from my living room onto the garden

For everything there is a season

and a time for every purpose under Heaven:

a time to be born, and a time to die;

a time to plant, and a time to pluck up

what is planted;

a time to kill, and a time to heal;

a time to break down, and a time to build up;

a time to weep, and a time to laugh;

a time to mourn, and a time to dance;

a time to cast away stones, and a time to gather stones together;

a time to embrace, and a time to refrain

from embracing;

a time to seek, and a time to lose;

a time to keep and a time to cast away;

a time to rend, and a time to sew;

a time to keep silence, and a time to speak;

a time to love, and a time to hate;

a time for war, and a time for peace.

Ecclesiastes 3: 1-8

Photo from Bev.

Dawn

Dawn, the glorious bringer of graces,

shines forth and flings wide open for us her shining doors.

Stirring the whole world, she displays

her riches, raising the consciousness of all living creatures.

One she leads on to power, another to glory, another she leads on to pursuit of gains;

yet others she directs to varied callings,

raising to consciousness all living creatures.

Rig Veda 1.113.4.6

The Goddess Usha – Bringer of Dawn

Blessed, bearing the sun, the eye of the Gods,
Leading her white horse, magnificent to see,
Dawn reveals herself arrayed in beams of light,
And with boundless glory she transforms the world.

O fair one, banish the enemy with light!
And prepare for us broad pastures free from fear!
Ward off hatred, bring us your priceless treasure!
O bountiful, shower blessings on the singer!

Illumine us with your glorious splendor,
O divine Dawn! Enrich and lengthen our lives,
O Goddess full of grace! Grant us fulfillment
And cows, horses, and chariots in abundance!

Translated by Jean Le Mee

“O Daughter of Heaven, Dawn of noble birth
Whom the men of glory celebrate in hymns,
Establish in us wealth sublime and mighty!
O Gods protect us always with your blessings!”

Another excerpt from  hymns – Rig-Veda, an ancient Hindu text that dates back to c. 1500-1000BC and consists of 1,028 hymns addressed to various deities.

Usha -Goddess of Dawn

]]> http://ruzette.wordpress.com/2009/11/26/internet-sharing-on-mac-via-airport-to-windows-xp-os-x-leopard/ Thu, 26 Nov 2009 16:20:35 +0000 rururu http://ruzette.wordpress.com/2009/11/26/internet-sharing-on-mac-via-airport-to-windows-xp-os-x-leopard/

Ever since my Dad bought us an unlimited Sun Broadband wireless, my sister and I sometimes fight over who gets to use the modem for the time-being. I later discovered later that it was possible for a Mac(I have a white Macbook, OSX Leopard) to share its Internet Connection via Network Devices.

Ways of Sharing Internet Connection via Airport:

1. Sharing the DHCP connection.

on Mac:

1. Open System Preferences.
2. Click on the “Sharing” icon
3. Click on the “Internet Sharing” item list.
4. On the “Internet Sharing” item list, make sure that there’s a written name(i.e. ruzette) in the Computer Name field, selected source of connection (i.e. HUAWEI Mobile) in the Share your Connection from Combo Box and check the Airport Check Box in the To Computers Using list.
5. On the “Airport Options”, make sure that the “Enable encryption (using WEP)” remains unchecked.
6. Check the “Internet Sharing” check box.

on Windows XP:

1. On your Wireless Connections, Click on the Network name provided on the Mac.
2. Click Connect.
3. If it is not entirely connected (i.e, Limited Connection), go to Command Line Prompt (Start->Run->Type “cmd” -> OK) then type “ipconfig /renew”(It renews all your adapters’ connections). Hit the Enter key.

2. Sharing the WEP connection.

on Mac:

1. Open System Preferences.
2. Click on the “Sharing” icon
3. Click on the “Internet Sharing” item list.
4. On the “Internet Sharing” item list, make sure that there’s a written name(i.e. ruzette) in the Computer Name field, selected source of connection (i.e. HUAWEI Mobile) in the Share your Connection from Combo Box and check the Airport Check Box in the To Computers Using list.
5. On the “Airport Options”, check the “Enable encryption (using WEP)” box. Set the WEP-length to 40-bit.
6. Now this is the fun and vital part. After setting the WEP-length to 40-bit. You can only create hexadecimal passwords, meaning that only numbers from 0-9 and letters from A to F are allowed. Also, make sure that the “$” (dollar sign) is in front of the password (i.e. “$09342ABF”). Click OK. (Any combination using the mentioned numbers and letters is allowed. )
7. Check the “Internet Sharing” check box.

on Windows:

1. On your Wireless Connections, Click on the Network name provided on the Mac.
2. Click Connect.
3. If it is not entirely connected (i.e, Limited Connection), Right click on the “Wireless Connection” icon, Click on Properties.
4. On the Properties window, click on the “Wireless Networks” tab. Select the Network name on the Mac then select the “Configure” button. Check the “Data encryption (WEP enabled)” and the “Network Authentication (Shared mode)” boxes. Enter the network key we provided on the Mac except that we remove the dollar sign(“$”) in front of the key.
5. Make sure that the “Enable IEEE 802.x authentication for this network” remains unchecked in the Authentication tab.
6. Click OK.
7. Restart your connection if it still does not work.

***Special Thanks to lion for posting the WEP connection how-to on Mac-Forums.

The procedures on Windows XP can also be applicable on Windows Vista.

In un altro post ho descritto come configurare la nostra scheda wireless attraverso il file /etc/network/interfaces. Per i pochi che nonostante tutto preferiscono i programmi con interfaccia grafica ho preparato queste semplici istruzioni. Riguardano NetworkManager (per GNOME e KDE) e Wicd. Vediamoli.

Diamo per scontato che abbiate una scheda wireless funzionante e con i driver installati, senza mettere mano al file /etc/network/interfaces vediamo come configurare la nostra scheda con due applicazioni (alternative, o l’una o l’altra). Essendo sconsigliato l’uso di connessioni Wi-Fi “protette” dalla chiave WEP, sarebbe preferibile utilizzare connessioni protette da chiavi WPA.

NETWORKMANAGER – NetworkManager e’ probabilmente l’applicazione GNU/Linux piu’ famosa per la gestione delle connessioni. Lo possiamo installare facilmente su GNOME:
# apt-get install network-manager-gnome
e su KDE:
# apt-get install network-manager-kde

Una volta conclusa l’installazione riavviate e dovreste vedere l’icona nel system tray da qui in poi e’ tutto molto intuitivo, sia nel caso la riconosca subito (basta selezionare la connessione giusta ed eventualmente inserire la chiave WPA) sia nel caso non la riconosca (dovete aggiungere una nuova connessione e inserire i dati).

WICD – Wicd e’ una buona applicazione, prima veniva usata solo su Xfce, LXDE e Fluxbox, ora sembra stia prendendo piede anche su altri DE.

Wicd non e’ presente nei repository di Debian Lenny, quindi dovete usare i Backports, se non li avete ancora nella vostra lista aggiungeteli (possono sempre tornare utili):
# nano /etc/apt/source.list
e copiateci:

---8<---
deb http://www.backports.org/debian/ lenny-backports main contrib non-free
---8<---

ora installate la chiave del repository per la verifica dei pacchetti:
# wget -O - http://backports.org/debian/archive.key | apt-key add -
a questo punto date un bel:
# apt-get update
e installate wicd:
# apt-get -t lenny-backports install wicd

Se invece non avete bisogno dei Backports vi bastera’:
# apt-get install wicd

Ora andate a vedere il contenuto del file /etc/network/interfaces, deve contenere solo questo:

# This file describes the network interfaces available on your system
# and how to activate them. For more information, see interfaces(5).

# The loopback network interface
auto lo
iface lo inet loopback

Adesso aprite un terminale, aggiungete il vostro utente (ad esempio tizio) al gruppo netdev:
# adduser tizio netdev
e riavviate DBus:
# /etc/init.d/dbus reload

Avviate il demone Wicd:
# /etc/init.d/wicd start
e infine da utente normale avviate la GUI di Wicd:
$ wicd-client -n

Se qualcosa non dovesse funzionare nonostante tutti i passaggi siano stati eseguiti correttamente, probabilmente bisogna riavviare, a volte e’ sufficiente riavviare i servizi di rete:
# ifdown wlan0
# ifup wlan0
altre volte e’ necessario riavviare tutto il sistema.

Fonte: How to use a WiFi interface

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Parto dal presupposto che la vostra scheda wireless sia funzionante, con i driver installati e sia solo da configurare. Vediamo dunque come farlo in modo semplice e senza usare applicazioni (NetworkManager) che a volte danno problemi e non sempre fanno quello che vogliamo.

Prima di tutto scarichiamoci l’essenziale per ogni decente connessione Wi-Fi (si spera dunque sia protetta da una chiave WPA almeno). Installiamo:
# apt-get install wpasupplicant wireless-tools
Il pacchetto wpasupplicant fornisce la negoziazione di chiavi con l’autenticatore WPA e controlla le connessioni con le reti IEEE 802.11i (WPA2). Invece il pacchetto wireless-tools contiene gli strumenti usati per manipolare le Linux Wireless Extensions (un’interfaccia che consente di impostare specifici parametri di una LAN wireless e ottenerne informazioni).

Le configurazioni della nostra interfaccia di rete si trovano nel file /etc/network/interfaces. Ma prima di tutto ci occorrono alcune informazioni sulla nostra scheda wireless, e le otteniamo con questo comando:
# iwlist scan
E sul tipo di connessione (WEP o WPA, dinamica o statica e se statica con quali indirizzi).

Una volta capito qual’e’ la nostra scheda (solitamente wlan0) e quale protocollo di protezione dobbiamo usare, possiamo cominciare con la configurazione vera e propria, procediamo quindi con la modifica del nostro file interfaces per fare in modo che la connessione avvenga in modo automatico.

Supponiamo che il nostro file di configurazione contenga queste righe:

# This file describes the network interfaces available on your system
# and how to activate them. For more information, see interfaces(5).

# The loopback network interface
auto lo
iface lo inet loopback

o poco piu’ magari quelle relative alla connessione ethernet. A questo punto dobbiamo aggiungerci le righe relative alla nostra connessione wireless.

WIRED EQUIVALENT PRIVACY (WEP) – Supponendo la nostra rete Wi-Fi sia protetta dal protocollo WEP al nostro file di configurazione:
# nano /etc/network/interfaces
dobbiamo aggiungere le righe relative alla nostra scheda wireless con DHCP (mettete il giusto nome della vostra rete e la chiave WPE per l’autenticazione):

---8<---
# Scheda di rete wireless con DHCP
auto wlan0
iface wlan0 inet dhcp
wireless-channel 11
wireless-essid "NOMERETEWIRELESS"
wireless-key CHIAVEWPE
---8<---

o con indirizzo statico (mettete ovviamente gli indirizzi giusti):

---8<---
# Scheda di rete wireless con indirizzo statico
auto wlan0
iface wlan0 inet static
address 192.168.1.111
netmask 255.255.255.0
gateway 182.168.1.1
broadcast 192.168.1.255
wireless-channel 11
wireless-essid "NOMERETEWIRELESS"
wireless-key CHIAVEWPE
---8<---

L’assegnazione degli indirizzi o e’ statica o e’ dinamica, mai entrambe, quindi nel vostro file di configurazione mettete solo quello che corrisponde alla vostra connessione.

A questo punto non resta che riavviare il sistema. Potete anche riavviare solo i servizi di rete:
# ifdown wlan0
# ifup wlan0

Ora controlliamo con questo comando:
# iwconfig wlan0
che tutto sia riconosciuto correttamente.

WI-FI PROTECTED ACCESS (WPA) – Vediamo ora il caso in cui la vostra rete wireless sia protetta dal protocollo WPA. In questo caso dobbiamo modificare il file wpa_supplicant.conf:
# nano /etc/wpa_supplicant.conf
che deve contenere quanto segue:

---8<---
network={
        ssid="NOMERETEWIRELESS"
        psk="CHIAVEWPA"
        key_mgmt=WPA-PSK
        proto=WPA
}
---8<---

Ora, per far partire in automatico la connessione, andiamo a modificare il solito file di configurazione:
# nano /etc/network/interfaces
a cui noi dobbiamo aggiungere le righe relative alla nostra scheda wireless con DHCP (mettete il giusto nome della vostra rete e la chiave WPA per l’autenticazione):

---8<---
# Scheda di rete wireless con DHCP
auto wlan0
iface wlan0 inet dhcp
up wpa_supplicant -iwlan0 -c/etc/wpa_supplicant.conf -B
---8<---

o con indirizzo statico (mettete ovviamente gli indirizzi giusti):

---8<---
# Scheda di rete wireless con indirizzo statico
auto wlan0
iface wlan0 inet static
address 192.168.1.111
netmask 255.255.255.0
gateway 182.168.1.1
broadcast 192.168.1.255
wireless-channel 11
up wpa_supplicant -iwlan0 -c/etc/wpa_supplicant.conf -B
---8<---

Anche in questo caso, l’assegnazione degli indirizzi o e’ statica o e’ dinamica, mai entrambe, quindi nel vostro file di configurazione mettete solo quello che corrisponde alla vostra connessione.

A questo punto non resta che riavviare il sistema. Potete anche riavviare solo i servizi di rete:
# ifdown wlan0
# ifup wlan0

Ora controlliamo con questo comando:
# iwconfig wlan0
che tutto sia riconosciuto correttamente.

Se avete dubbi, o volete configurare alcune opzioni particolari, oppure volete semplicemente approfondire vi rimando al manuale di interfaces:
$ man interfaces

Fonte: Configurazione di una connessione wireless

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Securing your Wireless Access

Connecting your home and office computers with a wireless network sure makes things convenient …
BUT the very feature that makes them so popular is also their biggest weakness! Anyone with the knowledge can intercept your signal and gain access to your network if it is not secure. The technicians at computerguyslive.com offer the following six easy steps to wireless security for your home or office.

1. Change the System ID:
Devices come with a default system ID called the SSID (Service Set Identifier) or ESSID (Extended Service Set Identifier). It is easy for a hacker to find out what the default identifier is for each manufacturer of wireless equipment so you need to change this to something else. Use something unique- not your name or something easily guessed.

2. Disable Identifier Broadcasting:
Announcing that you have a wireless connection to the world is an invitation for hackers. You already know you have one so you don’t need to broadcast it. Check the manual for your hardware and figure out how to disable broadcasting.

3. Enable WEP (Wired Equivalent Privacy):
WEP encrypts your data so that only the intended recipient is supposed to be able to read it. As with all security measures there are ways around it, but by using encryption you will keep the novice hackers out of your systems. It is best to use 128bit rather than 40bit encryption (it is exponentially harder to crack).

4. Restrict Unnecessary Traffic:
Many wired and wireless routers have built-in firewalls. They are not the most technically advanced firewalls, but they help create one more line of defense. Read the manual for your hardware and learn how to configure your router to only allow incoming or outgoing traffic that you have approved.

5. Change the Default Administrator Password:
This is just good practice for ALL hardware and software. The default passwords are easily obtained and because so many people don’t bother to take the simple step of changing them they are usually what hackers try first. Make sure you change the default password on your wireless router / access point to something that is not easily guessed like your last name.

6. Patch and Protect Your PC’s:
As a last line of defense you should have personal firewall software such as Zone Alarm Pro and anti-virus software installed on your computer. As important as installing the anti-virus software, you must keep it up to date. New viruses are discovered daily and anti-virus software vendors generally release updates at least once a week. You also must keep up to date with patches for known security vulnerabilities. For Microsoft operating systems you can use Windows Update to try and help keep your computer current with patches.

Following these steps will insure that hackers and hitchhikers don’t surf on your wireless network, or more importantly, these steps help block unwanted access into your computer network free articles and your valuable data.

There was a lot off outrage back in October 2007 when it emerged that Eircom was leaving it’s customers home networks open to being hacked. As most others ISP’s Eircom had been supplying their broadband customers with a wifi enabled router as standard when they subscribed to their service. The fact that the wireless signal emitting from these routers can be picked up outside the customer’s home creates a possible security risk and would require that access would be made secure. Eircom however not only failed to inform it’s customers of this risk it also made two critical mistake when “securing” access at the time of installation;

1. It used WEP encryption. WEP encryption has been proven flawed as far back as 2003 and can now be decrypted within minutes.
2. They WEP-key used was based on the serial number of the router. No real problem except that the serial number was part of the broadcast SSID (the name of the network). This can be read by any wifi enabled device. So it was fairly simple to add 1 + 1 and come up with the WEP key.

As a result of all the negative publicity Eircom sent out a press release “making people aware” of this issue and in 2008 (!) they put a notice up on their website stating that for the previous 4 years they have been providing and installing inadequately secured routers and that they were now switching to WPA encryption. However the wording of the statement was misleading. It stated that: “This vulnerability makes it possible for a person with an advanced working knowledge of encryption and coding techniques to illegally access an eircom customer’s wireless internet connection”.

This statement purposely ignores the fact that there were software tools widely publicised & available for download that would decipher the WEP code in seconds allowing anyone with the ability to read and press a key to connect to what was estimated as 250.000 unsecured routers. Someone with “advanced working knowledge of encryption and coding techniques”
would not have needed this flaw to gain access. They would have used Airsnort, KisMac or a range of other software tools available for years that would allow you to extract any WEP key in seconds. And they then quite likely might have used something like  MetaSploit to do some real damage rather than just use your broadband without your permission. But I digress….

The point is that by the end of 2007 there were circa 250.00 of these routers in peoples homes and business premises. As Eircom was responsible for the supply of these you would have expected that they would have gone to some length to rectify this situation.  Well it turns out they didn’t. I found out this week via Bernie Goldbach’s blog that there is actually an iphone app being sold through the iTunes store  that will allow you to easily extract the WEP key for these networks and subsequently connect. It is also being covered elsewhere.

Now, while I am not a legal professional, I can see several issues here:

• There are over 250.000 wifi routers with an easily disabled encryption spread over Ireland allowing a 3rd party to connect and potentially download/upload illegal content, send spam or run a botnet.
• If any of this illegal activity is detected it will be easily traceable to the Eircom customers broadband connection.
• There is no real applicable legislation in this area at the moment. Some legal professionals would say that it is up to the prosecution to proof that there wasn’t anybody else using the broadband connection. However this could be used as an excuse similar to the “one armed man” in the movie “The Fugitive”. Proof of your innocence would be an unknown 3rd party that will most likely be impossible to trace or even to gather proof of its existence.
• Should people be held responsible for deeds or actions resulting out of them not (or not adequately) securing their wireless networks?
• What is the applicable legislation for accessing someones network without their explicit permission? Surely it would be seen as trespass or “use of a 3rd parties assets or resources without their permission”?
• Furthermore is it legal to sell an application that basically makes “hacking” someone network a one-click operation? Are lockpicking “guns” illegal to sell? If they are surely the sale of “deSSID” should be illegal also?

However in all honesty I have to admit that most of the above questions have been asked over & over again across the globe for as long as I have been working with wifi (since 1999 in case anyone is interested). However the most glaring offense here is Eircoms’ fault in providing mis-configured routers and their negligence in correcting this fault.

Discuss…..

Wireless network has become the default package when you install internet access at home. It always comes with a wireless router that gives you the option to connect wirelessly or via cable.

Read more…

Na początek warto przeczytać chociażby manuale do: iwconfig, iwlist, ifconfig.

Zakładam, że masz już zainstalowane poprawnie sterowniki do karty bezprzewodowej. Jeśli sieć nie jest zabezpieczona ani WEP, ani WPA to sprawa jest prostsza.

Wyszukujemy dostępne sieci:
# iwlist wlan0 scan

Przykładowy wynik będzie podobny do tego poniżej. Mamy w zasięgu dwie sieci bezprzewodowe. My będziemy chcieli się połączyć z siecią try.net.

wlan0 Scan completed :
Cell 01 – Address: 00:15:E9:10:F0:B5
Channel:6
Frequency:2.437 GHz (Channel 6)
Quality=69/70 Signal level=-41 dBm
Encryption key:on
ESSID:”try.net”
Bit Rates:1 Mb/s; 2 Mb/s; 5.5 Mb/s; 11 Mb/s; 22 Mb/s
Mode:Master
Extra:tsf=000000003ec7e11f
Extra: Last beacon: 12ms ago
IE: Unknown: 00077472792E6E6574
IE: Unknown: 010582840B162C
IE: Unknown: 030106
Cell 02 – Address: 00:04:ED:A2:EE:C1
Channel:10
Frequency:2.457 GHz (Channel 10)
Quality=38/70 Signal level=-72 dBm
Encryption key:on
ESSID:”Siec_rybacka”
Bit Rates:1 Mb/s; 2 Mb/s; 5.5 Mb/s; 11 Mb/s
Bit Rates:6 Mb/s; 9 Mb/s; 12 Mb/s; 18 Mb/s; 24 Mb/s
36 Mb/s; 48 Mb/s; 54 Mb/s
Mode:Master
Extra:tsf=0000012a6c6fd72c
Extra: Last beacon: 168ms ago
IE: Unknown: 000C536965635F72796261636B61
IE: Unknown: 010482848B96
IE: Unknown: 03010A
IE: Unknown: 2A0104
IE: Unknown: 32080C1218243048606C

Najpierw ustalimy parametry dla połączenia bazując na powyższych danych:

# ifconfig wlan0 down
# iwconfig wlan0 essid try.net key 3338343030
# ifconfig wlan0 up
# dhclient wlan0

Po parametrze essid podajemy nazwę sieci, zaś po key podajemy klucz WEP (który dostaliśmy przykładowo od administratora sieci).

Konfiguracja AP:

Możemy zawsze sprawdzić czy dane jakie ustanowiliśmy dla połączenia są poprawne, w tym celu:

# iwconfig wlan0

wlan0 IEEE 802.11bg ESSID:”try.net”
Mode:Managed Frequency:2.437 GHz Access Point: 00:15:E9:10:F0:B5
Bit Rate=1 Mb/s Tx-Power=27 dBm
Retry min limit:7 RTS thr:off Fragment thr:off
Encryption key:3338-3430-30 Security mode:open
Power Management:off
Link Quality=64/70 Signal level=-46 dBm Noise level=-68 dBm
Rx invalid nwid:0 Rx invalid crypt:0 Rx invalid frag:0
Tx excessive retries:0 Invalid misc:0 Missed beacon:0

If your mother uses wifi at home to send you e-mail, and your home network is not protected by WEP or WPA, what reasons would you suggest to her for enabling one of these two protocols at home if the liability of reading those e-mails still exists once her message leaves your home, on it’s way to school?

I think in this situation you have to pick the stronger of the two weaker options. Both WEP and WPA have been proven to not be very strong against hackers trying to view your email, but because WPA is more controlled (temporary keys for data encryption), I would want her to enable WPA protocol over WEP. I would also try to convince her that it’s better to have at least one type of security protection rather than having nothing. Granted, most of the people who can access your Wi-Fi probably aren’t hackers looking to steal your information, but it’s better to be a little safe than sorry.

I was forced into a trial of Ubuntu on my old laptop. Why? Because when I upgraded my current laptop to Windows 7 the one thing I did lose was the use of my scanner. It is too old and simply incompatible with Win 7. My old laptop (Acer Aspire 1360, AMD Sempron processor 3000+ rating, NVIDIA GeForce FX Go 5200 graphics card, 60GB HDD, 0.5MB RAM!!!) running Windows XP could still use the scanner, but it was so old, and the hard drive was so full that it was virtually unuseable. Even after deleting and installing all unecessary files it still ran like treacle.

So, my grand plan was to restore it to a brand new Windows XP factory install and then just run the scanner software and nothing else. Unfortunately either I had some corruption on my HDD or I caused some during the restore process. I was only supllied with “recovery disks” not full Windows XP disks. I think it restores Windows from a small hidden partition. Somewhere along the line something got screwed up and even various utility boot disks, formats, repartitions and low level disk scans did not solve the problem. The PC would hang after a variable (short) time.

In desperation I installed Ubuntu. Amazingly it installed straight away no problems. Maybe because it uses a different filesystem? The install program included some repartitioning. This seemed to go OK.

Karmic Koala

So, with the latest version of Ubuntu installed, how is it for a Linux noob? Well a bit tricky. The GUI (Gnome) takes a little getting used to and the installation process is still a mystery to me. However, it works.

Problems

No wifi. First time round I connected to my router via an ethernet cable. This was immediately recognised and allowed me to update the system and apps, and install a few Firefox add-ons to make me feel more at home (hello Xmarks!). With wifi however it was a different matter. My wifi lan card is not natively supported by Linux but luckily there is a program to allow Windows drivers to be used. I installed this as instructed but it always seemed to get stuck at the stage where I was asked to input the WPA wifi security key. I therefore tried turning off the encryption all together and it connected first time.

So, I am currently trying to see if I can solve the WPA problem. There is a lot of information out there on the net but at this stage I am still such a noob that it is mostly gobbeldeegook to me.

UPDATE: I tried changing the encryption protocol to WEP instead of WPA-PSK. This seemed to work fine. It’s a bit annoying because now I need to change all my other wireless devices too, Wii, iPhone, other laptop etc. and I know that WEP is less secure than WPA, but I’ll go with it for now.

Next Task

Seeing if the scanner and printer work. If the scanner doesn’t work I might try and see if will work under WINE the Windows emulator.

UPDATE: No luck with the scanner. It is not recognized natively. There is a project caller SANE (scanners are now easy) which aims to make a lot of scanners work with Linux. Unfortunately mine is not one of them. There might be some hope on the horizon though, as a company called JFL Peripheral Solutions have apparently announced that they will be releasing drivers for all Visioneer scanners for Linux.

UPDATE2: I contacted JFL and unfortunately their Linux drivers are only for current models, not legacy products, so I’m out of luck.

The printer (Epson Stylus Color 680) worked fine with no need for any additional steps.

USB keys worked OK too.

$ iwconfig wlan0 essid key s:
$ dhclient wlan0

Este script en python genera diccionarios a partir de una semilla y con una longitud determinada, rellenando con ceros el valor numérico para mantener la longitud de la cadena. Puede ser útil por ejemplo si en algún momento olvidas la clave por defecto de TU PROPIA red inalámbrica porque se te ha borrado la pegatina de debajo del router pero sabes que las de tu proveedor siguen cierto patrón y necesitas un diccionario para obtener la clave por medio de alguna suite de auditoría wireless como airgrack-ng.

#! /usr/bin/env python

import os, string

#  le damos como entrada la semilla y la longitud
#  de la cadena numérica.
seed1 = ['X1V7',6]
seed2 = ['IX1VPV',7]

def dict(seed):
	max = 10**seed[1]
	format = '%#0'  + str(seed[1]) + 'd'
	for i in range(1,max):
		print seed[0] + format   % i

dict(seed1)
dict(seed2)

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http://idl3.wordpress.com/2009/10/17/2-scollegamenti/
Sat, 17 Oct 2009 14:27:27 +0000
idl3
http://idl3.wordpress.com/2009/10/17/2-scollegamenti/

Howto report bugs the Debian way

Questo semplice Howto descrive brevemente come segnalare i bug sul BTS di Debian GNU/Linux (Bug Tracking System) tramite il programma reportbug alla “maniera Debian”.

Continua a leggere…
Make a Python game in minutes with Gloss

When Hudzilla isn’t busy working on his free Mono tutorials using C#, he likes to hack on one of his pet Python projects: Gloss.

Continua a leggere…
PHP: Due metodi semplici e veloci per leggere un file XML

Direttamente dal blog di Guido Chiappucci ecco due metodi molto semplici per leggere un file xml.

Continua a leggere…
HowTo: accedere all’iPod da Linux

Per gli amanti delle applicazioni grafiche, eccovi un elenco di quattro applicazioni Open Source in grado di gestire l’iPod. Unico limite? Non gestiscono l’iPod Touch e l’iPhone con Firmware 3.0.

Continua a leggere…
Configurare la scheda wireless da terminale

Presupponendo il corretto funzionamento della scheda , il possesso di un accesso con chiave crittografica di tipo wep, e che il nostro kernel chiami la scheda wireless wlan0 , possiamo cominciare.

Continua a leggere…

[^] torna su | post<li> | 
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http://nogitech.wordpress.com/2009/10/17/managing-and-securing-wireless-connections/
Sat, 17 Oct 2009 03:43:32 +0000
nogi
http://nogitech.wordpress.com/2009/10/17/managing-and-securing-wireless-connections/

One major improvement of Vista and Seven over XP and 2003 is more control over your wireless settings. There were two major security issues with wireless on previous Microsoft operating systems. One issue was connecting to unsecured networks automatically and the other issue was firewall settings that might leave a user vulnerable in a hotspot. Windows XP systems have a bad habit of automatically connecting to wireless networks within their range. Although the default wireless settings of XP can be changed, the fact that it connects to unsecured networks by default is somewhat disturbing. Another limitation of XP (and 2003) is the fact that your firewall settings will remain the same when migrating from your home network to a hotspot. This is extremely alarming if the user happens to have open shares with sensitive documents. While this example may seem far-fetched, it is very common for users to have open shares on their systems at work or home and go to a hotspot. A malicious user at the hotspot could access files in any of your shares. And, if there is no password on the administrative account, that malicious user may even be able to access the administrative shares.
To manage wireless connections in Vista and Seven, open the Network and Sharing Center in the Control Panel. Click on the Manage Wireless Networks link from the list in the task pane. Clicking the Add button will give you a menu of three items, including Add a network that is in range of the computer, Manually create a network profile, and Create an ad-hoc network.
The Add a network that is in range option in Manage Wireless Connections will display a list of networks that are broadcasting their Security Set Identifier (SSID). Along with each network displayed will be information about whether the network has security enabled or if it is unsecured. Vista and Seven will warn you if you connect to an unsecured network that your information may be visible to others. Unless you are on a secure site, people using sniffing tools such as Wireshark will be able to capture all of your plain text data. Microsoft recommends using WPA2 if your equipment will support it. A list of other wireless recommendations made by Microsoft is included in the following TechNet article. It is common knowledge among wireless security experts that Wifi Protected Access version 2 (WPA2) with Advanced Encryption Standard (AES) encryption and a very difficult Passphrase should be used on wireless networks. Although Wired Equivalent Privacy (WEP) or WPA with Temporal Key Integrity Protocol (TKIP) is better than nothing, these security mechanisms can be defeated.
The Manually create a network profile option in Manage Wireless Networks can be utilized if a network is not broadcasting its SSID. Turning off the broadcast of the SSID will help to prevent people from connecting to your network. If you are not broadcasting the SSID of your access point, users will not see the network in their list of available networks to connect to in Windows XP , Vista, or Seven. While turning off the broadcast of the SSID will help increase the security of your wireless, it will not prevent hackers with the right tools from getting the information. Even if the access point is not broadcasting the SSID, security measures such as the use of WPA2 with AES encryption and a strong Passphrase should also be utilized.
The Create an ad-hoc network is the final option when adding a network in Manage Wireless Networks. The ad hoc network will allow a group of computers to network without an available access point. In Vista and Seven, you can set up an ad hoc network with no encryption, WEP, or WPA2. WPA2 is recommended, and your WPA2 Passphrase can be from 8 to 63 characters long. Numbers, symbols, and uppercase and lowercase letters can all be utilized in the Passphrase.
Note: It can be up to 64 characters long if you only use the characters 0-9 and letters A-F. The characters can be displayed for you in plain text if you check the Display characters check box
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http://jonnathanvalero.wordpress.com/2009/10/15/wi-fi-direct-coco-de-bluetooth/
Fri, 16 Oct 2009 00:30:35 +0000
xxyukillerxx
http://jonnathanvalero.wordpress.com/2009/10/15/wi-fi-direct-coco-de-bluetooth/





http://21centuryhomeless.wordpress.com/2009/10/13/infosec-or-why-you-dont-leave-your-car-keys-in-the-car/
Tue, 13 Oct 2009 19:35:24 +0000
21centuryhomeless
http://21centuryhomeless.wordpress.com/2009/10/13/infosec-or-why-you-dont-leave-your-car-keys-in-the-car/

Wireless connectivity has become ubiquitous as have people using laptops as their main computer.
I would never do either by choice.
It’s a fundamental maxim of security that if more than one person knows a secret then it isn’t a secret. Even if just one person knows then they could potentially be socially engineered into giving out the apparent secret information.
In the IT world this can have far more serious consequences than it could if a burglar were simply to break into your home. Break into the right system where proper controls aren’t in play and you can wreak a special kind of havoc were that your desire.
As I post this I’m using someone else’s internet connection to do so. I’m also doing my usual of listening to Radio 5Live as background noise (in this instance, streamed via the iPlayer) – in this instance by streaming over the net connection I have. Yet I’m whoring someone else’s internet connection.
How am I doing that? Easy.
When my netbook came through I had already packed up my home and moved everything into storage bar anything I didn’t care about. One of those things was my cable modem – upon calling up Virgin Media to cancel my subscription (I was getting a very good deal on a 20Mbps connection) I was told that they didn’t want the modem back even though it is, in principle, something that is merely leased.
As a result, it is still sitting here with me in the flat and is still wired up. Except there is a problem…
When I packed everything up I also grabbed the Cat5 patch cable which had been connecting my modem to my router. It was done more as a part of clearing everything up.
The problem arose when I returned to my flat for the last few days (I get kicked out tomorrow) and realised I didn’t have a workable net connection.
Had I thought about it in advance, though my thoughts were elsewhere, I would have retained the patch cable upon my person and simply used the 20Mbit connection I had (I never got around to upgrading it to 50Mbit) and hooked my netbook up that way. Unfortunately I didn’t do that.
It is though a netbook. It’s designed to take advantage of the ubiquity of wifi/wireless net connections. And everyone and their dog seems to like not having wires around.
When 802.11 first came into play most people who didn’t understand the concept of information security would have routers set up as access points with no form of security at all. This led to the phenomenon termed, at the time, as ‘war-chalking’ whereby people would drive around with the appropriate kit and identify spots where you could access an unsecured wireless internet connection.
As broadband internet access advanced and people increasingly used laptops (I might post at some point about why the netbook was an inevitable consequence of why people use computers, though it may be some time), wireless routers and connections began to proliferate.
This, of course, led to those who knew what they were doing taking advantage of the net connections of those who didn’t and also raised a host of legal issues. How do you find out who has been downloading kiddie porn when it’s been done via an unsecured wireless internet connection? I’m not suggesting this was a common occurrence or that it even occurred but it was a situation that existed.
As a result, ISPs started providing their routers pre-configured to at least use the most basic of security (in the form of WEP) so that the service couldn’t be instantly hijacked and they also provided software discs which needed to be use to configure a Windows-based PC with no user intervention (support for Macs does occur but Linux seems to be outwith their stream of awareness) – this incidentally leads me to believe that all wireless routers from the likes of Sky are configured in the same way which means the WEP keys they use will work on any other router/modem issued by them… But ISPs these days at least take steps to stop hijacking of a connection.
So, what does this have to do with what I premised this post on?
Simple. I’m whoring someone else’s internet connection using a wireless connection over 802.11b/g to make this post.
When I powered up my netbook in order to do some non net-related work I decided to do a quick check to see what wireless networks it could connect to. And I happened to find a completely unsecured network that I could connect to. So I did.
Operating on the assumption that anyone who has an unsecured router probably hasn’t changed the default passwords to administer the router I grabbed the IP  for the default gateway for my now live connection (which is always the router) and fired up Firefox and logged into it via HTTP – the various bits of info and error pages told me what router it was (a Buffalo AirStation) and a quick google gave me the default user ID and password.
I was right about this info and able to log into the router.
What I found from reviewing the logs on the router was that whoever’s internet connection I’m whoring for the moment has (at least) a Mac, a PC with a cute hostname and a Nintendo DS. They also have another computer which is hardwired to the router if I recall correctly.
Were I so interested then I likely could have remoted onto any of those computers as they likely have them configured to do auto-logins. In other words, anything of value they might have had I could have grabbed were I that way inclined.
What can they do to resolve this situation?
There is no such thing as perfect security, and the more people who have access to information then the more likely it is that security is going to compromised. Wireless communications exacerbate that problem as you’re ‘casting security-related information to a large number of people. Given stories about groups having figured out how to take down the most secure wireless security protocols in as little as fifteen minutes then this brings things into focus.
The fundamental limitation is the Nintendo DS which only supports WEP as opposed to WPA/2. But that can still be alleviated by configuring the router to do MAC filtering so that only authorised devices can connect. Plus, the router simply should not be broadcasting its SSID – the only time you turn on broadcast is if you have a new device which you need to connect via the router.
None of that is perfect, but at the moment they are leaving the car keys in the car. Were I a malicious individual then I could bar all their devices from connecting to the net.
You wouldn’t leave the door of your house lying open, but people do it far too often with their net connections…
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http://omercakir.wordpress.com/2009/10/12/wireshark-network-protocol-analyzer/
Mon, 12 Oct 2009 15:19:05 +0000
Ömer Çakır
http://omercakir.wordpress.com/2009/10/12/wireshark-network-protocol-analyzer/

Wireshark is the world’s foremost network protocol analyzer, and is the de facto (and often de jure) standard across many industries and educational institutions.
Wireshark development thrives thanks to the contributions of networking experts across the globe. It is the continuation of a project that started in 1998.
Wireshark has a rich feature set which includes the following:

Deep inspection of hundreds of protocols, with more being added all the time
Live capture and offline analysis
Standard three-pane packet browser
Multi-platform: Runs on Windows, Linux, OS X, Solaris, FreeBSD, NetBSD, and many others
Captured network data can be browsed via a GUI, or via the TTY-mode TShark utility
The most powerful display filters in the industry
Rich VoIP analysis
Read/write many different capture file formats: tcpdump (libpcap), Pcap NG, Catapult DCT2000, Cisco Secure IDS iplog, Microsoft Network Monitor, Network General Sniffer® (compressed and uncompressed), Sniffer® Pro, and NetXray®, Network Instruments Observer, NetScreen snoop, Novell LANalyzer, RADCOM WAN/LAN Analyzer, Shomiti/Finisar Surveyor, Tektronix K12xx, Visual Networks Visual UpTime, WildPackets EtherPeek/TokenPeek/AiroPeek, and many others
Capture files compressed with gzip can be decompressed on the fly
Live data can be read from Ethernet, IEEE 802.11, PPP/HDLC, ATM, Bluetooth, USB, Token Ring, Frame Relay, FDDI, and others (depending on your platform)
Decryption support for many protocols, including IPsec, ISAKMP, Kerberos, SNMPv3, SSL/TLS, WEP, and WPA/WPA2
Coloring rules can be applied to the packet list for quick, intuitive analysis
Output can be exported to XML, PostScript®, CSV, or plain text

Download
 Windows Installer (32-bit)
 Windows Installer (64-bit)
 Windows U3 (32-bit)
 Windows PortableApps (32-bit)
 OS X 10.5 (Leopard) Intel .dmg
 OS X 10.5 (Leopard) PPC .dmg
 Source Code
The 64-bit Windows installer requires the Microsoft Visual C++ 2008 SP1 Redistributable Package (x64) in order to run.
 
http://www.wireshark.org/
 
 
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http://cydiaupdates.wordpress.com/2009/10/10/eircom-grabber-1-0/
Sat, 10 Oct 2009 19:11:41 +0000
CydiaUpdates
http://cydiaupdates.wordpress.com/2009/10/10/eircom-grabber-1-0/

This program allows you to get onto any eircom wifi router with the default WEP password set. It duplicates the functionality of s4dd.yore.ma/eircom/ which is of little use if you don’t have a net connection. As the 3GS has really bad reception in rural ireland this is really of use for emergency emails and skype phone calls or cases in a pub or restaurant where you are a paying customer and they won’t give you net access. The program was compiled to run OS 2.2.1 and greater and is know able to run on 3.0 and 3.1
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http://enter7.wordpress.com/2009/10/10/%ce%b5%cf%81%ce%b3%ce%b1%ce%bb%ce%b5%ce%af%ce%b1-%ce%b3%ce%b9%ce%b1-wireless-hack/
Sat, 10 Oct 2009 14:21:58 +0000
thanasisnaousa
http://enter7.wordpress.com/2009/10/10/%ce%b5%cf%81%ce%b3%ce%b1%ce%bb%ce%b5%ce%af%ce%b1-%ce%b3%ce%b9%ce%b1-wireless-hack/





http://23rdstreet-chronicles.com/2009/10/07/unique-ivs/
Thu, 08 Oct 2009 05:03:23 +0000
the author
http://23rdstreet-chronicles.com/2009/10/07/unique-ivs/

I mean, what do I have to do to get people to read this thing? I’m being as honest as possible. Like, dull knife to the chest dragging down with a compensational force… or whatever. Lips sucking and sucking and drinking… sooo thirsty…  soooo sooo thirsty from my heart. Like, all pink and dehydrated wrinkle waiting for the blood to pump through again. 
and this is the metaphor for my entire being. 
but the thing remains. just because I give it my all…. just because I’m as honest as I can be… just because I feel that I’m giving as much as I think that I possibly can… doesn’t mean that others can detect it any more… or less than when I was below the radar…. than when I thought that all my information was the only thing I had. parts of my body that I would give away or something. All the thoughts, feelings and ideas kept within me because they were my only weapon. 
Information is power. And, for the longest time, this was the only power I could wield. 
And so, whatever… what the fuck… I’ve given pieces and pieces and pieces. Everything. I’ve done what I think is the thing that I’ve always prevented. I’m giving up ‘power’. 
But what I’m realizing, more and more, is that no one cares. Not in this like cyncial post-apacolyptic way… just, I realize that all of the things that I’ve held… grasped so tightly… held so near and endowed with so much importance and power really is nothing at all. 
People do it all the time. …say how they feel and all. The earth doesn’t come to an end. The person they speak to doesn’t all of the sudden have all-access power over them. Moreover, frequently, the person to whom they speak doesn’t catch the candid, honest nature of what is being said to them anyway. 
It’s like signals being given off. Signals that are so powerful that you believe they may destroy you. But you realize that any signal, regardless of it’s importance, can only be as effective or utilized as the receptacle receptive. 
whatever.
this whole thing started out as “unique IV’s”. I suppose I digress. 
I was just going to say that I’ve been away because I’m engrossed in my quest to obtain enough unique IV’s in order to crack surrounding WEP. ie… I don’t want to pay the RussianWHORE for shoddy, intermittent, crappy internet service anymore. Thus, I’m trying to learn. It’s all very strange. 
I totally digress. 
always.

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