SSH or how to remotely control a UNIX system in a secure manner. The SSH keys is a secure method to interact with a UNIX system remotely. They are also used to transfer data between different systems. Using clever cryptography anyone can use them. As their name state it is a pair of keys, one […]
How to install WPScan on FreeBSD
Vulnerability scanners are useful tools to find issues on systems, networks and the like. WPScan is dedicated to find vulnerabilities on WordPress installations. A short tutorial as an introduction to the tool has been published here. So if you are interested on the tool and on FreeBSD, let’s dig on this how to install WPScan […]
How to mitigate/solve the MDS vulnerabilities of Intel processors in FreeBSD
It had to happen again. Anyone betting on new hardware vulnerabilities on Intel processors would have won. This time these are called the MDS vulnerabilities, which stands for Microarchitectural Data Sampling. The trouble is the ones who would have really made big money would have been those stating the new CPUs were on the same […]
A brief introduction to SSL/TLS certificates
SSL stands for Secure Sockets Layer and it an old implementation of a crytographic protocol. TLS, or Transport Layer Security, is a new one. They are both used to have privacy in the communications between different parties. They are used to secure email, web browsing, instant messaging, etc These protocols work in a complex way […]
How to securely install WordPress on FreeBSD
If you have already read my guide on how to install WordPress on FreeBSD you will have been a bit disappointed since at the end there is a deceptive paragraph that reads as follows: Now be aware you will set a user name and password for your wordpress install. They will be sent in plain […]
List of Speculative Execution Vulnerabilities
Vulnerability CVE Exploit name Public vulnerability name Firmware changes Spectre 2017-5753 Variant 1 Bounds Check Bypass (BCB) No Spectre 2017-5715 Variant 2 Branch Target Injection (BTI) Yes Meltdown 2017-5754 Variant 3 Rogue Data Cache Load (RDCL) No Spectre-NG 2018-3640 Variant 3a Rogue System Register Read (RSRE) Yes Spectre-NG 2018-3639 Variant 4 Speculative Store Bypass (SSB) […]
How to mitigate Spectre and Meltdown on a Lenovo T430s with FreeBSD
As recently announced in a previous article I wanted to write a couple of guides on how to mitigate Spectre and Meltdown vulnerabilities in GNU/Linux and UNIX environments. It is always a good and I hope a standard practice to have your systems patched and if they aren’t for whatever the reason (that legacy thing […]
How to secure FreeBSD (server minimal edition)
This is a very simple and easy to follow guide on securely administer your FreeBSD server. That said I am not a security expert although I’ve gained some knowledge as time goes by. Not pretending to be the definitive guide this article is an introduction on how to secure FreeBSD in which I will tackle […]