May The Force Be With You…

"A long time ago, in a galaxy far far away…" I remember when I first saw those blue letters fade onto the screen when I was 4 years old. Star Wars amazed me when I was a little kid. I actually believed that the world existed and I used to fantasize about leaving earth in the Millennium Falcon and cruising around the galaxy going from system to system as a smuggler or bounty hunter. I still believe that the world exists, actually. I refuse to believe that it is all just a fantasy. It's just a matter of time before we discover a fourth Death Star and Earth sends it's young men to the Rebel base to defend our galaxy. I will be the first in line for that draft.

I have probably seen the original trilogy over 900 times. I used to watch the three movies, rewind all the tapes, and watch them again. The Star Wars universe absolutely fascinated me growing up, and it still fascinates me today. So knowing all this, wouldn't I be absolutely thrilled to find out that a rocket team out in California actually made a flying model of the X-Wing. It actually flies – well not literally as it is more of fancy rocket, but even still – it flies! It will even lock it's S-Foils in attack position in mid flight! How fucking cool is this?!

It is a 21-foot long model that has four solid liquid fuel rockets on it. They are the kind that burn red to resemble the engines of the X-Wing in the movies. It is mostly made out of wood with the exception of some solid aluminum rods to support the wing motion for when the wings open up. It is unmanned, which sucks, but I suppose in this case safety really does come first. They are planning to launch it on October 10^th and it will land with three man-rated parachutes. All I have to say is that they better fucking video tape it. Being that is made out of wood, it will probably explode into a ball of fire, and here is hoping. I would want to see a real life X-Wing explode in a great ball of fire. Then people could edit the movie and make it look like a TIE-Fighter shot it down. This is so cool and so right in so many ways.

The next step of course is for someone to make a real one and let me pilot it as I am not such a bad pilot myself. I would zip around the world, blasting stuff. It would be so much fun. Then all I would need is a Lightsaber, and my life would be complete.

Read the whole story here: http://gizmodo.com/gadgets/star-wars/rocket+powered-21+foot-long-x+wing-model-actually-flies-305976.php. There are pictures of how it was built, and a full explanation of how it will work. These workers are strong with the force. Learn much from them we may and our lives fulfilled will be. May the force be with us all…

Too Long

    Wow, it has really been a long time since my last post. Things have been absolutely insane for me. It has honestly been too long since my last post. I have really been putting it off to get other things done. I will start to post more regularly and keep things updated.

    In recent news for me, my sister got married. I wasn't at the wedding, because of family issues, and I didn't really care to be there. She is a self-righteous bitch, so I didn't bother. Work is still going good. I am, however, going to take the police exams for Albany and Schenectady counties in NY. I am also going to take the NY State Trooper exam in January. I am looking to eventually become a computer forensics detective, but I gotta be on the street for a while before I can do that.

    In more exciting and technology related news, there are a couple of stories that I think any Linux and open source software supporter would like. The first one is actually old news, but it is new to me, as I never heard of it before. It is the One Laptop Per Child program. You can read about it here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/XO-1_(laptop) . Basically it's a program that distributes $100 laptops to deprived countries so that children in these countries can learn how to use a computer, and can have access to the Internet for their education. It's a great program, and they are distributing these laptops with a stripped down version of Fedora Linux. Since 2005, there have already been over 10 Million children that have received one of these notebooks. That means that for the last two years, over 10 million people have had Linux as their first operating system.

    The second piece of news, which is new for everyone, is that the Linux Foundation has signed a deal with the Japanese government to help promote Linux to the Asian companies. This is another big thing since Japan is one of the economic super powers. Read the full story here: http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20071002-linux-foundation-establishes-partnership-with-japanese-government.html.

    The world gets closer and closer to a Windows free society. Bad Vista!

Insecurity at Myrtle Beach.

Wow, it has been a while since I posted as I have been very busy the last two weeks. The week of July 21 – 28 I was on vacation in Myrtle Beach, SC with my girlfriend and her family and last week I was on a business trip all week, so I was unable to publish any new posts for that period.

In SC, we stayed at a hotel that was no more than 50 yards away from the beach. Every morning at 8AM we were putting our chairs on the beach to claim our spot. We would then actually go out to the beach around 9 and just lay around. We would stay on the beach until about 2 or 3 PM every day. During that time, we swam in the ocean, the pool at the hotel, and just sit on the beach.

The first night we were there, we ate at a seafood buffet where I had my first crab legs. They were very tasty and I would definitely have some more. On Tuesday we went to NASCAR raceway and raced around on go karts. That was an absolute blast, as I ::cough:: won all the races ::cough::. Wednesday I went with my girlfriend to Broadway at the Beach and we got our picture taken a lot. Thursday was deep sea fishing where I got seasick and puked over the side of the boat. Friday was another day at Broadway at the Beach, and Saturday we came home.

Thursday night we lit off fireworks on the beach, and something really funny happened. So here we were, lighting fireworks and this guy keeps pacing back and forth around us. After about 10 minutes, he finally approaches us, and the conversation went something like this:

Man: Hey, you guys speak English?

My Friend: Yea.

Man: You got a good lighter?

My Friend: Yea, why?

Man: ‘Cause I got a good firecracker.

The man then proceeded to pull out of his pocket a quarter stick of dynamite. This thing was huge. It was probably 2 inches or more in length, and the diameter had to be the same as a U.S. Quarter. The fuse it had was only a half inch in length, so lighting it was a little nervous. We got close to the water and shoved it into the sand, lit the fuse, and walked away. This thing went off, and it sounded like a land mine had just exploded. It echoed off the hotel buildings, and everyone that was watching us light the fireworks gave us a big round of applause. We ran right up to our room in fear of local law enforcement. We didn’t look at the crater this thing had to have left and in hindsight we probably should have. But what was done was done, and we certainly weren’t going back down to the beach that night. We weren’t the only ones scared off the beach either. Other people were lighting fireworks, and when we set the quarter stick off, they cleared out too. The beach was empty for about an hour before people cautiously returned to the beach and lit a few sparklers. The fireworks were over for the night.

Probably the most interesting thing about the whole thing was the way the room key system worked. They gave you the little credit card type key that you slid into the door when you wanted to unlock your room. Just in case the hotel had used this type of room entry system, I brought my computer and my homemade magnetic stripe reader/writer. Since we each got a card, I was able to use mine for my experiment. I swiped the card through my reader and I was able to extract the data from it. The only data on the card was the following string of numbers:

01140805073007

At first I did not know how it was constructed, but after studying it for about a half an hour, it was actually very simplistic.

01 = Building, in which case is the North Tower (South Tower being 02)

14 = Floor of the building

08 = Room number

05 = Number of occupants in the room

073007 = The date the occupants were set to checkout of the hotel (July 30, 2007)

Now take quick note, the information provided above is different from what I actually saw, to protect myself from prosecution. Moving on, there were four other people in our party that were staying in another room in the building. Letting me borrow their card, I was able to extract this information:

01031204072907

Based off my earlier information, stood for this:

01 = Building (North Tower again)

03 = Floor number

12 = Room number

04 = Number of occupants

072907 = The date the occupants were set to checkout of the hotel (July 29, 2007)

So I changed the code on my key to match the one on theirs. I tried my key, and was granted access to their room.

Wanting to see if I would be able to find out the information I needed from the front desk, I took an elevator ride down to the Lobby floor and approached the counter. I politely told the girl at the counter that I was a friend of the people in room 12 on the third floor and that I needed some information on them to give them a surprise party. Without question, she agreed to the inquisition, and answered all of my questions truthfully giving me all the information I would have needed if I hadn’t already known it. Obviously, she is not the brightest light bulb in the box, and neither is the security team.

What hacking is...

I know it’s been a while since I posted anything, but this past week has just been really crazy. I moved into a new apartment, I am going on vacation next week which I had to prepare for. It has just been really insane. I cannot wait until I am on Myrtle Beach. It will be a blast.

So I picked up the latest issue of 2600 over the weekend. Oh boy, is it a good issue. However, someone wrote a letter that was a little upsetting. He was questioning why the editors always answer repetitive questions and articles, and why they “waste space” in their magazine telling people over and over again how to submit letters, articles, etc. I wrote a letter to the magazine with this response, which explains what “hacking” really means:

“This is in response to MS3FGX’s letter in 24:2. The editors at 2600 are doing a fine job with the magazine and their website. You should realize that there is a lot of work that has to be done between each issue. I know that four months seems like a lot of time for only a 70 page magazine, but I would not be surprised to find out that it is actually very difficult for them to do what they do.

You need to remember that hacking is not merely an action that a person does on a computer. It is a state of mind; a way of thinking. You say that they waste space in their magazine answering repeat questions and they probably get a lot of duplicate articles. Yes, they do repeat a lot of the same questions and yes, I am sure they get tons of duplicate articles. However, I do not see this as a bad thing.

First I will discuss the questions. People of all ages and life styles read this magazine. There are people that do not have an Internet connection (as farfetched as that may sound, it is true). Or they may not know of the 2600 website, or don’t know how to search for it. So if the editor’s post answers to frequently asked questions on their website, and poor 14-year old Billy doesn’t have an Internet connection, how is he supposed to get his question answered if the editors refuse to answer it in the magazine? He won’t, and a question not being answered is never a good thing.

The other thing about having all the information provided on the website goes back to my statement that hacking is not an action, but a way of thinking. If all the information on how to do things, proper formatting, electrical schematics are spoon fed to us, how are we supposed to hack? Hacking is the search for information to try and find a better way of accomplishing a goal. Whether that is to get an iPod to snag all the passwords off a computer, or finding a different road home when the normal one you travel on is closed down for construction. As far as articles go, I really don’t think the editors mind if you send in a banner or not. If you do, and it can be formatted to their magazine, I am sure they will use it. If not, then maybe they will find one of their own. Who knows unless you either ask, or try?

I have been using Linux for the last 4 years. Not until just recently though have I been really trying to learn how to manage a Linux box. You can’t learn how to properly administrate a Linux box by reading a book, or by always being given the answers. I have used Fedora, Ubuntu, Red Hat, and SuSE. None of which really let you learn how the OS works, because a lot of functions are done for you. A week ago as of writing this, I switched to Slackware 12.0. The reason for this is because it will give me the opportunity to actually learn Linux, because hardly anything is done for you. Actually, applications work better and faster if you compile the source code yourself, rather than running an installer. Some people don’t need to know how to fully administrate a Linux distro, and that is fine. But for the people who want to learn how to do things in Linux at the command line, you don’t learn unless you do.

Regarding the complaint about not knowing what topics were posted before, everything has been. I have only been reading this magazine regularly for the last three years, which are only 12 issues. If I remember correctly, out of those 12 issues, there have been FOUR articles about some sort of Wi-Fi hacking. Whether it was breaking the WPA code, or Wardriving, the topic of Wi-Fi intrusion has been talked about a lot. The reason is, as technology changes and gets better, the way of accomplishing things you want to do with that technology changes. Do you think that for the last 23 years this magazine has been published there hasn’t been a MULTITUDE of duplicate topics? Look at all the articles there have been on social engineering. The reason for this is twofold.

First, let’s think of poor 14-year old Billy again. In the Spring 2005 issue, magnetic stripe reading was discussed, but Billy doesn’t pick up his first 2600 until a later issue. Meanwhile, someone submits an article on magnetic stripe reading, and while being innovative, and different from the article in the Spring 2005 issue, the editors reject the article because they are following a new “no duplicate article” policy. Or maybe the author of this article goes to 2600’s website and sees that magnetic stripe reading was already published, so he decides not to submit it in fear that the editors will reject the article. Either way, Bill is now denied information because people are afraid to print the same thing twice.

This of course brings me to my second point: there is always something different in each article even if the topic has been covered before, because again, technology changes every day. I read the article in the Spring 2005 issue, and I did it. I made my own magnetic stripe reader. There is a casino – that will remain nameless – that uses a gift card system to manage the information of customer’s balances. I went to this casino, and tested my stripe reader on their card. When I outputted the data, I was able to see where the balance was stored, and I was able to change that amount. I only went from having $40 on the card, to $45 and I took the card back to the casino to cash out. I wanted to see if they would be able to notice that I went from having $40 on the card to $45 without even gambling. They didn’t, and I made a fast five bucks. A year later I did the same thing, and almost got my ass arrested when they couldn’t match up the data on the card with the game logs on their servers. So if I were to write an article on this topic, should it be rejected on the basis that it was discussed already, even though the original article is no longer accurate for this situation? I think not.

Information should never be kept from anyone, but there should not only be one way of obtaining it either. This magazine has been published for the last 23 years. They must be doing a lot of things right to survive the troubles that they have probably had to go through. Remember, hacking is not just an action that is done on a computer; it is a way of thinking. Once again, editors of 2600, thank you for putting out such a fine publication and keep doing what you are doing. I look forward to reading all the future articles on Wi-Fi intrusion and social engineering. Hack on!”

Technilogical and Interactive Experiences

So a while back, Blizzard announced the development and future release of StarCraft 2, which is the sequel to one of the greatest PC games ever created. My best friend and I ruled those U.S. West servers in Battle.net. We were Pheonix~Flame and Pheonix~Tornado. To this day, you can still find someone on those servers who remember who we were.

Flame primarily played as the Zerg. He would have a massive army of Hydralisks and Zerglings within 15 minutes of playing the game. I was primarily Protoss and I could have 10+ Carriers that were fully upgraded in 15 to 20 minutes. He and I rocked the planet in that game, and it showed. Because we always played together, if he was struggling, he would move his units into my base, and if I was struggling, I would move my units into his. Hardly anyone ever beat us.

Back to SC2, one of the more exciting features in this game is the fact that there is no unit build limit. You can create as many units as you want. I seriously cannot wait. Hopefully Flame and I will be back on the Battle.net servers wreaking havoc throughout them once again. Should be good times.

On a separate note, the latest issue of 2600 was release on Friday. I will be picking it up today, and I will post on the interesting things that are included into that issue.

First post 2.0 RC2

OK, so my first post was a little angry and hateful towards Microsoft. I do not apologize for what I said, or for the fact that I am very displeased with Microsoft. I apologize for having that be my first post. But hey, I guess I wanted to start off with a bang. However, let me now take this moment to introduce myself and start off on a better foot.

For now, my name will remain anonymous, so just call me Unr3a1. I am 22-years old and recently graduated from ITT Technical Institute with my Associates Degree in Computer Network Systems. That was a long, hard 2 1/2 years of schooling, but I did it. I currently work for a software company in Upstate New York - but I think I already mentioned that. I have been working there for two months now, and it is going really well. They like me, I like them; it is a win-win situation.

My general interests include computers (obviously), video games, paint ball, firearms, reading, and keeping up with the latest in technology. Most important thing in my life right now - and probably forever - is my girlfriend. I have been dating her for over a year now, and we are seriously talking about marriage. Hey, we got a cat together, so we are like, stuck with each other. I love her to pieces, and if she ever saw this blog, she would kill me and demand I remove it because "its gay".

Short history about me and my computers... I touched my first computer when I was 7-years old. It was an old Win 3.1 machine. Loved it to death, and ever since then I have been hooked on the electronic wonders of the Digital Age. I built my first computer when I was only 9. That was also a Windows 3.1 box. Been forever ago. Didn't get into networking or security until I picked up my first 2600 magazine back in 1997. Read an article pertaining to cracking DES keys, and I was hooked.

Well, that's it for now. I know I wasted a perfectly good post on my background that no one will ever give a shit about, but hey, this is my blog, so I am allowed. Rest easy. Tomorrow or Sunday I will update with something a little more interesting. And if your lucky, something more controversial. Like the legalization of file sharing. Don don donnnn.........

First post.

So here is the first post to my blog. It is currently 3:08 AM EST, and I have to be at work at 8:30. I am up this late simply due to the fact that I finally got Slackware installed with a working wireless card. Now whenever I am at home, I can zip around the web on Linux.

Thats right, I am a Linux fan (if you couldn't already tell from my page). Microsoft has officially pissed me the fuck off.

I work for a software development company based in Upstate New York. We develop tax, property inspection, animal, and licensing management software for municipalities in NY, PA, and CT. I am on the support side, so if someone has an issue, they call me. I work with Vista at the office, and it is driving me nuts.

When I first booted it up and starting using it, I noticed right away that pretty much no matter what I did, it was asking if I was the administrator of the computer. Did a little research, and found out about the User Account Control "feature". It should marketed by Microsoft as "a big fucking headache". It gets in the way, and the software that we run, doesn't run right unless I right click every application I want to run and hit "Run as administrator". Who wants to do that all the time?

So I turned UAC off. Now I find out I am unable to modify any files for folders on the system. Silly me, I should have checked to make sure that the local administrator had rights to change folders and files. Who would have thought that Microsoft would limit the admin account from being able to modify files and folders? So I corrected the permissions. Oh wait: I can't touch the permissions of these following files:

C:\boot
C:\bootmgr
C:\Program Files
C:\Windows

Apparently as a new security feature, the local admin is not allowed to change these folders. Let me say that again: the local administrator cannot fully administrate the computer. Does this make any sense? If you buy Vista, right out of the box, the local admin account cannot do jack shit in the OS. It appears that Microsoft has lowered the credentials of the only account that you can log in with that is supposed to have full control over the system.

They did not give the local admin account the same SID number as the SYSTEM account (which is the account that has 100% control over the computer) as they did in older versions of Windows. So the only way to run commands with full rights is to use the command line. You need to download the PStools from Microsoft and at the command line run:

psexec -s "cmd"

This will change your prompt to:

C:\Windows\system32

Congratulations. You now have 100% control of Windows at the command line. But wait... didn't?... that's right, now I remember. No one knows any MS-DOS commands anymore because IT'S NEVER FUCKING USED ANYMORE. Lets all applaud Microsoft for their stupi... COUGH COUGH... genius ideas. ::applauds::