October « 2009 « Hackers For Charity

Ahh… the things you find on the road… It’s been covered in lots of places (Gizmodo, others) but this is the m888a “Mini” iPhone. It’s amazing the things you find on the road. This thing is made of the same EXACT materials as the original, and feels just like the original. I’m really impressed with this thing.

It’s about half the size of the iPhone. Touch screen, and it’s got the feel of the real think in just about every regard.

It sports the Apple logo (kinda) and it’s reflective just like the original. The word "MINI" is a cut out that lets out the sound from the REALLY LOUD speaker. Inside, it’s got dual SIM slots, SD slot and the little stylus looking thing… that’s an FM antenna. Yes, it works as an FM receiver. (Real hackers don’t listen to the radio with this, they scan the analog cell bands. =)

Jayson Street donating proceeds of his latest book (“Dissecting the Hack: The F0rb1dd3n Network“) to HFC. Buy buy buy! Click here for DOUBLE donate => http://amzn.it/4aB!!!!

We spent Saturday exploring the Medina in Rabat. From Wikipedia: “A medina quarter (Arabic: المدينة القديمة‎) is a distinct city section found in many North African cities. The medina is typically walled, contains many narrow and maze-like streets, and was built by Arabs as far back as the 9th century CE. The word “medina” (or Médina) (Arabic: مدينة‎, madīna) itself simply means “city” or “town” in modern day Arabic.

Medinas often contain historical fountains, palaces, and mosques. The monuments are preserved for their cultural significance (and are also a draw for tourists).

Because of the very narrow streets, medinas are free from car traffic, and in some cases even motorcycle and bicycle traffic. The streets can be less than a metre wide. This makes them unique among highly populated urban centres. Some medinas were also used to confuse and slow down invaders because of how narrow and winding they are.”

The entrance to the medina (old market) in Rabat

Entrance to the Medina in Rabat.

Nestled among the buildings are several shopping areas like this one. Hope you aren’t claustrophobic.

Antique shops like this are pretty common.

The shops stetch for miles in every direction. Some boulevards like this are often crammed with people.

The architecture is a constant reminder that “I’m not in Kansas anymore”.

The streets are lined with doorways. Every now and then, you’ll find one open. This one led into a home. This home was so absolutely gorgeous inside that I couldn’t resist a picture. Jst looking at the home makes me feel relaxed.

The markets are incredible.

After weaving our way through hundreds of stalls and back alleys, the market suddenly opened up to the tourist district…

…suddenly the shops were light and clean and everyone spoke English. Now, I feel like a tourist.

Up the hill from the market, we found the old Kasbah, a walled part of the city designed to help defend against invasion.

The walls and the construction of the fort were decidedly Arabian. Gorgeous.

This girls grabs my arm and asked my name. “Uhh… Johnny”. (Social engineered). Then she starts writing on my arm with something that looked like poo. “Is not kaka,” she says. Then she charged me money to wipe it off. Clever girl.

Lunch. Chicken, potatoes, bread. Cheap. Like $3.

The old Kasbah in Rabat http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kasbah.

One of my favorite pictures. At the top of the steps of the Kasbah, looking down over Rabat.

Another great photo of the entrance to the Medina.

We’ve had a great week teaching. Here are some photos..

Cellebrite has been so cool to us through the years. They were one of our first donors, pitching in a huge load of USB drives for our classroom in Uganda. But when they made the donation, I didn’t know much about forensics. These days, I’m doing a bit of forensics training, and I finally got my hands on some of their gear. I was thrilled to discover that it worked VERY well, had a smooth interface and didn’t throw me any nasty surprises. Now, I can honestly give Cellebrite’s gear my highest recommendation.

Cool shot of a “crime scene” we fabricated for the students. They’re using rubber gloves and evidence bags for the electronics. These guys were very CSI and pulled biological evidence (prints, hair) as well.

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Another cool CSI shot. This team is taking photos of the cell phone, documenting everything about the phone including all the SMS and data files. This tool (Fernico ZRT) is the ONLY tool that will pull all logical forensic data from ANY working cell phone. That’s because it uses photos. The process is clunky, and time consuming, but it’s complete and the report is great.

I spent a great weekend in Rabat in Morocco. We saw some amazing places (Chella, the Rabat Medina) and did a little bit of shopping for gifts to bring home.

Chellah Rabat, abandoned in 1154: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chellah

Chellah Rabat, abandoned in 1154: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chellah

Chellah Rabat, abandoned in 1154: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chellah

Chellah Rabat, abandoned in 1154: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chellah

The Medina (old market) in Rabat

The Medina (old market) in Rabat

The Medina (old market) in Rabat

So I’m trying to pull together Facebook, Twitter and WordPress. I’m using Full Circle to post to everything from WordPress, but I think I’d much prefer posting from facebook. I’d like to see photos, and everything posted to facebook show up on WordPress. Any suggestions?