How To Password Protect Your Linux Box (OS) With GRUB

GRUB, the Only bootloader for Linux OS, as NTLDR works in windows..

here , the basic idea for Securing the Linux box wiht GRUB is, we implies sum security on GRUB itself..The MOst basic Phase in Loading Of An Operating System.

 

However , Gettin bypassed with GRUb is also not that much difficult, its as easy as Burning a MATCH STICk, bt guys, i wud tell u that somehow later.

So wt the basic idea is, If you don't want someone booting your machine without permission, you can add a password to your GRUB entries. You can add a password only to specific entries if you wish; this will require a user to enter a password before loading only those boot entries you protect. This can be useful when done on your Recovery Mode entries, which bring up a passwordless root login by default.

To get started, let's first encrypt the password we want to use. Open up a terminal and enter the grub command. This brings up a grub shell. In this shell, enter the md5crypt command. When prompted, type in the password you want on your grub entries. (Don't worry, this won't write anything to your files!) After pressing Enter, you will be given an encrypted password string. Copy the string to your clipboard. Enter quit to exit the grub shell and return to bash.

Code:

GNU GRUB  version 0.95  (640K lower / 3072K upper memory)

 [ Minimal BASH-like line editing is supported.  For the first word, TAB
   lists possible command completions.  Anywhere else TAB lists the possible
   completions of a device/filename. ]

grub> md5crypt

Password: *************
Encrypted: $1$w7Epf0$vX6rxpozznLAVxZGkcFcs.

grub>

Now that we have an encrypted password, it's time to add it to grub. Using sudo, open up /boot/grub/menu.lst using your favorite text editor.

 

Note : if ur version of linux Box does not Encrypts password as such, Then you may have to Copy The encrypted passwrd frm the Shadow Fiel..(If U r having this case, do ask me, n i wud tell u the whole game IN step wise step manner)
After the "initrd" line for each entry you want to password protect, start a new line beginning with password --md5 and paste in your newly-encrypted password. Using the above example password on the i386 recovery entry, this:

Code:

title Ubuntu, kernel 2.6.8.1-2-386 (recovery mode)
        root (hd1,2)
        kernel /boot/vmlinuz-2.6.8.1-2-386 root=/dev/hdb3 ro single
        initrd /boot/initrd.img-2.6.8.1-2-386

Becomes this:

Code:

title Ubuntu, kernel 2.6.8.1-2-386 (recovery mode)
        root (hd1,2)
        kernel /boot/vmlinuz-2.6.8.1-2-386 root=/dev/hdb3 ro single
        initrd /boot/initrd.img-2.6.8.1-2-386
        password --md5 $1$w7Epf0$vX6rxpozznLAVxZGkcFcs.

You must add such a line after every entry you want to password protect. As I mentioned earlier, I password protected my recovery mode entries out of sheer paranoia.

Save the file, and reboot. (The first time you try this, I suggest only doing it to one entry so you can test it to make sure it works, and you can still use another entry to boot your machine in case something went wrong.)

For a bit of added peace of mind, you can prevent everyone except root from reading /boot/grub/menu.lst by doing:

Code:

sudo chmod 600 /boot/grub/menu.lst

______________________________________________________________________________

Thats it u r finished with it.

Hopes u enjoy this., have fun. Enjoy Hacking.. Enjoy

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Stop users from writing to usb

If you have windows XP with SP2, then you can disable the writing option to USB drives.

This trick is very useful if you have some viruses in your computer and want to copy files from a USB Drive but u don’t want to transfer virus to the USB. Follow the given steps to disable the USB writing

option:

To edit the computer registry, first you should log onto ur computer with administrative rights.

Click on Start button and type “Regedit” in Run option.

Here locate the location to:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control

Here in right side panel, click right to create a key with the name “StorageDevicePolicies”.

Now in left side panel, select “ StorageDevicePolicies ” key, again right click to create new DWORD value and then label it “ WriteProtect ”. Set its value to “ 1 ″. But again to

enable writing, set its values to “0″.

Now close the registry editor and restart your computer after

any changes to go into effect.

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Create a Shortcut to Lock Your Computer

Leaving your computer in a hurry but you don’t want to logoff? now You can double-click a shortcut on your desktop to quickly lock the keyboard and display without using CTRL+ ALT+DEL or a screensaver.

To create a shortcut on your desktop to lock your computer:

Right-click the desktop.

Point to New, and then click Shortcut.

The Create Shortcut Wizard opens.

In the text box, type the following:

rundll32.exe user32.dll,LockWorkStation

Click Next.

Enter a name for the shortcut.

You can call it "Lock Workstation" . choose any name you like.

Click Finish.

You can also change the shortcut's icon

To change the icon:

Right click the shortcut and then select Properties.

Click the Shortcut tab,

click the Change Icon button.

In the Look for icons in this file text box, type:

Shell32.dll.

Click OK.

Select one of the icons from the list and then click OK

You could also give it a shortcut keystroke such CTRL +ALT+L. This would save you only one keystroke from the normal command, but it could be more convenient.

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Adjust LargeSystemCache

Normally, the tweak I've seen asks you to go into HKLM\System\CurrentControlSet\Control\SessionManager\Memory Management and change the value either O or 1 to the adjustment LargeSystemCache.

However, in Windows XP, all you have to do is:

· Right-click My Computer.

· Select Properties.

· Click Advanced.

· Choose Performance.

· Click Advanced again.

· Select either Programs or System Cache.

Programs = 0 for the registry tweak equivalent System Cache = 1 for the registry tweak equivalent

· On NT Server (in this case XP), the Large System Cache option is enabled, but disabled on Workstation The 2 different settings effect how the cache manager allocates free memory. If the Large Cache option is on, manager marks all the free memory, which isn't being used by the system and / or by applications, as freely available for disk caching.

· On the flip-side (with a small cache), the manager instead only sets aside four MB of memory for disk caching in an attempt to accelerate the launch of the

applications.Or in a more technical approach,if enabled the system will favor system-cache working sets over process working sets (with a working set basically being the memory used by components of a process).

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Turn Off Autoplay for Program CDs

How can you stop Windows XP from launching program CDs? Its very simple, just follow these steps:

· Click Start, click Run, type GPEDIT.MSC to open Group Policy in the Microsoft Management Console.

· Double-click Computer Configuration, double-click Administrative templates, double-click System, and then click Turn off autoplay.

· The instructions on your screen describe how to configure this setting. Click Properties to display the setting dialog.

· Click Enabled, and choose CD-ROM drives, then click OK, to stop CD autoplay.

This setting does not prevent Autoplay for music CDs.

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Block incomming connections

Limit your exposure to the outside world by blocking incomming connections.

Start > Settings > Control Panel > Network Connections

Right click on "Local Area Network" And go to "Properties",

In the scroll box, Click on "Internet Protocol (IP/TCP)" and then click on the "Properties".

In the new window, Click on the "Advanced.." button,

In the other new window go to the "Options" tab, Click on "TCP/IP Filtering" and hit "Properties".

Check off "Enable TCP/IP filtering (All adapters)" .

In the Above "TCP Ports" Click on the Radio button "Permit Only" and then add in the ports that you want people to be able to access... If you're running a web server add in 80, If you're running an FTP server add in 21... And so on...

Then hit "OK" And close all the other windows.

Reboot when it asks you too.

This way you can close the ports that you do not need to be open to the outside world. An alternative to this tweak could be running a firewall or enabling windows built in firewall. Please note that in order for other computers to connect to you, for example sending a file over AOL Instant Messenger or using Windows Messenger to send a file, make sure that the required port is not blocked on your system. Otherwise, nothing will go through.

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Delete undeletable files in windows XP and Vista

Some files and folders are undeletable for example virus affected files and folders, when we try to delete them, it will show an error message like Cannot delete file: the file is in use by the other program or it can be like Disk is not full or write-protected and that the file is not currently in use or any other such kind error message. Now here is trick to delete such kind of files
for this you simply need to download a freeware tool called Unlocker.
You can download this free. Follow these steps:



1). Download unlocker and then install it.

2). After installation, right click on file or folder that you want to delete.

3). Select the option Unlocker.

4). If your requested file or folder is used or locked by other application then a small window listing of lockers will appear.

5). Here simply click on Unlock All button.

6). Now you can easily delete this file by just pressing delete button of your keyboard.



Click here to download unlocker.

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Scan and Replace window's corrupted System Files

If your computer running slowly or not working properly then there may be some problem in its System files. System files are group of program files that work together to run your computer. These files can be changed or corrupted with time, it may corrupts due to installation of softwares, some internal errors or due to viruses, which makes computer slower.

Scan your system files to check if they are working fine or having some errors. In case of damaged system files you can repair or replace them. It can be done by System file checker.


System File Checker is a utility in Microsoft Windows that allows users to scan for and restore corruptions in Windows system files. This utility is available on Windows 98, Windows 2000, Windows XP, and Windows Vista.


Follow these steps to use System file Checker:

1). Go to Run.
2). Type SFC /SCANNOW and click on ok button.
3). It will start scanning proccess and this process takes longer time, it can be more than 30 mins.
4). In case window having some problems, It will display some steps to follow. just follow those steps.

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Protect your computer by using Sandbox

There are several security mechanisms that help to prevent users from virus attacks and hackers. The most common are anti-virus, anti-spyware, but there is one more form of security known as sandbox. It is little known but its very effective.
Sandbox is security mechanism that creates a virtual space in which all changes to files, settings and downloads are performed intercepted and, after restarting the computer, they are erased from the disk.
There are few sandbox programs such as Sandboxie and Virtual Sandbox, which allows you to run any program installed on your computer.

Sandboxie runs your programs in an isolated space which prevents them from making permanent changes to other programs and data in your computer.

Sanboxie has many advantages. It provides Secure Web Browsing. As all malicious software downloaded by the browser is trapped in the sandbox and can be discarded trivially. It Enhanced Privacy, collects Browsing history, cookies, and cached temporary files while Web browsing stay in the sandbox and don't leak into Windows.It Secure from E-mail Viruses and other malicious software. They can't break out and can't infect your real system. It also Prevents wear-and-tear in Windows by installing software into an isolated sandbox.
It sounds like virtualizaiton, it is. But it's small, lightweight virtualization, whereas full blown virtualization products are large and cumbersome. Also, the changes Sandboxie makes to your computer are minimal compared to full-fledged desktop virtualization software like that offered by VMware.
Click here to Download Sandboxie.

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Block and Enable usage of USB Removable Disks

This tip will allow you to block usage of USB removable disks, but will continue to allow usage of USB mice, keyboards or any other USB-based device that is NOT a portable disk.

Block usage of USB Removable Disks

To block your computer's ability to use USB Removable Disks follow these steps:

1. Open Registry Editor.

2. In Registry Editor, navigate to the following registry key:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\USBSTOR

3. Locate the following value (DWORD):Start and give it a value of 4(four).

4. Close Registry Editor.

You do not need to reboot the computer for changes to apply.

Enable usage of USB Removable Disks

To return to the default configuration and enable your computer's ability to use USB Removable Disks follow these steps:

1. Go to the registry path found above.

2. Locate the following value: Start and give it a value of 3(three).

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Remove Passwrd from PDF files

Portable Document Format(PDF) is file format used for document exchange. It is used world wide to share important information. Some protect their PDF files with passwords and restrictions that no body can copy or change their information. So here is a tool to remove PDF password, It is named as PDF Password Remover.

PDF Password Remover is designed to remove the password and restrictions of PDF files.

To remove passwords, Right-click the PDF file, select Decrypt with PDF Password Remover from the shortcut menu, the restrictions will be removed in seconds. It is easy for you to copy, edit or print the PDF files after decryption.

You can download it free. Here is download link.

Click here to download

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Trace and Recover stolen Laptops - Install Antitheft software

Chances to recover your stolen laptops are zero if you don’t have a tracing or recovery software installed on the mac or windows laptop, however, prevention is better than cure, So here we have an advanced anti-theft laptop software for Windows Gadget Track.

If your laptop is stolen, it will tell you where is it? Who has it? even what is he wearing?

GadgetTrak Windows is the most advanced theft recovery solution available for today's Windows systems. It is designed for the latest laptops, it uses integrated web cameras and wi-fi. When remotely activated the software will capture photos of the thief as well as their specific location every 30 minutes and send it to your email as well as Flickr account. It also use Google Map to pin point the location.

It is simple web based application. For its activation you have to login into your online account and have to click a button to activate tracking. The next time your PC connects to the Internet the software will activate and start sending you emails with the specific location and network environment of the system and photos.

You can buy this from link given : http://www.gadgettrak.com/ or Click here

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Control number of cookies

How do you control the number of cookies you allow on your system? If you want to increase your computer security then Block cookies from sites that use personal information. just follow these steps:

Click Start > Control Panel > Network And Internet Connections > Internet Options.

Click the Privacy tab, then use the slider bar to modify your cookie settings.

For instance, you can block cookies from sites that use personal identification without your consent. but if you want to further increase your security, then go for other privacy settings in this dialog. here you have options to Accept All Cookies and to Block All Cookies, with low, medium, medium-high, and high settings in between.

But before doing anything keep in mind that rejecting cookies may limit your actions on some Web sites and accepying all cookies may be harmful for you and for your system

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Protect MSOffice document with Password

You can protect your document by applying password so that unauthorized person can not display as well as modify your document.

Here are the steps:

1). Open any Office Documents.

2). Click File and Select Save As.

3). Now click Tools in that dialouge box.

4). Here click on General Option.

5). Now give the passwords to open and to modify.

6). click OK.

7). After that re-enter those passwords to confirm them.

8). Click Save button of Save As dialog box.Its done.

Now your document is password protected, noone can read or modify it without that password. You can use this trick to maintain and to protect your personal dairy from others..

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Lock your PC with USB Drive - Cool Computer Tricks

Here is a cool trick to lock your PC with USB drive. It can be done with the help of a free program called USB PC Lock Pro. It works on Windows only and needs to be installed on the computer and not on the USB flash drive.


USB PC Lock Pro Turns any USB Flash Drive into a key that prevents unauthorized people from using your computer. USB pc Lock will automatically lock your computer and perform other actions when you step away from it.

It Stops streaming media traffic, Mute audio and Start/Stop event logger.

This program is freely available on internet. You can download it from anywhere and have to installed it on your computer.

Click Here To download USB PC Lock Pro

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Visit Sites which required Registration without Registration

Nowadays many free websites have registration walls, user can't acesss data without registration. User have to registered themselve first on a free Web site just to read some news or view some information. This registration task is very annoying, it is also a potential source of email.



Now you can get access to protected content without signing up for an account. For this you have to visit Bugmenot.



Bugmenot is an internet service that provides usernmes and passwords to let Internet users bypass mandatory free registration on websites.

you just need to type URL of websites website that you’d like to access in the URL box on front page of bugmenot. Click on get Login. BugMeNot then will return a list of user names and passwords along with their accuracy percentage.

you can easily get access to that website by using these logins and passwords.

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Lock Your Hard Drive Without Password

go to folder options in any opened window,go to the second tab i.e VIEW tab...

go to last option i.e use simple file sharing.......tick it up....apply and close it....

Come to the My Computer window,now right click on any hard drive and further go to the security option and then allow or deny the permission of using that Hard Drive........

Further if u want complete denial then just remove the tick of the simple file sharing option.

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Perform Disk Error Checking in Windows XP

It describes how to check the integrity of the hard disk drive in Windows XP. After you install Windows XP, the Scandisk command is not available.

· Double-click My Computer, and then right-click the hard disk drive that you want to check.

· Click Properties, and then click Tools.

· Under Error-checking, click Check Now.

· Click Start.

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Lock DISK DRIVES without any software - Cool Computer Tricks

We don’t usually prefer to lock our drives, but sometimes it becomes nesscary. So here is trick to lock drives without any software, For this you have to do some changes in registry editor.
Please don’t try this tweak with your root drive (usually C:\ is the root drive) since root drives are not intended to be locked because they are mandatory for the system and application programs.

1). Click on Start and Run and then type Regedit to open Registry editor window.

2). In registry editor window Browse

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\ CurrentVersion\Policies\Explorer

3). Create a new DWORD value name it NoViewOnDrive and set its value as 2^(Alpha Number of Drive Letter-1) where Alpha number are simple counting of alphabets from A to Z as 1 – 26

For example: to lock C:\, Alpha number of C is 3 so 2^ (3-1) = 4 (decimal value)

A: 1

C: 4

D: 8

E: 16

F: 32

G: 64

H: 128

4). To lock more drives, calculate the value of each drive and then set sum of those numbers as value

5). To unlock your drive just delete the key from the registry.


6). Press F5 to refresh.
Its done.

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Encrypt Storage devices like Hard disk Drives, USB flash drive

If you have some sensitive and important data in your hard disk or in your USB flash drive then a good idea is to encrypt data. Encryption is very important for security. You can go for Hardware level encryption, but it is costly. Easier and cheaper way is to get a free program to encrypt your data just as securely. One of such encrypt program is TrueCrypt. You can go any encrypt software programs, most of them works.



TrueCrypt freeware encryption program. It has 11 algorithms for encrypting your private files in a password-protected volume. You can store your encrypted data in files (containers) or partitions (devices). TrueCrypt works hard to offer powerful data protection, recommending complex passwords, explaining the benefits of hidden volumes, and erasing telltale signs of the encryption process, including mouse movements and keystrokes.

Its a freeware program so easily available on internet. Just download it and encrypt your files.

Click Here To Download TrueCrypt

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