From the monthly archives:

December 2009

Grub Configuration for laptop + Unix Reminders

December 17, 2009

I’m often switching between Windows, OS X and Linux (flavor of Unix). Windows and OS X use a graphical user interface (GUI) for just about everything, but Linux often requires me to use terminal commands. These are some cheat codes to help me remember my Unix.
Grub menu.lst file
=================================
title Ubuntu 8.04.3 LTS, kernel 2.6.24-16-generic (recovery mode)
root (hd0,4)
kernel /boot/vmlinuz-2.6.24-16-generic [...]

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Network PEN testing Toshiba Satellite P200-BW1 Intel 4965AGN Testing

December 16, 2009

Notes to myself for penetration testing using Ubuntu Hardy Heron with Toshiba Satellite P200-BW1 (built-in Intel 4965AGN wirless card)
1. Check to ensure the Intel 4965AGN driver module is installed
lsmod | grep iwl
2. Put the wireless card into monitor mode
ifconfig wlan0 down
iwconfig wlan0 mode monitor
ifconfig wlan0 up
3. Edit the kismet.conf in /etc/kismet/ to add the source [...]

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Trouble-shooting sipphone using PSTN gateway

December 11, 2009

I use SIPphone to register clients Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) phones. These are some notes to myself to use when trouble-shooting VoIP.
Here’s the testing protocol I use to ensure that VoIP number is properly set-up on the SIPphone server-side.
Using SIPbroker Vancouver Public Switched Telephone Number (PSTN) Gateway to ensure VoIP client is properly set-up.
1) [...]

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Voice Over Internet (VoIP) for cheap phone calls

December 11, 2009

I only spend $4/month for a 604.xxx.xxxx Vancouver phone line.
The reason my phone line is so much cheaper than a Telus phone line is that I use my broadband internet connection for making and receiving voice calls instead of the conventional public phone system. And my phone is a software phone called GIZMO that I [...]

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SIP to PSTN Gateways in Canada

December 11, 2009

City: Local Phone Number: Sponsor:
Abbotsford [...]

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BlueHost Website Hosting Review

December 8, 2009

Blue Host offers an excellent value website hosting package at the best price I can find. What truly sets them apart from all the other shared hosting companies is the special software they have developed to overcome the weakness of a traditional shared host.
The problem with traditional shared hosting has always been that since you [...]

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Find out what other websites are on your shared host

December 7, 2009

Shared hosting packages are cheap. But often hundreds of sites are running on one server which means slow response times for your site.
You can view the names of other sites being run on the same shared host by entering the name of a site into find shared host neighbours.
How it works:
Usually all the hosts on [...]

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Choosing A Domain Name Registrar – GoDaddy

December 7, 2009

Choosing a Domain name registrars
by John Davidson
You won’t need much support from a domain name registrar so why pay $35 if you can get away with only $10?
Be wary of the sites that offer $2.99 names though. They lure you in with a cheap price for the first year like $2.99, but then soak you [...]

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Securing GoDaddy Shared Hosting

December 7, 2009

by John Davidson
There are a few annoying security holes with GoDaddy shared hosting that can be easily fixed. The first annoyance is the default GoDaddy login page does not use https:// (secure encrypted login) but instead ordinary http:// which transmits your username and password in plain text.
On the GoDaddy home page leave the username/customer# and [...]

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Tracing someone using an IP address

December 4, 2009

What is an IP address?
by John Davidson
Every telephone needs to have a phone number to be able to use the public phone network. Similarly every device connected to the public Internet needs a unique number known as an Internet Protocol (IP) address. IP addresses consist of four numbers separated by periods and look something like [...]

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How to use free coffee shop wireless securely – part 2 – Create a secure tunnel using SSH

December 3, 2009

Create a secure tunnel using SSH
by John Davidson
In part 1, we learned that using Wi-fi in public hotspots can be dangerous because of packet sniffers which can view and log all unencrypted network data. You need to protect yourself by encoding both what you are sending and receiving over by using https:// (note the [...]

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How to use a secure tunnel to view US televison on hulu.com, nbc.com and comedycentral

December 3, 2009

Stream Hulu, NBC and Comedy Central to your computer while living or traveling outside the United States.
by John Davidson
Watch full episodes of all the best in US TV programming streamed to your home computer. Are you a fan of Highlander, Family Guy or Heroes? Well you can watch seasons of episodes the whole library of [...]

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How to set-up a secure tunnel to use public WiFi safely

December 1, 2009

Using Wi-fi in public hotspots can be dangerous with packet sniffers so readily available. You need to protect yourself by encoding both what you are sending and receiving over an unsecured public network.
Even at work if you want to avoid having your activities logged (for whatever reason) you should encrypt your traffic. An excellent [...]

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7-11 Speakout Prepaid Cell Phone

December 1, 2009

This month 7-11 Speakout is offering a free Nokia cell phone when you buy $100 of airtime!
Buying a cell phone can be overwhelming if you’ve never had one before. It’s easy to get lost in the wide choice of features and end up with less phone or more phone than you need. So here’s a [...]

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How to use free coffee shop wireless securely – part 1

December 1, 2009

There are lots of coffee shops in Vancouver that offer free wireless. It’s common to meet clients, surf the net, work on projects, read email, shop and do banking all while sipping on a latte and gorging on the free bandwidth. In this post I’ll tell you how to work more securely over an insecure [...]

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An Anonymous Cell Phone

December 1, 2009

Did you know that the cell phone company can determine your exact location to within 25 to 100 metres anytime your cell phone is turned on? Though this technology has saved lives, there are many unresolved privacy issues around it’s use.
In this post I’ll explain briefly about how a person can be tracked using their [...]

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Secure Anonymous VISA Credit Card

December 1, 2009

This is a little off-topic, but several clients have asked me about how to make secure payments on-line without the risk of exposing their personal credit card data. If you have a card with a high credit limit like a gold or platinum card definitely avoid using it for online payments. There are also privacy [...]

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