Convert hex to ascii
Posted by creining | Filed under Linux/BSD
#!/usr/bin/perl
foreach (@ARGV) {$a = "$a$_"; }
$a=~s/([a-fA-F0-9][a-fA-F0-9])/pack("C",hex($1))/eg;
print "$a\n"
XP 20 minute TTL
Posted by creining | Filed under Security
According to the Internet Storm Center the survival time for a fresh Windows XP box out on the internet before getting pwned is 20 minutes! That TTL may not even be long enough to get XP Service Pack 2, which may or may not break your system, may or may not singe the fur off your cat, and may be as small as 70MB and may not be smaller than 260MB. Welcome to the internet.
DAG high performance network cards
Posted by creining | Filed under Security
I recently read about the use of DAG cards for high volume network traffic capture. I found out that they are manufactured by endace and that the network cards, according to endace, are “specifically designed for network surveillance applications”. From the graph they provide on packet loss between different cards it appears that they perform superiorly. Of course, that graph doesn’t represent independent testing but it is intriguing nevertheless. Their product page states that DAG cards can be used with some popular applications such as libpcap, tcpdump, snort, and ntop. The site does mention though that DAG cards are only supported on “Linux 2.4 and FreeBSD 4, to which Linux 2.6, FreeBSD 5 and Microsoft Windows XP/2003 Server (with WinPCap support) will be added shortly.” It would be interesting to get my hands on one of these DAG cards to test it out.
Lockpicking
Posted by creining | Filed under Security
I just ordered a book on lockpicking. I’ve been interested in the (in)security of locks since I’ve been interested in computer security, same dynamic. The best guide I’ve read on the subject thus far is the infamous MIT Guide to Lock Picking. A resource online that I’ve found recently on lockpicking is the Waag Society TOOOL (The Open Organization Of Lockpickers) which graciously hosts a couple lockpicking workshop videos from the H2K2 and H2K conferences. These videos really show are easy lockpicking can be. I highly recommend any aspiring lockpicker to watch those. I tried cracking my Master Lock combination too, by following that guide. The lock didn’t fare all too well. In the near future I’ll need to invest in some lockpicking tools. I’m not sure on what tools I’m going to pick up yet as I may order a set online or craft my own, from street cleaner bristles or a brick strap. Incidently, I hear a good book related to lockpicking is Surely You’re Joking, Mr. Feynman! which is about Feynman (a supposed brilliant man) and his tribulations of working at Los Alamos and cracking all the safes/filing cabinets/anything thats locked there as a hobby. My feeling on picking locks is that most of them probably can’t hold their own against a set of bolt cutters, a crow bar, or a sledge hammer but that lockpicking is so elegant a solution. And that’s why I want to learn the craft.
I found interesting news a few days ago on a couple people who were able to unlock Kryptonite bicycle U-locks with a ball point pen in seconds: Movie 1, Movie 2, Movie 3. This news quickly made its way around the internet and has since been picked up by major news outlets. In checking out Kryptonites website, they issued a press release today offering upgrades on all of their locks purchased since September 2002. Ouch!
Traceproto
Posted by creining | Filed under Linux/BSD
traceproto is meant to be a traceroute replacement program as it lets the user specify the destination port as well as protocol to use. This is a useful program for situations where you need to trace out of a network protected by a packet filtering device which would drop normal windows or linux traceroute. On the other hand, you could also fully complete a trace into a network protected by a packet filtering device, like a companies DMZ, that allows inbound HTTP traffic.
GIAC GCIA practical is posted
Posted by creining | Filed under Security