UNIX tips: Learn 10 good UNIX usage habits

Good tips to learn, whether you're new or familiar with *nix systems. =)

The Raw Feed: New Hacker Tool Hijacks Google to Find Passwords

From the Raw Feed

I'm going to check out this tool's innards man. Goolag Scan was made by the same guys (Cult of the Dead Cow) who made Back Orifice sometime back.

[Update] The scanner makes use of Johnny Long's Google Hacking Database to create search queries in Google using google dorks. Very nice tool, sort of like CAL9000 using RSnake's XSS cheat sheet XML file.

I don't think I'll trust SG's credit card handling for now

Random picture taken from Suntec city exhibition hall. Noted interesting by someone near me ;-) Maybe got prize for the one who guesses what exactly is "interesting" :-D

On a more serious note, the way things are currently done in Singapore only facilitates credit card fraud and raise alarm bells in security-paranoid people like myself, at least until someone gets burned really badly and the media hypes it up, then everyone will take note.

Take for example the restaurants we have here. When we foot the bill by credit or debit card, in many restaurants the helpful waiters/waitresses bring your card in a holder to the cashier where they do the transaction, bring the receipt back to you for signing before returning you the card. And in the process the card goes out of sight for a while, a very juicy opportunity for the numbers (from the front and the back 3 "security" numbers) to be recorded and to be used to buy _____ from ebay by some fellow.

Well, the tour agency we went to today took things one step further, writing the ENTIRE credit card number on the receipt when they make a transaction (and it is also done out of sight). The reason they gave was that the number was "for records purposes" (and to appease us they helpfully cancelled out the number with a line and countersigned it :-D As if that would help...). Thinking about it, this process only made it far easier for anybody to steal others' (the customers' in this case) card numbers for misuse (just remember the 3 digits on the back of the card).

I'm not writing this to target the poor fellows who suddenly had to deal with such a weird complaint/request about writing the number on the receipt (which even the banks themselves don't do!). But what I'm saying here is that companies should have better methods of handling customers' information, including NOT storing things that they shouldn't.

Even credit card issuers do have points of failure in this. I hope that they'll stop trying to persuade me to get even more cards from them when it is explicitly stated in the MoneySense guide not to get more cards than necessary. :-D The irony being that this guide is distributed with every card given out!

I like to have the convenience and options of the credit system. But looking at how credit cards are handled currently in Singapore, I think I'll stick to using my NETS card or cash for offline purchases. I don't want to appear in tabloids as a victim of credit card fraud :-D

It seems that making simple(r than the usual) wedding plans do come with their own set of problems as well.

With the constraints that we face currently, we definitely will not be able to invite everyone that we'd wish to invite, and the range of responses I got from friends spanned the gamut: from the indifferent response to the I'm-kinda-ok-with-that response to the not-pleased-with-that-at-all kind of response.

In Singapore, it seems that all around assumes that there'll be some kind of arrangement at least to accomodate everyone around for at least the ceremony &/or dinner.

It does suck to break the news to those who'd really wish to be there on that day itself. But whether in the end an arrangement is fulfilled to celebrate with you in an alternative arrangement or not, rest assured: to the only few friends (outside of church) that I've come to know and keep in contact over the years, you're just as important to me as the church family, family and relatives that I know too, even though we don't meet regularly or relate to one another in the same way all the time.

Breaking Hard Drive Encryption

Princeton University has come up with (successful) research results on hard drive encryption breaking.

Shockingly simple, it relies on the fact that memory (DRAM) doesn't lose its contents immediately after powering down, thus the en(/de)cryption keys can be retrieved for use by an attacker. Which means that all the data in the supposedly safe hard drive can be read once that happens.

The only way to be safe (currently) is for your laptop to be shut down or in (true) hibernate mode when the thief gets access to/steals your laptop. More elaborations in the last few minutes of the video.

Links from the main page:
Their FAQ.
The experiment details (/how to test for this).
Related videos and images.

Top-10 Application-Design Mistakes

For those who're involved in (web-related) design in any way, some really good tips here.

No Tech Hacking book released

Johnny Long's No Tech Hacking book has been released!

It's interesting to see how "hackers" can make use of everyday situations and objects to perform an attack on a "system", without the high tech gadgetry. If James Bond reads this, maybe Q will be out of a job =D yeah right.

In any case, will try to buy/borrow/beg for one when it becomes available.

A sample chapter can be found here.

Met up with a couple of my cousins for dinner today, and dropped by my aunt's place for a while on the way back home...

It feels weird, including a mixture of relief and gladness, to finally have a normal conversation with them. After these 10 over years of separation due to circumstances..

My aunt has grown pretty thin as compared to back then. Maybe it's due to the recent events in their life also.

TrueCrypt 5.0 available for downloads

For those who use TrueCrypt ;)

New project?

Will be trying to do up a simple mailing list program for use, and also for practise. Maybe I'll post up the process and the documents generated in the process, if anyone is interested in looking at how (badly) I do it this time ;P