, or undesirable traffic. 
• Stateful firewalls strengthen packet filtering by providing more stringent control over security. 
• Stateful firewalls improve performance over packet filters or proxy servers. 
• Stateful firewalls defend against spoofing and DoS attacks by determining whether packets belong to an existing connection or are from an unauthorized source. 
• Stateful firewalls provide more log information than a packet filtering firewall. 
• Stateful firewalls also present some limitations: 
• Stateful firewalls cannot prevent Application layer attacks because they do not examine the actual contents of the HTTP connection. 
• Not all protocols are stateful. For example, UDP and ICMP do not generate connection information for a state table, and, therefore, do not garner as much support for filtering. 
• It is difficult to track connections that use dynamic port negotiation. 
• Some applications open multiple connections. 
• This requires a whole new range of ports that must be opened to allow this second connection. 
• Stateful firewalls do not support user authentication. 

• Application Gateway Firewall

Application Gateway Firewall

• An application gateway firewall (proxy firewall) filters information at Layers 3, 4, 5, and 7 of the OSI reference model. 
• Most of the firewall control and filtering is done in software. 
• When a client needs to access a remote server, it connects to a proxy server. 
• The proxy server connects to the remote server on behalf of the client. 
• Therefore, the server only sees a connection from the proxy server. 

• Next Generation Firewall

Next Generation Firewall

• Next generation firewalls (NGFW) go beyond stateful firewalls by providing the following: 
• Integrated intrusion prevention. 
• Application awareness and control to see and block risky apps. 
• Upgrade paths to include future information needs. 
• Techniques to address evolving security threats. 

Additional types of firewalls include:

• Host-Based (Personal and Server) Firewall - a PC or server with firewall software running on it. 
• Transparent Firewall - filters IP traffic between a pair of bridged interfaces. 
• Hybrid Firewall - a combination of the various firewall types. 

I will come back to this post after I complete Module 3.5 Firewalls and Host-Based Intrusion Prevention.

There is a lot of good information about firewalls.

Additionally, I found some really good information and graphics about the different types of firewalls over at Palo Alto Networks' webpage.

As always, more to follow.

Lack of Activity on My Blog...

Explaining the Lack of Activity

There has been a significant lack of activity here on my blog.

As per usual, I have been really busy with all kinds of activity.

Here is a list of things that I have been working on:

• I have been working concerts at the Arizona Financial Theatre in downtown Phoenix, AZ.
• I have been working at football games at State Farm Stadium in Glendale, AZ.
• I have started riding my bike again.
• I have been focusing a lot of time and energy working on the Network Support and Security online class from Cisco Networking Academy.
• I have been working out at the gym quite a bit.
• I have been organizing my photos into collections over on Google Photos.
• I have been trying to come up with a list of blogging post ideas to write about.
• I even flirted with the idea of moving my blog here at Blogger on to another platform.

I even fell into the bottomless pit that is Twitter/X.

I spent a lot of energy on two very long posts. Moreover, I was underwhelmed by the reaction I got to those two posts. Disappointment aside, I am writing this blog for myself. If other people are interested, then that's great.

Lack of interest in my blog isn't going to deter me. It just means that my blog has yet to find an audience. That will come as I write more posts.

Update About My Blog...

Lack of New Posts

Yes, there has been a lack of new posts here on my blog.

I realize that. It needs to be changed.

I spent A LOT of TIME and EFFORT on two specific posts. You can read them here and here.

I also wrote a couple of lengthy posts about my new Sea Sucker Talon bike rack that I bought from REI. You can read those posts here and here.

Yes, there are a couple of recent posts that are INCOMPLETE. I need to circle-back and finish those posts.

For example, I started a post about my recent experience with a pig butchering scam. I am anticipating that the post will be quite lengthy.

I also got distracted with trying to create more elaborate tables on my blog here at Blogger. That opened a whole new can of worms as I tried new techniques for creating tables.

Going through my Bullet Journal, I have all kinds of ideas for future posts here on my blog.

I also need to complete my series about recently completed hikes here in Maricopa County.

As a result, I started creating new albums in my account over on Google Photos.

Unfortunately, there are only so many hours in a day.

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Creating Tables on Blogger...

Creating Tables in Blogger

As you may have noticed, when I create a table for my blog here at Blogger, I just use a very simple table that you can make using HTML.

It's a simple technique that does what I need it to do.

However, if you want to create tables with borders, different sizes, padding and spacing, and so on, apparently you need to use CSS (Cascading Style Sheets).

That's all well and good; however, I just cannot seem to get Blogger to let me use CSS to alter the characteristics of a table.

I am sure that there is a way to get Blogger to let do what I want to do when it comes to making a table.

I haven't found it.

While searching the help feature on Blogger, I found the instructions on how to use CSS to change the formatting of my blog.

For now, I am happy with the look of my blog.

New Technique for Creating Tables

Recently, I performed a search on Google, looking for a way to create more complex tables on Blogger.

One easy technique that I found was to create a table on a word processing application, such as Microsoft Word.

Once your table is complete, you then copy and paste the table into Blogger using the Compose View option.

Well, I tried that out. It worked.

To an extent.

Unfortunately, while in Compose View, you cannot alter the length of the cells in you table.

The obvious solution was to then go from the Compose View to the HTML View for my blog post.

Ideally, while in HTML View, you could, in theory, directly change the HTML code for your table.

Sounds all fine and good, right?

Well, it gets rather tricky.

When you look at the HTML code for the table you created using Microsoft Word or, in my case, Google Documents, Blogger will give you a huge mess of HTML code to go through in order to change the characteristics of the table.

I tried doing just that on my table.

It turned out to be a mess.

I even tried copying the HTML code from the HTML View in Blogger to Google Documents and then separating each line of HTML code.

After doing that, I was hoping to be able to locate what specific part of HTML code I needed to change to get the effect I desired on my new table, i.e., changing the width of the cells (or columns).

Again, something so simple turned out to be a mess.

In Conclusion

For now, I will just continue on with making simple tables for my blog here at Blogger.

It's simple and easy for the information that I am trying to convey.

It's not a problem.

I will keep on experimenting with directly changing the HTML code of the table in Google Documents. I am sure that is the correct technique, but it will take longer than five minutes to complete.

If my memory is correct, the issue I am having with altering the look of tables is an example about the limited functionality of Blogger itself.

Blogger was designed to be a simple way for someone to create a blog without any knowledge of HTML.

For now, that's all well and good. Blogger suits me just fine for what I want to do with my blog.

Perhaps later on I will consider making a change and start using a different blogging platform with more advanced features, such as WordPress or Squarespace.

We'll see...

UPDATE: I recently went over to the W3 Schools website and took another look at making tables in HTML. I copied the code for the basic table and pasted it into Blogger. When I went into Compose View, the table didn't show up. However, when I clicked on Preview, the table appeared exactly how it does on the W3 Schools website. That was a breakthrough. Thus, in order to make a table in Blogger, I will have to actually manipulate the code to create the table that I want. Got it.