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News: A Brief History of Hacking

Welcome back, my fledgling hackers! Hacking has a long and storied history in the U.S. and around the world. It did not begin yesterday, or even at the advent of the 21st century, but rather dates back at least 40 years. Of course, once the internet migrated to commercial use in the 1990s, hacking went into hyperdrive.

How To: Creating Unique and Safe Passwords, Part 1 Using Wordlists

Greetings fellow hackers. This tutorial is about creating "safe" passwords. This is different from strong passwords. Safe passwords is just creating a password that is not used by someone else or colleague, my definition. But how do you prevent something like this from happening? Of course you won't ask your friend if s|he is using the password you are about to create. Before I show you some of my tele-psychic powers like Professor Xavier, you might want to read this for advice on creating "s...

Polenta vs Grits: Why Grits Wins (Even When a Recipe Calls for Polenta)

Polenta can cause risotto-like anxiety for the most experienced cook. First of all, making polenta is time-consuming—it can often take upwards of 45 minutes (unless you use this shortcut). And in the midst of this long cooking time, you're constantly stirring to keep the polenta from becoming lumpy. Even after taking the utmost of care, the polenta can still turn out too loose, too firm, or too grainy.

How to Train Your Python: Part 10, Making Our Own Functions

Welcome back! In the last iteration of how to train your python, we covered error detection and handling. Today we'll be diverging from this and discussing functions. More specifically, we'll be creating our own functions. First we'll need to understand exactly what a function is, then we'll get on to making our own! So, let's get started!

How To: Upgrade a Normal Command Shell to a Metasploit Meterpreter

When attempting to compromise a target, we want as much control as possible over the victim. Metasploit's meterpreter allows us to have immense control over the victim, the only issue is that sometimes we can't land a meterpreter. We may only be able to land a standard shell, but fear not, there is a way to upgrade our shell into the all powerful meterpreter!

How To: Spot a Counterfeit iPhone or Android Smartphone

Cheap Chinese knockoffs have been around for ages, but recently, skyrocketing demand has led to a massive influx of counterfeit smartphones. Sellers on Craigslist seem to have no trouble getting ahold of these fake devices, then passing them off as the real deal and turning a solid profit before vanishing into thin air. This type of scam tends to happen even more frequently after Apple launches a new iPhone or Samsung debuts a new Galaxy.

News: The Hacking of Blackhat, the Movie

A while back, I wrote review of my favorite hacking movies of all time. Two of my key criteria were; (1) how realistic was the hacking, and (2) are the hackers portrayed as the "good guys." This past winter, a new hacker movie was released, appropriately named Blackhat starring Chris Hemsworth (from Thor fame) as a blackhat hacker who is released from prison to stop a notorious and destructive hacker that only he can stop. Although the movie did very poorly at the box office, I thought it was...

Hack Like a Pro: How to Build Your Own Exploits, Part 3 (Fuzzing with Spike to Find Overflows)

Welcome back, my hacker novitiates! In the previous two posts in this series, we looked at the basics of buffer overflows. In this post, we will look at one technique for finding buffer overflows. We will try to send random, oversized, and invalid data at a variable to see whether we can make it crash or overflow. This process is known as fuzzing. It is often the first step to developing an exploit, as we need to find some variable that is susceptible to overflowing.

Hack Like a Pro: How to Spy on Anyone, Part 2 (Finding & Downloading Confidential Documents)

Welcome back, my tenderfoot hackers! A short while ago, I started a new series called "How to Spy on Anyone." The idea behind this series is that computer hacking is increasingly being used in espionage and cyber warfare, as well as by private detectives and law enforcement to solve cases. I am trying to demonstrate, in this series, ways that hacking is being used in these professions. For those of you who are training for those careers, I dedicate this series.

How To: 5 Delicious Ways to Reinvent Your Stale Potato Chips

Now that the Super Bowl is over, you might find that you have an econo-sized bag or two of opened potato chips slowly going stale in your pantry. After all, there are only so many bowls of Buffalo Chicken Pizza Beer Dip you can eat with 'em—and you definitely don't want them to get so old that you have to throw them out.

How To: Ace Every Essay Assignment with Less Substance, More Fluff

Essay writing is the bane of most students' educational existence. Whether you're a college student tired of slaving away over 30-plus page research papers or a high school student just trying to get through AP Language, chances are you'd love to find a way to cut down on all the writing. Before you spend hours googling facts and figures to cram into your next paper, work smarter by cutting down on content.

How To: 9 Creative Uses for All Those Holiday Wine Corks

While most people build collections of things with intrinsic value such as coins, stamps, or rare post cards, I collect wine corks—the natural ones, not the plastic kind. Corks are a natural product harvested from the cork oak tree. It takes the better part of 10 to 12 years before a tree can have its bark manually removed for the production of cork. Thankfully, no tree is harmed in the process and in 12 years, the tree bark can be harvested yet again.

Hack Like a Pro: How to Crack Passwords, Part 5 (Creating a Custom Wordlist with CeWL)

Welcome back, my novice hackers! In my series on cracking passwords, I began by showing off some basic password-cracking principles; developed an efficient password-cracking strategy; demonstrated how to use Hashcat, one of the most powerful password-cracking programs; and showed how to create a custom wordlist using Crunch. In this tutorial, I will show you how to create a custom wordlist based upon the industry or business of the targets using CeWL.

iOS Basics: How to Add Widgets to Your iPhone's Lock Screen & Notification Center

Apple definitely wasn't first to the widget game, but any iPhone running iOS 8 or higher can add widgets to their Today View found via a swipe down from the top of the screen when on the home screen or in any app. There's even access to widgets on the lock screen via the same swipe down on iOS 8 and iOS 9 (on iOS 10, iOS 11, and iOS 12, all you have to do is swipe right on the lock screen).

How To: You Only Need 3 Ingredients for This Amazing Pasta Sauce

One of my favorite things is finding an easy way to make what is normally a complex dish. Case in point: pasta sauce. Usually its depth of flavor is the result of fresh herbs, shallots, tomatoes, seasonings, olive oil, and a touch of dairy being cooked and added in stages. Long simmering mellows out each component's inherent character and turns pasta sauce into something that is far greater than the sum of its parts.