Category: Security

Link: How To Set Up Unlocator DNS Under Linux To Access Netflix, Hulu, CBS, ABC, Pandora and More Outside The US

Tunlr, a free DNS service that allowed its users to access US-based on-demand Internet streaming providers from outside the US, was shut down recently.

For those who are looking for a reliable alternative, there’s Unlocator, a similar service that you can use to watch Netflix, Hulu, CBS, MTV, PBS, ABC, Pandora and more no matter where you live.

The service is free to use while in beta (I’m not sure when it will be out of beta) and once it leaves the beta, it will cost $4.95 / month.

At the time I’m writing this article, Unlocator supports 78 services, including: Netflix, Hulu, Pandora, ABC, AMC, BBC, CBS, Channel4, Discovery Channel, ESPN, Fox, HBO Go, MTV, NBC, PBS, Showtime, TV.com, VEVO, USA Network, VH1 and others. A complete list can be found HERE.

While Unlocator works as advertised, there is one issue: using the Unlocator DNS permanently is not a good idea for privacy/security reasons, speed and so on. For this reason, I’ve adapted the instructions for Tunlr I wrote a while back on WebUpd8, for Unlocator.

Full article here:
How To Set Up Unlocator DNS Under Linux To Access Netflix, Hulu, CBS, ABC, Pandora and More Outside The US (Web Upd8)

Link: The Beginner’s Guide to iptables, the Linux Firewall

Iptables is an extremely flexible firewall utility built for Linux operating systems. Whether you’re a novice Linux geek or a system administrator, there’s probably some way that iptables can be a great use to you. Read on as we show you how to configure the most versatile Linux firewall.

Full article here:
The Beginner’s Guide to iptables, the Linux Firewall (How-To Geek)

Link: 2 Ways to Stop Websites from Hijacking Your Webcam and Microphone in Chrome

For anyone concerned about their privacy online, a significant security risk concerning your computer’s webcam and microphone has been recently discovered in the Chrome web browser. The risk – a default setting that will give a website open access to your computer’s microphone and webcam if you give it access just once.

This of course can open up the floodgates to all sorts of unsavory activity by unsavory individuals; namely websites taking advantage of this setting by turning on your microphone and webcam with you having no idea, even sometimes installing a hidden widget that activates these media devices if a certain word is said. Fortunately, it’s easy to turn this setting off.

In this post we’ll show you how to stop websites from hijacking your webcam and microphone in the Chrome web browser.

Full article here:
2 Ways to Stop Websites from Hijacking Your Webcam and Microphone in Chrome (TechNorms)

Link: Linux Terminal: sshfs, Remote directory over ssh

Often one wants a shared access to files across machines. Traditionally one uses the network file system (nfs). The network file server works as follows: There is an nfs server that exports some directories in its filesystem hiearchy to various nfs clients that mount these directory over the network into their file system hierarchy. As a result, each of the clients shares the directories exported by the nfs server.

However a lot of times you just have to mount a directory from a server to your local computer and in these cases NFS it’s not so useful, sshfs it’s much better

Sshfs is a filesystem client based on the SSH File Transfer Protocol. Since most SSH servers already support this protocol it is very easy to set up: i.e. on the server side there’s nothing to do.  On the client side mounting the filesystem is as easy as logging into the server with ssh.

Full article here:
Linux Terminal: sshfs, Remote directory over ssh (Linuxaria)

If you used the information from the article, “A possible way to thwart SIP hack attempts on your Asterisk (or other) PBX server”, please read this

If you took the advice in the article, A possible way to thwart SIP hack attempts on your Asterisk (or other) PBX server, please be aware that an important note has been added:

IMPORTANT: Be sure to have a separate iptables rule (higher on the list than those above) that allows connections to port 5060 from devices on your local network. Otherwise, you may find that new extensions that you are adding for the first time will not register with your Asterisk server, or that after a system reboot, none of your local extensions will register!

Please take heed of that note, or you may be one power failure or reboot away from discovering that none of your local extensions are able to register with your PBX server.

Link: How To Configure Port Knocking Using Only IPTables on an Ubuntu VPS

Servers that are connected to the internet are subjected to all manners of attacks and probes by malicious users, scripts, and automated bots. It is sometimes a balancing act to secure your server from attacks without affecting legitimate access to your services and resources.

Certain types of services are meant to be visible and consumable to the public internet. An example of this is a web server. Other types of services are typically used by only the system administrator or a select number of individuals and are not meant to be a public resource.

A concept known as port knocking is a way of shielding processes that fit into the latter description. Port knocking works by covering the ports associated with a process behind a firewall until a specific, predetermined sequence of network activity occurs. At this point, the port knocking service reconfigures the firewall to allow access to the protected application.

Full article here:
How To Configure Port Knocking Using Only IPTables on an Ubuntu VPS (DigitalOcean)
Related:
How To Use Port Knocking to Hide your SSH Daemon from Attackers on Ubuntu (DigitalOcean)

Links: A low-cost surveillance camera using the Raspberry Pi

We have recently come across two articles on the same topic:

Although people have been toying with USB webcams on the Raspberry Pi for some time now, the release of the official camera module has reinvigorated interest in video related projects.

The official Raspberry Pi camera module is a Full HD camera that plugs into the Raspberry Pi via the Camera Serial Interface (next to the Ethernet port) on the device. The sensor on the camera is a 5MP with fixed focus lens. It can shoot still images with a maximum resolution of 2592×1944 as well as Full HD 1080p video @ 30 FPS and 720p video @ 60 FPS.

And you get all this in a module that’s only 25x20x9mm in size and weighs just 9 grams! This makes it ideal for projects that require a small steady camera, like surveillance.

Full article here:
Use the Raspberry Pi as a DIY Surveillance camera (Make Tech Easier)

This article describes how to build a surveillance cam based on a Raspberry Pi micro-computer which records HD video when something moves in the monitored area. Live picture can be viewed from any web browser, even from your mobile while you’re on the road.

What you will get:

  • See live stream in any web browser from anywhere
  • Record any motion into video file

Usually, such a cam will cost you around US$1.000, but with the result from this article, you will get such a cam for only about US$120.

Full article here:
Raspberry Pi as low-cost HD surveillance camera (CodeProject)

The only suggestion we might make as a possible addition to either project is that if you are using this to monitor an entry area (such as a front or back porch), why not include a few bright white LED’s to provide illumination at night?  Those could be turned on and off via a cron job on the Pi, or by some type if logic that detects when there’s not enough ambient light to get a decent image, and then applies power to the LEDs (which could be powered via a GPIO pin on the Raspberry Pi if they don’t draw too much current).

Link: Manage Multiple SSH Connections Easily With PAC Manager [Linux]

If you have used SSH to connect to a remote machine before, you know the procedure: open a terminal, type in the SSH command and the host IP, enter the password. This is probably easy for a single connection, but if you are a system administrator looking after several remote machines and have a need to manage multiple SSH connections, you will need a better and easier solution. You need PAC Manager.

Full article here:
Manage Multiple SSH Connections Easily With PAC Manager [Linux] (Make Tech Easier)

Link: Install And Learn How To Use ufw Firewall In Linux

Ubuntu does not have many open ports by default, but there are times when you want to restrict access to a port(ports) or a specific ip adress. Maybe you run a ssh server in your ubuntu machine and want to block everyone from connecting to it, except yourself. Have you ever thought how to accomplish such things or tried to do it? You need a firewall to do that. In this article I will explain what is a firewall and teach you how to use the ufw ubuntu firewall by giving real world examples of it.

Full article here:
Install And Learn How To Use ufw Firewall In Linux (LinOxide)