10 tips for improving your wireless network

If Microsoft Windows XP ever notifies you about a weak signal, it probably means your connection isn't as fast or as reliable as it could be. Worse, you might lose your connection entirely in some parts of your home. If you're looking to improve the signal for your wireless network, try some of these tips for extending your wireless range and improving your wireless network performance.

¿Buscas portar/manter un Port para FreeBSD?

Existen una seríe de cosas que puedes hacer. Entre las que cuentan:

1. Suscribirte a la lista de correo ports@. En ella periodicamente se da aviso sobre ports marcados como "broken".

2. Acudir al Porter's Handbook.

3. Visitar la lista de ports "broken" sin mantenedor.

4. Ir a FreshPorts y en la búsqueda avanzada buscar por mantenedor y que contenga la palabra ports@freebsd.org. Lo anterior dará una lista todos los Ports sin mantención.

Hardening FreeBSD

After a fresh install, it is important to harden the security on a server before it hits your network for use. Not only making configuration changes aid in the security of your box, but there are some practical rules to abide by. These are some hardening tips to make your FreeBSD box more secure and will apply to both the 5.x and 4.x branches, but I will assume you are running 5.x. If a 4.x change is different, I will note it.

Setup Ubuntu as a wireless router

Basically I was sick of my Linksys router being to slow and I decided I wanted some more power.

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Top 10 best Linux DVD ripping and encoding software

http://assente.altervista.org/top_10_best_linux_dvd_ripping_and_encoding_software/

HOWTO Encrypt CD/DVDs in Ubuntu

This guide can be adapted to any distro, its not Ubuntu specific.

La historia y el porqué de mi llegada a FreeBSD

Ésta es una conversación que tuve hace unos meses atrás con Alonso Cardenas (Commiter de FreeBSD) en irc.freenode.net, donde le conté como llegué a FreeBSD y por que aún lo uso. EL mundo unix antes del 2002 no me era desconocido, en efecto, hace mucho tiempo conocía de su existencia, pero por no tener una conexión fija a internet no sabía de la existencia de variantes libres. Siempre supe del poder de una máquina Unix, pero nunca supe como poder tenerlo en casa. Lo conocí por las famosas guías que todo buen "lammer" lee. Eran las llamadas \Guías del Hacking mayormente inofensivo\. En ese entonces a mis 15 años de edad unix pasó a ser una especie de obseción... quería tenerlo en mi casa de algún modo. Pasó el tiempo, de "lammer" pasé a "newbie" y el 2002 comenzó una nueva historia...

[bidjan] El 2002 aproximadamente entré a la universidad
[bidjan] y tuve mi primer contacto con linux,
[bidjan] al menos supe de su existencia
[bidjan] nunca antes lo había usado
[bidjan] y lo tenía que aprender a usar por que sinceramente pensaba que un verdadero informático tiene que conocerlo al menos. (Hasta el día de hoy sigo pensando igual)
[bidjan] La cosa es que aproximadamente a mediados del 2002 instalé RH
[acardenas] ok sigue
[bidjan] era RH 9 si no me equivoco
[bidjan] lo instalé
[bidjan] y jugué algún tiempo con esa distro.
[bidjan] aunque nunca llegué a usarlo por completo
[bidjan] por que no me llenaba
[bidjan] sentí que estaba todo hecho
[bidjan] gráficos por todos lados
[bidjan] y cuando algo fallaba no sabía que era lo que pasaba.
[bidjan] Desde la instalación de RH era todo fácil,
[bidjan] pero cuando ocurría algo "malo" no sabía que tocar
[bidjan] a que archivo recurrir, etc.
[bidjan] eso no me gustó para nada
[bidjan] sentía que no era dueño de ese SO
[bidjan] no lo podía manejar
[bidjan] no podía hacer nada más que abrir ventanas
[bidjan] y esas cosas.
[bidjan] eso me fastidiaba.
[acardenas] yap
[bidjan] necesitaba conocer más
[bidjan] Ya la cosa es que usé RH como 3 meses por así decirlo
[bidjan] por que hubo mucho tiempo que no entraba a RH sino a windows
[bidjan] estuvo instalado como 3 meses
[bidjan] después nunca más tuve contacto con linux
[bidjan] nada de nada.
[bidjan] Llegó el 2004
[bidjan] cuando por casualidad entré a un servidor por invitación.
[bidjan] era irc.bsd.cl
[bidjan] ahí conocí a efex
[bidjan] y como siempre he sido preguntón
[bidjan] le pregunté como lo hacía para montar ese servidor de irc
[bidjan] y me habló de freebsd
[bidjan] algo completamente desconocido para mi hasta ese momento
[bidjan] me habló maravillas
[bidjan] de los ports principalmente
[bidjan] y me convenció
[bidjan] hasta que me instalé una 4.9
[bidjan] lo empecé a instalar
[bidjan] y sinceramente esperaba ver los lindos gráficos que años atrás me mostraba RH
[bidjan] pero no los vi
[acardenas] y empezo el martirio jejejej
[bidjan] siiiii
[bidjan] bueno
[bidjan] la instalación comenzó
[bidjan] y yo muy asustado pues pensaba que iba a cagar mi HD
[bidjan] o mis datos de windows.
[bidjan] la cosa es que terminó de instalar sin problemas
[bidjan] una vez que reinicié por primera vez para ver mi SO en acción
[bidjan] me encontré sin gráficos, sin ventanas, sin nada.
[bidjan] tan solo había una pantalla negra
[bidjan] y un prompt
[bidjan] y ahí quedé sin saber que hacer
[bidjan] pensé que había salido algo mal en la instalación, ya que era todo negro
[bidjan] y me recriminaba un poco
[bidjan] sinceramente no supe que hacer
[bidjan] era todo distinto.
[acardenas] jejejejeje
[acardenas] y que hiciste?
[bidjan] imagínate lo que fué para mi, siendo que practicamente pasé de windows a freebsd
[bidjan] por que linux apenas lo conocí
[bidjan] bueno
[bidjan] al fin de cuentas entré a windows
[bidjan] y dí con el handbook
[bidjan] leí de los ports y packages
[bidjan] quería instalar algo
[bidjan] cuando aprendí como instalar cosas
[bidjan] y además cuando supe que tenía que instalar algo como xfree86 para ver cosas gráficas
[bidjan] reinicié dispuesto a instalarlo con lo que había aprendido.
[bidjan] vamos! era tan solo un make install clean
[bidjan] excelente dije
[bidjan] me fuí al directorio del port
[bidjan] y puse make install clean
[bidjan] pero me dí cuenta que algo malo pasó
[bidjan] decía como que estaba intentando bajar algo pero que no pudo
[bidjan] dije, mierda!!
[bidjan] no tengo conexion a insternet
[bidjan] *internet
[bidjan] jajajaja
[bidjan] pensé: "estoy cagao"
[bidjan] me desanimé bastante
[bidjan] pero reinicié para saber como poder conectarme a internet
[bidjan] reinicié y entré a windows.
[acardenas] yap y
[bidjan] buscando creo que di con unas guías para conectarme desde ADSL
[bidjan] estuve como una semana tratando de hacerlo
[bidjan] hasta que un día
[bidjan] configurando cosas
[bidjan] /etc/ppp/ppp.conf principalmente
[bidjan] hice un ping
[bidjan] zean@~: ping google.com
[bidjan] PING google.com (72.14.207.99): 56 data bytes
[bidjan] 64 bytes from 72.14.207.99: icmp_seq=0 ttl=236 time=159.318 ms
[bidjan] y eso fué lo que hice
[bidjan] y cuando vi esos numeros supe que estaba conectado
[bidjan] me sentí bastante feliz
[bidjan] en serio!
[bidjan] me sentí bien
[bidjan] instalé xfree86 me acuerdo
[acardenas] jejejeje
[bidjan] y fluxbox
[bidjan] también tuve problemas con mi tarjeta de video y como antes...
[bidjan] obligado a volver a windows y averiguar.
[bidjan] te prometo que estuve días tratando de hacer que todo funcionara
[bidjan] hasta que por fin pude tener mi propio escritorio
[bidjan] fuí feliz
[bidjan] muy feliz
[bidjan] instalé un navegador
[bidjan] creo que era firefox
[bidjan] y como ya tenía conexión podía averiguar todo desde mi freebsd
[bidjan] era genial, no necesitaba reiniciar más para volver a windows
[bidjan] y averiguar cosas por allá
[acardenas] jejejeje
[acardenas] claro porque ya tenias tu conexion
[bidjan] de a poco y gracias al handbook aprendía bastante
[acardenas] configurada y funcionando
[bidjan] sii
[bidjan] excelente
[bidjan] para mi era un gran logro
[bidjan] por que practicamente pasé de windows a freebsd
[bidjan] y por q digo qué con freebsd aprendía bastante?
[bidjan] aprendí bastante
[bidjan] por que desde un principio no me dió las comodidades gráficas de linux
[bidjan] en un principio al tener solo un terminal negro por obligación tenía que
[bidjan] configurar todo
[bidjan] ya cuando algo fallaba en mi freebsd sabía que podía ser
[acardenas] y te obliga a que leas y aprendas
[bidjan] lo contrario ocurría con linux
[bidjan] exactamente
[bidjan] me obligaba a aprender
[bidjan] eso en un principio fué mi suplicio
[bidjan] por que no entendía
[bidjan] ahora lo entiendo
[bidjan] hasta el día de hoy no me separo de mi freebsd
[bidjan] tuve 4.9
[bidjan] 4.10
[bidjan] 4.11
[bidjan] bajé el CD de la 5.4 y la instalé
[acardenas] vaya parecido a mi :D
[bidjan] luego pusé RELENG_5 en mi archivo de configuración para upgradear a la última 5
stable
[acardenas] excepto que la rama que instale fue 4.1
[bidjan] y hasta ahora sigo con la 5-STABLE
[bidjan] zean@~: uname -a
[bidjan] FreeBSD xxx.xxx.xxx 5.5-STABLE FreeBSD 5.5-STABLE #0: Mon Sep 11 00:03:41 CLT
2006 xxx@xxx.xxx.xxx:/usr/obj/usr/src/sys/ZEAN i386
[bidjan] y esa es mi historia
[bidjan] en freebsd tengo todo
[bidjan] todo lo que al menos necesito
[bidjan] tengo miles de programas
[bidjan] tengo un directorio solo para seguridad
[bidjan] servicios para montar
[bidjan] todo
[acardenas] jejejejeje
[bidjan] tengo todo para aprender cosas de redes y seguridad.

Esa es en resumidas cuentas mi historia... Hoy sigo muy bien con mi querido FreeBSD. Tanto es así que ya dispongo de mi 6.2-STABLE. Trato en lo posible de aportar con documentación, y pronto tengo pensado portar/mantener algún port como agradecimiento a todo lo que he aprendido con el proyecto.

zean@~: uname -a
FreeBSD xxx.xxx.xxx 6.2-STABLE FreeBSD 6.2-STABLE #0: Wed Mar 28 13:10:46 CLT 2007 xxx@xxx.xxx.xxx:/usr/obj/usr/src/sys/ZEAN i386

Finalmente espero que mi historia sirva como incentivo a aquellos que quieran comenzar en el mundo BSD y sepan que existen otras alternativas libres a GNU/Linux.

Secure Remote Desktop on Linux and Windows

Remote Desktop is one the great features added to Windows since XP. From then many clients exists for connecting to remote desktops including linux, Mac OS X. Remote desktop connection uses Remote Desktop Protocol (RDP) and the protocol has 128 bit encryption; however it is possible to decrypt entire connection because of its implementation. We need to use some other layers to make the connection secure.

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Fluxbox 1.0-RC3 Released

This release has lots of new feature and lots of bug fixes. More extended window manager hints support, support for mouse buttons in keys file, language updates and much more.

This is the final release candidate, the next release will be 1.0.0 stable!

The Complete FreeBSD

The book has now been released for free download in PDF form. Instead of downloading the changed pages, you may prefer to download the entire book. See http://www.lemis.com/grog/Documentation/CFBSD/ for more information.

Sniff Passwords from HTTPS Encrypted Sites

This is an educational video and should not be used illegally.

Understanding Your File System

File systems are the structures behind how your computer stores and organizes data. Everything you install, save, edit or create on your computer comprises the trillions of bits of data a file system stores, organizes and allows access to on a daily basis for computer users. Hard drives, CD-Roms, DVD-Roms and servers are all types of file systems that allow you access to data.

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Basic IP Subnetting Concept

What is Subnetting ?

Password checker

Your online accounts, computer files, and personal information are more secure when you use strong passwords to help protect them.

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Tcpdump

Tcpdump is the premier network analysis tool for information security professionals. Having a solid grasp of this über-powerful application is mandatory for anyone desiring a thorough understanding of TCP/IP. Many prefer to use higher level analysis tools such as Ethereal Wireshark, but I believe this to usually be a mistake.

Free Online Photo Editors

Perhaps you're on vacation and didn't feel like lugging your laptop along with you. But of course you're taking pictures. You can now clean up those photos and even do more advanced image editing from any internet café. A crop of web-based photo editing programs has sprouted up over the past year, mostly based on AJAX or Flash.

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Advanced SSH security tips and tricks

In this article I'll show you some simple tricks to help you tighten security for your secure shell (SSH) service.

Set up your personal Wikipedia

The software that runs Wikipedia, called MediaWiki, is freely available for anyone to install. Today we'll set up MediaWiki on your Windows PC and get started with a video demonstration on how to add, edit and compare page revisions in your new, local personalpedia.

Dreamweaver running on Ubuntu in 10 EASY Steps!

Tired of Windows? Quanta Plus/NVU/Vim are not enough? You just can’t switch to linux because there is no match for the Dreamweaver? Well… Here it is the solution to all your problems!

Top 5 Methods To Access Banned Sites

http://proxinated.com/?p=5

Free CSS Editors

Style sheets are a very powerful tool for the Web site developer. They give you the chance to be completely consistent with the look and feel of your pages, while giving you much more control over the layout and design than straight HTML ever did. We’ve come up with a list of FREE CSS Editors that you can work with to improve your website design with with CSS by wasting the least amount of time.

Archlinux 0.8 (Voodoo) - i686 Base CD

Arch Linux is an independent i686-optimized community distribution for intermediate and advanced Linux users, originally based on ideas from CRUX, a great distribution developed by Per Lidén. Arch is fast, lightweight, flexible and simple. Those aren't just fancy buzzwords - they're all true. It's lightweight compared to RedHat, et al., and its simple design makes it easy to extend and mold into whatever kind of system you're building.

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BSDTalk #105

Introduction to PF with Jason Dixon.

MP3
OGG

PostgreSQL LiveCD

Pg_live is an Xubuntu based liveCD "designed and optimized expressly for the PostgreSQL Database administrator and enthusiast." It is also an ideal classroom aid and utility for those who want to learn more about the latest version of Postgres without having to install and configure it first.

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2006 Operating System Vulnerability Summary

Computer security is a precarious business both from a product development and administrative standpoint. Operating system vendors are forced to constantly patch their software to keep consumers protected from the latest digital threats. But which operating systems are the most secure?

Customizing Ubuntu

This is a guide I have put together on customizing Ubuntu Linux. It is pretty basic stuff that anyone with a fresh install should do. I hope it is helpful to all the Ubuntu users out there.

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Connect to the Internet from Anywhere Using a GPRS Connection and Ubuntu

This article will explain how to connect your laptop or desktop to the Internet using your (Nokia) mobile phone GPRS connection while running Ubuntu as the operating system. You may ask yourself, 'Why on earth would I want to use the phone's 5kB/s connection when I have a broadband line at home?”. Well, it's quite obvious: you can't use the broadband line unless you're at home. When you're on the road and need an Internet connection, you'll be able to use the one provided by the mobile phone. Or, you may find yourself in a situation when you desperately need an Internet connection and your shiny new broadband connection has broke down. Then again, you can use the mobile phone's connection as a backup line.

¿BSD?

Un interesante artículo escrito por Greg Lehey que pretende explicar lo qué es BSD y por que es tan "desconocido" aún. Además explica algunas diferencias con Linux.

¿Qué es una DMZ?

Una DMZ (del inglés Demilitarized zone) o Zona DesMilitarizada. Una zona desmilitarizada (DMZ) o red perimetral es una red local que se ubica entre la red interna de una organización y una red externa, generalmente Internet.

El objetivo de una DMZ es que las conexiones desde la red interna y la externa a la DMZ estén permitidas, mientras que las conexiones desde la DMZ sólo se permitan a la red externa, es decir: los equipos locales (hosts) en la DMZ no pueden conectar con la red interna.

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Wi-Fi worry: Laptops at risk of attack

As communities push to turn themselves into massive wireless hot spots, unsuspecting Internet users are giving hackers nearly effortless access to their laptops and private information, authorities and high-tech security experts say.

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Beware the "Evil Twin" Wi-Fi Hotspot

Hop into Starbucks or an airport terminal and you may find yourself tempted by the inexpensive Wi-Fi service offered. Fire up your computer, browse the wireless networks available, and maybe you'll jump on a network named "tmobile" or "wayport" or some other common name among Wi-Fi service providers. Sure enough, your browser pulls up a page asking for your credit card information... or maybe you'll find yourself with "free" access to the internet. Surprise: You might have just been punk'd by a hacker.

Filesystem encryption in mixed environments with TrueCrypt

If you want to encrypt your sensitive files so that no one can access them without your personal password or decryption key, you have several options. But if you want a free, cross-platform, open source encryption application, try TrueCrypt.

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With desktop camera, your face can be your password

A Canadian company on Wednesday announced a new camera that functions as both a Webcam and a security system that scans a face in three dimensions.

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Metasploit 3.0 day

The Metasploit Framework is a development platform for creating security tools and exploits. Federico Biancuzzi interviewed H D Moore to discuss what's new in release 3.0, the new license of the framework, plans for features and exploits development, and the links among the bad guys and Metasploit and the law.

Review: DragonFly BSD 1.8.1

I have been neglecting the BSD line of operating systems lately, but a new release of DragonFly BSD has come out and I figured this would be a good opportunity to try it out. I have never used DragonFly, but I used to use FreeBSD extensively (I still have it running a few servers) and I’ve also used OpenBSD and NetBSD in the day.

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OpenOffice.org 2.2 released

The OpenOffice.org Community announce the release of OpenOffice.org 2.2, the latest version of the leading open-source office suite. With upgrades to its word processor, spreadsheet, presentations, and database software, the free software package provides a real alternative to Microsoft's recently-released Office 2007 product - and an easier upgrade path for existing Microsoft Office users. OpenOffice.org 2.2 also protects users from newly discovered vulnerabilities, where users' PCs could be open to attack if they opened documents from, or accessed web sites set up by, malicious individuals.

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Dell Promises Pre-Installed Linux

Thanks to requests by its customers, Dell will offer Linux pre-installed on its PCs and laptops.

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Scheduling for Absolute Beginners

Linux scheduling is done via a program called cron. Cron is a system program that is running all the time and is similar to the Windows scheduler which allows you to run commands/programs at predefined times and intervals.

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Security and Obscurity

Many of us are familiar with a concept know as Security by Obscurity. The term has quite negative connotations within the security community -- often for the wrong reasons. There's little debate about whether security by obscurity is bad; this is true because it means the secret being hidden is the key to the entire system's security.

Obscurity itself, however, when added to a system that already has decent controls in place, is not necessarily a bad thing. In fact, when done right, obscurity can be a strong addition to an overall approach.

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Six tips for Linux, open source desktop migrations

Planning a migration from Windows PCs to Linux-based desktops is no small task. Here are six issues and strategies to consider before getting started.

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Exploits for all - final version of Metasploit 3.0 released

After a number of beta versions, the final version 3.0 of the Metasploit exploit framework has now been released. Administrators can use it to develop tools for testing security vulnerabilities, for example to check whether installation of an update on their internal servers and clients has been successful. Many security specialists also use Metasploit for analysing bugs and determining whether they can be exploited to inject code onto a system.

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Adding a wireless access point to your FreeBSD machine

http://mikestammer.com/dokuwiki/bsd:accesspoint

Remote kernel debugging in FreeBSD using serial communication

Explore how to remotely debug a FreeBSD kernel that is running on a target machine without affecting system performance. In this article, examine setting up the debug environment using serial communication port, compiling modified kernel code, debugging, and troubleshooting tips.

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How I’d Hack Your Weak Passwords

One of the simplest ways to gain access to your information is through the use of a Brute Force Attack. This is accomplished when a hacker uses a specially written piece of software to attempt to log into a site using your credentials.

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Dump/Restore Howto

It is imperative to have a solid backup and recovery strategy. Over the years, I have tried a lot of tools such as flexbackup, bacula, etc, but nothing met my needs completely. As I was looking into FreeBSD backup solutions, I, once again, came across dump and restore.

Protect Your Digital Secrets

We live in a world where a criminal can literally assume your identity and wipe you out financially. So, it’s important to put up as many obstacles as possible in order to protect yourself.

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How to automatically back up your computers with rsync

Gadgets and tech weblog Engadget has put together a very detailed tutorial for setting up automatic backups on Windows, Mac, and Linux computers to a backup server using the all-powerful rsync command line utility coupled with the security of SSH.

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Adiós al disco duro

Apenas quince días después de que SanDisk anunciase su nueva unidad de 32 GB de memoria Flash, Samsung dobla la oferta con el el anuncio de una de 64 GB, que estará disponible en el segundo trimestre de este año.

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Yahoo opens up Web mail APIs

Yahoo is opening up its Web mail platform to external developers, so that they can create plug-ins, utilities and applications for the popular Yahoo Mail service.

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Protect Your Privacy, Delete Internet Usage Tracks

There are lots of good reasons to clean up your computer’s hard drive and usage tracks...

The Lazy Guide to Installing Knoppix on a USB Key

Knoppix, the famous live Linux CD that practically started the live CD trend, needs no introduction to most people. One of the things that's so great about it is that you can take it with you and boot to a familiar Linux environment on almost any modern computer, without touching the OS that's already installed on it.

Of course, it can be even more portable when it runs entirely off of an inexpensive USB key. So let's install it to a 1 GB USB key, and create a persistent home directory in which to store files. Only let's do it the lazy way, and keep use of the command prompt to a bare minimum.

Ulteo the new "easiest" linux in the world

Gael Duval, the creator of Mandrake (now Mandriva) and now fired from its own company, has recently released the Ulteo project.

This new distro claims to be the easiest linux now a days, it is based on KUBUNTU, according to Duval, Ulteo is more than just user friendly, the Ulteo philosophy is to offer a system where the user won't need to spend too much time upgrading, fine tunning and managing the system.

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Hackers build private IM to keep out the law

Hackers have built their own encrypted IM (instant-message) program to shield themselves from law enforcement trying to spy on their communication channels.

The application, called CarderIM, is a sophisticated tool hackers are using to sell information such as credit-card numbers or e-mail addresses, part of an underground economy dealing in financial data, said Andrew Moloney, business director for financial services for RSA, part of EMC Corp., during a presentation at the International e-crime Congress in London on Wednesday.

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I Can Give You A Stronger Password, and Help You Remember It

As an IT professional, and someone that uses web resources constantly, I have to know passwords to dozens of different services, and as a precaution, I use a different password for each of them. How do I remember them all? Here's my secret for developing strong passwords, and remembering them.

Analizando intentos maliciosos de logeo por SSH

Si eres administrador de sistemas unix-based probablemente muchas veces fuiste victima de éstos intentos. Éste artículo usa la tecnología de honeypots para analizar maliciosos intentos de autentificación sobre SSH. Además se ofrecen recomendaciones de como securizar un sistema contra éstos ataques.

VMware enters the Linux kernel

The next revision of the Linux kernel is to include a virtualization feature developed by VMware, called VMI.

The stable update, version 2.6.21, will then allow para-virtualized operating systems -- Linux itself -- to run inside virtual machines on top of, and to some extent sharing, the Linux kernel. Para-virtualization is a technique that offers virtual machine performance in exchange for OS flexibility; the guest OS has to be modified to understand that it's running inside a virtual machine, and must be the same as the host.

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DragonFly BSD 1.8.1 Released

Security updates for BIND, File, libmagic, and TCPDUMP; X.Org added to various paths, including periodic directories for cron and manual paths; the dynamic loader now properly searches objects, solving problems with a number of pkgsrc applications.

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Speed Up Google Analytics

This method uses crontab to execute a shell script that downloads an updated urchin.js file every 24 hours and saves it into your local sites directory. Thats it!

The problem occurs when google-analytics.com/urchin.js is requested by billions of web users all over the world at one time, it can cause your sites pages to load at a snails pace. Especially if you are using WordPress or a similar CMS.

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What's FireGPG ?

FireGPG is a Firefox extension which brings an interface to crypt, decrypt, sign or verify the signature of a text in any web page, using GPG.

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Jott + Gmail = to-do list by phone

A blogger at Studentlinc explains how he combined Jott and Gmail to create a to-do list he can add to just by making a phone call.

Jott, as you may recall, is a free service that transcribes phone messages and sends the text to you via e-mail.

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Yahoo Mail Goes Infinite

Yahoo has announced that Yahoo Mail's new limit is...well, it has no limit. You get infinite space for your e-mail. Let me repeat: infinite space. As in you can store all your e-mail. Even if you have an unlimited amount of it.

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Top 10 Password Crackers

http://sectools.org/crackers.html

Linux Security: IPTABLES

A Step by step tutorial for how do you secure your Linux servers using IPtables.

Is your computer a criminal?

Your home computer may be committing a crime at this very moment. It might be sending out spam. It might be buying stock as part of a pump-and-dump scheme. Or it might be helping attack the Internet itself, silently and invisibly, as you read this story. And the odds your computer is a criminal are quickly rising.

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Hundreds Of Gmail, Yahoo, MSN Passwords Exposed By Entertainment Web Site

The victims are all members of sites operated by Splash Magazines Worldwide, which publishes local versions of its magazines under URLs like NYCSplash.com and LASplash.com.

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FREE URL Shortening or Forwarding Service

I remembered once I called Hewlett Packard for support regarding an intermittent problem with USB keyboard and mouse. The support guy asked me to download the latest chipset driver and that should solve the problem. Usually the URL to download a driver is very long and hard to remember that makes it harder to spell it out to customers. What they did was they used FREE short URL redirection service such as the popular TinyURL. I really thought that this is a good idea if you need to spell out a URL to another person...

Protect SSH on Fedora Core from Dictionary Attacks with DenyHosts

What are the odds that someone will try to attack your SSH service? Pretty good. One way to help thwart those attempts is to use DenyHosts. It monitors the SSH log, and when it finds that someone has tried, unsuccessfully, to log in, it adds their IP address to hosts.deny - preventing any further access to your machine for a period of time - which can be indefinite if you so choose.

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How to create a command-line password vault

Like many people, I have too many passwords to remember. To keep them straight, I wrote a simple password security script using dialog and GnuPG (GNU Privacy Guard). The script prompts the user for a master password using a dialog box, unencrypts a file that holds a list of passwords, and opens the file in a text editor. When the editor is closed, the script re-encrypts the password file.

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Use GMail to Find Out Where Your Spam Originates

If you’re like me, then you’re junk mail folder needs to be emptied daily. Everything from PayPal Scams, Grow Your Penis, and Buy Our Pills, to jibberish, to cleverly crafted image fragments which don’t seem to fool the spam filters anyhow. Gmail and other free email providers out there tend to do a good job with classifying mail as spam - although since email has been around for so long, spam filters should be fairly intelligent by now. But have you ever wondered how these spammers get your email address in the first place?

Remote access in Linux

If you have ever tried to access a Windows box remotely, it is very likely you suffered a lot of frustration. Remote desktop works great… but only when you have a stable broadband connection to your remote machine. In GNU/Linux you (as usual) have a choice – you can connect remotely, both graphically and text-based (for maximum performance) using at least a few methods described in the article.

Protect SSH from brute force attacks with pam_abl

Practically all Unix and Linux servers run an SSH service to let administrators connect securely from remote locations. Unfortunately for security administrators, attacks on SSH services are popular today. In this article I'll show you how can you protect machines running SSH services from brute force attacks using the pam_abl plugin for SSH pluggable authentication modules (PAM).

Presentaciones: BSDcon2006

Hace tiempo atrás se colgaron las presentaciones. Dejo el enlace para quien aún no las tenga.

Create Userbar for Forum Signature

Today you will learn how to make a userbar to be put in forum signature. Userbars are small rectangular images that are often used to show the user's interests, hobbies, or graphical skills. The below tutorial is just a simple and basic one, but nothing stops you to be more creative and make the best-looking userbar out there.

Creating OpenBSD Binary Patches in a Chroot Environment

Unlike other operating systems, patches for the OpenBSD base system are distributed as source code patches. These patches are usually applied by compiling and installing them onto the target system. While that upgrade procedure is well-documented, it is not always suitable for certain systems that do not have the OpenBSD compiler set installed for various reasons such as disk space constraints. To fill this gap, open source projects like binpatch were started to allow administrators to create binary patches using the BSD make system. This article proposes an alternative method to build binary patches using a chroot environment in an attempt to more closely mirror the instructions given in the OpenBSD patch files.

Installing Oracle9i on FreeBSD

This document is here for informational purposes only. Because Oracle will not support running their products on FreeBSD, if you choose to do so, you will be operating outside of the scope of their Professional Services and Support team, and will get no help from them if something goes wrong. If you are only interested in using the Linux version of Oracle9i for educational or testing purposes, just be aware that things might not work exactly as planned, and you just might lose all of your data. In any event, I cannot be held responsible for anything which might occur as a result of these instructions, and cannot stress enough that until such time as Oracle releases a native FreeBSD version of their products, you should never use this as a production system!

¿Tienes un PC viejo?

Revívelo con Linux.

Escribiendo en particiones NTFS

Más de alguna vez nos preguntamos por alguna herramienta que nos permitiese escribir en particiones NTFS, sin resultados concretos. Con el port sysutils/fusefs-ntfs ésta operación se puede realizar fácilmente.

How to Use Jail Tools

A few hints and tips using jail and JailTools (aka jail_tools)

Haciendo un DVD de FreeBSD

FreeBSD actualmente se distribuye en 2 CDs. Se puede combinar ambos en un único DVD. Existen muchas razones para hacer ésto.

FreeBSD 6.2: Polished, More Stable

FreeBSD 6.2, one of the most popular versions of the free BSD Unix operating system, is out with new features and updates. It plugs holes and, in addition to the usual route of installing directly to a hard drive this time around, offers a LiveCD that can be used to rescue a broken system.

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Construcción de un Firewall de escritorio con FreeBSD

Usando PF se puede realizar esta tarea en unos pocos minutos.

Jaulas bajo FreeBSD 6

Muy buen artículo que muestra el proceso de creación de jaulas en FreeBSD 6. En el mismo artículo salen los enlaces para crear jaulas sobre FreeBSD 4 y 5.

Time For Higher Security In Digital Email Signatures

It’s time to step it up with security when signing emails digitally with your GnuPG/OpenPGP key. For the longest time, SHA-1 has been the default hash for signing text documents. However, SHA-1, a 160-bit strength hashing algorithm has been broken.

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SSH Key Authentication

This is going to be old hat for some, but I know there are those who can benefit from it, so I’ll post a brief tutorial here.

Remote Desktop for Linux - Reloaded

My first article on remote desktop became popluar among Linux users and some Windows people as well. I received many comments on what I had missed from the short list I had compiled. Therefore, I’ve written this updated article that contains additional remote desktop apps that can be used for Linux to Linux / Windows to Linux and also Windows to Mac and Mac to Windows.

Using GPG With Mozilla Thunderbird

It’s a morning of security. What can I say? I just updated my GPG keypair, and after hitting “publish”, I thought to myself “Why not write a quick tutorial on using GPG with Thunderbird?”. So, here it is.

More SSH Tips

I just love OpenSSH. That is the single greatest tool on unix-like operating systems, as far as I am concerned. I’ve blogged about SSH plenty. SSH tunneling, SSH forwarding, SSHFS and more. Needless to say, I believe that SSH is the single most flexible and powerful package on unix-like operating systems. And, with this post, it just gets better.

Gmail Shortcuts

Algunos atajos en Gmail.

Montando un punto de acceso con FreeBSD

Artículo (Inglés) que enseña como montar un punto de acceso inalámbrico con FreeBSD. Los pasos a seguir son:

1. Asegurarnos que hostapd y named (BIND) estén instalados en el sistema.
2. Recompilar el kernel para que soporte PF (para el filtrado de paquetes).
3. Configurar la traducción de direcciones de red (NAT).
4. Instalación del servidor DHCP.
5. Configuración de demonios e inicio de ellos.
   

¿Inicio lento en Linux?

Un interesante artículo (Inglés) que enseña a acelerar la velocidad de inicio de Linux. Además nos muestra como visualizar graficamente el rendimiento del proceso de inicio.

Instalación y Configuración de PostgreSQL 8.x

Hace algún tiempo cree éste tutorial para la comunidad española de ElDemonio en el que explico el procedimiento para instalar, configurar y securizar PostgreSQL Server. En ese momento tenía una máquina 5.5-STABLE, pero el proceso es el mismo que para una 6.x.

Existe un mirror en la comunidad BSD de Perú.

Guide to Deploying a FreeBSD 6.2 Desktop

This is the process that I use when I build my own desktop workstations. I'll warn that it can be quite time consuming, but in the end, you will have a system that is rock solid stable. Finally, I will assume that you have navigated to this article with a base system already installed, such as by following the document Installing FreeBSD 6.2.

Installing Freebsd 6.2

This article will guide you through the installation and system preparation for FreeBSD 6.2. This article is not intended to produce a working system, but is the foundation for the progression to either a desktop system or a server. Once this document has been followed to completion, you may either choose to follow the Server or Workstation documents for your system deployment.