Bahrain – Working for another manager is trying my patience

Well I am almost done with my small tour in Bahrain, and will be glad to be home. I will miss some of the people, they are great and were a joy to work with.
As for the project that my company is contracted on, I am a little pissed that nothing has really been done, since I last left from working over here. Well none of the projects that we were supposed to be working on. Many of the other vendors that had projects have finished, or are scheduled to finish their projects. It seems that the manager in charge has either not worried about the project or is clueless that his employees are lying to him.
The two people that were hired to come over here and work for the last year, which are not security minded people by the way, did almost nothing during the time they were over here. From what I can tell, it looks like they relied on other vendors to do most of the work and they took all of the credit for it. Most of the projects are not even actually started, but are marked as partially complete. I have been working on a Bit9 installation for a couple of weeks, there are 1200+ workstations in the environment, and only 130 systems have the software installed. There are no real policies defined, and  only two workstations are locked down. The manager believes that all systems have the software installed and they are completely protected, I tried to let him know, and he did not see to want to hear it. I dropped the conversations and began working on a solution to the issue.
I am ready to get back to pentesting, where I can actually do some good, well I will keep telling my self that. Many of my customers, just want a band-aid to cover over the problems, and not really work on fixing things, but I still get to have fun in the process.

Heading back to Bahrain for my 3rd Trip

Heading out Monday July 21st to Bahrain for another 45 days of excitement in Bahrain. My company was renting an apartment since last year, but they let the lease lapse, so I will be staying in the Marriott for the stays. Which is fine with me, I like getting the points, and plus it has free breakfast. I guess they are expecting for me to look for another apartment to rent, not sure why the last person who was there did not do this, since he works on the project full time (or is supposed to).
No sure what I will be working on this time around, since I have not been involved with this project since last year when I was there. Have had little information given to me from the director of this project, and the employees assigned to the director of this project have been little help giving me information.
Did not really want to head back, but my boss sort of gave me a “you do not really have an option” speech. I was supposed to heading to Defcon during this time frame and told him I would prefer to that that then to Bahrain. I was then told that was not a good reason to not go on the trip, and something like “I cannot justify you going to training instead of this trip” or something similar to that. This did not really make me happy, and they originally wanted me to go for 90 days, but I had to do military duty so I could only squeeze in the 45 days to go (well that is what I told them). Not like they could really argue about me not being able to go, since it is the federal government and all.
I was surprised that they were expecting me to cover this time frame for the project, but it seems that one of the two people they hired does not want to go back over there anymore. I was a little pissed about that, and think they need to fire him since he was specifically hired to do this project. Sure that will not happen, since they have him doing training for Alien Vault software occasionally.
This is partly one reason I started researching penetration testing companies. Have found a few I like, but not sure if I will be looking for a new place to work just yet. Need to see if they are expecting me to make more trips back to Bahrain. I already told my director that I would not be heading back over already, so to not even ask me about it.

Living in Bahrain for 50 days

Well I have been living in Bahrain for about 50 days now, and I am ready to head back to the United States. It is a little different living over here, most of the people are  very nice, many cannot drive let alone stay in any lane on the road. Many drivers like to honk their  horns; which can get a little annoying at times, especially when the light is just about to turn green and just incase you had not noticed that it was turning green they wanted to let you know by honking their horn. I have learned that if you can drive on it people will, no matter if it is the road or not, shoulders are almost like an extra lane for many people, even the dirt along the road can become an extension of the road for many people. I have seen a 3 lane road turn into a 5 lane road, with people all over the place, and as close to each other as possible with out hitting one another.
The dust in the air is awful at times and  my eyes have been red the entire time I have been here, and my nose has been stopped up as well on several occasions. The weather has been fairly nice, compared to Knoxville Tennessee, which it has been snowing and raining there.
Have not had too many problems finding something to eat, there are dozens of American restaurants here. There is even a street referred to as American Alley (next to the Navy Base) and another called Shawarma Alley due to the multiple ( I believe 4) food stands located to each other on the small road.
  • McDonalds
  • Hardees
  • KFC
  • Pizza Hut
  • Papa Johns
  • Burger King
  • Subway
  • Polo Campero
  • PotBelly sandwiches
  • Fatburger
  • Fuddruckers
  • Chilis
  • Bennigans
  • Carrinos
  • Hard Rock Cafe
  • TGIFridays
  • Gloria Jeans
  • Starbucks
  • Aunt Annie
  • Baskin Robins
  • Cold Stone Creamery
There are probably places I am forgetting but these are the ones I have seen an can remember at the present time. I was actually surprised at the amount of American food places to eat at. Plus they all seem to have delivery which is usually guys on motorcycles and a box attached to the back of the bike.
Delivery Guy

Chili’s Delivery driver, would love to have this back home, getting chips and salsa delivered would be awsome.

There is a large Police and Military presence around town, and at times there are demonstrations.
DSC03300

Police and Military parked along the road all over the place.


DSC02801Small demonstration I ran into driving down the road one day. police where shooting tear gas, demonstrators throwing rocks.

All in all it has been a decent trip, seen many interesting places, and people, but it is time to head home. The prices are not any cheaper like many people have told me they would be, in some cases they are the same or a little higher. It does seem to be cheaper due to the prices but when 1 Dinar is equal to 2.5624 US Dollars, that 5 Dinar item is actually 13.26 USD. I can get a Big Mac combo meal (small drink and fries) for 1.500BHD which is $3.98 USD a little cheaper than the US prices I believe, but the drink and fry sizes are smaller portions which would make up the difference in price.
Purchasing local items can be fairly cheap, but anything that is shipped in from other countries, is generally not cheaper. Purchasing Kraft cheese compared to local cheese is about double the price in some cases.
Many of the local shops (not grocery stores, or food places) expect you to haggle with them over prices of some items, so they will give you a high price when you ask. You have to know the value of the item before hand to get a good price, which is not always easy to do. Places near the Navy base, or other Expat areas are generally going to try to get you to pay more than it is worth, because they know you will pay it.
Bahrain Snacks

Picked up some snack to bring back with me, samboosa, mahtai, and some Fisthakiya.

Food For Matt


Picked up a few items for my oldest son who is getting into cooking for his friends, and himself.  He can cook an Indian style meal for his friends to try.


Rugs

Picked up a few smal rugs for family and friends as gifts, they were 3BHD a piece or about $8.00 USD, they are about 12’x12′ in size, and are all hand made locally .

Spent a lot of time traveling around to all of the shop areas, and looking at all of the different items that are for sale, many are fakes of original items, or cheap knock offs. Some items are cheap tourst items, that they try to sell for a premium. There are many shops located all over the city, and can be as small as a single room or as large as a full department store. You name it you can probably find it here, not sure if it will be an original version of what you are looking for but you can find at least a fake version of it.
I have picked up enough items to fill a full size suitcase, and had to purchase a small duffle bag to bring items back with me to the US. I am hoping I have not gone over my $800 limit of tax free items, or I will have to pay tax on anything over the amount. Will have to check my total count of money spent and make sure I am not over. Since I have a 7 hour layover in Amsterdam I am sure I will find some more items there that I want to pick up for the family.
Well getting ready to head home, for a few weeks of relaxation, and some normalcy, then back over here for another 35 days of fun.


50 days in Bahrain

My work in sending me to Bahrain for 50 days (90 total days) to work, my project will be split up into to parts. I will be onsite working for the first 50 days and then be back for the other 40 days, to finish up working.
I plan on keeping a daily log of my events, not sure what access to the internet I will have, and what I should post while I am in country. I have heard that they country limits certain activities and websites from being viewed.
I have been following several new sites, and have signed up for the US Embassy feeds, along with continually watching the US Navy 5th Fleet site to see what is happening in country.
I have a nice long flight, starting on January 9th leaving McGhee Tyson heading to Detroit, have a 1:30 layover before heading to Amsterdam. Flying in Economy Plus, because my company is too cheap to get me Business class. The flight is supposed to be about 8 hours long, and then a 4 hour layover in Amsterdam before my 8 hour flight to Bahrain, with a stop in Abu Badui.