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Dig 03
_____
\__ \
______ ____ ______ ___ / /
|\ |\ | _ \ \_ _\ / __\ ___\ \
| \___|_\ | | \ \ | | / / __ \____/
|_|___| | | |_/ / __| |_ \ \_\ \
\ | \ | |____/ \_____\ \____/
\|____\|
>>>...>>>...>>>...>>>...>>>...>>>
<<<...<<<...<<<...<<<...<<<...<<<
* * *
I learned very quickly that you don't have to put much effort into it.
It's easier if you don't have a substantial social life.
Sure, some people struggle, they now serve me my lunch.
My life is more like a roller coaster and less like a car ride.
What's the best way to learn?
Many would be quick to answer "repetition."
But that's wrong.
You withdraw failing.
Yes, I want fries with that.
You cannot always reduce problems to ones you have already solved.
To learn, you must adapt and experiment. You must understand the idea,
then use it, adapt it, to your own purpose. Then you must always check
your output to see if it conforms to the results you predicted.
You have established feedback.
A program loop, an endless GOTO cycle that processes information.
And that's where I'm stuck, and Control+Break doesn't work.
* * *
________________
' '
| DIG MAGAZINE #3 |
| =============== |_________________________________________________
| |
| Intro Words .............................. Zac Harmany |
| Guitar Tab - Lattice ..................... Zac Harmany |
| Executable Wrappers Pt 2 ................. Anonymous |
| Hacking the radio spectrum ............... Astral |
| DC/Baltimore Underground Rave Scene ...... Diëter Von Hoffenbrauer |
| Free Hotel Rooms ......................... lawg |
| Hacker Snacks ............................ lowtec |
| Book Corner .............................. lowtec |
| Strong Passwords ......................... lowtec |
|______________________________________________________________________|
* * *
________________________________________________
| |
| Zac Harmany - Lattice |
| Tabbed by Zac Harmany |
| Get the mp3 at http://www.pro-zac.com/ |
| Nothing like some good ol' open-source music. |
|________________________________________________|
This is a work in progress.
Bass:
Bass rests then enters:
G|------------|-----------
D|--------3-2-|-0---2--0--
A|-0---3------|----------3
E|------------|-----------
Repeat 3 times
G|------------|-----------
D|------------|-----------
A|------------|-----------
E|-5----------|-4------4-5
Repeat 4 times
G|-----------------|----------------
D|-----2-------2---|-----0-------0--
A|---3---3---3---3-|---2---2---2---2
E|-5-------5-------|-4-------4------
Repeat twice.
G|-----------------|----------------
D|-------7---------|-------6--------
A|---3-7---7-3---3-|---2-5---5-2---2
E|-5-----------5---|-4-----------4--
Repeat 5 times.
G|-----------------|-----------------|------
D|-------7---------|-------6---------|------
A|---3-7---7-3---3-|---2-5---5-2---2-|-0----
E|-5-----------5---|-4-----------4---|------
6th time, steadily decrease tempo, resolve onto A and let ring.
Guitar:
let all parts ring
e|---------0-------|---------0-------|-----------------|----------------
B|-----0-----0---0-|-----0-----0---0-|---------3-------|---------3------
G|---5---5-----5---|---5---5-----5---|-----0-----0---0-|-----0-----0---0
D|-7---------------|-7---------------|---4---4-----4---|---4---4-----4--
A|-----------------|-----------------|-5---------------|-5--------------
E|-----------------|-----------------|-----------------|----------------
e|-----------------|-----------------|-----------------|----------------
B|-----1---1-------|-----3---3-------|-----1---1-------|-----0-3-0------
G|---2---2---2---2-|---1---1---1---1-|---2---2---2---2-|---1-------1---1
D|-------------2---|-------------2---|-------------2---|-------------2--
A|-0---------------|-----------------|-0---------------|----------------
E|-----------------|-0---------------|-----------------|-0--------------
e|-----------------|-----------------|-----------------|----------------
B|-----1---1-------|-----3---3-------|-----1---1-------|-----3---3------
G|---2---2---2---2-|---1---1---1---1-|---2---2---2---2-|---4---4---4---4
D|-------------2---|-------------2---|-------------2---|-------------2--
A|-0---------------|-----------------|-0---------------|----------------
E|-----------------|-0---------------|-----------------|-0--------------
ends on Amin chord
e|-0-
B|-1-
G|-2-
D|-2-
A|-0-
E|---
* * *
____________________________
| |
| Executable Wrappers Pt 2 |
| Anonymous |
|____________________________|
Unwrapping
~~~~~~~~~~
With most of the client/server setup out of the way, it is time to
turn to what happens when the client is run. Assuming that the key is
valid, the wrapper needs to make the wrapped program believe that is has
just been started, and that the wrapper does not exist. An inspection of
the eLicense system will give a good idea about how this is done.
First of all, eLicense decrypts (using RC5 in CBC mode, see a
decent cryptography reference for this) a bit of information, the
details and use of which is unknown. This is all done using 128-bit
keys. Then, there is a change: a 256-bit key is used. This key is used
to decrypt the code segment (remember that this is the only part of the
original file that has been encrypted). Finally, a whole lot more
decryption is done (using 128 bit keys) to get the information contained
in the imports. The wrapper then processes the imports in the same
manner that the OS does. The way imports are used will be discussed
later. Finally, the DLL allows the main program to start. With its code
segment decrypted and the imports fixed up, the wrapped program does not
even know about the presence of eLicense. It is important to note is
that the wrapper appears to completely get out of the way once the
unwrapping is done. It does not interfere with the wrapped program, and
the wrapped program obviously cannot talk to the wrapper (as it doesnt
know that it is there).
This shows an obvious security problem with all basic wrappers:
theres nothing to stop the user waiting until the code segment is
decrypted, then dumping it back to the original exe file. This is what
most wrapper-cracking tutorials say to do. However, for eLicense there
is a better way. Read back through that last paragraph. The only time a
256-bit key is used is to decrypt the code segment. So all we need to do
to get the key is to wait until a 256-bit key is used. So, how do we get
this key?
Like all decent wrapper systems, eLicense is hostile to debuggers.
Partially hostile at least. It complains if OllyDbg (a user-mode
debugger) is used to open the wrapped file. It complains also if
OllyDbg is opened before the wrapped application then attached to the
application. However, it does not complain at all if OllyDbg is loaded
and attached after the wrapped application has started. A slight chink
in the armour there.
Once a debugger is attached to eLicense, its obvious that there
is a fair amount of low-level obfuscation going on. A randomly named
file is produced from somewhere (decrypted and possibly unzipped) and
stored in the temporary directory. The wrapper then loads this file. The
first bit of hard work is figuring out what encryption scheme is used.
The easiest way is to put a breakpoint on read at the start of the
main code segment, as the wrapper will have to read in the encrypted
code to decrypt it. This immediately launches into the thick of
assembler code:
03362D5F |. 294424 48 SUB DWORD PTR SS:[ESP+48],EAX
03362D63 |> 33C9 /XOR ECX,ECX
03362D65 |. 33C0 |XOR EAX,EAX
03362D67 |. 8A4B 03 |MOV CL,BYTE PTR DS:[EBX+3]
03362D6A |. 8A43 02 |MOV AL,BYTE PTR DS:[EBX+2]
03362D6D |. C1E1 08 |SHL ECX,8
<more code>
03362DBF |. FF5424 40 |CALL DWORD PTR SS:[ESP+40]
<more code>
03362E28 |. 4D |DEC EBP
03362E29 |. 8956 0C |MOV DWORD PTR DS:[ESI+C],EDX
03362E2C |.^0F85 31FFFFFF \JNZ sds.03362D63
A trained eye and a bit of knowledge will rapidly identify this as
a CBC-mode decrypting loop. The call statement goes to an optimised
RC5 implementation. This is good for speed, but sticks out like a
lighthouse with regard to changing DLL versions. It seems as though
there is several versions of eLicense 4.0, or possibly the code is
polymorphic. Either way, the decrypting function and key setup function
tends to move around between various programs. However, the RC5 code
serves as an excellent way of locating things, as the structure of this
code does not seem to change. This is made even easier as the compiler
used to compile eLicense does not appear to use the ROL opcode, which
appears extensively in the RC5 code. So all that needs to be done is to
search the randomly named DLL for the command rol r32,cl and the
decrypting code will be displayed.
With a bit of knowledge about cryptography, and a bit of trial and
error, it becomes obvious that the initialisation vector (usually just
the IV, and it makes up part of the secret required to decrypt the code
segment) is stored at the address pointed to by ESI. Also, the number of
dwords (32-bit values) to decrypt is stored in the EBP register. So a
hardware breakpoint at (in this case) 03362D5F will give the IV on a
plate: F9 A9 96 F9 BC 80 43 0E. This seems to be the same for every file
(and even older versions) and every key used.
The next step is to locate the key setup function. Again, a bit of
knowledge about RC5 will lead straight there:
03362B57 |. 7E 55 JLE SHORT sds.03362BAE
03362B59 |> 8B4C24 14 /MOV ECX,DWORD PTR SS:[ESP+14]
03362B5D |. 40 |INC EAX
03362B5E |. 8D7481 FC |LEA ESI,DWORD PTR DS:[ECX+EAX*4-4]
<more code, the following is the RC5 tipoff>
03362B82 |. 80E3 1F |AND BL,1F
03362B85 |. 8BEE |MOV EBP,ESI
03362B87 |. B1 20 |MOV CL,20
03362B89 |. 2ACB |SUB CL,BL
03362B8B |. D3ED |SHR EBP,CL
03362B8D |. 8ACB |MOV CL,BL
03362B8F |. D3E6 |SHL ESI,CL
<more code>
03362BA8 |> FF4C24 1C |DEC DWORD PTR SS:[ESP+1C]
03362BAC |.^75 AB \JNZ SHORT sds.03362B59
03362BAE |> 8D4424 20 LEA EAX,DWORD PTR SS:[ESP+20]
<the following is the signture for finding this routine>
03362BB2 |. 68 00010000 PUSH 100
03362BB7 |. 6A 00 PUSH 0
03362BB9 |. 50 PUSH EAX
03362BBA |. E8 95E3FEFF CALL sds.03350F54
A bit of checking easily shows that if a breakpoint is placed at
03362B57, the key length (in dwords) will be at the address ESP+0x18 and
the key itself will begin at ESP+0x20. This is sufficient information to
be able to decrypt the code segment whenever it is needed. Put a
breakpoint on 03362B57 and wait for a 256-bit key to be processed.
Record this key then put a breakpoint on 03362D5F to get the IV. No
longer does the person running the crack need to be able to run the
protection to decrypt the code segment (as is usually required for
unwrapping).
So, the first layer of protection has rapidly bitten the dust. The
above procedure, once the couple hours to deduce it has been spent,
requires less than a minute to do. The only area remaining is the import
area.
When a program is loaded, it typically loads a large number of
libraries to help it do things. Most of the time, these are loaded
through a special area in an executable which stores the name of the
library, the function name to import, and the address to store the
address of the function into (this last area is called the IAT).
However, libraries can also be loaded while the program is running, so a
program can, if it wants, have its own import area format and load the
libraries and function addresses how it wants to once it starts.
Since code segments can so easily be dumped from memory, another
area protection is needed: import hiding. This essentially is taking the
existing import data and reformatting it (and usually hiding it as
well), so that it cannot be dumped straight back to the file. However,
the addresses of the functions still need to be stored in the same place
(the IAT), which gave rise to a selection of import table rebuilders.
These scanned the IAT then matched these up with the loaded libraries
and functions to build a new import table, which could then be stored
back in the file.
The protection in eLicense is a bit more sophisticated than a simple
loader. An inspection of the imported addresses in the IAT reveals
that they dont actually point to real function, but rather small pieces
of code in an unowned memory area:
01237950 50 PUSH EAX
01237951 A1 88792301 MOV EAX,DWORD PTR DS:[1237988]
01237956 3305 98792301 XOR EAX,DWORD PTR DS:[1237998]
0123795C A3 30572201 MOV DWORD PTR DS:[1225730],EAX
01237961 58 POP EAX
01237962 -FF25 30572201 JMP DWORD PTR DS:[1225730]
All these pieces of code are the same: loading two dwords, xoring
them together, then jumping to the resulting address. This breaks all
the simple import table rebuilders, as the addresses in the IAT dont
point directly to loaded functions. However, it is still no problem to
build a specialised tool to combat this. All that needs to be done (as
all the areas are the same) is to follow each address in the IAT and
grab the above code. From this, the addresses of the two dwords can be
obtained, and then the dwords at these addresses can be xored together
to get the real address. After that, its just a simple import-table-
rebuilding job. This can be done either by creating a whole new import
area, or (the easy way) by creating a DLL called elicen40.dll (in any
language) which does the library loading, etc.
The alternative is to find and decrypt the original import area.
This is a bit more difficult for eLicense, as it appears to use some
weird format for storing the imports. Because of the ease of determining
the real import addresses, not much time was spent on seeing if the
original import area still existed.
Currently, rebuilding the import table takes about 5 minutes of
copying and pasting to get the module exports. With a decently written
tool that extracted the module exports automatically, it would be near
instantaneous. Optionally, the eLicense section can be removed from the
program (saving about 700kb) but as it doesnt do any harm, leaving it
there is much less hassle. Overall, it means that downloading an
eLicense protected program will generally take longer than cracking it,
and a crack for a program will (depending on the language used)
generally be under 50kb. This is much better than many existing cracks
which just supply the complete unencrypted code segment, which can be
several MB depending on the wrapped program.
Improvements
~~~~~~~~~~~~
As eLicense is very crackable, so what can be done to make a
better wrapper? The answer, unfortunately, not a lot. This is primarily
because of what a wrapper is. There is no knowledge in the wrapped
program of the wrapper. One area where vast improvement could be made is
in the faked imports. It would be relatively easy to build an engine
that constructed a random function (using rotations, xors, addition, and
so on) that would generate the real address. This would just be a simple
loop where each instruction appended to the start of the function
another random instruction, then did the inverse of the instruction to a
stored value. It would require a substantial amount of work to make a
program that would automatically process each instruction sequence and
get the real address. It would require implementing an emulator for a
large set of x86 assembler opcodes.
For example, the standard template for the obfuscated import might be
(as before):
PUSH EAX
MOV [address],EAX
POP EAX
JMP [address]
Say the address of the function was 0x12345678. The engine would start
with:
PUSH EAX
MOV EAX,0x12345678
MOV [address],EAX
POP EAX
JMP [address]
Then it might choose the XOR opcode. It would insert the XOR after the
MOV EAX and update the value stored to EAX accordingly:
PUSH EAX
MOV EAX,0x03254769
XOR EAX,0x11111111
MOV [address],EAX
POP EAX
JMP [address]
Then, it might decide to insert an ADD instruction. Again, it inserts it
after MOV EAX (but before XOR EAX) and updates the value in the MOV:
PUSH EAX
MOV EAX,0xE1032547
ADD EAX,0x22222222
XOR EAX,0x11111111
MOV [address],EAX
POP EAX
JMP [address]
It could even, if sufficient thought was given, split into multiple
streams:
PUSH EAX
PUSH EBX
MOV EAX,0x1142FD2A
MOV EBX,0x31415926
SUB EBX,0x01010101
ADD EAX,0x22222222
XOR EAX,EBX ; <=> XOR EAX,0x30405825
XOR EAX,0x11111111
MOV [address],EAX
POP EBX
POP EAX
JMP [address]
This would add significant time to both development of rebuilding
tools, and also the execution time of these tools. This would
(temporarily) shift the focus onto determining the original imports from
the stored data, which can be protected with much easier.
This is not the only improvement that can be made. The next big
step up would be partial decryption (and re-encryption) of the code
area. This can be done in a largely automatic way through files that
compilers can generate called map files. These contain the address (and
sometimes size) of each function in the executable. If a number of these
were encrypted (with polymorphic decrypting code), only decrypted when
called, then re-encrypted on return, this would make bulk decrypting of
the code segment much harder. The basic flow of control for such a
procedure would be:
1) The function is called from another function (call the original
caller C)
2) The function currently contains a decryptor stub (not necessarily
cryptographically strong), call this function S, which decrypts a
predetermined area of memory (another part of the same function if
there is enough space, though this would require relocation). The
wrapper would provide the key on load.
3) The wrapper passes control to the decrypted function through a JMP
4) This decrypted function (call this function D) would then decrypt the
original function (call this function O), and copy it to the original
location. The decryptor stub S would have to be backed up somewhere
first.
5) The function D passes control (though a CALL) to function O after
modifying the return address on the stack so that it can clean up
later.
6) Function O executes and returns to function D
7) Function D copies function S back to the shared space then passes
control back to the stub S (via a JMP)
8) S destroys the decrypted D and then passes control (through a RET)
back to the original caller C.
This has been implemented in prototype code and appears to work
well. There are a couple of problems though. The first is the complexity
of the code. It is a nightmare to implement and debug, with extensive
use of assembler required. It would also require a large amount of work
to write a function to inject this code into the executable. The second
problem would be using the map files from the compiler. Every compiler
appears to have a different format for their map files, so a large
number of import filters would be required to cover most compilers.
The third problem is to do with performance. There would be a
significant performance hit to doing this, especially on the Pentium 4.
The performance hit on all processors would be due to the internal
call/return stack getting confused due to the call/ret instructions not
being paired. The bigger performance hit would be the Pentium 4 flushing
its entire trace cache when it detects self-modifying code. This is a
huge penalty, which would wreck any high- performance code. However
where performance is not too much of an issue, it could be used.
The final problem would be linking up the wrapper and the
decrypting stubs. Simply storing the keys in an area of memory would not
be sufficient, as this area could be dumped and then reloaded by a crack
DLL when the main program is loaded. The best way (though far from
crack-proof) would be to scatter the keys throughout the memory. Using
the stack area would be good, as this is difficult (though again not
impossible) to backup and restore when the unwrapped file is loaded.
One way to attack this would be to write an automated debugger. It
would wait for a memory write into the code area, using the Windows
breakpoint-on-write functions. This would be the decryptor copying in
the decrypted original function O. Then, it would save every written
byte back to the original code segment until the area originally hit in
is hit again. This would be function D copying function S back in again.
It would then stop monitoring the area, as it now has the original
function. This can be partially fixed by having two functions at the
same address, much like overlays in the old DOS days. With this, no
direct decryption is even possible, as there is no way to decrypt both
procedures into the same space. However, this cannot generally be done
solely with .MAP files, as it would require rewriting relative jumps and
the like.
As usual, it would be the typical arms race. The wrapper providers
would introduce a different way of decrypting the original functions,
and sometime later an automated tool would emerge for breaking it.
Which is how it will always be in the cracking world. Some company
will develop an uncrackable protection system. As soon as anything
worth cracking is protected by it though, it will fall. The best that a
software developer can hope is that they are not counted in the
collateral damage, the vendors who were not the primary target, just
those who used the identical system. This is the basic problem with
wrappers. Everyone using the wrapper is using the same system. So once
one is broken, they all can be. And wrappers by their nature usually
fall to automated programs, programs such as those that rebuild import
tables. These automated programs make it easy to strip wrappers off any
file using the system, not just the original target.
One hole is all thats needed
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
One system that at first glance appears to be formidable is
SoftWrap. The blurb states that it uses polymorphic encryption, 512bit
RSA and all sorts of other goodies. A first glance at a SoftWrap wrapped
file (the file with the locked extension) shows that almost the whole
thing is encrypted, with only the import table and the first few bytes
unencrypted. The entry point is encrypted as well, signifying that some
decryption has to take place before the file will start. Trying to trace
through the loader is not pretty either: much self- modifying code is
used, and theres even a bit of rolling decryption to deal with.
Unfortunately, its got a hole in its security. And one hole is
all that is needed. One of the statements commonly used in cryptography
areas is that the designer needs to protect against every attack, but
the attacker only needs to find one. Because of the many parts of a
wrapper, extra care needs to be takes to ensure that they are all
tightly locked together. SoftWrap is a great example of something that
looks very strong on first impressions, but it allows information
capture at a critical point.
Finding it takes a bit of intuition but not too much time. First
of all, observe what happens as the file is loaded. First, the loader
unpacks and decrypts itself, then shows the nag screen. After a bit of
processing time, during which many files are created, the main program
itself is loaded. However, the thing to note is that the encrypted file
is loaded without modification! This defies common sense, as if the file
is loaded straight from the disk, it could not even start.
After a bit of fiddling and guesswork, it becomes obvious that the
loaded file is started in a suspended state, and then the loaded file is
manipulated. The easiest way of doing this is through two APIs:
ReadProcessMemory and WriteProcessMemory. Breakpointing these two
functions and seeing what areas are manipulated gives a good idea of
what is going on. And also shows the gaping hole in security.
The only modification is that a small stub of code is written to
the file at the entry point. A brief experiment shows that applying this
patch to the original locked file will yield a completely working
executable. Since this area is in the order of 500 bytes, this is a very
small patch and a big hole in the system. This situation is made even
more embarrassing, as searching reveals that such an attack was known
back in 2001 and the authors notified of the attack (see SoftCrap:
Author rip-off and piracy promotion). Two years and 3 versions later,
the attack still works.
Alternatives
~~~~~~~~~~~~
Wrappers are not the only way to protect a program. The other main
categories are APIs and custom protection. API-based protection systems
are usually supplied in source or object form, as opposed to an external
program like wrappers. These systems are usually made up of a set of
functions that do things like licence validation and request, and
checking for alterations to the file. Compared to wrappers, these are
much harder to remove, assuming the basics to avoid keygenning are
looked after. This is because each program protected will be different
to every other program, so crackers can no longer just say put a
breakpoint there and then pull the key from here and be able to crack
any program that uses the protection.
However, some care still needs to be taken to ensure that the
protection parts of the code cannot be fingerprinted (such as the RC5
code), which could lead to largely-automated cracking tools.
Polymorphically encrypted procedures are great for this. If all this is
the case, then the program will need to be directly attacked (as opposed
to attacking the protection in general as is the case with wrappers) to
be cracked. Common methods can often be used (such as identifying
writing to the code segment), but a reasonable amount of time is
required for each program. APIs are often not much more expensive than
wrappers (some are even cheaper), but require more work to integrate
with each product.
The other extreme from wrappers is custom protection. This is
where the protection mechanism is developed from the ground up and is
unique either to a particular product (games often fall into this
category) or a particular company. This has more security though
obscurity than APIs as the cracker is going in cold with no hints from
previous breaks. If the protection is not well thought-out and
implemented, the protection offered can be minimal. If the right people
(such as ex-crackers), who know assembly and cryptography really well,
write it, then the protection can be very strong. Another problem with
custom protection is the price. A complete system could take several
man-months to implement, which for a small project or company could be
prohibitive.
Final words
~~~~~~~~~~~
The main original question posed (Are wrappers worth it) has not
really been answered yet, mainly because it has no exact answer.
Wrappers offer a minimal level of protection, which would stop people
who dont know how to search for cracks from using it. Unfortunately,
because of their way of operating (leaving the original program
untouched), they cannot stop a cracker for any long period of time (as
exhibited with eLicense and SoftWrap). And once a cracking method (or
worse, a general crack like the eLicense proxy) has been developed, any
piece of software protected with that scheme becomes vulnerable, even if
it was not the target of the cracker.
If the purchase price of your program is low (so less incentive to
crack) or the target market computer illiterate (so dont know about
cracks), and the wrapper is nearly free, then wrappers are probably not
a bad option. If your target market is knowledgable about cracks or
programming (eg: you are trying to sell a debugger) and you would pay a
significant amount of money per licence sold, then its probably not a
good idea.
* * *
________________________________________________
| |
| Satellite/Radio - Hacking the radio spectrum |
| By: Astral |
| www.leetgeek.net |
| astral@hackermail.com |
|________________________________________________|
The time was 12:32am, on Sunday, April 27th 1986. Think back.
Where were you? It was at this time, on this date, that the infamous
Captain Midnight jammed and replaced HBO's signal with a test pattern
and the text "GOODEVENING HBO FROM CAPTAIN MIDNIGHT. $12.95/MONTH? NO
WAY!(SHOWTIME/MOVIE CHANNEL BEWARE)." At this moment, satellite and
radio communications would never again be the same. In this article I
will delve into the underground yet again. I will show you the things
you cannot just Google query, share with you the information that took
me over 3 solid months to collect. Welcome to the world of communication
hijacking.
RADIO - A Quick Breakdown
Radio. What comes to mind when you think radio? Radiation? The
stereo in your car? Well if you said radiation, then you are correct.
Radio is merely waves of electromagnetic radiation that can carry
information. Radio travels in waves and these waves are formed by
different types of modulations; PM (pulse modulation), AM (amplitude
modulation), and FM (frequency modulation) just to name a few. The
information is carried upon these waves and is interpreted by the
receiver. Radio is the core of many things we do in todays electronic
society: Radios, Satellite TV, cable TV, WiFi, etc. Radio allows us to
send information wirelessly anywhere in the world with the right
equipment. Radio also allows us to do some naughty things if we were
inclined to do so.
HAM RADIO - The Pioneers
Some of you may be familiar with the term HAM Radio. HAM radio is
amateur radio, and consists of licensed amateur radio operators around
the globe. They communicate on designated bands using various methods,
whether its voice, Morse code, or packet radio. These guys have been
the true pioneers, building their own equipment, transmitting around the
world, pushing the limit on radio and communications. Today some HAMs
enjoy amateur contests over 100 GHz, some bounce voice or beacon signals
off the moon to one another, others still stick to the 2m bands, and
still others use the amateur satellites in orbit. Without the constant
experimentation and web documentation from HAMs I wouldnt have found
half of my information. Now, onto the bread and butter of jamming and
pirate up linking!
Jamming 101 - Pay Attention
Jamming is the act of deliberate blocking and / or overriding
another signal. Jamming can be as simple as just playing music or dead
air over an existing frequency or it can get more complicated with spark
gap jammers and signal sweeping. Most of the jamming techniques I will
describe are simple and can be executed by anyone with enough know how.
Simple jamming can be accomplished by using a transmitter and
transmitting something i.e. dead air, music, or your commanding voice,
onto an existing frequency but without keying off. Most of the time,
Radio communications are not full duplex, meaning they communicate in
turns.
What would happen if you bought a CB and tuned it to a channel,
and taped the key on the MIC down and you simply walked away? No one
crossing the signal would be able to communicate, they would get nothing
but dead air for as far as your signal can spread. Granted they will be
able to break through once they get farther and farther away from the
source (you) but mission accomplished, you jammed your first radio. This
method is effective against in the upwards range of around 95% of radio
communications.
Satellites Uplinks and Downlinks
Satellites are amazing pieces of technology when you think about
them as a whole. Satellites orbit earth, thousands of miles up,
constantly relaying data around the globe, in some instances as fast as
ATM (Asynchronous Transfer Mode) lines. The main control of satellites
is in the form of telemetry. You may have heard this term before; it is
basically the control of any remote object. Satellites do all telemetry
on a frequency not usually listed or easily found but one can find these
if determined. They usually use a proprietary form of modulation and
data exchange so your chances of cracking it or making the bird slam
into the ocean are slim to none. You have better chances hacking into
the computers that control them directly. Most satellite frequencies are
in the microwave bands, anything above basically 1 GHz. Most civilian
scanners wont go higher than 2.5 GHz, so one may be wondering how you
intercept and interpret the signals of something transmitting on 12 GHz.
The answer is simply, a down converter. This is an object that takes a
signal it is specifically tuned for, and down converts it to something
lower for the equipment to analyze the signals to be cheaper and easily
obtained. This is all your satellite dish does. It down converts the
signal, and sends it to the receiver for analysis. A good down converter
in a high frequency will be very expensive, so one must find ways of
building their own using HAM equipment and other parts. Satellite
uplinks operate basically on the same principal. The satellite has many
transponders onboard to receive control and uplink data as it is sent to
the bird. A transmitters cost ranges from 2 to 30 thousand dollars,
this is why your DirecTV doesnt talk back to the bird!
Transmitting - A crazy process
So now your probably wondering how in the hell can you jam this
satellite if your not a millionaire? Well, luckily the HAMs saved us
again. There are several spots in the radio spectrum for amateurs to
play in, and the important ones are 10 GHz. HAMs figured out using basic
electronics that they could build cheap transceivers to communicate or
carry data on 10 GHz and higher bands. This is our key to building a
home made uplink station for very little money. HAMs depended heavily on
Gunnplexers; the boxes above the automatic sliding door at the grocery
store. These emit signals on 10 GHz to detect motion and therefore
provide an excellent basis for building a transmitter. They are called
VCOs or 'voltage controlled oscillators'. This device emits a signal in
its set frequency from the built in electronics, and the shape and form
of the metal housing. The output frequency can be varied by different
amounts of voltage applied as well as adjusting a dial. This, combined
with mixing boards to supply the signal, can be built for around 200
dollars. This is the basics of building a satellite transmitter, and I
challenge you to do some research as one cannot begin to delve into
circuitry and electronics in this article due to its length and detailed
explanation and the authors own limited knowledge of such things.
Moving on, this leaves two problems such as jamming or pirate up
linking. First and foremost, you will have no way of telling if you are
on the right frequency, as tuning these things is very hard and very
precise equipment must be obtained. If you are near a college campus,
make friends with some local RF engineering students, and find out if
you can test it with a spectrum analyzer as these are very accurate.
Obtaining one of these gems shouldnt be too hard, if you can fork out
the thousands of dollars to do so. The second problem is the format of
the data transmitted. I havent been able to find any information or
solid evidence about this. I can only speculate as to what one sees in
everyday life. What I mean by this, is do they transmit the video to the
satellite in pure NTSC MPEG-2 video form? Or do they encode into a
digital signal that has a proprietary format and thus a raw video signal
would not work. The two pieces of evidence that makes me believe that
its just raw video, are 1) I have been in an uplink truck while up
linking, and 2) the news.
I was in South Padre last summer when Hurricane Claudette was
about to slam into us. News crews were all over the place and late one
night while walking down the beach, I saw the best site in the world; a
massive dish pointed to the sky on top of a truck. I ran over and I was
surprised to see a couple of guys walking around, and I asked one if I
could take a look inside the truck. He let me right in and I got to talk
with the uplink engineer for around an hour or so. I told him I was a
Satellite Communications major at a local university (not true yet) and
he went to town. It helped that I knew some of what he was talking about
and being that these guys sit in the trucks and no one generally cares
what they are doing, he was like a kid in a candy store to see someones
genuine interest. He showed me the video mixing equipment (MPEG-2 of
course!) and all the up and down converters. What I mean about MPEG-2 is
that this is the standard for video compression during transmission. If
one was to hijack a TV link you would most definitely have to encode
into MPEG-2 format before transmitting. So the easiest way if you cannot
afford a thousand dollar MPEG-2 converter, is to buy an MPEG-2
conversion card. I have seen these for a hundred bucks or so. Hook it
into a VERY fast computer then it can take the raw video (from your VCR)
and output at the same time, but with MPEG-2 compression schemes. Then
the line coming out of the card would go into the transmitter and so on.
Everything in the truck used what they call an IF of 70 MHz.
Thats intermediate frequency and everything communicates and mixes on
that level. From there its stepped up to whatever frequency they need,
and then its stepped WAY up in power and beamed out the dish. He
actually did a momentary uplink for me, transmitting a test pattern
(late at night you see those color bars and tone) with some text on it,
and was playing some music. On the other monitor they had the
downstream, and you could see the 1-2 second delay in the up and down
process with the counting timer and music. This was an amazing
experience and if you ever get the chance to see these things in
operation, I highly recommend it.
Ok, the second reason I believe its not encoded into a special
transmitter to transponder format, is that the news has to broadcast
everything in standard form. They even still transmit UHF/VHF signals
for people without cable or satellite, you know, rabbit ears! Now, the
news and local broadcast companies do transmit their signals to a remote
location (STL - Studio to Transmitter Link) via microwave LOS (line of
sight) signal. All news and broadcast companies in Houston generally use
7 GHz and 13 GHz for their STL's. FM/AM Radio tends to use around 900
MHz for theirs :) This is a much easier obtained frequency. Another
attack idea is to get your signal onto cable, which they will transmit
and amplify for free all along the cable network. Now once again there
is no solid evidence, but articles and laws support this idea. There was
a new law enacted stating that all cable companies had to carry all
local news and broadcasters on their existing cable networks for FREE.
Now, most people cannot afford a fiber run to the main distribution
plant, so basically one can assume they take the signal from the air. I
know most news companies in Houston are now broadcasting on the airwaves
with normal analog signals and HDTV signals, as these will replace
analog sometime in the near future.
The cable companies most likely grab the existing signals right
out of the air for distribution along the cable networks. This is good
news for a TV pirate. First of all, find this location and get VERY
close and you will need just a fraction of the power the TV stations use
as you are so much closer. Second, its plain ole NTSC signals on the
bands, meaning they have a total bandwidth of 6 MHz and any basic
transmitter can be used. Example, channel 2 is 55.25 MHz and channel 3
is 61.25 MHz. They are separated by 6 MHz which is what is needed to
carry video, color, and audio signals. Once a successful override has
taken place and all assumed ideas are true, and you are close enough to
the main cable distribution plant, your signal will be seen as the new
one, and will be amplified and distributed instantly all over the cable
network. Thus giving you a free and easy way to pirate, override, or
JAM!
Conclusion - Lets wrap it up
Satellite and radio communications is a growing field and a young
one in some aspects. There has not been a huge history of pirate up
linkers and jammers so we live in the prime times for such activities as
the equipment and practices are very wide open. For good info about your
targets, just email them and ask for information. Also these two
websites, one which is the FCC is a great source when used with the
other in conjunction.
http://wireless2.fcc.gov/UlsApp/UlsSearch/searchAdvanced.jsp
http://www.phreak.org/html/freq.shtml
Find your state, look up microwave STL for TV stuff, and Aural STL
is usually FM/AM STL links. Then get their ID and search with the FCC
and find out what kind of transmitters, what locations, and what
techniques etc. I hope you learned a lot as this was over 3 months of
accumulated research and I haven't gone over half of it yet. Please take
into account that there is no "how to hack a satellite" article out
there, and this is just technology that fits the puzzle. Thanks again
-Astral
* * *
______________________________________________________________
| |
| A Slice in Time of the DC/Baltimore Underground Rave Scene |
| By Diëter Von Hoffenbrauer |
| Exclusive for DigZine |
|______________________________________________________________|
Its been about three years since I attended my first rave, but I
have been listening to electronic music since I was about ten years old.
I dont know what it was about the frenetic beats and impossibly deep
bass that first captured my heart, but the love is still there, and
always will be as far as I am concerned. Electronic music has become
such a part of my being that I would be a different person if I had not
heard that first fateful song at summer camp so many years ago. Ive met
many new friends, learned how to DJ and produce my own music and even
landed a job at a prestigious house music label in DC through the scene.
The interest in the music may have started when I was a child, but
it wasnt until high school that I was able to experience a rave. I had
just met a new group of friends through a local record shop, and they
had the same interest in electronic music. At that point, I wasnt
really sure what a rave was. I used to listen to Mutant Dance Party
and Trancemissions on 99.1 WHFS late on Saturday nights when I was a
little kid, and there would be commercials for parties occasionally...I
remember Engage at the DC Armory had a commercial. It all sounded so
cool but it was 18+ with ID, and I wasnt at the time. My new friends
had been to one of the local underground parties in the area, and were
invited to the next one as well, so I decided to tag along.
It was January of 2001 and it was bitter cold outside. The name of
the party was Freeze and the irony certainly wasnt lost on me. I was
expecting to go to a party in a warehouse or a club, but this party
actually took place in a huge house in Potomac, MD only about 5 minutes
from my home. I knew it was going to be a blast as soon as we pulled up
and saw over a hundred cars parked along the road. The party took place
in the walkout basement, and the covered under-deck area. This may sound
like just your normal high school weekend party, but there was no keg,
and there were two separate rooms of sound with some of the areas best
DJs spinning. There must have been about 200 people there! I had a
great time, but I still really wanted to see what a real rave in a
warehouse was like.
I got my chance to go to my first warehouse rave on February 10th,
2001. The name of the party was called The Tempest and it took place
at a little industrial park in Capitol Heights, MD. An interesting part
about this party was that we had to drive to a map point given on the
day of the party to get directions to the party itself. By not posting
the actual location of the party on fliers or anywhere else, the chance
of the party attracting unwanted attention is lessened quite a bit. I
went to the party with about eight of my friends, and we really werent
sure what to expect with all the driving around through industrial parks
late at night, but as soon as we walked through the door, we were in
awe. The warehouse had been totally transformed into a wonderland with
lights, décor, lasers and a HUGE sound system. The DJs that night were
Mike Dearborn, Dylan Drazen, Soul Providers, Implicit and Hi Octane, AKA
Ilya, our host for the night. The place was full of people dancing. I
made my way to the front of the room and found the stairs to the Drum n
Bass room. The DnB room was this tiny little area upstairs with ceilings
about six feet high...really cramped but still a cool vibe. The DJs in
the DnB room were Benko, Wreck, and Prophecy Project, with MC Escher on
the mic.
As the party progressed, it got more and more crowded, and in a
warehouse with no AC, that means hotter and hotter. In the DnB room,
water started to condense on the ceiling and drip back down onto the
people and the DJ booth! It wasnt raining either; this was from sweat
evaporating off everyone in the warehouse! We all had a great time and
met some cool new people. On our way out, we were handed fliers for a
party called Bioaquadoloop that was happening two weeks later in
Baltimore. I looked over at my friend and said, Are you thinking what
Im thinking? He nodded.
Two weeks later we were in a car heading to Baltimore. The rave
was being held in a warehouse called Studio 600 a few blocks back from
the Inner Harbor. The door to Studio 600 was a large metal door, covered
with stickers in the ghetto of Baltimore. There were no signs of a party
going on other than a faint thump thump thump coming from upstairs and
a line of party kids waiting to get in. I didnt realize at the time,
but Studio 600 was on the 6th floor, and the only way up was stairs.
Mind you, these arent normal flights of stairs because each floor has
approximately 15-foot ceilings. When we reached the top of the stairs.
It was like walking into a club. Studio 600 was home to Guy, and he was
the host for the night. He and his crew SMC had done a wonderful job
with the place. The DJs spinning that night were Adamatic, Apple,
Chrome Kid, Daedalus, Spinnage and K-Yun. We stayed until the lights
came on and the sun came up.
Studio 600 became the place where some of the best nights of my
life took place. Guy hosted quite a few more parties that I attended
until he was finally shut down by the police for noise complaints. I
remember the Modern Monkee parties and Secret Garden on St. Patricks
Day 2002 where the East Coast Boogiemen mixed on 6 turntables and 2
mixers. Guy just got too popular for his own good and his parties
attracted the wrong kind of attention. I remember one party got shut
down before it really even opened so it was moved to a field where it
was shut down again. He also hosted a New Years Eve party in another
warehouse space that was shut down as well. DJs could not get in after
the cops pulled up outside, so the music just stopped and the party kind
of fizzled out. We got the news right before midnight, but we still had
a blast. In my opinion, the reign of Studio 600 ended on the night that
Lonnie Fisher was beginning his set and the cops walked in and broke up
the party. All good things must come to an end.
Ilya from Kick Drum also threw a few more raves. A few took place
in a dance studio with a really awesome catacomb like basement. One even
had a lounge that was filled with about 3 feet of Styrofoam packing
peanuts that you could sit in! Ilyas parties were kind of small and
never got busted by the police, but he never threw a party as large as
The Tempest again. Maybe it was seeing other promoters like Guy get shut
down that kept him from doing it, but The Tempest will have a special
place in my heart as the first warehouse rave I ever went to.
After going to our first few parties, we were always on the
lookout for new ones, which led to some pretty disappointing parties.
One time we drove up to Planet Trog in Allentown PA for a party. We
didnt realize how far Allentown was from DC, and were pretty
disappointed when we got there. Planet Trog is essentially a Laser Tag
place with an arcade, and it took so long to get there; we missed
Frankie Bones set!
As hard as my friends and I tried, we could not find underground
raves that recreated the magic of our first parties. The day that
completely shook my faith in the scene and police was the day of the
East Coast Electronic Dance Music Festival. This party took place one of
the County Fairgrounds in MD, and started off well. The weather was nice
that day, and the place was starting to fill up. As the day progressed,
the police presence became more and more menacing. Police had started by
just walking around and keeping an eye on things, but time went by, they
started searching people with no probable cause. People driving into the
parking lot were immediately pulled over and had narcotics dogs run
through their car. There were police on the roof of the warehouse with
binoculars, and a police helicopter had been circling overhead all day.
When it was all said and done, the police had arrested over 100 people.
Thats over 1% of the people in attendance! It wasnt hard for them to
get these sorts of numbers because absolutely everyone was searched and
harassed by the police that day. I was personally searched five times
that day before we left. If the police had done the same thing at a rock
concert or in any club, Im sure that they could have arrested even more
people.
The next day, I was shopping at Yoshitoshi Records in DC after
leaving Easter dinner at my grandmothers house when an anchorperson
from Fox 5 news came up to me and asked me if I had attended the ECEDMF
the day before. I gave them an interview and I was on the news the next
day! Since I was wearing a suit in the interview, people asked me for
months to come at various parties How did you court case go? They
assumed that I had been one of the people arrested, when I wasnt! In
the news section, the police were very smug about keeping drugs off the
streets and protecting America but these men were no better than
petty thugs were. They wasted tens of thousands of dollars policing that
event and keeping a helicopter in the sky all day just to shake down
every person in attendance. Imagine how many people would be arrested at
WHFStival if they shook down everyone! One policeman was even visibly
intoxicated on Ecstasy that day! It just makes me sick and has forever
shaped my opinion of police.
I kept trying to find good parties to go to, but they were fewer
and farther between than before. Ecstasy had become public enemy #1 and
police automatically associated ecstasy with raves. Granted, ecstasy was
present at the parties, but it had become a large part of every club and
party scene. Frat parties, hip-hop clubs, rock concerts, Phish tour, and
every other scene had been turned onto ecstasy, but only parties that
had electronic dance music became a target. The final nail in the coffin
was the R.A.V.E. act. The R.A.V.E. act is a tricky little piece of
legislature that allows the government to hold a promoter responsible
for ANY drugs at their party, with penalties up to 20 years in jail and
a $500,000 fine. Since it is truly impossible to prevent every person
who enters a rave from bringing in drugs or using them, very few
promoters are putting their necks out and throwing parties like they
used to.
The R.A.V.E. act was a very unpopular piece of legislation when it
was introduced and faced a lot of opposition from many groups such as
the ACLU. It only passed when it was tacked onto the Amber Alert bill,
which put an alert system into operation for quickly recovering missing
and kidnapped children. Who would vote against that? It was really
underhanded how this controversial piece of legislature was attached to
a very popular bill and passed through to law. The R.A.V.E. act was
recently used by federal agents to shut down a medical marijuana
fundraiser. The agents went up to the owner of the land that the event
was to take place on and quite simply told him that if anyone were
caught smoking marijuana, he would be fined $250,000. This kind of
intimidation is enough to make anyone reconsider renting out space for a
party, whether they own a club or even a warehouse.
Good raves have been hard to find lately, but its really just the
ebb and flow of time. I feel like I rode the very crest of a rave wave
in DC and Baltimore, and right now the tide has gone out to sea. Its
hard to tell if its entirely the times that have changed, or if it is
my perception of it as well. I believe Seb Fontaine said it best when he
said "For every person who says 'clubbing was better five years ago,'
there's someone new coming into it who will remember last Saturday like
we remember 1990," So if people do keep coming out every Saturday, there
will always be those that see their first party with the same eyes that
I did, and the scene will be forever safe.
* * *
_______________________________________
| |
| Free Hotel Rooms |
| by lawg (lawg at ethertech dot org) |
|_______________________________________|
First of all, this only works in larger cities. You are going to
have to do some research first. You need to figure out where the local
MEPS is. Yes, the Military Entry Processing Station. Don't worry. By
actually performing any of the acts described here, you will be
defrauding the US government by, so this information is provided purely
for educational purposes.
In my area, MEPS processes people five days a week, with the
exception of any federal holidays. Other areas might be different, it
would be a good idea to call the MEPS station itself or a recruiter in
the region.
Find out what hotel all of the to-be enlistees are put up in for
the night. Calling the hotels located nearby the MEPS building is
probably easiest. They like to make the hotel they use nearby the MEPS
center so those poor saps just have to get up and walk over in the
morning. Most, in fact, are right across the street. This shouldn't be
too difficult. If the desk clerk gives you a bunch of crap, just say
that your buddy is signing up for the marines (or whatever) and you are
going to visit him tonight. Really, it's that easy.
Now comes the fun part... getting your room. Show up in the
evening, but not too late. The recruiters send a list of names to hotel
ahead of time, so they know to be expecting you. But sometimes the
recruiter will make a last minute decision to get you there and will
neglect to tell the hotel.
Now you need to figure out the name of a town that's near the
city. This will give you a little bit of plausability. The more
information that you can give the clerk that's verifiable, the better.
If you walk in and a recruiter is signing his guys in already and he
doesn't know who 'Sgt. Webber' is (most of them in a region know each
other), then you might be screwed. Remember, you're shipping out for
basic in the morning! The recruiter put you on a bus and now you're
going to get your flight itenerary/etc in the morning.
So, walk into the hotel and approach the hotel clerk. Tell him
that you just got here from the bus station and you need a room. Make
sure you mention that you're going to MEPS in the morning. Yes, you're
going to need a form of ID. More than likely, they'll just look at it.
Then, you sign in... with a different name, obviously. You get your room
key and you go hang out in your room. Oh, and most of them have a deal
worked out with a local restaurant (near the hotel) to give you free
food, too. Ask about it. Just act really forgetful and dumb. Most people
who join the military are anyway. =D
Now, you're chillin' in your free hotel room with your free plate
of food from the little (and probably greasy) restaurant watching 'Wheel
of Fortune' when you hear the doorknob rattling. Shit! you think.
In walks some dude with a shit-eating grin on his face and you
instantly realize he has only very slightly more braincells than teeth.
He's your roommate. If you think real hard, you might be able to get
around having to put up with a luck of the draw roommate. Figured it out
yet? Bring a buddy and say you're joining with the buddy system. Ask
about getting a room together, and more than likely, they'll give it to
you. This doesn't work co-ed, I'm afraid.
Unfortunately, they'll give you a time to be out in the morning
(it will be damned early too) and you only get one night.
Just remember to be careful. Now you might want to go and read
some back issues of k-1ine especially the article on physical social
engineering. Keep that in mind when doing this. Another thing to
remember is that a lot of recruiters are snakes, and most people
enlisting in the military are stupid and forgetful. A lot of those
people they send into that building come out and never return. Just act
like you forgot whatever the recruiter told you. Make up a name if they
ask you what recruiter. You wouldn't believe how many Sgt. Brown's there
are, trust me.
Have fun.
* * *
_________________
| |
| Hacker Snacks |
| by lowtec |
|_________________|
Perhaps you enjoy the typical frozen dinners, microwave pizza, and
ramen noodles as a regular diet, but here are some quick and simple
dishes for late-night coding sessions.. Thanks to av1d, Dani, and
subzero for the input!
Cheddar cheese avacado and black olives
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Dab french bread with olive oil, and toast with slices of cheddar. Top
with lettuce, tomatoes, black olives and avacados. Sprouts optional.
Satanic Zombie sand-witch
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Ingredients:
2 slices of wheat bread
1 slice of cheese
1 green pepper
1 onion
1 tomato (pronounced tuh-may-toe, not tomatto)
1 tbsp vegetable oil
666 grains of Onion salt
Katsup
Bread crumbs (as much as you want, I don't care..)
Optional: chicken
1/2 cup of mashed potato
Put all vegetables in a small frying pan or skillet with the vegetable
oil and bread crumbs. Cook them until the oinions are soft, while
chopping everything with the spatula and mixing it. Toast your bread.
Put the vegetables on the bread with 1/2 slice cheese on each side. If
you eat dead animals, cover the poor dead chicky under the cheese. Apply
onion salt. Toast each piece together but seperately, only until the
cheese melts. Add katsup. Now you can die of a heart attack.
Quesadias
~~~~~~~~~
Butter one side each of two tortillas, add cheese and meat inside
as desired, cook in frying pan until golden brown.
No Bake Nachos
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Slice cheese, place on chip. Dip in salsa. Simple.
How to make the perfect omlet
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Unless you are cooking for more than one or two people, use a
small to medium size frying pan on high heat. Simmer ham, peppers,
tomato, onion, and other ingredients (except cheese) with oil. While
they are cooking, beat 2 eggs in a bowl with milk. Pour the eggs over
the simmering ingredients. Using a spatula, scrape the edges of the pan
and tilt the pan so that the runny, uncooked egg will move onto the area
you are scraping the cooked egg up from. This will build up the edges of
the omlet and cool all of the runny egg so you can flip it neatly. Free
the edges of the omlet from the pan, and sliding the pan back and forth
on the burner, free the center. Now, in one clean motion, holding the
pan in the air, push it up and away from you. Then jerk it down, bring
towards you and catch the omlet, having flipped it. Sprinkle grated
cheese ontop of the flipped omlet, fold with spatula and serve hot.
Troubleshooting:
1) Uncooked egg is flinging off the pan when you flip.
Solution: You didn't scrape and tilt the pan enough to cook all the egg.
2) Omlet is falling apart during flipping.
Solution: Don't use too many watery ingredients like tomatoes, and make
sure they are evenly spread over the area of the omlet.
Easy Egg Sandwich
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
No time to cook on a stove ,or only a microwave available? No
problem, crack an egg into a custard dish, beat in some milk for
texture. Cook on high for about 1 1/2 minutes. Slice onto bread add
cheese, tomato, or salsa to taste. Toasted bread adds a nice touch.
Variations on a Classic
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
PB & J might be the original, but here are some other greats:
PB & Chocolate (hersheys syrup works, but Nutella is best!)
PB,J, & pickles!
Cream cheese & Grape Jelly
PB & honey
Marshmallows, bannanas, & PB - aka Fluffernutter
Add sunflower seeds for an extra crunch
http://www.fourmilab.ch/hackdiet/www/hackdiet.html
* * *
_______________________
| __ |
| | Book Corner | |
| |__ by lowtec | |
|_______________________|
Underground by Suelette Dreyfus
http://www.underground-book.com
This book takes a look back to the late 80's and early 90's of the
computer underground scene focusing mainly on Australia. Unlike most
books, Underground takes an intimate look into the personal lives of the
elite hackers of the time. Follow the forays of these early hackers
through many different systems and learn how they got caught. For some
this will be a great book to remember how things used to be, for others
a chance to see how they have changed, but it is
an enjoyable read for
all. Best of all, this work is provided for free online, by the author!
Hacking the XBox by Andrew "bunnie" Huang
http://hackingthexbox.com
Despite its title, this book is not a step by step guide to
copying Xbox games or installing modchips. What this book will do is
introduce the reader to reverse engineering. While it does describe in
detail some simple hardware modifications, you won't find any schematics
for building your own modchips (however there are references to sites
where you could just that sort of information, like www.xbox-scene.com).
Instead, this book describes how Bunnie, one of the first Xbox hackers,
defeated the security of the Xbox. Bunnie also examines why the security
failed, and examines the future of 'secure computing'. For anyone
fascinated by reverse engineering and electronics, this book will be an
invaluable reference and starting point. However, if you're only looking
to be able to play your 'imported' games, then don't bother.
[ Read a good book lately? ]
[ Send us a review! ]
* * *
____________________
| |
| Strong Passwords |
| by lowtec |
|____________________|
Almost no matter what kind of encryption is being used, without a
strong password it will be rendered useless. The only problem is, strong
passwords are harder to remember, so most people don't use them. A
strong password is at least 8 characters long and is alphanumeric. By
using numbers and letters in a password, brute force attacks will take
much longer, but are still possible.
Let's take an example. "ilovecindy" would be a weak password,
although it is longer than 8 characters, it only uses lower case
letters. Not to mention it would be very easy for any adept social
engineer to guess. There are some good tricks to obfuscate this password
with out making it much harder to memorize.
If you are typing on a laptop where keyboard real estate is at a
premium, most combine the numpad into the regular keys. In this fashion,
some letters have a corresponding number. If we turn on numlock and type
the same example as before it becomes "536vec5ndy" a much stronger
password, but we can still do better as this is still vulnerable to
brute force. This technique could also be applied by using any other
alternate key mapping, for example typing DVORAK on a standard keyboard,
or vice versa.
By padding our password with ascii characters we can achieve an
much stronger password which will be impractical to brute force. Turn on
numlock and hold down alt and type in some numbers. Although cracking
padded passwords is not super fast, good password crackers will give
options to pad passwords with characters or a string of characters,
therefore it is a good idea not to do an identical padding. Our strong
password is now "§536vec5ndy§a" and is still fairly easy to remember!
//a simple loop to print all working
//ascii characters and their corresponding code
#include <iostream.h>
int main()
{
for (int i=0; i<256; i++)
cout<<(char)i<<" "<<i<<"\t";
return 0;
}
You don't neccessarily need to know what the characters look like
in your password, but it would be a good idea.
Ok, so you don't have a laptop with a super imposed numpad. There
are a couple of other good tricks you can use to make your passwords
strong. By incorporating symbols and numbers passwords become immensely
stronger, one was to do this is to use "1337 Sp3@|<" and get creative.
Somewhat complex key patterns could also be used as a strong password
(better than 'qwerty'). Remember to keep passwords to a minimum of 8
characters and pad assymetrically with ascii characters.
While strong passwords may be resistant to brute force attacks,
they may be more vulnerable to other attacks, such as shoulder surfers.
If you have to look at the keyboard to type in your password then
someone could easily peek over and see what you're typing.
Another option would be to get a USB keychain and make the
ultimate passwords, or even passphrases. Just make sure that the
keychain has a password on it that you can remember though. Some
drawbacks to this would be that you could only use your passwords on
computers where you have access to a USB port, since you would be
unlikely to memorize super long passwords. Also if the the keychain is
lost, so are all your accounts.
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EOF
