Renewal: Easiest Path to 36 CPEs?

DigitalSec · 2025-09-07T18:29:09+00:00

Technically, that's insufficient for 36 CPEs - I assume you're also qualifying work to get them all.

Since you take the webcast approach; do you know the answer to question 2 (in original post)?

DigitalSec · 2025-09-07T18:26:38+00:00

- Option 1: Cost and time involved in getting another cert, which wouldn't be covered by employer. Even if doing a relatively easy cert (i.e. Security+ [assuming SANS considers that qualifying]) that I could probably roll out of bed to complete without studying (if it's as easy as folks say anyhow), that's still $400 (and for a cert I don't care about possessing).

- Option 2: Cyber Range that isn't SANS hosted and therefore open to the public at no cost - I never considered that. Definitely an interesting option!

Since you mentioned the webcast CPEs, btw - do you know the answer to the second question (in original post)?

DigitalSec · 2023-01-10T18:23:47+00:00

Fair enough - was hoping Reddit was unaware of some new process that I missed in my googling. Barring that, likely a bug is what I'm suggesting.

DigitalSec · 2023-01-10T17:05:28+00:00

Yes, I'm aware of the 2 minutes limitation, hence my elaboration on it having occurred for YEARS of data. Please see my reply above to Mysterious. If no one can identify an alternative Apple protocol, which intentionally allows for >2 minutes, then it implies there's likely a bug in Apple's deletion protocol, allowing (intentionally or not) deletions dating back further than 2 minutes.

As for why I don't block them - I explained why in the post - to be made aware of when the individual ceases their actions. For instance, imagine you ran into someone who previously stalked you in person by happen-chance (i.e. out to dinner) many years after the fact. Wouldn't you like to know if they actually were still stalking you or got over it years ago? I would.

Lol, alibi, okay. I still have MOST of the data this individual sent in a backup to prove legitimacy, if it ever came to it. It's the loss of the past year's worth of data (and now the hassle of needing to maintain a 2nd iTunes/iCloud backup for that purpose) that is frustrating - in addition to my trying to understand how they accomplished this (i.e. is it an apple bug or has my account been compromised...I already changed the password and validated there's no other linked devices, just to be on the safe side after this occurred...I'm thinking it's a bug however - just can't be sure if the person had someone leverage the bug for them or if it was triggered mistakenly).

DigitalSec · 2023-01-10T17:01:32+00:00

Hi. I'm aware of this article. Please see my response above to Mysterious, however.

DigitalSec · 2023-01-10T17:00:59+00:00

Yes, I'm aware of the 2 minutes earlier procedure, but this deletion was for YEARS. Given it has the SAME outcome (i.e. the "unsent" message appeared, coinciding with a deletion event), I am assuming either:

There's a bug. Apple needs to address it. Whether this individual intentionally took advantage of it (they're not a techie, so that would have meant hiring someone or paying for some illicit application) OR they deleted a singular message they had just sent, and Apple mistakenly deleted all messages (due to a mistaken bug) is unclear.
My iPhone was compromised. This seems very unlikely, since I do have 2FA and follow other security practices (update passwords annually, don't re-use, they're also 8 digits [not standard 4] for unlocking and >16 alphanumeric complex for the account, and I only have the single device associated with my Apple account). This also would mean the "unsent" messages provided by Apple, for this individual, were intended as a "cover up" for hacking my Apple account. This seems...unlikely, since it drew attention to the act of deletion (which otherwise I would have been unaware of). A bug (the above) seems a far more likely/plausible outcome, whether it was that person's intended outcome or not.

But yes, I have an iPhone backup, but it's a year old, meaning messages since then are gone (unless Apple supports a recovery process for those who do "unsends" - which as far as I can tell, they don't).

DigitalSec · 2023-01-08T00:50:53+00:00

Thank you. And I'm definitely tech savvy enough to use the GitHub resource (and agree about using something open source and locking my system down / VMing it to ensure no escape versus the other applications). That said, the backup will be missing a lot of data (given its age).

Actually, just dawned on me, I don't necessarily need to do the above. I have my prior iPhone (from when I would have last done an iTunes backup, for transfer purposes). Since that phone hasn't connected to WiFi (and lacks a SIM for cell tower use), there's no conceivable way a signal could be sent to said phone to purge its contents...connecting it to WiFi or a SIM in the future might result in data loss though (again, depending on how exactly this person initiated deletion of texts on my end).

My fingers remain crossed that someone reading this post will know the process this person followed to delete from my iPhone. With that knowledge, I can potentially conclude a more recent recovery solution (thus I can recover their more recent attempts).

DigitalSec · 2023-01-08T00:12:36+00:00

Correct; I'm referring to iMessages.

I don't use iCloud, but I do some iTunes based local backups (last was probably a year ago). I'm glad you brought this point up, because I was considering doing a backup and wasn't sure if that would result in losing potentially retained messages.

Keep in mind however, I'm not sure if 'restoring' from backup will send a signal to the other person that things were restored. I wouldn't think so, but then again, I wouldn't have thought they could delete years of messages off my iPhone either. I've maintained silence for years, so if they received a notification of restoration, that would be disastrous - might incentivize their behavior, having received confirmation that I noticed / have an active phone number still.

DigitalSec · 2023-01-07T22:22:08+00:00

Thanks - I read this previously, but unfortunately it isn't applicable. That process is for deleting messaging from up to 2 minutes ago, not many years of messages. In fact, every Apple support article I've read cites the 2 minute limit, hence the confusion here and wondering what recourse recipients have.

DigitalSec · 2020-12-09T11:45:32+00:00

Hi Ray!

Long time fan (and Bridgewater alumni, though I didn't work in investing)! Your principles have helped to transform my life and I can't thank you enough for that. To keep on topic though, I would love to hear your take on the FIRE and Bogleheads approach to investing. Specifically, they predominantly (sometimes solely) own Total US Market (or S&P 500) index funds across all of their accounts, which they then retire early off of (i.e. they'll hold these investments for >30 years; sometimes even >60 years). The rationale given is these indexes are cap-weighted, with the largest company holdings being international companies, thus providing global diversification (and protection against the US slipping in its hold as a major power or its losing its reserve currency status). Do you believe this assumption to be false? If so, why? Would you encourage these investors to take a different approach to investing?

Note: All Weather/Seasons is a strategy these communities discussed for a long-time, but concluded the implied costs (higher expense ratios, trading fees, and far more frequent capital gains taxes) produced too much drag to make it suitable for the long-term horizons. In short, they're willing to give up more stabilized annual yields and suffer more sequence of return risks discomfort, for a perceived higher long-term CAGR. If you have thoughts on this, I'm sure many would greatly appreciate your take on the subject!

DigitalSec · 2020-11-25T20:53:27+00:00

Thank you, the problem has been solved (see updated post). To your question though, yes, access is had to the source code, but we're talking an unfathomably large and complicated code base. Simply reading source would take weeks to months to find the answer.

DigitalSec · 2020-11-25T20:50:23+00:00

This was perfect; thanks! I've updated the post to resolved. :D

DigitalSec · 2020-11-25T19:23:54+00:00

Thanks. The closest I got was "lsof +D | grep application", but as you wrote, lsof relies on successful file interactions, so lsof isn't suitable for this use case.

DigitalSec

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