For many, the stock version of Android is often considered the epitome of what the operating system should look and feel like by default. It's clean and clear of unwanted extra apps that come pre-installed with the system, provides a fluid and fast user experience, and runs on ...more
When new Android versions come out, the modding community has to find new ways to root the OS. It's a fun cat and mouse game to follow, but it also means the process of rooting isn't exactly the same as it was the last time you did it. Android 10 changes how root works on a sy ...more
The Pixel 3a came out of nowhere and flexed its muscles to show the industry that you can have a great phone without a hefty price tag. Since Pixel smartphones are first-party devices straight from Google, you can be sure you'll have root access one way or another. For right n ...more
Due to its constant delays and lack of public invites, the OnePlus One is the equivalent of a unicorn in the Android community. I was lucky enough to win an invite in the OnePlus Storm of Invites promotion and have loved every minute with my new Nexus Killer since receiving it ...more
Phone numbers often contain clues to the owner's identity and can bring up a lot of data during an OSINT investigation. Starting with a phone number, we can search through a large number of online databases with only a few clicks to discover information about a phone number. I ...more
As penetration testers, we sometimes need to securely store customer data for prolonged periods. Bruteforce-resistant, vault-like containers can be created with just a few commands to protect ourselves from physical attacks and unintended data disclosures. The subject of cryp ...more
PirateBox is a great way to communicate with others nearby when cellular and Wi-Fi networks aren't available. With it, you can anonymously share any kind of media or document and even talk to one another by voice — without being online. However, it needs a Raspberry Pi, which ...more
PowerShell Empire is an amazing framework that is widely used by penetration testers for exploiting Microsoft Windows hosts. In our previous guide, we discussed why and when it's important to use, as well as some general info on listeners, stagers, agents, and modules. Now, we ...more
The Xposed Framework is an incredibly powerful tool. But because of this power, there's a chance that something could go wrong when installing a broken or incompatible module, which can cause bootloops or even soft-brick your phone. Depending on how bad the situation is, the ...more
The Pixel 3a runs smoothly out of the box already, but installing a custom kernel can supercharge your experience even more. From fine-tuned CPU tweaks for boosting performance or battery life to adjusting the display colors for your screen how you want, ElementalX kernel can ...more
If you need to scan a large number of domains for a specific web app vulnerability, Dorkbot may be the tool for you. Dorkbot uses search engines to locate dorks and then scan potentially vulnerable apps with a scanner module. This tool is useful if you're managing a large num ...more
A rather exciting development has recently surfaced in the jailbreaking scene for iPhone. The Checkm8 bootrom exploit was shown off to the public by axi0mX, which made way for the undefeatable Checkra1n jailbreak tool. With it, you can freely jailbreak a variety of older iPhon ...more
You may not know it, but the IPv4 address of your computer contains tons of useful information about whatever Wi-Fi network you're on. By knowing what your IPv4 address and subnet mask are telling you, you can easily scan the whole network range, locate the router, and discove ...more
You've unlocked your bootloader and rooted your HTC One running KitKat, but there's still one lingering aspect of security you've yet to rid yourself of—S-On—the extra security measure HTC implemented into Sense. S-Off stands for Security Off and allows you to update your One ...more
Welcome back, my eager hackers! In recent blogs, I've demonstrated how to grab password hashes remotely using Metasploit's meterpreter and pwdump. Once we have the Windows passwords from the SAM file, we can then crack these hashes using tools such as Cain and Abel. In this ...more
Popping a shell is often the main goal of a hacker, and it can be exciting when executed properly, but sometimes they do have their limitations. Metasploit's Meterpreter probably needs no introduction, but this powerful, dynamic payload can offer a leg up over normal shells. T ...more
Connecting to your headless Raspberry Pi on the go typically requires a network connection or carrying around bulky peripheral hardware like a screen and keyboard. With the help of an old-school connecting standard, though, you can log into your Pi from any computer using a si ...more
In this article I will show you how to obtain victim's credentials without cracking any hashes. There are a couple of ways to perform this task (for example dumping the SAM file and cracking the NTLM hashes), but here I will explain how to do it using PowerShell and a bit of s ...more
As we've seen with other tools and utilities, administrators typically use certain things to do their job more efficiently, and those things are often abused by attackers for exploitation. After all, hacking is just the process of getting a computer to do things in unexpected ...more
This is my first article on here, it's based off of a project that I'm working on at school which is on three ways to bypass windows user password's. If all goes as planned and you all would like I'll work on part two and part three and post them as soon as I can. I do have to ...more
Recently, I've been learning Ruby as a second scripting language. But one topic I never covered with the many lessons online were sockets. So I did some research and came up with a very simple client/server connection that sends a string over the socket. The Client First, th ...more
It's no secret that most people who got an iPhone 5 (or upgraded their old iPhone to iOS 6) have been sorely disappointed with Apple Maps. We may all miss Google Maps, but the Google says they aren't even working on an app for iOS 6 yet. Even worse, Google exec Eric Schmidt sa ...more
Privilege escalation is one of the essential skills a hacker can have and often separates the newbies from the pros. With a continually changing landscape and a plethora of exploits out there, it can be a problematic aspect of any attack. Luckily, some tools can help expedite ...more
Do you remember my last article on how to hook any web browser with MITMf and BeEF? Well, we are using the tool once again, but this time for auto-backdooring.... How It Works MITMf (if you don't already know) is a man in the middle attack framwork. MITMf literally stands fo ...more
Like a computer, your brain can store and process large amounts of information. It can remember names, solve math problems, and save tips that you might need at a later time. Unlike a brain, though, computers tend to collect information that might not be important. Not only t ...more
Before attacking any website, a hacker or penetration tester will first compile a list of target surfaces. After they've used some good recon and found the right places to point their scope at, they'll use a web server scanning tool such as Nikto for hunting down vulnerabiliti ...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
It's easier than you might think to hack into Wi-Fi routers using just one unrooted Android phone. This method doesn't require brute-forcing the password, a Windows OS for converting PowerShell scripts into EXE format, a reliable VPS for intercepting hacked Wi-Fi passwords, or ...more
Just because you have a Mac doesn't mean you can't root your Nexus 7 tablet. In fact, rooting Android 4.4 KitKat on both the 2013 and original 2012 N7 models is easy, if not easier than rooting it using a Windows PC. After rooting, you can enjoy many of tomorrow's features to ...more
Fireworks are the best part about the Fourth of July and other celebrations, but they can easily cause accidental injuries. It's both safer and more fun to set them off remotely, so we'll hack some standard fireworks with nichrome wire, a relay, and an Arduino to ignite remote ...more
Locating and abusing files containing unsafe permissions is an easy and surefire way to elevate shell privileges on a backdoored macOS device. This time around, we'll be more aggressive and attempt to phish a user's login password by prompting a convincing popup message merely ...more
Performance boosters generally get a bad rap, but that doesn't mean they should all be dismissed—particularly when they're as well thought out as the latest work from developer Danijel Markov. After recognizing a few inefficiencies in the way Android handles memory management ...more
There are countless tutorials online that show how to use Netstat and Tasklist to find an intruder on your computer. But with a few PowerShell functions, it's possible for a hacker to evade detection from the almighty command line. Before we dive into the technical sections, ...more
Reconnaissance is one of the most important and often the most time consuming, part of planning an attack against a target. Thanks to a pair of recon tools coded in Python, it takes just seconds to research how a website or server might be vulnerable. No matter what platform ...more
KeePassX, 1Password, and LastPass are effective against keyloggers, phishing, and database breaches, but passwords managers rely on the operating system's clipboard to securely move credentials from the password vault to the web browser. It's within these few seconds that an a ...more
If you're running iOS 10 or lower, there is no built-in way to make a screen recording on an iPad, iPhone, or iPod touch directly from the device, but that doesn't mean there isn't a way to record your screen at all. Occasionally, there will be an app in the iOS App Store tha ...more
Welcome back, my tenderfoot hackers! Those of you who have been reading my posts here for awhile know how much I emphasize good reconnaissance. Novice hackers often jump into a hack/exploit without doing proper recon and either fail or get caught. Experienced and expert hacke ...more
Think your roommate's been using your computer while you're not around, but don't have any proof? Worried your little brother or significant other is snooping through your stuff? Here's how to check on both Windows and Mac OS X so you can catch and confront anyone who's loggin ...more
Welcome back, my neophyte hackers! As part of my series on Wi-Fi hacking, I want to next look at denial-of-service (DoS) attacks, and DoSing a wireless access point (AP). There are a variety of ways to do this, but in this tutorial we'll be sending repeated deauthentication f ...more
Kali Linux is established as the go-to operating system for penetration testing, but in its default configuration, it's less than ideal for regular desktop use. While in many scenarios, a live boot or virtual environment can resolve these issues, in some situations, a full ins ...more
Sometimes you need a password to gain access to an older running Windows system. Maybe it's a machine in your basement you forgot about or a locked machine that belonged to a disgruntled employee. Maybe you just want to try out your pentesting skills. When you need to access ...more
Whether you're just getting your first Android, or are already on your fifth annual cycle of picking up the latest flagship, there is always the question of what to do after booting up your device for the first time. You can go the route of keeping your device the way the man ...more
Welcome back, my tenderfoot hackers! One of the issues we often encounter with Metasploit is how to add new modules. Although Rapid7 (Metasploit's owner and developer) periodically updates Metasploit with new exploits, payloads, and other modules, at times, new modules appear ...more
Hackers often find fascinating files in the most ordinary of places, one of those being FTP servers. Sometimes, luck will prevail, and anonymous logins will be enabled, meaning anyone can just log in. But more often than not, a valid username and password will be required. But ...more
OpenBSD implements security in its development in a way that no other operating system on the planet does. Learning to use the Unix-like operating system can help a hacker understand secure development, create better servers, and improve their understanding of the BSD operatin ...more
Many online users worry about their accounts being breached by some master hacker, but the more likely scenario is falling victim to a bot written to use leaked passwords in data breaches from companies like LinkedIn, MySpace, and Tumblr. For instance, a tool called H8mail can ...more
When performing something such as a mass mailer attack on a company, sending executables usually isn't the best option. That's why, in this tutorial, I'll be teaching you how to code a VBA script macro into a Word document in order to compromise a system. Combined with a littl ...more
Welcome back, hacker novitiates! In the next few hacks, we will be breaking into Windows servers. In this installment, we will learn to add ourselves as a user to a Windows 2003 server. Of course, when we have added ourselves as a user, we can come back any time and simply log ...more
The internet has undoubtedly changed the way we work and communicate. With technological advances, more and more people can collaborate on the web from anywhere in the world. But this remote-friendly environment inherently brings security risks, and hackers are always finding ...more
This tutorial follows the same idea as my original tutorial for windows, but I've redone it to work with Mac OS X. Here's how to get a meterpreter session from your victim opening a malicious word document: Step 1: Creating the Payload For this tutorial, I'll be using a pyth ...more
Encrypting payloads and encoding stagers are more effective against macOS than one might think. It's very easy to evade VirusTotal and macOS antivirus software using a few simple tricks. The goal of this project was to locate a known and easily detectable macOS payload, then ...more
In one of my previous articles, I discussed ShinoBot, a remote administration tool that makes itself obvious. The goal is to see if the user could detect a remote administration tool or RAT on their system. In this article, I'll be demonstrating the use of Pupy, an actual RAT, ...more
In my previous article, we learned how to generate a vulnerable virtual machine using SecGen to safely and legally practice hacking. In this tutorial, we will put it all together, and learn how to actually hack our practice VM. This will provide some insight into the methodolo ...more
Welcome, my neophyte hackers! The aspiring hacker needs to know a bit of Linux to be successful, and probably most importantly, Linux networking. To fill that knowledge gap, I'm offering this guide on Linux networking basics. I assume that you understand a small amount of net ...more
When it comes to hacking guides, most are written from the perspective of a Linux user. There are a few outliers, but it's mainly Linux, which leads to the idea that Linux is the only OS that's viable for hacking. This couldn't be further from the truth. A properly set up Appl ...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
GTFOBins and LOLBAS are projects with the goal of documenting native binaries that can be abused and exploited by attackers on Unix and Windows systems, respectfully. These binaries are often used for "living off the land" techniques during post-exploitation. In this tutorial, ...more
Social media accounts are a favorite target for hackers, and the most effective tactics for attacking accounts on websites like Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter are often based on phishing. These password-stealing attacks rely on tricking users into entering their passwords in ...more
It can feel pretty chaotic when you have a lot of open windows on your Mac that are different sizes, but there's an easy way to organize the mess in just a few seconds. I regularly have a lot of windows open across my MacBook and external displays. Right now, I have 11 apps o ...more
Since Ive started to learn about nmap and metasploit and other tools I was learning well but I had one problem, I had nothing to practice it on. As a result I asked someone about my problem and they told me about Vulnhub. It's a great way to practice. Its good beginners and pe ...more