tcpdump & tee

This is something I always forget how to do: run a tcpdump while both looking at the packets AND writing them to a file at the same time.  I always remember it involves 'tee', but never the exact syntax.  So, here is the command:

tcpdump -i eth1 -U -w - | tee dump.pcap | tcpdump -n -r -

This will listen:

• listen on eth1 (-i eth1)
• Don't wait until the output buffer fills before writing packets (-U)
• Write packets to STDOUT (-w -)
• Read from STDIN write to file and write to STDOUT (
  tee dump.pcap)
• Read packets from STDIN (and don't resolve names) (tcpdump -n -r -)

Pure Evil, but genius: 802.1X by-pass

Pwnie Express device also works in networks "protected" with 802.1X on wired ports.  It doesn't completely invalidate 802.1X port security.  As the saying goes--- if you have physical access to a device, it is insecure.  It's still a good way around 802.1X

Some Random links for Oct 22

AceHackware is a place to buy hacker stuff- everything from USB keyloggers to lock picking equipment.

DARPA announces a plan to support software defined radio.  Currently, most radios are hardware specific for the particular band being used, which means you need a lot of hardware to cover a lot of the spectrum.  Software defined radios do exist, but this project will bring down the price to around $200.

Dangerous times for free speech

Two disturbing articles on the future of freedom of expression.  First, the Saudi government is proposing an international body for network censorship.   

The Washington Post has an OpEd on this topic with the following quote:

Our entire society is being treated as a crowded theater, and talking about whole subjects is now akin to shouting “fire!”

Countries which we have assumed to be historically free either are not free, or are curtailing that freedom.  According to the Post piece, Ireland finds it self in good company with Russia in criminalizing speech that offends the religious.  

Awesome dumplings in San Francisco

Shanghai Dumpling King in San Francisco is definitely worth the trip out of the downtown area/financial district.  Located at 3319 Balboa Street San Francisco, CA 94121, it's a cash only joint, but again, well worth it.

Putty Connection Manager

Putty Connection Manager was a great little wrapper around putty that allowed for tabbed use multiple ssh sessions, as well as sending commands to multiple sessions.  Too bad the site went missing.  It was a great program, with a few annoyances (especially failure to properly focus when switching between applications).

Enter supperputty.  It's an active project hosted on google.  Looks a lot like PuttyCM, and can import PuttyCM databases.  While it isn't as polished as PuttyCM yet, it doesn't suffer from the same focusing problem (which is something that drove me nuts).

The Tree of Life for Computers

Computer Chronology: 50-Year Micro List, 1938-1988 referencing ELECTRONIC COMPUTERS WITHIN THE ORDNANCE CORPS has this excellent image of a Tree of Life for computers: