Kali: Fresh Install Checklist
I have this information over in my GitLab but wanted to replicate it in a blog post here with extended commentary. As of the date this post was published (u...
Posts by Year
2023
Struggling with Gitlab Pages and Route 53 Domain Ownership
If you’ve been to Fort Kickass before, you’ll notice a different look. I spent the last couple weeks of nights and weekends migrating off my AWS EC2 and Wo...
How To Bypass xlsx Spreadsheet Protection
The problem you’ve encountered is you have an .xlsx file that has password-protected data inside and you need to get at that information. I encountered this ...
2022
BloodHound: Incompatible Collector
If you’re having problems with your SharpHound output uploading to BloodHound, you may be victim of an old version/new version incompatibility.
windows-exploit-suggester.py Wont Read .xlsx Database
Problem: windows-exploit-suggester.py isn’t reading the database file generated from the --update. It claims it doesn’t support xlsx files even though I ran ...
AutoRecon Broke!
“I used Tib3rius’s AutoRecon successfully, like, a week ago but now it’s broken!” Chances are that you also recently ran an apt update && apt upgrad...
2021
VMware Workstation: “MonitorLoop” power on failed
Are you trying to power on a virtual machine on your ESXi host and VMware Workstation is telling you, “Unable to change virtual machine power state: Module ‘...
A Belated Review of SEC573: Automating Information Security With Python
Over the 20 or so years I’ve been writing code I’d never taken a class in a language. As a web developer (PHP), software engineer (Perl), or SysAdmin (bas...
2020
A Tale of Two PoCs or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Honeypot
The proofs of concept advertised a user-interactionless reverse shell, which was was contrary to the Microsoft advisory that clearly stated the vulnerability...
“Cards Against Humanity” Remotely
I am typing this for my friends who have responded to my call on social media for a good old fashioned game of (socially distant) Cards Against Humanity. Wha...
Steam Crashes When Launching in Linux Mint
I recently tried to launch Steam on my Linux Mint daily driver. A window popped up to check for updates and seemed to progress normally until it crashed. The...
2019
Trick certbot into auto-configuring Amazon Linux 2
I use Let’s Encrypt to enable SSL/TLS encryption on all my websites. Unfortunately, certbot is not as familiar with the distant relative of the Red Hat famil...
PHP Warning: require_once(Mail.php): failed to open stream
This one is pretty simple but sometimes frustrating to troubleshoot because the error below has you hunting for a file called Mail.php somewhere in your docu...
How to Copy a Lot of Files With rsync
In order to add a new drive to my Linux desktop for a new /home partition, I needed to copy a lot of files to an external USB drive. The directory was large ...
2018
Can’t Connect to Remote MongoDB
If you have a brand new install of MongoDB on a remote server, and you’re trying to connect to it with MongoDB Compass but you keep getting the following err...
2017
Hacking Windows 7 Professional Edition, SP2
Since taking the SANS SEC560 Network Penetration Testing and Ethical Hacking course earlier this summer, I’ve spent most of my time studying for the GIAC Pen...
Intrusion Detection For Windows
This morning, I was discussing with a colleague the last time I really felt like I had a handle on Windows under the hood: Windows NT. As soon as I had separ...
My “Leaderboard Syndrome” Moment
I zoomed straight in on #1 and found an episode of Shop Talk from three years ago, Special: One on One with a Hacker. About halfway through the episode, I ex...
The 44th Annual Cambridge Beer Festival, Day 5
Votes cast for Baltic Trader, Prince of Denmark, Gigesa Guji, and Lavender Honey
The 44th Annual Cambridge Beer Festival, Day 1
2017 marks the fourth year I have been fortunate enough to attend the Cambridge Beer Festival on Jesus Green in central Cambridge. It is my favorite annual e...
2017 Cambridge Beer Festival: Preview
This week marks my attendance to 4 consecutive Cambridge Beer Festivals on Jesus Green. Last year, 2016, was my high point as I was able to not only attend e...
Pay No Attention to That Laughing Man Behind the Curtain
One thing I’ve always loved about the Internet are the odd bits of humanity that periodically emerge from behind the digital curtains.
2016
VMWare Workstation Isn’t Working With My Keyboard
“Further, when it does capture my keyboard it keeps repeating the same key infinitellllllllllllllllll….”
2015
Coming Back to Web Development
Back to basics
Read-Only Friday
The law of the land
Protip: XHTML to HTML5 Inexplicable Vertical Space
If you’ve changed the DOCTYPE of an older site using XHTML to HTML5 and now your images have an inexplicable space beneath them, it’s not just you.
An Eventual Lifetime of Lessons Learned
35 isn’t too late for two things: