Kalimat al-Mutafalsif

So… one big caveat of ’secure programming” is to validate anything you’re given. if you don’t check that you get what you expect, well, people will give you something you don’t, and Bad Things happen. The worst offender of this little problem is the internet. Yup, a lot of web sites figure “We’ll put a cap on the web form’s input, and not check server side, that’d be inefficient.” Interesting theory, lets see what happens when you make this assumption on http://www.ratemydesktop.co.uk, where I posted a screenshot of my desktop.

Well, it finally hit the papers today (ok, yesterday, this has been a draft for a day). A phishing email went out, and instead of asking you to login to a bad site, it changed the legit phone number to a false one. They wanted you to call this fake number tor eactivate your account. Now, I’ve known that phishing is not just limited to email, that’s why I define it as “Scamming other people out of their credentials”. Hopefully, this’ll make mainstream media rethink their definition of phishing, and stop giving the false pretense of “ignore email, and you’re safe”. No one is safe, ever from frauds.

Or: Why I Hate English.

Some of you may know I have…. problems when I it comes to English. My spelling is atrocious, and grammar is worse. I can’t learn the vocabulary because it amounts to route memorization, and most rules have more exceptions then there are rules! What a poor system! But wait… I have a soltuion.

So, I (think I) coined a new phrase today. Passive Identity Theft. It’s not illegal, as you’re not actually stealing someone’s identity. However, you are posing as them by not saying you are them. Confused? I’ll explain.

In an attempt to bee productive with the whole Linux, not Windows, thing, I’ve decided to give a wee bit back to the Linux community. Specifically by trying to draw in new users. So, to that end, I’ve started a page of different Linux desktops, and what they run on (screenshots of the actual desktop and window manager) to show those who don’t know just how customizable Linux is, even to a newbie. To check it out, go to the right panel, and click the “Infinite Linux Desktop” link. Or, for now, you can go here. I hope for this to be updated regularly, and submission instructions are provided on the bottom of the page, so check back often!

kalas, I’m through. You’ve all heard my cry and complain about Windows. You’ve seen more posts in recent weeks about Linux, and its joys, well, this is it. I’m through with Windows. This amateur excuse of an Operating System. This aborted joke of DRMd’d crap code designed with money, not user experiece, or security in mind. This tribute to capitalistic sentiment exploiting end users who have no clue the atrocious code they were just sold.

You know what happens when you assume, right? Maybe you do, maybe you don’t. I’ve spent the day musing over various assumptions, how I’ve used them, and how they can be used, and I think its something everyone should know.

As a broad overview I’ll go over the different types of assumptions, as I see them. Then talk about how the fit into hacking, and finally examples from my life that back this up.

Well, some of you know why I like Linux. I’ve got another to add today, the amazing, gorgeous Graphical user Interface (GUI). What? Did he just say Linux’s GUI was better then Windows? Yes, yes I did. I finally believe it too.

Well, last night I saw a news story that got me really fired up. I wrote a rather lengthy post about it, saved the draft, and went to sleep. I’m glad I did. I got up today thinking a bit more rationally, and trying to determine the purpose of this blog. So far I’ve used it to talk (rant) about various tech decisions and products, gaming I do, and things I’ve done. I’ve tried my best to keep religion and politics out of it, for those are two subjects that tend to tear societies apart. My post last night would have infringed a little on those, but it was more of a semantics argument that I feel would be out of place on this website, which I’m trying to keep moderate. I did, however, decide that, due to the hacker nature I lean towards, posing it as questions would be a lot more helpful. I won’t tell you my answers, but these are things you should think about, as the term is used a lot in today’s American culture.

So, some of my friends, in the past, have asked me to teach them how to hack. I normally agree, depending on who it is, to give them the tools. Teach them UNIX, show them how to find stuff online, etc. What I can’t teach, however, is the mentality. I had some fun last night, and I figured I’d share it with you, give you a feel for how a hacker thinks.

First, I have to tell you a little bit about myself.