Suramya's Blog : Welcome to my crazy life…

April 12, 2005

Ethical Hacking/Computer Security Tutorial’s

Filed under: Security Tutorials,Tech Related — Suramya @ 12:13 AM

Have a look at these sites especially the guides and tutorials. You can use their links to find other sites and so on.

More to be added soon (As and when I go through my bookmark collection to find them)

– Suramya

Crypto-Loops

Filed under: Security Tutorials,Tech Related — Suramya @ 12:11 AM

A loopback device is a very special device that allows you to mount a normal file as it was a physical device. Loopback devices can be encrypted and these are called Crypto-Loops.

A good tutorial on Crypto-Loop is available here.

– Suramya

April 11, 2005

How to log idle users out of a Linux system?

Filed under: Security Tools,Tech Related — Suramya @ 1:37 AM

Idle users are a big problem if the system doesn’t either log them out or lock the session. This is so because if a session is idle that means it might be unattended and could be used by an unauthorized person to gain access to restricted resources.

In windows idle the OS can be instructed to lock accounts after a specific idle time and in KDE/Gnome the screensaver’s allow us to the same thing. But this doesn’t cover the shell access. Users can remain logged in indefinetly unless they logout. Below are some programs that will log a user out if they exceed the specified idle time:

  • Set TMOUT= in /etc/profile. (Only for bash, sh users)
  • Use timeoutd
  • Use porttime to control login times.

If you know of any other ways please let me know.

– Suramya

April 10, 2005

Audit user logon activity

Filed under: Security Tools,Tech Related — Suramya @ 8:15 PM

These program(s) help you audit user logon activity to locate unusual activity:

EventCombMT:

Available as part of the Security Guide Scripts Download, this is a multi-threaded tool that will parse event logs from many servers at the same time.

Instructions on how to use EventCombMT are available over here.

Update (08th Aug 2007): Fixed the link to download the software and added the link to the instructions page

Tools to Audit a Windows Server

Filed under: Security Tools,Security Tutorials,Tech Related — Suramya @ 8:10 PM

Here are some links to software/articles that will help you Audit your windows server(s):

Software:

Articles:

– Suramya

List of Datawipe Tools

Filed under: Knowledgebase,Security Tools,Tech Related — Suramya @ 12:19 AM

Below are some software that allows you to delete data from disks securely. All of them are pretty efficent and make it difficult for someone to recover the data. However keep in mind that no data is 100% unrecoverable to those who have sufficient time and money.

So it you have some really sensitive data that you have to destroy look into purchasing a furnace and melt the disks down and then destroy the remains.

Software for Data Wiping:

DBAN:

Darik’s Boot and Nuke (’DBAN’) is a self-contained boot floppy that securely wipes the hard disks of most computers. DBAN will automatically and completely delete the contents of any hard disk that it can detect, which makes it an appropriate utility for bulk or emergency data destruction.

Autoclave:

It’s a bootable floppy image that sterilizes IDE hard disks on x86 machines.

BCWIPE:

BCWipe software is designed to securely delete files from disks and other media

Free Secure Delete Tools:

The utilities on this page allow you to destructively wipe/delete/erase a file, a disk (floppy disks, hard disks, etc), or a partition.

Kill Disk:

Active@ KillDisk is a powerful and compact DOS software that allows you to destroy all data on hard and floppy drives completely, excluding any possibility of future recovery of deleted files and folders.

Eraser:

Eraser is a powerful system security utility developed on the basis of advanced studies and research.

April 9, 2005

System log management Applications and Resources

Filed under: Security Tools,Tech Related — Suramya @ 9:49 PM

Programs to monitor the Log files for multiple computers running Windows 2000/XP/NT/2003.

GFI LANguard S.E.L.M:

GFI LANguard S.E.L.M. can analyze application, system and other event logs. You can back up and clear event logs on all remote machines in your network automatically; and view, report and filter events network-wide, instead of just per machine. GFI LANguard S.E.L.M. collects all events in one central database, making it easy to create network-wide reports and custom filters. Using the custom rules, you can create your own event alerts based on event ID, condition and event contents.

syslogng:

syslogng provides a centralised, securely stored log of all devices on your network, whatever platform they run on. And syslog-ng also incorporates a host of powerful features, including filtering based on message content, as well as customisable data mining and analysis capabilities.

Syslog Daemon for Windows:

Kiwi Syslog Daemon is a freeware Syslog Daemon for Windows. It receives, filters, logs, displays and forwards Syslog messages and SNMP traps from hosts such as routers, switches, Unix hosts and any other syslog enabled device.

LogAnalysis.org:

A site dedicated to pulling together a repository of useful information on log analysis for computer security

Implementing Central Logging Server

This document attempts to provide a practical guide for implementing a centralized syslog server at an Enterprise level. The document includes details on porting cross platform logs to a central syslog server, porting messages to a database and real time viewing and querying of the logs

Update (12th May 2005):

MS Log Parser:

Log parser is a powerful, versatile tool that provides universal query access to text-based data such as log files, XML files and CSV files, as well as key data sources on the Windows® operating system such as the Event Log, the Registry, the file system, and Active Directory®.

SecurityFocus has a good article explaining how to use the logparser.

April 4, 2005

GIMPshop for Windows is available

Filed under: Computer Related,Tech Related — Suramya @ 4:17 PM

Matthias from http://blog.yumdap.net has created a GIMPshop installer for installer for Windows (tested on WinXP and Win2k). Download the installer from here

I havn’t tried it yet but it looks promising. I will install it when I get home and will let you know how it went.

For those who don’t already know, the Gimp is a powerful, open source image editing application. For more info on the Gimp visit Gimp.org GIMPshop is essentially the same program with some cosmetic changes to make the menu structure feel more like Adobe Photoshop.

Update:

I Tried out the GimpShop Windows Installer and it works great, I didn’t have any problems installing it. The addition of the GIMP Deweirdifier Plugin in this installer puts all GIMP windows in a single parent window and makes GIMPShop a lot easier to use.

I also created a mirror for GIMPShop (Available Versions: RPM, Debian, Windows Exe, Source Code), so visit http://mirror.suramya.com to download GIMPShop and try it out today.

– Suramya

April 2, 2005

Wrote a guide on How to compile and Install GIMPShop

Filed under: News/Articles,Tech Related,Website Updates — Suramya @ 9:44 AM

One of the most common complains that most graphics artists have when they try switching to GIMP (GNU Image Manipulation program) is that the user interface for GIMP is clunky and is hard to use. I have faced the same problem but over time I got used to the GIMP interface so didn’t do anything about it.

On the other hand Scott Moschella; actually decided to do something about it and spent a lot of time hacking the GIMP source to create GIMPShop where the tools, options, windows, and menus closely resemble Adobe Photoshop’s menu structure and naming conventions. This modification makes it really easy for Adobe Photoshop users to switch to GIMP threreby saving a lot of money.

He initially created GIMPShop for the Mac OS and the original package with a Mac Installer is available here;. He also made his ;modified source available so that others can port it to different OS’s. I downloaded it to my computer and got it to work on my Debian Linux machine.

Check out my Guide on How to compile and Install GIMPShop; and let me know what you think.

– Suramya

February 18, 2005

Post-It Notes Go Mobile

Filed under: Tech Related — Suramya @ 4:41 AM

Read in the ACM Technews that Siemens has developed a new application that lets a user post a message to a specific location and when anyone with a cell phone who passes through that area. It seems like an interesting concept but has a lot of potential for abuse.&

Think about it, the messages posted are not censored at all. Anyone can post anything and whoever passes through that area will get that message. So all the new age spammer has to do is send such a message to Times Square or New York Penn station or Madison Square garden and anyone in that area will get the message as an SMS. So in the near future a 15 year old with a cell phone walking down broad street in NY could get a message asking him to step into a shop to get really cheap porno’s or cheap drugs etc.

And the pranksters will have a field day with this one. They can post a porn image to a crowded area and watch the reactions on everyone’s face. There are hundreds of such possibilites and if I can think of them res assured others can too…

Original Summary:
Siemens has developed a new “digital graffiti” application that would allow mobile phone users to send a message to a specific geographic location, where it would appear on the screens of other mobile phone users who are passing through the area.

The concept is similar to placing a Post-It note in a certain spot. The application also resembles SMS (Short Message Service), although the message would be directed to a defined radius and the mobile phone users who are in the area, rather than a specific person. The ability to post notes to a zone makes the digital graffiti technology more than just a mobile phone location-based service. “Imagine a foreman walking through a plant and making notes of things to check for the maintenance crew on the production floor, or a friend who really knows his way around an area leaving tips of places to go for less familiar buddies,” says a Siemens spokesperson. Users can post text messages and pictures, and have the information expire at a certain date. Researchers at the University of Linz in Austria and the Ars Electronica Center in Linz assisted on the application, which could have a commercial rollout by 2007.

Complete Article: Here

– Suramya

« Newer PostsOlder Posts »

Powered by WordPress