[vi-tech-testers] Re: Functions or packages people would like included?
- From: Mike Ray <mike@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- To: vi-tech-testers@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Sat, 26 Jul 2014 16:01:04 +0100
One of the first things I always have to do when I install Talking Arch
is install cower by getting it with wget and building it.
If it could be included it would circumvent that step.
On 26/07/2014 13:03, Rill wrote:
> The infamous but very useful dd command in Linux can be used to wipe a
> disk or partition by zeroing it out. People say "dd" stands for "disk
> destroyer". I use it to write Raspberry Pi images to sd cards, but get
> confused and you can mess up your hard drive. For the uninitiated,
> part of the command line is if=what you want to write and of=where you
> want to write it. The one letter difference could get you in trouble
> very quickly if you are not paying attention. Smile.
> Rill
>
> Mobeen Iqbal wrote:
>> Hi Mike.
>>
>> hmm, an interesting point! something like the wipe utility could be a
>> candidate for inclusion unless people know of a better program? to be
>> honest i've never wiped a drive in linux, though i'm sure there are a
>> number of utilities around. i'll put it on the list for
>> inclusion/testing, many thanks for the suggestion keep them coming!
>>
>> Mo.
>>
>>
>> On 26/07/2014 10:36, M F Mason wrote:
>>> Hello Mo,
>>>
>>> I was wondering whether it might be a good idea
>>> to include any tools dealing with such areas as:
>>>
>>> Drive Cleansing, File Shredding, and System Clean-up.
>>> for example,
>>> if I look at the Acronis TrueImage user guide I see something like
>>> the following:
>>>
>>> Acronis True Image Home contains utilities for secure destruction of
>>> data on an entire
>>> hard disk drive, individual partitions, as well as for erasing
>>> individual files and eliminating
>>> user system activity traces.
>>>
>>> When replacing an old hard drive with a new, higher-capacity one,
>>> one may unwittingly leave on the old disk lots of personal and
>>> confidential information
>>> that can be recovered, even if one has reformatted it.
>>> The Acronis DriveCleanser provides
>>> for the destruction of confidential information on hard disk drives
>>> and/or partitions
>>> with the help of techniques that meet or exceed most national and
>>> state standards.
>>> You can select an appropriate data destruction method depending on
>>> the importance of your confidential information.
>>> The File Shredder provides the same capabilities for individual
>>> files and folders.
>>> Finally, the System Clean-up wizard ensures elimination of all your
>>> activity traces;
>>> while working with a PC, you leave thousands of bytes of evidence
>>> showing your actions
>>> (records in various system files) that you don't even know about.
>>> This could include user
>>> names and passwords, as well as other personal information that
>>> could be used to steal your
>>> identity if it fell into the wrong hands. This utility wipes them
>>> completely from the disk drive.
>>>
>>> Given that I know little or nothing about Linux,
>>> I have no knowledge whether similar kinds of utilities exist.
>>>
>>> Just some thoughts,
>>>
>>> Many thanks,
>>>
>>> Mike.
>>>
>>> At 02:00 26/07/2014, you wrote:
>>>> Hi.
>>>>
>>>> 2 excellent suggestions. in terms of irc clients, what's better?
>>>> xChat or Irssi? i've not used either but is there 1 people would
>>>> prefer over the other?
>>>>
>>>> Mo.
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> On 25/07/2014 22:00, M Lakhani wrote:
>>>>> Yep agreed.
>>>>> Also, something like xChat or similar irc client would probably
>>>>> aid collaboration.
>>>>>
>>>>> HTH
>>>>> Muzz
>>>>>
>>>>> Sent from my iPhone
>>>>>
>>>>>> On 24 Jul 2014, at 16:48, Rill <starbasecafe@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:
>>>>>>
>>>>>> I'm wondering if nmap would be a good candidate for inclusion. I
>>>>>> use it a lot.
>>>>>> Rill
>>>>>>
>>>>>> Agent Orange wrote:
>>>>>>> All great ideas Mo.
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> The reason why I suggest a password recovery tool, as well as
>>>>>>> (or in preference to) a password reset tool, is that for folks
>>>>>>> who may have implemented EFS (Encrypting File System) on their
>>>>>>> Windows machines, resetting a Windows account password using one
>>>>>>> of these third party tools will be likely to render files
>>>>>>> encrypted with EFS on that account unreadable (unless they have
>>>>>>> had the foresight to back up their encryption keys, and even
>>>>>>> then it can be problematic).
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> Of course, no harm in having both password recovery and password
>>>>>>> reset options.
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> On the subject of disc encryption, I've been thinking about my
>>>>>>> own data security recently. Having spent quite a lot of time
>>>>>>> researching EFS, I am reluctant to use it. In one way this is a
>>>>>>> pitty as it is readily available on all modern versions of
>>>>>>> Windows, is easy to implement, and provides transparent,
>>>>>>> on-the-fly encryption and decryption. Unfortunately, it's exact
>>>>>>> operation on Windows 7 is poorly documented by Microsoft, and
>>>>>>> there are doubts about its efficacy because of weaknesses in the
>>>>>>> NTLM hashes used to protect the Windows account password, which
>>>>>>> is used as the basis for the file encryption key.
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> This has lead me to look at the recently defunct TrueCrypt and
>>>>>>> other solutions like DiscCryptor as possible alternatives to EFS.
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> TrueCrypt, despite having been officially closed down by its
>>>>>>> developers, might still be a viable encryption option. An
>>>>>>> independent security audit paid for from crowd funding and
>>>>>>> carried out by iSEC Partners has reported no significant flaws
>>>>>>> or backdoors, and a new team is being assembled to take the
>>>>>>> project forward under a new name. Version 7.1a together with all
>>>>>>> documentation is being temporarily hosted elsewhere and can
>>>>>>> still be obtained. This is a well understood tool with excellent
>>>>>>> documentation.
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> DiscCryptor has virtually no documentation to support it, though
>>>>>>> it has a loyal band of enthusiastic reviewers who commend it.
>>>>>>> Unfortunately, the lack of documentation makes it difficult to
>>>>>>> determine how it would work in different scenarios, such as when
>>>>>>> using disc imaging.
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> So not really certain as yet which way I will go, but at
>>>>>>> present, probably leaning towards TrueCrypt.
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> Anyway, my point is that both of these products advise the
>>>>>>> creation of a rescue CD before applying the encryption. In the
>>>>>>> case of TrueCrypt, I believe it is a generic rescue CD which
>>>>>>> could be used to rescue files encrypted with TrueCrypt on any
>>>>>>> machine. In the case of discCryptor, I believe the ISO is
>>>>>>> tailored to each specific installation.
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> This would make TrueCrypt a better candidate for inclusion in a
>>>>>>> live rescue CD than DiscCryptor.
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> This is all a very long-winded way of asking whether it might be
>>>>>>> feasible to include a TrueCrypt rescue tool?
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> I know that Image For Windows, which is an disc imaging package,
>>>>>>> has included a Linux version of TrueCrypt in its Live Linux boot
>>>>>>> CD. I do not know which Linux distro is used in the Image For
>>>>>>> Linux live boot CD, but it is a sort of command prompt type
>>>>>>> environment, where the Image for Linux interface looks and feels
>>>>>>> very much like CloneZilla.
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> Sorry for the ramble and if you made it this far, thanks!
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> Phil
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> -----Original Message-----
>>>>>>> From: vi-tech-testers-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
>>>>>>> [mailto:vi-tech-testers-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx] On Behalf Of
>>>>>>> Mobeen Iqbal
>>>>>>> Sent: 18 July 2014 10:10
>>>>>>> To: vi-tech-testers@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
>>>>>>> Subject: [vi-tech-testers] Functions or packages people would
>>>>>>> like included?
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> Hello phil.
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> Many thanks for the suggestion! Yes i totally agree, the only
>>>>>>> thing that we have to bear in mind is this might end up as a dvd
>>>>>>> release. I will be looking at ophcrack over the next few days. I
>>>>>>> will also be looking into including an MBR repair tool, file
>>>>>>> recovery tool, windows password reset tool, and possibly some
>>>>>>> network troubleshooting tools if people want them. If anyone has
>>>>>>> any other suggestions, please don't hesitate to respond.
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> Thanks for reading,
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> Mo.
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> Agent Orange <agentorange@xxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> Mo,
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> Probably getting ahead of myself here, but one tool which it
>>>>>>> might be useful
>>>>>>> to have on a Linux rescue CD is a Windows password recovery tool
>>>>>>> such as
>>>>>>> Ophcrack. You can already download and burn Ophcrack as a Live
>>>>>>> CD ISO which
>>>>>>> boots into a desktop GUI version of Linux, but of course it
>>>>>>> doesn't talk so
>>>>>>> useless at present. There is another version which runs under
>>>>>>> Linux/Unix
>>>>>>> but not sure whether it would run under Arch.
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> See this link:
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> http://ophcrack.sourceforge.net/
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> Phil
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> -----Original Message-----
>>>>>>> From: vi-tech-testers-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
>>>>>>> [mailto:vi-tech-testers-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx] On Behalf Of
>>>>>>> Mobeen Iqbal
>>>>>>> Sent: 16 July 2014 20:23
>>>>>>> To: vi-tech-testers@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
>>>>>>> Subject: [vi-tech-testers] has anyone tested
>>>>>>> the new
>>>>>>> image?
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> Hello Everyone.
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> Its been rather quiet on here to say the least. Has anyone apart
>>>>>>> from Rill
>>>>>>> had a chance to test the new image? the next stage is going to
>>>>>>> be compiling
>>>>>>> a list of packages or functions that people would like to see
>>>>>>> from a live
>>>>>>> rescue CD version of linux, and documenting the various programs
>>>>>>> chosen for
>>>>>>> a specific task. but of course, a list isn't a list without
>>>>>>> people's
>>>>>>> feedback/comments, so please keep your feedback coming.
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> thanks for reading,
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> Mo.
>>>>
>>>
>>>
>>
>>
>
>
--
Michael A. Ray
Analyst/Programmer
Witley, Surrey, South-east UK
The box said: 'install Windows XP, 7 or better'. So I installed Linux
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