The GSPC’s New Home

The Al-Qaeda allied GSPC have reinstated thier web presence. This time at the obscure web address of moonnight1234.com.

As usual it’s littered with Al-Qaeda propaganda, beheading films and Salafist texts.

Details below the break.

Recovering Windows Passwords with the Ophcrack Live-CD

I occasionally have the need to either audit the passwords on Windows domains or individual systems and use a few different methods of accomplishing this. With the advent of “time/memory trade off cracking” standard Windows passwords on systems using Lan-Man or NTLM hashes (the Windows default) can typically be cracked in less than an hour, often in just few minutes. I’ve discussed these vulnerabilities in the past but this post will deal with a few more specific tools instead of “cracking theory”.

Time/Memory cracking uses pre-computed tables of password variations encoded with LM or NTLM hashes. For example, a windows password of “password”, when encoded with the LM hash, looks like this “E52CAC67419A9A22″. One of my favorite tools for cracking Windows hashes is called “Ophcrack” and it can be installed on Linux or Windows. Ophcrack has a simple GUI interface and uses a set of optimized precomputed Rainbow Tables for cracking. If you enter the password hash mentioned above (E52CAC67419A9A22) into Ophcrack the program will search it’s precomputed table for a match, when it finds the hash it knows what plain text password generated it in the table and returns that to you as “password”.

Media coverage of WMD document

Wednesday around 5PM Eastern, the House Select Committee on Intelligence released a document that says we have found WMD in Iraq. InstaPundit has a roundup of comments on this document. What strikes me as odd, however, is the complete silence on the topic from the major media. Here’s a media round up, as of 12:17AM, EST:

CNN.com’s headline: Marines file murder charges. Their other headlines:

• Al Qaeda’s No. 2 releases new video
• Sex-with-inmates probe triggers gunfight
• Guards’ reign of terror alleged in indictment
• Pentagon waited to say 2 soldiers killed by Iraqis
• Kin ‘devastated’ to hear of soldiers’ deaths on TV
• Paralyzed rat walking after stem cell transplant
• Gang accused of selling ‘Max Pain’ heroin
• Teen chained to her bed for bad grades
• Dobbs: Congress stiffs working Americans
• NRA targets conference on illegal gun trade
• Dude with Elvis hair builds mini Graceland
• What’s the most popular noun? Take your time …
• ‘DaVinci’ stirs interest in smileless Mona Lisa

Just so I get this straight, “What’s the most popular noun?” trumps WMD in Iraq? Me thinks you doth protest too little.

Jihadist Propoganda: Islam Memo, Muhammad Abu Nasr, and Jihad Unspun

I initially missed this article over at the US Department of State regarding the Jihadist propoganda machine and the dissemination of that propoganda on the Internet.

Be sure to bookmark the following links:

US Department of State Identifying Misinformation Resource

US Department of State International Information Program

Read the rest of the article below the break.

Windows Trojan and Bot Statistics for 2005

There's an article over at eWeek that provides some interesting insight into the number of Windows machines infected with Bots and Trojans from January 2005 to date. Keep in mind that these numbers only include numbers from Microsoft's "Malicious Software Removal Tool" and not anti-virus vendors such as Symantec and Trend Micro. I've been told by persons I consider experts in the bot field that there are around 300 million malware infected Windows machines on the Internet (give or take a few).

Apache2: Forcing All Inbound Traffic to SSL

So, you have an Apache 2 web server and you have decided that you want to force all inbound traffic to be encrypted via HTTPS (port 443) instead of HTTP (port 80). This method actually “dumbs down” the connection so the average user can’t inadvertently negotiate your web site without encrypting their traffic.

Michael Fumento: The New Band Of Brothers

The following is an excellent, graphic story of a photo journalist embedded with the 1st Battalion, 506th Infantry Regiment, 101st Airborne Division in Ramadi, Iraq.

Via Michael Fumento’s website where he details the story of an embedded patrol with combined elements of the Iraqi Army, US Army and US Navy SEALS.

Photographer Toby Morris describes patrols with 1st Battalion as “just intense. You go out and you know something is going to happen.” But Capt. Claburn, still an excited kid at 29, tells us how long it will take to happen. He explains that it takes the bad guys about 45 minutes to arrange an attack. “Within 15 minutes the spotters usually come out, and they’ll identify your position,” he says. (I’m quoting here from a dispatch by Todd Pitman.) “Within 30 minutes the weapons get brought in,” he adds. “And usually about 45 minutes after being on the ground, you can pretty much guarantee that you’re going to get shot at.”

You can practically set your watch by the attacks. Just three minutes short of the Claburn mark, a white car bears down on an Iraqi patrol, and a passenger opens up with an AK. “Did I call it or what?” Claburn tells Pitman with a grin as the battle is joined. “Forty-two minutes on the ground. It’s a science.”

We break into a house and storm up the stairs to the roof, yelling “Friendly coming out!” so that those ahead of us won’t think we’re, well, not friendlies. No action. So we start back down and all hell breaks loose so we storm right back up.

View Fumento video (Note: video blurred to protect identity of SEALs. Large .wmv file, Mulaab Firefight, 6,701kb)

I’m with a number of SEALs, the two other reporters, and Claburn. It’s the right building top. As we take fire, Claburn yells: “Hear them cracking over your head? That’ll get your peter hard, huh?” A SEAL near me has an old wooden-stock M-79 40mm grenade launcher (affectionately called a “Thumper”) that was phased out late in the Vietnam war in favor of the M-203, a 40mm tube attached below an M-16 rifle. I had wondered why he’d chosen to carry this but now found out.

Another vehicle is spotted, a flatbed with four jihadists bearing AKs. Claburn and others bring it to a screeching halt with a fusillade of bullets to the engine block; then the SEAL with the Thumper smoothly extracts it from a strap around his waist as if it’s just another appendage and drops the grenade dead center on the jihadists’ truck. One shot; one kill. Those SEALs fight like machines.

It’s a long story, go and read it all.

Protein Wisdom Interviews: Abu Masub al-Zarqawi

Via Protein Wisdom.

protein wisdom: “First of all, I’d like to thank you for taking this time to sit down with me, an infidel dog, and a Jew infidel dog, to boot. But I think it’s important that we as Westerners try really to understand what it is that motivates people like you—21st century Minutemen, the Thomas Paines and George Washingtons of the new Caliphate, to hear some speak of it.”

al-Zarqawi:

protein wisdom: “…You know, because of the root causes and such…

al-Zarqawi:

protein wisdom: “And, like, blowback.”

al-Zarqawi:

protein wisdom: “– that type stuff.”

al-Zarqawi:

protein wisdom: “C’mon, man, you gotta work with me here. Troops on Saudi soil? Israel? Cinemax After Dark?”

Go read it all.

Abu Masub al-Zarqawi: Paradise Blows

Abu Masub al-Zarqawi is guest posting over at Iowahawks blog and giving up all the gory details on the whole “72 virgins” thing.

Okay, Thursday morning. I clock in at the office, pour a mug of tea, fire up the laptop and check out the latest posts on dKos. Sure, I’ve had my differences with them in the past. But with morale the way it is Allah knows we need a good laugh around here, and that shit is funnier than Homestar Runner. They had a new parody up, and I swear it had me roaring so hard I was on the verge of a shit hemorrhage. It had Kahlid laughing to the point of tears, and when he goes to wipe his good eye he almost puts it out with his hook, and then this makes Mahmoud squirt tea through his nose, and then this gets the whole damn office going. We’re all just fucking roaring, when suddenly there’s this silence, and then a funny high-pitched noise.

Tariq says, “did you just hear th…”

Now, back in the madrassa when we studied the afterlife, I always wondered what would be the last thing to go through my head. I’m pretty sure now it was one of Mahmoud’s anklebones. And if you’re wondering if it was painless? Imagine a full-frontal 800 degree root canal while listening to a Neil Young record. But hey, I figure no big whoop, just the admission price to heaven’s eternal ho sammich.

Heh.

Abu Musab al-Zarqawi takes the Dirt Nap.

In the Name of God, the Merciful, the Compassionate. Abu Musab al-Zarqawi (and his spiritual advisor Sheik Abdul Rahman) has met his end at the hands of Iraqi and Coalition Forces near Baquba, Iraq. Zarqawi was responsible for the systematic and methodical slaughter of scores of Coalition and Iraqi forces and Iraqi civilians. He was a man who killed ruthlessly in an effort too force the perverted Salafist ideology of al-Qaeda onto everyone he could.

Task Force 145, Delta Force, Task Force Black, the SAS and other units were called into play to deliver the blow.

There is a special place in Hell for swine like al-Zarqawi and Inshalla, he will spend eternity in it.

There are more details at the Jawa Report, Clarity and Resolve, The Counter Terror Blog and Michelle Malkin.

Update: I'm going to mention again that The Counter Terror Blog has some very good information on the efforts to counter al-Zarqawi, the contributing writers there are really covering this story in depth.

Task Force 145 Liquidates al-Zarqawi

There is a considerable amount of traffic looking for details on Task Force 145. The Counter Terror Blog has a nice summary of the Task Forces efforts thus far.

Task Force 145 was very likely the linchpin in the success in killing Zarqawi, Sheik Abd-Al-Rahman, his spiritual adviser, and other lieutenants during a high-level meeting. Over the past two months, TF-145 has conducted numerous raids and killed or captured numerous high-level members of Zarqawi's organization in the area directly north and west of Baghdad. Known strikes against senior members of al-Qaeda in Iraq's organization were executed in Baghdad, Ramadi, Yusifiyah, Muthana Chemical Complex at Lake Thar Thar, Samarra, Karbala, Jublayah, and Balad. Zarqawi was finally identified and targeted in Baquba, a city with an entrenched insurgent presence. “Tips and intelligence from Iraqi senior leaders from his network led forces to al-Zarqawi and some of his associates who were conducting a meeting approximately eight kilometers north of Baqubah when the air strike was launched,” according to Multinational Forces-Iraq.

Task Force 145's operations were not random, but a concerted operation based on intelligence on al-Qaeda's organization and whereabouts in the region north and west of Baghdad. Zarqawi and al-Qaeda focused their efforts on the Iraqi capitol of Baghdad in an effort to influence the western media, incite a civil war and destabilize the nascent Iraqi government. This required moving their operational capabilities closer to the capitol.

The tightening of al-Qaeda's network in and around Baghdad provided Task Force 145 an opportunity to focus on Zarqawi's organization. Task Force 145 systematically began to dismantle al-Qaeda's organization from the bottom up. Cell leaders, financiers, facilitators and military commanders were rolled up in a series of target raids, slowly degrading al-Qaeda's capabilities while opening a window to al-Qaeda's organization and operations. The raids provided intelligence for follow-up strikes, which ultimately led to the attack of Zarqawi's safe house.

A search of The Counter Terror Blog regarding Task Force 145 is available here, be sure to check it out for comprehensive backgrounding of the units efforts to date.

GSPC website content has been removed.

Hmm, that didnt take long. The website has only been up for a short time and after checking it today I find that the sites content has been removed. The website is still online, there is just a blank white page in place of the websites index.html page. Note that the file repository at rootsweb.com is still online.
The site looks like this:

www.moon4321.com – /

---

5/16/2006  2:28 AM        <dir> aspnet_client
 5/16/2006  2:28 AM        <dir> tinc

It's an interesting development, I'll continue to monitor for any changes.

The GSPC is online again.

I was doing a bit if research today and ran across a website that had a link to the latest issue of the Algerian Salafist Group for Preaching and Combat's (GSPC) "Jihad newsletter". I have been following the movements of the Al-Qaeda linked GSPC's homepage for some time and I believe I played a role in thier last site being taken offline. You see, the GSPC is listed by the US Dept. of State as a known terrorist organization and they have sworn allegience to Al-Qaeda.

The Algerian GSPC has had a number of websites with variations on the name of "Jihad-Algeria" and "Jihad-Algerie" with .net and .com domains. The last domain was "Jihad-Algerie" and it was registered to the terrorist "Irhaaby007" who is now in custody. Thier latest website is under the unassuming name of "Moon4321", I think theyre trying the a different tactic to keep this one online.

A Second Dose of Abu Ghraib

The investigation into the Hadith, Iraq incident regarding US Marines and Iraqi non-combatants has sparked a second Abu Ghraib media feeding frenzy. For the record I have the utmost respect for the US Armed Forces and the US Marines are known to strike fear into the hearts of any opposing force on the battlefield. I despise the mainstream media whores and talking heads who over dramatize everything from the Katrina Hurricane to Abu Ghraib. I'm of the opinion that main stream news follows a doctrine of "if there isn't a story, create one and ignore the consequences to anyone other than us." They are actively making every effort to undermine the War effort by reducing the morale of the US Military, the American Public and spreading untruths and conjecture that reflect negatively on our Armed Forces.

Congressman John Murtha has started this whole media whorefest by pre-emptively stating that Marines had killed Iraq civilians in an act of "Cold Blooded Murder". John Murtha is an enemy of the state, traitor to the Armed Forces in which he served and is giving a propoganda victory to those who wish to undermine America's war effort by making such statements. As a US Congressman he has a responsibility to avoid such damaging statements publicly. The US Dept. of Defense is investigating the incident, why don't we wait for the results of that investigation before we start talking about "cold blooded murder", how about that Congressman? John Murtha should be ashamed of himself.

Michelle Malkin has covered it, Brutally Honest Reporting has some interesting information and Cox and Forkum have created a piece that sums it all up fairly well.

God Bless the United States Marines.

 Update:

The Daisy Cutter spends a bit more time than I did explaining why Vets don't care for John Murtha. I agree with DC's views on this, and then some.

Hacker Wargames

There are many "hacker wargames" available on the internet, occasionally I'll play on some of the text based servers to get a few jollies. I recently ran across a site called "Smash the Stack" that runs a handfull of text based game servers. These servers typically run a flavor of Unix or Linux and the goal is to advance through each level of the game until you complete all levels, or in some cases, root the box outright on your own. Basically, it's legal hacking, a chance to test certain skills and try and root someone elses server by problem solving (they typically frown on attacks that may kill the server and ruin the game for others).

Typically all connections are made over SSH, if you have a Linux machine you can use SSH from a terminal to connect and you can use the puTTY terminal emulator to connect from both Win32 machines and Linux machines.

If your interested in wargames or want to try one for the first time, go over to Smash the Stack and give it a go.