SSH Attacks and DenyHosts

Today I got fed up with SSH attacks on my server and I decided to set up DenyHosts app to deal with all those attacks. The idea is simple enough, the app scans the /var/log/secure (or any other log file if not in default location) to find the unsuccessful login attempts to ssh. Then it decides if the failed attempts from the same ip repeats too much and if yes – puts that IP in the /etc/hosts.deny file to prevent a connection for the future.

In addition there are some other features like checking the ip against the database on the web to see it this ip is known for the attacks and so on, but I decided to make only basic processing now. We\’ll see how it will go.

Getting started with Cisco

For the past few months I am seeing more and more Cisco devices around me and so I decided to study Cisco a bit. I am not looking forward to pass any certification regarding the subject but I just want to be more familiar with Cisco devices.

I have found some PDFs on CCNA and stated reading them. I was just wondering if anyone can give an advice on how to make the process of studying of the subject easier and faster.

WiFi Home

In the previous post I have mentioned that I managed to connect to the wifi from the field near my home and I failed to find the WiFi at home.

Occasionally I had to check for WiFi at home at different locations of my flat! I found one with an excellent connectivity and unprotected :) Now I have internet at home.

Wireless rules!

As I have probably already mentioned, I do not have any internet connection at home which makes me feel bored during the weekends.

Few days ago I got a laptop, which had wireless card in it. I checked if I can access any wireless from inside of my home, but unfortunately there are no access points around :(

Today I decided to go for walk on the field near by my place and I took the laptop with me check if any connections are available there. Guess what – I found 3 of them and I managed to connect to one of them. I am currently writing this post through that connection. I will try to find better place to sit here and will spend some time on internet during the weekends here :)

Got a laptop to work with

Finally I got a nice laptop to work with. It is a new HP nx6110 laptop with Intel Mobile Centrino 1.7GHz, 512 RAM, 60 GB HDD and a whole bunch of stuff which is normally supplied with a laptop like wireless, bluetooth and so on.

Although this laptop does not belong to me, I can use it all the time, which is enough for me. My latest activities involve a lot of running here and there and in most of the cases I need a laptop for either having a nice repository of software nearby, connection to some tricky devices, backuping something or just to do some small tasks in the applications I run on the laptop. In addition I use it as a mobile development platform for small stuff I need to do.

I hope that one day I will buy my personal laptop, but until that this is enough.