[ale] ALE CENTRAL MTG. for 7:30pm on Thursday, February 17, 2011 CE

[Aaron Ruscetta]

The feature presentation for our ALE Central Meeting
at 7:30pm on Thursday, February 17th, 2011 will be:

"Networking & Network Security Basics''
  with Michael Trausch

Synopsis:
- Computer networks are something that we see simply everywhere
now.  From the basic corner store to large corporate buildings, in most
homes and nearly all businesses, there are networks, both wired and
wireless.  Networking technology continues to evolve as well, so
networking devices have gotten smaller and less expensive, while
implementing networks has become easier and more automated.
The big downside of this ubiquity and automation is that our networks
have become harder to secure, particularly when they carry important
data (for all values of "important" that may apply).

- Security considerations exist throughout the network and at every
level of the technology, from the network edge(s), the centralized
gateways, and the various nodes (computer systems, embedded
devices, or otherwise), throughout the software applications and
on down to the most vulnerable component, the human users.
This presentation will touch on aspects of all of these.

Bio:
Michael B. Trausch (a.k.a. “the genius who locked his keys in his car
at the January meeting”) is an independent consultant and developer
performing all manner of IT services using free software, including
network systems administration and programming (in many different
and often disliked languages).  He works from home (when everything
is going well...) and devotes much of his time to parenting his five
year old son, Benjamin.  He is an advocate for free software, public
education, and freedom in general, accepting the responsibilities that
come with it.  He is also obsessed with typography and Unicode, and
drinks way too much coffee.  ;-)
[editors note: there is no such a thing as "too much coffee"]

Additional resources:
- Slides will be made available for download, as well as a list of
links to reading material that will cover all of the topics mentioned
in greater depth.

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The meeting will be held at Emory Law School in our
usual Gambrel Hall, room 1C venue.
Our meeting time frame is 7:30pm to ~9:30pm
Directions to Emory Law School can be found at
<http://ale.org/?page_id=2>
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As always, this information is also posted at <http://ale.org>
peace
aaron
ALE Event Coordinator (etc)