I rarely re-read or revisit old blog posts on this site. Generally speaking I write them, give them a quick once over, and send them on their way. The only time I look up old posts is to either verify a date or find a link to send to someone. That’s what I was doing over the weekend when I… read entire post
Category Archives: Hacking / Security
Kevin Mitnick (1963-2023)
Earlier this week I was informed that Kevin Mitnick, the “world’s most infamous hacker,” had passed away. I was asked to sit on the news until the family had time to release a statement, but word travels fast and this morning it appeared on the front page of the New York Post.
For those who haven’t heard or read the… read entire post
FBI vs. Apple vs. You
Shortly before entering the Inland Regional Center in San Bernardino, California and opening fire, killing 14 people and injuring another 20, the shooters — Syed Rizwan Farook and Tashfeen Malik — discarded their cell phones laptop’s hard drive. While the hard drive has not been located, the cell phones turned up in a dumpster near the terrorists’ rented home.
Four… read entire post
Change your (everything) Password — Introducing the Heartbleed Bug
If you think you don’t need to read this post, you definitely need to read this post.
Heartbleed is a security vulnerability that was discovered this week. It probably affects you. First, the five W’s:
Who: Anyone who uses the web and uses https links. That’s probably you.
What: Heartbleed is a vulnerability that allows people to see the information… read entire post
A Resurgence of Interest in eCoder Ring
A lot of things just happened when you clicked on this article. Your computer connected to my computer, and each of these words I wrote zipped across the internet to their destination. Since this article contains words like encryption, NSA, and secret codes, it probably flagged something for the NSA along the way — you for reading about it, and… read entire post
Removing Malware from my own Site
A few months ago I spun up a new website, SpriteCastle.com. There’s no real content there yet — it’s more of a proof of concept site at this point. Last night after finishing up the latest episode of You Don’t Know Flack I decided to do some tweaking to the Sprite Castle. When I opened the site in Google Chrome,… read entire post
YDKF Episode 119: Hohocon ’94
Another week, another episode.
Episode 119 of You Don’t Know Flack is about Hohocon — specifically Hohocon ’94, the last Hohocon and the only one I attended. Hohocon was a hacker conference that ran for 5 years in a row, from 1990 to 1994. It was put on by dFx, the Cult of the Dead Cow, and Phrack Magazine.
This… read entire post
Deconstructing the PS3 Hack
Last week at the 27th annual Chaos Communication Congress (CCC), a group calling themselves “fail0verflow” displayed the single-most important PlayStation 3 hack to date. A few months from now, when everybody who wants one has a modified PS3, you’ll be able to point your finger back to fail0verflow’s CCC presentation and say, “that is where is all began.”
Just like… read entire post
Sony Making a Grave Mistake (Please Read)
Sony’s decision to remove OtherOS from the PlayStation 3 could change the future of all electronic devices as we know them. You may not agree with or even completely understand that statement yet, but if you own anything (even a computer or a phone) that connects to the Internet, I urge you to read today’s post.
Today’s story begins back… read entire post
Security Through Obscurity, and why it fails.
Before we begin today’s lesson, we’re going to do something fun and generate your Rock Star name. Your first name will be the name of your first pet and your last name will be the name of the street you live on. Mine’s “Ernie Gregg.” Write this down or just make note of it; you’ll need it later near the… read entire post