Tim's Computer Science Blog

Recently learned about this interesting search engine. It's not your normal search engine instead it surfs the net looking for computer vulnerabilities. http://www.shodanhq.com/ Works very similarly to other search engines you can use quotes and operation characters (+,-) Looks like the results are curated based largely on meta-data, user-agent, and banner results. Moral of the story, don't use default passwords, there is a search for that. http://www.shodanhq.com/search?q=%22admin%22

Lets take a look at some tracking tools with the advent of CISPA! RIOT = It essentially scrolls through social media sites and curates information. There is a neat video in the link below showing it's use. The most interesting function is that it will do analysis on when you do things during the day, such as going to the gym. Maltego- Pretty similar to RIOT. It is open source. This is what Wikipedia has to say about it. “Maltego focuses on providing a library of transforms for discovery of data from open sources, and visualizing that information in a graph format, suitable for  link analysis  and  data mining .” Jigsaw- It's good for looking up employees of a company. Doesn't really have anything to do with the post! http://darkernet.in/cispa-about-to-become-law-we-list-the-companies-that-back-it-and-introduce-its-new-friend-riot/

I've been allowed to try out a few workstation securing exercises from the cyber patriot security competition (circa 2012). I've made a quick guide that give's a basic overview, remember I did say Basic Overview, of things to do or look for to manage to get all of the points. Here's the link: https://docs.google.com/ClickHereforCyberPatriotDoc (For a couple years there you might be surprised how many nonsensical edit requests that google doc received) 

* Note this is probably out of date now*  Here is a quick outline of what every High school student to College freshman should know about computers. #1 Able to type Hardware, Simple description of what it is and does: CPU BIOS/EFI- Starts the operating system. Storage media:-: SSD - Solid State Drive HDD - Hard Disk Drive CD/DVD/Blu-ray Flash media USB Video card RAM - Random Access Memory peripherals:-: mouse keyboard printer/scanner etc... Software: Operating systems: (Knows about prior versions)   Cell Phone Operating systems: IOS vs Android vs Others Windows 3.1 -> 98 -> 20 -> XP -> Vista -> Win 7->Win 8 -> Windows 10:: Linux -> Ubuntu, or Fedora:: (Alternative to windows) Mac Os X:: Basic settings - Network settings    Audio Settings    Adding removing programs and apps     Remember your passwords - Have a way to keep track of them. UNDERSTANDS THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN an...

Are you a cyborg? Definition : a bionic human Definition of bionic: Having artificial body parts, esp. electromechanical ones. Anyone have plates or screws from broken bones? Anyone have hips, or knees replaced? Implanted hearing aids? Mechanical heart, or pacemaker? You, sir, are a cyborg. #machinetakeover

 I recently ran into a problem of being unable to remove a facebook page from my profile.  The page linked to an off facebook website...containing no unlike button. Before I begin you might want to try something simpler such as: http://xnotion.hubpages.com/hub/How-to-Leave-a-Fan-Page-on-Facebook https://www.facebook.com/help/?faq=227905267225251 I will be doing this in chrome Begin by browsing to edit your profile. Click on the Other Pages You Like. Step #1 right click select inspect element Step #2  Right click on the selected element -> edit as html Copy the web address after <a href=” you will need this later in this example it is http://www.ustream.tv/channel/at-home-with-jono-bacon?ref=pb Delete the text everything between <A …... and  </a> Step #3 Insert the following text <a ajaxify="/ajax/pages/fan_status.php?fbpage_id=XXXXXXXXXXXX&amp;add=0&amp;reload=1&amp;preserve_tab=0&amp;use_primer=1" href="#"...

When it comes to security, it is fundamental to update your computer. Whether you use Windows, Mac, or Linux, Updates are essential to keeping crackers out of your computer. It is also important to update your software, which is now a major target for modern malware. On most distributions of Linux the process of updating your software is simply a click away. Since Windows and Mac don't have this feature it can be a bit trouble some to update all of your software. Luckily there is a freeware tool for home users called Secunia . Secunia scans your software for the latest patches, and gives you the option of updating.       What ever you do, Remember to Update!