Kali Linux is the obvious first choice of an operating system for most new hackers, coming bundled with a curated collection of tools organized into easy-to-navigate menus and a live boot option that is very newbie-friendly. But Kali isn't the only distribution targeted at pentesters, and many exciting alternatives may better fit your use-case. We've already covered BlackArch Linux, now it's time to talk about Parrot Security OS.
Apple has something big in store for consumers in 2017 to mark the 10th anniversary of the iPhone. One major surprise is that Apple has decided to forgo on releasing a 7S in favor of a redesigned iPhone 8 and 8 Plus. To further commemorate its 10-year milestone, the Cupertino-based company has released the very exclusive iPhone X, garnering much excitement in the process.
Every other year, Apple comes out with "S" model iPhones that enhance and speed up their main series models from the previous year. This year, however, because of the highly-anticipated 10th anniversary iPhone, aka the iPhone X, Apple has dropped the "S" and moved straight to the iPhone 8 and 8 Plus.
Recently, I ran across SecGen, a project which allows a user to create random vulnerable machines. I absolutely love vulnerable machines, since a vulnerable VM is a safe and legal way to practice hacking tactics, test out new tools, and exercise your puzzle-solving skills.
So cute, so furry, and so chock full of parasites. While raccoons are fun to watch, they are neither friendly nor clean — and they can make you sick in more ways than one.
OpenVAS is a powerful vulnerability assessment tool. Forked from Nessus after Nessus became a proprietary product, OpenVAS stepped in to fill the niche. OpenVAS really shines for information gathering in large networks where manual scanning to establish a foothold can be time-consuming. OpenVAS is also helpful for administrators who need to identify potential security issues on a network.
If you've taken the time to edit a video on your iPhone or Android phone, you probably have a purpose for it. Maybe you want to share it to YouTube in hopes of making the next viral sensation. Maybe you just want to save the video to your phone to show off to friends and family when you can.
If you need a tiny, flexible attack platform for raining down human-interface-device (HID) attacks on unattended computers, the USB Rubber Ducky is the most popular tool for the job. By loading the Ducky with custom firmware, you can design new attacks to be effective against even air-gapped computers without internet access. Today, you'll learn to write a payload to make "involuntary backups" through copying a targeted folder to the Ducky's USB mass storage.
Windborne microbes shifting in the snows of the great ice sheet of Greenland may be able to neutralize some of the industrial contaminants oozing out of the melting ice.
Most carmakers now agree with Waymo that piloting driverless cars is best left to the machine — with no meddling from the human.
That soil under your feet is not just dirt. It is teeming with life that may not change as fast as we would like when challenged by global warming.
Like humans, cats can suffer infections caused by ticks, and too often, the disease is fatal. Learn about tickborne diseases that affect cats and what you can do to protect Fluffy from an untimely demise.
Apple gave the Messages app a massive makeover with iOS 10, with a slew of options that made iMessages on the iPhone a lot more fun. While not quite as comprehensive, iOS 11 builds upon that success and makes the app more user-friendly and all-inclusive.
Crazy Taxi continues to be a favorite among gamers of all ages, from those who played the game in late-'90s arcades to those who discovered the game later on consoles. This weekend, Sega announced their mobile version of Crazy Taxi would now be available for free. What a time to be alive. So does the arcade classic still hold up in 2017? Let's find out.
One thing that I got more and more excited about as we got closer and closer to the Microsoft Build 2017 developers conference was finally learning about the new Acer Windows Mixed Reality head-mounted displays (HMD). Brandon Bray, Principal Group Program Manager at Microsoft, had teased us a few weeks earlier at the Vision Summit event in Los Angeles, California, and said there would be a lot more information at Build. Fortunately for us, he was right.
On April 7, 2017, residents in Dallas, Texas, woke to the sound of emergency sirens blaring all over the city. No one could shut them off, and after repeated efforts to contain the situation, the city had to shut down the entire system. While the media reported a sophisticated computer hack was responsible, the truth was much less high-tech.
It just keeps getting harder to enjoy all of the benefits of root without sacrificing features. Thanks to SafetyNet, we've lost the ability to use Android Pay, Pokémon GO, and even Snapchat to an extent. But the most recent news on this front is perhaps worst of all: Netflix has already stopped showing up on the Play Store for rooted users, and soon, it may refuse to run even if you've sideloaded the app.
A new technological movement without the technology itself is just an idea sitting and waiting. Once the technology is present in the equation, movement forward can begin. This is how many of us see the head-mounted displays (HMDs) and smartglasses that have recently entered the augmented and mixed reality market — or are coming out in the next few months. This is a movement that will sweep over the world, changing everything in its path, and these are some of the people behind it.
When building anything of a social nature, be it a local roller derby or softball team, a club dance night for chiptune, or building new technology markets, the community around those ideas are an important factor in helping these things not only come into existence but to grow into something that enlightens everyone involved. The community around an idea can actually make or break these new ventures — and this applies to augmented and mixed reality as well.
The OnePlus 5 just made its official debut, so we now have all of the juicy details. From the announcement, this device definitely sounds like it's going to be another flagship killer, following in the footsteps of its predecessors.
If you have encountered bed bugs lately, you are not alone. While the pesticides used to fight these pests are losing effectiveness, a fungus shows promise in knocking the bugs out of beds everywhere.
The Samsung Galaxy Note 8 (or Galaxy Note8, depending on how you like it) is one phone which couldn't possibly have bigger shoes to fill. Samsung's latest flagship has officially been announced, so it's time to decide whether not it's capable of filing the void left by the failed Note 7. From the revealed specifications and details, the Note 8 is turning out to be one device worth pre-ordering.
A sometimes serious disease spread by fleas is making inroads in Texas, quietly doubling case numbers since 2008, and beginning to encroach on larger metropolitan areas.
Android O has finally arrived—well, it's technically a beta version, but that isn't stopping Android enthusiasts from going crazy about it. The first Developer Preview was released earlier today and is available right now to install on Nexus and Pixel devices. While Android O doesn't have an official name or Android number yet (we're betting on "Android Oreo"), Google has released a feature list and a blog post explaining almost all of the new changes and features.
With a predicated increase in the number of Lyme disease cases in the coming spring season, new research endorses the use of bait boxes to control ticks on the rodents that serve as their hosts.
While its direct-selling model echoes brands like Avon and Tupperware, Indonesia's MindStores gives the approach a modern twist—with augmented reality.
If the rumors are right, Microsoft has decided to cancel the second version of the HoloLens, and they will instead move onto version three of their mixed reality headset. In the latest report, Thurrott's Brad Sams states that the expected release date of this new Windows Holographic device wouldn't be until 2019, a long two years away for those of us putting full effort into HoloLens app development.
Prion diseases are a group of infectious brain diseases that causes extensive tissue damage, resulting in sponge-like spaces in brain tissue. Prions include Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease in humans, bovine spongiform encephalopathy (often called mad cow disease), and chronic wasting disease in hoofed ruminant mammals.
Jostled in the airport, someone is coughing in line. The air looks empty but it is loaded with microbes that make their way into your body. You get sick. You give it to your family, and that's pretty much it. But what if you were so contagious that you spread it to your entire community and beyond?
What's in a sneeze? Quite a lot—dirt, mucus, and infectious germs—it seems. And sneezing the right way can reduce the germs you share with neighbors.
In the perpetual search for a renewable and convenient energy source, our bacterial friends have once again stolen the limelight.
One of the big hurdles when equipping vehicles with sensors for autonomous driving is the cost. For example, the Light Detection and Ranging (LiDAR) sensors that power many versions of self-driving car technology are pricey, currently ranging from around several thousand dollars up to $85,000 per sensor—and vehicles often need multiple sensors to see enough of what is going on around them to drive safely.
If your phone has an unlocked bootloader, you can use Fastboot commands to flash factory images. That may sound like a bunch of technical jargon, but when it comes down to it, this is the best method for updating a rooted device, fixing a bricked phone, reverting to stock, or even getting new Android updates before everyone else.
In my days as a hardware tech, I often came across motivated do-it-yourselfers who watched a video or two on how to repair a phone and thought that they'd give it a go. More often than not, they failed miserably and damaged their phones (and wallets) even more in the process.
As pentesters and hackers, we're going to be working with text frequently — wordlists, configuration files, etc. A lot of this we'll be doing on our machine, where we have access to whatever editor we prefer. The rest of it will be on remote machines, where the tools for editing will be limited. If nano is installed, we have an easy-to-use terminal text editor, but it isn't very powerful.
As we reported first here on Gadget Hacks, the Google Pixel and Pixel XL have unlockable bootloaders, with the exception of models purchased from Verizon. This means that once the TWRP custom recovery is installed, you can flash ZIPs and even root your device in a few taps—as long as you unlock the bootloader beforehand.
Now that we've talked about encryption and managing your passwords, let's continue this series on getting your Mac ready for hacking by turning our attention to the terminal.
Virtual reality holds the promise of electronically visiting distant places we'd otherwise struggle to reach, but that teleportation-esque ability isn't possible without the right content. YouVisit created a platform that makes it easy for almost anyone to create immersive 360-degree experiences so we can map our lives and see the world through the eyes of our fellow humans.
The big day has finally come—the new iPhone 7 and iPhone 7 Plus have been officially unveiled. Apple debuted their new flagship devices at a keynote event in San Francisco on September 7, and as we've grown to expect, there are tons of changes in store for the world's top-selling smartphone.
It's always a pain to make sure you have enough storage on your smartphone. Pictures and videos occupy a lot of space, so your music library has to take a back seat—otherwise, you might see that pesky "Storage Full" notification at any time.