Apple's latest updates to its operating systems add another security feature to its Find My service, so you have an even better chance at locating your lost iPhone, iPad, or Mac should it ever happen. As long as you have the option enabled, you can leverage other Apple users' ...more
If you want the best two-factor authentication app out there, our pick is Authy. A close second is LastPass Authenticator. If neither of those is to your liking, try Duo Mobile or Microsoft Authenticator. But if you're fine with missing out on great features, then and only the ...more
The microphone in a Windows computer is accessible to most applications running on the device at all times and completely without security limitations. Information gathered from recorded audio conversations taking place in the surrounding area of a compromised computer can be ...more
With so much money on the line, it's no surprise that cryptocurrency exchanges are prime targets for cybercriminals. Because of this, the importance of keeping your personal account as secure as possible cannot be overstated. Binance is one step ahead in this regard, as it req ...more
Hackers are good at what they do—some can even use the way you move your phone to guess a 4-digit PIN in five attempts or less. That's why most of us with compatible hones use the fingerprint scanner. It's just much more secure. Or is it? Researchers from Michigan State Unive ...more
Baidu Inc, the "Chinese Google" search engine and technology company, which has been actively pursuing self-driving cars, reported that a gang of hackers recently attempted to steal its driverless car technology. The company, based in Beijing, has since beefed up its cybersec ...more
Prior to this year's WWDC, there were lots of rumors that Apple might finally be making a version of iMessage for Android. While that never came to fruition, a few big updates to a very useful app have now ensured that we can seamlessly send and receive Android texts in Apple ...more
If you're just starting out with Android—or smartphones in general, for that matter—there are a lot of little things to learn. One of the first terms you'll likely encounter is "Wi-Fi," which is a wireless internet connection served up by a router in your home, office, or loca ...more
When it comes to antivirus software, you don't want some fly-by-night developer having access to the sensitive data that these apps can scan. Luckily, most of the longest-tenured antivirus companies from the realm of desktop computers offer complete security suites for Android ...more
Researchers at the University of California, Riverside and the University of Michigan announced recently that they have developed a hack that works 92% of the time on Google's Gmail system on Android, as well as with the H&R Block app. In addition, this hack worked 86% of the ...more
Apps that have no business accessing the internet can share your location, device ID, and other personal information with potentially malicious data snatchers. If you're connected to the internet on your Nexus 7 tablet, you're a potential target for cyber threats. For instanc ...more
Last week, Apple issued an iOS 7.0.6 update that fixed a serious security vulnerability that could allow hackers to steal passwords, read emails, and get info from other SSL-encrypted communications. Why You Should Update Your Device SSL, which stands for Secure Sockets Laye ...more
Welcome back, my budding hackers! One of the keys to becoming a professional and successful hacker is to think creatively. There is always a way to get into any network or system, if you think creatively. In previous tutorials, I have demonstrated ways to crack passwords on b ...more
Welcome back, my rookie hackers! When Wi-Fi was first developed and popularized in the late '90s, security was not a major concern. Unlike wired connections, anyone could simply connect to a Wi-Fi access point (AP) and steal bandwidth, or worse—sniff the traffic. The first a ...more
If you're tired of your roommate stealing your Cheetos out of the pantry or simply want to indulge in something creepy, then keep reading. With the iPhone 5 finally released, many people will soon be selling or giving away their older iPhones. But should they? Instead of ditch ...more
If you hate matching images, typing letters and numbers, solving math problems, and sliding puzzle pieces for CAPTCHA human verification, you'll love Apple's newest privacy feature for apps and websites. Generally, CAPTCHAs can be a massive nightmare on mobile devices. They a ...more
There's an official way to install apps onto your Android phone using basically any device that has internet access — heck, you can even download new apps from an iPhone and they'll install in seconds on your Android device. If you come across a cool Android app while you're ...more
The Digispark is a low-cost USB development board that's programmable in Arduino and capable of posing as a keyboard, allowing it to deliver a number of payloads. For only a few dollars, we can use the Digispark to deliver a payload to a macOS computer that will track the Mac ...more
With an inconspicuous Android phone and USB flash drive, an attacker can compromise a Windows 10 computer in less than 15 seconds. Once a root shell has been established, long-term persistence to the backdoor can be configured with just two simple commands — all while bypassin ...more
The latest Star Wars movie, Solo: A Star Wars Story, has grossed almost $350 million worldwide during its first month in theaters. This is a good opportunity to discuss how hackers can use media hype (in this case, Hollywood movie hype) to disarm an unsuspecting Windows user i ...more
If you want to follow Null Byte tutorials and try out Kali Linux, the Raspberry Pi is a perfect way to start. In 2018, the Raspberry Pi 3 Model B+ was released featuring a better CPU, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, and Ethernet built in. Our recommended Kali Pi kit for beginners learning e ...more
Identifying vulnerable devices and services on a target router can be difficult without leaving logs and other traces of an active attacker on the network. However, there is a way to covertly decrypt and view Wi-Fi activity without ever connecting to the wireless network. Whe ...more
Surveillance is always a useful tool in a hacker's arsenal, whether deployed offensively or defensively. Watching targets yourself isn't always practical, and traditional surveillance camera systems can be costly, lacking in capabilities, or both. Today, we will use motionEyeO ...more
During a penetration test, one of the most important aspects of engaging a target is information gathering. The more information you have coming into an attack, the more likely the attack is to succeed. In this article, I'll be looking at SpiderFoot, a modular cross-platform O ...more
If maintaining privacy is an ongoing battle, the front line is your smartphone. Apple included several new security features in iOS 10, but at the same time, some of the best new functionality comes with potential privacy trade-offs that everyone needs to understand. New feat ...more
SSH, or the secure shell, is a way of controlling a computer remotely from a command-line interface. While the information exchanged in the SSH session is encrypted, it's easy to spy on an SSH session if you have access to the computer that's being logged in to. Using a tool c ...more
Imagine a scenario where you're nowhere near your iPhone, but it's on loud, and you really need to silence it. An alarm may be blaring, notifications could be spitting out sounds left and right, and calls may be ringing. Things can get annoying real quick for whoever's around ...more
Microsoft Office files can be password-protected in order to prevent tampering and ensure data integrity. But password-protected documents from earlier versions of Office are susceptible to having their hashes extracted with a simple program called office2john. Those extracted ...more
Overall, iOS is more impressive than ever with its stability enhancements, security tools, suite of apps and services, and intuitive user interface. With each passing update, things just get better and better for iPhone users. But don't think for a second that this is all beca ...more
Google, Amazon, and Facebook are always listening. But what's worse? Hackers are listening, too. Windows PCs are particularly vulnerable, but with a few simple commands, a remote attacker can even take over the microphone on someone's Mac computer, streaming audio and listenin ...more
Screenshots taken from a compromised computer can provide hackers with access to private emails, photographs, and information found in sensitive documents. This data can be used by the attackers to build profiles of a target for social engineering attacks and blackmail or even ...more
In the previous article, we learned how to set up our VPS, configure our PHP server, and developed an in-depth understanding of how the payload works. With all that taken care of, we can get into disguising our payload to appear as an image and crafting the note in the greetin ...more
The USB Rubber Ducky comes with two software components, the payload script to be deployed and the firmware which controls how the Ducky behaves and what kind of device it pretends to be. This firmware can be reflashed to allow for custom Ducky behaviors, such as mounting USB ...more
Download a popular, legit app from the Google Play Store. Decompile it. Add malicious code. Repackage the app. Distribute the now trojan-ized app through third-party Android app sites. This is how advertising malware Ewind, what Palo Alto Networks calls "adware in applications ...more
Security journalist Brian Krebs recently suffered a record-breaking DDoS attack to his his website, clocking in at or near a whopping 620 Gbps of traffic. Krebs' site was down for over 24 hours, and it resulted in him having to leave his CDN behind. While 620 Gbps is impressi ...more
A VPN service is almost an essential these days. Good ones can block ads, prevent tracking cookies, encrypt your internet traffic for better security, and even spoof your device's location to bypass geo-restrictions — all things you should be concerned about in the age of NSA ...more
"It just ticked me off," he said. In March 2011, Neil Singh paid $50 to back the Hanfree iPad stand on Kickstarter. The project was funded at $35,000, but production stalled, and the delivery estimates kept getting pushed back. Eventually, the project's creator, Seth Quest, s ...more
Hello, my web huggers! In today's tutorial we will learn how to use the Google Hacking Database (GHDB) developed by Exploit Database, to find vulnerable web servers and "juicy" information. In today's modern age, it is important for the hacker to be able to dig up and find in ...more
I've recently been on holiday in Europe, staying in a hotel that was part of a big chain that included many in the local area. A quick review of the wi-fi within range of my room showed that there was another in the chain that was in range of my Yagi Turbotenna, which naturall ...more
Welcome back, my greenhorn hackers! As all you know by now, I'm loving this new show, Mr. Robot. Among the many things going for this innovative and captivating program is the realism of the hacking. I am using this series titled "The Hacks of Mr. Robot" to demonstrate the ha ...more
Welcome back, my amateur hackers! As many of you know, Null Byte will soon be re-establishing its IRC channel. In preparation of that event, I want to show how to set up a secure IRC client with OTR, or Off the Record. OTR does all the right things to make your instant messa ...more
Hi Elite Hackers! Welcome! to my 4th post. This tutorial will explain, how to extend a (hacked) AP's range with a wireless adapter. I made this guide because after hacking an AP it was difficult to connect to it (poor connection) and further exploit it. You can also use this: ...more
2015 is quickly shaping up to be the year of the cord cutter, with various media companies finally warming up to the concept of offering live streaming content. In the wake of Dish Network announcing a streaming cable service called Sling TV and Sony unveiling a similar platfo ...more
In the wake of the NSA scandal and celebrity-photo hacks, lots of people scrambled to find more-secure ways to send text messages, share emails, and surf the internet. Known for their incredibly secure data networks, Germany's email services saw a remarkable increase in new us ...more
Apple has a built-in way to protect you from opening up potentially malicious apps on your computer in Mac OS X Lion, Mountain Lion, Mavericks, Yosemite, El Capitan, and macOS Sierra. This setting, named Gatekeeper, will never stop you from installing apps from the Mac App Sto ...more
Chrome, Firefox, and Safari all provide built-in features that allow you to save your username and password for your favorite sites, making the process for entering your credentials a breeze when you revisit them. While this automation does make your life a little easier, it ...more
Remember when MITMing people to pentest webapps and log-ins you had to fire Ettercap,Arpspoof, SSLstrip, then look for credentials in the captured packets? No more thanks to (or fault of?) "Subterfuge". Surprisingly, there's nothing about Subterfuge here on Null Byte (is it? ...more
When browsing the web, you may not be quite as anonymous as you think, especially if you are using public WiFi. The easiest way to stay as anonymous and safe as you are going to get, is to use a VPN (there are a number of great free ones). In this tutorial, we will show you ho ...more
As the protectors of all things good, the Federal Communications Commission is usually busy behind the scenes pissing off Slim Shady, giving out fines for indecent nipple exposure at certain halftime events, and warning the NSA about losing any "confidential" phone information ...more
Thousands of history files, cookies, other unwanted files stored in your system as logs and other formats. To manually check each one is difficult. New computers are too fast by processor behavior, after some times of working it comes to slow performance. After browsing it is ...more
Welcome back, my hacker apprentices! Although there is a multitude of different hacker types, the one target they all share is the database. I often refer to the database as the hacker's Holy Grail, or the ultimate prize for an effective hack. That's because the database—alm ...more
Unwanted advertising is everywhere. Annoying pop-up ads, overly loud late night commercials, spam...it never ends. And before spam, there was junk mail. Junk mail is even worse because unlike TV commercials and internet ads, it's physical. You can't just delete or ignore it—an ...more
For the most part, nobody makes money off of Facebook. Sure, some people make a living by updating pages for businesses and celebrities, but hardly anyone gets a dime from the site itself. So, naturally, upon hearing that a class action lawsuit might entitle them to a piece o ...more
Social media is where we post our thoughts for the world to see, but sometimes a little more exclusivity is needed. And that's where Scrambls comes in. Scrambls if a free extension for Chrome, Firefox, Safari, and Internet Explorer that scrambles your messages for super cool ...more
At some point or another, we've all been in that awful situation when someone walks up behind you while you're looking at something you don't want them to see. Whether you're tweeting during class, shopping for gifts online, or looking at something a little more NSFW, there ar ...more
If you save your passwords in Chrome or even just use Android's default password manager, Google has some new security tools you'll be interested in. In just a few taps, you can scan your entire password database against lists of accounts that are known to have been compromis ...more
Pyrit is one of the most powerful WPA/WPA2 cracking tools in a hacker's arsenal, with the ability to benchmark a computer's CPU speeds, analyze capture files for crackable handshakes, and even tap into GPU password-cracking power. To demonstrate how quickly it can hack a WPA/W ...more
Cases and stickers are always great, but they aren't the only way to customize an iPhone. The software on your device is full of customization options, from a better-looking home screen and cooler lock screen wallpapers to app icon changes and a system-wide dark mode. There's ...more
Many of our online accounts now come with an added two-factor authentication (2FA) functionality to help keep our data safe. This essentially means no one would be able to access the account until a specific set of requirements were met. It could be a combination of a password ...more
Web application vulnerabilities are one of the most crucial points of consideration in any penetration test or security evaluation. While some security areas require a home network or computer for testing, creating a test website to learn web app security requires a slightly d ...more