How to hack without hacking!

Anyone can Hacking!

I must admit this post will be one of those that you really can eat.   I'm not saying that you should hack but lately it has been so easy to discover some website to help enable people to hack.  After watching to Security Now Episode 339: ScriptNo for Chrome, I found out about the "Trend Netcam Problem" where if you have a Netcam on the internet all they would have to do is add "(IP address)/anony/mjpg.cgi" and you can find out some IP's that have Netcams.  The fun part is if you just Google "/anony/mjpg.cgi" you can find a list of IP's that might have netcams on them!

Pastebin can be useful!

I like to occasionally check the trends for Pastebin every so often because they usually have something of interest on them. I have found that Pastebin is an excellent source of hacking information. So many hackers are using this service that you never really know what you find from day to day.   You   can easily search the Pastebin site for stuff that you might want to check out.   I'm always trying to find stuff that I can use to help the community.  Sometimes though you find scripts that people have made for some reason or other but you get to see the script, so you don't run the script but you can see the meat and bones.   If your a programmer, you will know what some of this is all about and what it is doing.

Finding Gems!

I never once said that keeping up to date is something that you should not do but it is something that you could do.   Every So often I see something that strikes my fancy and it should be announced to the world.   If your looking to learn how to hack there are of course places on the internet that will show you just that.  I on the other hand will not show you but tell you when something is going on that you should do for yourself rather letting the hackers have all the fun!

Paul Sylvester

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• Thorwed: a conversation with the hacker (matteocavallini.com)


• The dangers of DNS hacking (marketing.yell.com)


• What About Tor? (essayboard.com)

You've got hacked thanks to Twitter : Don't "email me at"

I was reading a blog post about Spammers Harvesting Sorrow From Twitter.

Something came to my mind, so I did a little research and a lot of thinking and it finally came to me. It is easy for someone to find your email and use it for there own means. There are several different scenarios I can come up with:

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• Impersonating someone you know --  It is quite simple to find out who we know and who we follow.  You can always find someone who you don't know the email address of and make it seem like your them to get even more information from the person.


• Receiving Viruses, Trojans, or worms --   Although if you have a good Anti-virus this one won't be getting to you but  according to ESET : 10 percent of computer users didn't know if they had anti-virusware installed. This means that there are going to be some success for malware authors to send out a virus to every who twitters there email address and still have success.


• Try to guess your password --  If they have your email address, which is almost like your SSN in some respects, they could go to Facebook and try to get into your account by doing a Dictionary attack or a Brute Force Attack.  They may even try to hack into your email address just to get access to all the other accounts.

I am sure I am going to miss others that could possibly happen but this isn't about what could happen this is about ways to prevent this type of stuff.   Chris Pirillo seems to think that if we use the "AT" and "dot" in place of the real things that no Bot would be able to figure that.   I say no because this is the easiest thing for a bot to do is to copy everything after the "Email me at"  and put it in a text file.   Then the person harvesting the email address would just have to go through and find all them that have the "dot" and "at" and change them to what they should be.  I have been watching the search terms for the last few hours and it seems there is a new person posting there email address every 5 minutes or so.  Have you don't it in the past?

In short, if you want someone to email you it is always best just to send a Direct message to them so no other eyes can see it.  I'd also suggest installing some [intlink id="2205" type="page"]Free Anti-virus and Firewalls[/intlink] if you haven't already to better help your protect your personal information.  Remember only you can prevent from getting your personal information stolen.

Appearently it's a Time/Date problem with the Zune 30 gig

There are many reports right now that the Zune 30 is locked up or frozen. I have heard people say doing a hard reset has done nothing to the fix the problem. I would have to consider it a problem with time/date because of them all locking up the same time last night around 2am or at least that is when the reports started coming in.

[ad#tim-right-free-cell-1]Possible Fix:
Reset the Zune (hard Reset)
Hack the Zune (Zune MP3 Player Hack)

Change the TIME AND DATE ON THE ZUNE FOR LAST YEAR

This is my thoughts on fixing the problem temporarily.  This shouldn't be done unless you know what your doing.   I have no zune but this is a technical issue and I know how people would like to get there Zune to working.   If this solutions works let me know.  These should fix the problem if someone can get it to think the zune is next year.  The other way you could Possible fix this is to reset your computer to next year and then sync with the Zune after you've hard reset as long as you disconnect from the internet you should be able to fool the Zune to think it's that date.   Just another good idea to get the zune to work.  Just remember if it does work let me know.

*Update*

[Update - 2:20pm PST]

Hi guys,

I just got an update from the team that I want to share with you. Great news! It looks like this issue will resolve itself over the next 24 hours. Please read the response below. Thank you all for your extreme patience with this!

-Matt

Via Zune Forums

Apple's Immunity, Botnet sanctuary.

But is Apple projecting a false sense of security just to save face? Many experts repeatedly warn that all operating systems are susceptible to viruses, and as the Mac becomes more popular OS X will inevitably become a bigger target for malicious attacks.

[via Pcworld]

Having said that I feel the notion that Apple is trying to keep there reputation as a virus free system. I can only hope that they stay that way. Which as much as I know, Apple will most like start to be the main source for botnets, because of the lack of security.


[ad#ad2-right]According to reports on this blog, people are worried Apple stance on it being the safest and having so much immunity to viruses. Apple in the past has stated they have mislead people with there firewall. Yet Apple takes down that suggestion of having an Anti-virus(Quietly).

[ad#digg-left]Everything I've seen suggest that virus writers and Malware writers will MOST likely start targeting the Mac OS X, they know Apple sense of security is Vulnerable to attack and they will exploit it more and more. So what does that mean for Apple, it just means that soon every hacker who has a botnet will want a piece of the Apple Pie and is right now.

[ad#ad2-left]As PC Trojans go, the programming features of RSPlug.E look fairly basic. PC malware is more highly evolved and usually cleverer. But a programmer - probably a Russian - with knowledge of OSX had taken time to create a Trojan that hits Macs instead of PCs, James pointed out.

[via Techworld]

Which looks like it has already begun. So what can Mac users do, get an Anti-virus and maybe Apple will have to start backing down from the Virus commercials and actually admit it. Sooner or later someone will have to challenge Apple to get them to start admitting to it.

Vista has a new Vulnebility!

According to Techworld.com,  Vista has a new Vulnerability that could let a hacker infect a Vista machine with a rootkit.  The talk from them is quite intriguing.   I will quote it to better let you know what the Vulnerability is:

The vulnerability could allow a hacker to install a rootkit, a small piece of malicious software that is very difficult to detect and remove from a computer, Unterleitner said.

[ad#ad2-left]Phion notified Microsoft about the problem on 22 October. Microsoft indicated to Phion that it would issue a patch with Vista's next service pack. Microsoft released a beta version of Vista's second service pack to testers last month. Vista's Service Pack 2 is due for release by June 2009.
[via Techworld.com]

The way they could do this is through the Device IO Control which in turn could corrupt the Kernel of Windows Vista.  Now we all know that Microsoft will release a patch quicker than 6 months away.  According to this article, people are already looking for the exploit and want to know more about it.  I would be willing to bet they will have a patch out sooner than later.  Probably January or Febuary, which will be a big deal because no one will expect it.  I would also imagine hackers will start trying to figure out how they could install software as quick as possible before Microsoft pushes out the patch.   So what can you do to protect yourself, Get a firewall, a Antivirus and learn how to protect yourself to prevent yourself from getting a computer virus.

Fake Wordpress update 2.6.4 steals data!

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The hacked version of the file pluggable appears to be stealing the content of cookies on larger installations of WordPress. Sophos are now detecting this file as Troj/WPHack-A.


[Via Sopho's]

Apparently this little update is a rogue update.  According to Sopho's and Craig Murphy’s blog, it is said to steal your data and send it to another site.  This hacked version of Wordpress is coming from wordpresz.org so if you happen to stumble onto this fake update, just delete it and go on with your blogging.   Craig talked about how when he logged it this fake update popped up.  So sometimes it is safer to do some digging before you apply an update especially to your Operating system.  Thanks to Sopho's for telling people about this fake and dangerous problem.

What's with Google trends?

Having been going to the Google Trends and keeping watching.  I am starting to wonder something?  Take a look at this and you tell me?

[ad]Can you see how someone might use this to create a Goog-411 and use it to promote there website? It is all about the hits and getting what publishers like to say the eyes on a website. Now is that going to confuse people or make people not want to come to a site.  So how would people abuse this?

Very Simple, they'd watch what is trending and post accordingly.  Now you as a reader would click on the website expecting to see what you want to see but instead it would popup with advertisements and maybe malware?  Check these links to better understand it:

• Skype isn't always safe!


• Some Important programs to prevent yourself from having viruses and Malware!!

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Now even though these are just a few.  You can see how someone might want to abuse it and get there site up on Google trends and be able to infect several to even millions of computers before Google sees that or stops.  You could in theory take over a website high in Google rankings and do exactly that.

Then I have to ask myself, why would hackers want to do it in the first? One they'd be able to direct people to sites that they could use to phish your information, or maybe make money by you going to these sites. It is all about money, I don't say that lightly, but it seems to always be true.

So what is Google doing to prevent this? is it right to use Google for your advantage? Do we need it for anything other than to see what people are looking at? Is that a form of them tracking your every click.

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Are you comfortable with them keeping the list of what people searched for last year? if you don't believe me, go check it out yourself. These are important questions to answer and should be explored.

The Xbox 360 Elite laptop: Ben Heck strikes again

We think it's possible that the time has come to admit that Ben Heck (aka Benjamin Heckendorn) has officially taken it to the limit, put the pedal to the metal, and a large number of other cliches that suggest something has been pushed just about as far as you can take it. That's right folks -- it's the Xbox 360 Elite laptop. We're not even going to try and pretend to understand how an individual could go about creating this kind of extreme mod to the Microsoft console -- needless to say that if there was one man who could do it, Ben is that guy. Luckily for us lay-people, he's included a graphic breakdown of just about every step on the road to a portable Xbox 360, replete will all the case cracking, innards opening, wire splaying photos you could possibly want or need. Sorry NEStari and Atari 800 laptop -- there's a new boss in town.
[Via Engadget]

Wouldn't you love one of those! It looks so cool!!! Thought people would like to see this for themselves!!

Hot, sexy bot sweet-talks personal data out of chatters

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Security software company PC Tools warns that the bot can easily be used for malicious purposes. The company said that the program's ability to mimic human behavior to dupe chatters is worrisome, and could readily be used to collect all manner of information. "As a tool that can be used by hackers to conduct identity fraud, CyberLover demonstrates an unprecedented level of social engineering," said PC Tools senior malware analyst Sergei Shevchenko in a statement. "CyberLover has been designed as a bot [robot] that lures victims automatically, without human intervention. If it's spawned in multiple instances on multiple servers, the number of potential victims could be very substantial."
[Via Arstechnica]

This is really a security issue here. Never give out your personal information online. I just want to post this to remind people not everything online is safe.

Kindle DRM hacked to allow protected Mobipocket ebooks

We knew the Kindle's DRM would be cracked the minute we heard about it, and it looks like the first chink in the armor is here courtesy of Igor Skochinsky: he's discovered the algorithm the Kindle uses to turn regular Mobipocket books into Amazon's proprietary .azw format. The hack involves replacing a Mobipocket file's PID with one generated from your Kindle's serial number, and then setting a Kindle-specific flag that allows it to be opened. Igor's posted a couple little Python scripts to handle both of these tasks for you, and it looks like sites like Fictionwise already support the hack. That's all well and good, but we're still waiting patiently for the day when we can tether to that free EV-DO.

[Via Engadget]

I'm all about making your life simpler so this will help!! Enjoy!!

How to enable Time Machine on unsupported volumes

Although we've been mostly happy with Leopard, one of the features we were most looking forward to was the ability to set Time Machine to use a NAS volume like Airport Disk, thus making laptop backups wireless and sexy (well, sort of sexy) instead of wired and cumbersome. Sadly, Apple cut the feature at the last minute, but as with all things OS X, nirvana is usually just a defaults write command away, and Volker Weber has got it sorted for us. Just pop open a terminal window and enter:



defaults write com.apple.systempreferences TMShowUnsupportedNetworkVolumes 1

and you should be able to select NAS volumes in the Time Machine prefs. Of course, you should only re-enable this for giggles -- we don't know why Apple turned it off to begin with, and it could very well be full of bugs and hose your data. Considering some of the other glitches that have cropped up in Time Machine, we'd actually recommend staying well away from this one, but if you're desperate, by all means -- go for it and let us know how it works in comments!

Since I do not have a mac, I do not know how well this works. If anyone tries it let me know!

Leopard hacked for Intel PC consumption

We've come to expect our Apple-related hacks early and user friendly these days, but we've still got mad respect for the folks at OSx86 Scene who've managed to get Mac OS X 10.5 Leopard up and running on Intel PCs on launch day -- the day before if you felt like being a bit less upright about it. The hack requires a minimum of trickery on your part: just a burnable DVD, USB thumb drive and a bit of luck. Not everything's super tested just yet, and OSx86 Scene will be expanding support and simplifying the process as time goes on, but this is sure a promising start.

[Via dailyApps, image courtesy of mac.nub]

Hmm, Wonder if that will work on a Dual Core system? Might try it later!!

I-Phone has been broken out of Jail!!

While it's not quite ready for mere mortals to use it, hackers that call themselves the iPhone/Touch Dev Team say they've finally managed to jailbreak the iPhone firmware version 1.1.1. It's great news because 1) the latest iPhone can be activated again without signing up with AT&T and 2) third-party applications will be able to run once again, kinda. Don't get too excited just yet, though, because there's still a lot of "major hacking" left to do. Full details from Dev Team after the jump:

I've figured they do it sooner or later but kinda of depressing that they have to recompile the 3rd party apps. Go check out the full story!

iPhone 1.1.1 "bug" unleashes music over Bluetooth

The iPhone 1.1.1 update has a hidden little surprise for y'all: Bluetooth audio streaming is now available off of your iPhone for whatever you darn please, meaning you can finally listen to music from the phone wirelessly. Oddly enough, this "function" has been unleashed by a Visual Voicemail bug that leaves Bluetooth audio on even after you've left the Voicemail interface. Of course, it's only mono audio, and the audio keeps playing out of your built-in speaker -- if you plug in headphones to cut off the speaker you'll lose Bluetooth streaming as well -- but it's nice to see Apple forking over some "should have been there in the first place" functionality accidentally to go along with all that stuff of the same ilk 1.1.1 took away from us.

I wonder if this is going to stay?

iPhone update: facts and fiction

If you haven't already bitten the bullet and taken your unlocked iPhone down that scariest of paths, the 1.1.1 update, we're here to sort out a bit of the hearsay from the actual and fairly inconvenient truth. Even if you have already updated, or never even unlocked or jailbroke your iPhone to begin with, there's still a lot to learn, so let's dive in, shall we?

http://www.engadgetmobile.com/2007/09/28/iphone-update-facts-and-fiction/

This is a very good article go check it out!

Restore the Run Command to the Vista Start Menu

Restore the trusty Run command to your Windows Vista Start menu with the simple step-by-step instructions at weblog IntelliAdmin. Just right-click your Start menu and click Properties. Then go to the Start menu tab, click Customize, and tick the checkbox next to Run command. Your reliable Run command will return to your Start menu where you've come to know and expect it. Then again, you can always get to the Run prompt with the ever-useful Windows-R keyboard shortcut

http://lifehacker.com/software/windows-tip/restore-the-run-command-to-the-vista-start-menu-303964.php

Hey this is a very good hack. I'll have to do that for my system. Go check out the full story and find out how for yourself!!