Linux Hacks Search Results

How To: Hack a Radio to Pick Up Different Frequencies - Including Law Enforcement & More

Hardware hacks are something I feel we don't get enough of at Null Byte, so today I figured I would introduce a fun one. I've always been a curious hardware hacker. Taking things apart and learning how their internals work has always been a part of my nature. Quite some years ago, my father showed me a really cool trick on how to hack normal radios to scan frequencies that are normally non-listenable. This little hack allowed us to scan frequencies belonging to law enforcement, and even frequ...

News: Hack Your Computer's BIOS to Unlock Hidden Settings, Overclocking & More

Your BIOS, or Basic Input Output System, is the firmware on your motherboard responsible for initializing your computer's hardware when it is first powered on. It probes for video adapters, RAM, the whole works. The BIOS provides a small library of basic input/output functions used to operate and control the peripherals such as the keyboard, text display functions and so forth, and these software library functions are callable by external software such as the OS and system software within sai...

News: Lightweight Programs You Should Use for a Faster Linux

Some people are what is labeled a power user. I am one of these people. No matter how fast I get my system, or how quick of programs I have, it is never good enough. There is always at least one program that I could swap out for a more advanced, text-based counterpart that increases performance just a bit. Luckily, you don't have to use text-based programs without graphical user interfaces to get blazing fast speeds on Linux. There are tons of open source alternatives to the mainstream progra...

How To: Defeat SSL in Practice with SSL Strip

SSL stands for Secure Socket Layer. It's an encryption standard used on most sites' login pages to avoid their users' passwords being packet sniffed in simple plain-text format. This keeps the users safe by having all of that traffic encrypted over an "https" connection. So, whenever you see "https://" in front of the URL in your browser, you know you're safe... or are you?

News: Xcode Ghost

I just came across an article on Reddit about some iOS malware called XcodeGhost that has affected many apps in Apple's Chinese App Store. After reading more about it, I thought it was pretty incredible how the attackers had pulled this off. As the name might imply, the malware was not loaded onto iOS devices because the iOS devices were directly hacked, but rather it was the Xcode versions used by the developers of legitimate apps that were hacked! Basically, some devs were using hacked Xcod...

News: FBI Shuts Down One of the Biggest Hacking Forums

FBI has taken down a notorious hacking forum called "darkode" where cyber criminals bought, sold and traded hacked databases, stolen bank accounts, and malicious software that steal information from other computer systems and helped each other to infiltrate other computers. The FBI called the site one of the most serious threats to data security in the world. criminal charges has been filed against 12 individuals who were associated with the forum and the investigation is still ongoing, more ...

News: Best Hacking Software

When i went to class today, a good friend asked me a question. He wanted to know what the best hacking software was to basically do everything. What i told him was this: Well there isn't an "Ultimate" tool boot there are a number of tools which deserve a "Medal." So what i'm trying to say here... What are some of the best hacking tools available right now? For starters i created a list with some of the tools.

How To: Remotely Control Computers Over VNC Securely with SSH

VNC is a great protocol that you can use on Windows and Linux machines to remotely control computers. This is useful if you need to control your computer when away from home, help your grandma check her email, or help a client with a disk cleanup. VNC is secure in the sense that it requires authentication in order to make the connection, but after that, the data is sent over the internet unencrypted. This means that an attacker could sniff your traffic and snoop everything that's going on. Th...

Skyrim Hack: Get Whatever Items You Want By Hacking Your Game Save

Here's another Null Byte on hacking our Skyrim game saves. Some of the rarer items in Skyrim are really fun to play with. However, seeing as they are rare, you will probably not see all of the best weapons in the game. Null Byte doesn't take too kindly to games that don't give us the rarest items when we please. Let's beat this game into submission by hacking our game save files via hex editing.

How To: Create a Free SSH Account on Shellmix to Use as a Webhost & More

Having an SSH or Secure SHell to tunnel your traffic through is something we have talked about many times at Null Byte. As we know, it allows us to securely route and encrypt our traffic through a remote server, effectively anonymizing us and protecting our traffic from all forms of analysis—simultaneously. We have gone over how to make a home SSH tunnel. However, the question has come up, "How can I get an SSH tunnel to somewhere other than my computer?" This would be useful in a situation w...

News: Get YouTube's New Layout Today with a Simple JavaScript Hack

As many of you may have noticed, nearly every Google product (i.e. Gmail, Google search, etc.) has gone through a bit of a makeover since the release of Google+. Big blocky buttons and enormous font sizes are apparently the thing of the future, and with a cool JavaScript hack, you can have a goofy YouTube, too! Now, I'm actually just being a bit facetious, the new YouTube is really the only thing that I like out of all of Google's recent redesigns. It looks pretty sleek.

News: Hack This Site

If you're looking to train yourself, and see how good at hacking you really are, I'd recommend Hack This Site. You've most likely already heard of it, but it's super fun to use and is also safe. You learn a lot, too, and there's no tutorials or anything. What you do is you pick a challenge and then it gives you a little scenario. For example I started the basic challenges about 10 minutes ago and am on challenge six, it asks for a password and you scramble through the code, editing bits and b...

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).

How To: Safely Log In to Your SSH Account Without a Password

SSH is amazing, and we praise its existence on Null Byte for many reasons. Notably, it allows us to reroute our traffic through encrypted ports on our local host to be sent to its destination when on the go. You can even control your home computers remotely over a secure and encrypted connection. This is handy for a multitude of reasons.

News: Change from BASH to zsh

Hello fellow Null-Byters today I will be showing you how to change from the simple but powerful BASH system to a more powerful and faster Z - Shell system. This change can be permanent if you want but doesn't have to be, and it is an extremely simple one to perform.

How To: Fix the Unreadable USB Glitch in VirtualBox

Many users of the virtualization software VirtualBox may have noticed that the USB system has been pretty buggy for quite a long time. I've had my USB randomly duck out on me way too many times to count. This can really be difficult to deal with when you require access to the devices and files from the host system.

How To: Carve Saved Passwords Using Cain

I've previously mentioned how saving browser passwords is a bad idea, but I never went into much detail as to why. Passwords that are saved in your browser can be carved out and stolen very easily. In fact, even passwords you save for instant messaging and Wi-Fi are vulnerable. Windows is very inefficient with the way it stores passwords—it doesn't store them in key-vaults, nor does it encrypt them. You're left with passwords residing in memory and filespace that's unencrypted.

How To: Create an SSH Tunnel Server and Client in Linux

SSH is what is referred to as the Secure SHell protocol. SSH allows you to do a plethora of great things over a network, all while being heavily encrypted. You can make a remote accessible shell on your home computer that gives you access to all your files at home, and you can even tunnel all of your traffic to keep you anonymous and protected on public Wi-Fi. It has many great uses and is a must have tool for your arsenal. It was designed to replace the insecure Telnet protocol, which sends ...

Goodnight Byte: HackThisSite, Realistic 5 - Real Hacking Simulations

Last Friday's mission was to accomplish solving HackThisSite, Realistic 5, the fifth and last in my series of realistic hacking simulation missions. This time, telemarketers are invading people's privacy, and it was up to us to stop them! The job was to get root on the site and delete the contact database in order to return the right of privacy to its victims.

Community Byte: HackThisSite, Realistic 5 - Real Hacking Simulations

Eventually, we plan on doing some root the box competitions here at Null Byte, but we're still looking for a server to play on. Anyone want to donate one? You won't regret it. Root the box is like 'king of the hill', except you have to hack a server and maintain access. Each server will have numerous known security holes, but until then, let's get back to the regular weekly coding sessions and realistic hacking missions on HackThisSite.

Goodnight Byte: HackThisSite, Realistic 4 - Real Hacking Simulations

Last Friday's mission was to accomplish solving HackThisSite, realistic 4. The fourth in a series of realistic simulation missions was designed to be exactly like a situation you may encounter in the real world. This time, we are told "Fischer's Animal Products is a company that slaughters animals and turns their skin into overpriced products which are then sold to rich bastards! Help animal rights activists increase political awareness by hacking their mailing list."

How To: Hack Coin-Operated Laudromat Machines for Free Wash & Dry Cycles

Most people have had the unfortunate experience of not having a washer and dryer at some point. Apartments in my area tend to charge at least one hundred dollars extra for the units with washer and dryer hookups, and even more if you want a unit with an actual washer and dryer installed already. If you are young and just starting out, this may be hard for you to manage with your current salary. If you have no washer and dryer, the only alternative is the laundromat.