This Saturday the 12th at 2pm at Hal-PC, my HLUG presentation will concern THE ART OF INTRUSION by reformed naughty person Kevin Mitnick (I HATE the term "hacker") with William Simon. Here's a little preview:
So these guys are fishing for ports with scripts and such. They find something that gives them a prompt that they've never seen before. After some research, they finally determine that they've gotten partway into a web-enabled Coke machine.
You outsiders thought all this stuff was exotic and James-Bond-ish, didn't you? No. Coke machine.
Actually, these people blundered into a major market test on the part of Coca-Cola to see if real-time stock information could be used by drivers to know to get to the busier machines earlier, and to produce useful metrics on what was selling where. All quite valid goals. Of course, there's a security problem with the web, as was evidently determined. The point is that once you're at the prompt, one needs a password and one of the... interested parties (I HATE the term "hacker") went for the dictionary attack and another one says "No; let's try to guess."
They guess the password on the third try. Think about it. A machine owned by Coke?
Right. The password was "Pepsi".
Now there's no show planned for the second meeting (fourth Saturday) which is the 26th, at least not at the moment. I'll be out of town, and both Aaron and Russell Adams are being lobbied for the August shows (the 9th and the 23rd of that month).
Stay tuned to this channel for who and what gets scheduled for the 26th (two weeks from a few days from now or so).
Friday, July 11, 2008
Sunday, July 6, 2008
THE DATE APPROACHES...
... when former HLUG President Aaron Estrada will return for a presentation. But that'll be after he moves.
... when water will be synthesized on Mars from your home moisture condenser. But that'll be a few years.
... when true stories of bureaucratic ineptitude and stupidity will be revealed to all who have not yet read "The Art Of Intrusion" by Kevin Mitnick.
But first, massive kudo's (or whatever those accolades involve) to Allan for last week's show on Myth TV, the open source manner of making a TiVoid-type storage repository for media files out of an unused but reasonably fast computer. He ACTUALLY DOCUMENTED his presentation here, which disqualifies him for employment in the IT Project Management field, since documenting anything is expressly forbidden (beyond say, 10 min. worth of lame CYA attempts). So go to that link for a better article than I could have written on the procedure.
(Oh, and Donna: I'll have those discs on Wednesday...)
COMING UP - this SATURDAY SATURDAY SATURDAY at 2pm - since I didn't get Russell or Aaron or anybody to do a presentation, it's a book report. So sue me. BUT WAIT!! It's a good one! It's not about hacking, though.
See, a Kevin Mitnick book is supposed to be about hacking. It even says so on the cover. Bullpoop.
It's about the pointy-haired boss from Dilbert. And the minions lower down that make Mr. Pointy Hair look like management material. That's my theory. Experience my nonstandard opinion about this tome at the HLUG bi-monthly knowledge extravaganza. Usual meeting place at Hal-PC.
... when water will be synthesized on Mars from your home moisture condenser. But that'll be a few years.
... when true stories of bureaucratic ineptitude and stupidity will be revealed to all who have not yet read "The Art Of Intrusion" by Kevin Mitnick.
But first, massive kudo's (or whatever those accolades involve) to Allan for last week's show on Myth TV, the open source manner of making a TiVoid-type storage repository for media files out of an unused but reasonably fast computer. He ACTUALLY DOCUMENTED his presentation here, which disqualifies him for employment in the IT Project Management field, since documenting anything is expressly forbidden (beyond say, 10 min. worth of lame CYA attempts). So go to that link for a better article than I could have written on the procedure.
(Oh, and Donna: I'll have those discs on Wednesday...)
COMING UP - this SATURDAY SATURDAY SATURDAY at 2pm - since I didn't get Russell or Aaron or anybody to do a presentation, it's a book report. So sue me. BUT WAIT!! It's a good one! It's not about hacking, though.
See, a Kevin Mitnick book is supposed to be about hacking. It even says so on the cover. Bullpoop.
It's about the pointy-haired boss from Dilbert. And the minions lower down that make Mr. Pointy Hair look like management material. That's my theory. Experience my nonstandard opinion about this tome at the HLUG bi-monthly knowledge extravaganza. Usual meeting place at Hal-PC.
Sunday, June 15, 2008
Great Meeting!
Several things to report:
1. HLUG "election" "results"
2. Donna's show and CD giveaway
3. Hal-PC election progress
Since there seemed no escape (and I'm actually honored to accept), by acclamation and procedure - and a show-of-hands vote which was done on the required date with quorum although I forgot to announce it - I have been elected to a second term as Special Interest Group leader and President of the Houston Linux Users' Group. You've got Lightsey to thank for bringing it to the floor, as well as myself for having asked Allan "When are we supposed to do that?"
Donna's show on the TRK boot disk was a compact primer on how to get yourself or others out of some very serious jams. The Trinity Rescue Kit is a purpose-built Linux distribution featuring NO GRAPHICAL INTERFACE and tools intended to aid in repairing Windows machines (Vista compatibility being enhanced now; general assumption is XP and back). She provided 3 or 4 burned disks for those who wanted one; I seized my copy back before anyone else made a move toward it.
Also, I understand that the online system for voting in the Hal-PC election is up and running. Use the numbers on your member Magazine label to log in, vote early and often.
Coming up in two weeks (fourth Saturday of the month - June 28th) will be Allan's show on MYTH TV, the way to get a computer to run a Linux-based Tivo-type entertainment repository!
1. HLUG "election" "results"
2. Donna's show and CD giveaway
3. Hal-PC election progress
Since there seemed no escape (and I'm actually honored to accept), by acclamation and procedure - and a show-of-hands vote which was done on the required date with quorum although I forgot to announce it - I have been elected to a second term as Special Interest Group leader and President of the Houston Linux Users' Group. You've got Lightsey to thank for bringing it to the floor, as well as myself for having asked Allan "When are we supposed to do that?"
Donna's show on the TRK boot disk was a compact primer on how to get yourself or others out of some very serious jams. The Trinity Rescue Kit is a purpose-built Linux distribution featuring NO GRAPHICAL INTERFACE and tools intended to aid in repairing Windows machines (Vista compatibility being enhanced now; general assumption is XP and back). She provided 3 or 4 burned disks for those who wanted one; I seized my copy back before anyone else made a move toward it.
Also, I understand that the online system for voting in the Hal-PC election is up and running. Use the numbers on your member Magazine label to log in, vote early and often.
Coming up in two weeks (fourth Saturday of the month - June 28th) will be Allan's show on MYTH TV, the way to get a computer to run a Linux-based Tivo-type entertainment repository!
Tuesday, May 27, 2008
"Audacity, Audacity! Always audacity!" - von Clausewitz
At least I think it was him that said that. His phrase has nothing whatever to do with the open source recording program Audacity, but it sounded like a good title for the post. I'm happy to report that my program describing Audacity last Saturday was mostly successful...
in that I was able to demonstrate that an incoming signal from an Ion USB turntable was received and recorded within the Audacity program. Now, my craptop, er, laptop, was not sufficiently powerful to record without dropouts (should have used the 16 bit setting rather than the 32 bit) BUT when the mistake occurred, the dropouts were visible on the spectrograph (the readout that looks like something in a hospital), demonstrating how that graphical readout worked. I also was able to field a question about eliminating LP ticks and pops, which also uses the graphical readout to locate them (as single-line perpendicular excursions above or below the zero point). I brought along the CD I successfully burned on Audacity for Mac (my Linux craptop having been the site of the failed attempt), but since I burned the disk incorrectly (selection transferred as a file), I was not able to demonstrate the success on that other computer (no dropouts on that recording, though). In other news, I mentioned that a USB wireless antenna for laptops which had traditionally not supported Linux is now doing so, shipping with a "driver CD" serving Windows, OSX and Linux (source: ccrane.com, being the C. Crane company).
NEXT SHOWS: First show next month (second Saturday of June) will be Donna on the TRK forensics toolkit, and the second show of June (fourth Saturday) will be Allan on Myth TV, which is a way to transform a spare machine into some kind of Tivoid-MediaCenter-esque storage area for video product - but under Linux. Since it's more complicated than text, I don't understand it, but perhaps you will. Newfangled shenanigans... hmpf.
in that I was able to demonstrate that an incoming signal from an Ion USB turntable was received and recorded within the Audacity program. Now, my craptop, er, laptop, was not sufficiently powerful to record without dropouts (should have used the 16 bit setting rather than the 32 bit) BUT when the mistake occurred, the dropouts were visible on the spectrograph (the readout that looks like something in a hospital), demonstrating how that graphical readout worked. I also was able to field a question about eliminating LP ticks and pops, which also uses the graphical readout to locate them (as single-line perpendicular excursions above or below the zero point). I brought along the CD I successfully burned on Audacity for Mac (my Linux craptop having been the site of the failed attempt), but since I burned the disk incorrectly (selection transferred as a file), I was not able to demonstrate the success on that other computer (no dropouts on that recording, though). In other news, I mentioned that a USB wireless antenna for laptops which had traditionally not supported Linux is now doing so, shipping with a "driver CD" serving Windows, OSX and Linux (source: ccrane.com, being the C. Crane company).
NEXT SHOWS: First show next month (second Saturday of June) will be Donna on the TRK forensics toolkit, and the second show of June (fourth Saturday) will be Allan on Myth TV, which is a way to transform a spare machine into some kind of Tivoid-MediaCenter-esque storage area for video product - but under Linux. Since it's more complicated than text, I don't understand it, but perhaps you will. Newfangled shenanigans... hmpf.
Wednesday, May 14, 2008
Long Time No Tell You Anything!...
I've been trying to entice Aaron (the former prez) to recapitulate his great contributions of talks on Linux audio, but have not so far succeeded. His wife keeps pulling rank on me. To the end of "the show must go on", This last meeting featured John Lightsey's fantastic talk on looking at one's own usage stats - namely looking into one's command history to see what one uses the most of. His command history was revealing. Everything from vi to fakeroot was discussed. But I also contributed a few comments on some bath products I ordered from thinkgeek.com, as well as describing three out of four successful attempts to load Audacity, the open source editing suite. OpenSuse confused me, but I had good luck with OSX, XP and Linux Mint (a Debian variant).
That brings me to next week. If Russell Adams can't make it to do his pre-prepared presentation (is that recumbently redundant?) I should be able to demonstrate this:
http://www.ion-audio.com/ionttusb05
I should be able to use Audacity on Linux to record both from microphone and from the Ion turntable before a live audience in two weeks. Wish me luck. May 24th is the date (if Russell is unavailable) and otherwise will be the second Saturday (first HLUG meeting) of next month (June 14).
More to come...
That brings me to next week. If Russell Adams can't make it to do his pre-prepared presentation (is that recumbently redundant?) I should be able to demonstrate this:
http://www.ion-audio.com/ionttusb05
I should be able to use Audacity on Linux to record both from microphone and from the Ion turntable before a live audience in two weeks. Wish me luck. May 24th is the date (if Russell is unavailable) and otherwise will be the second Saturday (first HLUG meeting) of next month (June 14).
More to come...
Tuesday, April 8, 2008
Coming Up
This Saturday the 12th will be Robert Carlile's TRIP DOWN MEMORY LANE, which exhumes various Nix programs still useful in today's Linux context (and in virtualized environments if all else fails). Then down the road, we'll skip a session due to the General Meeting, THEN Aaron the Previous President will be along (looks like second Sat. of May) to do the Linux Audio show (latest edition).
Also, here's an IBM announcement Robert Spotswood was sent (thanks for forwarding it):
--------
Dear Houston Linux Users Group Members,
Attend these two IBM developerWorks briefings on Thursday, May 1, 2008 to
learn how the IBM Rational software tools can help you be more effective.
Register today.
Change and Release Management for Software Development
Date: Thursday, May 1, 2008
City: Houston, Texas
See how IBM products: Rational® ClearQuest, Rational ClearCase, Rational
Build Forge, and Tivoli® Provisioning Manager can help solve application
deployment problems that many companies face today.
Agenda:
8:30 a.m.
Complimentary breakfast and registration for morning briefing
9:00 a.m.
Change and release management for software development
12:30 p.m.
Briefing ends
Effective software testing - tools and strategies for project success
Date: Thursday, May 1, 2008
City: Houston, Texas
Whether you are planning to build expertise in your IT organization, or
looking for partners with testing expertise, IBM Rational software quality
solutions and best practices can provide you with the framework and tools
you need to use excellence in software testing as a strategic business
advantage.
Agenda:
1:00 p.m.
Complimentary lunch and registration for afternoon briefing
1:30 p.m.
Effective software testing: Tools and strategies for project success
5:00 p.m.
Briefing ends
Check out other worldwide IBM developerWorks Live! events. We look forward to seeing you at these briefings.
Sincerely, The IBM developerWorks team
-------
P.S. - Registration is needed; here's the link:
Link
Also, here's an IBM announcement Robert Spotswood was sent (thanks for forwarding it):
--------
Dear Houston Linux Users Group Members,
Attend these two IBM developerWorks briefings on Thursday, May 1, 2008 to
learn how the IBM Rational software tools can help you be more effective.
Register today.
Change and Release Management for Software Development
Date: Thursday, May 1, 2008
City: Houston, Texas
See how IBM products: Rational® ClearQuest, Rational ClearCase, Rational
Build Forge, and Tivoli® Provisioning Manager can help solve application
deployment problems that many companies face today.
Agenda:
8:30 a.m.
Complimentary breakfast and registration for morning briefing
9:00 a.m.
Change and release management for software development
12:30 p.m.
Briefing ends
Effective software testing - tools and strategies for project success
Date: Thursday, May 1, 2008
City: Houston, Texas
Whether you are planning to build expertise in your IT organization, or
looking for partners with testing expertise, IBM Rational software quality
solutions and best practices can provide you with the framework and tools
you need to use excellence in software testing as a strategic business
advantage.
Agenda:
1:00 p.m.
Complimentary lunch and registration for afternoon briefing
1:30 p.m.
Effective software testing: Tools and strategies for project success
5:00 p.m.
Briefing ends
Check out other worldwide IBM developerWorks Live! events. We look forward to seeing you at these briefings.
Sincerely, The IBM developerWorks team
-------
P.S. - Registration is needed; here's the link:
Link
Monday, March 24, 2008
A truly great performance
... by not only Robert Spotswood but our happy colleagues from the Czech Republic and the Russian Federation was experienced by all at Saturday's meeting. I brought a pre-virused XP machine (infected basically by turning off all protection and heading for any address with .cz or .ru on the end) and technician Spotswood proceeded to examine it via a novel method I'd never seen demonstrated. As opposed to my earlier descriptions of the method (I didn't quite understand it), he indeed brought Linux into the picture but not via a second machine. He booted a Linux live CD (Knoppix? Mepis? I've forgotten) on the stricken machine and then used it to bring in (from a USB thumb drive) an application called Clam Antivirus. Clam is an open-source AV product maintained at http://www.clamav.org (we used the Linux version in this case, although I hear there's a somewhat limited Windows version as well).
Robert's writeup (current version) is located on his page:
http://www.spotswood-computer.net/
- and just scroll to the bottom and click on the title "Cleaning Windows With ClamAV"; it's PDF only last time I was there but HTML may be on the way.
Bottom line: assuming that your Windows machine is still OK hardware-wise, booting from the CD and using the antivirus app on the USB drive provides a protected point from which to first observe and control the internal drive (location of infections) and then from which to run the definitions comparison. Remember that this process indeed depends upon a definitions file (shit list of filenames or descriptions), so if somebody paid somebody to write a custom day-zero attack, this method wouldn't see it. It would, however, see common rootkits and malapps on which such an attack could depend.
Coming up next meeting (second Saturday of April) will be Robert Carlile's show that I've dubbed "A Trip Down Memory Lane", which exhumes various lost programs that still work today, either in Nix environments or something virtualized (he has a faster computer than me so he can do such things...)
Robert's writeup (current version) is located on his page:
http://www.spotswood-computer.net/
- and just scroll to the bottom and click on the title "Cleaning Windows With ClamAV"; it's PDF only last time I was there but HTML may be on the way.
Bottom line: assuming that your Windows machine is still OK hardware-wise, booting from the CD and using the antivirus app on the USB drive provides a protected point from which to first observe and control the internal drive (location of infections) and then from which to run the definitions comparison. Remember that this process indeed depends upon a definitions file (shit list of filenames or descriptions), so if somebody paid somebody to write a custom day-zero attack, this method wouldn't see it. It would, however, see common rootkits and malapps on which such an attack could depend.
Coming up next meeting (second Saturday of April) will be Robert Carlile's show that I've dubbed "A Trip Down Memory Lane", which exhumes various lost programs that still work today, either in Nix environments or something virtualized (he has a faster computer than me so he can do such things...)
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