Month: November 2008
The Security Chef’s “Better Bird Turkey”
Martin McKeay reached out on Twitter today asking for guidance on grilling a turkey:
Any hints for BBQ’ing a turkey? We got a grill late last year but I’ve never tried to grill a turkey before
I provided him with this grilling recipe that is sure to please. Note, that I have added a few more steps and ingredients to make this a better bird:
Ingredients
1 12-14lb turkey (giblets removed)
2 Teaspoon of sea salt
1 Teaspoon pepper (or to taste)
2 Teaspoons of onion flakes
1-2 Cloves of garlic (crushed)
1/2 Cup extra virgin olive oil or vegetable oil (may need more depending on the size of the bird)
Steps
Step 1 – Rub the entire turkey with olive or vegetable oil to prevent it from drying out (and to make it nice and crispy).
Step 2 – Massage in the salt, pepper, garlic, and onion flakes.
Step 3 – Let sit for about 30 minutes to allow the oil and spices to sink in. Before you place the bird on the grill cover the wing tips with aluminum foil to protect them (they’ll be the first to burn).
Step 4 – Set up your grill for indirect grilling and preheat to medium. This means that if you’re using a charcoal grill, place a large drip pan (since a lot of juice is going to come off of the bird) in the middle of the grill and put your coals on either side. If you’re using a gas grill then set the temperature to medium and place your bird on one side of the grill (if you have a small BBQ) or in the middle (if you have 3 to 6+ burners) with the drip pan underneath.
Step 5 – Place the bird over the drip try and cook for roughly 4 hours or until the turkey reaches an internal temperature of 180F using an an instant read thermometer (inserted into the thigh meat to test for doneness).
Notes:
– If you notice that the bird is starting to burn then create an aluminum foil tent to prevent further burning. (It’s just like it sounds, create a tent of aluminum foil over top of the bird).
– If you’d like to add a smokey flavor to your turkey then add some wood chips directly to the coals (or to your smoker box/pouch if using a gas grill) every hour. I’d suggest apple, hickory, or pecan wood chips.
– Depending on the flavor you’re going for you could add additional spices. Some suggestions would be rosemary, marjoram, basil, bay leaf, and/or thyme. If you want something different why not try a Jerk seasoning or some Chinese Five-spice powder.
Hungry yet? Maybe my next Security Chef post will be my famous smoked beef ribs….
“Mathematical breakthrough” Used to Crack WPA’s TKIP Key
According to several sources, security researchers Erik Tews and Martin Beck have found a way to break the Temporal Key Integrity Protocol (TKIP) key used by WPA. Cracking the TKIP key was never thought to be an impossible feat and it was previously thought that the angle of attack would be via a massive dictionary attack over an extended period of time.
Tews and Beck, however, did not use a dictionary attack to crack TKIP. According to Dragos Ruiu (via this Network World article), the organizer of the PacSec conference where Tews plans on discussing the crack, the researchers first discovered a way to trick a WPA router into sending them large amounts of data. This makes cracking the key easier, but this technique is also combined with a “mathematical breakthrough,” that lets them crack WPA much more quickly than any previous attempt.
And how long did it take Tews and Beck….12 to 15 minutes.
Beck, creator of the Aircrack security tool, has also added the ability to exploit this weakness over the past two weeks. Note, this attack only impacts WPA and not WPA2, which is still deemed “safe”. Over the past few years people who were using WEP, which was determined to be an unsafe and easy to crack protocol, were advised to switch over to WPA due to prevent an attack of this magnitude. Now many enterprise customers will be left scratching their heads and wondering how long it will be until they have to switch to something other than WPA2…and at what cost.
