Root Kit Hunter, aka “rkhunter” is a great little utility for *nix based systems that will check for known vulnerabilities and backdoors installed on a Linux box, otherwise know as “root kits”.
Once you install it, simply “su root”, then try running it with the following arguments:
$ rkhunter –checkall –createlogfile
Process only took about 5 minutes on my system, and gave me one warning (I won’t say what so none of you try to hack my machine).
I’ve been getting a lot of people asking me how to get rid of Virii that is installed on their windows boxes, here’s another follow up to my previous post.
If you want to play with Linux, and don’t want to hassle with an install, download the gnoppix or knoppix live cd (one is Gnome desktop, the other is KDE. I personally prefer Gnome, but they are both good). They are both based on the Debian distribution which has a superior package management system than RPM (Redhat Package Manager based systems). If you’re really hardcore, Gentoo is even better.
Basically, you just stick the cd in the drive and reboot (set your cd to read on bootup in the bios – by typing the “del” key when you reboot your PC). No need to get a second drive. Once you get comfortable and want to install linux, you can also do a dual boot with XP so when you boot up you can choose which OS to load.
As for firewalls, I use a hardware router/firewall. Much easier, especially with networking more computers. Hardware will block all incoming requests. If you go this route, it’s a good idea to get one with wifi and port forwarding (if you ever want to host anything on your computer).
And lastly, use FireFox instead of Internet Explorer. IE is one big security hole after another, and the source of most people’s virii problems.
I got this weird email the other day, from a web developer who would like advice on how to “exploit” himself…
—
Sir/Madam
I am working in XML, XSLT for three years with an MNC publishing company.
I want to exploit myself as an XML developer. But there is nothing to exploit more. So please guide me what will be the my next step.
Eagerly waiting for your reply.
Bye
Yours
Bijay
—
So I decided to write up a guide on how to exploit yourself.
Step 1: Ask for the lowest possible salary anybody would consider you for. Do not expect much here, companies can get away with paying you dirt. Infact it’s even better if you qualify for food stamps while working for them.
Step 2: Do not ask for benefits. They are a hinderance to the bottom line, and the fact that you ask for none makes you all that much more attractable to the hiring company.
Step 3: Tell them you are anti-union. Unions only cause rabble-rousing and should be avoided at all costs.
Step 4: Offer your children up as workers the company can also hire for pennies on the dollar.
Step 5: Tell them you will work part-time, so legally they don’t have to provide you anything other than a low hourly rate.
Step 6: Work weekends, and 12 hour days. Tell them you’ll do it for half price or even free if the law allows it.
Here’s my list of FireFox extensions:
Web Developer – excellent toolbar for use if you’re a web developer, includes outlining tables, block level elements, css viewing/editing inline, header information, much much more (needs FireFox installed with Developer Tools).
Adblock – One of the best extensions I’ve seen. Lets you weed out ads, using filters with wildcards, for example never load any iframes or images from “*/ads/*” or “*doubleclick*”. You can import my list here.
QuickTabPrefToggle – This one will intercept popups and new windows and open them as tabs insteads (customizable).
WebmailCompose – This intercepts “mailto:” links in web pages, and opens your favorite web-based email, instead of Outlook or whatever the default mail client is on your operating system.
PRGoogleBar – Includes Google PageRank value in the open source clone of the original google toolbar.
Autofill – Save form information for auto filling.
user Agent Switcher – another handy web developer tool, to simulate what would happen with a different user agent.
BugMeNot – Great for getting around those pesky registration forms on sites like the “New York Times”.
Bookmarks Synchronizer – Good if you have more than one computer, and want to sync your booksmarks (requires ftp or scp server).
TinyURL – Great for posting in forums, or in email when sending long urls. It will shorten to something like http://tinyurl.com/a24aa
Netcraft Toolbar – This is handy for reporting phishing scams.
It appears, after my last XP update, MS has decided to shove their crappy little instant messaging client down my throat.
Here are some instructions I found on the web on how to remove it, or at least keep it from starting up when you reboot:
From advanced horizons:
MSN Messenger is typically a waste of system resources.
To remove the MSN Messenger from starting…
* Click Start
* Click Run
* Enter RunDll32 advpack.dll,LaunchINFSection %windir%\INF\msmsgs.inf,BLC.Remove
This did it for me!
For a better instant messenger client, which supports all the major protocals in one app, try Gaim (open source).
Came across this handy little tool today: a TinyURL FireFox Extension!
Yet another great extension to make your browsing experience more pleasurable.
Great for sending those long urls in emails, IMs, and political forums.
Just right-click on a page, and you can create a tinyurl.com URL which is automatically sent to your clipboard for easy pasting.
ALso works when you hover over a link as well.
I’ve been using comcast in Los Gatos, CA (Bay Area – silicon valley) for about 2 years at this location. Haven’t really had any issues until about 1.5 months ago.
The internet connection would go down every couple of days. A side effect of this was that the lower channels (2, 3, 4) on the TV would also show a lot of static.
Oddly, if I unplug the cable going from the main feed into the splitter, and plug it back in. The problem would go away, for what used to be a few days, but within the last week. It goes down every few hours. I’ve replaced the splitters, and even tried it without using a splitter (problem still exists).
After 5 techies have been out over the last month, the problem still exists. I’ve replaced the wiring and splitter, gotten a new modem from Comcast, yet the problem still exists.
None of my neighbors in my complex are having any issues with their TV (I’m the only one with Internet).
The only thing the tech guys keep telling me is that they’ve seen a lot of issues in my area. I’m sorry, but that doesn’t help me any.
I have 1 splitter (tv feed and cable modem feed). I also use a Netgear router MR814V2. But I don’t think that’s the issue.
The network works fine when the cable modem is working. I’m using a Scientific-American modem with the word “Comcast” printed on it (phone support says these are brand new).
The odd thing is that simply unplugging the main feed and plugging it back in fixes the problem.
I left a voicemail for the supervisor of the last line specialist who came out on saturday. But I’m really starting to get aggrivated here.
Anyone else experience similar problems, or have any suggestions on how to get comcast to fix the problem?
Javascript books