Hello everyone! I hope you have had a wonderful week. I'm going to start off by saying this has been one of the most interesting weeks of my life. Quite a bold statement, I know, but I can back it up. But before I start my tangent, I would like to talk about the progress I have made on my research.
Due to events that happened this week, which I will talk about later, I did not really get too involved in my research until this Friday (that being the day this is posted) due to time constraints for both me and my mentor (no longer on-site). We met today to talk about about the future of my research and my work with him. You all know what the research is; however, after our long meeting we have finally landed on a solid starting point. No longer will I be working on the internet presence of Fighter Base specifically (I will still update you all if you want to know about its progress). Instead, I will be tinkering with a software called WordPress. Essentially this is one of many means to create your own website, and, with the use of Pantheon, a website management platform, I will be able to test a false website created by me through security plug-ins which will allow me to imitate what goes on on any website when you perform certain tasks such as signing up for a subscription through your Facebook account. All of this will allow me to gain the necessary knowledge I need to help you, an average consumer, make the correct the judgement call when faced with a risky situation online. I hope this all makes sense. I would have been doing a very similar thing with Fighter Base, but this gives me more freedom to test more theories. As a side note, I did get to test the game in all it's virtual reality goodness which is pretty exciting considering it was my first time ever using virtual reality.
Alright, so I bet a few of you are still wondering what made my week so interesting. It was just this past weekend that I was flown out to Maryland by myself to take some tests at the NSA headquarters. That's right, you read that correctly. I would have taken pictures, but this being the NSA and all, I couldn't exactly just bring my phone in and take a picture, so you'll have to just imagine what it looked like. That's not true, I do have a few pictures, but it's just some very bland trees outside my hotel room.
Anyways, I am an applicant for their summer internship where I will doing... Stuff (they haven't exactly told me yet since I don't have my security clearance). But, what was most exciting was the polygraph test I had taken. Now I can't tell you what questions they asked me nor how the polygraph works. You may be thinking to yourself: Isn't this just a lie-detector? Yes and no. It is much harder to tell the truth than you think it is. For example, there was a question that I was obviously telling the truth on -- for simplicity's sake, let's say it was murder (something I obviously haven't done)-- it still spiked. I'll leave it up to you to figure out why it would spike. I will be flying out again in the near future to take some more tests which is absolutely exciting for me. Now do you understand why this was one of the most exciting weeks of my life? Pretty cool stuff don't you think? If you have any questions, include them in your comments below and I will reply as soon as possible. Thanks for tuning in this week.
Hi Adam! I am so excited that you applied for the NSA summer internship! Also, my mentor is thinking about using WordPress to make a website for the Bioarchaeology of Nubia Expedition project so I'll be excited to see your research with the website made with WordPress!
ReplyDeleteReally? That's amazing! I can't wait to see how things turn out. If she needs any help, i'd be glad to show her the ropes, but it is pretty straightforward.
DeleteHey Adam, it's so awesome that you are getting a chance to intern at the NSA headquarters! What a unique and amazing opportunity you have! Do you think anything that you see or experience at the NSA headquarters when you go again in the future that can be used for your project?
ReplyDeleteHonestly, I am not sure. I am not allowed access to any information until I get my security clearance. I'm only going to do tests. So to answer your question, no.
DeleteHi Adam! It's nice to see that your Senior Project is going so well! Are you happy about the way things turned out even if they weren't the original plan? How do you think this will affect your research differently?
ReplyDeleteI am pretty happy with how things turned out. I mean I will be working from home which is amazing! In terms of my research, it shouldn't affect it any bad way. It's just another method to get to the same result.
DeleteHi Adam. It's amazing to hear that you were able to get an internship at the NSA. How did your research become involved with the NSA? What part of your research lead you there?
ReplyDeleteHey, Jason! These are two separate internships. Their research is independent of one another, but it is related because they cover the same field.
DeleteHello Adam! Thats so awesome that you got an intership at NSA. Your future blog sounds very intresting and you got my intrest. Good Luck!
ReplyDeleteThanks so much Zak!
DeleteDude, I'm really jealous over here. You pretty much get to do two projects in one, being able to make your own website and monitor it yourself while also still looking at the Fighter Base interaction with the internet. Also, I'm really excited to see you get that NSA internship, it's perfect for your interests and you really deserve it. Since your project kinda changed, do you have an idea on how much you'll be working with Fighter Base(which is still awesome if only for a little bit)?
ReplyDeleteI will not be working on Fighter Base although the work I will be doing is the same as the work being done on fighter base. I can still ask him how the project is going, and ask to play it to update you guys. If you want me to do that, I can totally do that.
DeleteHey Adam! I think that this experience is absolutely wonderful. The fact that you are really putting yourself out there (especially with the whole NSA internship deal), really shows how dedicated you are to this project. I am very excited to see more of your stuff!
ReplyDeleteThank you so much Aria! I look forward to seeing your comments in the future.
DeleteHey Adam, it's Zach Schawelson, and like the others, I find it really awesome about the internship at the NSA. I can't wait to hear about your progress next week! Good luck!!
ReplyDeleteThanks Zachary! Hopefully everything goes well!
DeleteHey Adam. The NSA internship is quite awesome, and the foundation of your project is quite riveting. I can't wait to see which plug-ins you use on your false website and the results of them.
ReplyDeleteThanks! I have made some progress with the plug-ins and I can't wait to update you guys.
DeleteI am happy to hear that your trip to Maryland went well. I can understand why it was one of the most exciting weeks of your life! With the new direction of your research, to clarify, will you be looking to see what risks someone might be exposed to if they use something like their Facebook account to subscribe to different websites? How will creating a WordPress allow you to do this?
ReplyDeleteCreating a website via WordPress will allow me to imitate the actual process website devs and admins go through in the creation process of a website. And yes to clarify that is a part of what I'll be doing. I will be performing other tests on top of that.
Delete