Basic Android Security and Privacy Tips

Posted on by Brody Rethy

Very basic tips to “lockdown” your Android device. Obviously, the best recommendation would be to not use a phone at all, but realistically, in this day in age, that’s not possible.

  • Ensure your Android device is on a supported version, and is always up to date.
  • Use a passphrase (not a PIN).
  • Enable Lockdown mode and learn how to use it.
    • Note: Not all Android device will have this.
  • Change your notification type to Hide sensitive notification content in your Android settings.
  • Use DNS66 to block your Android device from accessing malicious hosts.
  • Remove unused apps and factory installed bloatware using Android App settings on your device.
    • Some apps can’t be uninstalled. In this case, you can force stop, disable them, then clean all app data and cache. This can all be found in the Android App Settings.
  • Alternatively, use Bromide instead of Chrome.
    • Disable Chrome in your App settings if you do install Bromide.
  • Set Screen timeout to the lowest possible setting.
    • It’s surprising considering how much this basic setting is overlooked.
  • Install an alternative Google Play Store, such as Aurora Store, which supports anonymous downloads/login.
  • Install F-Droid for FOSS and Open Source apps, as well as alternatives to closed source apps.
  • Review all privacy and security settings in your Google Account settings.
  • Setup your phone using a brand new Gmail account used only for your Android device. Ensure it’s used only for the purpose of phone syncing, etc.
    • This may not be possible or feasible for everyone.
  • Ensure SD card encryption and Android Filesystem encryption is turned on.
    • Depending on your Android version, and device, this is might be on by default.

Infinite VMware Workstation Pro Free Trials

Posted on by Brody Rethy

Disclaimer

This article is for research purposes. If you do this, I will not be held responsible for any VMWare license violations that may occur.

Steps

Once your initial trial is up, do the following steps:

  • Close VMware.
  • Navigate to the following registry key: Computer\HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\WOW6432Node\VMware, Inc.\VMware Workstation
  • Find the sub-key named License.... It will have extra text at the end. Delete this key.
  • Rerun VMware.

stable-diffusion-webui And Dealing With Multiple GPUs

Posted on by Brody Rethy

This article deals with AUTOMATIC1111/stable-diffusion-webui on Windows 11. Linux would have slightly different steps – more specifically around webui-user.bat/webui-user.sh – but they’re still both pretty similar and use the same environment variable names, just different scripting languages.

If you have multiple GPUs, you can use the following line to choose between each of them:

set CUDA_VISIBLE_DEVICES=0

Note that 0 is for GPU number 1, and 1 and for GPU number 2. If you have more, then the number would continue…

You can find out which GPU is assigned to which number by opening Task Manager -> Performance, where GPU 0 would have the value 0, and GPU 1 would have the value 1.

Using cwm On OpenBSD

Posted on by Brody Rethy

cwm actions are initiated either via key or mouse bindings. The following notations are used throughout this page:

C
    Control key.
M
    Meta key.
S
    Shift key.
4
    Mod4 (windows) key.
M1
    Left mouse button.
M2
    Middle mouse button.
M3
    Right mouse button.

The default key bindings are:

CM-Return
    Spawn a new terminal.
CM-Delete
    Lock the screen.
M-Return
    Hide current window.
M-Down
    Lower current window.
M-Up
    Raise current window.
M-slash
    Search for windows.
C-slash
    Search for applications.
CM-n
    Label current window.
M-Tab
    Cycle through currently visible windows.
MS-Tab
    Reverse cycle through currently visible windows.
M-grave
    Cycle through currently visible windows of the same window class.
MS-grave
    Reverse cycle through currently visible windows of the same window class.
CM-x
    Close current window.
CM-[n]
    Toggle visibility of group n, where n is 1-9.
CM-a
    Toggle visibility of all groups.
CM-g
    Toggle group membership of current window.
M-Right
    Cycle through active groups.
M-Left
    Reverse cycle through active groups.
CMS-f
    Toggle freezing geometry of current window.
CM-s
    Toggle stickiness of current window.
CM-f
    Toggle full-screen mode of current window.
CM-m
    Toggle maximization of current window.
CM-equal
    Toggle vertical maximization of current window.
CMS-equal
    Toggle horizontal maximization of current window.
M-[hjkl]
    Move window by a small amount.
MS-[hjkl]
    Move window by a large amount; see cwmrc(5).
CM-[hjkl]
    Resize window by a small amount.
CMS-[hjkl]
    Resize window by a large amount; see cwmrc(5).
M-question
    Spawn “exec program” dialog.
M-period
    Spawn “ssh to” dialog. This parses $HOME/.ssh/known_hosts to provide host auto-completion. ssh(1) will be executed via the configured terminal emulator.
CM-w
    Spawn “exec WindowManager” menu, allowing a switch to another window manager.
CMS-r
    Restart.
CMS-q
    Quit.

The default mouse bindings are:

M-M1
    Move current window.
CM-M1
    Toggle group membership of current window.
M-M2
    Resize current window
M-M3
    Lower current window.
CMS-M3
    Hide current window.

The following key bindings may be used to navigate search and exec dialogs:

[Return]
    Select item.
[Down], C-s or M-j
    Next item.
[Up], C-r or M-k
    Previous item.
[Backspace] or C-h
    Backspace.
C-u
    Clear input.
C-a
    List all available items.
[Esc]
    Cancel.

Enable BitLocker Without A TPM Chip (Password-Based Authentication)

Posted on by Brody Rethy
  1. Open Edit group policy.
  2. Navigate to the following directory:
    • Computer Configuration -> Administrative templates -> Windows Components -> BitLocker Drive Encryption -> Operating System Drives
  3. Open/configure the following setting: Require additional authentication at startup. Note, do not open the one named Require additional authentication at startup (Windows Server 2008 and Windows Vista) unless you are using Windows Server 2008 or Vista.
  4. Change the option from Not Configured to Enabled.

If you try encrypting your OS drive without a TPM chip, you’ll now notice you have the option to setup a password or use a drive as a passkey as well.

How To Do IRC Idling Properly

Posted on by Brody Rethy

Requirements

  1. An Internet connected server.
    • This can be a VPS or a on-prem. server you control that’s accessable from the Internet. You could do something on your LAN as well, but that’s up to you.
  2. Knowledge of IRC.
  3. Knowledge of tmux session attaching/detaching. You can read my quick article about it here: Persistent SSH Sessions Using tmux.

Steps

  1. Open or attach to a tmux session.
  2. Install weechat or irssi (recommended), depending on your preference.
  3. Open irssi.
  4. Connect to the server you want to join. Example: /connect irc.libera.chat.
  5. Join the channel. Example: /join #blastwave.
  6. Detach from the tmux session and go about your day. Then, come back whenever and reattach.

Bonus article

  1. https://zenhack.net/2017/01/08/public-service-announcement-irc-is-not-a-syncronous-medium.html

Accessing QEMU/KVM From An Android Device Over SSH/SPICE Server

Posted on by Brody Rethy

Assuming you have QEMU/KVM setup, you can access your VMs from your Android phone. This is thanks to the SPICE protocol already being enabled by default in (virt-manager created) VMs. It’s pretty simple if you already have your virt-manager + QEMU/KVM environment setup.

  1. Install the aSPICE Free app from the Google Play Store
  2. Open the aSPICE Free app
  3. Create a new connection by pressing the icon next to the Search Connections search bar. It’s a computer monitor with a plus symbol. It looks like this: [+].
  4. Input your server credentials, and be sure to switch the Connection Type from SPICE to SPICE over SSH.
    • Each individual connection shortcut you save is an individual VM. The way SPICE works is by hosting a VM video stream on an iterating port. Usually they start on 5900, then go 5901, and so on for every new VM started. These numbers are freed up and moved around when VMs are turned off, so be aware of changing connection details depending on if your VM was restarted or not.

Watching RTMP Streams In VLC Media Player

Posted on by Brody Rethy

“Real-Time Messaging Protocol (RTMP) is a communication protocol for streaming audio, video, and data over the Internet. Originally developed as a proprietary protocol by Macromedia for streaming between Flash Player and the Flash Communication Server, Adobe (which acquired Macromedia) has released an incomplete version of the specification of the protocol for public use.” – Taken from Wikipedia

  1. Install VLC Media Player
  2. Open VLC Media Player
  3. In the top left menu bar under the Media tab, click Open Network Stream…
  4. Paste or type your link in the Please enter a network URL: field
  5. Click Play