Protect Your Wireless Network with MAC Address Filtering…A Bad Idea

To secure your wireless network, you can use a variety of means, and one of which is by selecting only what MAC addresses are allowed. This is known as MAC filtering, and it can serve as a basic deterrent against most opportunistic attackers.

However, just using MAC filtering alone will probably be a bad idea. It doesn’t take much determination or knowledge at all to spoof a MAC address. In fact, it’s actually quite easy to spoof a MAC address, and can be done within 2 steps.

Step 1. Download and run any freely available security tool, for example Nmap. Set it to listen in on network traffic and pick out the MAC address.
Step 2. Change your MAC address to the one you picked out.

In fact, Nmap even allows you to spoof your MAC address by running the “-spoof-mac” command line option. This was originally intended to hide the true source of Nmap probes.

If you don’t have Nmap, you can just spoof your MAC address with the software that comes with most operating systems.

Here are some examples:

1. Linux: ifconfig eth0 hw ether 02:a1:13:d4:00:12

2. MS Windows: the MAC address is stored in a registry key (location of that key varies from one MS Windows version to the next, but you can easily find that and just edit it yourself). Alternatively, download a free tool such as Macshift to help you change your MAC address.

Now that you know how easy it is to spoof your MAC address, start worrying even more, because these simple steps are run automatically and very, very quickly by malware. This means that if you are using MAC filtering to protect your wireless network, you should seriously consider something a little more robust.

Subscribe to my blog: RSS reader    Email

Ever Wondered What “EZ” Stands For In Elevators?

While on the elevator, I noticed the floor display screen sometimes showing “EZ” instead of the floor number. That got me curious about what “EZ” meant, so I went sniffing around and discovered that “EZ” stood for “Express Zone”.

Apparently, express elevators sometime move so quickly that it isn’t feasible to show the floor numbers just flashing past, so they display EZ instead.

Ha. Learnt something new.

Subscribe to my blog: RSS reader    Email

A True Salesman

This clip cracked me up! If anything, it will show you what the true meaning of salesmanship is. I couldn’t BELIEVE how he could go on unfazed — negativity just slides off this guy’s back. If you have a product or service to sell, you need to hire this guy. Watch it now

Subscribe to my blog: RSS reader    Email

The Best, and Loudest Alarm Clock Invention - The Screaming Meanie (Review)

I have trouble waking up, so I need an alarm clock that’s a little more effective than your average clock. So I did some sourcing around, saw a few promising ones, but finally settled on this….

The SCREAMING MEANIE.

Just the name alone will strike fear into any sane person! The Screaming Meanie has two versions, the Screaming Meanie 110 and the Screaming Meanie 220. The 110 offers just a timer function, while the 220 offers the alarm clock functionality.

So why do I say that the Screaming Meanie is the best alarm clock? Well it’s loud, for one. It offers 3 modes (low @ 70dB, medium @ 95dB, high @ 120dB) and high is crazily loud — like a fire alarm or something close to that. It’s 120dB! If you still don’t get up with that alarm, your neighbours will guarantee that you’ll wake up. Personally, I put it to medium, because putting it on high just leaves my ears ringing. The great thing is that the alarm is continuous! It isn’t like those alarms that, for some reason, turn themselves off automatically after X minutes. The Screaming Meanie just goes on and on until you turn it off.

Another great point is that it’s portable. It’s small, lightweight and battery powered (by a 9V battery), so don’t have to search for a power outlet or carry around wires. This is important to me because I only use one alarm, so it HAS to work. Even with clocks that plug in to the mains, you still have to worry about the power tripping. With the Screaming Meanie, it comes with a built-in battery tester so you know when to change the battery, so you can be assured that you’ll wake up without fail.

I chose the Screaming Meanie over other super-loud alarm clocks because with other alarm clocks, you can just hit a button and oversleep, but with the Screaming Meanie, you have to press three different buttons at the same time to turn off the alarm. So you pretty much have to be awake to do it because it takes both hands.

On top of the alarm function, the Screaming Meanie also has a useful countdown timer function. This is probably great for travelers because you simply set the number of hours and minutes you want to sleep for, without worrying about the local time. Instructions for the Screaming Meanie 220 Alarm Clock are printed on the back, so you’ll always have the instructions handy. Plus, it’s easy to read the time or set the alarm in the dark because of its backlit display.

The thought and effort that went into designing this as an effective alarm clock really impressed me, and I highly recommend this to be the alarm clock for anyone who has trouble waking up. I got my Screaming Meanie at Amazon for around $32, and it’s the best $32 that I’ve spent.

Specifications:
* 6 X. 2.38 X .75 inches
* 4.1 ounces excluding battery, 5.6 ounces with battery installed

Subscribe to my blog: RSS reader    Email

Edit .htaccess to increase PHP’s max file upload

To increase the upload file size limit on your website, you need to edit PHP’s configuration settings. Unfortunately, not everyone has their own web server, so most of the time people are constrained by the limits of shared hosting. But you can still modify your base php.ini file by creating your own php.ini with the edits that you want.

Your php.ini file needs to be in every folder that’s going to be affected, or at least in the folder where the php script is being called from. Unfortunately if you have dozens of folders that need this edit, then you’ll need dozens of php.ini files.

An alternative is to then use .htaccess. By just placing a.htaccess file in your root folder, all folders beneath it will also have the change. The code to change your PHP max file upload size is:

RewriteEngine On
php_value post_max_size 1000M
php_value upload_max_filesize 1000M
php_value max_execution_time 6000000

You can edit it to suit your needs. 1000M = 1GB, so edit accordingly. Do note that your host will need to allow PHP edits though.

Subscribe to my blog: RSS reader    Email

What is the difference between Hibernate and Standby in Windows XP?

Standby and hibernate are 2 extremely useful functions that you can use because of the time it saves you from booting up your computer. Once you’re done with your work session, and need to leave your desk, simply choose standby or hibernate. These two sleep modes are fantastic for laptops as well.

But what’s the difference? Hibernate saves an image of your current session with all open applications and files. Then it powers down your computer (exactly as if you had turned it off). When you next switch your computer on, you will see exactly the same applications and files open as you had left them. In this state, your computer is exactly as though it’s turned off — no power is needed in hibernate mode.

Standby is a sleep mode that reduces the power that your computer uses to almost nothing. The keyword is “almost”. When you use standby mode, your computer cuts the power to your screen, hard drive, peripheral devices…in fact, anything except your computer’s memory (RAM) is cut. This is because the RAM will maintain a copy of your working session.

I’ve had people tell me that moving your notebook around while it’s in standby mode will shake up the harddrive when it’s spinning and cause hard disk problems. Utter rubbish. The hard drive is powered down during standby, much less in hibernate mode.

Subscribe to my blog: RSS reader    Email

What Is Ghetto latte or bootleg latte?

Well, I never knew that there could be such a technical discussion on coffee, but apparently there’s a whole new set of terminology that I’ve just discovered about coffee, or in relation to coffee joints like Starbucks, for instance.

Ghetto latte or bootleg latte refers to a latte where the customer has used the complimentary milk and other condiments to convert a less expensive drink into an approximate copy of a more expensive one. This practice can be regarded as a form of arbitrage. Similar forms of arbitrage have existed in the past for other products including hamburgers.

Apparently, sometime in the past, Burger King sold Whopper Jr.’s for around $1.60, and hamburgers for $0.80. Since a Whopper, Jr. is just a hamburger with different toppings, people actually figured that they could order a hamburger without the mustard and ketchup, and ask for the mayo, lettuce, and tomato. The end result was the equivalent of a Whopper, Jr.

Burger King dealt with the arbitrage by charging 15 cents for the tomatoes and 5 cents for the lettuce. Thus, the total came up to a dollar. It wasn’t a pure loss from BK’s perspective because BK does save some because the heavily-modded hamburger was served in cheaper paper wrappers instead of the cardboard box of a Whopper Jr.

Interesting.

Subscribe to my blog: RSS reader    Email