Hot Null Byte How-Tos
How To: Open .Rar Archive in One Click
There are a lot of programs which allow opening archives. Alas, most of them are rather complicated to use. The process of opening of the archive often takes much time. Hopefully, there are some applications which are simpler to use for regular uers.
How To: Use Very Basic AppleScript to Create a Fake Virus
AppleScript is quite an easy scripting language to use. In this guide, I will be showing you several commands. Near the end, I will show how these can be used to create a fake virus that actually does no harm.
How To: A Hitchhiker's Guide to the Internet: Today and Now, How It All Connects
In the first part of this series, we took a factual and technical look at the history of the Internet. I explained how all of these wires and servers got here in the first place. Obviously, a firm did not just create and build the Internet around 1995! Now that we know how the Internet came to be, we can get into the really fun stuff—what the Internet looks like now! Well, that's not quite the network design I was talking about, but it does show what the Internet looked like back in 2007 befo...
How To: Mac OS X Hit Again! How to Find and Delete the New SabPub Malware
Just last week, the Flashback trojan scared a lot of Mac users. Now, there's yet another trojan spreading across Mac computers—SabPub. The same Java vulnerability that allowed Flashback in seems to be how this SabPub malware snuck in, along with an Office vulnerability, which was just identified this weekend.
How To: Get Rid of Even the Most Extreme Malware and Spyware on Your Grandma's PC
You're sitting in front of your grandmother's Windows XP machine that has the worst infection you've ever seen. Safe mode? No dice. Restore points? They're compromised. Even worse, all of the files are hidden and none of the executables will run! This leaves her computer in a bricked state. Without some serious CPR, it will be lost to you. Sure, you could just reinstall the system, but then you might lose all of that valuable data.
How To: An Entry Level Guide to Finding and Reading Logs (And Maybe Staying Out of Jail)
Big brother is watching when you're playing around on another system—and big brother is that system. Everything from operating systems to intrusion detection systems to database services are maintaining logs. Sometimes, these are error logs that can show attackers trying various SQL injection vectors over and over. This is especially so if they are using an automated framework like sqlmap that can spam a ton of requests in a short time. More often than not, the access logs are what most amate...
How To: Hack Together an Accelerometer-Aware Mobile Website by Accessing Motion Sensors in JavaScript
Christian Cantrell, Adobe's Air Product Manager and Evangelist, has released a video to demo websites that take advantage of the motion sensors in a mobile phone, tablet, or laptop via JavaScript. Now, let's take a look through the code and break down the core pieces that you'll need in order to build your own sites that can determine the 2-axis tilt, 3-axis gyroscope, and compass direction of the mobile device it's being displayed on.
Weekend Homework: How to Become a Null Byte Contributor (3/16/2012)
If Null Byte had a large Batman-like spotlight calling for help, we would definitely be using it right now. However, we don't, so this is my digital equivalent. Information security is a huge field, far too much for one man to cover adequately, so I need your help!
How To: Is Your Website Vulnerable to XSS Injections? Here's How to Protect Your Visitors
Injection is an attack vector that involves breaking out of a data context and switching into a programming context through the use of special characters. These characters are significant to the interpreter being used, but not needed for the general user input being asked for.
Weekend Homework: How to Become a Null Byte Contributor (3/9/2012)
Here at Null Byte, we try to inform and teach the community on ways to navigate the Internet in that special way, as well as staying safe along the trip. That being said, I need some help from all of you! There is a lot of information to cover and I know we have some smart users lurking around. We would love to hear from you.
Don't Get Doxed: 5 Steps to Protecting Your Private Information on the Web
If you follow the Anonymous, Occupy, and IT security scenes, you have no doubt heard about a dox release. What is it? How can it hurt you? And most importantly, how can you protect yourself from it? Some of these steps might seem common sense, while others will be an ah-ha! moment. Your private info is both your biggest weakness and your biggest weapon in your battle to remain anonymous. You must learn how to use it as both.
Weekend Homework: How to Become a Null Byte Contributor (3/2/2012)
Last week, we had a great contribution from Christopher Voute, who introduced us all on some of the basic moves in Python. Now, who else will share their knowledge and tackle some of the topics below?
Drive-By Hacking: How to Root a Windows Box by Walking Past It
Social engineering is described as the clever manipulation of the natural tendency of human trust. All of the passwords, locks, and encryption in the entire world are useless against a good social engineer who can charm or trick you into giving it up.
Weekend Homework: How to Become a Null Byte Contributor (2/24/2012)
Are you the expert hacker we're looking for? Do you have a great idea for an article on Null Byte? Do you have a passion to write, and more importantly... teach?
Weekend Homework: How to Become a Null Byte Contributor (2/17/2012)
Grab your thinking caps and get your hack on. Null Byte is officially seeking contributors on a weekly basis who are willing to take the time to educate the Null Byte community on anything, from hardware hacks to life hacks. Contributors that write tutorials will be featured on the Null Byte blog, as well as the front page of WonderHowTo (providing it's up to par, of course).
Listen In: Live Social Engineering Phone Calls with Professional Social Engineers (Final Session)
We had a blast during last week's social engineering calls. One of our attending social engineers was so clever that she convinced several people on Craigslist that lost items were hers, even if it seemed she couldn't be trusted. But females are better social engineers, naturally. Some say that females have a special knack for manipulating men, but I think that's preposterous. I can't see why that would be true in a million years (note my sarcasm).
Know Your Rights: How to Escape Unlawful Stops and Police Searches with Social Engineering
Law enforcement can make a lot of folks cringe. Too often do we hear on the news, and even experience in our own lives, the unjust way that an unacceptable portion of law enforcement treat the very citizens they are supposed to protect. People's rights are violate each and every day by law enforcement, simply because they are timid and uneducated with the laws of society. This dirty trickery shouldn't be played on harmless citizens under any circumstances.
Xbox LIVE Achievement: How to Earn Free Microsoft Points with Social Engineering
Sometimes, paying for the whole Xbox LIVE service might seem like a waste of money. You're constantly experiencing lag, you've got people modding and cheating, kids are being loud and obnoxious over the mic, and your kill-to-death ratio is getting dumped on. Basically, the whole multiplayer experience just isn't cutting it anymore—you want to go back to the classic world of single player. Well, there's always downloadable content—simply known as DLC.
Weekend Homework: How to Become a Null Byte Contributor (2/10/2012)
We're officially seeking Null Byters on a weekly basis who are willing to take the time to educate the community. Contributors will write tutorials, which will be featured on the Null Byte blog, as well as the front page of WonderHowTo (IF up to par, of course). There is no need to be intimidated if you fear you lack the writing skills. I will edit your drafts if necessary and get them looking top-notch! You can write tutorials on any skill level, and about anything you feel like sharing that...
How To: Sneak Past Web Filters and Proxy Blockers with Google Translate
Do you need proxy access, but cannot have it for some reason? The most common perpetrator behind the issue is the network you're trying to access the pages from. Some networks will block websites, then go as far as filtering out all of the web queries for terms like "proxy" because it can get around their filter. Quick web proxies can be used for tons of other things, though.
How To: Bypass a Local Network Proxy for Free Internet
Have you ever been away from home or on holiday and noticed an open network connection? FREE INTERNET! But then you find out that every search or page redirects you to an "enter password" or "signup here" page. Well, there are ways around this.
How To: Score Free Game Product Keys with Social Engineering
Lost the product key for your game? If you have to reinstall the game and don't have that key anymore, you're out of luck, especially if you didn't "buy" the game. But never be in fear of losing product keys again with today's Null Byte, where we'll be practicing a little bit of mind-kung fu.
Weekend Homework: How to Become a Null Byte Contributor (2/3/2012)
We're officially seeking Null Byters on a weekly basis who are willing to take the time to educate the community. Contributors will write tutorials, which will be featured on the Null Byte blog, as well as the front page of WonderHowTo (IF up to par, of course). There is no need to be intimidated if you fear you lack the writing skills. I will edit your drafts if necessary and get them looking top-notch! You can write tutorials on any skill level, and about anything you feel like sharing that...
How To: Make a Change-of-IP Notifier in Python
In this article I'll show you how to make a simple IP address notifier. The program will text you your new IP address, in the event that it changes. For those of you with dynamic IPs, this is very useful. I'm constantly frustrated when my IP changes, and it's handy to be notified via text when it happens. To use the program, you'll need Python 2.7 or later, urllib2, and a program called "text" (see this article here to get it).
Weekend Homework: How to Become a Null Byte Contributor (1/29/2012)
We're officially seeking Null Byters on a weekly basis who are willing to take the time to educate the community. Contributors will write tutorials, which will be featured on the Null Byte blog, as well as the front page of WonderHowTo (IF up to par, of course). There is no need to be intimidated if you fear you lack the writing skills. I will edit your drafts if necessary and get them looking top-notch! You can write tutorials on any skill level, and about anything you feel like sharing that...
How To: Play Emulated Games on Linux with Your Xbox 360 Controller
I have to say, the Xbox 360 controller is the best controller ever created. When I first held it back in 2005, I swore that the dudes working at Microsoft came over and took a molding of my hands because of how great it felt. The thing felt like it was born there.
How To: Filter Unwanted Calls & SMS for Free with Google Voice
Google is great. They provide us with tons of free services and open source APIs that we can code fun tools for, one of which I don't think gets enough credit: Google Voice.
How To: Send SMS Messages with Python
In this article, I'll show you how to send SMS messages with Python. You'll need Python 2.7 or later, urllib and urllib2. The code basically uses an online text messaging service to "POST" html data, as if a person was entering the data themselves. The uses for something like this are unlimited. For example, I modified the basic code so I would receive a text message letting me know every time someone rang my doorbell. The program could interface with Arduino through a serial port, and send d...
Weekend Homework: How to Become a Null Byte Contributor (1/12/2012)
We're officially seeking Null Byters on a weekly basis who are willing to take the time to educate the community. Contributors will write tutorials, which will be featured on the Null Byte blog, as well as the front page of WonderHowTo (IF up to par, of course). There is no need to be intimidated if you fear you lack the writing skills. I will edit your drafts if necessary and get them looking top-notch! You can write tutorials of any skill level, about anything you feel like sharing that is ...
How To: Encrypt And Decrypt Text In Python
In this article, I'll show you how to create a simplistic AES python based text encryptor. You'll need python 2.7 and PyCrypto (found here). The code is fairly simple, a user enters an encryption key (which basically tells the program how to scramble the text, using an algorithm), then the text to be encrypted. The program takes the key and text and inputs it into the "cryptograph" or code-based algorithm from PyCrypto. PyCrypto can use 16, 24, or 36 character encryption keys, but for the sak...
How To: Make a Gmail Notifier in Python
In this article, I'll show you how to make a simple Gmail notifier. Python can do various things in terms of notifications; sending commands to an Arduino unit, playing sounds, opening windows, etc. The code below simply plays some music, but the possibilities of notification methods are endless. If you aren't familiar with python, there are many sites with tutorials like this one, or this one.
How To: Unban Your Xbox LIVE Account That is Banned Until 12/31/9999 by Tricking Microsoft's Banning System
There was a huge ban wave recently on Xbox Live. In the unfortunate event that you decided to do something against Microsoft policy, and have consequently gotten yourself banned from Xbox Live, you may have come to the realization that doing whatever got you banned from Xbox Live in the first place was not worth the risk.
How To: Join the Fight Against SOPA and PIPA
Amazingly, a lot of people I know haven't even heard of SOPA or PIPA. Now, every English-reading person with an internet connection will finally have those two four-letter acronyms emblazoned in their minds. For the entire day today, Wikipedia's English-language site will be in total blackout in protest against the proposed legislation in the United States. And that's not all. MoveOn, Reddit, BoingBoing, Mozilla, WordPress, TwitPic and other popular websites are down today in protest.
How To: How Anyone Can Retire Early & Wealthy, Part 3: The Stock Market
If you've read Alex Long's last two articles in this series (Part 1 and Part 2), you know by now that making money rarely is risk free, and generally plays out to be a high risk-high gain/loss scenario. The best way to make money is to have money, so for this article, lets assume a financial backing of about $10,000 dollars. For the sake of simplicity, I'm going to be working with online trading systems in this article. Some stocks are traded on exchanges, where buyers meet sellers and decide...
How To: Access Wikipedia During Today's SOPA Blackout
It has been suggested that about 150 million internet users will be affected by today's blackout of Wikipedia in protest of SOPA and PIPA. If you don't know what those are, go here and read up on it, and then take action yourself! After you've contacted your Representatives about these bills, you'll probably still need to get some work done today using Wikipedia's English-language site.
How To: How Anyone Can Retire Early & Wealthy, Part 2: Tax Liens
If you saw my last tutorial on retiring early and wealthy, you now know how anyone can invest a small amount of money over the course of their life, and by exploiting compound interest, achieve an extremely comfortable and easy going retirement. In Part 2, we are going to dive into something a little more risky: Tax liens.
How To: Code a Basic TCP/IP Client & Server Duo in Python
TCP/IP Client / Server Application Hello! Today's blog post will be about coding a very rudimentary Client and Server application duo, which will communicate by using TCP Sockets.
How To: How Anyone Can Retire Early & Wealthy, Part 1: CDs
I'm pretty sure that it's a universal dream for everyone in the world to retire early. Who wants to to be stuck with the rest of the country and retire when you're almost 70 years old? You heard me right, 70! Most people can't go out and do the things they love to do by the time they're 70, unless they've been practicing good health and exercise their entire life.
Skyrim Mod: How to Create Real Life Dragon Shouts
It's not uncommon to find a good mod these days, for any given game. But as I have mentioned before, Skyrim is not just a game. It's a drug... A horribly entertaining drug..
How To: Spider Web Pages with Nmap for SQLi Vulnerabilities
The already robust and ingenious Nmap tool has received a whole slew of new scanning scripts that can be used to do all sorts of naughty endeavors. Notably, the SQLi module, since it is a necessary evil that we must cover here at Null Byte. This major update is going to fuel today's lesson.