Adverteren naar het onderwerp...

Dagelijks heb ik een aantal vaste sites die ik langsloop. Tegenwoordig kan je daarbij geholpen worden door je "eigen" startpagina, iGoogle. Vandaag zag ik bij de nieuwsitems op FOK!frontpage die ik vanuit mijn iGoogle aanklikte een artikel over een vrouw die door een onbekende man voor de trein is geduwd. Diep triest dat dit soort dingen gebeuren. Echter worden de pagina's van FOK ook gevuld met advertenties. Van de Google advertenties weten we dat deze gerelateerd zijn aan de website waarop ze staan, maar dat het soms ook averechts kan werken toont de onderstaande afbeelding aan.



In dit geval geen "gerelateerde" advertentie van Google, maar wel een advertentie van Ditzo, een verzekeringsmaatschappij. In het flashfilmpje wordt een nietsvermoedende man platgewalst door een sloopkogel. De advertenties worden weliswaar random onder de artikelen gezet, maar het lijkt mij dat deze niet helemaal gepast is...

Daarnaast kan je je afvragen in hoeverre op deze manier adverteren effectief is. Op het moment dat je de advertentie aanklikt,zal bij een aantal mensen de informatiebalk tevoorschijn komen met de melding dat er een pop-up geblokkeerd is.



De mensen die dan toch nog de advertentie willen zien kunnen vervolgens de informatiebalk aanklikken, waarna ze kunnen kiezen voor pop-ups tijdelijk toestaan...



Helaas zal de pagina zich dan verversen. Grote kans dat de random gekozen advertentie pas weer verschijnt nadat de pagina meerdere malen is ververst. In mijn test duurde het in 1 geval wel 20x voordat de betreffende advertentie weer verscheen. Helaas... na het aanklikken van de advertentie verscheen weer de informatiebalk waarin ik de pop-up tijdelijk toe kan staan. Natuurlijk kan ik kiezen voor de andere optie "pop-ups van deze website altijd toestaan", maar wil ik dat wel? Hiermee zadel ik mijzelf op met ongewenste popups van deze "toegestane" website. Daarnaast loop ik het risico dat de beveiliging van mijn pc aangetast wordt. Het ging mij tenslotte alleen maar om die ene advertentie en niet die honderden anderen...

Challenge yourself...

everybody goes on about reading, yes reading articles is important, but it is much better if you try and find it out yourself through experiments, you may find something nobody has discovered yet, because you didn't just follow what somebody wrote and you approached it with an open mind.

"take the stairs instead of the elevator"

its a metaphorical statement for finding something out. if you enter a building and need to go up you look for the stairs or elevator. imagine as you learn you rise up.

you could take the elevator, this will take you up the quickest. all you have to do is find the right one and push a button. however you may miss something in your apparent rapid ascent and not understand how you got there.

the alternative is the stairs. it will take you longer to get there and will require more time and effort. however each step will build on the previous ones, giving you a solid foundation to higher levels. you may also notice some interesting things on the way.

there is another way. do not rise, let the rise descend to you. this can by done by changing your reality so that you believe you are further up. if you believe it strongly enough it will "appear" to be no different from actually being there. if you can also change nearby entities' realities then they will think you are on their level. however it is a pretence and could be adverse if sustained for time. there is no subsitute for true first person experience.

thus the "mini challanges" were formed. simple and not so simple tasks for you to try. there is no race or rank and you are not graded on how you do. it is up to you to do the best you can.the challanges

use a resource hacker to modify an image and text string of a program.

save a file to your hard drive - delete it (also in recycle bin) using windows (not secure 3rd party delete) and then recover it using an undelete program or hex editor.

setup a test webserver to be accessed either on your local network or the internet, include ftp/ssh for user account upload. setup .htaccess on a folder. run a server sided script like asp/php/pl.

install a (smallish) program and record all of its file and registry entries and modifications.

tryout a different shell for your operating system.

setup a 2kpro box(no other bootable partitions or boot.ini edited) with ntfs - bios(pwd protected) set to boot from harddrive. set a (short) admin password and shutdown. get local admin access without using your memory of the password. findout what the password was.

backup a dvd and cd you own to divx (audio/video synced) and mp3 respectfully.

make a usable crosslinked piece of network cable.

hide a file/some data (atleast 512kb) somewhere on your hard drive.

crack a (shortish) des/md5 password with john the ripper.

check your email (not webmail) and send a message using telnet.

use a packet capturing program to see what information is exchanged when you connect to a website, when you check your email.

install/use pgp and exchange signed/encrypted email with a friend.

findout the manufactures, model numbers and main specifications of the major components in your computer.

signup for a shell account and try/use some of the services.

send a spoofed arp reply to a remote computer

do a trace on a domain name, find the ip, find out all the connections to get there, who is it hosted by, who was it registered by and under which accredited registrar.

compile some code into an exe, either written by you or somebody else, if the latter modify the code slightly, to add/remove/optimize a feature.

connect to an irc server and use/learn at least 10 /commands.

write a couple of html or wap web pages including images using a text editor. if html, include the style and script tags.

browse the internet using a/multiple proxy(s).

use nmap(nt) to do a scan on a remote computer.

install a rule based firewall - delete all default rules and write your own. test your security with an online scanner and/or local network scans.

install a linux distro either on a clean disk or dual boot.

Let op wat u print...

De GHDB, oftewel de Google Hacking Database (http://johnny.ihackstuff.com/ghdb.php), is een aardige bron om eens een avondje aan te besteden. Er staan zoekopdrachten voor Google in die wat andere resultaten geven dan die je normaal gesproken kan verwachten. Alhoewel er al een aardig aantal queries in de database zijn terug te vinden, is deze natuurlijk nooit volledig. Hieronder mijn bevindingen met betrekking tot een querie die nog niet in de GHDB staat, maar er ongetwijfeld vroeg of laat in zal komen.

De opdracht “web/user/nl/websys” levert 2 resultaten op. Eventueel kan nl veranderd worden in een andere landcode om meer resultaten te krijgen.



De twee links in dit geval wijzen beide naar hetzelfde IP adres. Het aanklikken van deze link brengt je naar een pagina die afkomstig is van een printer of multifunctional. Door het adres aan te passen, en alleen het ip adres te laten staan kom je op de frontpage terecht.



Zonder in te hoeven loggen kunnen diverse opties van de IS 2127 bekeken worden. De opties onder de tab “> Opdr. -> Printer -> Historie” Laten zien dat er actief gebruik wordt gemaakt van deze machine.



Toch wel nieuwsgierig geworden welke instantie zijn machines op deze wijze aan het internet heeft gekoppeld, heb ik een scan uitgevoerd op de iprange. Dit levert het volgende op:



Klaarblijkelijk betreft het hier de UvA, oftewel de Universiteit van Amsterdam. Sommige ip adressen leveren interessante gegevens op. Gegevens die je niet open en bloot op het internet wil zetten. Via de optie Document Server kunnen opgeslagen gegevens worden opgevraagd zonder op het apparaat in te hoeven loggen. Faxen, kopieen en prints blijven soms langer bestaan dan wenselijk is. Een aantal van deze apparaten beschikt namelijk over een harddisk. Organisaties schaffen deze machines aan vanwege het efficiente gebruik, echter wordt vaak vergeten dat ze afgeconfigureerd moeten worden nadat ze ook zijn neergezet...

De CERT van de Universiteit van Amsterdam is inmiddels geinformeerd. Uit de reactie van Jeroen Roodhart, lid van het CERT team, blijkt wel dat het inderdaad niet de bedoeling is geweest: "Dank voor uw melding, hiervoor is een call aangemaakt met call-id CERT-UvA#001255. Dit kan inderdaad niet de bedoeling zijn en wij zullen zo snel mogelijk deze misconfiguratie verhelpen."

The Recycle Bin

The Recycle Bin
Functionality is straightforward. It was developed as a way to throw things away without really losing them because they didn't really mean to throw it away.

Similar to regular file deletion, the OS makes the file invisible to the original directory but it won't zero out the cluster chain. It adds a directory entry to the Recycle Bin directory and renames the file. If you delete John.jpg, you'll now have a df000010.jpg in the trash can that is associated with the name John.jpg and the path f:/My Pictures/Yadda/Yadda/John.jpg.

From a forensics perspective, it is obvious that stuff gets into the trash can because the user put it there. On Windows Me/9x machines, the trash can is a community dump. All accounts on a machine share a single trash can. This is a big security problem because you can have something you don't want someone else to see and in the community trash can anybody with an account on the machine can get to it.

On later Windows boxes, you can tell which trash can is whose by looking in the SAM file.

INFO2 Structure
"Deleted" file path
"Deleted" file index number
"Deleted" file drive location
"Deleted" file date and time
"Deleted" file physical size

The recycle bin tracks only user deleted files. It does not track stuff that the OS deletes, such as temporary Internet files and deleting things with a shift-click.

The trash can doesn't hold stuff deleted from removable media or networks. The time stamps will be "machine active time bias" relative.

FAT vs. NTFS Recycle Bins

FAT: 280 byte INFO2 records and all users on the machine can access filesNTFS: 800 byte INFO2 records and the bin is user-specific based on SID.

The recycle bin has its own Master File Table record for deleted files. FTK is able to show that a file has been removed from the bin and all of the INFO2 data for removed files.

When an item is removed from the file, it's not possible to tell whether it was deleted from the bin or moved back out of the bin. Both actions have the same result as far as the Recycle Bin is concerned.

The date an item is moved into the recycle bin is a potentially powerful piece of evidence, and that informaiton is stored in the INFO2 data in the trash can.

Quote

If Sherlock Holmes were alive today, he would surely be a master of computer forensics...

Alarm Clock of Justice

The Alarm Clock of Justice wakes your computer from standby and hibernation to play an alarm consisting of movies, music, CDs, and/or running programs, scripts, batchfiles, and ANY type of file your computer knows how to run. Alarms can also include web addresses and a built-in reminder system can speak reminders with a customizable display (including flashing random colors). Volume effects include unmuting the volume, setting the volume to a certain level, random volume, and alternating the volume between two customizable levels for four customizable amounts of time.
Built in support for Windows Media Player is included, and used as a backup in case your regular media player reports an error. Waking from standby and hibernation is customizable with the amount of time to wake up from before your alarm plays, whether to enable "insomniac mode", and whether to play your alarm if your computer wakes up within a customizable amount of time (default: 60 seconds) of the alarm. It runs in the system tray and can optionally run at startup with a specific configuration. The time format is customizable (24 hour or 12 hour). Extensive tests are included to make sure your computer can wake from hibernation and standby. Configurations allow for unlimited alarms.OS: Windows 2000, Windows XP, Windows Vista, or (probably) higher. http://www.forrestheller.com/alarm2/

Turn on lightbulb with the Alarm Clock and a printer

used the Alarm Clock of Justice 2.0 to run an AutoHotKey script that made a printer print a file. The printer cartridges are connected to a string which is connected to a light switch. This video has very bad quality and editing.

http://www.forrestheller.com/light_bulb/

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LcjQyWV6xGI

CIPAV

In juni 2007 kreeg de FBI een officiële toelating van het Amerikaanse Federaal Hof om spyware te installeren op een aantal pc's om na te gaan wie achter de bom dreiging zat in een school niet ver van Olympia, Washington. De spyware wordt geïnstalleerd via e-mail en rapporteert de computer zijn IP adres, MAC adres, informatie van het register en updates welke IP adressen (websites) contact mee opnam. De FBI noemt de software een "computer and internet protocol address verifier," oftewel CIPAV. De vraag is nog steeds hoe de FBI langs de anti-virus en adaware software raakte. Hiervoor zouden twee logische antwoorden zijn: de FBI gebruikt een voorgedefinieerde achterpoort in het besturingssysteem of hebben een “deal” gesloten met security producenten. De spyware is enkel een dreiging voor Windows computers.


Het volledige rapport is hier te vinden. http://www.politechbot.com/docs/fbi.cipav.sanders.search.warrant.071607.pdf

Gnucitizen's GHDB

GNUCITIZEN is a creative hacker organization. So, what does that mean? Well, it means that everything on GNUCITIZEN is about creativity and hacking. It also means that the content and all projects released as part of the organization are written and developed by, guess what, creative hackers. Creativity and hacking are closely related terms and very often they can substitute each other, but we like to put them together just to stress our identity.

How does GNUCITIZEN differentiate from other hacker organizations? Although 99.9% of the content published under the GNUCITIZEN hat is mostly about security, we tackle hacking from many different angles. To hack something does not necessarily means to penetrate it security-wise. Hacking is a creative form of expressing ourselves in a clever way. GNUCITIZEN members fall back to IT security very often, since this is what we can do best. However, we have other creative project on the line as well. Currently we concentrate our efforts on the Web2.0 sphere. We find it a very fascinating thing to work on.

http://www.gnucitizen.org/projects/ghdb

GHDB (a.k.a. Google Hacking Database) is HTML/JavaScript wrapper application that uses advance JavaScript techniques to scrape information from Johnny’s Google Hacking Database without the need for hosted server side scripts.

In attempt to show the real dangers of AJAX APIs they’ve created a completely harmless interface to Johnny’s Google Hacking Database. Keep in mind that no service side scripts are required from the Gnucitizen side. Also, keep in mind that all they provide is a single HTML page with a few JavaScript files to glue the interface together.

Returnil Virtual System

http://www.returnilvirtualsystem.com/index.htm


Returnil Virtual System is a powerful technology that clones a copy of your System Partition in memory and can create a file based Virtual Partition where you can save documents, data, and files while using the System Protection feature. Returnil Virtual System protects your computer from harmful viruses, Spyware and unwanted programs, preserves your computer settings, and ensures your Internet Privacy. Simply restart your computer to erase all changes.


When the Returnil protection is ON, your Windows system is running on a virtual partition meaning that every single change in the system partition actually takes place in memory. Therefore, all data and modifications will be lost after your system reboots. By restarting you PC, Returnil will discard all attempted changes made to your System Partition while Protection is ON.

When the Returnil Protection is OFF, you can install or remove any programs, create documents, install security upgrades and software patches, alter configurations, and update user accounts. All changes in the system partition will remain following a reboot.

Features

The Returnil Virtual System:
> Keeps your System Partition safe when browsing the Internet
> Viruses, Trojans, Worms, Adware, Spyware, and unwanted content disappear with a simple reboot
> Enforces settings and protects your internet privacy
> Helps reduce overall disk wear by using memory rather than HDD cloning technology
> Saves you time, money, and lost hair by maintaining or improving peak computer performance
> Reduces or eliminates the need for routine disk de-fragmentation of your system partition
> Your spam filter is strong, but not infallible – Returnil will eliminate the consequences of opening infected e-mail and/or attachments
> Leaves absolutely no traces of computer activities
> Eliminates all activities even if your computer is powered-off or crashes
> Eliminates the danger of evaluating new software that does not require a reboot to install
> Offers stronger, simpler and smarter protection for your PC
> Seamless integration with supported Windows Operating Systems
> Easy to use, simple to configure, and the one tool in your arsenal that will be there to save the day when all else fails!

Hacker Evolution

http://www.exosyphen.net/site-hacker-evolution/HackerEvolution-GamePlayMovie.wmv

From the creators of a successful hacker games series (Digital Hazard, BS Hacker, etc) Hacker Evolution is a new hacking simulation game, featuring unparalleled graphics and features.You play the role of a former intelligence agent, specializing in computer security. When a chain of events sets off worldwide, leaving critical service disabled, you assume the role a computer hacker to find out what happened and attempt to stop it.When a stock market, a central bank, satellite uplink and transoceanic fiber optics links crash, you know this is more then a simple event. Something big is behind all this, and you have to figure out what is it.You hack into computers, look for exploits and information, steal money to buy hardware upgrades in an attempt to put all the pieces of a big puzzle, together.Set in a virtual operating system environment, the game is packed with all the features required to bring the hacker feeling and experience to every gamer.The concept behind Hacker Evolution is to create a game that challenges the gamer's intelligence, attention and focus, creating a captivating mind game. Solve puzzles, examine code and bits of information, to help you achieve your objectives.

Game features:
Modding capability to allow the creation of custom levels.
The included mod editor, allows you to create new game levels easily.
Multiple interface skins
Complex levels and gameplay to guarantee the best experience
Optional freelance jobs to offer more variety
Complex command console with over 20 commands and tools System requirements: