Welcome back, my nascent hackers! One of the many reasons I write this blog is to help you keep the Internet free and open. Throughout human history, whenever a government or other powerful entity has wanted to subjugate a people or group, the first thing they do is isolate t ...more
We go to such great lengths to secure our smartphones. We put passwords on our lock screens, encrypt our data, and install anti-theft programs, but it's never enough—someone, somewhere, will find a way around any protective measure you use, no matter how sophisticated. Unfort ...more
At first, it may look like it's mostly a behind-the-scenes update, but iOS 14 public beta 6 is more than just that. The biggest addition to iOS 14 for iPhone in this version is the beginning of Spatial Audio, an AirPods Pro feature. Other notable changes in beta 6 appear in Ma ...more
At first, Apple's six developer beta for iOS 14 isn't much to look at, but there wouldn't have been an update if there weren't some important issues to address. Most of the serious updates in build number 18A5357e revolve around SwiftUI, which even has a few new features, and ...more
Most users don't realize how much valuable data is in their network traffic. With a few simple tools, an attacker can quickly pick out cookies, passwords, and DNS queries from a macOS device as it covertly streams the victim's network traffic to the attacker's system. Here, we ...more
Telegram routinely boasts about its secure messaging for truly private conversations between two parties. However, default cloud chats in Telegram are only encrypted between client and server, not client and client, which means you have to be a little proactive in making sure ...more
This is the very first article in my series on setting up a Mac for hacking. In this series, I will be operating under the assumption that you have a clean install of macOS (previously OS X). If you aren't starting with a clean installation, there may be a few differences, but ...more
Welcome back, my greenhorn hackers! One of the most important issues any hacker must address is how to get past security devices and remain undetected. These can include antivirus software, intrusion detection systems, firewalls, web application firewalls, and numerous others ...more
Apple's iOS 14.0 update has come and gone, and now we're sitting on iOS 14.2, the latest version of the iPhone's operating system. While it may be too late for you to revert to the last iOS 13 version, if the iOS 14.2 firmware is giving you problems or you're not just digging ...more
I recently picked up a Pixel Slate when Google had a deal going on. I'd been in the market for an Android tablet since the Nexus 7, and this was the closest thing to it. Unfortunately, I soon learned Chrome OS and Android aren't as integrated as I had hoped. What do you do if ...more
Transferring hundreds of screenshots, webcam recordings, keystroke logs, and audio recordings between your VPS and a local Kali machine can be tricky. Services like Dropbox don't always have the best privacy policies and suffer data breaches just like any other website. To mit ...more
At this point in our series on creating a customized hacking container, you should be able to use Docker to save and retrieve customized instances of Ubuntu from your own machine. Make sure to revisit part one and part two if you need a refresher. Previously: How to Create a ...more
We're almost there to completing the setup of your Mac for hacking! Now that we have Git and Homebrew under our belts, it's time to take on something fairly easy, but very important for our hacking needs. Ruby is an object-oriented scripting language used to write powerful pr ...more
If you have a ton of photos and videos on your iPhone, backing up to iCloud is probably a no-go since it only provides 5 GB of free storage. Yes, you can buy more storage, but who wants to do that? And what happens if you run out of storage, stop backing up, and your phone get ...more
The internet is forever. When you put something out there, it can easily be re-shared, floating from server to server indefinitely with no way of taking it back. It's a scary thought when you consider that a young adult's grandchildren will one day have access to their drunken ...more
For those of you who've already gotten Beta Preview or Developer Preview access to Mac OS X 10.10 Yosemite, I highly recommend installing it on a separate partition on your hard drive. There have been many reported bugs and even blank gray screens that prevent access to the s ...more
Greetings. This how-to on hacking Windows 7/8/10 etc. admin account passwords using Windows Magnifier is focused on adding, changing, or deleting an admin level account on a Windows 7/8/10 etc. Maybe you forgot or lost the password to your Windows Admin account, this guide wi ...more
Welcome back, my budding hackers! I've written several listener guides on creating a malicious PDF or malicious Word document that would carry in it a payload with the Meterpreter, or reverse shell enabling you to own the system. One of the hurdles to using these techniques i ...more
Welcome back, my tenderfoot hackers! So many readers in the Null Byte community have been asking me questions about evading detection and hacking undetected that I decided to start a new series on digital forensics. I applaud each of you for your concern, as the last thing I ...more
If you're looking to keep your conversations private, look no further than Telegram. Its cloud-based chats are secure and its optional end-to-end encrypted chats even more so, but you can't really prevent someone in the conversation from sharing your messages. However, you can ...more
In the realm of internet security, it's becoming clear that augmented reality is not immune to the increasing wave data breaches plaguing users. On Friday, furniture retailer Houzz, an early adopter of ARKit, revealed details of a data breach that occurred in December 2018. ...more
Considering that nearly half a million brand new apps were published to the Google Play Store in 2015, you can definitely call it a banner year for Android development. In fact, it's getting to the point where we're a bit spoiled as end users, since we've grown to expect somet ...more
Welcome back, my rookie hackers! As hackers, we are often faced with the hurdle of cryptography and encryption. In some cases, we use it to hide our actions and messages. Many applications and protocols use encryption to maintain confidentiality and integrity of data. To be a ...more
The new operating system for your Mac is here, and it looks fantastic—OS X Yosemite. At Apple's WWDC presentation, we were shown the new iOS-like aesthetics, as well as other awesome enhancements to the operating system. Improved Aesthetics As expected, Mac OS X will take a b ...more
The only thing better than programming MicroPython is programming MicroPython over Wi-Fi. So once you set up MicroPython on a microcontroller and have it on its own power source, you won't need to use a data cable to connect to it whenever you need to interact with it, program ...more
Without admin privileges, installing additional software, or modifying the Windows 10 firewall, an attacker can alter a router and perform a variety of exploits. It's accomplished by forwarding requests from Kali through a backdoored Windows computer to the router gateway with ...more
Gmail conversations, Facebook private messages, and personal photos can all be viewed by a hacker who has backdoor access to a target's Mac. By livestreaming the desktop or exfiltrating screenshots, this information can be used for blackmail and targeted social engineering att ...more
Web 2.0 technology has provided a convenient way to post videos online, keep up with old friends on social media, and even bank from the comfort of your web browser. But when applications are poorly designed or incorrectly configured, certain flaws can be exploited. One such f ...more
There's actually more to the dialer screen on your OnePlus than meets the eye. Besides its obvious purpose of calling people, there's a vast array of secret codes that you can input to troubleshoot your device, in addition to revealing important information, making anonymous p ...more
Passwords and data stored in web browsers are extremely valuable to hackers. If not for financial gain, black hat hackers may still leak your passwords and personal information for amusement. Never undervalue what you're worth to a hacker. While I'm definitely no black hat, d ...more
We need to take our privacy and security much more seriously. Whether it's malware-infected apps or the mishandling of our data by companies like Facebook, there are threats all around us in this digital world. Fortunately, some smartphones are simply designed to protect us be ...more
Apple's goal with iOS 12 is to smooth out the problems with its famously flawed predecessor. Of course, change isn't for everyone, and by iOS 11.4.1, Apple had a pretty stable thing going. If you're not digging all the bugs and new features included in iOS 12, here's how to do ...more
Deleted bank statements and private photos are still within an attacker's grasp, so don't think that emptying your recycling bin is enough to keep your files from coming back to life. It's possible for a hacker to recover compromising files and images from a backdoored compute ...more
Any internet user will need to download files eventually, and most simply have faith that what they are downloading is trustworthy. This doesn't give much clarity into the contents of the file, but if the file's author published the original checksum, comparing it to the SHA-2 ...more
Proxies can be quicker to use than a VPN for specific applications, like web browsers or torrent clients. Both services will hide your true IP address, but a VPN is slowed down because it encrypts all data through a VPN network, while a proxy just acts as a middleman for fetch ...more
Kali Linux is the obvious first choice of an operating system for most new hackers, coming bundled with a curated collection of tools organized into easy-to-navigate menus and a live boot option that is very newbie-friendly. But Kali isn't the only distribution targeted at pen ...more
The OnePlus 5 had been in the hands of the public for a meager twenty hours before developers on XDA released a custom recovery image for it, and the 5T had a similar trajectory. The installation process is simple enough, but it can be somewhat confusing if you're new to moddi ...more
Put yourself in Google's shoes: You know that business is becoming increasingly mobile, but the mobile operating system you maintain is wide open by design, and it's garnered legions of loyal fans that love to explore and exploit every aspect of it. There's a clear conflict of ...more
Welcome back, my tenderfoot hackers! One key area on the minds of all hackers is how to evade security devices such as an intrusion detection system (IDS) or antivirus (AV) software. This is not an issue if you create your own zero-day exploit, or capture someone else's zero- ...more
Hello friends. This is actually my first how to. In this tutorial I'll be teaching how to simply copy someone's WhatsApp pictures gallery into your computer, in an automated way. It is just an example of how easy is to steal data from someone's smartphone. I am covering Whats ...more
Hello, multicolored-hat hackers! Today I am going to show you how to use the wordlists that come preinstalled with Kali Linux to crack those annoying hashes that contain our passwords. I'm sure that at some point in all of your lives, you have attempted to crack a password by ...more
NOTICE: Ciuffy will be answering questions related to my articles on my behalf as I am very busy. Hope You Have Fun !!! As much as I love other SSH bruteforcing tools like Ncrack, Metasploit, THC-Hydra, ... ( Just to mention a few ). I prefer using my own script. The tools ab ...more
Desktop users have taken advantage of dual-booting operating systems for decades now. If your core system software is lacking in any regard, dual-booting a secondary OS can give you access to those features that you're missing out on. When it comes to Android devices, there's ...more
Apple's latest big software update includes an entirely new Apple app, a controversial change in the TV app, better Siri control, an improved Shortcuts app, interesting Safari upgrades, Apple Music Sing, and more. Keep reading to see what iOS 16.2 has to offer your iPhone. Th ...more
With a simple web-based tool, you can hide secret messages for family, friends, and fellow spies inside of plain text communications, and anyone that intercepts the messages will be none the wiser. Steganography is the art of hiding secret messages comprised of text, code, au ...more
Apple officially unveiled iOS 14 on June 22 at its first all-virtual WWDC. After months of beta testing, iOS 14 hit iPhones on Sept. 16, but that doesn't mean that Apple is done beta testing iOS 14. There will be new features to try out right up until iOS 15 comes out next yea ...more
Apple's update for iOS 13 is not without bugs and other issues, and if those problems become annoying or impede your ability to use your iPhone like usual, you may want to downgrade. Hundreds of new features may not matter if you can't use your iPhone like it's meant to be. T ...more
With a tiny computer, hackers can see every website you visit, exploit services on the network, and break into your Wi-Fi router's gateway to manipulate sensitive settings. These attacks can be performed from anywhere once the attacker's computer has been connected to the rout ...more
Microsoft.com is one of the most extensive domains on the internet with thousands of registered subdomains. Windows 10 will ping these subdomains hundreds of times an hour, making it challenging to firewall and monitor all of the requests made by the operating system. An attac ...more
If you're worried about the security of your Mac, there are easy measures to prevent the most dangerous attacks. Named after the tactic of accessing an unattended computer in a hotel room, we can thwart "evil maid" attacks with Do Not Disturb and LuLu, free macOS tools by Obje ...more
You've probably heard of RCS messaging. The new standard has been promoted by Google as their answer to iMessage and is the backbone behind the new "Chat" features in Android Messages. With RCS, Android phones will now enjoy enhanced messaging like iPhone users have had for ye ...more
The next libSSH or OpenSSH exploit may be just around the corner. Keep your SSH service out of Shodan's database before hackers find new ways to bypass the password protecting the server. Shodan has been called the "hacker's search engine" because it's literally a searchable ...more
In a previous guide, I demonstrated how to extract images from a security camera over Wi-Fi using Wireshark, provided you know the password. If you don't know the password, you can always get physical with the Hak5 Plunder Bug. Using this small LAN tap, we can intercept traffi ...more
With just a few taps, an Android phone can be weaponized into a covert hacking device capable of running tools such as Nmap, Nikto, and Netcat — all without rooting the device. UserLAnd, created by UserLAnd Technologies, is a completely free Android app that makes installing ...more
A powered-off MacBook can be compromised in less than three minutes. With just a few commands, it's possible for a hacker to extract a target's password hash and crack it without their knowledge. The goal in this article is to acquire a target's .plist file which contains the ...more
Reconnaissance is the phase of an attack where a red team or hacker designs a strategy based on the information they can learn about the target, as well as what the available attack surface looks like. These scans can take time to discover relationships, but Raccoon OSINT scan ...more
Smartphones are still "phones," which means communicating with others is usually a primary use. Ranging from a simple "hi" to a more personal conversation and even sharing passwords, our messages should remain private so that only the intended recipient sees their content. Whi ...more
Imagine for a moment that a VPN is like putting on a disguise for your computer. This disguise works to change your IP address, secure your traffic with encryption, and mask your location to bypass regional restrictions. This makes it a helpful tool for both whistleblowers and ...more
With tools such as Reaver becoming less viable options for pen-testers as ISPs replace vulnerable routers, there become fewer certainties about which tools will work against a particular target. If you don't have time to crack the WPA password or it's unusually strong, it can ...more
After enabling disk encryption, creating encrypted disk images, installing KeePassX and iTerm2, and using Git with local repositories, the next step to getting your Mac computer ready for hacking is setting up a package manager that can install and update open-source hacking t ...more