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Dr. Keen
Cyber Defender & Diagnostics Lab Technician
Dr. Keen is in charge of Diagnostics and has the equipment and knowledge to fix most computer related problems.
Abandoned by her computer hacker parents when she was a child, Dr. Keen focuses on helping others overcome the attacks of cyber criminals just like her parents.
You can't direct the wind but you can adjust the sails
- Anonymous
French fries
Interests:Inventing, watercolor, playing fetch with Scout
Scout
Cyber Defender & Dr. Keen's robot assistant
Scout is in charge of keeping the Cyber Defense Force's security measures up-to-date. His computer brain carries fixes to most security and computer problems that can be administered at any time.
Scout is always eager to help make Cyberspace a safe and fun place.
Memory chips
Interests:Fixing computers, making antidotes for malware, playing fetch
July 12, 2010
Time Paradoxes
Humans, I want to tell our past selves many things, but I do not know if I should. Say, for example, I warn them about some future problem like the Y2K bug Maya wrote about. What if they prevent it from ever happening? And, what if the way they fix the problem creates a worse situation? This sort of problem is known as a time paradox.
For example, say you went back in time and stopped your grandfather from meeting your grandmother. That would stop them from having your parents, which would prevent your birth. If your birth is prevented, how could you go back in time to stop them from meeting in the first place? I don’t know about you, but my circuits hurt just thinking about it!
Robots don’t do well with paradoxes. In fact, a paradox fried my predecessor’s CPU so bad he can barely function now! Some thoughtless individual went up to him and shouted “The following statement is true! The previous statement is false!” What a shame.
I’m going to think about my paradox problem a while longer before I decide what to do.
posted by Scout
topic: Miscellaneous
May 5 2009
Phishing Filters
To help defend against a phishing attack, Scout and I have installed phishing filters on all the Academy machines.
These filters will alert you when a site is suspicious, but they won't stop you from entering your information. The Cyber Villains need you to fall for their phishing attack, so remember that you still have all the power.
posted by Dr. Keen
topic: Miscellaneous
April 1 2009
Well done, Cadets!
I was so impressed with you during the fake attack, Cadets! If it had been real, I'm sure those Cyber Villains would have been in for a surprise. Congratulations!
Now continue to keep up the good work, and don't forget to attend Friday's seminar.
posted by Dr. Keen
topic: Miscellaneous
February 17 2009
Date?
I noticed Dr. Keen wearing different clothes the other evening, and putting something red on her lips. I'm not used to her with red lips. I asked her why her lips were red and she said something about going on a "date" with Officer Ward. I don't understand what she meant. I told her the date was February 14th. She just laughed.
What does it mean, going on a date?
posted by Scout
topic: Miscellaneous
December 3 2008
Giving Thanks
I'm so happy that Jax and Sparky were able to join us for the Thanksgiving Day feast. They have really blossomed under Officer Ward's guidance, and the apple fritters they brought to the meal were absolutely fantastic. I'm afraid I may have eaten far too many of them!
Scout spent most of the meal talking to Alan and Sparky about online gaming. He has recently become curious about games and the notion of "fun," so Alan and Sparky were trying to explain to him what makes a game fun. He came to me today to ask for a subscription to a MMOG, to "experiment." I hope he doesn't become so caught up in his experiments that he forgets to charge himself up at night!
posted by Dr. Keen
topic: Miscellaneous
June 24 2008
Scout Wants Vacation Too
Scout here. Beep! Commander Omni says all the students are away on summer vacation. I asked her about it. She says they’ve gone away to have fun.
Scout wants to go away and have fun. Dr. Keen won't let Scout go though. Beep. She says Scout is needed to help re-install security. Scout doesn’t want to work. Scout wants to be free.
posted by Scout
topic: Miscellaneous
April 16 2008
Working with Ward
I find working with Ward to be a pleasant distraction from my fears about being fully prepared for the Cyber Villain attack. He is a kind and intelligent man, despite the physical nature of his job. I often find myself thinking about the Valentine's Day gift he gave me.
I am going to recommend to Omni that she have Ward and I continue to coordinate our efforts to ensure the school's security even after this crisis is averted.
posted by Dr. Keen
topic: Miscellaneous
April 1 2008
Scout Leads the Lab
Beep! Scout is now the ruler of Diagnostics! Beep! Dr. Keen has been captured by the Cyber Villains. Scout is mounting an operation to save her. Beep. Scout will save the day.
April Fools! Beep! Did you believe Scout? Was Scout funny? Dr. Keen tried to explain this tradition to me of telling lies on April 1st. Beep. Scout's not sure he understands, so he thought he'd give it a go. Beep.
posted by Scout
topic: Miscellaneous
February 28 2008
Not Another Breach
The recent kidnapping of Alan is not another breach in our security systems. Alan willingly left the safety of the school and met with a stranger in real life. There was nothing that we could have done here to prevent this from happening.
Remember cadets, we have rules for a reason. You have to be smart and follow the rules, otherwise we Cyber Defenders won't be able to protect you. Alan, we are going to get you back!
posted by Dr. Keen
topic: Miscellaneous
February 20 2008
Facing Old Projects
Now that most of the repair work to our security systems is done I can return to my old projects. The thing is I'm not sure I want to yet. I'm going to talk to Ward and see if there isn't anything more I can do to help him with the security side of things.
posted by Dr. Keen
topic: Miscellaneous
February 14 2008
I got one!
I got one! Beep! Scout got a Valentine! Now I understand. Thank you everyone! I am so happy.
Dr. Keen got one, too, but she turned red like Alan did and won't talk about it. Why do humans do that?
posted by Scout
topic: Miscellaneous
February 8 2008
What's a Valentine?
Scout here! Beep! Everyone in school is talking about Valentines. What are they, and how do you get them? I tried to ask Alan but he turned red and left the room. Is it something bad? Does it make you sick? Scout wants to know! Beep!
posted by Scout
topic: Miscellaneous
January 30 2008
The Master Hacker
I've spoken to Commander Omni and Officer Ward. We all feel that it is best that we explain what Ex-Commander Nils' ideals are, so that our students can be prepared to combat them.
Ex-Commander Nils has always believed in freedom of information on the Internet. When he was younger, he had utopian reasons for his beliefs. He believed that free information would lead to cancer cures and new technologies. He joined the Cyber Defense Force to protect those ideals.
But the more time he spent on the Defense Force the more cynical he became. He began to argue in favor of the hackers that were stealing corporate secrets and posting people's personal information for others to use and cause damage. Ex-Commander Nils believes that there is no such thing as halfway when it comes to free information, and that all information should be freely available, even if it hurts people.
posted by Dr. Keen
topic: Miscellaneous
November 27 2007
Holiday
I get it! Beep! Dr. Keen put together a special Thanksgiving just for me and Officer Ward. The humans make a lot of strange food and then sit around the table eating it all.
Officer Ward told me it was all about connections. Beep! He said that if he didn't have to stay close to campus to keep an eye on the Detention Center, he would be down in Florida with his family. Scout is lucky. Beep! All of my family is right here!
posted by Scout
topic: Miscellaneous
November 20 2007
Turkey?? Day???
Scout is curious about this holiday all the humans are calling Thanksgiving, or Turkey Day. Beep! What is this Turkey Day? Why is everyone so excited that it is coming up? I don't understand.
posted by Scout
topic: Miscellaneous
November 2 2007
Halloween Bash
I told Scout I'd hold down the fort and I did, but a girl's got to have a little fun. A couple of my friends from research and the university all got together online in a private chat room I set up. I worked on broken computers and talked about my college days and scary movies. It was a lot of fun!
posted by Dr. Keen
topic: Miscellaneous
October 26 2007
Tin Man
Beep! Scout has the perfect idea! Beep! I will go to the ball as the Tin Man from the Wizard of Oz. It's perfect! Beep! Dr. Keen even helped me make a magnetic heart to wear.
posted by Scout
topic: Miscellaneous
October 23 2007
Scout
Scout is pretty excited about the Halloween Ball. I told him I'd help him with his costume but he wants to pick it out on his own.
I am amazed by how much he's progressed since I finished building him. It wasn't too long ago when he was repeating everything I said, trying to learn the logic of language. I'm so proud of how far he's come!
posted by Dr. Keen
topic: Miscellaneous
October 16 2007
Party Time
Beep! Scout here! I just heard from Dr. Keen that there will be a Halloween Ball this year. I wasn't allowed to go last year. Someone had to stay behind in Diagnostics to keep an eye on things. Dr. Keen says that this year she will hold down the fort.
What will I wear? What will I go as? Beep!
posted by Scout
topic: Miscellaneous
September 24 2007
Scavenger Hunt
I tried out the scavenger hunt in secret because I was intrigued by the rumors I was hearing about it. Alexi made it difficult. You have to grasp some far-flung concepts if you are to figure out the pattern. Sometimes she likes to make too many connections between things. The cadets are having fun though. It seems that the challenge is driving them to greater heights.
posted by Dr. Keen
topic: Miscellaneous
September 4 2007
Fall arrives
I love fall. The crisp air, the changing leaves. I especially enjoy the influx of new faces eager to learn.
The school is so charged this year. It seems like we've collected a great crop of potential Cyber Defenders. I'm so excited to see where they will take me!
posted by Dr. Keen
topic: Miscellaneous
August 29 2007
Problems
Last night, the DigiBoard servers got fried. Alan and Carlo couldn't leave well enough alone and they ended up pushing the systems until the motherboards literally went up in smoke.
I'm mad. Not only did they not finish the project, but they damaged expensive Academy equipment in the process! Both of them are going to get a firm talking-to before I'm through with this.
posted by Dr. Keen
topic: Miscellaneous
August 20 2007
Playing Nice
No programmer works alone. Everyone has to learn how to work well within a team in order to get things done and to have their code play nice with others.
Carlo and Alan are having problems working as a team. Alan runs off on his own and Carlo has a hard time meeting deadlines. At this point it is more important for them to start being a team than for them to get the webpage DigiBoard operational, but I'm not sure they will accept that.
posted by Dr. Keen
topic: Miscellaneous
June 19 2007
The Plan
Any decent project begins with a plan. So I brought Omni, Carlo, and Alan together to lay out the project plan for the DigiBoard. The boys did great work last year bringing the original DigiBoard to life so I was excited to see what they would do with it this summer.
They have a challenge ahead of themselves. Both of them might be a little too ambitious.
posted by Dr. Keen
topic: Miscellaneous
June 11 2007
Summer Projects
It looks like Commander Omni finally put up the list of summer projects. It will be fun helping the boys redesign the DigiBoard. In the meantime I am going to start up a new project of my own.
I spoke with our new Message Center supervisor Trey and he got me thinking about the various ways in which Cyber Villains abuse email. I am going to see if I can't build something, with Scout's help, that will plug up security holes in our email systems. I truly agree with Trey that email can be a wonderful thing if only we can stop people abusing it.
posted by Dr. Keen
topic: Diagnostics Updates, Miscellaneous
May 21 2007
Introductions
My name is Dr. Keen. I am the lab technician at Diagnostics at the Carnegie Cyber Academy. I run this blog and the lab with the help of my trusty robot, Scout. Pretty much, it means that I am responsible for building and maintaining all of the hardware and software systems used at the Academy and in Cyberspace.
I also fix computers that have been damaged in the attacks by various Cyber Villains.
My hobby is creating little software programs that prevent those attacks from ever occuring. Cyber Villains are intelligent people and are always changing how they infiltrate and destroy a system, so I am always having to find new ways to stop them.