This is Null Byte's fourth part in a series about fully securing our computers (Part 1, Part 2, Part 3). In our last Null Byte, we went over how to encrypt an entire operating system to protect our data, however, this doesn't fully protect us. In the case of legal extortion, the government can actually make you give up your cryptographic key to your computer so that they can look through it.
Password strength and encryption are important things when it comes to computers. A password is the entire security of your computer, and OS passwords are not hard to break. Most users believe that if you have a password on your computer via the OS, that you are safe. This is not true at all, sadly.
Permanently deleting files is something that a lot of people aren't aware of. Actually, most people think that once a file is deleted, it is gone forever. This is not the case. Hard drives write to the disk via magnetic charges, positive and negative correlate to 1s and 0s for binary. This is then interpreted into information for the computer to use and access.
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.
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...
If you're interested in bypassing Windows and Linux passwords, there is a great tool from the good people at Kryptoslogic. Have you ever forgotten your administrator password? Have you ever bought a used computer with a password on it? Well, Kryptoslogic have created a boot-disc call 'Kon-Boot', which allows you to bypass any Windows 32 or 64 bit OS, as well as Linux passwords. There is both a paid and freeware version available.
It's been a great year for video games, kind of. Sure, the AAA release lineup has been a trainwreck and hacking has been a bigger problem than ever. But two things have happened involving the federal government that have made video games more legitimate in the United States than ever before. The Supreme Court ruling establishing that video games were the equivalent of movies and books, not porn, was the more significant decision. But in May, the National Endowment for the Arts made another si...
Giveaway Tuesdays has officially ended! But don't sweat it, WonderHowTo has another World that's taken its place. Every Tuesday, Phone Snap! invites you to show off your cell phone photography skills.
These are the KGB Agent Guidelines as taken from 542542.com/guidelines. kgb Guidelines
Every day of the week, WonderHowTo curators are hard at work, scouring the web for the greatest and most inspiring how-to videos. Every Friday, we'll highlight our favorite finds.
At the beginning of every class, or almost every class, we do a series of exercises. The Japanese word for this sort of calisthenic exercise isundo. These exercises derive from the Goju style of karate created by Miyagi Sensei in Okinawa in the early part of the 20th Century. In devising these exercises Miyagi no doubt borrowed liberally from the Chinese, whose influence on the southernmost island of the Japanese archipelago was immense.
Earlier this month, the U.S. Army agreed to drop quite a big chunk of change ($461m to be exact) on 423 M1117 Guardian Armored Security Vehicles (ASV), made by Textron Systems.
If you have a group of large files that need to be sent to a client, you might want to compress it into one single file for easy access or even protect its content from outsiders with a password. This video will teach you how to create password-protected zip files with WinRAR. WinRAR provides full RAR and ZIP file support, and can decompress CAB, GZIP, ACE and other archive formats. Make sure to hit "play tutorial" in the top left corner of the video to start the video. There is no sound, so ...
This contest can be the ultimate prank on a fan- or another one can be created. Upon winning, the first day of the "prize" can start with a flight on a crappy airline with 2 long layovers. (one can be a hopper flight with a pilot that appears intoxicated) Once arriving in LA, the winner should be met by a driver waiting to take them to their hotel in a beat up old limo. (having them sign a waiver to be filmed first of course) The driver should stop on the way at a drive thru and tell the winn...
To sound proof a room you have many different options. If you don't have your dry wall up because you don't have your studio set up, put insulation right inside the wall before you put in the dry wall. It is important to sound proof your room because you don't want your neighbors to call the police and you don't want there to be echoes and feedback on your sound. You want your music to be crisp and high quality. The best insulation is fiberglass insulation. If you already have your wall up, y...
In this Rhino / Grasshopper 3D software tutorial we rebuild the shift tutorial provided by David Rutten.
Fads, Fiascos and Good Stuff in FrontierVille This WeekThis is the first of what should, with luck, be a series of weekly columns.Fads firstIt’s St. Patrick’s Day in FrontierVille and it looks like staying that way for the foreseeable future, which will probably be about ten days. If you’ve ever lived in England you know about jackdaws, but I’ll explain for the rest of you. They’re small black birds who are notoriously fascinated by shiny things, and they love to peck the foil caps off milk b...
The Earthen Ring Quartermaster is as elusive as a long-beaked echidna, so how do you find him in World of WarCraft: Cataclysm?
...a FarmVille addict, that is. Poor Kira is just one of many who pours way too much time and money into their virtual Facebook homesteads. Zynga’s FarmVille is the most popular of the many Facebook web games. In fact, it attracts more than 75 million players monthly.
Get Google Chrome Download and install Google Chrome.
New Year's Eve. It will be one hell of a chaotic night. Trust me. The overcrowded streets. Long lines for the urinal. Maxing out your credit card on that shot of Cuervo. You'll be lucky to make it out alive.
Just a couple Saturday's ago, we were blessed with the Supermoon, where the moon was at perigee with our planet, creating a larger than usual Moon for us here on Earth. Now, we've got another spectacular show in the skies coming up, only this one isn't at night. There will be an annular solar eclipse on Sunday, May 20th!
A Pakistani lawyer who represents victims of U.S. drone strikes has been forced to cancel a trip to the United States after the U.S. government failed to grant him a visa. Shahzad Akbar was scheduled to speak later this month at an International Drone Summit in Washington, D.C. Akbar is co-founder of the Pakistani human rights organization, Foundation for Fundamental Rights. He filed the first case in Pakistan on behalf of family members of civilian victims.
With the mass arrests of 25 anons in Europe and South America, and the rumors of an FBI sweep on the east coast of America floating around, times look dicey for hackers. Over the past few days, a lot of questions have been posed to me about removing sensitive data from hard drives. Ideas seem to range from magnets to microwaves and a lot of things in-between. So, I'd like to explain a little bit about data forensics, how it works, and the steps you can take to be safe.
When you're out and about in the dangerous world of Wi-Fi, it's hard for the average computer user to stay protected, or even know what being protected entails. Little do most people know, Windows 7 has a built-in security that few people take advantage of: a VPN (Virtual Private Network) server and client.
CYNOSURE 63 points (13 points without the bingo) Definition: a center of attraction [n]
Are you familiar with Studio Ghibli? It's the dreamy Japanese animation studio responsible for anime classics Spirited Away, My Neighbor Totoro, Kiki's Delivery Service, and Howl's Moving Castle. Regarded as highly inventive, serene, and spooky, Studio Ghibli puts out internationally renown films, loaded with magic, monsters and lovable creatures, such as Totoro (pictured to the right, and above).
What do you do when you desperately need to put a parking garage into the bottom floor of your Victorian apartment building, but the city's Department of Planning says "No". The simple and expensive answer: Create an elaborate secret garage door. If you own a pretty building, it is well within the jurisdiction of the Landmark Commission to inform you that even though you own the piece of property, you cannot remodel it any way you want. Seems un-American. But in San Francisco, specifically th...
These magical beans can keep your coffee hot for hours. Not blazing hot, burn your tongue on the first sip, and not disappointingly lukewarm, but coffee fit for every baby bear—just right. Genius.
Does this man look vaguely familiar? A neighbor or former co-worker, perhaps? You might think you recognize him, but this individual is actually the face of 7 billion. Composited with endless photos taken from the world's massive population, he represents an analytically deduced median: a 28-year-old Han Chinese man. The Chinese Academy of Science in Beijing has drawn data for the past ten years to come up with this archetypal image, as well as the following stats:
Tricycle + simple plow blade = true yankee ingenuity. (Who needs a pricey snow plow vehicle?) Craig Smith recently submitted his custom contraption to MAKE:
Beginners don't realize that they don't need to clobber every groundhog that shows up. The best strategy is to isolate the first one someplace out of the way and just leave him there indefinitely. Only one can be on your property at a time.
Zynga and Dreamworks Animation Studios bring you.... MEGAMIND! Visit Megamind's farm to earn his Mega Grow & an Exclusive Megamind Decoration! We have just 24 hours! This promotion ends November 4 at 9:00pm PDT. The Mega Grow is just like the Instant Grow from the biplane, and the decoration is an Air Hog.
Proposition 22 Prohibits the state from borrowing or taking funds used for transportation, redevelopment, or local, government projects and services. Initiative constitution amendment.
We all have friends and family who have added the FarmVille application at one point, played it for a while, then for whatever reason decided they didn't want to play it anymore. They may have hidden the feed posts and blocked the game requests, but we still see them on our gift lists and certain features still try to get them involved with posts that go ignored (like pregnant pigs or truffles).
Update 9-9 1 day free gift: Farmhands!
I'm sure at this point you're all crafting away merrily, frantically searching for bushels, and trying to keep track of what you need, so I made a chart for each building and their recipes that is simple and easy to reference.
Update 7/8 New animal - The Bison!
Upon first glance, one may think Mark Suppes is just another thirty-something-year-old dude living in Bed-Stuy, Brooklyn. However, the Gucci web designer by day has a significant (to say the least) project-in-progress by night. The amateur scientist bicycles to a non-descript building in Brooklyn to chip away at his homemade nuclear fusion reactor. BBC reports:
Ni no Kuni is a gorgeous hand drawn and animated game coming to the PS3 and Nintendo DS. The story is about Oliver, a 13 year old who has lost his mother. Wishing for her to come back, a magical toy tells him that this might be possible and they set off on a journey in a parallel magical world. In the trailer above, the PS3 is able to almost match the visual quality of the cartoon animations originally made for cut scenes in the DS game.