Hello,
my name is Dennis Faas, and I'm a
Senior Systems Administrator and IT Technical Analyst
specializing in MS Windows, Linux and Cyber Crimes.

Recent Projects

• May 2021

  Sextortion and Tech Support Fraud Mitigation

  (Cyber Crime Specialist, Digital Forensics)

  Since 2014, I've investigated and published various articles on technical support fraud. As a result of the reporting, I've become well-known online for assistance in similar matters. I have now shifted the majority of my focus on technical support fraud and sextortion mitigation.

• May 2018

  Ransomware Mitigation on Corporate Network

  (Storage and Network Infrastructure, Corporate Security, Disaster Recovery)

  I was hired to investigate a ransomware attack on a corporate network which encrypted critical databases and documents. I immediately halted the spread of the malware, analyzed network attack vectors, then consulted client to limit and prevent further attacks. Data was recovered by analyzing the ransomware note and encrypted files (brute force) to produce a decryption key.

Past Projects

• Aug 2015

  Duplicate and Reconfigure Main Server

  (Automated Systems, Server Infrastructure, Data and Network Infrastructure, Capacity Planning)

  I wrote an automated systems script that takes a virtual machine clone of the main server and automatically reconfigures it for use on another IP address, thus making it usable for developmental purposes. The script analyzes server configuration files, then modifies settings; when complete, the server is runs on a separate virtual private network. The script also drops (erases) sensitive MySQL databases so it is ready for use by third party developers if needed.

• Nov 2014

  MySQL Automated Database Repair

  (Storage and Network Infrastructure)

  I wrote an automated systems script to manage database repair for all MySQL databases on the server, including: force recovery, mysqlcheck, mysqldump. The script first safely takes the database offline, tests database integrity, then recreates the MySQL directory with permissions. All databases, users and credentials are recreated to spec; data is then re-imported; privileges refreshed, then network services and database services are restarted.

• Mar 2014

  Mitigate Distributed Denial of Service Attack

  (Security Policies and Corporate Security)

  A botnet of 40,000+ malware infected computers attacked the server simultaneously through the network, resulting in significantly increased server load and lag time. I studied network log files and programmed a custom solution using Fail2ban (Python regex scripts) in order to mitigate the attack, effectively creating a reactive firewall to ban abusive IP addresses. Offending traffic was blocked and server load was immediately reduced.

• Feb 2014

  Web Server Restructure and Programming

  (Database Administration, Capacity Planning)

  I led a team of developers to restructure the entire web server consisting of 10,000 pages onto a new content management system (Drupal). I programmed / exported data into a CSV, then data was re-imported; I reconfigured the site to use new modules and interface old with new; I then changed URL structure and handled 404 and 301 permanent redirects for search engine optimization to reflect permanent changes.

• Jan 2014

  Server Migration, XenServer to VMWare Workstation

  (System Performance Analysis, Data Network Infrastructure, Server and Storage Infrastructure, Capacity Planning and Disaster Recovery)

  I moved a server to a new datacenter using a VPN, secure shell (SSH) and rsync. I changed hypervisor platforms from Citrix Xenserver to VMWare Workstation due to hardware incompatibilities. I then migrated data over to the new server and reconfigured the operating system, services and databases.

• Dec 2013

  Mass Email Program

  (Programming, Email Administration, Database Administration System, Performance Analysis, Automated Systems)

  I wrote a script to send out an email newsletter to a mailing list of 150,000 users on a Linux server. The script monitored and recorded responses from the receiving email server as being accepted, hard, or soft bounce, which was later used for statistics. The script dynamically reacted to greylist responses and queued problematic emails; it also monitored server resources.

• Jan 2010

  Concurrent Database Backups

  (Database Administration, Performance Analysis, Programming, Automated Systems, Capacity Planning, Disaster Recovery)

  I wrote a program to export the mailing list database into .CSV delimitated format, then produced concurrent gzip tarballs (forked) using Perl. Tarball backups were forked simultaneously to take full advantage of all the server's processor cores, but without overloading server resources. Backups and logs were automatically rotated and stored on the server, then stats emailed.

Achievements

Generated over $1,000,000 in Revenue, Infopackets, Inc, Lakeshore, ON | 2001 – present

I generated over one million dollars in online revenue for Infopackets, Inc. via Google Adsense, Amazon.com, various ad placements online the site, software commissions, and writing various books during my tenure.

Various Programming Feats, Infopackets, Inc, Lakeshore, ON | 2001 – present

I have written many programs over the years in Perl. Some of the most memorable programming feats include writing: various search engines using recursion; a comprehensive flat file database system; web and command line search engine; a custom content management system; an online shopping cart; keyword indexing database systems; mass email program; and various email subscription management programs.