In Linux, all password hashes are normally stored using the MD5 hashing algorithm in the /etc/shadow file, but MD5 is algorithmically weak due to collision vulnerabilities. The new recommended standard are the higher level SHA-2 hashing algorithms, SHA256 or SHA512. As a friend pointed out to me, Ubuntu is currently the only distro implementing SHA-2 as the default. With SHA-2, your passwords take an unreasonably larger amount of time to calculate. This will greatly decrease how many password...
Cheating. It happens everywhere. From scientists faking human ears on mice, to Hollywood thirty-somethings cheating on their quadragenarian wives, to chess players accusing supercomputers of fraud. There's no game or profession out there that doesn't have a cheater or two, but the bigger nuisance is probably those people who accuse others of cheating.
Beginning this week, Null Byte will be hosting a new feature called Community Byte, a weekly coding and hacking session held in the Null Byte IRC. This is a chance for our community to do something fun, and make something awesome together!
Often times when staying at a hotel or anywhere for that matter, you'll whip out your laptop and check the local area for Wi-Fi. I know you've all been in my shoes when you find an unsecured network that appears to be public Wi-Fi belonging to the hotel or airport, and you connect to it. You connect fast and perfectly, only to find that when you open your browser, it says you don't have an account, and are filtered from accessing the web. This is because the owners of the network want to keep...
The internet is a scary place, and if you're like me, you don't want anyone tracking you or learning your search habits. It's a blatant invasion of privacy for companies to do this, but at least we have methods of fighting back—one of which is Tor.
This Week's Workshop: Music To My Ears The heart of WonderHowTo's Minecraft World is, naturally, “How-To” and so in the spirit of all things tutorial and DIY we will be hosting a weekly workshop showcasing the best and newest tutorials, builds, and inspiring ideas. We hope to inspire creativity and create a place where the community can share ideas and practice skills, right here on our server.
In this Null Byte, I'm going to teach you about Null Byte Injections. Null Bytes are an older exploit. It works by injecting a "Null Character" into a URL to alter string termination and get information or undesirable output (which is desirable for the malicious user).
Like the recent XSS 0day exploit found in the Mac and Windows versions of Skype, a similar one has been found in the Skype app for iPhone. The vulnerability allows an attacker to send a message that contains malicious JavaScript code in the "Name" parameter. This code can steal your phonebook, crash the app, and potentially do a lot worse. The URI scheme is improperly identified for the web-kit browser. Instead of going to a blank browser page, it defaults to "file://". The code could steal a...
For as much money as they've made from North American video game audiences over the years, Japanese game developers don't seem to have very much faith in them. Dozens of great titles from their 40 years in the industry have appeared in Japan and across Europe, oftentimes even in English. But they never make it over to America, like Mother 3, Last Window: Midnight Promise, Dragon Force 2, and Tobal No. 2 (that one didn't even hit Europe).
Children under the age of 13 possess insight that can blow the minds of their elders, but not the wherewithal to make important life choices for themselves. This is exactly why there are strict rules against marketing cigarettes to them. In 2000, a law went into effect called the Children's Online Privacy Protection Act that institutes similar consumer protections for our youth's online identities, prohibiting companies from soliciting personal information from children under 13 years of age ...
noob - Short for "newbie." Someone with little to no experience or skill. In some gaming communities, there is fierce debate over the distinction between "noob" and "newb"—one being derogatory while the other simply indicates being a novice. While some may argue the semantic differences, "noob" is the most common spelling seen around the internet, for both purposes.
I started playing MTG in 1994, the same year that the Fallen Empires set hit the market. It was, in fact, the first new set released after I started playing, making me one excited nine-year-old. I harangued my father, he took my friends and I to Gameworks again and again, and the booster packs started to mount. The problems only started to occur once we got them open.
Blogs are a gold mine Some of the best sentences you will ever get when building your vocabulary can definitely come from blogs. The language and vocabulary usage in blogs is always changing to reflect how people talk in this day and age, and therefore are the perfect research tool for vocabulary sentence building.
Having fun with those sentences So now you have about 30-50 sentences sitting in front of you and you've read through them, but don't quite have a feel for how they are supposed to sound. This is very demotivational because if you can't hear the flow of the sentence, you may be afraid that you are learning it incorrectly and that can really be a tough obstacle to get through.
Check out MY quick intro and some tips for the Crafting building then watch my video for more in depth, live action information! This post is NOT copied from the Zynga boards, so it's unlike any you have seen yet!
There is a wonderful site that just launched with the youth sports community in mind. The site is http://YouthSportTravel.com , a collaboration of youth sports coaches and a major online travel brand. They offer arguably the best prices on hotel and motel rooms anywhere. For proof, I tested a number of locations with www.hotel.com, Expedia and Travelocity in comparison with YouthSportTravel and in each case; YouthSportTravel was equal to or cheaper than the competition. But this is not all th...
GTA4 1st Person View Mod This mod has been out for a while, but with some people gettings Grand Theft Auto 4 for the PC last week because of the Steam sale, there has been talk about what are the best mods to get. There is a thread on Neogaf that talks about playing the game in first person mode instead of the default 3rd person point of view.
So, you've made your first zine. Now what? That depends on a couple things:
Lifehacker posts an article on the art of cracking weak passwords, courtesy of Internet standards expert, CEO of web company iFusion Labs, and blogger John Pozadzides. Pozadzides certainly knows a thing or two about password logic. (Note: this information is not intended to hack into accounts, but rather to protect you from using weak passwords).
Remember KODACHROME? That color reversal film from Kodak? The film that was the inspiration for Paul Simon? The only brand of film to have a state park named after it?
Microsoft's new mobile operating system is officially out on the market, and programmers are hard at work developing new mobile apps for Windows Phone 7 devices. But there's a lot going on in this new platform, which means there's a whole lot to be learned, and the only man in the world with a Windows tattoo is here to help— Charles Petzold.
It's once again Monday, which means it's time to highlight some of the most recent community submissions posted to the Math Craft corkboard. I also thought we'd take a look at building a model that has appeared in numerous posts. It's the simplest of the intersecting plane modular origami sculptures: The WXYZ Intersecting Planes model.
I have had a lot of people ask me, "How does my neighbor keep getting into my wireless?!". Chances are, these people are all using WEP, a deprecated wireless encryption protocol. Either that, or you are using one weak WPA passphrase.
The resume is an essential tool for getting freelance work assignments. A well written article is not enough when trying to secure a freelance or staff position as a writer. Publishers want to see a resume. It gives the writer an outstanding opportunity to introduce themselves and it gives the editor a general idea of who you are, where you've been, and the work you've completed.
I recently upgraded from Ubuntu 9.10 to 10.04 and now my boot screen is a bit messy. Since I'm not using the latest GRUB boot kernel (Linux 2.6.32-28-generic), I might as well delete it. For more documentation, visit Ubuntu Forums.
Antivirus programs usually aim to prevent malicious software from crashing your system, not ARE malicious software that crashes your system. Except, that was the case with AVG Anti-Virus yesterday when they released a software update that rendered 64-Bit Windows 7 systems useless. It affected both free and paid AVG owners.
With FarmVille being one of the hottest Facebook games on the market, it's no wonder it's the primary target for scams and virus downloads. Anyone playing FarmVille is at risk, but the primary targets are those looking to improve their gameplay and build their farms and neighbors up. These "farmers" are the ones seeking quick hacks and cheats.
The CNA certification exam can be stressful at times, especially on the clinical exam portion. However, despite the exam difficulties, everything has a solution. Qualified nursing assistants are preparing various CNA study techniques and CNA study guides just to reduce any test anxieties and stress.
Business owners and marketeers are diverting from traditional marketing techniques, including billboards, radio and TV advertising, brochures, and any other outdoor promotions, to cheaper but effective Internet marketing strategies. Under the new arrangement, business owners reach out to the final consumers through advertising on the World Wide Web.
WonderHowTo is made up of niche communities called Worlds. If you've yet to join one (or create your own), get a taste below of what's going on in the community. Check in every Wednesday for a roundup of new activities and projects.
Polymer clay is an exciting arts & crafts medium. Actually, "clay" is a misnomer; it contains no true clay, but rather consists of tiny particles of polyvinyl chloride (PVC) combined with plasticizer, which is what makes it malleable like clay.
Any talk about privacy is a complicated (usually) and touchy subject. In today's world, privacy is an ever eroding pleasure to be had. Numerous cases, like the monumental Kat'z vs United States, have been fought to hold on to this right.
Pranks are fun, but finding a way to maximize the affect of a prank can be tricky. Toilet papering the whole campus or repainting all of the parking spaces slightly smaller can take a long time and a lot of resources. A better plan of attack is to booby trap the choke points where your victims are forced to pass through. Think like a guerrilla. A dorm doorway is a good idea.
Today's fancy cars come with all sorts of options, from power mirrors to working seat belts. Some of us condemned to live in the reality of capitalist recession have no car, or perhaps a very modest one. But your modest car can still have some cutting edge technology wedged into the trunk and dashboard if you know what you want and where to look for parts. Today, we make a parking sensor using a sonic range finder, just like in the vehicles our owners drive!
If there ever was a time for Null Byte to need people to contribute, it's now. Let's make Null Byte a place where anyone, from novice to master computer user, come and learn. It has been sometime since the last "Call to Arms" for Null Byte, and even longer since the last "Weekend Homework". We all know that this time of year is busy for everyone, but that didn't stop occupytheweb otw from creating a great article in his continuing "Hack Like a Pro" series.
Hobby rockets are tons of fun. Vicarious astronaut adventures abound with every launch. What if you want to be closer to the action though? What if you want to feel what it's like to be in a rocket at takeoff? With the discovery of tiny keychain cameras, we have technology small and cheap enough to fit inside a model rocket!
Another week has passed on the online battlefield as the CISPA legislation continues to grind away at our freedom. Here at Null Byte, we try to keep our community informed and knowledgeable at the same time—and that means creating content for them to learn from.
Lying is awesome. From a very young age, children learn that flat out denying the truth gets you out of trouble and helps keep you calm in the face of horror. But what happens when you just have to know if someone, say, used your toothbrush? You could ask them to take an expensive and arduous polygraph test.
The community here on Null Byte has always been great and helpful in sharing their know-how, even before I took up admin duties in this World. I jumped at the chance of leading Null Byte because I enjoy teaching and informing people on all of the important need-to-know things out there, but more so than that—there is a deeper reason.
When I was attending college, my friends had a phantom thief in their dormitory. Almost every night, a different item of food would go missing, never to be seen again. There was constant speculation as to whom the thief was and how to catch them. Security cameras were deemed too invasive, but none could think of another method of surveillance... until today.
